Marked (The Pack)

by Cox, Suzanne

  I stopped swishing my feet in the water. “You mean there are werewolves in other countries too?”

  Brynna snorted. “Did you think they were only in the states?”

  “I don’t know. I guess I thought there wouldn’t be so many.”

  The familiar dark grey Mercedes pulling in front of Myles’ house stopped the snide comment I knew Brynna was about to blast me with.

  “I guess we can eat now.” I started to my feet.

  “Don’t get in any hurry. You didn’t let me finish. They’re having a meeting with Dr. Unger, before we eat.”

  I watched Brynna’s eyes narrow. Myles shrugged at her unasked question.

  “What is it? Why are you two looking like that?”

  Brynna stuck her legs back in the water. “We could be here awhile. Dr. Unger is also one of the leaders who oversees the development of the vaccine for mutating viruses.”

  Adjusting the towel I was sitting on, I tried to get comfortable on the rough wood. “I wish someone would explain this whole virus thing to me. I don’t know what the crap you’re talking about. Who has a virus? Do you guys?”

  “No, none of us have it.” Brynna retied the ribbon around her ponytail before she continued, while Myles lay on his back staring at the sky. “The Fenryrian pack carries a virus and if they bite a human that person may become a werewolf.”

  “May become?”

  “Right, may. Sometimes they have an immune system to fight it off. They might have to be bitten again. Sometimes they can’t withstand the virus, or it’s a more virulent strain and it kills them. The ones that survive to become werewolves can then bite more humans and the number of werewolves grows.”

  “Is that bad? I mean, would it be bad for there to be more of us?”

  Myles jerked to a sitting position. “It’s not us people have to worry about. The Fenryrians don’t practice controlling their instincts. If they kill someone, they don’t care. They want to turn as many people into werewolves as they can, because once humans are infected they can be controlled by the Fenryrian council.”

  I snorted. “What, like they’re going to take over the world or something?”

  The other two stared at me without the slightest twinkle in their eye or twitch of their lip. “You guys have been watching too much of the Sci-Fi channel.

  Myles got to his feet. “I’m glad you think so. I’m also glad we aren’t depending on you to help us. I’m going to check the gas in my jet ski so I can ride it tomorrow.”

  Brynna kicked her legs in the water. “Don’t mind him. He gets worked up sometimes on that subject.”

  I watched Myles enter the boathouse where the jet skis were. “I didn’t know he ever got worked up about anything.”

  “Not much, but that one hits a sore spot for him.”

  “So what is this big meeting about?”

  “I don’t know, but the Lycernian pack works to protect humans as much as we can. We developed the first workable vaccine for the virus, but it’s kind of like the flu. The virus can change from one person to the next, so we often have to go out and try to find who’s carrying the mutated virus. Then we have to get some of their blood to make a new vaccine for people infected with that strain.”

  I lay back on the wooden pier, my legs still hanging over into the water. “Do you think someone around here is carrying a mutated strain?”

  “We’re pretty sure they are. That’s why we came here this summer.”

  “You’re kidding?”

  “Nope, our families get reports and go out to try and find people carrying mutated viruses.”

  “Could Channing be the one carrying it?”

  “Do you think she’s a werewolf?”

  “I know she is. She’s been at my house. I’m sure she was one of the wolves that attacked me on the way home from Myles’s that day.”

  “Hmmm.”

  I saw Brynna turn her attention toward Myles’ house. “The meeting is starting.”

  “How can you tell? Do you have special hearing? Can you hear them talking?” I sat up and pulled my hair away from my ears. “Should I be able to hear them?”

  “Ummm, negative, idiot. The squirt’s coming. They’ve sent her down here with us so they can talk with no young people around.”

  I turned and saw Brynna’s little sister crossing the yard.

  “Oh.”

  Brynna laughed at my deflated look. “Don’t worry, you’ll be able to do plenty of special things you didn’t know about before. So do you think the attack was because of Eric, because she saw you guys together somewhere?”

  “It’s what I believe.”

  “That figures. I’ve been jumped by the pack of them before. I didn’t know it was her.”

  “What would make them go after you?”

  The red head frowned. “Mean girls, you know, always after the strange bookish girl.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything, to me?”

  Brynna arched an eyebrow.

  “Oh, yeah, I guess you couldn’t at the time, huh? Have you seen Eric lately?”

  Brynna wrinkled her freckled nose. “Are you still interested in him?”

  “Some, I guess. I don’t know. It’s weird how I feel when he’s around.” I stopped then twisted to face Brynna. “Wait, you don’t think he’s a werewolf too do you?”

  “Considering he wouldn’t date Channing, I’d say not likely.”

  “You mean you can’t automatically tell if someone else is a werewolf?”

  “No. In human form there’s no way to tell whether or not someone is a werewolf. Sometimes if you’re very attuned to such things or have a special power that lets you see deeper into someone, into their mind and heart, you could tell it. ” Brynna looked toward the boathouse. “Don’t bother Myles, Bailey.”

  “He doesn’t mind.” The younger girl shouted back and disappeared through the door.

  Brynna shook her head. “She has such a crush on him. Where were we? Oh, yeah. In werewolf form we can’t tell the difference either unless we know the person. If I seen a werewolf in human form then in werewolf form I can sometimes tell by their eyes. But there’s no special scent. Every werewolf has a different scent just like every person does. We can recognize the scents of those we know. But scents can be disguised or covered up the same way a person covers their scent with cologne.”

  I lay back on the wooden decking again and tried to get my mind around this. After countless calls to my mother, I’d finally realized I had to accept the whole werewolf thing. Once I’d accepted it, I had begun to remember more and more of the nightmares and sleepwalking that weren’t really that at all. At that point I realized they were right. I needed help.

  From the house I heard Aunt Louise shouting for us to come eat. I bounced up, carrying my towel with me. At least dinner would be interesting with Dr. Unger here. I liked him and now I knew way more than I did before about the situation. At least they wouldn’t have to try and hide things from me anymore. The idea of being a werewolf had become believable. I wasn’t sure why, but the whole thing just worked.

  ***

  I unfolded a chair and set it next to a table. A few feet away, Channing put plastic cups in a short box so the wind wouldn’t blow them over. I carried another chair near the table Channing was working at.

  “Thanks for coming early and helping me get everything ready.”

  “No problem,” I lied. Louise hadn’t liked the idea at all. She still felt like she needed to protect me and it was hard to convince her I didn’t need all that. I’d survived in Chicago with no protection at all. Besides, Channing’s parents were actually having the cookout. Her dad was even cooking food on a huge grill nearby. If Aunt Louise had her way I’d be sitting at home right now reading some how-to book on being a better werewolf, or standing on scaffolding painting the enormous house. Not exactly what I wanted to do. The painting could absolutely wait. Sure I’d like to know more about being a werewolf, but since no one seemed to be able to sit down and
tell me the whole story, I’d learn along the way. Myles had even admitted there wasn’t much point in my getting caught up in what they were doing. I’d go home soon and wouldn’t have to worry with anything except working on controlling when I changed. The one thing I wouldn’t admit to Louise was that I still felt drawn to be here. It wasn’t like I just wanted to come to Channing’s house. I had to, and I had no idea why. Maybe it was because I hoped Eric might be there. Though I couldn’t totally convince myself of that.

  “We’re all done now.”

  I looked up and realized that Channing had come to sit in a chair next to the one I’d just put down.

  “My dad went in to help my mom with some food in there. He said the stuff on the grill should be fine.”

  Sitting down next to her, I wiped the sweat from my forehead. “You’re going to let me borrow a swimsuit, right?”

  “Sure, we’ll go to my room and get one in a minute. We’ve got time. No one else will be here for nearly an hour.”

  I wondered how Jana and Celina had gotten to miss all the work. In a way, it was nice because I’d never spent time with Channing by myself. I could almost imagine us being real friends. That was if Channing could be anybody’s real friend. But then, I guess I’d never been a real friend to anyone either, so who was I to talk.

  “You know don’t you?”

  I twisted to see Channing’s face. “Know what?”

  “About me.” The blonde girl fingered the blue stone necklace. “And about yourself.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Louise’s words of warning rang in my ears. I wasn’t supposed to discuss this with Channing, but I knew exactly what she meant. She hadn’t responded. Channing seemed to be waiting for me to run the whole idea through my head.

  “Okay, you’re right. I do know. How long have you known?”

  “About myself? For a while, and about you since that night on the path by Myles’ house. You should have had injuries afterwards, bad ones. But you didn’t even have a scar. That’s one of the benefits of being a werewolf, you know, quick healing powers.”

  “Why did you do that? Why would you and those others attack me like that?”

  Channing put a hand on my arm. “I’m really sorry about that, Alexis. I was angry after seeing you and Eric together, even though I told you I didn’t care anymore. When I morphed that night it was on my mind and I lost control. It would never happen again. I’ve learned better.”

  I almost believed her, almost. “Wait, what’s morphed?”

  “It’s changing into a werewolf. Morphing. What do you call it?”

  “Becoming or at least my aunt…” I stopped. Maybe I shouldn’t tell Channing who all was a werewolf. It seemed harmless, but Aunt Louise had been worried.

  “It’s okay, I know your aunt is a werewolf. What about the rest of them, Brynna and Myles?”

  “I don’t know. My aunt says not to discuss it.”

  Channing nodded but didn’t take her eyes off me.

  “Don’t be afraid of it, Alexis. It’s fantastic. It’s like total freedom. You can do whatever you want and a little alcohol makes it even better. The people who take drugs say it’s really great, but I don’t do drugs, you know.”

  You just lace people’s food and drink with it and don’t tell them, I thought, but held my tongue. “Yeah, me neither.”

  “You don’t need anything when you’re a werewolf. You change and then you’re flying into the night, into another world.”

  “My aunt says I have to learn a lot about self control.”

  Channing gave a dismissive wave of her hand. “No way, don’t worry about controlling it. Let it take you where it will. I feel like I have another person inside me that’s even better than I am. You’ll feel it soon. You’ve got to open yourself up to it. Tonight, come with me. Jana and Celina will go.”

  Channing made the whole werewolf experience sound like much more fun than my aunt had. Even Myles and Brynna had made me feel it was something I couldn’t take lightly. Now Channing was here telling me it was better than drugs, better than anything.

  “I’ll do it. I’ll come with you tonight.”

  Clapping her hands together, Channing got to her feet. “Yeah, now let’s go get that bathing suit.”

  Following along, I was excited. This would be different. I couldn’t wait. I only had to be sure Louise didn’t find out.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Channing hadn’t lied. Running with the pack was exhilarating. Sure, being in my wolf form with Louise had been great, but being with others my own age, free and wild, it was the best. Occasionally, a disagreement broke out and two or more of the pack would break off into a roaring fight, which scared me. I made sure I stayed as far away from them as possible. Surrounded by eight or ten other wolves, I tilted my head back and let go a fiendish howl of joy. I’d expected only Jana and Celina to join us, but many more had morphed as the party broke up. I had modestly hidden in the boathouse and left my clothes there. Others, including Channing, stripped off at the height of what had become a frenzied party and morphed in front of those remaining. I figured everyone else who’d left early hadn’t been a werewolf.

  We raced along the edge of the lake and through the woods. Between a break in the trees, I glimpsed Myles’ house with a few lights still shining in the windows. Then the limbs closed in and I was loping amid the tree trunks, bumping and nipping with the others. This was indeed much like the high my friends who struggled with drug addiction often described. How cool that I could get that feeling from simply being myself.

  Water splashed as we all ran through a small stream and up a hill. The thicket lessened until it was gone. We stood panting, our saliva dripping onto the damp grass. In front of us the iron fence of the cemetery cast irregular shadows in the moonlight. I heard laughter, human laughter, and tilted my head to see between the bars. A boy and girl sat on a bench illuminated by a nearby nightlight. The wolf next to me gave a low growl. Another licked its dripping tongue against the scruff of my neck. Channing, recognizable by the blue necklace she seemed to always wear, trotted to the fence, flipping the latch on the gate with a bump of her long nose. It swung open soundlessly.

  Two steps into the cemetery, I recognized the couple sitting on the bench. The girl picked up her sister from the day camp everyday in an expensive looking convertible. The boy had been with her at Channing’s party. They had left an hour or so before the changes had begun. I hung to the back of the pack, my steps slowing. What were Channing and the others up to?

  Within seconds, I found out. The slow creep of the pack exploded in a lunge that landed them en mass on the couple. I caught the fur of another wolf to pull it back, but it turned on me and ripped at my chest. I lost my balance and fell. I got to my feet and grabbed the nearest attacking wolf, dragging it back, throwing it to the ground. Suddenly, I was slammed from the side and went flying among the headstones away from the agitated wolves. Then it hit me. The images came flooding into my mind. I hadn’t killed the woman, but I had been there. Channing and the others had done it. Louise had been there too, racing in as the kill became out of control. The wolves had threatened me. She’d fought them off, in her human form, and gotten me away before I’d been attacked by the entire pack.

  With an angry growl I leapt to my feet and raced toward the pack, hoping to stop them. Another wolf broadsided me, knocking me to the ground again. This one held me down for a moment then grabbed the scruff of my neck and pulled me to my feet. I struggled, managing to catch its foreleg in my mouth. But this one was too strong and lifted me off the ground, tossing me through the gate into the edge of the woods. Angry, I raced back toward my attacker, but stopped short. The male wolf’s eyes pinned me and I growled. I knew that look. It was Myles.

  He caught me roughly by the neck again, dragging me along, faster and faster until we came to his boathouse. He nosed me inside and reached down with his mouth to pick up a wad of clothes which he flung at me. Then he disapp
eared through the door. Obviously he wanted me to change to my human form. I lay on the floor, hassling from the run we’d had to get here. Closing my eyes, I imagined being human again, but nothing happened. The door opened and Myles stood in front of me in shorts, flip-flops and a t-shirt that had Beowulf’s picture on it and read, I ain’t no freakin Chihuahua. I would have laughed if I could.

  “What’s taking you so long? Hurry up.”

  I whined and hated that I sounded pitiful.

  “Okay, okay. I forget you know less than nothing. Take some deep breaths and relax. Think about being in your human form and you have to WANT to be that way. Concentrate on controlling that urge to become.”

  He disappeared. I followed his directions, finding it more difficult than I had when I was with Louise. Of course, before I’d always simply fallen asleep exhausted, and woke up in human form. At last the pain and giddiness came, then the transformation. I’d just pulled the too large t-shirt over my head when Myles knocked on the door.

  “Thanks Myles, for getting me out of that.” My smile faltered as he stepped under the dim light.

  “What in the hell were you doing, Alexis?”

  “Channing realized I was a werewolf. She offered to let me go with them. It was great Myles, even better than when I was with my aunt. It was like flying on a cloud.”

  “Of course it was, but you have no idea what you’re getting into, do you? Did you think it was going to be some big free spirit party? Did you think they wanted to run around and have fun, then go back to human form?”

  “I don’t know. That’s what we did when I was with Aunt Louise and you and your Dad.”

  “Yeah, well, they’re not us.”

  “But I didn’t expect them to hurt anybody.” I slid my feet into a pair of Myles’ huge flip flops.

  “Now you know.”

  I shoved my hair away from my face. “Will those people be okay? Will they die?”

  Myles rubbed the back of his neck. “I don’t know. They probably weren’t trying to kill them. The werewolves that have been infected by the virus can in turn bite and infect other humans. The virus heals any wounds made from the bite and sort of drugs the person so they feel like they’ve had a weird dream. After that, the other werewolves make them part of their pack. Occasionally, some humans never really realize what they are. They simply think it’s a dream or sleepwalking.”