Sol must have been really tired because when he woke up the next day, it was a few minutes before noon. At least it was still morning.

Groaning, he buried his face deeper into the pillow for a few more minutes before finally, he got up from the bed and headed into the bathroom. There was no need for a shower this morning, especially since he had showered last night. Also, he just couldn't be bothered at the moment.

His stomach growled longingly as he brushed his teeth.

Sol was too hungry for a shower.

He didn't bother fixing his hair after he finished rinsing his mouth. There was no point in trying to tame that beast, and it wasn't like there was anyone he was trying to impress either.

Walking down the stairs, he was surprised at the raw smell that seemed to waft throughout his cabin. He hadn't noticed it before, probably because he had just woken up but now that he was wide awake, he could smell it clearly.

He didn't even make it to the bottom step before his eyes landed on the female wolf who was stood up -clearly no longer feeling the wounds from the day before, attacking a cold cutlet of meat which he was sure he had not left out lying around on the kitchen counter last night.

Sol could feel his blood temperature rising as he turned his head to the right and away from the wolf, only to take in the sight of his kitchen -or what used to be his kitchen.

The usually spotless appliances and tidy kitchen counters that he left last night before he went to bed were all gone.

Gone.

And in its place was the aftermath of a hungry wolf looking for food.

By the looks of things, the female wolf had raided pretty much every drawer and cupboard that she could reach. Unfortunately, she had also managed to make her way into the fridge and knocked over some of the eggs while she was at it. But upon closer inspection, Sol deduced that she had broken them all.

There were pots and pans where there shouldn't be. Some drawers were left open while others were pushed closed, trapping whatever was in them between the gap left. Cereal crumbs littered the floor after -judging by the way the box and bag were covered in both teeth and claw marks- the wolf had made her way into them. Both the bar stools were knocked over and some paper tissues were unwound from their roll, leaving a trail from one corner of the kitchen to the other. It seemed that the fruit bowl was the only thing that had managed to survive the earthquake that had raided his kitchen.

And to think that he had slept through it all.

Furious, Solomon walked down the last few steps remaining before he made his way over to the wolf. She was so engrossed in enjoying her cut of red meat that she hadn't noticed his presence until he leaned down and grabbed the raw meat from the ground, holding high up in the air, well above his head, where she wouldn't be able to reach it.

Growling, she shot daggers at him with her eyes for taking her meal.

It wasn't the smartest of moves; taking food from a wolf, but he was just so angry at the mess that she had made, that Solomon just wasn't thinking.

He wasn't backing down any time soon, and she seemed to have noticed it. Leaning up and resting her paws on his stomach, she pleaded at him with her eyes, the tip of her tongue poking out of her mouth. He wouldn't be falling for this trick. Sol had seen Gideon pull this very same move on his parents a countless number of times. On Gideon, his Godson, the act had been cute and rather adorable however, on this wolf who had just destroyed his kitchen, adorable was not even in his dictionary anymore.

Pursing his lips, he pushed her away before walking over to the kitchen and disposing of the meat in the trash can.

When she growled at him, he growled back, warning her to stand down. However, she didn't seem to pick up on the threat -either that or she was just so hungry that she wasn't thinking with her head but rather her stomach- and padded over to him, her eyes not wavering from his; challenging him.

She should have known better than to challenge an Alpha.

Not that he called himself an Alpha.

When she leaped at him, he reached up and grabbed her around the neck, pulling her down. Sol had underestimated how much she weighed, or even how big she was because the impact of her weight against his body forced his body backwards however, he managed to grab her around the neck before they even hit the ground.

Pressing his thumb down on her pressure point at the back of her neck, he held her down with his other arm and the rest of his body. She struggled against him, not at all happy about being over powered by him but when he pressed down on his thumb against her neck and squeezed dangerously tighter, she whined. When Sol didn't let up, she whined louder before turning her head to the side and finally submitting to him.

Growling at her, Sol pushed himself up from the ground.

She followed after him, but didn't meet his eyes.

Walking past him with her head lowered and her tail tucked between her legs, she walked back over to her blanket on the ground. Sol sighed loudly and rubbed his hands over his face as he watched her lie down on her stomach, burying her face between her paws.

It had been a long time since he had been in such close proximity to a wolf for more than a few hours.

Sol did feel bad that he had felt the need to dominate her as he did to get his point across, but she needed to learn her place.

Wrecking his kitchen, raiding his fridge and then fighting him for a half-eaten piece of meat when he had awoken was not the way to get into his good books.

Though the way that she seemed to be feeling guilty now made him want to forget what had just happened. But he also didn't want to seem like a push-over. For all he knew, if he didn't enforce some rules now then this -whatever this was- would become a daily occurrence, and Sol just did not have the patience for that.

Crossing his arms over his chest, he stood in front of her. Looking down, he waited until she peaked at him from under one of her paws before he began speaking. "If you're going to stay here for a bit then we need some house rules."

"One, you are not allowed in the kitchen unless I am in it."

"Two, there will be no breakfast until I wake up."

"Three, next time you make a mess, I'm going to make you clean it up, wolf form or not."

The wolf only whined in response before she covered her face again.

She might have made the mess, but there was no way that she would be able to clean it up. Especially since she hadn't shifted back to her human form which was pretty strange. Not that Sol would know much about wolves. It had been more than a decade and a half since he had even been a part of a pack.

Sighing, he turned around and walked back to the kitchen. Rolling up the sleeves of his black and red checkered flannel shirt, he started to clean the kitchen.

He should have just fed her last night. 

-

Layla Knight

28.09.17