Wolf's Bane

Chapter 2

Sam --

Paws slammed against the grass as the beast ran through the wooded area. The sun was barely rising as the birds gave off their songs. Blood seeped through the coarse fur of the beast's chest. Claws ripped at the earth as it moved. Not long after, The creature stopped at the back of a house. Light erupted from the flesh of the canine, and soon the tan skin showed through. Sam looked down at his nude flesh and sighed. There was never a night that he didn't come home covered in blood, but this blood smelled differently.

Keen ears kept on the house as he silently walked in through the back door. He'd have to be quiet if he was going to wash up before his mother or stepfather woke up. He hated the nights his mother stayed up waiting for him. The look in her eyes when he came home covered in blood was also horrendous. Oh, so many lies he had to tell her over the years.

Making it to the bathroom on the first floor, Sam quickly took a shower and dressed. Half an hour later, he heard the first signs of life in the house. Looking toward the stairs, Sam caught the sight of his dipshit of a stepfather. Tom was not a man. He didn't work, and he didn't care about the house. The only thing Tom did was drink and abuse Sam's mother. The only thing stopping Sam from ending Tom was his mother. The woman loved this piece of s**t. Sam never understood why his mother didn't stay with his current father. Still, he didn't even know who his biological father was.

Tom went into the kitchen and rummaged through the fridge. Taking a can of beer out, he popped the lid off and took a deep drink. His mud-brown eyes met his glare at Sam before stepping back. "What the f**k are you looking at?"

"A worthless piece of hamburger in a bag of skin." Sam spat at the drunkard before he stood up. Tom put the can on the countertop before moving toward the boy. His right hand had extended so his index finger could repeatedly poke Sam in the chest. "I have done everything for this family. You have no right to say that."

"You have done nothing for this family," Sam spoke emotionlessly. This action caused Tom to grow red with anger. He hated how the boy could stay calm even when confronted with aggression. "Respect your elders." Tom smacked Sam across the face before spitting at the boy. The commotion in the kitchen caused Sam's mother to wake and hastily move down the stairs. Before Sam could react to being spat on, his mother was in front of Tom with her arms stretched out. "Sam, calm down, son. Please, for mommy."

"Yeah, Sam, listen to mommy now." Tom mocked behind the petite woman. Sam glared at Tom now. His flesh showed no anger, but his eyes seemingly began to glow. His tone was as calm as his expression. "You're lucky she saved you."

With that one warning, Sam grabbed the dry apron and walked out the door. The arguing behind the door rang in his ears, and he knew he would have to get rid of Tom, but today was about the waitress who lost her apron. Sam could easily envision the woman in his psyche by lifting the fabric to his nose. Her red hair was wild behind her head, and those green eyes reminded him of the forest in spring.

What's her name? Red? No, that had to be a nickname. Sam was sure that Zach and the preps used that to taunt the girl. He'd have to learn her name at school. How long had it been since he had even been to school? Weeks, months? He couldn't remember, though he knew that the school board wouldn't have removed him from the system. The walk was short, unfortunately, and before he knew it, he was sitting on the steps to the high school.

Luna--

Luna's morning was the same as the day before. This was basically the routine she had to go through. Eat bread, fix sister, walk, school. Nothing new has happened in her life for a long time. However, this morning, she didn't bother to try to contain her hair or put makeup on her face. She was tired from the events of the day before. Not only that, but she spent hours trying to come up with some excuse as to why she had lost her apron.

Her walk to school was tiring. She felt like she was out of breath before even stepping foot into the building. Something did feel different. There seemed to be gossip going around.

"Did you guys see the video? She was already crying over some water." The group began to laugh before looking in her direction.

"She looked pitiful. Who even works at a place like that anyway?"

"Speaking of Zach, did anyone see him today?"

The question was strange to her. Did the male not show up today? Luna gave a breath of relief before making her way to her locker. She casually opened it to grab some books and noticed that Zach wasn't at school today. She smiled slightly at the thought.

The murmurs of the building caught his ear. The gossiping about the events of the previous day caused him to growl. How could they taunt her like that? Looking at a tattered piece of paper, Sam read the handwritten note. "Locker 136". His eyes lifted from the letter, and he spotted her. The waitress stood at the locker beside his own. As he reached her, he leaned against the opposing locker and spoke a single word. "Hey."

Murmurs now flew through his ear canals. The rumors weren't about her anymore, but about him. "Dog boy and Red?"

"Are they a thing?"

"Hope she has her rabies shot." He didn't acknowledge them. Ignored a vast majority of them, to be honest. His only concern was her at that point. Moving his arm, he extended his balled-up apron. "Found this, figured it was yours."

Hearing the voice coming from beside her locker caused the girl to jump. Her mind instantly went to Zach, but then she realized it didn't sound like him. Her gaze slowly went over to the boy who was now handing her an apron she had lost before. She didn't trust him. He's one of them, she thought to herself before slowly taking the apron from him. Her hand now had a bandage from when she got knocked over. "T-thanks...." She slowly shut her locker before walking away to go to class. She curled herself up slightly and tried to hide behind her books. She wasn't sure what else to say to him and felt a bit bad for just leaving him like that.

Seeing her jump caused him to look down. Did he scare her? Realizing the torment that Zach had put her through, he growled. The stutter brought a smile to his lips.

Fast walking to catch up to her, Sam stood to her right. "So what's your name? I know it can't be Red like the others say." He didn't know why, but he had to be close to her. The beast was calm when she was near. He felt like he could be himself, and he liked it.

Her green eyes looked at the boy, who seemed to be following her. Didn't he have a class to go to? "Luna. But you can call me whatever. I'm..... I-I'm used to it." She suddenly heard the late bell before sighing again. She didn't realize it was already this late. Her eyes then went to math class. "So... Are you going to the same class? I have never seen you before." She stopped right before the door to get an answer. She didn't have much time to wait anyway.

"Luna, that's a great name. Much better than Red." Wincing as the bell rang, he looked up at the hallways' speakers. “I don't know. Honestly, I haven't been to school in a while." He gave a chuckle and held the door open for her. "I can always join you anyway."

"Why would you want to do that?" She pushed back her red curls before looking into the classroom. All her classmates seemed shocked at Luna being with a boy or an outcast boy. "People will say bad things... You saw Zach." She wasn't sure if he's going to math was a good idea or a bad idea. If it was the correct class, would the teachers even know? "And... You might get into trouble."

"What could be worse than they have already been saying?" He looked at the class and gave a smirk. This seemed to cause them to continue in their gossiping. The teacher tried to calm them down before she looked at the doorway, "Luna, are you joining us?"

Sam looked at the teacher, "Sorry, Mrs. Ginger, I was wondering if I could sit with Luna this morning. Seems some of the students are harassing her."

"I'm sure your grandfather will like to hear about this. Go see him first, till you return, Luna, sit in front." Mrs. Ginger motions for Luna to sit at the desk nearest the chalkboard. Sam's blue eyes landed upon Luna, and his voice lowered to a whisper. "Zach and the others won't hurt you anymore. I'll protect you." With the final word, Sam turned around and began walking toward the principal's office.

Luna was about to protest but felt it would worsen things. Hugging her books to her chest, the redhead slowly went to her new seat in front. She never liked being in front of the class. She could feel everyone's eyes landing on her red hair. It wasn't long before gossip started up again. The only thing she could do was look down and wait for the lesson to start. "Sorry for the interruption, Mrs. Ginger."

Sam --

Walking down the hall, Sam took in the many classrooms and different decorations the Art class had made. It seemed as if the students had gotten better since the last time he attended school. "Hmm, did they move grandpa's office?" Stopping in a dark room, he crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head to the left. "Should have asked Mrs. Ginger before leaving." Shrugging, he continued to walk the halls. He would find it eventually.

The sweet scent of gingerbread caught his nose, and a smirk rose to his lips. It was his grandmother's recipe. Though the faint hint of wax lingered in the trail, he realized why. Turning to the room, a candle burned on a desk, and an older man sat behind the desk. "Grandpa."

"Samuel?" The older man looked up before he stood in his chair. The elder moved around the desk before taking his grandson into his arms in a hug. Sam looked at the older man and smiled. "Hi, Grandpa."

"You've returned to school then?"

"Maybe." Sam scratched the back of his head before chuckling. "I've come to report a disturbance amongst the students."

"Always vigilant. What's wrong?"

"A student named Luna is being harassed by the cheerleaders and jocks. Perhaps others as well." Sam began to pace. It was as if he was giving a speech, and he found it revolting. Swallowing a bit of bile, he looked at his grandfather. "I request to have the same classes as her until it either stops or graduation."

"I will see if I can do that."

"Grandfather," Sam paused as he looked at the older man. His blue eyes held the glow of the beast within. "It will happen. Or shall I remind you of what happened to Uncle?" The light subsided as quickly as it had shown. The older man stepped back before he lowered his eyes. "I'll make sure it happens, grandson."

"Good." Sam turned now and walked back to the classroom Luna was in. He was sure the minor incident with his grandfather wasn't too long before the first class was over.

Luna--

Once the bell had run, Luna thought the boy had finally abandoned her. She stood up from her desk to head to her science class, only to be stopped by Zach's old group of friends. Her eyes wandered around to see if the boy could be found, but she didn't find anyone. "Hey, red, let's have a chat. We have science together anyway." His arms went around the girl's neck, and she began to get pushed into the hallways. She slowly curled herself up more into her books. "What do you w-want?"

"Heard from Zach lately? He seems to have gone missing since the video was taken."

"You know the water video?"

"I'm sure she knows which one, you dumbass." He hit his friend on the back of the head before sighing. "Stupid people. Anyway, it seems to be your fault he's missing. What'd ya do with him?"

Luna's eyes widened a bit. How could she have had anything to do with it? "I d-didn't."

Sam was just down the hall from the classroom when the bell rang. The halls were filled with different grades. He knew she would have to grab a separate book for the next class, but something felt wrong.

A deep, guttural growl left his lips as he moved through the flood of students. His eyes scanned the crowd for the red of Luna's hair. Shoving the students out of the way, Sam finally caught sight of her, an arm around her shoulders and the deep brown hair of Brad's head. "Bradley!" His voice came out more beast than human as he yelled over the crowd. How many guys had Zach recruited? How many "wolves" would he have to get rid of? Protect her.

The beast clawed at his brain. As he reached the group, he took Luna's hand and pulled her from the group of guys. "What seems to be the problem here?"

The feeling of the boy grabbing her hand and pulling her away was almost relieving. She dropped her book to the ground. He seemed to know everyone. She wasn't sure if he was on her side.

"Well, look who it is, boys? Sam! It's been a while, buddy. I was just taking her to class, is all." He smiled proudly before staring at the girl who was now hiding behind Sam. "Seems to me you found yourself a new play toy, huh?" He laughed slightly before the other followed suit. It was pretty obvious who ran this small group behind Zach's back. "Might as well share while you're at it? For old time's sake."

Sam glared at the male. "I'll take it from here rather than boys." A growl rumbled from this male's chest. "Besides, you know I don't share well." Sam's top lip curled up slightly to show a wild canine. The beast within was very close to emerging. If it weren't for the fact that they were in a building with humans around, Sam would have easily ripped them apart. "If you want to play later, I'll be in the woods." He bent down and grabbed Luna's book now. His unoccupied arm held out to keep her blocked from Brad.

Sam stood up with the book and turned away from the males. Handing Luna the book, he smiled down at her. "I'll be in every class you have." This was a statement to her and a threat to those with keen enough ears. He knew most in the school were of the feral variety, and most hated humans with a passion. Though his tormentors were humans, he knew Luna's were not.