The Challenge (The Pack 2)

“Really?” I asked doubtfully and he nodded eagerly. “All right then.” I tossed the bag to him and he tore into it.

“Monster wouldn’t by chance be short for Cookie Monster, would it?”

“How did you guess,” I answered drily. “But really shortening it to Monster just fit.”

“Let’s go.” Dom took the backpack from my shoulder, looping it over his wrist as he escorted us from the field house. “I need to have a word with Caleb.”

Dom dropped us off in front of the motel and instead of going back to the main road; he cut across the field and took the dirt road to the small community where the Pack lived.

“He’s cool,” Monster told me confidently as we walked to the motel office. Dad’s Range Rover was parked in it’s usual spot so that meant he was probably in the office.

“You didn’t seem so sure of that earlier,” I reminded him and he shrugged.

“He explained that he was a shifter.”

I stopped, crouching down so I was eye level with him. “And you’re good with that?”

He nodded slowly, his little mouth twisting.

“What is it?”

“I’m like him, aren’t I?”

“Yeah, you are. Or you will be one day.”

“Are you one too?”

I shook my head. “No, I don’t get all furry and have four legs,” I teased, tickling his sides until he shrieked. “That’s reserved for little Monsters.”

“What is going on out here?” Dad stood in the doorway, his face stunned as he caught sight of the familiar copper head. “Monster?”

“DAD!”

I heard Dad’s grunt as Monster ran at him full force but he swung him around as if he weighed nothing. He sent me a questioning glance and I lifted my hands. He knew Mom as well as I did.

“I hope you bought cookies,” I muttered under my breath as I passed him and he nodded mutely, still shell-shocked by the Monster in his arms excitedly telling him everything that had happened.

“Fire?” I heard him echo in concern as I slipped into the apartment. I made a beeline for the cabinet where the cookies were stashed and immediately moved them. You could never leave them in the same place twice with Monster around.

My phone buzzed and I fished it out of my pocket. Anna’s name lit up the screen with a text asking if she could come by. I replied yes and headed for my room. Minutes later the window slid open and she crawled inside.

“When were you going to tell me about your brother?” She demanded the second she was standing in my room. “I had to find out through the Pack line.” I grimaced at her mention of the way the Pack communicated with one another. I had no doubt I’d been the source of gossip more than once.

“If I’d seen you, I would have told you,” I said reasonably, completely ignoring the fact that I had seen her and hadn’t told her. She proceeded to wave her phone at me. “Or I could have texted you, but honestly I was kind of shocked. He showed up this morning unexpectedly.”

“How unexpected could he have been? Wouldn’t your mom need to tell your dad and arrange custody?”

“That’s not really how she works,” I said, sitting cross-legged on the bed. “She sent him via courier.”

“Courier,” Anna deadpanned.

“Yeah, and let me tell you that guy hightailed it out of here. Didn’t even let me give him a tip.”

“Your family is seriously weird.” She thumped down on the desk chair. “I mean mine might shift into wolves but I still feel like it has nothing on yours.” She shot me an accusing stare. “You knew he was coming, didn’t you?”

I wiggled my shoulders. “I didn’t know for sure, but yeah, after I refused Mom’s last invitation I figured he’d be sent here.”

“And the Pack stuff? How are you going to explain that?”

“Dom already did apparently.”

“DOM?”

“Yeah, Dom.”

“Wait…..is he a shifter?” The look on her face would have been hilarious if the reality wasn’t so serious.

“Yeah.”

“I…wow.”

“That’s how I felt. I had no idea.”

“Guess it’s a good thing he’s living here now.”

“Yep.” I kept my answers short waiting for her to tell me why she was really here. It wasn’t about my little brother, that was for sure.

“Dom went after Caleb,” she mentioned in a too casual voice.

“Went after like attacked?” I asked, poking my temple as if that would jumpstart the mental bond I had with Dom. He was damn good at blocking me when he wanted to while I’d yet to perfect the ability.

“No, he just wanted to talk to him.” She paused. “About you.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.”

“Look, Anna, I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t say anything,” she replied, ducking her head as she played with the tassel on one of my pillows. “I overheard something I wasn’t supposed to because I was still in wolf form when Dom found Caleb.”