Total pages in book: 76
Estimated words: 71067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 71067 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 355(@200wpm)___ 284(@250wpm)___ 237(@300wpm)
We sweep around a corner and I find myself looking at a sprawling multistory building that looms out of the earth. It’s been architecturally designed to look sort of like a den or cave, I think. Lots of curves and awnings and jutting out parts that are also curved and very big windows. It has a lot of cedar on it, and the organic shapes are rife.
As we pull up in the big circular driveway outside the main building, I see that our arrival has been very much anticipated. There’s at least a dozen men in suits ranged outside the front verandah, hands clasped respectfully in front of their bodies. Behind them, slightly elevated, is a man who arrests my attention. It’s Fescue. I realize. He is wearing tweed, while everyone else wears black. None of them look like they’re particularly enjoying chilling in the wilderness. They look, I realize, like guards. The sort of guards who are charged with keeping someone in. Someone like me.
“Get her out, please,” Rex says as he gets out of the car.
My guys end up helping me tumble out of the car into what feels like a very formal, very male-led reception. Oh, no, one of the guards is a woman. I missed the cut of her suit because of the uniformity of the line.
Laura is unconcerned too, I notice. She looks interested, alert. A place like this is going to impress my pack of runaways, and it’s going to have particular interest for the unmated females like Laura. She thinks the guys in our little pack are too immature. She’s right. But the men in front of us, and the lady, are all the opposite of immature.
The boys are looking at Rex’s security too, but for different reasons.
My security team are the biggest, strongest guys in our pack. Cal is the only one of them who comes close in height and breadth, but he is wearing a loose singlet top with strawberries on it. None of us match the Regent pack. We are obviously underdressed, and everybody knows it.
“Mr. Anderson-looking fucks,” Sam mutters.
“You mean Agent Smith,” Cal murmurs back.
“I mean the one who is always saying Mister Anderson,” Sam replies.
“Yeah. That’s Agent Smith,” Simon says.
The banter amongst them is being picked up by the Regent security teams, who barely respond aside from a few dry smirks. They think they’re better than us. I feel a surge of protectiveness over my people. No, we don’t come from endless amounts of money. No, I don’t force my guys to dress like penguins. Yeah, they say stupid shit and sometimes they do stupid shit, but they also do their job. I might even owe my life to them.
“You guys look great,” I say. “Your mullets and flipflops are in right now. Those suits are dated.”
I catch a look of horror from Fescue.
“They are,” I say. “The fit is too fitted in the pants, and too baggy around the waist.”
“That’s to allow easy access to weapons,” the man in tweed says from his perch up on the stairs.
“Sure. Easy access is important,” I grin.
Rex picks me up again, tossing me over his shoulder. “Alright, you,” he says. “It’s time we got your hand looked at. Did you ensure the doctor was here, Fescue?”
“Yes, sir,” Fescue says. “He is waiting in the medical bay.”
“You’ve got a special medical bay?” I ask the question from my undignified position.
“We have everything we need here.”
“Yeah. Like this wall of suits to greet us. What were you worried we were gonna do?”
“This is what a disciplined, united front looks like, whelp,” he growls. “When I have your hand fixed up, you’re going to answer for all this attitude.”
* * *
Rex
She is such a little shit. I really wanted the first time I brought my mate here to be nice, but it’s obviously going to be a struggle. Every word out of her mouth is incendiary, and her actions are, well. If she didn’t have a broken hand, her first introduction to the pack would have been having her bare ass spanked on the front steps of the den.
I carry my mate to the medical bay. This has all been messier than I thought it would be, but I did not know it was actually possible for a female to resist her first shift for this long. I think we all assumed that at some point the animal would simply take over. Nicky is doing what should be technically impossible.
“Here she is, Doc,” I say as I carry her into the room, very much against her feral little will.
The doctor is an older man who has been with the pack since before I was born. He’s seen everything, but I have the feeling she’s going to surprise him too. Dr. Swan has salt and pepper hair, mostly salt at this point. He’s tall, with hooded eyes and a dark demeanor that usually ensures respect from patients in his practice, and the wolves he encounters in his general day to day.