Eyes of Brown.... Or is it Green?
By Didi

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters that are recognizable and I certainly don't own the show. Don't sue me cause all you're going to get is lent, and not much of that either.

Summery: Life is hard enough as a teen without in the problems of being a wolf.

Acknowledgement: The wonderful people that created "Wolf Lake." You guys just gave me a wonderful reason to stay home and curl up with blanket and the remote.

Rating: R for restricted under 17. This rating may change in the future if I feel that this needs a little more something, so you are forewarned.

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Life in Wolf Lake should be simple, uncomplicated for a young girl that comes from a good family, has an obviously loving father, and getting good grade in school. Well, it would be if you're DNA didn't have traces of wolf in it. That would be the part to complicate your life.

Sophia didn't particularly want to go to school today. Life was becoming like one long soap opera that you just can't turn off. All she wanted was a normal life where she could feel at least semi normal for a change. But being the hybrid of human and wolf really screwed that up bad. She simply didn't feel like she belonged anywhere.

With a sigh, she swung her backpack over her shoulder and pulled the front door shut behind her. She didn't exactly fit in with her human friends, couldn't possibility speak to them about her fears of not surviving the initial stage. Couldn't talk to her wolf friends cause...well, she didn't have any. The wolf teens stick to themselves. They have a very clear black and white distinction of society. Either you're like them, or your prey.

She sighed again. "So much for information being power to dispel fear. How do you get information if no one will talk to you?"

"Excuse me?" John Kanin smiled as he moved into Sophia's peripheral vision. "Do people around here always talk to themselves as you do?"

He was a kind man, Sophia was good at judging people and she knew that Detective Kanin was a good man. "Only the crazy ones that run around at night naked as a jay bird and howling at the moon." She answered rather pertly, not all together lying either.

He laughs, he's got a beautiful smile that makes her want to return it. "Well, that's kind of you to warn me. I'll have to remember to watch out for that next time that I decide to take an unexpected trip through the woods."

"You better believe it." She felt bad for him. The man was here on a mission. He was looking for the love of his life, Ruby Cates. The very fact that Ruby was a Cates should be enough warning for the man to leave well enough alone before he gets himself killed. But Sophia could see, death is better than knowing that he gave up on her. "What are you doing up and about this early in the morning? I thought all cops sleep late and work all night?"

"That would be your father's routine, right?" He asked, still with the same easy smile that she needed to return.

"Something like that."

"Must be hard," he observed. "Having a dad that obviously loves you but can't be with you the hours of the day that you are free and awake to the rest of the world."

She had a feeling that Kanin knew what he was talking about. "Yeah, I guess."

"Of course, makes it easier to be a teenager." He nodded his head wisely.

She grinned. "Why is that?"

"Daddy isn't home to catch you if you break curfew. I know my dad never caught me until he came home one night unexpectedly and found me there with one too many people not of my sex." She gapped at him, not quite sure if he was joking until she saw the twinkle in his eyes.

They shared a good laugh as they neared the high school. "I better get to class. Thanks for the talk." She reached over and squeezed his hand, glad to have a friendly ear that didn't judge. "And thanks for not telling my dad about the other night."

He rolled his eyes. "I haven't grown so old that I don't remember what it was like to rebel." He smiled and returned the squeeze. "I'll see you around."

"Yeah, see you."

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He watch her walk into the schoolyard, her eyes the color of melted chocolate, twinkling with laughter and life. He could have sat there and watched those eyes all day; they were so fascinatingly alive. There was something so simply innocent just at a glance but there was something different about her that had him wanting to peal away the layers that hid the real Sophia Donner underneath.

"Hey Luke," Sean clapped him hard enough on the shoulder to send a weaker man sprawling on the floor, but Lucas Cates doesn't even flinch. "What's so fascinating?"

"Nothing," he shook his head to clear the cobwebs there and picked up the backpack by his feet. "We doing the rounds tonight?"

"Yeah, as soon as I score me some sweet thing to accompany me." Sean's grin widens as he spots Sophia across the courtyard. "And looks like we have a winner."

"Back off man," Luke warns. "You get caught with that one, her dad will have your ass in jail faster than you can get off."

"Yeah, but the risk is definitely worth the prize." His gaze turn predatory, a hint of light appears.

Luke elbows him hard. "Knock it off, we're going to get caught."

Sean blinked quickly, shaking off the urge to change and run with the wind. "Think she'd come if we asked?"

"I'm not asking her for anything," he replied stiffly not willing to admit to wanting to ask.

"Come on, Luke. She likes you, thinks you're an okay guy. If you asked for me, maybe she'd..." He grinned, allowing his intent to show in his eyes again.

"I'm going to pry those eyes out of your sockets if you don't watch yourself, Sean." Luke snapped with more growl than hiss, as a normal human would have.

"Help me out then," Sean asked pleadingly. "I'll even share."

Luke shook his head in exasperation. He knew that he was definitely going to regret doing this. Sophia Donner has been the only girl on campus that he hasn't been able to dismiss without much thought. Her presence in his life was inevitable given who her father was. But it was the disturbance she creates in his life that bothered him the most. He was not arrogant enough to think that girls all had a thing for him. But little things in his life made it all too possible for him to know that many wouldn't mind getting to know him better. And while he knew that Sophia was at least attracted, just as he is to her, she was the only one that never openly made it obvious that she wouldn't mind if he made a move. In fact, he had a feeling that if he did, she would run. Not that she'd get very far without help.

As they approach her, Luke took a deep breath, hoping to catch a whiff of the soft jasmine perfume she preferred to the common CK One or Coolwater that all the girls were crazed about. While he did catch the soft scent of her, he also caught something else.

"Sophia," Sean's smile was predatory enough to have Sophia exert a scent of weariness. She seem to shrink back away from Sean's presence. "What's up?"

Her brown eyes seem to hold a hint of caution even knowing that Sean won't try anything in front of the school. "Hello."

Luke's dark eyes turn darker with dangerous glint to them. "Who was with you before?"

"Excuse me?" She turned those intense eyes at him and he could feel himself losing his cool.

"Who were you with just now?" He didn't quite understand this sudden need to know. But he knew that the smell on her now was not female, it was purely male. He pulled her away from the others. "Who touched you?"

"What are you talking about?" Sophia pulled her hand away, not liking the intensity she sees in his eyes, which were beginning to glow yellow. "Luke, what are you doing?" She felt the insane urge to put her hand over his eyes. "Your eyes!"

He made a valiant leap for control. A few deep breaths had to pass before he felt himself get under control again. "I smell someone on you. And it's not your dad. Who is it?"

Luke hated the sudden weary look in her eyes as she continued to look at him. "It's none of your business who I associate with."

"I know that," he snapped almost too quickly. "We protect our own."

She sighed so tiredly that he was tempted to ask if she was all right. "But I'm not one of you." She pointed out logically before turning from him.

He wanted to call out to her, to make her explain that statement but knew that it would be a bad move on his part. If there was anything he's learned from his sister, Ruby, women do not like being pushed or controlled. Freedom and choice was as important to them as anyone else in the world. And as wolves, we should know better than anyone else.

"What happened?" Sean asked as he came up.

"Nothing," he frowned, not willing to admit that Sophia turning from him like that had hurt a lot more than he was letting on. If nothing else, he respected her for her strength. "Let's get to class before our teachers decided to send the narks."