by Ben Reeder
“Talk fast,” she said. He reached behind his back and drew a revolver, reversing it so he was holding it by the cylinder with the barrel pointing at him, the butt proffered to Mom.
“Take this, Mara” he said, walking toward her. “It’s only a matter of time before someone has to put him down. If you love him, then it’s best that you be the one who does what needs to be done.”
Mom took the gun and looked down at it. “One day, both my son and I will stand in front of you and prove you wrong.”
“No, you won’t,” he said. “You will end up pulling that trigger, Mara.”
“If I do, I’m not just pulling it once.” We walked away, and I could hear my grandfather calling Mom’s name behind us.
“It’s weird,” I told her as we got to the van. “I still don’t know his name, and I honestly don’t know if I want to.”
“I won’t burden you with it,” Mom said.
Chapter 5
~ Knowledge comes at a price. ~
Saying among wizards
Shade wasn’t answering her phone, and her texts were sending back autoreplies. Without her, I wasn’t fit company for anyone else. Even Dee had avoided me except to give me a good night hug and kiss. So, I was sitting alone outside my window, looking out over the street. Moping. The moon was still a few days from full, and I didn’t feel the need to howl at it or watch it or anything.
I also didn’t feel like sitting around.
My feet hit the front lawn. My body went into a roll, but my legs were telling me I didn’t need to shed the momentum. I had handled the jump from the roof to the ground easily. I still didn’t know much about my limits, and now seemed like a good time to test them. I took off at a run. My stride lengthened as I gained speed, and in seconds I was moving faster than I ever thought I could. I got to the end of the block, and jumped across the street. This time I didn’t try to roll. Instead, I kept running.Another block went by, and another, and suddenly I was standing in the middle of a park. My breath was coming a little fast, and a fine sheen of sweat covered my forehead, but I wasn’t tired. Running felt...good. I wondered why I’d never realized how much fun it could be.
The first spasm caught me off-guard and doubled me over. The second brought me to my knees. I clawed at my shirt, feeling confined and hot by the fabric against my fur. Fur? The offending garment came free, and I ran one hand down my chest and stomach. My fingertips met thick fur. Another convulsion ripped through me, tearing a cry from my throat. My bones felt like they were breaking, my insides felt like they were turning inside out. I held my arm up and watched in horror and fascination as my skin split and twisted, revealing a new shaped to my hand and forearm. My fingers elongated and the tips tore open to let out inch long claws while my legs bent and twisted in strange ways. The world around me turned brighter, but got a little flat. Then I felt my face start to shift. My nose and chin started to jut forward and my face felt like there was a vice against my cheeks. The pain faded slowly, at least to me, and I found myself lying on my side on the grass. Everything felt wrong, out of place, and I found myself wishing Dr. C had covered transformation magick with me.
Come to me, I heard in my head. I started to tell the voice where it could stick that idea, but after a second, it seemed like the only thing that made sense. The voice in my head was calling, and if I went to it, everything would be okay. Everything would make sense. My pack was waiting for me.
I tried to get up, and pushed off with my hands...no..feet? Front feet, then back feet. I stumbled to one side, then fell. Next time, I planted my front feet wide and got my butt in the air before I tried to balance. Then I had to figure out walking.
Trust yourself, the voice said. Trust the Wolf within you. The urge to run hit, and I let myself do it. Instead of face-planting, my feet moved on their own, and I flew across the park, the grass tickling my paws, wind in my nose and fur. I was free, and I wanted to thank my Alpha for the gift he’d given me. So I ran until I reached the edge of the park, and leaped the fence into the cemetery. I crossed it, the smell of death and undeath a foul layer in the air. I jumped the chain link fence at the edge and hit the ground on the other side, knowing only that I had to head west. The smell of water touched my senses, and I angled toward it. I splashed along the bed of a stream, wishing for the clean smell of runoff, of the scent of snow from the mountains, of rain and pollen, of animal musk and dirt, not the stagnant muck that was lining this streambed. My wolf drew up short at the square concrete opening that I found myself in front of. I didn’t blame the wolf in me for stopping. I look back at the sky, then at the square of black in front of me. To go in there was to go into the places of Man. It was to abandon freedom for safety. Even the lowliest free Wolf was stronger than an Alpha sitting at the foot of Man.
The inky darkness in front of me moved, took form, and a massive wolf stalked into the light before me. Gray fur covered his top half, with white making a V between his front legs. Easily twice my size, his appearance was a message all by itself. Inside that darkness might be a place built by Man, but we were still wolves. Men would still fear us. He stood there, looking out into the night, seeing something beyond me, a majestic Alpha revealed in all his glory. His eyes fell to me, and he turned to walk back into the darkness. I followed, lured by the promise of the Pack.
The smell of stagnant water, wet earth and mold accompanied us through the tunnel, until the passage widened into a large, circular chamber. Work lights on the walls lit the place, leaving six shadowed tunnels at even intervals. I smelled humans nearby, and looked to the shadows. Before I could give more than a cursory search, though, the Alpha was on me, trying to get his teeth on my neck. My wolf recognized it as a play for dominance, and wanted to submit, but I was still human enough that I resisted. Only one wolf got to put her teeth to my throat.
I snarled and nipped at his nose then backed away, my hackles up. He lunged at me, barking loud and snapping, so I nipped at his nose again, this time drawing blood. He drew back, then arched his back. Bones popped and his flesh flowed, his arms getting short, his legs getting longer and his face drawing in to look a little more human. The white fur made a long V from his shoulders to his hips, emphasizing how broad he was across the chest. Undaunted by his superior size and obvious strength, I looked up at him in his hybrid form and bared my teeth again.
“Obey!” he yelled, and I felt my will start to crack under the strength of his command. I growled at him, a deep rumbling in my chest. I wanted to rip his throat out, and I gathered my back legs beneath me to leap at him. Before I could move, he stepped toward me and threw a low punch that caught me in the chest and threw me backward. With the contact from his fist, a surge of something dark and primal hit me, and I felt myself transform. Between the moment he hit me and the moment I smacked into the wall, I went from wolf to human again. My back and head impacted with the stone, and I saw stars as I bounced off the wall. The rebound brought me to me hands and knees, and Alpha came at me again.
“Submit, damn you!” he yelled. His foot came forward, but I was already rolling to the outside of the attack. With his left foot in the air, it was easier to spin around and kick his other leg out from beneath him. But he managed to turn a fall into an attack, and I had to throw my feet back over my head to dodge the elbow the tried to drop on me. The move turned into a backwards somersault, and I came to my feet with my hands up.
As ready as I thought I was, he moved so fast my defense might as well have been an invitation. By the time I registered that he was back on his feet, he had hit me twice with rapid jabs, his form flawless and his speed impossible to match. The shots staggered me, and he followed up with a series of powerful body blows, then an uppercut that knocked me off my feet and onto my back. Then he was on me again, too fast and too strong to resist. Another wave of dominating willpower struck me, overwhelming me to the point that my anger died. His hand at my throat was just a little bit of insult to injury. The will to fight, the desire to hurt him just dra
ined from me, and I let my arms go limp.
“Submit,” he growled at me.
“Okay,” I said. “You win.”
“I am Alpha,” he said. “I always win.” He looked up and said, “The rest of you, come into the light.” Footsteps announced six more people coming into the chamber.
“We came, Alpha,” one of them said.
“Why?” Alpha demanded.
“To ask for the gift of Ascension.”
“To be like you.”
“To become werewolves.”
“To be bitten.”
“To ask for the gift of lycanthropy.”
“To be strong like you.”
Alpha stood, taking his knee off my chest. He looked around the chamber, then went to the ledge that circled the room. He gestured for the others to come closer, and they shuffled past me. They were all pretty similar. All in the same demographic, white teenage male. Three of the six wore all black, two of the others wore logo shirts. One had a superhero on his chest, the other one had a Batman logo on his shirt. The third guy wore a blue Polo shirt and khaki pants. They ranged in height, but they hit one of two extremes. Either unremarkably average, or chubby. Only the Polo wearing guy seemed more than average looking, and he didn’t seem to think much of his fellow aspirants.
“What do you think you saw here tonight?” he asked with a wave of his hand toward me as I was getting to my feet.
“You totally powned that beta loser,” one of the black wearing guys said in a grating voice.
“Beta?” another one, this one wearing heavy boots and black leather wristbands said. His hair was pulled back in a thick ponytail. “He’s a gamma, at best. You showed him what real power is.”
“Are you ready to learn the same lesson, then?” Alpha asked. They shuffled a little, eyes down on the floor. “I didn’t think so. Let me tell you what you really saw. You saw Chance there earn his place in this pathetic excuse for a pack. Like you, he knows I am stronger than he is. He knows he can’t beat me. But he still fought. He didn’t back down until I made him. You came here to ask for something, to ask me to make you all alphas. Lesson one: an alpha. Does. Not. Ask! He commands, or he takes what he wants. He doesn’t sit around being nice to a woman, he shows her his strength, and he lets her know how things are going to be. He only submits to greater power, and even then, he makes sure it’s earned. So, you got one part almost right. You came and submitted to my power. But, you didn’t make me earn it. Now, you must show that you at least have the potential to be part of my pack. An alpha isn’t ruled by the weakness of others. He doesn’t let pity sway him. An alpha knows he has to kick his enemy when he’s down, sacrifice a friend to win. An alpha leads because he knows how to be ruthless in order to survive. So, there is your own pack mate, weakened, beaten. If you want to be a member of this pack...kick him while he’s down. Attack him. Hurt him. Show no mercy.” The floor reverberated with the sound of their shoes as they rushed me. I managed to roll onto my side, but beyond that, all I was able to do was curl up into a fetal position. Feet slammed into my back, my face, and fell on my ribs. I heard bones snap, and felt the pain in a disconnected place.
I came to slowly, painfully, to the all-too-familiar sound of bone grating as it shifted back into place to heal. My eyes were swollen almost all the way shut, and I could only see through slits. Every inch of me hurt, and I felt something thick and crusty on my face. Blackened flakes of dried blood stuck to my hands when I reached up and touched my forehead. My movements were slow, and every inch cost me in pain. But with each passing second, the pain faded, and I felt the swelling in my face go down. I still groaned when I could sit back up. Alpha sat on the low ledge beside me, still in hybrid form.
“Well done, beta,” Alpha said.
“Piss off, asshole,” I muttered.
“Take your victories where you can, Chance,” he said. “You’ve proven worthy to be my beta. You’ll never be an alpha, which means you’ll never be worthy of Shade.”
“She doesn’t see it that way,” I said through swollen lips.
“Kain will show her the truth. And she’ll see that she was wasting herself on you. It’s only a matter of time before she realizes she deserves a better man. And when she does, I’ll be there to show her what that looks like. God knows that idiot Sinbad hasn’t taught her anything worthwhile.”
“Sinbad is cool,” I said. Alpha brought the back of his hand across my cheek.
“He’s weak!” Flecks of spit hit my skin. “I don’t want to hear his name again. At least...at least Kain will show her how a real alpha acts. He can see true power when it’s in front of him. But you...you’ll never be worthy of her. The best you can hope for is this.”
“I’d rather eat a silver bullet,” I growled.
“But I won’t let you. You’ll come around. In time, you’ll see the truth. You’ll be doing her a favor by letting her go. At least you can serve an alpha who is worthy of her.”
“Oh, yeah, there’s a comforting thought,” I said. The pain had receded to the point where I could get to my feet, even if I wasn’t very fast about it.
“It will be,” he said. “Now, go home, little beta. Keep this between us.” He waved his hand at me, and I was on the floor, my body changing again. The wolf in me seemed stronger this time, and I could feel that it knew where I was supposed to go. It was a good thing that some part of me did, because I was still having a hard time adjusting.
The run home got harder and harder to focus on, and at some point, I stopped being able to. All I knew was that I was naked and lying on cold concrete when I was able to think clearly again. And even that only came in short bursts. I rolled onto my back and looked at the wooden ceiling above me, and recognized my own back porch. For a long moment, that was the most fascinating thing in the world to me. Then I was looking up at a pair of lavender eyes with a purple blur in the background. Moments, or was it days, later, I heard Mom’s voice in my ear. Then Dr. C and Kim hovered over me.
“It was little more than a matter of time,” I heard Kim say. “It was his first transformation. He should have been allowed time to adapt, to learn how his new form worked. Instead, it appears that he overdid things.” My eyes opened on the room I usually stayed in at Dr. C’s place. Kim stood at the door with him and Dee, her hand on my sister’s shoulder.
“That sounds like Chance. Don’t just do it, overdo it.”
“It wasn’t like that,” I said. My stomach rumbled when I sat up, an empty pit below my rib cage.
“What happened?” Dr. C asked.
“I...It was…” The words died behind my lips. “I’m really hungry,” I said after a few moments.
“Are you okay?” Dee asked, coming to my side. She knelt beside me and put her arms around my shoulders, and I realized they had put me on the floor. I hugged her back, gently.
“I’m okay,” I told her. “I’m just really, really hungry right now.” I got to my feet, and found it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.
“Come on,” Dr. C said. “You woke up in time for lunch.”
“I smell steak,” I said, following him downstairs. “And bratwurst and… cheeseburgers.”
“Kim warned me you’d wake up hungry,” he said. “And I’ve seen you eat your way through an entire menu before. So, I made sure there was plenty.” He led me out through the kitchen door to the picnic table in the yard. Potato salad, baked beans and coleslaw rounded out the barbeque feast on the checkered tablecloth. To my senses, it was as delicious to smell as it was to eat. And I ate...and ate. It seemed like my body used the food almost as fast as I could shovel it in. It wasn’t until I had gone through more than half of what was on the table that I started to feel full.
I was finishing off a bratwurst when two new scents hit my nose. One was Shade, the other was Kain. Both of them smelled of sweat and lust. I turned toward them.
“I see you’ve completed your first transformation,” Kain said. “You should have waited for me to show you h
ow to do it right.” He was shaking his head as he came toward me. He opened his mouth to say something else, but I spoke first.
“Ictus!” I snarled. The first bolt barely budged him, so I tried again. “Ictus!” The second knocked him off his feet, but it didn’t send him nearly as far as it should have. I stepped away from the table and reached into my pocket for a touchstone, drawing on its power as I got ready to hit him again. He leaped into the air, his fist drawn back, teeth bared. I set myself and brought up a full strength shield. “Obex!”
His punch shattered the barrier and drove me to my knees. Reeling, I tried to focus for another attack, but he backhanded me and sent me crashing into the porch. Then he was on me again, and I was in the air, his hand around my neck.
“Never try that again, boy,” he said. He shifted and slammed me to the ground, then stood back. I gasped and moaned. “You will treat me proper respect, or you will suffer the consequences. Am I understood, young man?”
Shade was at my side as he started talking. She helped me sit up, then looked at my jaw. “Are you okay, baby?” she asked.
I nodded, then turned back to Kain. “You should have been there last night. I needed help, and you just left me on my own. Where the hell were you?”
“Do not question me-” Kain started, but Shade turned on him.
“He’s right, Jacob,” she spat. “I’m an alpha and I’ve been doing this for years. Last night’s hunt and the lecture could have waited. It was Chance’s first night after Ascension. He needed us more than I needed your guidance.”
“He took too long to recover,” Kain said. “His first transformation should be tonight or tomorrow night. There is no way it would have happened so fast on its own.” He came to me and pulled me to my feet. When I was standing, he looked down at my arm, then back up at me. “What’s this?” he asked, turning my hand to show the inside of my forearm. Dark purple bruising had faded to pale yellow and green under my skin.
