Pack: The Wolf Within

Chapter Five: Into the Wolf's Den

Rebel

I had my phone out, cracked glass obscuring a clear view of the screen. I had a lunar cycle app up and stared at the screen trying to make out the images. The full moon was apparently going to be in perigee, something called a supermoon that left me feeling a great deal of trepidation. I didn't know if it was going to have any more consequence than a regular full moon, but reading about the supermoon and its increased effect on the tide and even something called the land tide led me to believe that I was in for something very supernatural.

"What are you doing?" Scout stood in the doorway to my room.

I looked up from my phone. My anxiety must have shown on my face. Scout took a tentative step towards me, a flash of concern transforming his face. He looked at my phone.

"It's a supermoon." I showed him my phone, though I doubted he could read what it said any better than I could. "It's gonna be closer to the earth than it has in a long time and it says that it has a stronger pull than a normal full moon." I powered off my phone, the screen going black. "What's that mean?"

Scout shrugged. "I dunno. I don't think it's gonna be any worse." His grin was tentative. "But, I mean, you don't have anything to compare."

"I don't understand why it's going to happen. Why it's going to happen now and hasn't happened before." I didn't want to tell him that I Googled werewolves and the full moon. Everything said that werewolves were myth, the stuff of fantasy and science fiction novels.

Scout approached slowly and sat next to me on my bed. "I've always known that I was going to change. My dad told me early on what was going to happen. And it didn't matter how many times he tried to tell me, I didn't get it." He shook his head absently. "Then your mom explained it to me in a different way. She started out by describing certain flowers that bloom only at night. How they're genetically different than flowers that bloom during the day.

"What we are, versipelles we're like those night blooming flowers, genetically, we're different. We react to the increased ambient energy of the moon when it's full." He spoke in a flow and timbre that was reminiscent of my mother. I felt a pang of jealousy. "You know she talked about you all the time."

I looked up. "Is she one too; a verispelles?"

Scout nodded. "She said I reminded her of you. She missed you. She'd get sad." Scout looked straight ahead, not keeping eye contact. "I don't remember my mother. She died when I was just a baby and she, your mom, is the only mother I've known, even though she's not..." He drew himself up straight and smiled at me. "You were her little cub, she'd say. And I was too."

I smiled at that.

"When she said you were coming to visit, I thought everything was going to change. I was excited. Someone else like me. I was pissed too."

My grin blossomed again. "Really. I couldn't tell."

He nudged me with his shoulder. "Shut up."

"I saw you when you stormed out. I watched you change when you went into the woods and then when you came back, you had..." I ran a hand across my chest remembering the long stretch of torn flesh that marred his chest and abdomen. They were gone when he transformed the other day. "What happened?"

"I had to blow off some steam. There's a rogue pack out in the hills of Pasadena that's been ranging into Montecito and I picked up their trail and instinct took over."

"A rogue pack?"

"Wolves. The normal kind."

"And by blowing off steam, you mean..."

"What do you think?"

"You went and fought a pack of wolves?"

He smiled a toothy grin in response. "Well really just the alpha. The rest were a bunch of omega pups."

"And he did that to you?"

He rubbed his chest absently. "I've had much worse."

As painful as it had looked, I didn't want to imagine what much worse would be like.

"It's not a big deal. I mean the first time I thought I was going to die. But when I woke up everything was fine. I was completely healed." He was bragging now and the air around us was suddenly inundated with his scent, something that I could almost taste.

"Want to see something?" He grabbed my hand, firmly, and pulled me after him. He practically flew in front of me and I stumbled after him hoping he wasn't about to kill me.

"I feel you worrying. Don't worry." He squeezed my hand and even though he didn't look back at me as he raced onward, I could feel that toothy grin blossoming on his face. We raced out of the house and through the expansive back yard and then out beyond the wrought iron gate. The trees and other fauna were a fuzzy flash of green. The longer we ran, the better I was able to adapt to his speed. We dashed between trees and scrambled over a densely covered hill that had a barely discernible path. On the other side of the hill we came to an abrupt stop. He wasn't breathing heavily but I gasped for air.

"Where are we?" I looked around but saw nothing but overgrowth.

"Look harder. Open your senses. Breathe in, smell, taste the air."

I rolled my eyes.

"Go on. Do it."

I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply.

"Again. Through your mouth too."

"I don't..."

His kiss interrupted me. It was primal and impulsive and I grabbed at him blindly when he tried to pull away. My senses bloomed with the contact and the forest around us was a sudden assault so overwhelming that it knocked me back. Had I not been holding on to him, I'm certain I would have fallen on my ass. He held me at arms length.

"Okay. Now do it."

I closed my eyes again and I thought that the tastes on my tongue were just remnants of his kiss, but the truth was that it was more than that. He was all around me, his scent, his taste, his very essence. Behind closed eyes I could still see him; when he moved away from me, I could track his motion. I opened my eyes and he was gone but I followed his trail beyond a copse of trees into a dark cave that reeked of him.

I couldn't see him in the dark, but knew he was in here somewhere. "Scout." I called out.

I heard his approach, felt his thick dense bristly fur as he dashed by me, barely knocking me aside.

"Scout. This isn't funny."

Another rushing pass at me and I felt his teeth nip the tips of my fingers.

"Scout. I'm serious."

I could swear I could hear him panting. I imagined him sitting back on his haunches, tongue lolling as he watched me in the dark. I took tentative steps, my hands outstretched. Underfoot I found his clothes, still warm.

I started towards the cave's opening and I felt and heard him racing for me. He dashed in front of me and I stumbled in the dark. I yelped, my hand landing roughly on the gravel and rocks at the permiter of the cave.. Before I even noticed him, he was beside me.

"You okay? I was only playing." He took my hand. I still couldn't see him but he turned my hand at an awkward angle to look at my palm.

I shrugged him off. "I'm fine." Though I couldn't see him, I could still sense him. And I felt his eyes on me and turned towards his gaze. "I'm fine, ya stupid mutt."

I didn't expect him to pounce on me, but he did. I barked out laughter as he nuzzled my neck., then he silenced me with another kiss. It was urgent and insistent. He tugged at my shirt and had it off before I could protest.

"We..." Another kiss interrupted me. "...could have done..." I moaned meaninglessly as his nipped at my chest, finding a n****e. All thought was chased out of my head as I moaned again.

I pushed at him somehow overpowering him, until I was on top of him straddling his naked body. I pressed his hands to the ground as he struggled underneath me.. My eyes had acclimated to the dark and I watched as he bared his throat to me. I don't know what led me to bite him but I did. It wasn't hard, but apparently unexpected as he yelped in surprise. His struggling ceased immediately and he gazed directly at me. I was just as surprised and scrambled back away from him, staggering back until I was pressed against the cave wall, my heart pounding.

"What's...what's going on?"

"Nothing. Just a little bit of fun." He propped himself up on his elbows and watched me. "You don't want to have any fun? A distraction?"

"It's not that."

"Is it the other one?"

"What other one?" I sat forward.

"The one on the phone. He's in your head. It's like he's pack. But not mine."

"Dalton's..."

Scout's eyebrows perked up at the name. I think had I known how to describe Dalton, what he was to me, Scout's curiosity wouldn't have been piqued. He'd already know.

"He's not your mate." It was stated as a matter of fact and I nodded, unconsciously.

"Sometimes, when I was little, I could sense you. Maybe it was because of what your mother told me about you. Her link to you was strong even though she buried it deep inside, still it was there and I could touch it. I don't think she knew." He paused for a moment, distracted by a thought. "Or maybe she did. Maybe that's why she brought you out here. Because she knew."

"I'm scared."

Scout nodded. Of course he knew. Even though he had been prepared, knowing what's going to happen and going through it are two different things. Scout rose up and ambled over to me. "It's scary. But we're pack. I'll be with you." He sidled down next to me and propped his head on my shoulder. "And after you change, we'll run under the full moon."

There was a wistful dreamy air to his words. I draped an arm around him and leaned my head on his. Something had gone unspoken, something that led me to believe that perhaps there had been another for Scout.