"My sister must be around here somewhere with the drinks-," Luke sent a warning grin my way that pretty much plain as day said 'play nice I'm trying not to die'.

I always play nice.

"Hi." I stepped forward brandishing my tray of drinks and distributing them around the room as best I could, before turning back to my brother. I pretended not to see everyone swap their drinks behind my back. Guess I didn't pay enough attention when taking those orders. "Where did he go?"

"I think he went for a run," Ally jumped in. If the look Luke had sent was a 'play nice' than the look on the female's face could only be described as 'get me the fuck out of here'.

"What did you do to him this time?" Luke asked suspiciously. I sent back a sweet, falsely innocent smile, and gave a small shrug of the shoulders.

"You know, the usual." Taking pause, while Luke sifted through recent memories of my torture of Nick, I surveyed the crowd scattered throughout the room.

Pretty sure that even spending time tracking down my pissed off mate would be better than spending another few seconds with the cluster-fuck going on in here. Too many humans to be even remotely comfortable.

At least, they smelt mostly human. It was really hard to tell what smell came from where when there were so many of the squealing bastards. Smells could be determined, if I wished to spend the time attempting, but, honestly, I couldn't be bothered. Besides, figuring out Ally's fucked up family tree was my brother's job, not mine.

"I really wish you would give him a chance Emilia," Luke tutted, wrapping one arm over his little mate's shoulders and pulling her in tight. From what I could tell from my peripheral vision, the little pack of things across from him practically cooed at the motion.

Wait, that may have been a growl of contempt from Grey Temples.

Ya, Luke didn't need my help with this. If he just acted like his normal, cheesy, whipped self, the multitude of older-Ally's would be swooning and giving them their blessing in no time. Or he would be dead in a few minutes. Either or.

"Stop trying to pester your sister, Luke," Ally muttered, elbowing her 'one true love' in the ribcage ever so gently. "Go look for him would you, Emily? He looked rather pissed, and I'm a fan of this property staying intact. And alive."

Clearly, the Ally-its had no idea what has going on, as their head swung from Luke, to Ally, to my gracious loving form, and then back again in a jerking motion. They were going to get serious neck problems if they kept that up. But, again, not my problem.

The nickname had a nice ring to it, though, I decided, attempting to mask the sly grin I could feel fighting to slide across my face as she surveyed the silent -but squirmy- bunch of blondes in front of us. I could see now why Ally had left; they seemed more and more frantic the longer they kept silent.

"Ally, I'm not his keeper-" Ally raised a brow, and I knew what was coming next. Bribery, and lots of it. This potential shut me up quick, and I could not control the urge to dance in place. I knew that if I glanced in one of the mirrors surrounding me, my eyes would hold abundant amounts of anticipation for what I was about to get out of this. Ally always knew how to play the game; one of few reasons I enjoyed having her around.

"I'll give you free reign of the entire house for a week. You can redecorate whatever you want."

"A month."

"Two weeks."

"Deal." I fired off to my sister-in-law a wide, and for once, genuine smile, before darting for the front door. "See you later Ally-its."

The responding fury of my brother could be sensed through the pack link probably all the way up to Alaska.

Best. Nickname. Ever.

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One thing that I could always count on, was the peace that came with our territory.  When the house became too rambunctious -usually due to someone I had antagonized to their tipping point, or someone my big brother had driven to madness- I could escape to the surrounding mountains and just... be.

I know, I know.  Big bad Emily needs to relax?

It's either that or murder someone.  I take a few steps forward, reaching the tree line with a happy sigh.

Probably everyone, actually.  I have a very long grudge list, a very long one.

On that note, I merge with the shadows of the forest.  Fir trees, and pines stretch out for miles in front of me, and hundreds of feet above my head.  I take a deep inhale, taking in the familiar smells with a small smile.  Small branches and leaves crunch under my feet, and I don't bother to try to quiet my movements.  There's no reason to, after all.  It's not like I'm trying to sneak up one anyone, or track anyone down.

If Ally thought I would actually go out searching for Nick, she was dumber than I originally believed. 

To be one hundred percent fair though, the woman could be a genius at times, to the point that it was borderline terrifying.  She knew me, and she knew I wasn't going to go find the man.  I would be willing to wager; however, that if I walked back into the house and told her I had spent the day searching, she wouldn't ask any questions.

She wasn't really stupid, she was just too good.

It was nauseating.

I take a larger step up onto the half rotten trunk of a fallen oak tree, and stand for a moment, taking in my surroundings.  I'm far enough into the forest that I can only faintly detect the scents of my pack at my back.  The area is usually laden with wolves, but after the last few months, they tend to be a tad more hesitant to broach the shadows. Not that I would blame them.

A little fuzzy chipmunk darts into my path, and in typical fashion, freezes.  I've never understood that action; even if I was a threat, and saw them as more than an adorable and necessary addition to my paradise, staying in place wouldn't help them much. They need to evolve a little, maybe then they wouldn't become the most popular play thing of the pups.

"Scram, furball," I chuckle, kicking up a leaf in its direction. It takes the hint, flying back in the direction it came from with a squeak. 

"That's not very nice, Em," a voice calls from above my head.  I don't give him the pleasure of spinning to locate his form; I know he's perched in the Spruce to my right. 

"I'm not a very nice person," I state, keeping my head focused on the ground before me as I walk.  I refuse to embarrass myself further by falling on my face in front of him.  It's bad enough that I didn't pick up on his presence before he started talking, I don't need to give him any more ammunition to make my life difficult. "What are you, a fucking cat?"

"Trust me, I'm well aware."  I detect the sound of his feet crushing leaves as he hops down from the tree behind me. "And you know what I am, sweetheart."

"Wolves don't climb trees."

"Wolves don't refuse their mates either.  What a pair we make, eh?"

"We aren't a pair, Canadian Nicholas."

"Lying isn't becoming of a young lady."  I can hear him closer than he was before, keeping pace behind me as I march further into the forest.  I don't have a destination in mind; as far away from him as possible would be the best idea though.

"Good thing I've never claimed to be one," I grumble, ignoring the overwhelming urge to turn and tell him off.  So far, my wolf and were on the same page as each other when it came to the ignoramus behind me.  Or maybe the same chapter, at the bare minimum.  She was not a huge fan of his overbearing personality.  I was not  huge fan of him, period.  There wasn't much to handle there aside from his looks.  And he did have the looks.  If I wasn't worried he would take advantage of the situation, I would enlist him to be my newest 'wolf-buddy-with-benefits'. As it stands, he would probably be furious enough when he found out I wasn't exactly as pure as male wolves tend to expect.

If he found out.

Which he never would, of course.

Surprisingly, he didn't utter another word as we walked among the trees, leaving me to my ow thoughts.  He remained a respectful 'not-inclined-to-nut-punch' him distance behind me; however, and it didn't seem like that was going to stop.

So much for peace.

The one bright side to this situation was, at least I wouldn't be lying when I told Ally I found Nick.  I would just leave out the fact that, technically he found me.

We had probably made about an hour of progress, reaching the base of the closest mountain range, when he finally opened his irritating mouth.

"What's your favourite colour?"

"Are you for real?" I asked, taking my first few steps up the incline.

"Answer the question, little girl," he snapped back, matching my pace.  I chose to pretend I didn't notice that he had positioned himself such that if I was to trip backwards, he would be able to catch me. Damn overprotective male wolves.

"Pink."

"Bullshit," he laughs, his long legs quickly eating up the distance so I could practically feel the waves of irritation pouring off of him. 

Good, maybe he would become annoyed enough to leave me alone.

"Would it kill you to throw me a bone?" I managed to stifle a laugh at the poorly made pun, but from the chuckle behind me, I knew he had caught my smile before I could hide it too.

"Her favourite colour is turquoise," another voice called out.  I spun on my heel, batting away the rough hands that reach out to catch my hips in case I fall.

"Are you seriously fucking with me right now? Why is everyone out here today? Is everyone following me? It's a big fucking forest, go somewhere else!"

"Did you just stomp your foot?" Nick laughs, leaning on the foot stationed higher on the incline as he peered down on me with a vast amount of amusement in his gaze. 

"She definitely did.  It's good to know that she hasn't outgrown those tantrums," Lee grins, stepping up beside Nick.  He pats my mate on the back with a chuckle, before stepping back with arms crossed over his large chest.  If you had asked me months ago, I would've sworn there wasn't a man strong enough -aside from Luke, of course- to take this guy on.  He was huge; at least six seven, two hundred and fifty pounds, and complete, solid muscle. I would be willing to bet that even his pinky was stronger than most men in his pack. Standing next to Nick though, I was no longer sure.

Nick wasn't as tall, or as beefy, but he always stood with an arrogance that said he knew how to fight dirty, and he was not afraid to do it.  He was leanly muscled, to Lee's massive, but there wasn't an inch of fat anywhere on that body.  Not that I had looked, when he sat half naked in the kitchen. Nope.  Definitely not.

"Why do you know her favourite colour?" Nick grumbled, spinning on his heel to face his pack mate.  Lee was from Nick's side of the mountains, but that had never stopped us from hanging out while growing up.  There was one high-school for both packs, after all.  We had been closer to each other than most would deem appropriate for wolves in different packs, but it had always been 'just friends' in our relationship. It had helped that Lee was practically in love with a tiny redheaded nerd from day one of our senior year of school.  Not that she knew, of course.  The massive wolf was quite the 'fraidy cat, and the little grade ten had been way too young to hang around with our group.

They were mates, I was sure of it. Hell, he was sure of it.  He was just too scared that his size would scare the absolute shit out of the tiny little wolf.

He was probably right.

As it was, she had just graduated from college this summer, and Lee was patiently waiting for her to return to his pack before he made a move.  Evidently, the smart ass didn't want to hold her back from her dream of becoming a pack doctor.  It was almost laughable, really. He came up with every excuse in the book to refrain from facing her; the big bad wolf was basically scared of a puppy.

"Because while you were chasing tail all through high school, I was becoming her best friend," Lee stated, flinging his hand in my direction.  "I warned you, Beta, that you would regret being a man whore and a half."  Nick's deep frown was almost laughable, if I ignored the small stab of pain that came from remembering watching him chase anything with a skirt in the hallways of our school.

Not that he really had to do much chasing.  He was a wide receiver of our school's football team, the captain of the soccer team, and boxed off and on for four years.  They pretty much flocked to him, hoping he would make them the new missus beta.

To be fair, I wasn't exactly a saint. He didn't know, or need to know that anyways.

"It's fine though, it's not like our little Em here was abstinent," Lee grinned, flicking his eyes to mine before watching his Beta as his frown deepened.

"Who?" Nick growled, his eyes fixing on mine.  There was barely contained rage simmering in there, and as irritating as it was, it was kind of hot.

"Now, now, Nicky," Lee smirked, "That's need to know, and for the sake of our pack, and hers, you really don't need to know.  Besides, we don't need a raging Beta knocking off the male wolves for fucking his mate when he was doing the same."  The barely contained rage, wasn't contained anymore.  Nick's chest was practically rumbling.

"Lee, do you come out of the woodwork just to fuck with everyone?" I ask, rolling my eyes towards the heavens. 

"Sort of," he grins, the wide smile softening otherwise harsh features and revealing the man I knew as my best -albeit dickish- friend. "I saw you walking in from over there," he jerks his head back to the treeline bordering a nearby path to their territory. "Didn't realize this asshole was following you too."

"So he can follow you, but I almost get my head clawed off if I do?" Nick barks, stepping towards Lee with a low snarl. "Did you fuck her too?"

"Not that it's any of your business, Nicholas, but no, he didn't," I sigh, stepping between the two males.  Lee at this point is laughing wildly behind me.

"This is priceless," he chortles, pounding one massive hand on his knee as he keels over.

"Can you stop Lee?" I cry, spinning so my hair whips in a circle.  I feel it slap Nick in the face before I hear heavy footsteps backing away.  "Nicholas-"

"I'm outta here," he huffs, "See you later, asshole."  Lee's laughter increases as Nick disappears into the shadows behind us.

"Man, that was so much more fun than I expected," he grins, wiping one finger under his left eye to catch a tear.  "You're life is such a shit show."

"Says the one who's afraid of his five foot two mate."

"She's tiny.  If I tried to fuck her she'd probably break in half," Lee sighs, running one hand through his thick blonde locks until they stand in crazy directions.

"Sure, whatever helps you sleep at night," I grin, trying to ignore the look of irritation Nick had when he had marched away.  I would find him later, if I had to.  I really hoped I didn't have to.

"You're such a little bitch, miss perfect," he grunts, reaching to ruffle my hair. "Now, are you going to tell me why you're giving Lennox a hard time?"

"Why do men always insist on calling each other by their last names?" I huff, brushing my hair back into place and narrowing my eyes on Lee's cocky face. 

"Let's analyze male behaviour later, Em.  Now is when you fill me in on how you got the Beta trailing you like a hungry kitten."

"I fucking hate you Lee."

"I love ya too little kid.  Now speak."