A New Era

The Unknown Wolf

Weeks went by, and Hanna learned spell after spell, learned more about Werewolves and even watched them run and play during their first full moon. She went to the nursery and learned about the pups, and learned about mates and understood it wasn't a choice, it was a gift that not everyone was given, and that's why humans never got that gift. And then one day, very suddenly, someone showed up.

Hanna was sitting in the field outside of the pack house, with the pups circling her. She was flickering light around her fingers, and it was starting to change color around her hands, you could hear the sound of one of the wolves howling. She stood up, and her power faded away. "Pups, house. Now," they turned and ran toward the house, trying not to trip over their own feet and into the house. Hanna spoke softly, "Kelly." Kelly instinctively came running from the house and shifted, slowing down as she got to Hanna and pushed up against her. Hanna patted Kelly's head gently, "Bring whatever it is to me. And get those wolves back here, if they cause this much ruckus during the day, we are going to get animal lovers wondering out here and getting bitten by a young shiftable wolf." Kelly nodded as her ears went down, and she had a low growl. Kelly ran faster than a sports car ever could, and Kelly waited as she could hear Kelly snarling as she got worked up. As Hanna had learned, Kelly did very often in her wolf form, while as a person she was quiet and gentle. As if her wolf was her other half.

Quickly, Kelly came back, a six-foot wolf with black fur and a white patch on her left foot, holding a teenage boy about Hanna's age in her mouth by his hoodie. The other wolves that could turn on their own, following behind, snapping at each other, as if blaming each other for not being able to catch the boy, while Kelly did. "Kelly, please let him go. He's human and must be scared." Kelly let him go gently, putting his feet on the ground before fully dropping him. "I'm not a grubby human." The boy spat out with a hard European accent. Her eyes focused on him, and the tone of her face changed, "I'm A Human," she said sternly. He looked at her, then spat at her. She took a deep breath, remembering Oliver's teachings, 'Not everyone will understand us, or you. But if you act like a monster, that will give them reasons to call us one.'

She looked up and down at the wolf. "I want to speak to your Alpha!" he yelled at her. "I am the Alpha. What is your name, boy?" Hanna felt all the eyes of the other wolves on her; she didn't think this was how she would be showing herself to the pack. The boy seemed to be thinking, for a moment, he seemed to be able to reason with, but the fact that he was young was clear. "I'm Zackery! If you're the Alpha, then I might as well move on because this pack will be gone soon, too." Kelly snarled, and the boy jumped, "What do you mean gone too?" Hanna asked, and Kelly instantly looked at Hanna. "I have been traveling for months through human means, hiding in forests, woods, mountains, once I locked myself in an abandoned school, anywhere I could during the full moon... " He seemed to zone out in the memory of turning. Hanna realized that he was a fresh wolf, young teenage fresh wolves usually have a hard time with the pain of the transition. He snapped out of it, realizing Hanna was staring at him, "Anyways, I went to each pack, as you should know, there are only five. Every single one was gone, bodies found for miles, I couldn't see them, but when I was a wolf I could smell them rotting, I never found any bodies though..." He said as he looked down into the dirt, "Buried." Hanna said blankly. "What? What are you talking about?" Zackery couldn't understand. "They were dead... You were right about that; they are gone. They were buried through, someone burried they bodies. That's why you could smell them, but not see them. Kelly told me of a similar experience as a wolf wandering the cemetery we have." The boy suddenly understood completely and looked to be even more miserable. "Kelly, you and the wolves need to go turn back and change. I'll help Zackery here." Kelly lowered his head and snarled, and they followed her to the house.

Zackery looked at Hanna in the eyes for the first time, "How are they wolves when it's day and the full moon doesn't come in another week?" Hanna was shocked. Zackery had no clue that some wolves could change. Wolves are taught, then once they have their first transformation. "Zackery, did your pack pass away after or before you transformed?" Zack's eyes looked away from hers again. "Before. There were only ten of us, and I was the only one who hadn't turned. A vampire came in and killed them all, he said I had to have been human." Hanna wasn't surprised, Vampires couldn't smell if you could be a werewolf, just if you are. Wolves can smell it instantly if they have turned because their instincts are heightened. "He buried them and then left within a day. Weeks later, while grieving, I turned."