While Erik equated freedom with running through the forest at night, for Robin it would always be swimming in the pool at the Kean/Turner home. Sometimes, like now, he would take a deep breath and just hang suspended a few feet below the surface with his eyes closed and imagine he was in outer space, an endless void terrifying in its sheer vastness, the opposite of the tiny constricted closet he had been forced to live part of his life in.
Bubbles poured from his mouth as he growled deep in his chest at the thought…and he felt the other within him rouse itself…the one being besides Erik he could always rely on to protect him…not that he needed protection anymore. Stucky was gone, and Robin was not the same scared child he had been…and most importantly, he had a family now.
He kicked and broke the surface, taking in a clean breath of air. The concerned face of Ted Turner, one of his adoptive fathers smiled down at him.
"You make me nervous when you do that, Robin. I think that was almost three whole minutes." He said, trying to direct the pool vacuum around his adopted son.
Robin grinned. "Sorry. I can get out if I'm in your way."
"In about five minutes, I'm going to be jumping in myself. I want to get in a few laps before the entire Pack jumps in and empties the water out of the pool."
Robin laughed at the thought, happy as always that he would see Erik again, and get to feel that powerful electric current running between them whenever they touched. He was becoming quite addicted to it.
His time with his adopted fathers was a unique experience for him. At Carl's, his captor gifted him with clothes only when the ones he wore were absolutely ready to fall apart. He had only ever eaten at the diner; while the food was abundant, it wasn't exactly top quality. He ate mostly salad…that seemed safe enough. On the rare occasions Carl was pleased with him, he showed his affection by grabbing an exposed piece of skin and twisting it hard…ears were the favored target. Aside from Erik, who was a special case, Robin rarely allowed people to get within a few feet of him. Backing away or shifting to the side had become an almost subconscious dance routine.
All of that changed when the adoption was finalized (during which Robin decided to keep his newly recovered last name). Robin was taken shopping the first day, and they went to the Gap and Abercrombie & Fitch and told to purchase whatever he wanted. He bought everything but t-shirts at these stores until he had quite a wardrobe. But for the last, it was always Spencer's and their endless line of super-hero or even super-villain shirts. Of course, the one that he stocked up the most on was 'Robin'.
Uncle Ted was at least as exquisite a cook as Stiles, and Robin was treated to so many new and wonderful dishes that he thought he would actually gain some weight… if not for his new metabolism.
The two fathers had to go to a 27 hour pre-adoptive training class over the course of a month to prepare them for the kind of issues Robin might have…and this proved very helpful to them, especially in the beginning.
Robin was allowed to call them by their names; he wasn't comfortable with any of the 'father' type words. They showed affection in non-physical ways until he gave them their first hugs a few weeks in, once he learned to trust them. The wolf's ability to hear lies and detect negative emotions by scent helped shorten this process from years to days, but it was by no means instantaneous. Robin now had no doubt that his two fathers loved him, and had no wish to hurt him in any way. Their relationship became more and more natural as time passed, and they promised a car for him if he managed to maintain his grades until graduation. Towards that end, they even began teaching him how to drive. The more time he spent there, the less time he spent thinking about the past. He hoped to one day forget it completely. The only time they ran into a problem was when they had told him they would need to lock him up for the full moon.
He freaked. He pictured the closet again, the chains, the vicious pains in his legs, arms and chest. His wrists…
But they showed him the room. It was huge and wide open, and there were no chains. Erik promised to spend the night with him there, that night and every night of the full moon after that. The wolf that now lived within Robin was very much in agreement with this plan, would agree to be anywhere as long as Erik was around. They tried it…and to make a long story short, it was now Robin's favorite day of the month.
He was jarred from his thoughts when Danny came out of the sliding patio doors, the sun gleaming off of his bronzed muscular body. Laurie and Moose were behind him, the first to arrive as usual.
"Hey Uncle Ted, hey Robin!" she called out while Moose waved. Laurie popped into one of the outdoor showers and emerged a few minutes later in a two-piece bathing suit that left nothing to the imagination. Moose stared at her glassy-eyed.
"Go change into your bathing suit, I want to race you!" she told him.
"Yeah, not a good idea at the moment." he whispered in her ear.
"Darling, remember they can all hear you!" she whispered back. Moose flushed with embarrassment.
She sent him into the enclosure, whacking him smartly on the ass as he walked by.
"Not cool!" he called out, locking himself in.
"You liked it last night!" she answered. The male werewolves groaned.
"Laurie!" Moose shouted indignantly from inside the booth.
"Enough of the locker room talk, Laurie, if your Dad hears you he'll go nuclear." Stiles had arrived with an enormous Tupperware of marinated meat ready for grilling. Danny fired up the grill and they began laying the meat on.
Robin did another underwater lap, surfacing just in time for…
"CANNONBALL!" Dylan and Christine, in matching Diego and Dora the Explorer bathing suits took running jumps, hugging their knees in mid-air and causing huge explosions of water.
"I knew it!" Ted called as he looked around at the sopping deck. The Whittemores and McCalls greeted everyone before laying out on the lounge chairs to sun themselves. It was a wasted effort, tanned skin "healed" overnight…but they still enjoyed going through the motions. Jackson, of course, had to do several poses and show off his ridiculous muscles with a look of boredom pasted on his face. Ted, Danny and even Stiles all wolf-whistled at him.
"In your dreams, Stilinski!" Jackson teased.
"Oh, Jackson…" Stiles said pleasantly. "…if I really wanted you…" here his voice turned positively evil. "…I'd HAVE you!"
Jackson turned pale, and he gulped loudly. Ted and Danny laughed
"Just make sure he's returned in serviceable condition, Stiles. I don't want to learn how to clean a house at my age." Lydia remarked as she spread lotion on her white skin.
"Christine! Don't drown Dylan!" Scott yelled before hopping into the low end of the pool.
"Where's Derek and Erik?" asked Allison. Robin was wondering the same thing.
"They left early this morning. They had stuff to do." Stiles said evasively.
{}{}{}{}
"Dad, I really want to go see Robin. Couldn't we do this during the week?" Erik asked, as they hiked through the deep woods.
Derek sighed. "Son, I have to figure out how you became an Alpha in the parking lot of a mall…and figure out exactly what killed Anson Cooper."
"Dad…you know I'm telling the truth when I say I don't remember what happened…but if it was me, well…you know I had no choice, right?"
"I know, son. I still have nightmares about your Pop. And I think being a wolf will help Robin in a lot of ways besides just keeping him safe…but every time we are forced to kill, it just seems someone else comes along to take their place. We were really lucky the Hunter groups haven't caught on to Anson or Stucky. I don't want to be surprised by anything anymore, so we have to figure out this Alpha thing together."
"How do Betas normally become Alphas? I know you can inherit it. And I read somewhere that a Beta that kills an Alpha can claim it. Are there other ways?"
"Several. If a Pack grows too large, the strongest Beta can become an Alpha in extreme circumstances. Son, no offense, but that would have been your Pop. I have never heard of a sixteen year old Beta getting elevated when there were older stronger Betas around. Besides, our Pack isn't that large. There's also a ritual that will elevate an Alpha's mate, which no one knows how to do anymore… or the werewolf can prove himself worthy in some way to whatever powers made us what we are…usually through wolves. And that's why we're here."
Erik shrugged. "What do you want me to do?"
"I believe that the two wolves you made friends with in the forest acknowledge you in some way as their leader, but they have the same rules we do…you have to claim dominance from them. Did you do that?"
"No! I just pretended to bite the first one on the neck. He let me." Erik protested.
Derek pinched the bridge of his nose. "Son…that's claiming dominance. You haven't been keeping up with the Discovery Channel lately. They had a whole special on wolves this week."
Erik flushed. It wasn't often his knowledge in something was lacking. "So this wolf made me an Alpha because I claimed dominance? That's crazy!"
"What's crazy is that wolves don't just let someone dominate them. There's something else going on. Besides, two wolves do not constitute a 'Pack', and certainly not one large enough to force an elevation. So I want you to call out to the wolves you met, then maybe we can figure out how this happened. I'm sure I don't need to tell you how to do that."
Erik rolled his eyes. "No, I think I can figure out how to howl."
The teen closed his eyes, and opened them to reveal crimson orbs. He threw back his head, mouth opened wide to reveal prominent glistening fangs and howled into the cloudless sky. It reverberated through the forest, and even Derek had to cover his ears with his hands. The power in his call was palpable. No wolf that served him would be able to resist.
Erik ceased his call, and gave a pleased grin to his Dad. "Not bad, huh?"
Derek grabbed his head and ruffled his hair fiercely. "You sounded just like your Uncle Scott when you said that."
"Is it true that the Alpha gets stronger when he has a large Pack?" Erik asked when his Dad released him.
"Yes. If more wolves joined your Pack, you would become stronger, and so would they. According to that special on TV, you can see wolf packs as large as thirty or forty wolves."
"I wonder if I have more than one or two? Hey, there he is now! No, the markings are different. There's another! No, that's not him either." Erik looked around, suddenly noticing that they were surrounded by wolves.
"Holy crap." Derek muttered.
The wolves just kept coming. They lost count after three hundred. Every one of them fought for space to lay themselves down at Erik's feet.
{}{}{}{}
"It's about time you guys got here! I was getting worried!" Laurie called from her inflatable raft as her brother and father came through the side gate. The raft was suddenly overturned by Moose, who must have had some unconscious death-wish. Laurie shifted in her panic and punctured the raft with a sharp claw. It deflated with a loud raspberry sound. She blinked glowing sapphire eyes as she surfaced and fixed them on her laughing boyfriend.
"Ooooh, you are so dead!" She tackled him, trying to duck him under to no avail since he was tall enough even in the six-foot section to stand firm. The struggle nearly turned into a make-out session, when Stiles cleared his throat loudly. The two teens grinned unabashedly, but separated for the time being.
"Everything okay?" asked Robin, climbing out of the pool and giving Erik a wet hug,
"Well…I'll tell you later. I just want to have fun for now." He pulled off his damp shirt and kicked off his sandals before jumping into the pool, pulling Robin along with him. Dylan and Christine swam for them like piranha to a goldfish, and they had a good game of 'Marco-Polo' going, which was hard to lose with werewolf hearing.
Derek yanked his own shirt off, and stepped out of his jeans revealing his bathing suit underneath. There were more wolf-whistles (Derek still had the best body of all of them), but the Alpha didn't smile. Stiles sat next to him.
"How'd it go?"
"You were right. He has a pack of real wolves. Sty…there were hundreds of them!"
Stiles paled. "How could they go unnoticed? There would have been something on the news, hunters running around trying to kill them…"
"I don't know. I'm not even sure they're normal wolves…there was something odd about them. Sty…that's a tremendous amount of power for a sixteen year old kid. I thought it was impossible, but now I believe he knocked that car spinning across the parking lot. The strength you'd need…" Derek shook his head.
"But why should ordinary old wolves make him so strong?" Stiles wondered aloud.
"Sty, you learned a lot from books over the years…but you have no idea what you're talking about. Wolves are the real thing…we are just the pale imitation. A werewolf's strength is measured by how closely he can transform into one of them."
"Ah. Okay, so wolves are awesome. Now what do we do?"
"I don't know." Derek looked over at his son splashing around in the pool with his mate. "I just really hope no one else pisses him off. Or Robin for that matter. He's one to watch out for too."
"Robin? Why, because of what he went through? The mating bond should have undone some of the psychological damage."
Derek shook his head. "Erik has control of the largest wolf pack the world has ever seen, and Robin is now a member of that pack, the sole Beta, not to mention the Alpha's mate. If he's put to the test…"
"No one ever told me that being a parent would be so goddamn frightening." Stiles remarked, shivering.
{}{}{}{}
The envelope arrived in the last week of July. Laurie opened it excitedly, and read through it. She had written him numerous times over the past few months before getting this single reply. At long last, she would get to meet Adrian Harris and learn more about her mother. She asked Aaron to go along with her, and he agreed readily. Harris was the chosen mate of a werewolf, which implied that he had to have some decency…but that had been a long time ago.
On the day appointed in the letter, they took Aaron's car (an open topped Jeep reminiscent of her Pop's long ago ride) since Erik had made off with the Camaro to take Robin to some amusement park. They drove to Harris' address in White Rapids, where he recently moved.
He answered the door, a tall man in his fifties with thick glasses and thinning blond hair. Moose got a chill looking at him; Harris could well be an older version of himself.
He looked at the two of them, particularly Laurie before gesturing them inside with a trembling hand.
They took a seat on his sofa while he sat in a Boston rocker, sighing with relief.
"Thank you for seeing us, Mr. Harris." Laurie said poilitely.
"Your welcome. Young lady, you are the very spitting image of your namesake." He said in his clipped, rather condescending tone of voice.
"I've heard that a few times. All I have to go on is this picture. She handed him the photo album, opened to the picture he took in the forest.
His eyes shone, and his once again trembling hand stroked the picture.
"I loved her more than I ever thought it was possible to love anyone." he said gravely. Hearing his steady heartbeat, Laurie felt a little guilty for being wary of him.
"I understand. Can you tell me a little bit about her? What she thought about being a werewolf? Did she like it, or did she have trouble with it? You stayed human…did that…" here Laurie glanced at her mate. "…make things difficult for you?"
Harris considered his answer.
"Laura embraced the wolf, right up until the moment she became the Alpha. After that, it seemed like she blamed it for the loss of her family." He sighed. "When Laura first told me what she was, I asked her to have her father turn me. Erick Hale didn't believe in turning humans, felt it went against the natural order. I was disappointed, but kept pestering Laura to try to change his mind. Eventually, she told me she thought he was right. All I wanted was to be…equal to her, worthy of her. I felt that being a human meant that I was weak, and that she would always see me as weak. Who knows? Maybe I was."
He stood painfully, and got himself a glass of water before popping some pills from a bottle. "Can I get you two something to drink?"
They shook their heads, and he returned to his chair.
"We…we argued. It was a terrible fight, the only one we ever had. I'd had too much to drink…" he shook his head. "I would have died for her. You…can hear that's true?"
Laurie nodded.
"But when I realized that she would remain young while I continued to age…well, that wasn't how I thought it should be."
"My grandfather told me that if a mate dies, the werewolf wastes away and dies too. Wouldn't she want to turn you knowing her own life was at stake?" Laurie asked.
Harris gave a dry rattling laugh. "I told her the same thing. She had no answer, but I knew she was hiding something. I confronted her father. Erick Hale told me that the werewolf only dies if the mate is killed by violence…not as the result of a natural death like age or sickness. In those cases, they eventually select another mate."
He seemed to fold into himself in the chair, becoming smaller and more frail.
"Nothing else could have made me end our relationship…the thought that she might one day find another, and turn him…after I was gone…"
He was silent for several minutes before he spoke again.
"You see Laurie, turning your mate represents the height of commitment! Werewolves cannot die of natural causes! The only way they die is by violence…so, when you seal yourself to a turned mate, you guarantee that this will be the only mate you will ever have!"
Moose and Laurie looked at each other. This was way more than they bargained for.
"But for the human?" He laughed unpleasantly as he turned his gaze on Moose. "You will never love another for as long as you live, whether you remain human or accept the bite. That is a pleasant choice for us, is it not? If the one we love is killed, we either follow them into death as a werewolf, or live for years, unable to love as a human!"
"Holy shit…" Moose breathed.
"Then, at the lowest moment of my life while I lay there in a bar, half-dead from being drunk…she showed up. She started to talk to me, she was sympathetic, I told her all about Laura and…well, I betrayed a trust. I swear to you I would never have done it if I had not been so intoxicated. I wasn't even sure the woman was real…I kept fixating on the necklace she wore, the damned howling wolf. That's what got me started on it. I told her everything, more than any Hunter should ever know…because that's what she was."
"Kate Argent." Laurie said softly.
Harris looked at her and almost seemed to growl at the name, and his blue eyes flashed.
"Yes. That was her. Her, and her filthy revolting family. Do you have any idea how many humans have wound up like me because of them? How many broken mockeries of men and women they have left behind because their mates were slaughtered? But me…it was my fault just as much as hers. I told her about the Hales…about the night of the full moon when they locked themselves in the basement. That's when she changed the subject and started asking me about my work…about chemistry. She asked me questions…and God help me, I answered them. The Hales burned, and Laura and Derek were the last of the family, but for Peter who was more dead than alive. Laura inherited the Alpha power. Now, if she wanted to, she could turn me herself. I asked her just one time. When she refused…well, we broke up for good this time. She took her brother and left Beacon Hills; forever I thought."
"You didn't tell her what you did?" Laurie asked. She was torn between feeling sympathetic and wanting to smack him.
"I…truly didn't know at the time." He said hesitantly.
"You're lying."
He laughed. "Allow me to delude myself a little. Yes, I knew that I had revealed too much…but it was not until after Laura left that I realized who was responsible for the fire. Am I telling the truth?"
Laurie nodded.
"I never knew about Hunters, that there were people who dedicated their lives to destroying werewolves wherever they found them. If I had known, perhaps I would have been more cautious…one night I was in a bar very similar to the one where I betrayed Laura and her family. Some of them were there, joking about the fire and the victory over the 'monsters' that they had won. They talked about how one of their own, without naming her, had tricked one of their human lapdogs into giving them the information they needed. They had no idea that they were referring to me. I fought them in a rage, and I was beaten nearly to death. I wished they had killed me. I was only a chemistry teacher after all."
"I know Laura came back after six years." Laurie said.
"Yes. She was drawn back by Peter, I now understand. She came to me first, which is when I finally confessed to her, and told her about the necklace that would lead her to the Argents. I broke down, begging her not to turn me, but to kill me. She refused. She said 'Peter, you will never feel my teeth in your flesh.' Just like that. I told her that I never meant for the fire to happen, that I would give my life to prevent it or undo it. She knew I was telling the truth. So she forgave me. But she could no longer bear the sight of me. That was the last time I saw her. She was killed by Peter, who wasted no time in finding me and demanding to know what I knew. I told him, and I think he would have torn me apart but for Derek's interference. But Derek heard everything I said, and while Laura forgave me, he did not. I wish sometimes that he had not interfered…at least I could take joy in knowing that the Hunters would be slaughtered. Kate was killed, vile bitch that she was…oh, excuse my language! I saw her picture in the newspaper, her name revealed to me at last…and that of her family. I hoped that Laura would be able to find peace. I kept up with news of her descendants…did you know I taught one of your fathers?"
"Yes." Laurie did not want to tell him that he taught quite a few of the werewolves in the Pack. Her parents had warned her never to reveal a werewolf's identity to someone who didn't already know.
Harris laughed, noticing her reticence.
"You do not fully trust me. Very wise. Yes, I know about all of you. My sources of information are much more refined than they were back then. The Whittemores, the McCalls, and Mr. Turner and his partner Mr. Kean. All werewolves. I have known for years, and done nothing. You won't betray people you loved like I did, do not worry."
Laurie let out a breath. "Sorry."
"Don't be! You are very like Laura, you know. You have the mannerisms as well as the looks. She was slow to trust as well, despite her power to hear lies. My curiosity about you was the only reason I agreed to this interview! But I don't feel I have answered your questions… Laura was fiercely proud to be what she was. She felt they had a higher purpose, some responsibility to do good in the world. She searched many old books and questioned many strange people to find the answer. I do not know if she ever found it. When she became Alpha, all of that changed. There was no joy in it for her anymore…she felt that even if the werewolf was meant to be a boon to mankind, that man no longer deserved the help they could give. She blamed the wolf, but it was not the wolf that destroyed her spirit…it was the cruelty of men."
"Thank you so much for telling me all of this. I know this must have been painful for you."
"It is a relief to tell someone who understands. If you ever need to talk about anything, I am here. I will find anything that I still have of Laura's and turn it over to you. Perhaps this will allow you to know her better. She was a remarkable woman."
Laurie bit her lip. There was a question she wanted to ask, that he would be in a unique position to answer. But it required a degree of trust. She decided to take a chance.
"Look. I'm worried about my brother. He recently found his mate, and the boy was almost killed twice in the same day by two different maniacs. Plus, somehow, he's an Alpha now too."
"Is he?" asked Harris. "Go on."
"He has…a tendency to lose control, especially when it comes to his mate. Is there any way to stop an Alpha that goes on a rampage without hurting them? For the first time in our lives, he is way stronger than me and…I just don't think I can protect him anymore."
Laurie flushed and tears started to leak from her eyes. She thought of the incident when he beat almost the entire Pack into submission the day he met Robin…and then the day he apparently threw a car across a parking lot and killed another teenager. It wasn't that she thought Anson Cooper deserved to live…but she didn't want her brother to get targeted by people like Kate Argent. When he was pissed, he became an unstoppable juggernaut. She wasn't sure if even the family would be safe the day Erik went off the deep end.
"Bring him here. I'll show you a trick that will bring an Alpha werewolf under your control. If he ever does give in to anger and rage, you will know how to handle him. I promise it will not hurt him in any way."
"Thank you. I'll see what I can do."