Cats and Dogs

“It’s not funny!” I exclaimed several minutes after Jake and I had finished the story to find that the other members of the pack were laughing hysterically.

“Yes…it…is,” gasped Sam as he tried to calm himself down. He didn’t, but he tried.

“Fine, laugh it up,” said Jake with a small smile forming on his face as he squeezed my hand, causing me to stare at him strangely.

“We’re sorry,” said Quil, he was the only one that had stopped laughing and I greatly appreciated his effort to help the situation, even if it did nothing to do so.

“So, why didn’t we hear Jake yelling?” he continued and the pack immediately sobered up, apparently that interested them enough to divert their attention away from Jacob’s unfortunate predicament. Even the wolf in question looked over at me with a questioning expression on his face.

“Really?” I asked as I tried to not to laugh, the dogs had no idea what I thought was funny, but that just made it more amusing in my book. “You only want to know why you didn’t hear him? You aren’t interested in why we made it here first even though we were walking and you were running? You don’t care why you didn’t run into us even though we went in the same direction? Wow Quil, I’m ashamed of you.” I barely got the words out before I was rolling around on the floor and howling in laughter.

I mean, I knew wolves were a little dense but this was ridicules. Even someone with half a brain would realize-oh, never mind.

“Um… is that a trick question?” He asked and I gasped several times before shaking my head and picking myself off the floor in order to sit back down with Jake.

“Better?” He asked as I took his hand when I noticed his tightened fist.

“Much, now back to your question,” I turned my attention back to the rest of the pack and had to bite my lip to keep from laughing again. “The reason you didn’t hear Jake is because my goddess didn’t want you to, that also answers the other questions you should have asked.”

The silence that ensued after that statement could only be described as uncomfortable.

“Goddess?” asked Paul with a raised eye brow. “Please tell me you’re joking.” I suddenly had the urge to hold him down and bite his throat again. The boy was much more respectful after the first time I did that.

“She’s not joking,” said Embry and I swear to all that is cat-like that every member of the pack jumped away from him like a rat from a snake.

“How the hell do you know that?” asked Leah as she eyed the dog suspiciously.

Embry smiled cheekily and answered in a smart ass way that I had to admire, “she likes me.” By the way Jacob stiffened beside me I knew he thought that it was me Embry was talking about.

“She does not!” I argued and let go of Jake’s hand in order to throw my arms into the air dramatically. “She never said she liked you!” Actually, she didn’t say much of anything.

“No, but she did speak to me, how many people other than your kind can you say that about?” He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall; unaware that his friends were staring at him like he had lost his mind.

“Four,” I said honestly, “and that’s not including the humans and other wolves that have died.” The look on Embry’s face was priceless, never in my hundred years of life have I seen that mixture of surprise, disappointment, and fear.

“Alright, can someone please tell me what’s going on here?” asked Seth as he looked between Embry and I as if he thought I was going to jump across the table and attack him. Now why would I do that? I’m not angry, simply amused at the wolf’s antics.

“Start at the beginning,” ordered Sam as I opened my mouth to speak. I would have snapped at him and told him that I’d start wherever the hell I wanted to start but the look he was giving me freaked me out.

“Okay,” I said softly and leaned against Jake, allowing my bare arm to meet his, causing the dog to sigh in contentment.

“First, cougar shifters aren’t natural like you all.” I pointed to the boys and … girl in front of me and continued, “They were created by a goddess, a goddess who remains nameless. This woman controls the happenings of a cougar shifter’s life and sometimes she speaks to us and people we’re close to.” When Jake’s breathing became a little more ragged I decided to call him on it. Yes, I am evil and I love it.

“Are you jealous?” I asked and pulled away from Jake, just enough to look at him but not enough to break contact.

“No,” he said sternly and apparently I wasn’t the only one who saw through his answer.

“You are!” laughed Paul, “You’re jealous that Alai’s close to Embry. It’s written all over your face!” The only way it would have been more obvious is if Jake had written “In Love with Crazy Bitch” on his forehead in black magic marker.

“I’m not jealous,” he huffed and pulled me closer against him. “I’m just interested in how Embry came to befriend my imprint.”

“Sure,” I said unconvinced. “I’m getting to that. But first let me give you the crash course on my catness.” Let’s get rid of the elephant in the room before having a party in it. “I’m immortal meaning it’s literally impossible for me to die, trust me I’ve found that out the hard way. I have enhanced senses, I’m normally nocturnal, and oh yeah, when I shift my clothes magically pop in and out of existence.” It’s sad when you can tell someone everything about your strange magical creature abilities in less than two minutes.

“What?!” screamed the people currently sitting in my living room. “That’s not fair!” That, I’d have to agree with.

“That’s why I was clothed when I shifted back earlier!” said Jake a little too loudly, causing everyone to stare at him strangely.

“Oh, you’re a smart doggy aren’t you?” I rubbed the boy’s head condescendingly. “You figured that all out by yourself and I don’t even have a milkbone.” Jake growled threateningly and I patted his head once again to calm him down.

“I don’t find that funny,” he hissed. Well, he might not, but I thought it was pretty damn hilarious.

“Wait a second,” said Sam. “How would your goddess affect Jake? You said she only over saw the lives of the cougar shifters.” Technically I said “controlled” but I figured that pointing that out would be in bad taste.

“He’s my soul mate so she has full rights to his life as well.” As if on cue the doorbell rang and since this was my house, I jumped up and ran to the front door, not remembering that Jake would only last a few seconds before he started screaming in pain.

I flung the door open and stared at the teenager that was trying to hold everything without dropping my order. Now I know I could have immediately taken something from the boy in order to help him, but I just didn’t want the show to end. I mean, he had eight pizza boxes and a bucket of anchovies in one hand; bags that I guessed contained the drinks in another, and had the receipt in his mouth. Come on, it was like my own personal circus performance, of course I didn’t want it to end.

“Help,” the boy gasped around the paper in his mouth and I took pity on his soul by taking the food from him.

“Jake!” I called and within seconds the wolf in question was at my side. “Take the rest of the stuff from the pizza guy and bring it into the kitchen.” I didn’t wait for him to say anything and walked passed him.

“Why did you ask me to help you?” asked Jacob as he entered the kitchen behind me and placed the bags on the counter. “I can barely stay in the same room as you for more than five minutes without wanting to rip your head off.” If that didn’t raise a girl’s self esteem nothing would.

“I’ve been leaning against you for more than a half an hour,” I pointed out as I took out a stack of plates and started placing slices of pizza on them.

“Yes, evidently I have a lot of will power,” he answered seriously. Well, that was just plain cruel.

“Apparently,” I agreed and motioned for him to take some of the plates since it was impossible to carry nine at once.

Knock, knock, knock.

“I’ll get it!” called Embry and I simply shrugged. He’d scare them off if they were Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Kick, kick, kick

I froze and allowed Jake to run into me.

“Embry! Don’t answer it!” I screamed and ran as fast as I could to the front door.

doorknob turn, doorknob turn, doorknob turn

“Hello?” I heard Embry ask just seconds before I made it to the doorway and saw the red headed demon that I had known for most of my life.

“Alai,” he said once he saw me. “I thought we made a pact to always answer the door for the other. You know what happens when someone else does it.”

I turned to Embry and simply glared at the wolf who had no idea what was going on.

“Oh, pizza.” The man reached over and took a slice of pizza from one of the plates in my hands before shoving the entire thing into his mouth.

“You’re disgusting Brandon.”