A Wolf's Pack

Zach knew the only reason he was at the meeting was because there was a very real chance he would become the new alpha. Of course, that very real chance also extended to Amilia, but then she was at the meeting as well. Still, it the was nice to finally be admitted into the loop. Some of the older wolves who had higher rank had been acting a little odd lately, but had kept her mouths sealed tight, which basically meant that he knew nothing so far.

As the meeting started though, the alpha, a man named Alistair, explained what was going on. Apparently their borders were being crossed. Something was coming into their territory and leaving again, like a ghost. On top of it, some sort of animal carcass had been found earlier that day. It had been mutilated completely, so badly so that no one could say for sure what sort of animal it was. Yet from all of this, one fact remained certain, and that was that their pack could be in danger.

---

Sneaking off anywhere was practically impossible amongst a pack of wolves and required a certain finesse... the kind a person acquired from living with said wolves for as long as they could remember, and still that wasn't enough sometimes. Kadrin was hoping it would be enough this time around though... because she had to know why it was suddenly a good idea that she was required to be inside by sunset every day now. Sure, she understood the reasoning behind the rule when it was close to the full moon, but suddenly changing the rule to every day, no exceptions? Something was going on.

There was a meeting going on actually, in the alpha's house, which was also the main house. It was large enough to be a small mansion and housed dozens of wolves. Plus her. Luckily, while the tree outside her last bedroom had been found out as an escape route, no one actually thought she would scale the thin slice of roofing outside her window, which was exactly what she did. After that, it was all simply a matter of getting outside the window to the meeting room and listening in on what was going on. And hope no wolf came wandering outside too close. They shouldn't be able to hear or see her in the dark, but scent was another matter altogether.

@ beautiful monotony
Amelia
She leaned back into her chair as the others began to talk about the danger. This was not good. Actually this was terrible. Amelia did not want her pack to be in danger. Even worse that they had no idea who or what it was and apparently this had been going on for months. But it sounded like there was a possibility whatever it was did not want to attack them. Maybe it didn't even know they were there?
As the older wolves spoke Amelia listened carefully. She was not there to share her opinion as much as to get a feel for how this type of thing worked. As the alpha's daughter there was a possibility that she would be alpha one day. Though Zach also had that chance too which was clear by his presence there too. The two of them had known for a while now that they were competing against each other. They were both strong, smart and good leaders. The question was who was better?

---

Jackson pressed his back against the mansion as he slowly made his way to the door. He wasn't meant to be outside at this hour with the new rules that had been put in place. But simply he really needed to go for a run. His wolf needed to stretch out and Jackson didn't feel any real danger when he was running in the woods.
As he made his way to the door Jackson suddenly stopped when he was at the bottom of the tree. He pointed his nose up, taking a deep breath. It was her. Jackson immediately started up the tree until he could see her. "Kadrin." He whispered to her. "What the hell are you doing?"

Since Zach wasn't exactly around to voice his opinion, he was quiet as the older wolves spoke. He and Amilia were here for educational purposes only. He figured that they would probably be asked some obscure questions or something after the meeting was finished, but their job at the moment was simply to listen. And not tell anyone else what they were hearing. That was pretty important too. If everyone knew, then there would be panic, and widespread panic like that wasn't a good thing.

---

Kadrin had hoped, and apparently hope was for fools. She nearly tumbled from her perch in surprise when someone snuck up on her and said her name, but she managed to right herself before that could happen. Damn wolves... being stealthy. "What are you doing?" she challenged back in a whisper after having turned to find Jackson behind her. She knew for a fact that he was supposed to be out and about at this hour pretty much about as much as she was supposed to be. Which was to say not at all. Yet here they both were, and as long as she was talking to Jackson, she wasn't listening in to the conversation currently at hand. Speaking of which.. she put a hand over his mouth before he could reply and strained to hear.

@ beautiful monotony
After a long conversation about the threat and what te next steps were her father called the meeting to a close. It was clear that this was something that they would talk about soon. Definitely by the end of the week. Though for now everyone was allowed to go their own way. But the alpha stopped Amilia and Zach. "I have something I want you two to do. Think of an action plan that the two of you would take to deal with this situation. The both of you will be presenting it at the next meeting. Take this seriously."
With that the alpha left with the others. Amilia then turned to Zach but kept her Mouth closed. She wasn't sure of what to talk about. Especially since they never talked about their tasks or anything to do with the alpha job. They didn't qant to give the other help.

---

Jackson was quiet for a moment but it wasn't long until he heard the alpha and other higher ups. His eyes widen a bit and he pulled her hand off. "Kadrin we should not be listening to them." He grumbled a bit before pulling her off the branch and into him. Jackson held onto her tightly to ensure that neither of them would fall. "We need to go before they catch us."

@ Mother.Of.Dragons
Zach wasn't particularly surprised at being given the assignment. Presenting it at the next meeting, though? If one of them came up with a good idea then, did that mean that that idea might actually be used as a course of action? Well then, things were really starting to get serious in their alpha competition in that case.
When Amilia turned to him after the others left, he looked at her, thinking she might say something, but couldn't help the small smile that formed when she said nothing. "Sometimes its hard to remember that we were good friends at one point, huh?" he asked. That was safer territory than talking about their new assignment at least.

---

"No! What are you doing?!" Kadrin hissed as Jackson basically held her against him with one arm and started climbing down the tree with the rest of the limb. Even only using one arm though, she couldn't break his grip, and soon they were on the ground again. As soon as he let go of her, she turned on him with a scowl. "I'm trying to find out what's going on! No one was going to get caught doing anything as long as I was quiet." It was too late now though, she realized as she heaved a sigh.

@ beautiful monotony
"It's hard to be friends with someone that you're competing against." Amilia told him softly. They used to be great friends. Amilia and Zach were so close until it was known that they were competing against each other for alpha. For a while they tried to keep it together but it was hard. It only got harder when they discovered they were mates too.
Some days were better than others for them. It just depended on if they were able to push everything else away. Amilia rubbed the back of her neck before continuing on. "I'm going to get some ice cream. You want some?"

---

"It shouldn't even matter of you could listen without getting caught. You shouldn't be doing it in be first. You weren't just spying on anyone. You were spying on an alpha meeting! Kadrin you should know better than that." Jackson picked her up and carried her back into the mansion. Spying was one thing but that was a secret meeting! Really she should know better. She may be only human but Kadrin thought she would have more respect for the higher ups in the pack.

@ Mother.Of.Dragons
Zach gave a small nod of agreement. Once they starting competing against each other, their friendship quickly flew out the window. And replacing it was the knowledge that they were mates, which really only seemed to strain their relationship even more. It was draining, to say the least.
"Nah, I'm not really in an ice cream mood. I'll sit around and keep you company though," he offered. "Tell you what, I'll even make your ice cream for you, all the way to the cherry on top." It was a bad way to try and dispel the awkward mood that had settled between them, but it was all he had in him at the moment.

---

"Hey!" Kadrin protested with a small growl as she was once again picked up. "I can walk you know." It just wasn't enough that she had the bad luck to be caught, but she was being toted around, too? He knew she hated it, especially since there wasn't a whole lot she could actually do. Jackson was one of the bigger wolves and could sometimes make her feel like an ant in comparison. Plus, he overreacted to everything. Sure, it might have been an alpha meeting... but she wanted to know why she wasn't supposed to be out while it was dark all of a sudden. Was that really too hard of a question to answer?

@ beautiful monotony
A light smile came over her lips as he offered to make it and Amelia gave him a small nod. "Yes I would like if you did that." She told him before she followed him down to the kitchen. It was hard for them but they always ended up doing little things that just showed that they did care about their relationship even though it was getting thrown a bit to the side.
Zach was her mate and she wanted them to get along- to actually be in love with each other. She didn't want to chase after another. But at the moment he was her enemy, her rival, the one person left that she had to beat. The person she wanted was in the way of the thing she wanted.

---

"I know you can walk but this ensures that you are where I want you." Jackson told her. Once they were far enough in the house Jackson set her down in her feet. He felt like he was always taking care of her. That he was always trying to keep her out of trouble. Though that was what he was meant to do. She was his mate whether she knew it or not. He had to watch out for her.
"I know you're curious about what is going on, we all are. But you can't just go sneaking around and spying on them. At least try and control yourself a little."

@ Mother.Of.Dragons
"Well, let's go get you some ice cream then," Zach replied with a small smile, opening the door for her, and soon they were winding their way down the halls together towards the kitchen. Once they were there, he pulled the ice cream out of the freezer, and then everything else he would need. By now, he knew how Amilia liked her ice cream, what kind was her favorite... just the sort of thing you picked up on from spending time with a person, so he didn't even need to ask. Instead, he made the ice cream and then took it to her at the table and sat down with her.
"You think things'll ever get better?" he asked after a few minutes of silence. He had leaned back in his chair, staring at the ceiling, but with his question, he turned his eyes to Amilia. "Maybe once this whole alpha business is done with? Or do you think it'll be just as bad then too?" He hated the thought, that they might be doomed to be rivals as well as mates for the rest of their lives... he'd much rather just be her mate, but wasn't it a possibility?

---

"You could've just watched me climb back up into my room if you wanted to know that's where I was going to be," Kadrin pointed out unhappily as he finally set her down. Well, at least he hadn't insisted on carrying her all the way back to her room this time... Still, though. She wasn't quite sure what had gotten into him lately. When they were younger, he actually used to get into trouble with her. Now it seemed that all he tried to do was keep her away from trouble. Out of every time she was caught doing something she wasn't supposed to be, it seemed like Jackson was the one who caught her the most.
"I do have control," she said, crossing her arms over her chest. "But unlike you, whatever is going on means I'm not allowed outside while its dark. Besides, it isn't as if I'm going to blackmail someone. I just want to know what's going on."

@ beautiful monotony
Amilia let out a small sigh at his question. Her head dropped a bit, looking down at her ice cream as she swirled it around. This was something that she thought about a lot. After a few moments of thought Amilia set her spoon down and lifted her head to look back at him. "I think things could get better between us. I think things will be a lot better once an alpha is actually picked....well better once the loser accepts it and moved on."
Amilia picked up her spoon again and took another bite of the ice cream. He knew how to make it just right. "I think things could be better now if only we really pushed it all to side when it is just us. I mean if we actually just didn't think about the competition so much."

---

"You are just going to have to wait for the answer Iike everyone else. They will tell us what is happening when the time is right. Until they you need to follow the rules, listen to what they are telling you to do." Jackson only listened to the rules when it came to her. She was the only person he really bothered stopping or catching. He just did not want her to get into trouble. He wanted to keep Kadrin safe and out of trouble.
"I know you have control I just wish that you were a bit careful about these things. I don't want you getting into trouble with the alpha." Jackson told her before picking her up once again and heading up to her room.

@ Mother.Of.Dragons
Zach scrubbed his hands across his face, raking his fingers through his again afterwards. "It could be years before an alpha is picked though. We've already been doing this for a while... I'm not sure how long we would actually be able to take it." He knew their alpha just wanted what was best for the pack, but if he didn't know better, he'd suspect her father was doing this on purpose.
He gave her a small, almost sad smile. "I think we both know it isn't that easy... the competition is about as deeply ingrained in our wolves as the knowledge that we're mates. I wish I could forget about it, honestly, even if it was just a few minutes every day." He sighed and reached out, taking her hand in his. "If you really think we can do it though, I'm willing to try. I'm sure it can't be any worse than what we're doing now."

---

Kadrin's reply was cut off as she was picked up once more, but she didn't even bother with wasting breath on reprimanding him. Obviously, he was going to continue doing it whether she liked it or not. "That's one truly annoying habit you've developed," she muttered when he finally set her down inside her room. Honestly, she was surprised he hadn't nailed her window shut or something similar yet. Then again, she was pretty sure no one knew she still climbed out the window, since she had been moved to a room where there wasn't a tree just outside.
She sighed as she sat down on the edge of her bed. "You know, I miss when we got into trouble together rather than you working against me," she informed him. "If I remember correctly, you didn't pick me up then either."

@ beautiful monotony
Amilia held onto his hand tightly. "I'm sure that it can't get worse either." She told him before lacing their fingers together gently. "I don't think it will be easy. Right now both of these things are the most important things to us." Amilia rubbed the back of his hand gently. "It will take time but I think it will come to a point where we can actually set it aside....Maybe if we force ourselves to spend some time with each other every day where we don't talk about the pack or the competition. Maybe that would help?"

---

Jackson let out a small sigh as she rubbed the back of his head. He missed getting into trouble with her too. Though his instincts kept telling him to keep her safe. Going off and causing problems did not keep Kadrin safe. "Well the picking up thing is not going to change no matter what." He said with a light chuckle.
Jackson moved and sat down besides her. Jackson smiled at her before wrapping an arm around her and kind of hugging her. "We can still get into trouble. We can still hang out like we used to. It just has to be a different kind of trouble then what you're up to."

@ Mother.Of.Dragons
Zach sighed, squeezing her hand gently. "Well, it's an idea and has the possibility of working. Its better than what we're doing now, and I'm willing to try just about anything if you are. We can even start now if you want," he offered with a light smile. "No more competition for the rest of the night. We won't even think about it. Just you and me..." his gaze trailed from their entwined hands to the bowl of ice cream, and he smirked a little. "And that ice cream."

---

"You know I don't like it, so I don't know why you insist on doing it," Kadrin grumbled with a sigh as he sat down beside her. As he hugged her, she poked him in the side. "I know you're huge, so you don't have to keep proving it," she teased and even managed a pout when he said that she had to change the sort of trouble she was currently getting into. She guessed with how long they had been friends and with how close they were, it was just hard to even be mad at him, much less stay that way.
"Okay, let's hypothetically say I agree to this... what sort of trouble would you propose we get into? Also, you know its only considered trouble if I actually get caught, right? And getting caught by you doesn't count." she poked him again.

@ beautiful monotony
"That's right." Amilia said as she began to perk up a bit. "Just you, me and my ice cream." She piled on more sugary goodness onto the spoon before taking a large bite of it. Zach was her mate and she was truly happy when she was around him. But at the same time Zach was her enemy and she hated his presence. She just needed to figure out how to separate the two.
"Now tell me. What should we do tonight?" Amilia said as she swirled her ice cream around and took another bite. "What do you want to do?"

---

"You can still be getting yourself into trouble without getting caught. Like let's say you went into a tiger's cage. That's trouble since I'm sure it'll see you as a snack. But somehow you managed not to get caught. Then you're Damn lucky.' Jackson told her with a chuckle. "But anyways we can do all sorts of things. We can play pranks and go into abandoned buildings. We just can not mess with the alpha or do something where you might actually get hurt. Like no attack tigers okay?'

@ Mother.Of.Dragons
"Hmm..." Well, he wasn't really sure what he wanted to do. No, that was a lie. He wanted to take what he knew about what was going on and try to make that plan of action. Except he couldn't think about that because he wasn't sitting at the table with his competition. He was sitting at the table with his mate, and that was final. Which was harder than it sounded, actually.
"Well, I can think of one thing." Without explaining himself, he took her spoon from her and took a bite out of her ice cream with a grin. Then he took another spoon full, but rather than eat that too, he offered it to her, all while mentally repeating that she wasn't competition. She was mate.

---

"Oh come on," Kadrin argued. "I live with a pack of wolves that go crazy during the full moon, but I can't even pet a little tiger?" It was a halfhearted argument at best since she wasn't really sure she wanted to get eaten by a tiger for one... and knowing her friend, there was no chance that it was going to happen anyway.
"You might want to define for me what counts as something I can't do with you around though. That way I know not to try with you around." Like finding out when the next alpha meeting was. Jackson would probably be expecting her to try it again since he knew her... but that just meant that she would have to hide better.

@ beautiful monotony
Amilia took a bite from the spoon he offered her. Though it only took he's a few spoonfuls to realize what was going on in his mind. Well at least she knew he was thinking about their competition she couldn't be too upset with him though. That was normally on her mind when she saw him.
Amelia took the spoon from him before lightly poking ice cream onto his nose. She then let go of his hand and out her bowl away. Once she was done cleaning up Amilia wnet back to him and took his hand again. "Let's wafch a movie or something.'

---

"I'm not going to tell you because then you will make sure that I am not around when you do those things." Jackson told her fist out. He wasn't an idiot. He knew what her plan was and he disagreed with it. He also already knew that she would try and go to the next meeting. Though that was a problem for another day. "And we may go crazy during the full moon but no one has tried to eaten you.'

@ Mother.Of.Dragons
Zach wrinkled his nose as Amilia put ice cream on it, and wiped it off as she went to clean her bowl. "A movie sounds good," he agreed to her suggestion as he stood. "Your room or mine?" There was a sort of family room in the house where they could watch a movie or play games or just hang out, but he was pretty sure it was going to be crowded and he didn't really feel like dealing with the others at the moment. And since they both had TVs in their rooms, that pretty much solved the problem.

---

Kadrin gave a small sigh. He knew her too well. Well, at least he didn't have any delusions that she'd only get in trouble with him around. Just like she didn't have any delusions that he would continue to try and stay a step ahead and keep her from doing what he defined as 'stupid' things. "Okay, fair enough, on both accounts," she conceded and moved out of his arms, flopping back on her bed. "What do you want to do for now?" For all she knew, he wasn't going to leave until she fell asleep anyway, just to make sure she didn't try to sneak out again. That was a bad mistake others had made before... assuming being caught once meant that she wouldn't try again immediately after.

@ beautiful monotony
"Yours." Amilia told him as she walked with him up the stairs and to his room. She didn't want to go to hers because she had plenty of alpha related things on her desk. She didn't want him to see it and she was hoping to try and forget about it for the rest of the night. Though that was completely unlikely but she wanted to at least try.
Once they got to his room Amilia plopped herself right on his bed. She glanced around, seeing a few random things here or there. "You can pick out the movie."

---

Jackson moved his body so that he was keaning against the wall besides her bed. "I'm up for anything right now. We could play a game or maybe mess around with some of the others." He grinned widely before chuckling. "I actually need to get Zach and George back for the prank they pulled on me. I was thinking of tying string to their door and tying the other end to something else so they can't get out. Or at least that was what I would do to one of them. Though since they can get out of the window I need to think of something for that too."

@ Mother.Of.Dragons
Zach's room was actually mostly neat. Usually when he got done with something, he put it away. It was probably partial OCD and partial paranoia, but either way, there wasn't really much to see except for a few scattered belongings.
"At least tell me what sort of movie you're in the mood for. Horror, action, sci-fi, comedy...?" he trailed off, crouched down next to the case of movies that was under the TV. If he was going to pick the movie, he was at least going to let her pick what sort of movie they watched.

---

Kadrin's mood brightened considerably at the prospect of a prank. "I can handle windows," she told him confidently. "You wouldn't believe everything that's been tried to keep me from climbing out of mine, really. The most common mistake is that they don't ever try to close it off from the outside." she hopped up, heading over to a dresser, and opened up a couple of drawers, looking through them, before she finally pulled something out and showed it to Jackson. "Super glue."