What Has Become Of Me?

I come to a stop and shield my eyes with my free hands as I catch sight of my brother hosing his naked body.

“Dan! What did I say about-” I’m cut off as someone crashes into me.

We both go sprawling to the ground and before I can even gather a coherent thought, Brian pins my arms above my head trapping me beneath his strong body with small water droplets sparkling in the sunlight seeming to highlight his striking muscles. I squeeze my eyes shut and will away my wolf’s feelings. It can only be my wolf’s feelings; because why would I want so badly to reach up and pull Brian closer?

“Got ya” Brian says and I peek out of one eye to see him grinning as he towers over me.

Dan laughs from somewhere behind Brian’s powerful body.

“So much for me getting in trouble for showering” Dan calls to me, “You’re practically having sex.”

“Shut up!” I yell at Dan.

Brian and I just stare for a moment into each other’s eyes. Once I break eye contact he quickly grabs his towel and wraps it around himself. An awkward silence falls over us as I lay beneath him. Suddenly freezing water is sprayed over us. I gasp at the sudden coldness.

“Cool off you two!” Dan yells, “No need to do anything above PG.”

Brian offers me a smirk before he gets up and goes inside. I sit up then wait for a moment. That was odd. Dan shuts off the hose and thankfully wraps his own towel around his lower half. He walks over to me and offers me his hand.

“Need a hand up?” he asks and I take his hand.

We walk inside together in silence as thoughts plague my mind. That was just my wolf that made me feel like that, right?

Inside Nathan is in just his boxers and sitting on the couch.

“Hey” I greet and plop down into the seat beside him.

“Hi” Nathan responds and smiles.

His wet hair clings to his face and he brushes it out of his eyes.

“Did you have fun?” Nathan asks breaking the silence that had encased the room.

“Yeah” I reply and grin.

He gets to his feet and tells me he’ll be back in a moment. When he returns I’m shocked to find him carrying the jumbo peanut butter container that had been bought earlier as well as two spoons. Nathan grins at me before retaking his seat. He doesn’t waste any time unscrewing the lid and dipping in one of his spoons.

“Want some?” he asks me before shoving his heaped spoon of peanut butter into his mouth.

“Sure” I reply and take his spare spoon.

I take a small amount from the container and slowly eat it off the spoon. Nathan happily shovels the spread into his mouth.

Chase ambles down the stairs then collapses in the final seat to the lounge Nathan and I are sharing. We both glance at him. Chase is just wearing the towel he found in my linen cupboard.

“Can I have some?” Chase asks from beside me.

Nathan shoves another heaped spoon of peanut butter into his mouth before shaking his head.

“But Anika got some” Chase whines.

Nathan shrugs as if to say ‘so what?’.

“Give it up Chase, he never shares with anyone” Jett says from half way down the stairs.

Like Chase, Jett is in just a towel. My wolf at this point is far from being bored, she’s scratching at the sides of my skull just like a dog scratching at a door as it wishes to get out.

“Anika got some” Chase tells Jett.

“She did?” Jett looks up to see me with my spoon in my mouth, “that’s being sexist Nathan.”

“Am not!” Nathan defends.

“You so are, you won’t share with guys but as soon as a girl wants some you give it to her immediately” Chase informs him.

“Anika wants some and who’s giving it to her?” Brian pipes up from the stairs as he repeats the snippet of conversation he heard.

Jett laughs and takes a seat on the floor and Brian takes an armchair.

“Nathan’s giving it to her” Chase says with a devilish smirk.

I roll my eyes.

“No need to get jealous because he’s better than the rest of you” I respond playing along with their conversation of such a clear double meaning.

“How would you know?” Chase asks, “Have you ever tried my peanut butter?”

He completes the question with a suggestive wiggle of his eyebrows. I just roll my eyes.

“Mine isn’t as crunchy” Jett says, “its smoother.”

“What are you talking about?” Dan asks as he walks into the room being the only man fully clothed.

“Peanut butter” Chase, Jett and Brian reply quickly and complete it with a shrug of their shoulders.

Dan eyes them all suspiciously before taking the last remaining chair in the room.

Shortly Dom and Seb join us in the room. Seb sits between my legs again just as he did at Nathan’s house but this time he is in just a towel. Dom perches on the arm rest beside Chase.

“You do realise my father will probably kill you all for sitting here practically naked with his daughter, right?” I ask after a glance around the room.

“Damn, forgot about parents” Chase curses.

We all look at him funny.

“What difference does it make?” Jett asks him.

“Well, I was planning on staying behind to look after Anika and I wasn’t planning on putting my cloths back on” Chase replies.

“I’m hungry” Seb declares cutting off the conversation.

Everyone agrees the same. Seb wanders off into the kitchen at a casual pace. We hear shuffling from the kitchen but no one bothers to get up, why should we? Seb is eighteen so therefore apparently an adult, he doesn’t need carers.

“Wait a minute!” Jett exclaims as he realises something, “He’s attacking my Oreos!”

Jett bolts into the kitchen with his towel only loosely hanging on. The rest of us follow quickly just to see what happens. As we walk in Seb is sitting on the floor of the kitchen surrounded by boxes of Oreos. Most boxes are already empty and only two have been spared. Crumbs are everywhere.

“What did you do?” Jett demands.

“Got hungry” Seb replies slowly.

“You hurt my babies!” Jett accuses.

“So what are you going to do about it?”

Jett leaps at Seb as the small man tries to escape but he’s caught in a corner. Jett grabs Seb’s shoulders and stands up. Seb is of course left dangling off the floor by his shoulders but one unexpected event is that Jett’s towel drops from his waist.

I cover my eyes wishing not to scar my eyes any further for the day.

“I’ll tell you what must be done!” Jett exclaims, “You must be sacrificed to the ceiling fan!”

I peek from behind my own hand to see Jett raising Seb up higher. Seb struggles and kicks but it is hard to do much while being held up in the air. Before anything more can happen the worst sound possible at this moment echoes through the house.

“We’re home” my mother calls and we all freeze.

Jett accidentally drops Seb and we all stare at each other.

“Out!” I hiss at them and gesture towards the back door.

“But our cloths” Chase starts to say.

“Get out!” I hiss as loudly as I dare, “Outside and hide!”

Dan starts shoving them towards the door and thankfully they start running.

“Hello?” my father calls out, “Everything alright?”

“Yeah!” I yell back just as Dan does.

We quietly close the back door as I see my almost naked pack bolt to hide in the trees at the edges of our garden. Dan and I turn around just as my parents enter the room. Both Louise and Markus eye us carefully.

“What did you do?” Markus asks suspiciously.

“Nothing” Dan and I respond together all too quickly.

“Why is there Oreo’s boxes all through the kitchen floor?” my mother asks me as she notices Seb’s mess.

“We got hungry?” Dan starts to answer but his unsure tone turns it to a question.

“I’m sure” my mother says sarcastically.

“Why can I smell milk? And other wolves?” my father asks.

“Because we had Anika’s pack over” Dan replies, “the milk was out because you can’t have Oreos without milk.”

“Are they still here?” my father asks.

“No, you just missed them” Dan replies as he and I try to casually leave the room.

“Is that why their car is still parked in our drive way?” my mother asks.

We both freeze. Damn. My parents laugh at us.

“Where are they?” my mother asks.

“In the backyard” I grumble.

“Why?”

“For hide and seek” I answer.

“And you aren’t looking?” my father asks still suspicious.

“Of course not, I wanted to say hi to you since we haven’t seen each other for quite some time” I reply brightly.

My mother and father share a look.

“Which rooms should we avoid?” they ask at the same time.

“Well… try to stay out of the bathroom and my bedroom for a little while” I respond whilst nervously rubbing the back of my neck.

Before any more conversation can pass between us a precession of naked men in towels can be seen bolting across our backyard, headed for the gate.

“Oh my God!” my mother exclaims.

“You’ve got to be kidding” I mutter as the boys freeze upon being seen, Nathan not only holding his towel but also a jumbo container of peanut butter.

Now they’ve done it.