"Are you sure you don't want me to wheel you out of here? I got a wheelchair and everything," Leo said as he spun around in the wheelchair that he had probably stolen from some old lady that needed it. Jason studied his best friend and rolled his eyes.
"I can walk, Leo. The doctor just said that I can't do any strenuous exercise," Jason said as he took a few steps forward. He had spent three days in total at the hospital, and he was more than ready to go home. His friends were there anytime that they weren't at work, and he did mean anytime.
Four in the morning? Leo was there asking how he was sleeping. Six in the morning had Piper stopping by for breakfast. Percy stopped by a few times to say hello, and Annabeth brought him schoolwork everyday. How wonderful of her.
"You need to rest your babies," Leo said as he wheeled up to Jason and stood. "Sit."
"I'm not sitting," Jason argued. His legs were slightly shaking from not having walked in so long, but there wasn't much pain in his groin. His chest ached, but it wasn't the worst beating he had ever been given. Some of his werewolf training was nothing compared to that.
"Just sit in it please," Piper pleaded from the door. She was holding onto her keys. Piper had offered to drive him to his meeting, and Thalia would pick him up for lunch. Then, he would be forced to go home and rest. "You and I both know Leo will keep this up all day."
"And night. I'll wheel this bitch home," Leo swore as he threw himself back into the wheelchair and used his momentum to somehow perform a wheelie, and he almost took out Jason as he did. Jason stepped back quickly and winced. "Don't hurt the babies!"
"They're not babies," Jason groaned in annoyance. It also wasn't his fault that Leo's foot had almost hit Jason in his most important aspect.
"Babies. Babymakers. Not really a difference," Leo dismissed. Piper sighed and lowered her head. She rubbed her temples like a headache was forming. Leo looked in between them. "Get in, Jason."
"Alright. Fine," Jason relented. Leo stood and put the brakes on the wheelchair. Jason sat down and felt his face instantly heat up in embarrassment. It wasn't like his legs were broken, and he felt like everyone was going to be staring at him.
"Hey, Jason. I have a question for you," Leo began as he took off the brakes and started to wheel Jason. "Can you still transform into a werewolf?"
"Just because I got hurt doesn't mean I can't. As long as the pain doesn't break my concentration," Jason answered. Granted, he was sure that the pain would keep him from transforming, but it was still physically possible. Why did Leo care so much, though?
"But, will your balls explode if they expand too much when you transform?" Leo wondered as he wheeled Jason out of the room. Jason groaned as he heard the words.
"Jesus, Leo!" Piper exclaimed as she hit his arm loud enough for the smack to echo down the hall. No nurses looked at them, and Jason hoped they weren't disturbing any of the other patients.
"You think I'm Jesus?" Leo teased. Jason turned his head enough to see Piper raising her purse. "Hey! I don't need to have my groin broken."
"That's not what I would break," Piper promised.
"You're just cranky because Jason can't have sex with you," Leo quipped back. He whirled the wheelchair around, and Jason got a purse right to the face.
"Ow!" Jason complained as it felt like a brick had hit him in the face. Leo cackled at the chaos that he had caused. Jason placed both hands to his face and rubbed his sore nose. It wasn't bleeding, but it still hurt. Both hands moved to his aching ribs.
"Don't beat Jason up!" Leo chastised. A silence fell between the two, and when Jason lowered his hands, he saw that Piper was glaring at Leo. Her look warned him that there would be pain later. Piper looked at Jason, and her features softened. She gently kissed his nose.
"I'm sorry," Piper whispered. Jason focused on her bruised nose.
"I'm sorry too. For what Lycaon did," Jason whispered. He moved his gaze to the bandage that Piper had to cover the wound Lycaon gave her. "It's all my fault."
"It's your fault for not telling us so we could help you," Leo agreed. "But, it's not your fault that Lycaon is a piece of shit. If he comes around again, I am going to kick his ass for both of you."
"He would break you in half," Piper remarked quietly. She looked at Jason. "Thalia has been trying to work with the police, but it doesn't seem like they are trying to be too helpful. Almost like they don't want to arrest him. How can he get away with that?"
"Just like Ma Gasket can get away with what she did," Leo said as he started to wheel Jason again. "It's just how life is, and it's bullshit."
"It is," Jason agreed. He sighed. "I really just didn't want you guys to get involved in this."
"We're going to be with you through thick and thin," Leo promised. They made it outside, and Piper hurried away to get her car. Leo helped Jason stand, and he rushed the wheelchair back inside. By the time that Piper had pulled up the car, Leo was making his way back to Jason's side.
The two helped Jason sit down, and he tried to relax in the passenger seat. Leo sat behind him and leaned forward, "Should I kick the back of your seat like a kid on a plane?"
"If you want to walk home," Piper threatened. Leo laughed and settled back. "Jason, promise me that you'll let us know if Lycaon comes back again."
"You should also let Zoë know. I'm sure she could scare Lycaon into submission," Leo commented.
"Probably," Piper agreed.
"She does hate men," Jason added with a shrug. He placed a hand to his ribs. Chiron had visited him the day before and told him that he would be off for at least a week. Jason tried to argue because he knew that Reyna would also be forced off, and the bar didn't need to be down two people. Chiron did not listen to him.
"That's because she hasn't met me," Leo bragged. Jason rolled his eyes and saw Piper doing the same. He nestled into his seat and looked out the window. "So Jason, what are you going to do this full moon since you can't be 'active' with Piper?"
"I will make you walk," Piper swore. Leo cackled. Jason felt like his face had permanently turned red. It was no secret around the bar that Jason and Piper slept together and weren't a couple, but Leo loved to tease them about it. Maybe, Leo was the one who needed to get laid.
Leo cackled as the car fell silent. Jason laid his head back and focused ahead. He had missed his last meeting with his mentor because of the assault by Lycaon. Being born without a pack meant that Jason didn't truly know how to act like a werewolf. There were some things that were instinctual, but he couldn't master those instincts without training.
Another big thing was transforming. Jason knew that when werewolves were young, they transformed when they came of age during the time of a full moon. Their pack would show them how to control it, and without a pack, Jason had managed to control himself enough to not accidentally transform after the first few times. And, he damn near gave Thalia a heart attack the first time.
Jason appreciated his mentor for the help that she gave him. Along with the fact that it was another werewolf that he knew in the city. She was probably the only one that he knew wasn't a piece of shit, even if Thalia did have some resentment towards her. Those two didn't get along, but it never affected Jason's training.
When Piper pulled up outside of the house, Jason let out a pained breath. He slowly made it out of the car and looked at his friends, "Thank you. I'll see you two later."
"We'll see you later," Piper promised. "Feel better."
"Get some rest," Leo added.
"Thank you," Jason said. He gave both of them a smile and then turned towards the house. It was about three stories tall and seemed to dominate all the other houses on the street. Jason gingerly made his way towards the door and knocked on it. The door opened only a moment later.
"Jason," the woman at the door greeted. Her black hair was braided over one shoulder and had shades of silver throughout it. Her brown eyes studied him, lingering on his face and the hunched over posture that he had. She wore leggings and a jacket that had colors in the pattern of a peacock's feather.
"Juno," Jason greeted back as a small smile touched his lips. Juno motioned for him to step inside, and he slowly did. He carefully walked over the wooden tiles that made up the living room floor. The two made their way towards the backyard which looked just as large as the house itself.
Jason didn't know much of Juno's background. She had lived with her werewolf pack for the first three decades of her life. Then, she found a man who stole her heart, and then they married. Juno left her pack to be with her husband, and the two had a troubled relationship. They weren't divorced at the moment. Instead, Juno always said they were "taking an extended break".
"How do you feel?" Juno questioned.
"Sore," Jason admitted. "Tired. I hate that the others got involved."
"It was Lycaon, was it not?" Juno assumed. Jason nodded. "In a surprise attack, I presume? Was he already transformed?"
"No," Jason replied. He sighed and stepped out onto the grass. Juno walked out behind him and closed the door. She sat in the grass and made a motion with her hand. Jason sat across from her. "He attacked me from behind with his buddies. Piper was there too, and Lycaon was going to make her blow him."
Jason felt his lip curling in anger, and he felt like his ears were starting to twitch. He continued, "I know that he attacked someone else who works at the bar. He transformed when he attacked her."
"Did he kill her?" Juno questioned. She had stated her disdain for Lycaon before. To her, he was a packless bastard who ruined any goodwill that werewolves were trying to earn from the city. There was a reason that Juno didn't tell everyone that she was a werewolf, as they were mostly looked down upon.
"No. She was able to defend herself and even wound Lycaon before Zoë intervened," Jason explained. Juno nodded, and a curious look came to her face. "Are we going to work on transforming today?"
"No," Juno shot down. "Your body needs to rest, and transforming will just strain your muscles. We will focus on something else today: enhancing your sense of smell."
Jason frowned and nodded. As a half-werewolf, his senses weren't as enhanced as a full one. He learned that werewolves could hear across a room with ease after Juno overheard Thalia and Jason arguing about her. Juno's sense of smell was also amazing, as she could tell who was at her door just by smelling the air.
It wasn't that Jason couldn't do those things It was just that he hadn't practiced too much. Juno spoke, "Close your eyes."
Jason settled into the grass and did as he was told. Juno continued, "The ability to smell can save a werewolf's life. It is the most important tool that we have. During a hunt, it will tell you if prey is nearby or even if they are injured. It can help identify friend from foe, and if you were in touch with your sense of smell, you could have known Lycaon was coming."
"Now, think of your friends. What is something that you can smell about them?" Juno questioned. "Remember to look past any perfume or deodorant that they may wear."
Jason closed his eyes and tried to focus. He thought of Percy. While he didn't talk to the merman too much outside of his visits to the bar or when they hung out with Annabeth, Percy had a scent that was easy to identify: salt water. Percy didn't hide it with anything.
Annabeth was another easy one. She always wore either vanilla perfume or one that almost smelled like cinnamon, but she had another scent hidden underneath it. Annabeth smelled like a clean book fresh off the shelf, one that had been opened for the first time.
Leo smelled like smoke. Like he had been sitting around a campfire for a few hours, and it seeped into his hair. Then, there was Thalia. Jason always described her as smelling like the air before it was about to rain. Upon telling Thalia that, she had called him weird and ignored him.
Jason voiced his thoughts out loud, and Juno listened quietly. Jason tried to think of his other friends, but none of them had a scent that really stood out to him. Juno spoke, "What about Chiron? Can you tell me what he smells like?"
Jason frowned as he tried to remember. He was supposed to pay more attention to the scent that everyone had, but it was something that slipped his mind all the time. And, Chiron also didn't smell that great. His human half smelled great, but his other half smelled like, well, a horse's ass.
Juno always told Jason that he should be able to walk into a room, close his eyes, and know who was in the room just from their smell alone. If he had grown up in a pack, he would have been escorted around the perimeter of their territory, picking up the scent that the rival packs had.
"A horse?" Jason finally guessed.
"If I took you to a stable and had him come with, could you find him with your eyes closed?" Juno questioned.
"I don't know," Jason admitted. He opened his eyes and looked at Juno. She studied him with her dark gaze. Juno tilted her head, and her nostril flared slightly.
"Have you been around another werewolf?" Juno asked. Her eyes narrowed.
"Just Lycaon," Jason answered. "Why?"
"There is a faint scent on you. It can't be Lycaon's, though. That is odd," Juno said to herself. She shook her head. "It must be something lingering on you from the hospital. But, you must focus on picking up scents."
"I know," Jason said. A sigh escaped him, and he looked down. "What should I do about Lycaon? I don't want him to hurt anyone else, but I don't think I can stand up to him."
"Lycaon is a werewolf you find in the stories of old," Juno explained. "He cares nothing more than for blood and power. If you do not stand up to him, he will continue to attack you. Unless you can find someone to handle him for you like the police, you will have to stand your ground and defend your turf."
"Which means I'll need to transform," Jason said to himself. He nodded. The last thing he wanted to do was fight Lycaon. Violence was not his forte, but if it meant defending Piper or any of his other friends, he would not hesitate. If Lycaon made his way back to the bar, the bastard would pay.