Harou decided to ride the bike out—the back tire had pegs installed. I found out later that he had done them before riding over because he wasn't going to wait for something official, any longer.

And he took off like he was riding for our lives—he possibly was. Heard a couple of familiar voices yelling at us as we passed through the streets, which meant Mom was dumb enough to call some lovers to tail after us.

I would pay her back for that, in years to come.

But then, we just sped out the neighborhood, past the smaller grocery, and up to the corner gas station attached to it. Harou's dad leaned up against a black SUV with his arms crossed. He was glaring over our heads as a car full of Warren clowns who nearly tipped over turning the corner, hooted at us like mocking me was a win.

"Idiots." I didn't bother muttering that, and I didn't turn to look, not even as they peeled out after recognizing the Alpha. "You didn't have to come this way, sir. They would have pissed themselves over an Enforcer, just fine."

The elder wolf grinned, actual fangs showing. Apparently he was one who thought you should keep your biting pair forward at all times: rather creepy in a man-face. "You got a feisty one, son. Ready to get in lots of fights?"

"Of course, sir."

"What do you mean get in fights?" I knew fights were a regular part of both our cultures, but I also understood we were very different, and I didn't need to step into another hell of my own making. Yeah, looking back, great intentions, but I didn't really act cautious at all.

"Get in and I'll explain along the way."

I shrugged and got in shotgun while Harou put his bike in the back and sat cross-legged next to it (all the seats were down to accommodate them both).

"So..." I started tentatively.

"When a pair is mates and the weaker picks a fight, the stronger is left finishing it."

"Ah, since I'm the little cute bunny, I obviously can't finish a fight." I rolled my eyes pretty hard, there. "So, do y'all give posture warnings or just dip right into a fight?"

"Almost always, there are cues." The Alpha mused.

"Good. Mom just tore off after my head because I dared bring your son in and didn't give her first try. How fast you think she was, Harou?"

"I barely caught her arm and I was prepared for it." My dude just leaned over both the bucket seats to get between us and interact.

"Yeah, well, I ducked before she even took a swing." Duck? I was on my ass. I swallowed, kind of nervous about how to put it all. "All things fair, I'm not going to posture and I'll hit first because that's what a rabbit does. I didn't get in fights at school because I took care of most of that before stepping foot out The Warren each day."

The Alpha snorted. " You think you could go up against an Enforcer?"

"I'm not stupid. I know most wolves are stronger than me, especially for the next few years, but I could teach your enforcers a trick or two they've not seen unless they regularly spar with bunnies."

"Good, we will test that out—safely, during training." The Alpha certainly liked fights, just not disputes. "So, be somewhat polite until we get some ranking figured out, ok?"

"What the fuck? Did I step into a Murim world?" My life was very limited, but the rare time I got to a library, I read fighting mangas.

"Something like that." Harou muttered, a bit sour because I didn't mention it earlier, when I bit his head off.

His father quickly broke into mundane issues to break the mood, such as: clothes—I insisted on boy's, sleeping arrangements—I insisted on sharing with Harou as I had never slept alone in my life and he wasn't going to put up with me sleeping with anyone else, how I wanted to be addressed on the pack – X. Chris is my school name, and I wanted a really girly or boyish name if I turned either way, nothing gender neutral.

That and I really did not want to forget what my mother was like, and that X was a perfect backhand.

~~~

Life in the pack house was boring...I mean, it was a dream.

I did a lot of fun stuff there, like playing heavy metal on properly working speakers throughout the whole freaking building (once I rigged it) at 2 AM...on a school day...after a thick snow...and the pack thought it was the intruder alarms with another pack coming to kill them in their sleep. I found out that most of them slept naked.

Or the time I took the future Alpha's favorite car apart—piece by piece—and swallowed 5 random bolts from it in front of him while warning him that he had more to protect than some weak-ass mate. After all, he was picking fights with his brother for freaking finding a mate before 14 (the more common age), and here he was 18 and mateless. It's probably because he needed to be brought down a peg or two.

Of course, Harou caught me in a midst-air launching into rearranging his face for calling me a weak excuse for a glory hole. He also dragged me off to get my stomach pumped. The whole altercation their dad was laughing at them, so the eldest couldn't even retaliate because he could see I was favored at that point. He left for a trip after school let out and found a really sweet girl that was the making of him.

But anyway, pack life is boring. This means it's mostly safe. Guards properly patrol their land instead of getting it on, nobody is shanking anyone, fights had warnings, and outside of a very wolf-like sense of family, they could pass for humans. I was getting a normal life after 12 years of hell.

And I didn't know what to do with it. Many times it would be me trying to ignore my mate publicly—especially at school, and he'd just cheerily sit next to me, secure that I wasn't going anywhere.

Well, I wasn't. I only had to share a room with one person. Do you understand the freedom there is in that? I ran around in boxers in that room, Harou shaking his head at my Snoopy dance. (We both had big feet and are short.)

But this doesn't mean my life was without danger.