1
Remington
It was a warm,pleasant day. I stood on the edge of the clearing, a fair distance from the circle of trees that surrounded our grove. The alphas had recently returned from a big hunt, and after everyone ate their fill, the pack fell into a big, comfortable communal snooze.
But I didn’t join them.
I wasn’t tired. I hadn’t even been particularly hungry. I only picked at my pheasant before letting Lupa and Starry, the two predator shifter kids, have it. They needed it more than I did, for sure. They were both growing like weeds, especially Starry, the youngest of our pack. She was just learning to speak, though she still pronounced hungry like “hungy” and my name like “Uncew Wemmy.”
Starry was Sage’s daughter. Sage, the omega who I thought was the most immature wolf I’d ever met. But like magic, he’d grown into a fine young man right in front of me. He wasn’t the bumbling naïve fool he’d been when I first met him. His fated mate, Xander the alpha mountain lion, changed him.
Or maybe, his fated mate just brought out the best in him.
I sat on my wolf haunches with a frown, wrapping my tail tightly around my body. I suddenly felt creepy, watching over my packmates like this.
“Hey, you’re the only one not sleeping.”
I turned to see Red in his fox form. I hadn’t even heard him sneak up behind me. Trust a fox to sly and silent.
But out of everyone in the pack, Red was the person I related to the most right now, since he was the only other unmated member among us. We knew him first as an enemy, then as an annoying guy who wouldn’t leave us alone, and then finally, a trusted packmate—and a surprisingly very good babysitter.
Hell, even Red’s grown more than I have, and he’s been here since our pack’s journey started, too…
The thought made me sigh.
“I can’t sleep,” I admitted.
“Hm. I can tell that much,” Red said wryly. “And you didn’t touch your food much, either.”
“I wasn’t hungry.”
“Somethin’ on your mind, Remmy?”
He had only started calling me Remmy recently. Up until then it was always my full name, Remington. I think Red was cautious to be too familiar with me. Unlike the other wolves, I was pricklier. Unfortunately, I had an attitude problem I couldn’t shake. Just one of the many things I disliked about myself.
“Just thinking,” I replied.
“About?”
“Everything.”
Red snorted. He sat down so his large, poofy tail brushed up against my leg. If we were in human form, the gesture would’ve been a hand on my shoulder.
“Never good to think about everything all at once,” Red remarked. “You’ll break your brain that way.”
“Ifeellike it’s broken already.”
Red tilted his head, his pointed black ears cocking forward. “Why’s that?”
Another sigh came out of me. Gods, I felt like an emo teenager, even though I was only a year younger than Sage. Since my thoughts were already running a mile a minute, I decided to spill my guts out to Red.
“Ever since Sage found his fated mate and gave birth to Starry, it feels like I can’t think straight,” I admitted. “I always thought of Sage as naïve and immature, but… he’snotanymore. It was like meeting Xander unlocked something in him. Made him a better version of who he was.”
“And that bothers you?” Red asked.
“No!” I said quickly, shaking my head. “Not at all. I’m happy for both of them.”
Red’s mouth quirked into a small grin. “Jealous, then?”
