Page 7 of Sanctuary
Patton didn't normally. "If you want me to."
Ori laughed. "I won't make you. It's too bad there aren't any good climbing trees here, we could hide and throw pebbles at people as they walk by."
Patton burst out laughing and took a seat next to Ori. "And get our asses whooped."
"Oh, but so much fun before." Ori grinned at him and nudged his shoulder. "You're going to be on my team for the run?"
“Sure.” If they’d let him. He had a disquieting sense that they might not, that they’d try to keep the omegas all separated from the rest of the teenagers. But a guy could hope, right? In the meantime, he made himself comfortable on the crate next to Ori, and the two of them amused themselves playing thumb war until the musicians began tuning up.
And if the touch of Ori’s hands on his left a warm glow in Patton’s chest, well, he was grown-up enough to hold that little flame tightly to himself.
C H A P T E R F I V E
P atton did his best not get jealous, but it was hard. It seemed like Ori spent a lot of time up dancing with different alphas from the pack, more time than he spent sitting with Patton.
He always asked if Patton minded, which seemed funny to Patton because, after all, they were just friends, even if Patton did have those uncomfortable feelings for Ori. Of course, one of those omega things was manners. Proper manners. So maybe Ori was just being polite and asking because it was the thing to do when you were sitting next to someone and someone else asked you to dance. He didn't know. But Patton’s jealousy chewed at him like a hungry rat and his face started to hurt trying to cover up his feelings as he watched the alpha’s trying to nose their way in between him and his best friend.
Ori fell into his seat beside him again after another round of 'Chase the Rooster'. "Phew. I hope this is over soon or I'm going to just curl up in the bushes with my tail over my nose and go to sleep." Even with the moonlight stripping all color away in his human eyes, Ori looked flushed and a gleam of sweat showed at his hairline. "Come on, let's go see what's left at the tables."
They scampered off to the food tables and picked at the leftovers, mostly the desserts. Patton had managed to snatch one of Ori's cookies, but he was sad to see that they were all gone now. No seconds for him.
A loud, long howl rang into the air, the Alpha singing a song of praise to the Lady Lysoonka on her throne in the Moonlands. Ori looked at him in excitement. "Let's run!"
Their excitement was doused, though, by Amelia. "Come along, Ori. You can change over here," she said firmly, gesturing to the small tent that the omegas changed into their wolf forms in.
Ori sighed dramatically and leaned in to whisper, "I'll find you," before he obediently followed along behind Amelia and slipped inside the tent.
"That's dumb," Patton said without thinking.
"Is that what you think?" his Da asked, coming up behind him and making him jump.
"Oh, uh, hi Da." Patton looked down, his hands clasped together behind his back, and scuffed his toes against the dirt. "It just isn't fair that Ori has to be watched all the time. It isn't very fun."
His Da put an arm around his shoulders and turned him toward the trees. "It would be less fun if someone caught him out by himself and had their way with him. He'd be ruined."
He wouldn't be ruined to me. But yeah, it wouldn’t be a good experience for Ori either, and he felt like a heel for a moment, thinking about himself before thinking about Ori.
Patton pulled his new t-shirt off and folded it carefully, slipped out of his pants and used them to keep the shirt off the ground. All around him, packmates were shimmering and changing shape, shrinking down and stretching out, fur sprouting in rippling waves over skin. The world changed in front of him, a million shades of gray and pastel that made movement stand out like it was in a spotlight, and the scent of everything around him added the color that his eyes no longer saw. He shook out his fur and trotted over toward the tent where Ori and the others were finishing their change.
The first of the omegas nosed out of the tent and was met by his chaperon. The second, the only female omega in the pack, slipped out the door right on his heels and trotted away with her chaperon. Then Holland slipped gracefully out of the tent, silver pale in the moonlight, and trotted off in search of his mate.
Amelia gave Patton a dark glare out of her amber eyes, but didn't chase him off, even when Ori bounded out the door and leaped on him in mock attack. Patton laughed and squirmed out from underneath him and Ori barked and bowed his forequarters in an invitation to play. Amelia nosed between them for a moment, but Ori was having none of it and ran around her, yipping for Patton to follow.
The elders had indeed gotten hold of a pheasant. Patton could smell it in the air, the dry scent of feathers laying over the rich bloody smell of the meat. As soon as he smelled it, he made a decision—he would get that pheasant for Ori if it was the last thing he did.
One advantage to being more lightly built than the alphas was the agility it lent him. Speed, the ability to squeeze through small spaces--it all meant that, as long as he knew where he was going, he could get there ahead of the alphas. He had a good nose too, way more sensitive than many of his alpha agemates. And he wasn’t busy trying to prove to all his friends that he was the toughest and most dominant of them all. He could go straight for his goal and beat them all to it.
They'd dragged the dead pheasants over the ground, leaving behind a confusing welter of scents. Patton glanced around at the elders who were in charge of the teenagers, watching their reactions as the young wolves around them sniffed and howled and pounced on each other in their excitement. But not Patton. He had no time for that--he had a goal.
And there! It was Old Archie who gave him his first clue where the pheasants were. He was the one who'd hidden the pheasants in their final hiding place. Patton could see it in the way he held his body, the twitching of his ears and the tension in that old, age-whitened muzzle. He could also see when some of the other teens found the right path.
Patton went for it.
He put his nose to the ground and raced along, picking out the smell of fresh pheasant and Archie from underneath the scent of the other wolves. After very few minutes, he'd passed everyone in the group and was hunting as he thought he was meant to do, nose to the ground, one eye on the terrain around him, until he realized just where Old Archie must have hidden the pheasants.
Breaking off from the trail, he took a chance and cut across country, going through the pack's gardens to the oldest section of the orchard. There, he cast about, scenting with all his might until the smell of the old wolf drifted across his nostrils, weak but growing stronger as he padded around the trees.
There.
