Chapter 5
Dorian
“That’s a very good question, Wolfchen, but my first thought is that we aren’t strangers for some reason or there was a serious problem where he came from.” Braun’s whispered words were practical but the low tone and the feel of his breath on my neck had me fighting to control myself.
It was not the time to moan or ask him if he was dating anyone.
Focus.
“Teenagers can be overly confident about dangerous situations, but this hasn’t given me good feelings from the very beginning.” His swing from angry to excited might be a normal teenage mood swing, but nothing else about the situation felt normal.
Werewolves, Alphas, and packs notwithstanding.
“We’re just going to take it one step at a time and not react if he says something unexpected.” Braun paused but didn’t hide me from the reality of the situation. “If he was just lost or something like that, we’d have already heard about it. Pups don’t disappear unless they don’t want to be found.”
And there weren’t many situations where a teenager would make that kind of decision.
Not good.
Very, very not good.
“I understand.” And I did…I’d run into difficult situations in the past, I’d just hoped I’d seen the last of those. “No reaction and we take things one step at a time.”
I could do that.
“He’s coming.” Somehow Braun’s lips brushed my ear but that was just because he’d needed to get close enough for me to hear his quiet words.
Them having better than average hearing was perfectly understandable given the different physiology.
His timing was better than average too because he’d straightened and stepped away from me before our new friend came barreling out of the bedroom, clothed and in a human body.
Amazing.
“Can I have a sandwich before we have burgers, Alpha?” The boy skidded to a halt halfway between us, sauntering the rest of the way in an oversized T-shirt and basketball shorts that looked like something any of my students would’ve come in wearing.
He seemed to be right at the halfway point between kid and actual teenager, so it was hard to tell right off the bat how old he was. “I couldn’t eat the dog food. It smelled funky. I don’t think dogs should be eating that either. I’ve seen stuff in the grocery store that smells a lot better.”
His mind seemed to go as fast as his body did.
“They get donations of dog food but most of the time it’s not the highest quality.” Which ones smelled better? “There might be a way to do a fundraiser to buy higher quality food on a regular basis. It’s not something I’ve ever thought about.”
Our new friend didn’t hold that against me. “I hadn’t either. I know people who have dogs, but they don’t always like us, so I haven’t hung around them much.”
Interesting.
“What—”
“We’ll explain the problems with dogs and wolves over burgers.” Braun managed not to roll his eyes but it seemed painful to hold it back. “Let’s stay on track.”
The young man nodded, standing straighter and looking older again. “Food. Yes, Alpha.”
Was that what Braun had been going to say?
His sigh said no but he didn’t contradict the boy. “Kitchen is that way.”
He was feeling dramatic because he turned to me and raised one eyebrow. “Would you like to lead the way?”
“Sure.” My bad habit of wasting time looking at house plans I couldn’t afford yet was going to pay off because I’d seen the plans for this house online last week, so I pointed for our new friend. “That way. Can you smell the different scents that would tell you where the kitchen is?”
“Yeah.” Looking down at himself, the young man bounced in the direction of the kitchen before he slowed down to pretend to walk like an adult again. “Well, I’d have to really think about it in this form to make it work, but definitely in my wolf form. That’s got badass senses.”
“Language, please.” There was no point in encouraging bad habits, but Braun started coughing which had our new friend snickering.
“Yes, Sir.” Still wearing an ear-to-ear grin, he bounded into the kitchen like the pup that Braun kept calling him. “Wow. This is huge.”
“It’s got a large pantry too.” Or at least it should, based on the original floor plans. “You’d need something like this for any decent-sized pack.”
“At some point I’m going to nail you down about which author you’ve been reading.” Braun’s drama got more giggles from the young man. “But yes, the pantry is a good size and that’s important.”
We were too far south to worry about snow storms, but hurricanes were a problem on a regular basis.
“I could eat the whole thing.” Throwing himself down in a chair at the table, the young man groaned. “I’m starving.”
Hmm.
“When did you last eat?” If it’d been too long we might need to start with something easier than a sandwich. “Does shifting affect how many calories you need to eat in the day?”
Did some of my students need time for a snack?
Glancing back at Braun as I headed over to the fridge, I frowned. “Should I be making sure my mid-morning or afternoon students get time for a snack? No one mentioned anything like that.”
But the administration had clearly dropped the ball on mentioning a variety of important things.
“Depends on what your students are.” Braun shrugged as he sat down beside the young man. “Shifters need more calories than someone like a mage or one of those mental magic types.”
Oh.
“I have a student who always seems to know when I’m going to drop a pencil or do something embarrassing like trip over nothing.” I tried to pay attention but my students were ridiculously distracting.
Snorting, Braun grinned. “You’ve got at least one kid in that room who’s making you trip over nothing to entertain everyone else…guarantee it.”
“Great.” Magical teenagers and a smart-ass. “You’re going to help me figure out a way to handle that, but we’ll put that on the backburner for now.”
We had higher priorities at the moment.
“Turkey, ham, or both?” Braun needed groceries. “There’s only one kind of lettuce and a slightly sad-looking tomato but I think they’re both still good.”
Teenagers all had the craziest senses of humor…salad wasn’t humorous in the slightest.
“Sad tomatoes aren’t funny.”
Great.
They were both laughing.
“Aren’t Alphas supposed to be good influences?” It should’ve been an easy, slightly ridiculous question but our new friend went very still.
Pretending not to notice, I kept my gaze on Braun and shook my head. “Snickering like a kid.”
“What can I say?” He shrugged, keeping his tone dry as he glanced over at the boy. “I can’t wait until he meets my mother.”
That seemed to spring life back into the pup. “She still lives here too?”
He asked the most interesting questions.
Wait.
Still?
“Yes, and she’s a pain in the ass.” Braun leaned back in his chair as I gave up and grabbed both types of meat along with cheese and a variety of condiments.
“She kept most of the teens in the pack over at her house last night and stuffed everyone with brownies and junk food while they watched horror movies.”
“What?” Dumping the food out on the counter, I shot Braun a glare. “Really?”
And the giggles were back.
Braun gave the boy a conspiratorial look. “Told ya.”
As the young man tried not to giggle, he gave me what was probably supposed to be an innocent look. “Are you a vegan, Sir?”
That question should not have been as funny as they both seemed to think it was.
“No.” And the amount of processed meats in Braun’s refrigerator said he couldn’t be one either. “I’m not but good nutrition is important.”
“Yes…” Barely holding back more laughter as I found the plates exactly where they should be, the boy nodded as he tried to be serious. “You’re right. Good nutrition is important.”
They were both ridiculous.
But as I held up the veggie options, he finally found his serious side. “Just the lettuce, please?”
“Alright.” Making a mental note to come back to questioning him on what kind of vegetables he liked, I turned to his snickering sidekick and raised one eyebrow.
“Both please.” Flashing me a grin, he shrugged. “I didn’t get lunch.”
Ah.
That explained his temper…low blood sugar.
“Then we’ll get that fixed right now and work on a real dinner in a bit.” Grabbing another plate, I worked on their sandwiches as Braun finally eased into getting more information from the boy.
“He’s gonna have questions once he stops asking about the sandwich. Humans just do that.” Shrugging, he pinned the blame on me which was perfectly acceptable in our current situation. “At the very least, he’s gonna go into teacher mode and ask your name. He won’t be able to help himself.”
Still looking lighthearted, the boy nodded and shifted in his seat to mirror Braun. “And then he’ll start talking about homework and asking how I’m doing in school.”
“Of course.” That should’ve been obvious and not worth as much laughter as it got. “And I’m sure as bright as you are, you’re going to be able to tell me you’re working hard.”
Effort didn’t always equal grades, but I was glad when the boy nodded excitedly. “Yeah, I’m in eleventh grade math already.”
Oh.
“That’s wonderful.” Trying to look casual, I focused on their food. “Are you one grade ahead or two?”
“Two.” Wiggling excitedly, he gave me a beaming smile. “I got a new online program this year and it’s not boring anymore.”
So some kind of homeschool program more than likely.
As we chattered, I could see Braun connecting some of the dots in his head and I knew it must be from the type of program the boy was using.
I didn’t know what had caught his attention but I kept up the random conversation as I finished their sandwiches and brought them over to the table.
“Well, math is clearly your favorite subject because it’s the best, but what’s your second favorite? ”
Digging into his food, the boy barely chewed as he charged in on telling me about the best PE teacher ever as I got them both glasses of water.
Evidently Mr. Ace was badass and could make a basket from the halfway point in the basketball court.
“We only get to go once a week because of the way the co-op is set up but it’s the best.”
I knew that was some kind of reference to homeschooling cooperatives, and asked more questions as Braun ate his food. I’d made them both two and it seemed like I’d guessed right as they dug in. Braun was quiet but made encouraging sounds as the boy chattered until they were both finished.
“Okay.” Sitting down dramatically once everything had been put away, I sighed and did my best to look ridiculous. “I give up. What’s your name? I have to ask. It’s painful.”
Laughing, he collapsed back against the chair and I had to remind myself he wasn’t as young as he sometimes looked. “I’m Emeric.”
“It’s nice to meet you. You can call me Dorian since we’re not in class.” He found that funny too, but his relief at being safe seemed to make everything funnier than it probably would’ve been otherwise.
“Do your people come from Germany? Isn’t that where the names are from?” I’d traveled a bit when I was younger but I wasn’t sure if the names meant anything or not.
Nodding as he finished his last bite, Braun kept his neutral expression even though I was pretty sure the name meant something to him. “From that part of Europe, yes, but we were there long before it became Germany.”
I was going to have questions about that, but he kept going before I could organize my thoughts.
“We adapted to the culture that formed there, though, and kept a lot of it even when our ancestors came to America to settle.” Casually gesturing toward the window, he looked out at the woods for a moment. “It’s still very common to pass down German names, though.”
Focusing back on Emeric, he frowned. “Did you get a family name too? My grandfather was named Braun and his grandfather before him.”
As Emeric nodded, Braun sighed. “We had some really unfortunate names on the family tree, so I was incredibly glad not to have gotten stuck with something more…interesting.”
“I’m betting you shouldn’t tell your mother that.” She didn’t seem like the type to listen to him complain about names and stay quiet about it.
The way he flashed me a grin made Emeric laugh again. “I only made that mistake once as a kid.”
“You must’ve been a handful.” Shaking my head as he nodded, I couldn’t help teasing him. “Hopefully, I get a chance to meet your mother and hear some of those stories.”
Eventually they were going to have to stop finding everything I said funny.
“I think she’ll like that.” Looking pleased with himself over something, Braun gave Emeric a side-eye. “What do you think?”
The boy snickered. “If she’s anything like the women in my old pack…yeah…she’ll be excited to tell those stories.”
Ignoring whatever secret werewolf exchange the two troublemakers seemed to be having, I went over to the cabinet and grabbed a glass to get myself some water since Braun didn’t seem to have any other options in the fridge.
We were going to talk about his shopping habits or the habits of whoever was supposed to be doing it for him.
Wasn’t it always someone’s job to help the Alpha with managing day-to-day things like that?
I wasn’t a dick and didn’t assume it should be a woman, but Braun clearly had a lot going on and no one to take some of it off his plate.
Wait.
Old pack?
Did that mean he didn’t want to go back?
Couldn’t go back?
How was the best way to ask that?
Braun charged in before I could decide. “So I take it your looking for a new pack?”
Well, it wasn’t where I’d have started but it would work.