New Pack

by Teagan Amici

  Two

  The next few days passed in a similar fashion. Cole and Bram would go out to the worksite early each day, I would follow a little later with as much food as I could fit in my little car. Even though everyone was willing to work on the site, they still each kept to their own pack, and although I had tried to get them involved with each other, old distrusts ran too deep. So after the third day, I showed up with a batch of baked goods. I had learned from experience with Bram and Cole that they had a weakness for such foods, so hoped that their pack members would have a similar weakness and happily they did. Slowly, they drifted over to the folding table I had set up under an umbrella, and items began to disappear. Sometimes a wolf might be at the table, picking over his favourites, when a panther would appear, and while the two would regard each other suspiciously, the lure of the sugary treats was apparently too much to resist, and a truce of sorts existed, even if it was just a temporary one centred around the food.

  One morning I turned up and started unloading my car, then stopped when I caught sight of the men bustling around the site. Several of them seemed to be sporting small injuries, be it a black eye, a cut lip, or a bandaged hand. Bram came over to help me unload the goodies, but I stopped him.

  “What happened here? Have they been fighting?”

  Bram had the good grace to look a little embarrassed, running a hand around the back of his neck and looking off into the distance.

  “Little bit. Someone said something, someone didn’t like it, before long they were all into it. You know how it is”.

  I turned and started putting containers back in my car. Heads started to look in my direction, and slowly the sound of machinery began to fade to a hum as operators started to disengage from their tasks.

  “Well, it has to stop. These guys are going to be the uncles, cousins, whatever of our children. If they can’t get along, it’s going to be awful. I don’t want my children to see their family fighting all the time”.

  “But Diane, they’re shifters, that’s what they do. Injuries heal, a bit of biffo here and there won’t seriously hurt anyone”.

  By this time we had an audience watching us, or maybe they were watching the movement of containers. I heard a stifled laughing and saw Cole leaning against a truck, his feet crossed at the ankles, watching Bram try to calm me down. I narrowed my eyes at him and whirled on my heel, stalking back to my car, jumping into the driver’s seat and slamming it into reverse. All the way back to my house, I stewed about the stupidness of men, worrying about whether I had overreacted or not. When I drove into my street, I hissed as I saw the real estate agent’s car, and turned back out of the street to make myself scarce. Obviously the agent was showing the house to a prospective purchaser, and I groaned inwardly as I realised that I had left the kitchen in less than a pristine state, being anxious to get out to the site. Well, it couldn’t be helped now. I bought myself an orange juice at the pub, and when I thought enough time had passed I went back to my house, where I started cleaning the kitchen, like I really should have done before I went out. I hadn’t been home long when my phone rang. It was the agent.

  “Good news, Diane. I’ve got an offer, and it’s almost the asking price. They want a sixty day settlement though, does that suit you?”

  Surprised to have an offer so quickly, I agreed, and the agent came around shortly with a contract for me to sign. It was done. In two months, I would no longer have a place to go to, and there was no way my new house would be ready. I waved off the agent, happy to have one problem solved, but worrying about the other. It would be winter in only a few months, and I would have nowhere to live, except for a tent. We hadn’t spent the night on our land except for that first night, and as much as I loved the idea of living there, it was the idea of living in a house, with a bed, that I liked, sleeping on the ground was not fun. Clearly, the two packs had not yet come to terms with each other, so even though both Bram and Cole had perfectly good houses, we could spend time in neither, as neither Bram nor Cole was accepted by the other pack. I was still wandering around listlessly, thinking of the big job ahead of me, packing and putting things into storage when I heard Bram’s truck in the driveway. Shortly afterwards, Bram was hustling me out to my car, telling me that he and Cole had come up with an idea that would enable the pack members to burn off their excess energy and angst in a more constructive way. When I drove onto the site, several men approached my car and unloaded the containers of food.

  “Better not take chances”, said one man with a wink. I stared at him, trying to remember if he was a wolf or a panther, then shrugged and crossed my arms as I turned to face my men, who were now standing with several others.

  “Ok, what’s this plan?” I demanded, trying to look serious, but seeing Blair’s grin twitch as he tried to suppress it.

  “We decided that you have a point, Diane”, Bram started to say, smiling as I flicked a hand to my chest in a ‘who me?’ gesture. He smiled and continued. “The two packs have to get used to each other. Once this house is finished, there might be other joint projects, each pack has members who have skills the other pack could use, and we could all have better lives if we work together. But it’s not going to be easy, there’s been some bad feelings, on both sides” – here he stared at Blair, who had the good grace to look embarrassed – “so we’ve come to the conclusion that if we had an organised way to burn off our energy, that might stop fights breaking out, don’t you agree?”

  “Hmmm, sounds like it might work. What are you proposing? And why do I get the uncomfortable feeling that this somehow involves me?”

  Cole chimed in then, his grin even broader, and very mischievous.

  “We thought a weekly footy match might be a good way to burn off some energy.

  We could start the day after tomorrow, on Saturday. Bram and I will be captains, but rather than choosing a team from our own pack, each of us will draw names to pick our team, so random chance will mix up the packs. The first match will be the hardest, but one thing shifters love is a good sporting contest, so I think that soon enough, team members will learn – for the match at least – to put their team ahead of their pack. You’re correct in thinking this involves you, who else would be impartial enough to umpire?”

  I spluttered at that.

  “Umpire? But a footy match has lots of umpires, not just one! How could I possibly do it all?”

  “You don’t have to”, interjected Bram, “You know we won’t follow the rules exactly, your job is just to call out the worst infractions of the rules. If anyone doesn’t listen to you, you just point them out to Cole or me, we’ll sort out any troublemakers. What do you think?”

  “Well, it’s worth a try. I need a whistle though, and we need some goal posts. Why Saturday? Why don’t we start tomorrow?”

  Bram laughed and approached me, putting his arms around me.

  “Impatient woman, that’s you for sure. Well, we need to set up a playing field for a start, and get some goal and point posts in. You probably need to familiarise yourself with the rules – “

  I pushed away in mock anger.

  “Bram Charleston! You insult me! I grew up as a fan of Aussie Rules, I know how the game works! I know enough about the rules to umpire!”

  Bram squeezed me to him.

  “Well well, I discover something new about you every day. But we still can’t play until Saturday, it’s full moon tomorrow night, so everyone with a wolf inside will need to get some sleep tomorrow afternoon”.

  I frowned, “Why?”

  “Remember the last full moon? The day we met? Wolf shifters need to shift on the first night of a full moon, it’s just something we do. We like to take our wolf form and run free that night. If at all possible, we get some sleep in the afternoon so we can stay up all night. If we don’t, if something distracts us from sleep”, and he pulled me close, whispering the last sentence into my ear, “then we become vulnerable to tricksters because we’re tired”.

  My eyes flicked to B
lair. He winked and turned, scuttling off to help himself to some of the food that was being passed around. If he had been worried that I would call him out on what he had done at the time of the last full moon, I would not have, I had other things on my mind. I called Cole, who was following Blair to the picnic table, and he looked between me and the food, then seemed to realise that I was a little agitated. He came over to where I stood within the circle of Bram’s concerned arms.

  “What’s wrong, Diane? You look like you’ve seen a ghost”.

  “Can we go over here, and have a bit of privacy?” I said as I led them away a little. I turned to face them both, seeing identical expressions of concern. Unsure how to express my thoughts, my explanation was a little unclear at first.

  “I’ve lost track of time a bit lately, and it was just now when Bram mentioned the full moon that I realised that a whole month had passed since I first met Bram, and then you, Cole, and then we all got together shortly afterwards. A month, do you know what that means?”

  The two men looked at each other and shook their heads, turning to look at me.

  “Well, think about this. In that month, I’ve been with one or both of you almost every night. Sex every night, and quite a few days too. Have you worked it out yet?”

  Bram grinned at me. “Yes. It’s been a great month. At least for me. I haven’t heard any complaints coming from either of you, so I think for you as well”.

  I rolled my eyes at the obtuseness of men.

  “Do I have to spell it out? One. Month. No. Period. Do you get it yet?”

  With a whoop, both men fell on me, Cole reaching me first and picking me up, spinning me around, before passing me to Bram who did the same.

  “Do you think you’re pregnant? When can we find out? Are you well? Do you feel sick?”

  “Er, I wasn’t, but if you two keep spinning me around I just might”.

  Three

  That night, we sat on the couch together, me in the middle as always, all three of us with our feet up on the coffee table, talking about what faced us. I had told them about the sale of my house, and my worry about where we would live, especially with a baby on the way. Both had assured me that the house would be finished as soon as possible, but they both agreed that camping would not be a solution. Bram had come up with the idea of grouping some shipping containers together and making a makeshift house, the containers could be used later for storage.

  “Of course”, he continued, “On nights when I shift, you can always stay at Cole’s old house, I don’t think Blair would mind, would he, Cole?”

  “No, he hasn’t taken over my old bedroom yet, so we can keep using it until the house is ready. So will it only be the one night each moon?”

  “Yeah, Bram, I don’t know anything about how this works, we’ve never really talked about it, why don’t you tell me? Are you unable to control the shift, is that why you have to be alone?”

  Bram looked at me and sighed. He scrubbed a hand over his face. Suddenly he looked very tired, and I picked up his hand and squeezed it. He smiled faintly at our joined hands, and then took a deep breath.

  “It’s not uncontrollable, but it is difficult to resist. The joy of shifting and running during a full moon is something I can’t describe, but it is a freedom that every wolf looks forward to. But there’s another reason wolves like to be alone that night each moon, however, and that is because it’s dangerous to be around us. If we attack a human on that night, we turn them so that they become one of us. I wasn’t born a wolf, you know, and while I have come to appreciate the benefits of being one, it’s not something I’d do to anyone else”.

  “Wow, Bram, you’ve never told us, or at least me, about your past before, I’d love to hear your story if you want to share it”.

  Bram nudged our linked hands over my belly and smiled at me.

  “I should have told you before now, I haven’t because it’s painful, but I should have. Now that you might be having our baby, it’s long overdue. Our baby will be born a shifter, of one type or another, but not all wolves are born that way, some are made, like me”. Bram paused a bit longer, drew a deep breath, staring into space, and continued.

  “I was born a long time ago, in Europe, in an area that’s now part of Germany. I lived in a village, and lived an ordinary life. My father was a carpenter, and I was a carpenter, and I thought eventually I would marry, and my sons would be carpenters too. But life was different then, and violence was normal. The local lord raised an army to fight with a neighbouring lord, and I was one of those who took up arms. The fighting was terrible, I can’t describe how much blood and gore there was, but it’s something I’ll never forget. I took a sword in the stomach, and was left in the mud to die. It was agonising, and although my injury was a mortal one, it wasn’t bad enough to kill me straight away, and I laid there for hours, until the darkness came. I thought I could hear predators coming to pick over the bodies, and hoped that I died before they came to me, but I wasn’t prepared for what I saw. An enormous brown wolf stood over me, staring at me, and although I was terrified, I thought I could see intelligence in his eyes. He lowered his head to me, but instead of tearing off my flesh as I thought he would, instead he just bit me, deeply, and then walked a little way away, where he sat, almost as if he was watching over me. After a while, I felt a little stronger, and managed to struggle to my feet, and make my way to my village, holding my wound closed as I walked. When I got to my village, my family welcomed me at first, but when they cleaned me up, they crossed themselves when they saw my wound. The priest came to administer me last rites, but started to call me out as a demon. He said that I could not have survived, and certainly could not have walked off the battlefield, with such an injury. I was driven from my village, still in agony, and stumbled through the forest, until I slumped down in a clearing, not understanding why I was still alive. The wolf was already there, and he sat next to me, giving me some warmth from his body. I fell asleep, and the next day, the wolf was gone, but a man was sitting there, watching me. When I looked into his eyes, he reminded me of the wolf. He told me that it was him, that he had decided to save me from death, and he explained to me what I was now”.

  “That’s horrible, Bram. Not the part about you not dying, because I’m grateful you didn’t, but that your family couldn’t accept that you were still alive. Did you ever see them again? Why did the man decide to save you, did he tell you? And if you were born in Germany, how do you have such an English sounding surname?”

  “You have to remember the times, Diane, people were different then. They had no other explanation for why I was still alive, I still didn’t even understand it myself. I often visited the village in my wolf form, but stayed hidden, watching them, but that was painful too. I watched my family get old, and then watched their funerals. It is a terrible thing to outlive those that you love. After a while you learn to keep your heart closed to humans. Their lives are too short. That is, until you meet the one that you can’t ignore”, he squeezed my hand and then raised it to his lips, kissing it gently before continuing. “The wolf who saved my life was the alpha of his pack, which had been dwindling in numbers. Shifters live a long time you understand, but they are still vulnerable to violent death, it’s just more difficult to kill a shifter than a human, but it can be done. Few of his pack had mates at that time, which meant there wasn’t much chance of new shifters being born, so when he came across me dying, he decided on impulse to turn me. I hated him for it for a long time, but over the centuries, I came to accept my lot in life. The first time I turned, on the next moon, he helped me through it, and he gave me space when I needed it. Over the years, I saw many other wars being fought throughout Europe, and tired of the stench of death. When the alpha was killed a couple of centuries ago, along with many of the elders and their mates, I took over. It was becoming more and more difficult to live as a wolf in Europe due to the growing population and increased urbanisation, so when I heard of the new colonies, I moved our pack here
. That is my sorry tale, such as it is. I wasn’t born with a surname, and had no need of one for a long time. I took a name that I thought would suit me when I moved here. Just as well I did, it could have been very awkward with a German sounding name during both World Wars”.

  I squeezed Bram’s hand.

  “Thank you for telling us. So the only family you have now is your pack?”

  “No, that’s not true. I have you two, and soon we will all have a baby to fuss over. I’ve got family. Since we’re sharing, you know you’ve never told us about your family story. Has she told you, Cole?”

  Cole shook his head. I laughed as I thought how little we all really knew of each other.

  “Well, my story is much shorter than yours. My parents were in their forties when I turned up. They had been married for years, but hadn’t been able to have a child, so had given up. When Mum started feeling sick in the mornings, they didn’t realise at first why, because they had thought they would never have children, so they were both shocked and overjoyed when I was born. I was probably a bit spoiled when I was little, because they thought of me as their little miracle, but I loved them both. Unfortunately, Dad was killed in an accident at work when I was ten, and Mum never really recovered from that. She got sick and died when I was nineteen, and I was alone. I met John, and thought I was in love, and you know the rest. Oh, no – what about John?”