Secret Outing

Emilia stretches after closing her laptop, completely exhausted from listening to lecture after lecture. She needed a break, some air, and a long run. She taps her pen on her desk as she thinks about a way to get outside again.

A knock comes at her door along with the scent of musk cologne and dandelions. 'Timothy.' She smiles to herself. She opens the door to see the youngest of her brothers standing with a wicked grin.

"Perfect timing." Emilia says as she pulls him into her room. Timothy laughs knowingly, "I'm guessing you're wanting another run since the morning session got cut short?" Emilia mocks innocence, "what? Pfft, I would never ask for something like that.. That's breaking rules, we all know I'm only allowed to shift once a day."

Timothy rolls his eyes. "Alright, out the window. Take the left trail towards the old sawmill, I'll meet you there." He instructs quietly. "Thanks bro! I owe you one." She says before opening up her window.

She only has to wait two minutes and forty-five seconds before Timothy gives her the signal to jump. Moving quickly and stealthily, she hops out of her window and lands easily on the ground before taking off in the direction that her brother told her about.

While running towards the sawmill, Emilia shifted to her wolf. The excitement was too great for her to be patient. Running freely, she keeps her muzzle in the air to smell for Timothy.

About thirty minutes later, Emilia reaches the sawmill and shifts back. She looks around at all of the abandoned equipment while she waits for her brother. It only takes about five minutes before she grows tired of waiting and shifts back to her wolf.

She runs towards the woods but is quickly stopped by a smaller tan wolf. She rolls her eyes and nonchalantly walks around him, not caring that her brother caught her trying to run off on her own.

They walk for another fifteen minutes, sniffing the air for potential prey. Emilia secretly led Timothy back to the spot where she had met the grey wolf earlier, hoping to find some kind of answer. Her ears twitch as she hears a small shuffling sound from across the clearing. She moves with caution as she goes to investigate.

A small rabbit appears a few feet ahead of her and she lowers her body to the ground. She moves slowly as she inches near the unsuspecting prey. She pauses when she sees the rabbit's ears flick upward. Emilia looks around but doesn't see anything so she puts her focus back on the rabbit, however it's disappeared.

She looks back at her brother and tilts her head. Timothy shakes his head in response so they decide to move on. 'No point in wasting time to search for it right now.' She thinks to herself as she sniffs the air and looks around for a new target.

An hour passes and the two wolves give up hope. They shift back, preparing to return home. "Hey Tim, what do you think happened to that rabbit? It was pretty weird how it vanished without even leaving a scent.." Emilia starts. Timothy lifts an eyebrow at his sister, "not sure but we aren't going back to find out sis. It's late and we're already going to get in enough trouble as is since I took you out without permission."

Emilia chuckles, "you know, it's nothing new for you to be in trouble. And isn't there a saying about it being better to ask forgiveness than permission? But you know.. Since we're already in trouble… we might as well do what we want.. " Timothy snorts, "nice try but not happening. We're going home, you've had your fun for the day."

Emilia grumbles under her breath and concedes to her brother's demand. Wanting to lighten the mood, she initiates a race with her brother. He laughs and dashes forward. The two get so caught up in the fun that they're having, they completely forget about what they're racing towards.

That is.. Until they skid to a halt, spotting their father and older brothers waiting for them at the front door with terrifying expressions on their faces. "I'll take the blame, you just go to your room." Timothy whispers to Emilia before getting into earshot of the others.

"And where the hell have you two been?! You had us worried sick! Why would you specifically defy our rules?" Cedric shouts in Emilia's face. Emilia holds back a snarl as Timothy moves between them. "Actually it's my fault. I asked Em to come with me on a hunt since I didn't want to go alone and had heard that her morning session got cut short. I figured out it would be nice to make up for that by having her accompany me. After all, dad, don't you think she's safer with me than if she had decided to sneak out on her own?" Timothy says in a knowing tone.

Sam clears his throat, "well yes but you should have at least told someone what you were doing. Why take off without a word?" He scolds his children. "Sorry, you're right. I wasn't thinking that far. I was too focused on making sure that my sister was able to safely have an extension to her previous hunt before she could have enough time to even think about running off on her own." Timothy explains casually.

Emilia stifles a laugh as she watches her father's expression change to one of defeat. "Alright, just don't do it again then.. " He says before motioning for them to go ahead into the house.

Emilia gives Tim a grateful smile before rushing up to her room and getting ready to prep dinner. It wasn't her job to cook for everyone, in fact Emilia wasn't even required to cook for herself. But this was one of the few things she had the freedom to do.

Putting her apron on, Emilia walks into the kitchen and begins gathering ingredients. Tonight's menu contained a variety of vegetables, lobster, a roasted chicken, and several bowls of mashed potatoes with garlic salt. Her pack really likes mashed potatoes…

She starts with the roast chicken, being careful to only use minimal seasonings. She moves onto peeling the potatoes, leaving the lobster to pack chefs as she has never successfully made an edible lobster dish yet.

Emilia peels approximately one hundred potatoes before grabbing, what she likes to call, her masher. After all the potatoes have been mashed, cooked, and placed into serving bowls, she checks on the roasted chicken. Seeing that it's fully cooked, she looks to the other chefs. "How's the lobster coming along?" She asks. "It's all ready to eat Miss Snow." They reply in unison.

Emilia smiles as she and the chefs grab the dishes and bring them out to the dining room for the hungry pack members. She sets down her creations first and then seats herself between Winston and Timothy, as per usual. The entire pack begins digging in as soon as the alpha and his family have made their plates.

Three hours later, the last member finishes their plate of food and leaves the table to return to their own house. Emilia, Winston, and Cedric work as a team to clear the dirty dishes from the table as they begin cleaning up.

Nobody is willing to break the silence as the three siblings finish up their nightly chores and return to their rooms. Once in her bedroom, Emilia changes into a pastel pink tank top and some pajama shorts before going to her desk to check her emails. A small ping sounds from her phone as she receives a text.

She opens her phone and groans when Winston's contact lights up on the screen. She reads the message,

'Hey Em,

Sorry about how Ced and dad reacted when you guys got back tonight. Hope you had fun on your outing with Tim. Next time you should invite me too, you know I love a little mischief too. Anyway, dinner was awesome as always! You're definitely improving a lot sis. How about we go on a picnic tomorrow? Just me, you, and Tim? If not then that's fine, just know that your favorite big brother will be heartbroken… haha! Oh and I already got the go ahead from dad and Ced about your day out! Can't wait! Love ya and goodnight.'

Emilia can't help but smile at her brother's message. She quickly sends an I love you too before closing her phone and laptop and getting into her bed for the night.