Seven mates for seven brothers

18 - I should be afraid

“Locals?”  Cassy asked Alex hopefully.  Even though she knew full well that all the rogues had been taken care of, the instinctive fear that had been part of their lives for so long was still there.

“Cassy, they are female; and no, they are not from here.”  Alex replied, her fear noticeable to him; so he stood closer to her, his chest touching her back as he rubbed up and down her arms.   He could feel her relaxing into him.

She gave him an embarrassed half smile before taking a look around.

“There.”  Brian nodded towards a group of eight girls in two lanes at the far end, joking around with each other while they sent their bowling balls crashing down the lanes.

It was only Cassy and Alex that had to get their shoes and when Cassy turned around, the other boys were almost at the visiting shifters.  “This is not good Alex, if I had such a reaction to the presence of unknown shifters, how do you think those girls are going to react?”

As reply Alex took her hand as soon as they got their shoes and set of after his brothers.

Brian carefully took note of all the girls that were having fun together.  The oldest was perhaps seventeen or maybe even eighteen while the youngest was most likely only about fifteen.  He would never admit it out loud, but he was slightly jealous of Alex.  He knew Alex did not see the change in himself, but he saw.  He saw that Alex had lost a lot of the tension he had carried around with him for so long that it had seemed as if would be a permanent part of him, and he was human enough to wonder if finding his mate would have the same effect on him.

As luck would have it, their lane was next to the girls and they slowly advanced.  They were about ten feet away from them when one of girls noticed them coming towards them.  From her expression it was obvious that she was enjoying the view the six of them presented.  Then a small frown as she noticed the mall indications that they were more than purely human.  To give her credit, she hid her panic well; but the other girls picked up on her emotions and quickly came together to form a united front; the girl in charge standing a bit to the front.

Brian and his brothers came to a stop in front of them; they stood there for perhaps half a minute staring at each other.  The brothers could see and smell the increased discomfort and fear from the girls, but they did not realize they were the cause; and so they moved on instinct to protect those that are weaker than they.

From where Cassy and Alex were rushing in to save this from becoming a disaster she noticed their intentions, and despite her being furious at their ignorance at how the girls would be experiencing this encounter; she had to be impressed at how well Alex had trained them, even if they did not asses the situation correctly.  But then again, she also had a bit of a bad spot a short while ago, so she would not hold that against them.

Alex reached them first, he walked up to the closest two; Conrad and Ethan, and slapped them on the back of their heads.  “Idiots.”  He muttered.

The girls all smiled at that; but did not relax their stance until they saw Cassy come up next to Alex and snake her arm around his waist.  The girl standing in front gave everybody a good look over and seemed to decide that there was no danger; she and the others relaxed.

Meanwhile, Cassy could hear how Alex was blistering his brother’s ears for not thinking about how their approach would have been taken as a threat by the girls.  The boys were indignant that they could be perceived as a threat.  Alex stayed at Cassy’s side, as that seemed to convince the girls that they were not in a threatening situation.

“Good afternoon ladies.  I am Alexander Grey of the Yellow Stone pack.  This is my mate Cassy and my brothers, Brian, Carter, Conrad, Derrick, Dennis and Ethan.”  As he spoke their names they waved, nodded their heads or smiled.  It was not necessary for him to say that he was alpha; they could see that from the way he carried power around him.