Disclaimer: If you recognize it, I don't own it. I just like to have my wicked way with the wolves. ;D
A/N: This is un-beta'd. If you want to beta for me feel free to send me a PM. Otherwise, sorry for any errors that appear here. For what I actually have planned for this story should be about 5 chapters or so. Anyways, on to the story! :D
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Alone. I was always a-fucking-lone. You would think that with 20 plus wolves running around now that I'd have someone to hang out with. But no, this one was best friends with this one, or this one was imprinted, or these ones were related. Now where did that leave me? An outcast, that's where. I mind as well get that word tattooed on my fucking forehead for all it's worth. It's just the story of my whole god damn life. Sure, I've always had Jake and Quil, but now, well they were too busy playing babysitter to their imprints. And I was alone.
Gah, imprinting was the last thing that I wanted. I'd just end up feeling sorry for whoever ended up with my ass. Not only was I the "bastard" child of La Push, but I also wasn't interested in women. I never told anyone that. Who knows what my pack brothers would think. It wasn't like I actually wanted any of them, but it was just something that I just hell bent on not letting them know. So if the point of imprinting was to make a better, stronger wolf pack, I didn't want apart of it.
I'd slept with some random girl from school before I phased. Hell if I could even remember her name. But let's just say that I had to think of other "things" to be able to keep it up for her. Bad experience all around. And I couldn't even think about having to do that so some person I've clearly never met could have my pups. I don't even think I could stand that idea.
I bent my leg up to rest my chin on my knee. I was currently sitting up on the cliffs we all used to jump from when it was just the "original" pack. It's only been about 2 years since I first phased, but it seems as if it's been a whole other life time. A rustle in the forest caused my eyes to leave the serenity of the ocean and look for its source. My eyes searched the darkness coming up with nothing. I turned back to the ocean. "Get it together Call," I mumbled.
Maybe I was so lonely that I was imagining things, but I swear I heard a whimper. I turned to look again, and sure enough there was a wolf. I quirked an eyebrow at the black wolf with white snout and front paws. A spot of white around his eye running up his right ear. He was larger than a normal wolf, but he was a hell of a lot smaller than any of the pack. He certainly wasn't one of Sam's pack- and I wasn't aware of anyone about the phase.
"You're not from around here," I said stating the obvious. He whimpered and backed up. "Don't be afraid, I'm not going to hurt you pup." I got up and slowly walked towards him, he lowered himself to his belly and backed away some more. "It's okay, you're a shifter right? Human?" His ears perked up at that and he stood up. He went to take a step forward but quickly shuffled 4 or 5 backwards when the large russet wolf skidded to a halt about 10 feet from us.
"Fuck all Jake! You're scaring him!" The alpha wolf disappeared briefly behind a near-by tree and quickly reappeared in the form of my best friend buttoning up his cutoffs.
"I don't know who he is," Jake said looking at the newcomer. "I can hear him. He seen you and started saying 'Help me, I'm scared."
I turned my head to look the new wolf again. He whimpered under my gaze, lower himself once again to his stomach. He skirted around Jacob who was between us, coming to a stop within touching distance of myself.
"He scare you pup?" I asked kneeling down. He huffed. I wasn't exactly sure if it was because I kept calling him 'pup' as I didn't know his name, or if it was because he didn't want to offend Jacob. Jake's body language clearly read "authority". And even if he didn't really know it, the pup could sense Jacob was the alpha here. I slowly reached over laying my hand gently on his shaggy, matted, furry head. "I think you need a haircut as a human," I whispered jokingly to him. He huffed again swatting at me with his paw before resting it on his muzzle. I could hear Jake snicker behind me. The pup hid his face under both paws, clearly embarrassed.
"Hey Jake, buzz the fuck off," I said jerking my head towards the forest. "I got this."
He laughed heartily heading into the trees. "Hey Em, kid might need these when you get him to phase back," he said tossing me his cutoffs. "I'll be with Nessie if you need me. That's where I had been headed when I heard the pup here. But it's an off day so I doubt anyone else will phase in. I'll let our pack know just in case though."
"Thanks Jake," I muttered turning back to the small wolf. He was now looking at me curiously, his head resting on his paws now. Probably wondering how the hell I got the 'scary' larger wolf to leave so easily. I sighed standing and heading towards the trees Jacob had disappeared in. The wolf was quickly on his feet. I could swear he had just gone into panic mode, thinking I was leaving him. I chuckled resting my hand on his muzzle. He huffed again at my laughter. "Easy there, it's okay pup. I'm just going to go over there to phase. It'll be easier if I could hear you."
I pulled my hand away and he sighed sitting down, nodding his head twice. I quickly went behind the closest tree, stripping my basketball shorts, letting my wolf take over. I was overly curious as to what this pup's name was. Where did he come from? What did he look like, sound like? I quickly cleared my mind before my gray paws hit the ground. I picked up my shorts in my mouth only to drop them where Jake's had landed, before heading back over to the new wolf.
"Ya know, for a pup he'd got great control over his thoughts," Jake laughed in my head. The black wolf growled, only causing Jake to laugh harder. I sat down just examining the new guy. He laid down once more, his head resting on his paws.
He really did have great control. His mind was pretty much black. All I got from him was me. He was curious, that I could read clear as day, but he was keeping all thoughts locked tightly within his mind. I really wish I could have had that much control when I first phased.
"I need some clothes!" broke through the silence of the pack link. Clearly Jake didn't have a wall up, probably wondering what the pup had to say. I'm guessing he must be nearing the Cullen's house, sure enough, within a minute the blur of trees turned into the grand house. The black wolf's ears perked at the sight of the man standing on the porch waiting for the huge wolf with a pair of shorts. I was getting a "What the hell?" vibe off him.
"Honestly Black! You come to see my daughter without any pants?" Edward shook his head tossing the shorts at the wolf.
"I have my reasonings," Jacob muttered flashing a picture of my human self with the small black wolf. The leech's mouth formed a perfect "o" before Jake picked the shorts up in his mouth and trotted into the trees. "Good luck Em. Let me know how it goes," were his last words before phasing out.
I stayed staring at the wolf for a good five minutes, and he me, in complete silence. "So what's your name pup?" I asked.
He examined me for another 30 seconds or so before answering shakily. "S… Sh… Shane. My name's Shane Montoya," was the quiet reply.
"Where you from Shane?" I asked lowering myself to his level, looking him dead on. 'Shane,' I liked the feel of his name on my tongue. Damn it all, down boy.
"Colorado… what's your name? What is this place? And how the hell did I become a dog?" his voice becoming a little shakier with each word spoken.
"Calm down pup," I soothed him. "One thing at a time. First off my name is Embry Call. And currently we're in La Push, Washington. As far as you and the wolf thing go I'm not too sure. For the Quileute's, it's apart of our tribal legends. We're the protectors of the rez against the cold ones. Unless of course you are Quileute?" I questioned.
He gave me a mental shrug. "Don't know. Alls I know is I have some native blood in me. Not sure from where," he spoke quietly.
I sighed. "Isn't anyone going to notice that you've gone missing back home?" I could tell by the way he was acting that Shane was in fact young. He was unsure and scared. Hell, I'd been freaked out at 16 to find out I was a wolf. I wouldn't doubt that he was even younger than that.
"Uh, not really. I'm just another foster kid the state won't have to feed anymore. My mom died when I was only 3, and I never knew my father," he shrugged. "They didn't even know where to look as my mom never named him on my birth certificate.
"Oh, I'm sorry to hear about your mom Shane. Don't think it'll help but I don't know who my father is either. Now, if you don't mind me asking, how old are you?"
"Fifteen." I sighed, he really was a pup, one of the youngest in the packs. "How old are you?"
"Me? I just turned nineteen a couple of months ago." I could barely make out his mental "oh." "How long have you been phased? And how on Earth did you get from Colorado to here?" I asked looking at him. Somewhere along the line he'd crept forward as his nose was now touching my paws. I sighed resting my muzzle on his. He visibly relaxed from the physical contact. It seemed the poor boy was starved for it.
"Something like 2 weeks I think. I just panicked and I ran. I've done a lot of running. Mostly in Canada, I think. I found a scent and I followed it, right to you." He was probably blushing at his own admission.
So he was running around Canada eh? We had chased a couple of nomads up there a few days ago. Only finally being able to corner them enough to take them out just before the border. "My scent huh?" I could only wonder if my scent was tempting to the young wolf. "So you're a tracker?"
"No, not just your scent… there were 5 distinct scents. And I don't know, I guess?"
5 'distinct' scents. Seth, Jared, Paul, myself and one of the newest wolves in Sam's pack, Cody. "We could use a good tracker in our pack."
"Yeah sure, pack, whatever Embry. How do I become me again?" he asked anxiously.
"First off, you have to try and stop being so emotional. Our wolves feed off our emotions. And you just have to remember you. But not here, I'm sure you're tired and hungry. It's just easier navigating the woods as a wolf."
"Yeah, I've kind have been feeding off wildlife and sleeping on the ground."
I laughed. "Well there's lots of food and a nice bed back at my place. And I'm sure my mom won't mind having another wolf to feed," I said getting up and shaking my fur out. He stood also, next to me he looked positively minuscule. "Follow me pup!" I grabbed both pairs of shorts from the ground and headed towards my house.
"Hey! Stop calling me pup," he pouted stay close by my side as we walked.
I couldn't help but laugh. "Okay, so random question kid, how tall were you before you phased?"
"I'm not a kid. And I'm short, I guess. I'm only like 5'6"," he stated quietly, clearly embarrassed. "You're really tall. So was that other guy."
"Jacob's our Alpha. Was your change really sudden or something? I mean we all grew and filled out before we first shifted. Did you have a really high temp?" We continued to slowly navigated the trees jumping over the fallen branches. He seemed lost in thought and almost ran right into a rock, but caught himself and moved around it.
"No, but one day I was just walking around. There was this really strong stench, sickly sweet but also smelled like death mixed with bleach. Before I knew it I was on 4 paws running for my life."
I led him as close to my house as possible. For him to have changed so suddenly he had to have been surrounded. Stupid fucking leeches. "Well Shane, you're going to grow - a lot. None of the wolves are under 6'3". The Alpha's; Jake and Sam, obviously being the biggest. There's 2 packs, Sam's has wolves closer to your age. But Jake's is a lot sma…"
"I wanna stay near you," he cut me off.
"That's fine. There's only 5 of us. We have the only female too. Jake's the Alpha like I said. Leah's his beta. I'm third in the pack. Then there's Quil - he's one of my best friends. And finally there's Seth. Until you he was the youngest of our pack. He's 17."
"That's great Embry. But, uh… can you just help me turn back now? I'm tired and hungry. And I'm almost certain that I'm in desperate need of a hot shower."
"Sorry pup. We can certainly talk about this later." I dropped the shorts on the ground. "You may want mine as they have a tie. I have a feeling Jake's will swim on you," I said nudging my shorts to his feet. "But like I said earlier. You have to let go of your emotions and remember what it's like to be human." I did just that and within seconds I was back to my human self. I quickly grabbed the cut-offs on the ground and slipped them on.
Shane huffed a few times before his form started to blur and a rather small boy appeared where the wolf once was. He quickly grabbed the shorts pulling them on.
"You really are small," I joked grinning at him.
"Shut up," he mumbled sadly tying the strings at his waist.
"Hey, I'm only joking with you Shane," I said grabbing his bicep. He jerked away.
"Everyone is always teasing or making fun of me," he looked down crossing his arms across his chest.
"I'm not making fun of you. Listen to me Shane. You belong here alright? Hey, look at me pup." He didn't look up from the ground. "The packs like to joke around. It's the only way we know how to get through this shitty situation we're in. Shane!" He looked like he was about to pass out.
"I don't feel good Embry," he mumbled lifting his eyes to mine finally.
Two things happened in that next second. I lost my breath and Shane lost consciousness. I caught him just before he hit the ground.
