Laurie took three running steps and expertly used the springboard to launch herself up to the horizontal bar. She gained momentum with a practiced kick of her legs and spun around several times before about-facing and propelling herself to the higher bar. A few more spins later and she was perched on the top where she did an impromptu pole-walk before dropping back down and reversing her routine, performing one final mid-air somersault and landing neatly on her feet with no sign strain. Coach Mirov clapped softly before going over the new routine she wanted the team to perform at the next competition with Red Falls High.

"I have taught here for nearly twenty-five years, and only one other has matched your skill. Your namesake would be very proud!" she said in her thick Slavic accent when they were done.

"You knew her?" Laurie asked, excitement in her voice.

"Yes. I was able to see her briefly when she returned, before she was…I am sorry. What happened must be painful for you to hear." The kind blue eyes in the wrinkled face closed briefly as she mourned the loss of her old student. The coach ran a hand through her white hair, which was still shot through with gold. She must have been a beauty back in the day.

"I never knew her, I just have some old pictures. I heard…that she had a relationship with Adrian Harris, that they were really in love. The other day I found a heart carved into an old tree with their initials. I would love to know more about her, but my Dad…"

"His grief was powerful, even more than when he first lost his family in the fire. Ah! Such misfortune in your family! I visited his uncle in the hospital before he disappeared, but his spirit was gone. I lost my own family under Ceaucescu's regime in the old country; no one should have to bear that much grief. I am thankful that your other father survived the attack by that madman Porlock. But your mother... she was in love with Adrian, and he with her. I do not know why they separated…perhaps he discovered she was one of the vroloka."

Laurie froze. She recognized the word from the book Erik was reading in the library that day. It was the Slavic word for werewolf.

"You…you know what we are?" she asked.

Coach Mirov tilted her head. "I know who you are. You are Laurie Hale, a fine gymnast, and daughter of one I loved as my own child."

"I'm having a hard time with it. I didn't know until a month ago." Laurie searched the woman's face for any sign of fear, and found none.

"It is different, but I believe that vroloka are part of the natural order. Perhaps their purpose is lost to time; man has never learned to accept those who are different. Do you fear the wolf? You should not; all men have a beast within them, vroloka are just able to let it out. Whether you use it for good or ill tells the most about you. Your mother… was so dear to me; to think that I have outlived her causes me nothing but pain. She was meant for a greater destiny."

"That's just it; I feel like it's changing me! It…affects my thoughts, my feelings! I never wanted this! It's not fair!" Laurie turned away, tears threatening to fall from her shining eyes.

Coach Mirov was startled that Laurie was so upset, and felt ashamed at being the cause. "Laurie, I am no vroloka, but I have known more than a few both here and back in my homeland. The wolf is a powerful force, and it is well for you that you respect that power. From what I know, it is a part of you. Its anger is your anger; its love is your love…just more powerful. Anyone can lose themselves to powerful feelings, it is no different for you. Some vroloka…have given themselves over to their anger and hatred…but that is the sin of the man, not the beast. This is true, no?"

Laurie nodded, thinking of Peter Hale.

"Have you ever done or said something when you were angry that you regretted later?" the Coach continued.

"Yes, but…"

"Do you think that you were a different person while you raged? Or was it just a small part of you that grew too big for a short while?"

"Well, I never thought of it like that, but…" she said slowly.

"The wolf is the same, and so you must learn to control it! Only by running from it will it gain power over you. I would think that you, more than anyone would know that a fear must be faced before it can be conquered."

Laurie felt her face flush red. She didn't know what to say.

"The wolf is a beast, but beasts are wise, and there is much we can learn from them. The wolf is loyal to those it loves; man betrays his brother endlessly. The wolf will recognize the truth while man believes his own lies and the lies of others. A friend may fail you, but the wolf will always come to you when needed. Laurie, the wolf is not your enemy, even though you are an enemy to the wolf!"

"I couldn't have said it better myself!" said Derek Hale, entering the gym in his assistant coach's uniform.

"Ah! Mr. Hale, your ears are as sharp as ever, I see!" Coach Mirov smiled at him.

"Hey, Dad." Laurie said quietly. Derek gave the older woman a brief hug before squeezing his daughter tightly. For a moment, she felt the strong bond she always had with him return.

"It's been a long time, Alekza. I couldn't have asked for a better coach for my daughter!" he said, flashing her one of his killer grins.

The coach flushed slightly, as most women did around her father, and Laurie had to smirk. What a ham he was.

"She is very talented, and will go far in the sport if she chooses. Laurie, I will see you next week for practice, but feel free to stop in and talk any time!"

The coach left them, and Laurie went to the locker room for a quick shower and change. When she returned, she saw that her brother and Moose Bradley were there. Erik and Moose had become fast friends over the last week, and were even hanging out after school. Laurie missed her brother being around so much, and began throwing herself more and more into her chosen sport. She just wished she could make a friend or two as well, but the other girls seemed to be a little afraid of her; Laurie had no idea why.

"Hey Erik, hey…um, Moose. Is that your real name?" she asked bluntly. Erik and her father rolled their eyes.

"I dub you 'the Empress of Tact'" Erik intoned formally. Moose snickered.

"It's okay. No, it's really Aaron, but no one calls me that." he winked at her, and she noticed that his eyes were a deep blue. She felt her heart quicken in her chest, and wondered if she were having some kind of stress reaction.

"Okay Aaron, I'll be the first then." Did her voice seem higher pitched than normal? What the hell was going on?

"You know, I usually hate it, but I don't mind it coming from you…it's strange…" he said, scratching his blond hair.

Derek's eyes suddenly got wide. "No freaking way…"

Erik was oblivious to the crashing truth roaring through his father's mind. "You ready to go Laurie? I'm starving, and Dad said he would take us out for steak tonight."

"Sounds good to me. You coming with us, Aaron?" Laurie could not for the life of her figure out why the possibility seemed suddenly so exciting.

"Er…" said Derek.

"Yeah, Moose! You've got to try this place!" Erik said excitedly.

"Um…" tried Derek again.

"Sure, if your Dad doesn't mind. I'll just call my folks. Is it okay with you, Mr. Hale?"

Derek looked up at the boy (Moose was a good three inches taller than him) and fought a brief internal war in himself.

"Uh, yeah sure. I'm just going to call Stiles and make sure he's ready. Meet me out front, I'll pick you guys up."

Derek quickly walked off. Once outside, he frantically dialed his mate's cell.

"Oh God, you're not going to believe this…" he began in a rush the moment Stiles picked up the phone. Derek gave him a short rapid speech.

Thirty seconds later…

"WHAT?" came the disbelieving reply.

{}{}{}{}

Dinner that night was an awkward affair. Erik devoured a record amount of food since he was shifting into his Beta form with enormous frequency between baseball and werewolf training. Derek stared at his son, glassy-eyed with nausea. Erik saw nothing beyond his own plate, and kept sending the frantic waiter back for more every time he ran out of food.

Stiles openly gaped at his daughter and Aaron "Moose" Bradley as the truth of Derek's words hit him with gut-punching force. Laurie, at a mere sixteen years of age, had found her mate. The two practically ignored the others present, and discovered with each passing moment that they had an incredible amount in common. They favored the same sports teams, read the same authors, watched the same television shows…and had completely opposing viewpoints on the major political issues of the day. Once they got on that topic, their 'couple' status became practically official since there was nothing each of them liked to do more than bicker about social issues. They were both well-informed for their age, and developed a mutual respect for each other's intelligence even while they disagreed.

Moose excused himself to use the rest room, and Laurie stared after him as he walked off, a small happy smile on her face.

"You know, I really like him!" she said aloud, completely missing the Glares she was getting from her parents.

Erik spewed some mash potatoes, this remark having penetrated his feeding frenzy.

"What? Laurie, can't you date some other jerk? Moose is my first real friend!" he said around a mouthful of food.

Derek lost patience. "Erik, please eat more slowly, you're giving me a stomach ache! Laurie…do you know what's going on here?"

Laurie looked at her father, her smile slowly fading away. "What do you mean?"

Stiles face-palmed himself. "God, there's no way this is going to work out well. Laurie…are you having really strong feelings about him right now?"

"Uh…" she didn't really want to discuss this kind of thing with her parents…but then she realized why they were asking. "Holy crap, you mean to tell me that the freaking wolf likes him? God damn it, why does this have to happen to me…"

Derek slammed his hand down on the table, making all them, including Stiles jump. Several patrons looked over at them curiously.

"Laurie Gennifer Hale. I thought you might have gotten past all of this by now, but I guess I was wrong. You and the wolf are one being! Did you listen to anything your coach said? It was all true! The wolf likes him because you do, and you like him because as a werewolf you recognize his suitability as a… as a…" he couldn't say the word.

"As a mate." she said flatly. Her fathers and brother all winced. "I am not going to be told by anyone who to date, least of all my damn wolf!"

"Oh yes you are. And believe me, this is one time I wish I was wrong. You won't ever have feelings for anyone else, and the bond with him will only grow over time. Even though he's human, he's going to feel it just as strongly! It's inevitable! Laurie, it's too dangerous for you to date until you get control of yourself. You have got keep this going as slow as possible until you are fully trained!" Derek said rapidly. He could smell Moose…Aaron… returning.

"Slow? I'll show you slow! When he comes back, I'm going to pour my water right into his lap! Let's see this stupid mating thing fix that!"

They all gaped at her.

Moose seated himself beside Laurie again, and the Hale men watched as Laurie lifted her glass and started to swing it slowly over to Moose who had just taken a bite of his steak. Suddenly, Moose grabbed his throat. He frantically gestured that he was choking, and Laurie reacted so fast that it seemed a blur even to her. Moving with supernatural speed, she was suddenly behind him and lifting his large frame out of the chair with frightening ease. Her hands clasped around his middle, and wedging her thumb underneath the rib cage, she heaved upward with all her strength.

The small bit of meat flew from his mouth, and he sucked in a great breath of air. He panted heavily as he sat back down, sweat beading on his forehead. Laurie grabbed a napkin and frantically wiped his face.

"Holy crap, are you all right? Aaron, you scared the hell out of me! What is it with you men and chewing your damn food?" She gave a vicious glance to her brother.

Moose got his breath back, and turned to look at Laurie with new eyes. "Laurie…you just saved my life! I don't know how you picked me up like that, but I'm glad you did. I thought I was a goner!" Moose picked up the glass of water that had once been destined for his lap and drank it down. You could practically hear the orchestra of love swelling to a crescendo in the background.

{}{}{}{}

After making sure Moose was all right, the Hales dropped him off at home. Moose officially gave her his digits, and despite herself, Laurie was pretty happy about it. The men in the car were quiet the whole way home, while she hummed some of the more modern love songs to herself. Dad and Pop went to bed early, still wrestling with the days' events. Erik seemed irritated, and Laurie chalked it up to the fact that she was likely stealing his first real friend. She couldn't blame him for being pissed, but it wasn't her damned fault. She went to her room and listened to CDs in her new player (trying to keep herself from searching for Aaron's pictures in the yearbook) when there was a knock on the door. It was Erik.

"What's it like?" he asked.

"What's what like?" she asked back, knowing what he meant.

"You know. Falling for someone." There seemed to be something wrong with Erik's voice. He faced away from her, examining her CD collection while they talked. She sat before her vanity and began brushing her hair.

"I hate to say it…but Dad's right. I can see why I like him…and they are my own feelings. It's like when Dad bought us the car, only ten times more powerful. It's like a roller coaster ride, it's like…" she stopped when she heard Erik sniffle.

"Erik, what the hell is wrong? Why are you crying?" she asked, alarmed. She got up and went over to hug him. It occurred to her how rarely that happened these days.

"Don't you dare screw this up, Laurie, and not just because Moose is my friend. I would give anything to be feeling what you are right now. ANYTHING!" he suddenly shouted.

Laurie backed away, startled. "Erik…what is wrong with you?"

He laughed then, even with tears pouring down his face. "You're backing away, just like everybody else does. All I ever wanted my whole life was to find someone. You ever wonder why I read all the time? Why I never bothered with other kids? I asked out a few girls in junior high, after weeks of working up the nerve. They laughed at me! Not one would so much as sit at the lunch table with me! When we found out about this whole werewolf thing, I read every book I could, and they all agreed with what Pop and Dad were saying! There's only one person for me out there! That's pretty awesome, because that's one more than I thought there would be! Look how happy our parents are! I want that, Laurie! Finding out I was a werewolf was the greatest thing that could ever happen to me, and not for the baseball or the ass-kicking I can give to creeps like Porlock and Cooper! It's because I know that when I fall in love, it's going to be real and forever! But who does it happen to? You! The girl who doesn't want it! What if I never find mine? What if I'm alone forever?"

Laurie was speechless. How could she have never seen how alone her brother felt? She began to cry herself then. She approached him, but then jumped back as he suddenly shifted and tore out of her room. She heard the back door slam a moment later, and when she entered the hall she saw a trail of his clothes leading through the house. Derek and Stiles came down the stairs, frantically belting their robes around their waists.

"Laurie? What happened? Where's Erik?" They looked around at the discarded clothes, and followed the scent trail to the back door.

Laurie told them (still crying), and both men sat on the couch and looked at each other, not knowing what to do.

{}{}{}{}

Erik ran through the forest, bounding on all fours with the speed of a puma. He didn't need the light of the sickle-shaped moon to guide him; he had given himself fully over to the wolf, and saw the world as if the noonday sun were overhead. His ears tracked every sound, he scented the trail of every animal. The night air was cool and soft on his bare skin, and he tasted the blood in his mouth as his fangs erupted. It tasted wonderful.

Suddenly, he wanted more of it.

A year ago, he would have been terrified to be this deep in the woods. He had seen 'The Blair Witch Project' on cable, and had nightmares for weeks about being alone in the woods and hearing sinister noises all around him while unknown monsters stalked him in the darkness.

Now, the forest was his domain, his kingdom. If the Blair Witch could see his face now, she would crap her ghostly pants at his fang-filled grin.

He scented a stag, and began to track it, flitting through the trees and relishing the terror-filled bleats it gave off when it caught the scent of its death. Finally, he cornered it, and looked at its terrified rolling eyes and heaving lungs. Its antlers were huge, a prize any hunter in the area would have lusted after.

Erik sighed and straightened from his attack crouch. He wasn't hungry, and he didn't feel like venting his misery on some blameless animal.

"Go on. Get lost." He told it. Then he sniffed, and looked to his right. An honest-to-God north American Timber wolf approached and looked at him with smoky amber eyes. It was amazing that there was one here, and he wondered if it was part of a Pack.

The stag, pushed past the bounds of terror at the approach of a second predator suddenly charged him. Erik was still fully shifted, and he grabbed the antlers without thought and swung the stag off its legs, turning his body to slam the beast into a tree and twisting the head savagely as he did. It was dead before it hit the ground. The wolf backed away a few steps, but then approached, whining. Erik wondered what wolves thought of werewolves. Were they considered brothers? No way to tell.

"Guess it's your lucky night, boy."

The wolf whined again and crawled forward on its belly until it reached Erik. Then it rolled on its back and exposed its neck. Erik felt the urge to lean down, and with dim alarm he clamped his jaws on the wolf's throat…but he didn't bite. He stood up again, and the wolf got to its feet and looked at him expectantly. It turned to the dead stag and whined.

"Oh, you think I want to feed and you're giving me first dibs, huh?"

Erik walked over to the stag, and sliced open its belly with his claws, giving a short disgusted scream at the spray of blood that coated him. The steaming innards poured out, and Erik felt amazed he wasn't puking at the mess. He reached deep in the cavity, and pulled out the dripping heart which he lay at the feet of the wolf. It tilted its head and gave an almost questioning whine.

"Go ahead. I ate already."

The wolf grabbed the heart in its teeth and backed away a few steps to tear it to pieces and swallow them.

"I'm gonna go home now. See you around." Erik almost though t the wolf was grinning at him.

He returned home about three hours after he'd run out. Derek was waiting for him on the rear deck, and took in his blood-stained chest and hands without comment.

"Hey, Dad." Erik said softly.

"Hey, Son."

"Sorry for running out like that. I had a pretty bad meltdown."

"I heard. I'm here if you want to talk about it. I'll help you hose off the blood before you come in the house. If your Pop sees you like that, he'll have puppies."

Erik shucked the blood-soaked shorts and tried not to scream at the coldness of the spray. He dried off with the towel and put on the bathrobe that his father predicted he would need. They sat together on two deck chairs and took in the star-littered sky and sliver of moon in silence. The moon moved on quite a bit before Erik spoke.

"Do some of us…ever…not find their…" he began. His voice sounded choked.

"Yes. That does happen now and then. We don't know what it means…if their mate is dead, or lost somewhere in the world or if the werewolf in question just doesn't have one. Many more of us find them, however. It's rare that we don't, son."

Erik nodded. He prayed fiercely to whatever God controlled the destinies of werewolves that he would not be one of those. He couldn't stand it.

"Am I a freak, Dad?" he asked suddenly. "You think there's a reason why I never had any friends? Or a relationship?"

"Erik Steven Hale, I never want to hear you say that about yourself again." Derek said this flatly in his Alpha voice. "I never knew it was possible to love anybody as much as I love you kids. I wouldn't trade you two for anything, and everything I do is to make sure you kids are happy and provided for."

Derek sighed. "When I first taught you how to shift, I told you that people try to hurt us. You knew that already though. What you didn't know is that sometimes people help us too…if you had told me when I was your age that I would have an Argent in my Pack, I would have called you insane. And look at Laurie's coach! Your mother told her the family secret, and that woman never told anyone and was always there for Laura! She became so close to the family, my father even offered her the bite, and no one was as miserly about giving it to someone as he was…but she turned it down. Do you know how rare that is? To find someone who knows about us but doesn't want anything from us? You have to go through a lot of searching to find those people, but they're there. And I'm sure one of them will wind up being your mate. I can't say I know this for certain…but I feel it…you're too great a kid."

"Nobody at school makes me feel anything. Some girls have even hit on me in the last few weeks... but nothing happens."

"You're trying too hard. Look at this Moose character that seems fated to be my son-in-law someday…oh, God…he came out of left field (no pun intended) when a boyfriend was the last thing on your sister's mind. Or look at your Pop and I! So much was going on when I met him…my sister's death, a rogue mystery Alpha killing people, an annoying obnoxious teenager given the bite against his will and damned Hunters everywhere…in the middle of all that chaos, I met the love of my life, and we survived. You'll have it way easier than me, I'm sure. Besides, you're so young, Erik! Give it some time, enjoy your life and try to find yourself before you go looking for your mate."

Erik sighed. "I guess you're right. Thanks, Dad. I've…been dealing with this a long time. It had to blow up sooner or later."

"I'm sorry if I've…been too blind to notice what you two were going through. I'm really jealous of your Pop that he got to stay home with you kids while I had to work…and I feel bad that once the business took off, I kept at it even when I didn't have to work so hard. Ugh! I still get the chills every time I hear that damned 'Cats in the Cradle' song. You never have to go through anything alone, Erik. You can always come to us about anything."

"So…what do you think of Moose…Aaron?" Erik laughed.

Derek snickered. "I hope he doesn't want to get turned when he finds out…that would be one enormous wolf!"

Erik chuckled at the sudden image of a Beta-shifted Moose towering over his father's Alpha-form.

"In all seriousness…he's okay. I listened to his heart-beat whenever you stopped shoveling food into your mouth for two seconds, and he was pretty truthful in everything he said. His scent was right too. As much as I want to, I can't not like him. But Laurie is not allowed to even hug him until she passes her training course. That should get her motivated if nothing else will."

"I hope so. I'm going to bed. Good-night, Dad." Erik yawned and got up, heading into the house. His father gave him a rough hug before he went inside.

Alone, Derek looked up at the indifferent sky for answers, and (finding none) went upstairs to the warm comfort of his bed and his mate.