Pack Gems by Kuro Kusai, WhiteWolf Aura (year 2 reading books .txt) 📕

~Taylor's POV~

After her third attempt, she was getting frustrated. She would have had this done by now, had she not been working with a bra wire. It also didn't help this wasn't your average, run of the mill, lock. With one last jab and a twist, a satisfying pop sounded.

Freedom.

She resisted the urge to swing the door open and exclaim, 'Free at Last!' Instead she opted for a stealthier approach and cracked the door open.

Taylor had no idea what time it was, being that there was no clock in her bare room but it had to be early. She didn't hear the sound of wolves bustling about.

Taylor slipped through the door and up the steps-- which proceeded to scare her with each creak and followed Kaden's weak scent throughout the house. She did, however, pause at the door to the kitchen.

Hmmm.

Food.

She made a detour knowing Kaden would appreciate food with her visit.

After a few minutes, Taylor emerged with several bags of chips, cans of pop, a deck of cards, each of the Alpha's cell phones and several overused paperclips for future locks in need of picking. She followed Kaden's scent down the winding hallway of the east wing. She stopped at a reinforced door with one giant lock on it. With a flip of her wrist Taylor unlocked Kaden's door.

"Hey buddy!" Taylor kicked the door with her foot, seeing as her hands were full of junk food. Kaden was busy examining her bandages and didn't even bother to look up or act surprised, "Took you long enough."

Taylor unloaded the mound of snacks from her arms and onto the bed. The rustle of the bags caught Kaden's attention, "Ooh! You went on a fun-run! All is forgiven."

Kaden grabbed at the bag of Funyuns and Taylor began to shuffle the deck of cards. Both girls knew they couldn't escape yet, their injuries didn't really bother them anymore but it could still slow them down in the long run. And when you were out running a pack, every last detail went into effect. So instead of running they opted to bide time...the fun way.

"Up for a game of Speed?" Taylor shuffled the cards. "You know it." Kaden replied around a mouthful of funyuns.

After much arguing over who said 'speed' first during the fifth tie-breaker round, a phone rang. Both Taylor and Kaden grabbed for a cell phone and answered with a cheery hello.

"Yo." Kaden's greeting was rewarded with a snarl and a very unfriendly

"Who's this?!" Taylor tossed her losing phone to the side and listened more intently to Kaden.

"Lassie. Who's this?"

"Where's Chris?!" snarled the pissed off female.

"I 'unno." Kaden shrugged with her reply, "Where is he?"

Kaden then turned to Taylor, "Sadie, you know where he is?"

"No clue." She said as she munched on some cheetohs.

The female screeched again, bringing her back to their center of focus, "Where are you located?!"

"My room. The one with the huge lock. And you?"

"Topeka." she growled.

"Sadie, do you know where Topikah is?"

"Toopeekah?"

"Oh Topeka." Kaden was corrected over the phone. "

Ha, ha, Topeka. I like it, it's catchy. Topeka~"

It seemed their female informant had had enough of their ridicule and hung up the phone. Kaden looked at the phone with a frown, "How rude." She then proceeded to pocket the phone.

"I'm hungry." Taylor proclaimed.

"You think there's more steaks?"

"Nah, I think we laid waste to them....oh. I know. How about pizza?"

"Meat lovers?" Cal asked hopefully from the doorway. Without missing a beat, the girls agreed with a hearty "Hell yeah!" Taylor was already punching in numbers on what she assumed was Mason's cell phone. "Only if you pay." Kaden laughed. After their second round of poker, using fritos as chips, another guest arrived. A sleepy looking Axel sauntered in, "Deal me in." They all slid over to make room as the doorbell rang.

"Who's that?" Axel asked, examining his cards. "Pizza." Kaden and Taylor explained in unison.

"Meat lovers?" Axel asked hopefully. "Naturally." Lucas stated, Lucas, their 'guard' had shown up right as they started to deal their cards.

The bell rang again.

"You gonna get that?" Axel asked the girls.

"Nope. Mason can take care of it." Taylor waved the subject away and turned her attention back to the cards.

== Mason's POV ==

What was that annoying sound?

It continued to get louder and more frequent as it drug him back to consciousness.

"Ugh...what now?" he murmured into his pillow. It was bad enough he was sharing his house with a rival Alpha but two crazy She-wolves that resisted any and all assistance? It wore him out. With a grumble he hoisted himself out of bed and staggered out to answer the door. The mystery visitor had abandoned the doorbell now, instead pounding on the door.

"Yes?" Mason had snatched the door open before another round of pounding could ensue.

"Ah, hey man, didn't think you were ever gonna answer. Here's you order, five large meat lover pizzas."

The young teen pushed the five boxes into Mason's hands. "That'll be $62.53" The boy looked at him expectantly.

"I didn't order this." He gestured to his sleepwear to say he'd just got out of bed.

The teen ignored Mason and began digging in his jeans. He tried to give it back to him but he refused as he pulled out a scrap of paper.

"Are you Mason Kavanaugh?" The boy looked at the receipt.

"Yes." he set the boxes on the nearby counter.

"Well, this is where we were suppose to deliver....some female...Tra...Tay..."

"Taylor." Mason couldn't keep the venom from his voice.

"Yes! Her. She placed the delivery here...was it a prank phone call?"

Mason thought for several heartbeats, "No. No, it wasn't." he sighed "How much do I owe you?"

"$62.53."

"Let me go get my wallet." Mason rubbed his face with one hand. After paying the bill and giving the teen a small tip, he slammed the door shut. She'd escaped. Damn. Mason rushed to her room to find it empty with a wire still dangling from the lock. Stomping back up the stairs he heard it. Laughter. Who the hell was laughing at 8:30 in the morning? He followed the sound to the room he'd assigned for Kaden. What he discovered shocked him.

There, in the small room, were Taylor, Kaden, Axel, Lucas and Calvin. They all sat in a circled engrossed in what looked like an intense game of poker.

"I call your bet." Taylor triumphantly slid two Fritos forward. Mason saw his two wolves stiffen and look up at their Alpha. He raised an eyebrow and they scrambled to their feet, "We'll uh, go dish out some pizza."

Lucas supplied before rounding the corner and following Cal.

"Morning." Taylor grinned.

His temper flared, "How'd you get out?"

Taylor didn't seem the least bit intimidated, "Well, I'm sure you saw, I picked the lock." She leaned over to look at Cal's abandoned cards that he foolishly left on the floor face up. "Ha. I knew he was bluffing." she laughed to herself.

"Why the hell are there five boxes--Is that my phone???" Mason took a step closer and bent to pick up his cell that was surrounded by empty wrappers near Taylor.

"Oh? It's yours?"

"I had it locked in the kitchen drawer last night with Axels'." He checked his outgoing calls and found Pizza Hut as the last call. Yep. The little thief.

"Wait. My phone was in there too?" Axel whipped to looked at Mason "Is it still in there?"

"Probably not." He said, narrowing his eyes on Taylor.

"Hey, I don't have his phone." Taylor held up her hands. All eyes turned to Kaden.

.::. Kaden's POV.::.

"What'd I do now?" Kaden said innocence radiating from her wide eyes. "I didn't steal his phone. Hey Lucas, gimme a slice would ya?"

"Then who did?" Mason asked, rhetorically.

"Yeah, me too Luke." Taylor interrupted, calling everyone's attention back to her.

"Tay, pass me a soda?" Kaden asked.

"Who has my pho---."

"You mean pop." She asked, cutting across Axel and opening a new case of Mt. Dew.

"No, soda."

"Pop."

"SODA."

"POP."

"THE PHONE!" Axel demanded.

"Geez, someone's grumpy." Kaden replied. "I have a phone. Some very rude chick called about an hour ago for some guy named Chris. He in the pack?" She then asked Mason. "....no." Mason replied, stifling a smile.

"CHISTOPHER AXEL ARMSTRONG!"

l Axel's POV l

No way. Audrey? Here? NOW? Damn it all. Damn it all to hell.

He got up and started for the door.

"Christopher?" Kaden asked. "Oh my God, no friggin' way."

Taylor added laughing so hard she doubled over clutching her stomach.

"Shut...up..." Axel replied, now turning down the hallway. He was headed for the entrance to the house, but Audrey saved him the trouble. "Where have you been? Your pack has been worried sick! Why don't you have your phone? And who the hell is Lassie and Sadie?" She asked, jealousy creeping into her voice.

Axel knew she was just here to keep an eye on him. His pack would have known if something had gone wrong which it hadn't. He held up one finger, "Here." Then added another. "Sadie." And then a third finger joined the other two as he simply stated "My poker buds."

Audrey shrieked with rage and walked up to him and tried to slap him, but he grabbed her wrist, his movement barely traceable.

"Stop struggling." He told her, and immediately, she did.

"Go back home." He told her. "They can," she said pointing over her shoulder, "I'm staying."

Axel looked at the other half dozen wolves and in resignation, turned to Mason.

"Up to you Alpha man. Will you allow her?" He asked.

"No problem here." Mason replied.

"Great." Axel said, sounding less than happy.

Audrey's face morphed from rage to ecstatic as she smile up at Axel and asked what had been going on. He ignored her and returned to Kaden's room. "I'm going to bed." And without another word, pulled up the covers of Kaden's bed and went to bed. "But....that's my bed." Kaden said, around a mouthful of pizza. Axel opened his almond shaped eyes and looked over at where she stood, slice of pizza in one hand and a Mt. dew on the other. "Sharing is caring." He replied, patting the pillow next to him.

"Oh yeah. I care so much that I'm going to let you have the whole bed. And Taylor cares about me so much, she's going to share her bed....i hope."

Taylor looked over at Kaden "Yeah no prob, this room's trashed. Candy wrappers, beer and soda cans all over the place, nah I can't let you sleep in here."

Axel scoffed and turned his back to the room, giving a silent signal for everyone to leave the vicinity. "Sorry for the mess in here Mace, I'm sure Axel will have it cleaned up in no time." Taylor voiced, sounding more than assured that Axel would do the work.

"Yeah, we sure as hell aren't." Kaden added as she walked out of the room, down the hallway and into the kitchen for a second slice. Everyone, except sleeping beauty did too.

The kitchen now held, Kaden, Taylor, Mason, Calvin, Lucas and Audrey. With the Alpha's rage meter off the charts, the victim could be any of them at this point, they had all done some thing or another to anger him and the large kitchen now felt stuffed and confined with his power surrounding them.

Taylor sighed. "Well, Mason, ma' man, I'm ready to fall over from exhaustion. If you don't mind I promised a certain friend of mine that I would share my bed with them. So I bid you fare