The Weaker Wolves

6.

After finishing the ice cream between us, Damon and I head back to the front room. Dad seems calmer, but I can still see he’s not right. Mum is rubbing circles into his back and whispering in his ear. As we enter they both look up at us.

“Is it true?” Mum asks “he wants to just keep you around for strength, nothing else?”

“It appears that way mum.”

“I’m gonna call Ray..”

“Don’t mum, there’s not much point..”

“NOT MUCH POINT?!” She yells. “THAT POMPOUS LITTLE PRICK WANTS TO USE MY DAUGHTER AS A STAND IN FOR WHEN HIS “LUNA” ISN’T IN THE MOOD, AND YOU THINK THATS FINE?!”

“Mum, please, just leave it…”

She raises her finger to her lips as she leaves the room with her phone in her hand. I look at Damon who is quietly laughing to himself.

“What’re you laughing about?”

“I’ve just never heard someone described as a pompous little prick before. I like it.”

I roll my eyes and go to sit next to dad. I put my arm over his shoulder and lean my head on him.

“What am I going to do daddy?”

He turns his head to face me. His eyes are still going from black to blue and he has a far away look in his eyes. The fog lifts and he looks me in the eye.

“You’re going to reject him..”

“Woah, dad… calm down. I don’t know if I could do that…”

“No, listen to me. After you get your wolf, you’re going to sit him down and reject him. I’m not having you become his means to an end. He may be becoming our Alpha, but he’s not it yet. So I’m going to say this while I still can…” I look at his face, and I can see he’s being completely serious.

“The man is an arse. He has no respect for women if he thinks that’s how you treat a mate, and I for one won’t have him mates to my daughter.”

“I understand dad, I really do. But I don’t know if I would have the strength to reject him. If I have a wolf, I’ll be too weak to go through a rejection. If I’m human I’ll stand a higher chance of surviving. I mean, the bond won’t be so strong, will it?”

My dad stares into my face. “For the first time in my life sweetheart, I hope you don’t have a wolf.”

Regardless of the reason behind it, it still hurt to hear. If I do get a wolf, I want everyone to be happy for me, not pitying me. I look up at Damon, who has been watching the whole scene closely.

”what do you think?” I ask him.

“I’m not going to lie to you Han, I don’t know him that well…”

“Well, tell me what you do know…”

“I know he’s the youngest son of the Alpha, from our pack anyways. He has an older brother and an older sister. Of course his brother is in line to be Alpha of the Obsidian Pack, and his sister is mates to an Alpha from one of our allies…”

“What about his brothers mate?”

“He only recently found her. She’s the daughter of a Beta from the same pack his sister is Luna for…”

I sit back with my head in my hands. So both his siblings have found their mates, and both are a lot more powerful than me. Usually an alpha with a Beta is frowned upon, so him being with me would be absolutely unheard of.

“I know what you’re thinking Hannah, and we don’t know yet for sure if you are an omega…”

“But the chances are high, right? If I have a wolf, she won’t be Alpha strong will she? Or even Beta strong!”

“I mean, the chances are slim, but never say never…”

I know he’s trying to get me to see the bright side but I just can’t.

“I don’t know why I’m getting upset. I’m probably not even his mate. I’m still 17, he shouldn’t be able to tell yet..”

“He’s an Alpha…”

“So?”

“Alphas can sense their mates from around 15 years old, even if the mate doesn’t have their wolf yet…”

“Oh. So what he’s saying is true?”

“He has no reason to lie.”

***

The rest of the day was a bit of a blur. I spent most of it lost in my own thoughts. He didn't even try and text me this time.

I couldn’t really sleep much last night. Every time I shut my eyes I’d see the wolf from my previous dream. I still wasn’t really scared of the wolf, but it was making me uncomfortable. What didn’t help was that when I was awake my mind was running in circles about yesterday. I didn’t realise how heavy the whole thing had been until I really thought about it. After tossing and turning all night I give up trying at around 5:30am, before the sun even came up. February is always cold in the UK but I could really feel it’s frigidness now. Wrapping myself in a blanket I made me way downstairs.

*tea, you’ll feel better with a tea..*

I step into the front room and am hit in the face with the stale smell of a boys bedroom, more specifically a teenage boy.

“Oh, Jesus!” I yelp, covering my mouth and nose.

Sprawled across the sofa was Damon, wearing nothing but a pair of boxers and socks. I didn’t want to wake him up, so I quietly made my way to the window to open it. Just as I silently lift the window I realise that I didn’t really want him following me about. If he wants to, then he’s gonna have to get up with me! I turn and throw his T-shirt at his face, with it landing in a puddle of drool and his open mouth. He nearly choked on it as I yell

“WAKEY WAKEY MR BODYGUARD SIR!”.

He grumbles at me while slowly opening his eyes. “What the hell hannah?”

“You’re the one sleeping on the job…”

“It’s 5 f*****g 30 dude…”

“And can I ask why exactly you’re wearing just boxers?”

“Wolf blood, I got hot!”

“That’s not a thing!”

He looked at me confused whilst I continued laughing. I stopped when I saw his confusion.

“Is it a thing?”

“How do you not know anything about werewolves?!”

“We just don’t do it like you guys do. I didn’t realise there would be such a big difference.”

“Well I’m pretty sure that when it comes down to our biology we will all be the same.”

“So seeing as how you’re stuck as my babysitter for a while, could you teach me some of the stuff I should know?”

“Of course I can, but it will cost you…”

“Cost me what exactly?”

“Can you let me sleep til 6:30 please…?”

“The best I can do is 6, my dad will be getting up around then…”

“DEAL!” He yells as his simultaneously flips over on to his stomach under a blanket. I laugh quietly to myself as I make my way to the kitchen.

*5 days to go*

Surely the fact that I’m always bloody cold means that I can’t be a wolf? Surely.

I was right on my guess about dads schedule and set the kettle up for him to get a drink. I go and quietly wake Damon, asking if he wants a cup of tea. He looks at me like I’m an alien but nods.

***

After breakfast (at around 7:30, much to Damons disdain) mum left to take Henry to breakfast club whilst Damon got ready to give me the "Spiel" as he called it. I was initially excited by the idea of learning everything I could, but Damon being as strict as he was was putting me off.

"So you know about Alphas and Lunas?"

"Yessss..." I mumble for the hundredth time.

"...and you know about Betas and Gammas?"

"Uhuh..."

"So what bit do you need help on?" He looks at me puzzled.

"I dunno! I can't tell you what I don't know if I didn't know it was a thing?!"

Damon looks at me even more puzzled. "Was that an actual sentence?" He asks.

"I don't know." I say as I lay my head in my hands.

"Well, what if we just went and read the books?"

I look up at him. "What books?"

"The ones Zachs parents brought over to help him 'stay the course'?"

"YES!" I jump to my feet. "But can we do it whilst avoiding him and his parents?"

"I would say no, but I'm sure we can find a way..."

***

It was actually easier than I expected to avoid Zach. Apparently he was out surveying the territory *surveying potential Lunas more like* and wouldn't be back til the evening. Seeing as how they were staying with Ray at the pub, it was even easier to get in unnoticed after messaging Ray.

"Yeah, course you can come round. Use the back door, all the books are in the office anyways. Just be quiet. The yanks are in the bar." the text from Ray eased my nerves a bit. At least we wouldn't have to break into any rooms.

Once we had got in, I made myself comfortable in the office chair and started reading through the titles.

"Damon, these all look like war tactics and strategies..."

"Yeah, most of them would be..."

I gave him a side eye.

"Don't look at me like that!" He said almost offended. "That's quite a normal alpha book collection. There's a lot of fighting in America!"

"Like you guys don't have enough problems with guns..." I say under my breath.

"What was that Hannah?!"

"Nothing! None of these look helpful at all..."

He threw a book to me. "Try this..."

'Wolf Lore: Being a Wolf'.

"Cheers mate."

He paled and looked at me. "Oh for f**k sake, NOT LIKE THAT!"

***

I had spent a couple hours reading, with Damon occasionally interrupting me with drinks or snacks. He was a good companion to have a round, not that I'd ever admit it to him. I was hours in to the book learning about how heats affected women when I heard a shrill voice yelling.

"I CANT BE EXPECTED TO STAY HERE LIKE THIS LEONARD!"

*Who the f**k is that?*

Almost like Damon could hear my thoughts, he jumped up and ran to my side.

"s**t, s**t s**t, we need to go!"

He pulled me up, closing the book on my lap. "Whats the problem?" I ask. Before he can reply the door to the office is slammed open. A tall blonde woman walked in, I recognised her but couldn't place her.

"WHAT ON EARTH ARE YOU DOING IN MY OFFICE?!" She screamed.

Her eyes followed down to the book in my lap.

"THESE ARE OUR THINGS! YOU SHOULDN'T BE PUTTING YOUR DIRTY PAWS ALL OVER THEM!"

Just as I opened my mouth to reply a large man came through the door behind her. He was tall, jet black hair that was peppered grey sat on his head, along with a nicely peppered beard. He was very handsome, especially for an older guy, and I realised he looked an awful lot like Zach. He was looking at me like I had just eaten his first born child.

"Hi... you must be Zachs parents?" I said pushing my hand forward to shake. They both just stare at me hand, as a slowly bring it down to my side. Then it hit me. She was the woman by the canal, the one I bumped into. I quickly looked at the floor.

"JUST EXACTLY WHO ARE YOU? DAMON? WHO IS THIS GIRL?!" She practically screamed into my face. I looked to Damon who looked nervous.

"Sorry Luna, this is Hannah, she's a... um.... friend of Zachs."

"FRIEND?" She screamed again. I had to agree with her on this one as I looked at Damon incredulously. I heard more shuffling at the door and turned to see a red faced Zach, looking just as nervous as Damon.

"Hannah, what are you doing here?!" He asked, pushing between his mum and dad.

"I'm just doing some research..." I looked down at the book in my hand. "I wanted to know more about wolves..."

Both of Zachs parents were staring at us, almost like there were expecting us to attack them. Zach took the book from my hand.

"But this is all stuff you learn as a pup...?"

"Not here it isn't..."

"ZACH!" His father's voice boomed. "WHO IS THIS GIRL AND WHY IS SHE HERE?"

I could feel the alpha aura pouring off of his dad. My head was aching at the pressure of his voice as well as my ears burning at being the subject.

"It's OK dad," Zach replied. "Shes nobody."