Chapter 14

Berlin

"Goddess, hes so hot!" Brook's head fell back against the couch from her spot on the floor, groaning like she was in the middle of some kind of weird orgasm.

"Do you see the abs on that man? I swear, give me one second alone with that guy and I would lick the skin right off of him." Brook stared at the screen in front of us, shaking her head as if she couldn't believe her eyes. She stuck out her tongue, eyes never leaving the screen as she rooted around with it to find the cheese stick she held tightly in her hand before chomping off a large bite. Her tight curls were out of the way in high bun on top of her head, although a few strands escaped and gently rested against her dark brown cheek.

We were currently in the bonus room of the vacation house which held a comfortable media room. It was the last day of the retreat, and we'd decided to spend it with a movie night, seeing as to how all of our mates happened to be on overlapping patrol duties.

Tomorrow, we would be going back to the pack house, and I would be lying if I didn't say I wasn't feeling a bit bummed about it. So much had changed in my life over the course of this retreat, and I was afraid that when returned back home, it would all vanish in thin air like Cinderella's carriage at midnight.

"Are you serious?" Hannah blanched, her green eyes wide with betrayal as she looked over at Brook. The incredulous look on her face was comical, like she'd just been told someone'd killed her cat. "Have you seen Edward? He could get it any day!"

Brook choked on her cheese stick, pulling it away from her mouth and finally tearing her eyes away from the screen as she turned towards Hannah. "Hell no! Team Jacob forever!" She pumped her fist in the air, her brown eyes fiery as if she was protesting a worthy cause.

"She only likes Edward because he's rich anyway! Who wants a man who is cold, wants to kill you, and stares at you all night? I don't know about you but that's not my kink!" She crossed her arms, shrugging before mumbling "My kink is being spanked" at the end. I giggled from my place under the blanket at that, thinking the joke she mumbled to herself was funny, but a bit confusing. Like, who wants to get spanked? I feel like that would just hurt and not be really pleasureful.

"Well- Well-" Hannah sputtered, her mouth opening and closing as she tried to think of some way to invalidate Brook's statement. "Callie!" She yelled excitedly, as if she'd suddenly remembered she was still in the room. She quickly turned around to look expectantly at our our third friend who lounged quietly against the arm of the couch, raising a brow as she stared at the other two girls on the floor who were notorious for dramatic, pointless arguments like this. "What team are you on?"

Callie was quiet for a moment, pondering the question. She was the more chill one of our little group, going with the flow for the most part and blending into the background. Regardless, we still loved her dearly, as she gave a sense of balance when the four of us were all together.

"Neither." Callie responded simply, shrugging her shoulders in indifference. "They both don't really do much for me." the look of disbelief on Hannah and Brook's face would lead people to believe they'd just been told the world was ending, not that they were simply discussing a terribly produced young adult movie.

I, on the other hand, wasn't surprised by Callie's response, as nobody was really sure if she felt attraction to anyone in a romantic way. She was older than all of us by a few years, and still hadn't found her mate. At this point, we were pretty sure that she was a lone wolf, or someone whose mate passed away before they'd met, but we tried to hold out hope. Regardless, she'd made something of herself throughout the time she'd been waiting, and was currently training part-time with Benji to become a medic.

"There can't be a tie!" Hannah cried, reaching her hand into the popcorn to angrily shove a handful in her mouth. Horrifyingly, she then turned to stare at me expectantly, her eyes silently begging me to take her side as she knew I was her last hope.

"Berlin, you think Edward is hotter too, right? I mean... just look at the material!" She gestured towards the TV screen, on which the sparkling Vampire's face appeared. I shuffled further underneath the warm blanket that covered most of my body, my face blazing as the girls stared at me inquisitively, eagerly awaiting my answer.

"Umm... Sorry, Hannah but I think that Jacob is cuter." I muttered, although I felt bad comparing the two. I believed that everyone is beautiful in their own way, I just preferred the tan skin and rippling muscles of Jacob. They reminded me of my own mate.

"SUCK IT!" Brook made a teasing face as she looked at at Hannah triumphantly, taking another bite of the cheese stick that she'd practically squished to pieces in her hand throughout her argument.

"Whatever! Edward is still hotter!" Hannah whined playfully, crossing her arms stubbornly against her chest before turning back towards the TV screen.

"Sorry that I am loyal to my species! Vampires don't even exist... probably." Brook added on the last word as an afterthought, as new species were showing up in the supernatural world every day it seemed like. For example, our medic Benji was a half-blood fae-werewolf mix.

We watched the rest of the movie in a similar manner, with Brook and Hannah also arguing over the best couple in the movie or whether Alice was the best character in the franchise. Their bickering was really entertaining, but by the end of the movie I was yawning profusely, my eyelids growing heavy as the end credits began to roll across the screen.

"When we get back home we have to watch the second one!" Brook exclaimed, still wide awake in her spot on the floor as she lifted the rim of the bowl of popcorn to her lips, funneling the rest of the crumbs into her mouth. She chewed, a stray few pieces falling from her lips and back into the empty bowl as she spoke past her full cheeks. "I have to see Jacob shirtless again ASAP or else I literally might just die." she stated matter-of-factly, still chowing down on the remainders of the buttery snack in her mouth.

"Just gonna cheat on me like tha- OH, EW, BROOK!" Brook was obviously caught very off guard at the sudden sound of her mate's voice behind her, as when she turned around, she accidentally sprayed the remainder of the soggy popcorn crumbs in her mouth all over his pant legs.

The man behind her was handsome, with short cropped hair and beautiful, dark skin that was a little bit lighter than that of his mate. He was a bit sweaty from his night patrol, but his face was incredulous as he looked down at Brook with an expression that read 'really?!' without him having to say a word.

"YOU CAN'T JUST SNEAK UP ON ME LIKE THAT, JAY!" Brook exclaimed, standing up to face her mate, looking up at him with a challenging expression. "And don't act like it's that nasty when you literally eat my puss-" Jay's hand slapped over her mouth before she got out the last word, giving us an apologetic look.

"Sorry, she's just a little insane when she's tired. We have to go pack, so we will see you all tomorrow!" He nodded to us respectfully, smiling brightly at us as he reached down, hauling Brook under his arm like she was a football and dragging her away from the rest of us. I giggled at their playful antics as Brook protested to the treatment, going limp in her mate's arms to make him have to work harder to carry her away.

A moment later, a very tall woman with lean muscles and a backwards baseball cap on over her short-cropped hair rounded the corner. The woman was sweaty - just like Jay - from patrolling, but Hannah couldn't have cared less as she squealed with happiness, launching herself up from her spot on the couch, almost tripping over her own feet as she ran to her mate.

"Grayyyy!" Hannah giggled, the taller woman throwing an arm around her shoulder and pulling her softly against her side before placing a kiss on her forehead.

"Hey, Peaches. I'm super tired from patrol. Can we go crash?" Gray asked her mate, her natural voice having a slightly husky tone, like someone ran sandpaper over her words before she'd said them. Hannah nodded enthusiastically, grabbing Gray's hand and waving at Callie and I who remained on the couch.

"Text the group chat in the morning when you're up, bitches! Love you!" Hannah said to us before she pulled her tall mate down the hallway towards their room with a bright smile. Hannah was so in love with Gray, and vice versa. They were a super cute couple, and had actually been good friends before realizing that they were mates.

Once again, it was like they were tagging each other into the room, as Osias, in all of his brooding glory, walked into the room as soon as Hannah and Gray disappeared around the corner, his long legs walking over to me in just a few strides before leaning down on one knee next to the couch.

"How are you, baby? Are you feeling okay?" He fretted, as he always did, over me, scanning his worried, light blue eyes over my body for anything that was out of place from the last time he'd seen me. I giggled softly, the blanket falling off of my upper body as I sat up, reaching out to cup his face in my small palm. I hoped that the skin-to-skin touch would help assure him that I was, in fact, in one piece, just as he'd left me when he left for patrol five hours prior.

"Sheesh, overprotective much?" Callie muttered under her breath as she stood up, brushing the dust of the snacks we'd eaten off of her clothes.

Osias growled at her statement, a glint of gold filtering into his irises as he snapped his head around. I could tell he was seething with the need to say something smart back at her, so I quickly pressed my hand against his cheek, forcing his head to swivel back towards me. His gaze softened as I leaned up, pressing a soft, lingering kiss to his lips.

"I'm just fine, Osi." I whispered, my stray hand gesturing to Callie to leave the room before my mate did something rash. She scurried away quickly, not wanting to provoke Osias. "I'm all in one piece, see?" I grabbed his hand, pressing it to my face so that he could feel my truth through our mating bond.

Osias let out a deep breath, pulling back to press soft kisses to each of my fingertips before speaking against them, his warm breath warming them up. "We scented something strange tonight. I don't think it's a cause for much concern, but you have to understand I..." He breathed out, closing his eyes and standing up, pulling me with him. "My instincts are hard to control as an Alpha alone. But you... you give me this almost feral protective streak. I can't quite explain it."

I nodded understandingly. I'd never truly understand the instinctual need to protect that dominant wolves had engrained into their DNA, but I was empathetic. I knew how hard it was for my own wolf to resist his own instincts, so I could only imagine if they were multiplied tenfold, as they usually were for dominant wolves.

"It's okay. I like how overprotective you are. It makes me feel safe." I started, reassuring him. "As long you remember that I am my own person and don't try to smother me."

He nodded, opening his eyes to look down at me with adoration in his eyes. "I will try my best, angel. Tell me if I get too ahead of myself, yeah?"

I grinned happily up at him, nodding happily as I remembered something that was still tugging at the curiosity bone in me.

"Osias, do people really... spankduringsex?" I breathed out, trying to get the most crass part of the sentence out all at once before I looked down at my bare feet, wiggling my toes to distract from the hot blush that I could feel creeping up to turn my milky white skin a bright pink.

I didn't have to look to know Osias's expression had shifted from one of concern and 'pissed-off-tedness' to one of amusement as he guffawed, throwing his head back in amusement at my question. I pouted, crossing my arms as I looked up at him through my hair.

"You're too damn innocent for your own good, you know that?" He teased, still laughing through his words. I'd gotten used to his frequent use of curse words over the past week, and although I still thought of them as indecent, I'd accepted there was no changing that aspect of my mate.

"Hey... Don't laugh at me, it's a real question! Brook said it was her kink but I don't even really know what that is and if it's real or anything and I'm just curious if it was really a joke or maybe it was serio-"

Osias silenced my nervous rant with a finger to my lips, making me shiver at the barely-there contact. He smirked wickedly, his hands slinking behind me to wrap his arms around my waist, stealing my breath as he jerked me towards him, our bodies pressing together tightly. He leaned down, his lips brushing up my neck before he reached my ear, tugging it gently with his teeth before whispering.

"How about I give you a more... hands-on answer?"