Adding to the Pack
I had the idea for this story after reading Bitten, discovering it after finding the TV series of the same name on Netflix. So far, this is the only book in the series I have read. I don't know if any of these events have happened, but I doubt they have. The final few pages of the book are different. I loved the book, with the exceptional the ending. How could someone completely abandon and withdraw from one they were ready to marry? I hated the reaction of Philip to the truth, and wanted to change it. All characters are the property of the author, Kelley Armstrong; only the plot is mine.
This is my first non Hotel Transylvania fanfic, so comments are appreciated.
Elena had waited five weeks after Clayton regained most of his strength before she was finally ready to return to her old apartment in Toronto. She was terrified that in the aftermath of seeing her change that Philip would still be too scared to even want to be in the same room as her. However, she knew that at some point that she needed to give him a sense of closure, since any romantic relationship was over between them.
Elena left Stonehaven shortly before dawn. She knew that if she had said goodbye to anyone in the pack, she probably would have procrastinated even longer. It had been several weeks since she first had the idea to return, but Elena just couldn't bring herself to begin the first steps of her journey. She always had one excuse after another.
Elena wasn't sure why she insisted on driving from Stonehaven to Toronto. Maybe it was because she wouldn't be at the mercy of anyone else's schedule. Maybe it was because she wanted to bring a few things back. But in either case, she departed Bear Valley in the direction back towards Interstate 81, and then would head north to enter Canada at Wellesley Island, before heading east to Toronto.
All Elena could think about during the four hour drive, was how she could possibly try to explain to Philip what he saw. The pack rules stated that if a human saw a werewolf change, that they were supposed to be killed immediately, but Elena hadn't even thought about harming Philip. She wasn't sure if it was because of his injuries, but she obey them. Secretly a part of her hoped that Philip had told others the secret of her kind, as that would make her choice easier. But she knew Philip; he wouldn't do that to anyone but his sister, and even that was a maybe. Even if he told Diane, she would keep Elena's secret. The two were really close friends, and Diane would never do anything to threaten her. Elena nearly told Diane one night when the two of them were out. A part of her wanted to end the lies and deceit between Philip and his family.
Elena arrived at the apartment shortly after noon, but was surprised to see the room empty. She figured that Philip had gone for a workout, and that he would return soon, so she waited in an armchair. About five minutes later, Philip opened the door, and stopped just across the threshold as he saw her. His mouth was open wide, as he never thought that he would see her again, but internally was glad to have had her come back.
"Philip!" Elena exclaimed as she rushed over to him to embrace him. Unfortunately, Phllip tried to wiggle out of her hug, as he was angry with her. "What's wrong?"
"What's wrong!" Philip snapped at her. "Well, let's see; my girlfriend of almost a year doesn't seem to think it pertinent to tell me that she's a werewolf! How's that for starters?"
Elena was shocked that he knew the truth about her. "How?" She asked. For the first time, she noticed what he wore; it was an old hockey jersey and he carried his skates over his right shoulder. It was the middle of July, and if he was going to wear a jersey around town, it would be a Maple Leafs one, not the one he had on.
Elena knew that Philip had played hockey, from youth all the way to university, where he lettered for the RMCC, that's the Royal Military College of Canada. He never talked about the team that this jersey was from. It was dark red, burgundy actually with stripes of gold, black, and white around the waist and sleeves. Elena wasn't familiar this team, so it had to be one of his. On both shoulders was a gold patch of a wolf's head, with a similar logo over the chest accented with a puck and stick. The sleeves and back had his number on it, 27 and the back plate had his name on it.
"I see that Clayton didn't tell you what we talked about after I kicked him out," said Philip, gloating just slightly. Elena shook her head, almost afraid of what it could have been.
Flashback to the day Clayton was kidnapped
After Clayton was banished by Philip from the apartment, he went to the lobby to wait for Elena. Something inside of him told Clayton that he needed to tell Philip the truth, and that meant the whole truth about the two of them. He waited for Elena to leave for work, and then went back up to their apartment.
Clayton knocked on the door, and when Philip answered it, he looked absolutely pissed at Clayton. "What the hell do you want?" Philip snapped at him.
"Please, just give me five minutes, and after that I promise you that you'll never see me again," Clayton pleaded. He had never done that before in his life, and could have easily terminated the life of Philip for what he had done, but something told Clayton that Philip needed to at least know the truth about why that Clayton's and Elena's relationship was so rocky.
Philip sighed at Clayton as he looked at his watch. He knew that Clayton deserved none of his time, but wasn't five minutes a small price to pay to be rid of him? "Five minutes," Philip said, "and not a second more."
Clayton entered the apartment, and was unsure of what to say for one of the first times in his life. But he knew why he was there, so he wanted to be candid. "You don't really know what we are, do you?" Clayton said with an expression on his face that suggested guilt. "We're not cousins; Elena and I."
"Yeah, I kind of figured that one out on my own," Philip said sarcastically.
"We were engaged before… until I violated her in the worse way possible. I took her to meet my family, and..."
Philip interrupted him, a scowl on his face, "Oh my god, you didn't, did you? You didn't rape her, did you?"
Clayton shook his head as he thought, If only it was that simple. "No," Clayton said looking down at his shoes. "I did something much worse. I'm not what I look like."
"So, rapist, murderer, what?"
Clayton looked down even lower; technically he was a murderer, but not in the method that Philip was intending. "I…bit her."
"You bit her?" Philip repeated in almost a voice of shock. "What the hell does that mean?!" He snapped at Clayton.
"I'm a … werewolf; so is Elena, but that's my fault."
"Sure, yeah whatever," said Philip sarcastically. He still didn't believe Clayton. "You're trying to tell me that you're a werewolf, and so is Elena. What kind of fool do you take me for?"
Clayton never wanted to admit this to anyone, let alone a human. He knew the risk he was taking, but it was the only way to make sure that Philip might be safe. "I can prove it to you."
Philip scoffed at him, thinking, This should be good, accented with a laugh. "Fine, prove it," Philip challenged Clayton.
Clayton began to strip down to his boxer shorts, which earned a dirty look from Philip. The look was driven by envy of Clayton's body more than anything else. "What the fuck are you doing?" Philip asked shouting.
"I don't feel like destroying all of my clothes. But I must ask you for two things. First, I promise you that if you do what I say, I won't hurt you." Even though he didn't say it, Clayton thought, At least not today, anyway. "Don't be scared. Second, and more importantly, you cannot run. If you run, the chase reflex will activate, and I cannot guarantee what will happen. If you break my first rule, it might not be catastrophic. But if you break the second… well I don't know what will happen."
Philip couldn't believe what he was hearing, but if nothing else he figured that it would be good for a laugh. "Fine, I won't run."
"Ok, Philip," Clayton said as he knelt down on all fours. He began to focus, and Philip was horrified by the sound of unnatural screams, groans, and cracking bones. His change was beginning, as his limbs pulled in closer to him. His back arching upward, and fur beginning to cover his body. However his change was interrupted by the door being kicked in.
Entering the apartment was Daniel Santos and Thomas LeBlanc. Daniel rushed towards the changing werewolf, and stuck a syringe into the still soft underbelly of the beast. Within a minute, Clayton collapsed, reverting to his human form.
Even though Philip was pissed at Clayton, he still didn't want to see him hurt. If nothing else, he was still a friend of Elena's. He rushed at the man who had injected something into Clayton, and swung a fierce right hook at him that connected. However the punch had no effect on Daniel; the only result being a crack as Philip had broken a bone in his hand when he struck the face of Daniel. Daniel countered with a short left to Philip's midsection that landed with not only a thud but a crack, and lifted Philip six inches off the floor, leaving him in a heap on the floor. Clayton was still barely conscious enough to have seen Philip try to help him. He filed it away in him memory, trying to think of how he could ever repay him for the attempt if he ever were to have the chance. That's when LeBlanc went to do his handiwork.
"You really don't learn, do you fleshies?" Thomas said laughing at the fallen human as he pulled his switchblade knife from his pocket. He opened it, and prepared to slice Philip in a manner to make his death as slow and painful as possible. Two slashes; that's what LeBlanc inflicted on Philip, until Daniel began to pick up the scent of the returning Elena.
"Leave him!" Daniel ordered to LeBlanc. "We've got our bait, anyway."
A scowl crossed LeBlanc's face. He enjoyed butchering his victims in any way he could; be it with a knife or any other way. He knew that he hadn't inflicted enough damage to ensure that his wounds were mortal, but Daniel knew they didn't have time to finish him. Besides, what's one more human casualty to a killer like LeBlanc or Daniel? They could always return to kill him later, anyway.
End Flashback
"Wait!" Elena exclaimed after hearing the entire story. "You knew when you saw me change?!"
Tears were in Philip's eyes. Elena thought back to later that day when Philip saw her change. She was wrong; the look on his face wasn't fear or horror, but rather hurt with a small amount of regret. He was hurt that Elena never bothered to confide in him about her secret, even after Philip had shared almost all of his with her. "Why didn't you tell me?" Philip asked, tears in his eyes from the hurt he felt from Elena not feeling confident enough to share it.
Elena knew why; she knew what the punishment was supposed to be for when a human knew about their kind. But of an even greater concern was that if Clayton ever told Jeremy about what he had told Philip, then Philip would, most likely have to be killed. Even though Elena knew that their romantic relationship was over, she still didn't want to see Philip hurt.
"You have to get out of here!" Elena yelled at Philip. "I mean now; right now!"
"No, I don't," Philip stated calmly. "I am coming with you."
"What?!" Elena screamed in absolute shock. "You can't…"
"Yes I can, Elena," Philip repeated, still completely calm. "Jeremy's invited me to Stonehaven."
"What, what?" Elena was now completely in shock. This made no sense to her, as he wouldn't invite Philip to Stonehaven only to kill him. It made so much more sense to do it in a large city, even though Toronto has a very low crime rate. They wouldn't kill him in their own back yard. She still didn't realize that he had said that it was Jeremy who had invited him.
"He said that I am to come back with you for the weekend."
"You can't," Elena still pleaded. This made absolutely no sense; it didn't matter that Philip had tried to save Clayton, he knew about their kind and that made him a liability.
"Either I go with you, or I drive myself; your call." Philip wouldn't negotiate. Secretly he knew that he might be in some danger, but one doesn't invite someone to their estate in order to hurt them; Jeremy's invitation sounded genuine. This was a gesture of goodwill, and Philip intended to accept it. "I almost forgot, you were to call Jeremy when you got here. Sorry I forgot to give you that one."
Elena finally was able to focus on something minor, that being the jersey he was wearing. "Where did you get that one?" She asked wondering if it was coincidence or if there was a reason why he chose to wear it that day.
"The only pro game I ever played," Philip answered which left Elena even more confused. "Before my final season with Kingston in the OHL, I was drafted by Atlanta. After we missed the playoffs, I signed an ATO contract with them, and was assigned to their AHL team in Chicago."
Elena knew all of the acronyms he used. To fit in with him more, she took up ice skating, and even watched hockey with him on occasion. "What was their name?" Elena asked, more curious than scared.
"The Chicago Wolves," the answer coming calmly. "I knew that I would go to university the next year during that game. I didn't want to pursue a pro career in hockey after that. The first time I was checked by a guy that was bigger than me, I was done. The next week, I accepted my offer from the RMCC."
Author's Note: Yes, I know I am changing the final few pages, but I wanted to give Philip a better look. How does someone completely cool on one they were willing to marry only a few weeks before as is in the last chapter.
So on to all of the hockey acronyms: The OHL is the Ontario Hockey League; it is one of the three leagues that make up Canadian major junior hockey. A significant number of North American players is the National Hockey League come from major junior.
An ATO contract is an Amateur Try Out contract. They are typically used at the end of the season by players who are considering turning professional, but want to leave the option open to return to a Canadian university. By playing major junior, Philip couldn't play hockey in a U.S. college as the NCAA considers major junior players to be professional, and therefore not eligible.
The AHL, or American Hockey League, is the premier minor league in North America. It is essentially triple A level, one step below the NHL. Many of the top prospects are assigned to AHL teams.
I didn't remember reading where Philip had gone to university, so I chose the RMCC, which is basically the West Point of Canada. This will also come into play in later chapters. It is in Kingston, Ontario, which is also where I set Philip playing major junior hockey. Yes, there is an OHL team in Kingston.
Yes, from 2001 until the team moved to Winnipeg, the Atlanta Trashers' AHL affiliate was the Chicago Wolves. I will post a picture of the jersey Philip was wearing when he entered the apartment. The team still exists, and the logo is the same, even though as of now they are the affiliate of the St. Louis Blues. The logo will be key, and you will see why in future chapters.