Through the Emerald Forest

Chapter 6 Meanwhile.

            **Years ago. A month before Alpha Max's death. In an office far away**

    Two men sat across from each other. Each man riffling through papers. The men are images of each other, although one is older and grey. After what seemed to be an hour of each reading through different papers and making notes, the elder puts his pen down and rubs his temples then pinches the bridge of his nose.

    "Are you sure you really want to go to that shared school to teach..what...history?" The elder man asked the younger then sighs heavily, "How many more years of this, Conrad? I'm tired." This makes the younger of the men, Conrad, chuckle. He sets down the papers he had been looking at.

    "Father, This is the last of the schools on the list. You know the charge we were left. I have to find her."  Conrad slouches back in his seat and sighs heavily. He then reaches down and picks up another paper, this one is one he had not looked at yet. He scanned it. His eyebrows furrowed together as he read the paper again and sat up. "I think..I think.." Conrad laughs and slams the paper down on the desk pointing to name. "I think its her!" The paper was a class list of his freshman history class.

    "Amethyst Greene" The older man read aloud, he raised his eyebrows questioningly. "How do you know this is the one?" They've gone through so many pages through the school years. Each a different pack school for different years. He was starting to loose hope. He looked at his son, who was smiling.

    "We know her first name was Amethyst, from the letter she left us. And I remember the man that was here had the last name of Greene. So with that logic, the name fits, but we wont know for sure until I see her." Conrad's voice was still hopeful. He stood and gathered his papers, "Now if you'll excuse me, Father, I'm going start making sure i have a good lesson plan set up for the year. I need to make sure we have history plan in place..." He trailed of slightly as he heard a faint snarl in his head, making him chuckle slightly, "It seems i also must stretch my wings. Pitch has been cooped up too long."  His father laughed and nodded.

    "Best go let him out a bit then. You know how hard it will be during the school year." Conrad laughed and headed out the door.

       -Do we really have to hide again?- Pitch growled slightly in his head. -I don't like it. It makes me feel less.- His feeling of anxiety was clear and Conrad agreed. He hated hiding who he was to the packs. He knew if he revealed who he was there would either be trouble or unwanted interest mostly by those disgraceful She-wolves that want power.

    --I hate hiding too, but i have a feeling this time will be different. I think this will be the last time we have to hide-- Conrad reassured both Pitch and himself. He had arrived at his room, he wanted to get his bag packed quickly, that way he could be out as long as he could.

    After twenty minutes of packing, his skin started to itch. He decided it should be enough for now and he could buy whatever else he needed when the time came. He headed out of his room and down the main stair. He headed out to the garage and tucked his bag and briefcase into his car. He had made arrangements with a hotel in the small town near the school. He was expected there in about a week. It would take about a two days to drive there. While he was at his car he decided that he would head out shortly after he got back so he stripped out of his shirt, shoes and socks placing them in the car. He headed out to the far field. There was a small shack built at the edge of the field, it was built for his father and him by her. He striped out of his pants and underwear and headed into the middle of the field.

    --Alright, buddy, let's get going-- Conrad linked to Pitch, letting him take control. Conrad felt the power surging around his body as a faint mist surrounded him. He let Pitch take control and just watched, like a passenger in his own being.

    He felt his eyes change from the hazel, his choice for his human form, to the vibrant Gold they were when Pitch had control. He felt the magic swell as he changed, his form growing to a near impossible size, almost 20x what his human form was. His claws glistening, his golden scales reflecting the noon sun, each of his wings were 8 feet long. He stretched them wide giving them a few good flaps. Conrad couldn't help but chuckle, the gold was a choice.

 --Pitch, buddy, you don't need to hid, lets just be ourselves for now.-- Pitch chuckled. A deep rumble that filled the field.

    He shook his mighty head, causing a rippling effect down his entire body. His face changed first, his snout became longer more angled and his face narrowed as the ripple continues his body lengthened, strengthened. Even his wings grew each one was nearly 10 feet, his tail was just as strong and powerful but as the ripple reached the tip it reverberated back. Spikes sprouted up his back, his scales rippled turning black as night with only a hint of golden shimmer, when the ripple reached back to his snout he rears his head back and roars. With one powerful stroke of his wings hes in the air, hes above the trees and soaring.

    -If feels good to be myself for once, It feels right.- Pitch chuckles as he climbs higher snapping his jaws at a goose. Conrad hummed in agreement his own thoughts drifting off to how the year may turn out, letting Pitch have his fun.

        **Time-jump* First day of school end of the day**

    The day went well. At least Collin thought so, it was his first time in a shared pack high-school. His worst class by far was any that had the senior sluts, that's what they were sluts. The worst of the bunch was some Sliverpine she-wolf name Ashley. Even the thought of that interaction made Collin shudder. The only brightness of the day was seeing Amethyst in his classroom.

    -She looks just like her mother.- Pitch said quietly. He was rarely quiet but when it came to her, he was always quiet. Conrad thought about it and discovered Pitch was correct, except for a few little things.

    --Her hair is like his and her eyes are like his when he was doing magic, they are hypnotizing.-- He thought idly. Pitch agreed.

    -Can we get outta this building? The smell of wolf-slut is getting to my head.- Pitch growled. Conrad agreed. Just as school was letting out that She-wolf Ashley tried to persuade him to sleep with her. It literally made his skin crawl with the thought. He managed to turn her down, send her away, he did have to release a little bit of his aura. Her awful sent still lingers even hours later.

    Conrad quickly packs up his case, he had been trying to get the lesson plan set for the rest of the week. It had been getting too hard to concentrate. It had already started to get dark. Conrad headed out the front of the school, keys in hand. He stopped in his tracks as he saw Amethyst walking away from the school.

    "Miss Greene. Is everything alright?" She jumped, He held back a laugh. He headed down the stairs in her direction, he made is face a mask of concern. Her cheeks tinted lightly pink.

    -She's so precious.- Pitch cooed at Conrad. He was already fond of her. Conrad couldn't help but agree, he was fond of her too.

  "Yes, Mr Obstran. My ride never showed up, and I don't have a way to call home. I figured it wasn't too far so i would just walk." Amethyst stumbled over her words. He notice her shift her bag on her shoulder as she got ready to turn away. His mind raced, he couldn't let her walk in the dark, alone. Suddenly he got an idea.

    "Miss Greene, if i remember correctly you live in the Silverpine pack house which is about 6 miles from here. At this time of the evening that is quite a distance. Come. I'll take you home." He waved his hand toward his car. He watched her as she made up her mind, when she nodded he couldn't help but smile. He opened the passenger side door for her and, when she was settled into the car, he hurried around an hopped in. 

    The car ride was quiet, except for the radio. Pitch was humming in his head. He seemed very content making sure Amethyst was safe.

    --You seem quite happy.-- Conrad linked to Pitch as he glanced out of the corner of his eye to peek at Amethyst. She was just watching out the window. Pitch laughed.

    -How could i not be happy? We finally found her. We are currently making sure she is safe.- Pitch replied pointedly. Conrad couldn't help but agree. They were making sure she stayed safe. They were pulling up to the front of the pack-house. It was fully dark.

   "Thank you, Mr. Obstran. I'm not sure how long that would've taken me to walk." Amethyst said while unbuckling her seat-belt and grabbing her backpack.

    "You are welcome, Miss Greene. I hope you have a good evening and I look forward to having you in class." He replied warmly, but mentally flinching for sounding so formal. But he knew he couldn't be to familiar or she would probably avoid him, or worse report him to her Alpha and get him removed from the school. He headed down the driveway watching her cautiously in the rear-view mirror. He smiled as he noticed her watching him drive away.

    Conrad pulls up to his hotel about 45 minutes later. He heads inside and plugs his phone into the wall to charge. It had died during his last Class of the day. As it started charging and powering on, he went and took a shower. While showering he heard his phone beep a few times. Concerned he quickly rinsed off and went to check on the phone.

    He saw several missed calls from his Father. He dialed the number quickly, it only rang twice.

    *Hello, Conrad* His father answered over the phone.

    **Hello, Father, I am sorry I missed your earlier calls my phone had died** He replied.

    *I was trying to call you to warn you. You need to be more careful. Now more then ever* His Father's voice was full of concern.

    **What's wrong? what happened?** Conrad knew his father was never so serious.

    *On the way back from a meeting of Alphas, there was an attack. Several Alphas were injured. One Alpha didn't survive.* When Conrad heard that he felt pale and sat down. One of the things his father was sure of was the safety of the Alphas under his rule.

    **Which Alpha.** Conrad ask quietly.

    *Now, Conrad you need to stay calm..* His father started already knowing that a quiet Conrad was dangerous.

    **WHICH ONE!** Conrad snapped. Pitch was getting more anxious, thinking back to the events of this evening.

    -Why was Amethyst waiting so long?- He whispered. Conrad's throat went dry. -She did say her ride didn't show.-

    *Alpha Max Silverpine didn't survive the attack* His father said finally. Conrad laid back on his bed and sighed heavily. Pitch growled.

    -We need to keep her safe. Now more then ever.- Pitch practically snarled.

    --I agree, but we still have to be very careful. With Max gone his son will be made Alpha, and remember how he was today.-- Conrad reminded Pitch. They had Collin in class today and he wasn't sure if he ever met a more cocky, arrogant, self-centered wolf and now that he would be alpha. The thought made Conrad shiver. For nearly the entire class period Collin was either making out heavily with the wolf-slut Ashley, or talking loudly to the others in his little clique.

    **That changes a few things. We were right, it is her. She may not know her own history though. I couldn't find a way to ask. I will have to proceed cautiously.** Conrad pinched the bridge of his nose. His mind was racing, trying to figure out how to change a few things around in his lesson plan.  **Thank you for letting me know before I get to school tomorrow. I have a lot to do. Good night.**

    *Good night, son. Please be careful.* With that the call ended. Conrad laid on the bed staring at the ceiling for a while before sitting up and getting  to work.