A Little Detour

For all of the dire predictions that my monster had given, the flight from New York to LAX was pretty uneventful.

Once we landed in Los Angeles, we got our bags and the rental car. I was tired and more than a little brain-dead (let's face it, I didn't do traveling well, and flights still seemed a little sketchy to me). So, once we all piled into the SUV with Mathew at the wheel and Greyson in shotgun, all I wanted to do was go into the villa I had rented and sleep for a few days.

But when does life ever work out how you want it to?

"I need to check in with the local pack," said Mathew hesitantly as he looked at me in the rearview mirror. "It is more of a courtesy thing than anything else, but it lets them know that I am not planning a hostile takeover. We are more than a little touchy about our territories."

I let out a little sigh that I was sure the humans wouldn't be able to hear, completely forgetting about the two shifters with the annoyingly good hearing. "Sound good," I said with a nod. Maybe an hour's detour at the most and then to the villa in West Hollywood and then sleep. I would say what is the worst that would happen, but then I felt that putting that out into the universe was a really good way of shooting myself in the foot.

It appeared that the pack mansion was in the same direction as our villa, so I just sat back and dozed on Dem as we dealt with typical LA traffic.

----

"We're here," said Dementyev as he gently shook me awake. I opened my eyes and let out a massive yawn. Might as well let the guys know what they are getting into early. That way, there weren't so many surprises down the road. And if they thought I was a lady… well, they were dead wrong.

Mathew and Greyson stood outside of the backseat doors, waiting for me to come out. I took a moment to stretch, and just as I was cracking my neck, I saw a massive pack of wolves in human skin. Right. Pack territory and all that. That was one thing I liked about being me. I didn't need to abide by the territory bullshit that every other House had to. There was only one House Tesalor, and I was it. If the Gypsies wanted to start something, which, because they were humans, normally never happened, then I could deal with it then.

But shifters? Wolves, in this case? Yeah, they could smell Mathew across the city, and I wasn't about to lose him because of some pack politics.

However, the man standing in the center was not what I was expecting. He was large, almost the same size as my men, with long black hair, rippling muscles, and wearing a Hawaiian shirt with board shorts. He looked like a cross between "I am going to rip your heart out" and "Let's catch some waves."

He never took his eyes off Mathew, and I could see the wolf under his skin trying to come out. His skin rippled, and I could see fur shooting out of his skin, only to disappear a second later. Huh, I really didn't expect that.

I thought that I would be meeting someone like Lucas, someone who knew where they stood on the totem and didn't let anything bother him. Then again, Lucas was The Head of House Werewolf. No one stood higher than him. But if this guy was the Alpha of the Los Angeles pack, why was he acting like Mathew was such a threat?

Might as well go and figure shit out. Then I could sleep and deal with Vlad and his brand of crazy.

Dem got out first, and I could see the Alpha stiffen even more. Yeah, this was probably not going to be the quick meet and greet that I thought (and hoped) it would be. Levi looked at me for a second, and I gave him a reassuring smile. "Just some butt sniffing, maybe a few snarls, and then we will be all done and good to go," I said with a smile, completely ignoring all of the shifters around me, stiffening with my words.

They might be crude, but tell me I wasn't wrong.

"Will we have to go through this again with Dem's side of the family?" asked Levi with a slight smirk on his face.

"No, Dem is now part of my House, and we don't do the butt sniffing," I chuckled and waited for him to get out before I did. "But now you know why, for the most part, we really don't leave our territories. Too much drama."

Mathew snorted as he took my hand to help me out of the SUV. He didn't let go once I was firmly on the ground but instead escorted me to the Alpha for introductions.

The Alpha was at least 6'5", and when I said he looked down on me, I didn't mean it was only because he was more than a foot taller than me. No, this little shit looked down on me for another reason. "Human," he growled, and I could see his wolf's yellow eyes looking at me through his.

"No," I replied with a smile, still letting Mathew hold my hand up high in his. "Might want to get your nose checked, Alpha. Or maybe you have been around the humans too long," I continued, not willing to back down. Wolves didn't try to establish dominance with only other members of their own House; they wanted to know where they stood in the pecking order against everyone else.

And I was there to tell him that I was much higher up than he was.

There was a low rumbling of snarls coming from the wolves behind him, but I never turned my attention away from him. "Alpha Stephan, I would like to introduce you to Natalia Nadezda Sokol Tesalor, The Head of House Gypsy and The Head of House Tesalor," interrupted Mathew smoothly. I could feel the amusement coming off of him in waves, and I knew the other Alpha could feel it too.

"Natalia, may I introduce Alpha Stephan, Head of House Werewolf for the Los Angeles territory?"