Chapter 2: Human Life Sucks

Ten Years Later…

Ava crouched low, her tongue sticking out between her teeth as she hid behind one of the trees. Minding the bush, and a stick at her feet, she crept forward. The black and brown wolf hadn't moved, laying on his side as he looked down the hill to the Old Barn. His ears didn't swivel back, his eyes solely on Braun, the brown bear who lived on Shield Pack territory.

Being silent was key when hunting, and her prey was the wolf.

Coming around the backside of the tree, Ava peered around. Seth still wasn't watching or seemed to know he was being hunted. The last few steps would be the hardest, she'd seen Seth, Dean and Roman take down a bull elf before, even then they needed the help of The Twins. It was no mean feat to catch this wolf in particular. Ava tiptoed from out behind the tree and walked towards him, tongue still between her teeth.

At the very last moment, Ava launched forward, hands reaching for the wolf's neck. Only he ducked, tripping Ava over his shoulders and she landed between his front paws with a silent screech.

"Seth, I almost had you!" She laughed as she looked up at him.

The huff she head was his usual laugh. And if followed with a swipe of his tongue over her face, resulting in a squealing laugh from her.

"Avalon," Dean walked up.

She looked at the tall young man with his orange-yellow hair and jeans. Ava's smile fell when she saw his blue work shirt, name tag and her backpack in his hand.

"Do I have to go to school?"

Seth rose up, stretching. Ava got up as well. He leaned further into her, making Ava stagger. Laughing, she grabbed at his scruff so that she could stay upright. That was her Seth for sure.

"Avalon," Dean said in his usual older brother grumpy voice.

"They make fun of my name." She looked at Seth. "Why can't I stay on Shield Territory and run around?"

"You're human, Avalon. Human kids go to school." Dean said as he tossed her the backpack. "Now go get cleaned up so I can get you there on time."

Ava ran a hand over Seth's head. "Fine, Dean." She sighed. "Can you come to visit today, Seth?"

Seth's ears went down. He whined and turned to look back at the Caves where the rest of the Shield Pack lived. Sika, the biggest blackest alpha wolf, was talking to his son Roman and his cousins, Jimmy and Jey, the twins. Patricia was teaching some of the younger wolves how to shape change into humans a fair distance away.

"Avalon," Dean's gruff voice brought her back.

"Fine," she stomped her foot and headed down the hill to the Old Barn.

Ava learned that when Seth saved her as a baby, Sika started building a house for her to live in. Well, her and Dean. Dean wasn't good as a roommate but he wasn't a full wolf shifter like Seth and the rest of the Pack. He worked a real job. He was boring.

Being human was boring.

"Little Apple," Braun said when she approached the Old Barn. "You smell angry."

The bear shifter lived in the barn, so he was her next door neighbor. He'd changed from large brown bear to a large bearded man in jeans as he sharped an ax. Braun made sure to cut down dead trees so that the forest could continue living. He'd sell the wood to humans but that wasn't as often.

"I have to go to school. I don't want to go to school." She said.

"It's good to grow up smart instead of dumb." He responded.

Ava looked at him and he smiled through his beard. Braun turned away from the Barn and headed into the forest.

The two-room cabin had a small kitchen and a small bathroom. Ava's room faced the hill that led up to the Caves so she could watch them before going to sleep.

There was some clean jeans and a tee shirt that didn't smell bad. She peeled off her tank top and shorts, put the new clothes on and found her stupid shoes. Stupid shoes and stupid socks.

Humans had to wear clothes, and she was human. That was one of her first memories growing up in the Shield Pack- she wanted to shift but she couldn't. She'd seen Seth change but he had no clothes on. Sika growled at her, telling her she was human and humans had to wear clothes. That was when she first realized she wasn't like the others in The Pack. Seth started being his human half and started wearing clothes so she didn't have to feel different.

"Ready, Avalon?" Dean asked from the doorway.

She turned away from her window. "Yeah."

They got into Dean's clunky old truck as soon as the sun began to creep through the trees in the forest. They took a dirt trail that would lead further up the mountain to a roadway, and like usual some of the wolves followed. Like her black and brown favorite friend.

Seth ran along on all fours next to the road. The smile spread instantly over Ava's face. She watched Seth rub, his tongue lolling out as the Twins followed behind.

Like usual she would lose sight of them as Dean drove into Crescent Lake, the small Pacific Northwest town nestled in the Olympic Peninsula the Shield Pack called home. It was also the name of the large crescent-shaped lake that the town was located on.

Ava's middle school was closest to the outskirts of Crescent Lake. Dean would drop her off behind the bus drop off. For obvious reasons, Ava didn't take a bus to school.

"You better learn something, Avalon," Dean said as she slammed the door to the truck closed.

"Hi, Dean!" Renee Young, the eighth grader ran up. The short-haired blonde girl waved at him.

Dean lifted his hand off the steering wheel before putting the truck in gear. Ava heard Renee sigh but that was usual anytime Dean dropped her off and picked her up.

"So, how are you?" Renee asked.

"Fine," Ava said as she turned to the school.

Ava lost the eighth-grader when she walked into her main school room. She got her notebook and took out her favorite sketch pencil. The last picture was of Seth sleeping in wolf form under one of the oak trees. She flipped to a new page as she waited for class to start.

Back in her elementary school, literally right across the road from the middle school, Seth used to show up during recess. Her times back then were more fun than now because as she got older school got more boring. So she took to her artwork of Seth, Sika or anyone from the Shield Pack. Even Braun.

"Hey, Loser." Alexa Bliss, one of the popular girls in Ava's class called as she approached. "I'm having a birthday party."

"That's good." Ava replied.

"Well, you're not invited. It's going to be a great party and you're not going to be there."

Ava looked at the group of girls. Of all of them, Alexa was the most blonde but her best friend Mickie James was being held back for obvious reasons. The others just followed Alexa. It was like Alexa and Mickie led their own pack at school but it was not as good as Sika made his.

"I don't care. It'll mean you won't get another gift." Ava said. "And Dean won't be there to drop me off."

Alexa's face grew a nice shade of pink. Some of the other girls covered their mouths and Mickie looked away to bite her lower lip. Dean had to play up as being Ava's older brother and caretaker, making her Avalon Ambrose. She stuck with Ava.

Kids like Alexa, Mickie and even Renee, in some ways, was why Ava tended to stay to herself during lunch. She had no pack of her own, like Alexa, and it was the reason why the wolves were her life. Even if it meant Ava had to spend most days at school, she was able to go home at the end of the day to be with Seth and the Pack.

At the end of another school day, Ava waited outside the school for Dean to show up. Other kids were picked up by their parents or went home by bus. Ava was brought out of her thoughts when the hair on the back of her neck prickled up. The Pack trained her well because she saw a big man with short blonde hair standing on the sidewalk watching her. Ava tilted her head as the man stared right back at her. Just as a car passed in front of her the man disappeared.

Dean pulled his truck up in front of her. "Hey, Avalon." He popped the door open for her.

"Hi."

"Good day at school?" He asked.

"Good day at work?" She countered.

"Yeah, okay." He took control of the truck and they left.

Ava turned around, looking back at the sidewalk but the man was definitely not there. A man like that couldn't have easily just disappeared.

"What are you looking for, Avalon?"

"Nothing. I thought I saw someone." She turned back around.

"So, do you have homework?" Dean asked as he pulled out on the main street in town. He turned right instead of left, going further into town.

The center of Crescent Lake was a hub for the residents. Dean parked in front of the Market Place, because there was no Wal-Mart in the area.

"We need stuff," Dean said.

Ava got out with him. They grabbed an unused cart and went in. They got some bread, peanut butter, red raspberry jelly and another case of bottled water. Ava found a new notebook that Dean dropped in the cart. She smiled at him and he nodded back. That was just how they worked sometimes.

While Dean paid for their purchases, the hair on the back of her neck rose again. She looked out the front window and saw that strange large muscled man again. Short white blonde hair, ham hock neck and large in body but cold in looks. She shivered.

"Dean, that man's is staring," Ava said as she turned to her so-called brother.

"What man?"

She looked back and the man was gone again.

"He was right there. I swear, Dean. I saw him at school before you picked me up." She made sure to make eye contact with Dean, a show that she was serious with him.

"Come on," he picked up their bagged things. "We'll talk to Sika when we get back."

Ava followed Dean outside. Crescent Lake residents didn't know about shifters living out in the forest so why would one man be interested in her? Unless he was a Poacher, but Poachers hadn't been seen in the area for some years.

"You can draw people, not just wolve right?" Dean asked as they got into the truck.

"Yeah."

"Draw the man you saw, maybe we'll figure out who he is." Dean handed her the new notebook.

"Sure, I can try." She said as she buckled up.

Ava looked around as they pulled out from the parking lot, but of course, the man wasn't anywhere to be seen.

Hope you enjoyed it. I've got about three more chapters left in this story.