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Quote of the Chapter:
“I’ve got a bottle full of hydrochloric acid in my hand, Ren.  Don’t piss me off.”
~Calla Tor
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Chapter 4: Call Down the Storm Rose

Ren 

Ren woke up to the smell of bacon… lots of it.  He wasn’t sure if his stomach growled or if he growled, but either way, he rolled out of bed and padded to his bathroom.  It was really clean.  The bathroom was tastefully decorated.  The toothbrush holder, two soap holders (bar and liquid), and the trash can were clear with silver vines twining around them.  The walls were painted a pale, cheerful green.  Ren splashed water on his face to make him more alert.  He was going to have to be on the top of his game if he was going to have to face Shiloh again.  The guy had serious issues.

He ran a hand through his hair as he left his room, promptly bumping into one of the pack mates; it was Derek.

“Hey, dude, glad the jams fit,” Derek said. “You smelled the bacon didn’t you?”

“How’d you know?” Ren inquired, grinning slightly.

“Mia has this ability to make the smell of bacon spread a ten mile radius, and that’s no joke.  Literally, I was on patrol with Michael and we were ten miles away and we smelled it.  We give poor Mia hell about it,” Derek explained with a lopsided smile.  Ren gave a small laugh.

At that moment, Arya opened her door, wearing a tank top, sweatpants, and her hair was thrown up into a ponytail.  She was rubbing her eyes as if she had just gotten up.

“Morning, sleeping beauty,” Derek greeted cheerfully.

“Being that cheerful in the morning isn’t normal,” Arya muttered.

“We’re not normal, babe,” Derek replied.

“I wish Mia didn’t cook such amazing bacon because I would love to sleep in one day,” Arya said.  She turned to Ren and smiled. “Morning, Ren.”

“Good morning, Arya.”

The three of them walked downstairs and out the door where a long picnic table had suddenly appeared.  It hadn’t been there last night.

Ren looked for Shiloh and found him chatting with Carrie.  His head jerked up when Arya came out.  Ren was pretty sure it was because his scent carried over to where Shiloh was sitting.

He strutted over to the threesome.  Arya stood in front of Ren and Derek, tall and proud.

“Morning, Arya,” Shiloh said, kissing her on the cheek.  Ren knew that was specifically for his benefit, and truthfully, it pissed him off.  He held back the growl struggling to come out of his throat.

“Morning, Shiloh.  Sleep well?”

“Yeah, I slept really well actually.  And you?”

“Surprisingly, not bad,” Arya replied, as if she truly were shocked.

“Let’s eat.” He took her hand and led her to the picnic table.  Ren and Derek followed.  Arya turned her head around to face Ren; she gave him a slight wink and an eye roll before turning forwards again.  He held back a laugh.  Arya sat in the middle of the table.  Ren took the seat or her left while Shiloh sat on her right.  Rigg and Dmitri sat across the table and they gave Ren mischievous smiles, which didn’t settle well with him.  Mia, Walter, Melinda, Ray, and Katrina came out with platters of pancakes, eggs, sausage, and yes!  Bacon!

“Dig in!” Mia shouted.  And dig in everyone did.  There were five platters of bacon; the bacon itself was heaped into a pile about a foot high.  There weren’t much eggs but barely anyone seemed to want some anyways.  There were five platters of pancakes, which were piled about half a foot, and the sausage was stacked as high as the pancakes.  Ren took one of everything, even the eggs.  Every single thing was delicious.

“You like it?” Arya asked, nudging him.

“I’ve never had anything as good as this before in my life,” Ren admitted.

“Told you they could cook,” Arya said with a wink.

“I never doubted you,” Ren protested.

“Never said you didn’t.”

“So, Ren, how long are planning on staying?” Rigg questioned, shoveling sausage into his mouth.

“Rigg,” Arya hissed.

However, Ren answered, “I’m deciding between three times.”

“What’s time one?” Dmitri prodded.

“The first one is I figure out where I want to go on from here,” Ren said.

“Second time?”

“The second is Arya kicks me out.”

“And the third time?”

With the most serious face he could muster, Ren replied, “The third time is Shiloh kills me before the first or second time happens.”

Rigg, who had been taking a swig of some coffee, started to laugh and choked on the drink.  Dmitri was hitting Rigg on the back, cracking up.

“You just earned my respect, alpha,” Dmitri claimed as Rigg managed to control his coughing fit.

“What he said,” Rigg agreed.

“You’re not wrong there, Renier,” Shiloh said quietly with a slight smile.  This guy knew how to aggravate Ren in a way that it wasn’t even remotely funny.  Ren hated being called Renier.

“Why do you think I said it, Shi?” Ren countered.  Shiloh’s face fell into a hard expression as he stared at him.  Ren returned his glare unwaveringly.

“So, Ren,” Leyla said, interrupting the masculine stare-down, “have you always been this gorgeous or did you just suddenly go through puberty?”

Ren gave her a cocky smirk. “Well, just so you know, I’ve always been this stunningly attractive, but you sure didn’t act like you thought that last night.  In fact,” Ren said, pretending to look offended, “you snubbed me.”

Leyla looked embarrassed. “It was late at night and I wasn’t in the mood to meet anyone.”

“Sure.  Or maybe you didn’t speak for fear you would drool from my handsomeness.”

“You’re very full of yourself,” Leyla pointed out.

“I’m just repeating the words girls have used to describe me,” Ren bantered.

“You’re all right, Ren,” Leyla approved.

“Hey, Ren,” Arya said.  He turned to look at her. “Do you need clothes?”

He hadn’t actually thought about that and realized he did. “Yeah, I do.”

“You can borrow some more of mine,” Derek offered. “until we get you your own.”

“Thanks Derek,” Ren replied.

“Do want to go shopping or do you want us to get your own clothes?” Arya inquired, finishing off her last piece of bacon.  It was a conflicting thought because he wanted his own clothes, yet he didn’t want any of Arya’s pack running into Calla’s pack, and he would love to get new clothes, but he didn’t want Arya to buy him such a big expense.

As if reading his mind, Arya added, “I have an unlimited credit card thanks to the Searchers if you’re worried about using our money.”

“I know but I still feel bad using it.  And I don’t want any of your pack to get my stuff because I don’t want them running into my old pack.  It wouldn’t settle well with them to see you stealing my stuff,” Ren answered.

“Let us do it,” Rigg suggested, motioning at himself and Dmitri.

“No, seriously.  You don’t want to meet them,” Ren declared.

“We won’t.  As you said, we’re going to steal it and people don’t usually see someone when they steal stuff,” Dmitri argued sarcastically.

“We’re going to do it; where did you live?” Rigg demanded.  Reluctantly, Ren gave them his address.  The two of them, with Derek who had decided to tag along, gobbled down the rest of their breakfast before heading off to go get Ren’s clothes.

“Tell me I didn’t do the wrong thing, allowing them to get my things,” Ren whispered to Arya.

She answered, “They would’ve done it with or without your permission.”

He nodded and finished his breakfast.  When everyone had finished, they all brought their dishes to the house Mia and Walter lived in and washed their plates.  Then they set them aside on the counter so they could be washed in the dishwasher.

“Ren, I’ll grab some clothes from Derek’s room and then we’ll head to Park Meadows Mall.  Is that okay?” Arya questioned as they walked into her house together.

“That sounds good to me,” Ren agreed.  Arya nodded and headed off to the house Derek resided in while Ren went up to his room.  He took a shower to wash the dirt out of his hair.  It was in the shower that he realized it had been two days since his last shower.  No wonder Arya had caught his smell.  He probably stunk like a skunk.

He turned off the water and shook his head to get some water out of it.  He remembered when he and Calla had once swam in a lake as wolves and when he got out, she changed to being human while he stayed wolf and shook his coat all over her.  She hadn’t found it amusing but he had started cracking up.

Ren pushed the thought of Calla out of his mind as he wrapped a towel around his waist and walked into his room.  A shirt, a pair of shorts, and a pair of boxers lay neatly folded on his bed.  On the shirt was a note from Arya; her handwriting was a mix of cursive and print; it was complex, just like her.  The note said: Here’s an outfit.  I didn’t know if you needed boxers or not so I got some just in case.  Let’s keep me going through Derek’s underwear drawer between us though because, well, no one likes people going through that drawer. I’ll be down in the kitchen when you’re ready.

Ren couldn’t help but smile at the note.  He found the boxer thing hilarious.  Surprisingly, the whole ensemble fit and was even his taste.  He probably would’ve chosen the same thing. Ren headed downstairs where music was blaring.  He didn’t listen to much music but he knew what the song was.  Everyone had known the song in his high school in Vail.

When he entered the kitchen, Arya was arranging roses in the crystal vase.  They were a light pink; Ren wondered what the significance of the color was.

Arya was singing quietly along: “Just a small town girl, living in a lonely world!  She took the midnight train going anywhere!”

“Just a city boy! Born and raised south Detroit!  He took the midnight train going anywhere!” Ren sang along.  She jumped as she turned around to face him.

“Ready?” Arya inquired, turning off the music and grabbing her IPod.  Ren nodded and the two of them walked out the door.

“Arya!” a pack member shouted, running up to them with three other people.  The pack mate was Austin Garder; Ray Flinn, Erin Cole, and Leyla were behind him.

“Do you mind if we come along?” Ray inquired casually, but even Ren could see they were only coming to protect Arya.  It didn’t bother him.  He was used to it; Calla’s pack had done it a lot.

Arya hesitated in answering. “I’m fine with it but I don’t know about Ren.”

Everyone looked at him. “There’s going to be a problem you know.”

“What is it?” Erin questioned.

“The girls all look like supermodels.  We’re going to have guys drooling after them and trailing them like pups,” Ren pointed out.

“Nice pun,” Ray complimented with a chuckle.

“You think we are going to be the problem?” Leyla demanded.  We have the unnaturally hot guys with us.  We’re going to have to beat girls off of you.”

“Let’s just go,” Arya said, smiling. “Who do you want to ride with, Ren?”

“I was thinking we could have some male bonding time,” Ray said.

“Listen, Ren, would you mind riding with the boys?  We need to talk to Arya about a few things… privately,” Leyla said.

“Sure,” Ren replied.

“Thanks.  Come on.  I’m-” Leyla began.

“Not driving,” Arya finished. “I’m driving.”

“What?  Does my driving scare you?” Leyla joked.

“No, it’s just you tend to go a hundred around a curve,” Arya snapped lightly.

The six headed to the fountain.  Ren wasn’t sure why.  Austin pressed a stone embedded in the fountain and that’s when Ren realized he was opening a trap door.

“That’s so cool,” Ren acknowledged.

“Come on, it’s a ladder,” Arya said, climbing down.

“After you,” Austin said, waving his hand.  Ren followed Arya and jumped the last few feet to the ground.  Leyla and Erin jumped down next followed by Ray and then Austin.

Ren had to stop his mouth from falling to the floor as he took a sweeping glance around the room… well, room didn’t really cut it.  It was a massive underground garage.  At first, there were normal cars such as some trucks and a few sedans, and then there were sports cars: Lamborghinis, Porsches, Audis, Aston Martins, Mercedes, and Bugattis.  Ren whistled.

“We’ve accumulated a lot of cars since we’ve been able to drive,” Ray informed as the group started walking to the cars.

“I’m taking the Porsche Turbo S,” Arya announced.

“Ren, we’re taking the Aston.  Come on,” Ray urged as the girls headed off to a sharp looking blue Porsche.
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Arya

When everyone was buckled in the car, Arya demanded softly, “Okay Leyla, what did you need to talk to me about?”

“I was wondering why you actually brought Ren here.”  Arya drove down the lit tunnel and out into the sunlight with the boys behind her.

“He was alone when I saw him.  I didn’t intend to bring him here at first but he chased me down.”

“What?!” Leyla and Erin exclaimed.  So Arya dived into the story about how she and Ren met.

“I knew how he felt, being a lone alpha.  I thought he’d have a good time just being around a pack again, even if it wasn’t his,” Arya admitted.

“And you thought he was hot,” Erin added.

“Did not!” Arya protested.

“Did, too.  Don’t lie to us woman,” Leyla snapped jokingly.

“Okay, fine, he is hot.  Happy?”

Leyla and Erin laughed as they drove to the mall.

The day turned to be a good one.  Ren got eleven new shirts and ten new shorts and a two pairs of jeans.  He and Arya went shopping together while Leyla and Austin went off and Erin and Ray ran to somewhere unknown.

The two of them had a ball.  Arya had never met someone who could make her laugh so hard.  She herself bought a few outfits; a dress, a pair of shorts, a tank top, and a cute sleeveless jacket.  Ren demanded to see the dress and the look he had on his face when he saw it was priceless.

“You like?” She asked with a grin.

“I like.  Ren like a lot!” He exclaimed.

The two of them met up with the other four and went back to the compound.  When Arya and Ren entered her house, Rigg, Dmitri, and Derek were there to greet them.

“Hey, how was shopping?” Rigg inquired, standing up from the couch.

“Good.  Did you get Ren’s stuff?”

“Yeah, we put it in his room.”

“Did you have any trouble?” Ren asked, standing so close to Arya she could feel the heat coming off his body.  She could also hear the thudding of his heart.  She had the strangest urge to take his hand.

“Um, sort of.  One of your old pack mates tried to stop us… we kind of had to knock him out before he alerted the rest of the pack,” Dmitri answered sheepishly.

“Do you know who it was?” Ren demanded, suddenly sounding like the alpha he was.  Even the three boys looked taken aback.

“I think his name was Ansel… if that name rings a bell,” Derek replied.  Arya looked up at Ren who had blanched.

“That was… never mind who it was.  I don’t like that you had to knock him out but I guess you had to.  Thanks for getting my stuff.  I’m going to go get it all situated.”  Ren nodded before heading up the stairs.

Arya groaned. “Did you have to knock him out?”

“It just sort of happened,” Rigg replied quietly.

Arya rubbed her temple. “All right, thanks you guys.”

The three of them left her house while Arya went up the stairs.  She realized she still had Ren’s new clothes.  Although she hated to disturb him after the news, Arya knew he probably wanted his clothes.  She went upstairs and was about to answer the door when she overheard Ren speaking on the phone.

“An?” Ren answered. “I’m fine.  Are you okay?  I heard about you getting knocked out… yeah they were with me… sorry about that… she is?... Is she happy though?  With Shay?... I’m glad…  I’m not saying… I don’t want anyone to find me… No!  You can’ tell anyone I called!... Yes I’m aware there’s a phone number tracing, but now that I know you’re going to come search for me I’m leaving this place…”

Arya dropped the bags.  Hurriedly she picked up the ones with her outfits and bolted into her room, not wanting to hear anymore of the conversation.  She shut her door as quickly and quietly as she could and leaned up against it.  She was hoping that Ren didn’t know she had overheard his conversation.
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Ren

“An?” Ren asked hesitantly.

“Ren!  Are you okay?  You ran out of Vail like the devil was after you!” Ansel exclaimed.

“I’m fine.  Are you okay?  I heard about you getting knocked out.”

“I’m fine.  Were they with you?”

“Yeah, they were with me.”

“The tall one that looks like Thor has a hell of a punch.”

“Sorry about that,” Ren apologized sincerely.

“Listen, Calla’s worried sick about you,” Ansel told him seriously.

“She is?”

“Yeah.  She flipped out when she found out you were gone.”

“Is she happy though?  With Shay?”

“… Yeah, she’s really happy.”

“I’m glad.”

“So where are you?” Ansel questioned casually.  There was some crunching on the other end of the phone and Ren figured An was eating… again.  That boy had a bottomless stomach.

“I’m not saying.”

“Why?”

“I don’t want anyone to find me,” Ren said sharply, but Ansel didn’t seem fazed.

“Can I tell the pack you called at least?”

“No!  You can’t tell anyone I called!”

“You do know I can trace this phone call, right?”

Ren groaned. “Yes I’m aware there’s a phone number tracing but now that I know you’re going to come search for me I’m leaving this place,” Ren snapped.  He heard the dropping of bags and a light scrambling.  Her smell wafted into his room.  Plum, freesia, and melon.

Arya.

“Hey, An, I have to go.  Take care, all right? And don’t tell anyone!” Ren ordered.

“Okay, okay dude.  Keep safe yourself and check in with me once in a while alright?”

“Alright.” Ren hung up and ran to the door, hoping Arya would still be out there.  She wasn’t, but his shopping bags were in front of his door.  He wondered if Arya heard his conversation.

Arya

A knocking at the door made her jump.

“Arya?”

She immediately knew it was Ren.  No one had that deep, sexy, seductive voice in her pack, not even when they were trying to sound like that.  He didn’t even have to try and sound deep, sexy, and seductive; it was just how he naturally sounded.  Taking a deep breath, she turned around and opened the door.

“Hey, Ren,” She greeted kindly, trying to hide how disappointed she was that he was leaving already.

“Hey, Arya… um, did you hear that conversation?” Ren inquired curiously.

“I only heard you were leaving.  I’m sorry to hear that,” Arya admitted.

“Really?” Ren looked genuinely surprised.

“I know we’ve only known each other barely twenty four hours, but you’re pretty fun to hang out with.  Why are you leaving anyways?”

“I lied.  I’m not leaving.  I just didn’t want Ansel to come looking for me.”

Arya tried to hold back her grin but a smile stretched out across her face. “Why not?”

“I don’t want any relations to my old pack right now.  Besides, I don’t want to leave your pack.  I like it… whether they like me is another story,” Ren said with a chuckle.

“I’m not sure if you’ll believe me but the pack does like you… well, Shiloh doesn’t,” Arya confessed sheepishly.

“That’s a no brainer… were you upset I was leaving?” Ren asked, not able to hold the curiosity out of his eyes.

“As I said before, you’re fun to hang out with… and it’s nice to have another alpha around because I can relate to you in ways I can’t with my pack mates.”

“Agreed.  So when’s supper?” Ren clapped, rubbing his hands.

“My god, you are just like the guys here.  All you think about is your stomach.” Arya rolled her eyes.

“And girls, don’t forget girls,” Ren corrected.

“Oh yeah?  What girls do you think about?”

Ren didn’t answer, he just merely smiled.
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Okay, super long chapter but that’s okay because I’m going to be gone for a week and I don’t know how long it will be until my next update.  So please review!