Marked 2 » Places

         Ray was slowly recovering from her panic attack when they surrounded her. Four large males surrounding a smaller 16-year-old girl would make anyone worried, the fact that Ray was trying to recover from an attack of claustrophobia didn’t help much.

She propped herself up into a standing position, staggering bit in her still oxygen starved state. Ordinarily Ray would have goaded them into revealing their plans and motives, formed a clever plan, then used her various talents to escape. However, ordinary Ray was currently on leave and in her place was claustrophobia panicked Ray who was having trouble with coherent thoughts.

So when the oldest member of the group started talking about spying and another one started talking about introductions to the pack it took Ray a few seconds to put two and two together.

Rouges… She’d never met any, but she could only assume from what she’d heard about them that they were bad news, and male rogues…

How had they even gotten into the cave? Surely James would have gotten a whiff of their scent..? But then again there was the water, and looking around the cave she didn’t see her shoes so she must have taken a wrong turn under water…

Ray ground her teeth; the best thing to do would be to swim back out while the two rogues fought. But she didn’t want to ever get back in that water, she shuddered at the mere thought of its icy grip. She could call for help from James, but then what? There were four of them; chances were they’d just end up killing him.

She made a snap decision, she needed to escape before they stopped fighting and started taking an interest in their prisoner. After taking a deep breath she took off, sprinting towards a passage in the walls of the cavern. She could only hope it led somewhere, preferably somewhere above ground and close to the pack house or the car.

         Lyra nodded thoughtfully to Tabby, considering the idea of the car being where it was last. "That sounds good. One the way back from the Fete we can always stop by to see if there car is still there. For all we know, Lance might not have had the energy to make it into a hotel last night and just crashed in the car again. But Dad's right, I wouldn't be surprised if we bump into Lance at the Fete. I know what he looks like so I'll watch for him." Lyra offered Tabby a reassuring grin.

She looked up to Kiyoshi and gave him one last squeeze of affection, unsure what we thought of taking the afternoon off from training... again. "This will be fun, and we can train again after we go out. Or even on the beach while we are out. Don't worry everything will be fine tomorrow, okay, Kiyoshi-san?" she asked. She wanted to give him a kiss of reassurance, but was still timid to display such affect in front of her father. After all, they had not even discussed the matter of her mating yet. Instead, Lyra settled on wrapping her arm around his waist and resting her head on his shoulder for a moment. Lyra understood how fearful Kiyoshi was of the following night and knew she had to stay strong for the both of them.

Slipping from his grasp, Lyra turned toward the rest of the group and lifted her hand in a wave of farewell. "I'm going to change into something nicer before we head out," Lyra informed them as she headed out the kitchen and towards her room.

         Calvin flicked his head to look at Sid...he thought he'd detected a slightly outdoorsy smell, even for a house full of werewolves! Would Sid be a good candidate for the grand plan? No, probably not...too loyal to the 'ways' of the pack. And even Gavin seemed to be finding his feet in the official channels more since he'd found his mate.

He was about to answer Sid when Kathy chimed in with her tuppence on the matter. His lips curled into a grin and he shrugged.

"Hey why not," he said, "if you need the boys around to champerone you whilst your throwing bean-bags at coconuts then I'd be honoured."

He laughed a mean laugh and slapped Gavin on the back. "Sounds like we have our heading for the day. We need to catch up about last night anyhows, right?"

---

"That's always the way." Adrian smiled, "Everyone under one room, but rarely in the same room."

His smile faltered for a moment as he recalled how that hadn't really been the way when he was rounger. It always seemed like everyone had been under each other's feet back then. Him, Jeff, Emmy, Lux....Bobby.....

He took a deep breath in at the memory of his deceased friend. The only person who hadn't lived to see how the Khöller pack had prevailed after the last incident. It reminded him also of Lux...perhaps today would be a good day to invite her out too if she felt up to it?

"Well," he said, forcing the smile once again and walking towards the house again, "no time like the present eh? Everyone get booted up and I'll see you at the car."

---

Tabby stared at her phone discontentedly, wondering what Lance was actually up to. The guy wasn't the single most reliable entity on earth, but to totally disappear leaving her stranded at some strange house (however friendly the inhabitants had turned out to be) just seemed irresponsible even for him. Still, Adrian's suggestion seemed to have some merit. Connorsford evidently wasn't the biggest of towns, and if there was going to be any sort of performance element to the fete, there was a strong chance Lance would be drawn to it.

"Alright I like the sound of that." she said with a smile, and turned to Lyra, "I think these clothes will survive one more day, but thanks for the offer...and if we don't find Lance today I might well have to take you up on that."

She put her hand to her chin thoughtfully as something else occured to her, "He probably wouldn't have had any reason to move the car. If it's still where it was yesterday I reckon my stuff is probably still there."

         The four rogues stooped and advanced slowly as they heard the voices rising within the caves up ahead. It sounded like a small female voice getting increasingly hysterical...despite the echo and the distance the last words "this cave it too small" were clearly distinguishable. Q-Ball looked back and grinned to the others.

"What do you think?" he said, "Local back got a little mountain hideaway?"

"Yeah and you know why that's not good?" Drake whispered as visciously as he could manage.

"No, why?"

"Because for all we know they could be using these caves to watch us in our camp. They could know about our plan!!"

"The fuck?" Nico snorted, "Even we don't know about Winter's plan, how much could they have heard from these caves?"

Craig scratched his head and looked back towards where they'd come from. "We should go back and tell Winter."

"No!!" Drake said forcefully, "We need to go and see who it is, and take care of them."

Q-Ball and Nico nodded in agreement, and Craig reluctantly continued deeper into the crevice behind the other three. The voices ahead seemed to have stopped, and the rogues cursed to themselves as they entered a small chamber with seemed to run downwards into a flooded area, offering no obvious way forward.

"I don't get it," Nico muttered, "if there's no way forward, how could we hear the..."

They were interupted when something broke the surface of the water, and a small figure crawled out onto the stone floor. The four boys watched in wide-eyed disbelief as the small female flopped onto her back, gasping and wheezing desperately. They looked at each other in confusion. Was she having a fit or something? The one thing they knew for sure was that the drenched girl was, without a doubt, one of the local wolves. Slowly the realisation crossed each of their faces, and they paced forwards, forming a semi-circle around the soggy young wolf.

"Hey little girl," Craig said aggressively, "guess you're not such a surprise. A little runt like you's probably only useful for spying."

"Yeah," Q-Ball chuckled, "how long you been watching our camp from these caves huh? You know if you wanted an introduction, all you had to do was ask. Cute little thing like you is always welcome on our patch."

"Can it." Drake barked, "She's coming back with us, Winter's gonna have to know about this."

"What's the rush?" Q-Ball said, his giggling becoming almost maniacal, "Look at her she can scarcely breathe. When's the last time you had a female at your mercy?"

"Keep it in your pants Q." Craig retorted.

"Fuck you!" Q-Ball spat, "Who made you the boss?"

Unexpectedly, Q-Ball lunged at Craig and pushed him in the chest, knocking him off balance. Drake and Nico braced themselves, trying to decide if they could afford a few seconds to break up the fight at the risk of their 'captive' escaping...

         Ash felt her jaw drop to Jason's words. A human? He had to be joking with her. As he walked away from the group, Ash could quickly tell that this was not a joke. How. . . wonderful. "Have fun with the meat sack," Drake sneered behind her, setting off a ripple of laughter. All the boys knew that Ash felt wolves were superior to humans. Or at least smarter.

"It will be nice to see someone with manners," Ash short back, shooting a glare to him. "And someone with less hair." With that, Ash flicked her hair and quickly followed Jason, her face still growling with annoyance. "Awe Jason, ya better make this worth it for me," she mumbled, head low. "Once we get this new pack started, I better get a good role for all the pain I've suffered with you boys."

*~_~ *~_~ *~_~ *~_~ *~_~ *~_~ *~_~ *~_~ *~_~ *~_~ *~_~ *

Ash felt like mentally face palm herself as she sat in the corner of the cafe. Wait, no. She actually did it.

The blonde rolled her eyes and sighed heavily as she watched the greasy man walk into the cafe and peer at the menu board. This was her cue. Trying to ignore the hairs bristling on the back of her neck, Ash slipped into line just before the old timer. Jeeze. He was as old as Jason. And he wasn't even old in that adorable way. Ash sighed and looked away with annoyance, wrinkling her nose slightly. He also smelled. Just great. She would have enjoyed the Lost Boys's company more than this guys. Winter better appreciate this. . . .

Ash stepped up to the counter and placed her order of a hot breakfast sandwich and a black coffee. When the cashier gave her the bill, it was time for her to being her game.

Ash slipped her hand to her pocket and froze, an innocent and terrified expression crossing her face. "I, uh, I forgot my wallet," she said clumsily, glancing back to the line. She frowned, noticing the sleaze was ignoring her. Of all times for a guy not to be checking her out! "I'm so sorry. Can I make a tab or something?" she pleaded softly. "I'm starving."

"Hey, I'll pay for her."

Ash glanced to her side and smiled shyly to the man. Finally... She twisted her golden hair around a slender finger and grinned, "Thank you so much. I promise I can repay you," she cooed.

"No worries, I would have been paying for two anyway, but my travel mate found a friend to stay with." The man smiled to Ash as they sat down at a table together. "I'm Lance, by the way."

"Ash," she said with a smile, attempting not to reach as she shook his hand. Ash couldn't remember the last time she introduced herself and Ashley. That didn't matter now anyway. "So Lance, you were traveling with someone? A wife perhaps?"

"God no," Lance said, shaking his head with a chuckle. "Just my... erm, niece. Tabby. Hey, you haven't heard of a production studio in the area, have you?"

Ash took a bite of breakfast to prevent a smirk from streaking across her face. Jason had fooled this guy well. She almost felt bad for him. Almost. "No, I haven't," she said, watching his face fall instantly. "But you're with Tabby? I know her. She's staying with my friends. She was looking for you, I think. Want me to show you how to get to the house?" Ash offered kindly with her good- samaritan -of-the-year smile. "Come on, I'll bring you to her." She rose gracefully from her seat and smiled, waiting for Lance to follow her. This was almost too easy.

         Sid chuckled as he padded on his bare feet over to her. "Definitely not you? You sound like its never gonna happen." Sid comes over and looks over her shoulder down the stairs, putting a hand on her back as he slid past. "Guess I should go and let the others know I'm back and kicking. Besides it sounds like all the fun is going on down there." He started walking down the stairs, stopping about half way down as he called back, "Not to mention I'm starving. Any idea if we got any food lying around the house? I've been missing the pack's homecooked food while I was gone and even leftovers would be more than delicious."

         Tai stepped outside with a handful of broken down cardboard cartons for recycling, and noticed Dante standing alone...with Jacquelin gone.

"Hi Dante," she said, "you alright out here? Did you see where everyone else went? People are flitting about all over the place tonight! I promise you it's not normally like this...well, not with everyone anyway."