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Disclaimer: The Secret Saturdays does not belong to me.

Please note that this story is Major AU.

Summary: The Saturdays are sent to a town to investigate some black wolf sightings. They meet Zak, a kid who roams the forest next to the town. But Zak is the black wolf and also has Cryptid powers; can the young hybrid keep his secrets safe? Especially after Argost seems to know that he's hiding something. And on top of all that the Saturdays and the Secret Scientists are starting to get a little suspicious.

Howl Of The Wolf

Chapter 8: Stubborn Refusal

Zak woke up slowly the next morning. 'No. Go back to sleep.' Zak moaned in his thoughts. He had been racing a cheetah. 'I was gonna win too.' He thought sadly.

He suddenly remembered the previous day.

'They never came…' Zak thought sadly. He had been desperately wishing for advice.

Suddenly he wondered what he was going to do that day. He knew the Saturdays would come back to try to talk to him. 'Why do they think I need protecting so much? I am not defenseless!'

'So what if my powers are their only hope of stopping... That Cryptid… What did they call it?... Kur! Yeah, Kur…' Zak didn't think that his powers were the only thing that could stop that Cryptid, Kur. 'There's always another way…' Zak sighed. Oh how he missed his Mom and Dad's sayings. 'That one had always been dad's favorite...'

"Snap out of it Zak!" He scolded himself out loud. This wasn't the time to remember the (usually) wise sayings his parents recited.

'I guess I'll eat breakfast, run around, and then go sniff out the Saturdays.' Zak sighed. He definitely didn't want to talk to them, but if he didn't, they would just try to find him. Sure it would be easy to avoid them, being able to scent them made it easy to make sure they were nowhere near him. But Zak hoped that if he made it absolutely clear to them that he was never going with them no matter what enough times that they would get the message and leave.

Zak was determined to get them to leave him, and his wolf self, alone.

~ Later That Day ~

'Ah, there they are.' Zak thought. He was currently in his wolf form busy scenting the Saturdays. It wasn't that hard since there were so many of them.

Zak trotted forward, following his nose toward the family.

When he had almost reached them, he stopped. He was careful not to get too close, he did not wanting them to know he was there.

Zak shifted into human form. He was about to walk the rest of the way when he spotted a butterfly. His predatory instincts activating, he quickly shifted to wolf form and started stalking the fluttering blue butterfly.

'The predator stalks his unsuspecting prey…..' Zak narrated in his head.

He continued to stalk the unsuspecting butterfly for several more feet before it landed itself onto a healthy green leaf.

'As the chance arrives, the predator readies for the leap…'

Zak leaped into the air, switching from wolf to human in the blink of an eye and cupped the little blue butterfly in his hands, careful not to hurt it.

'The prey has been caught.' Zak thought triumphantly, peaking between his fingers to observe the butterfly.

After observing his catch for a moment, Zak gently laid his hands flat, letting the captured butterfly free, the innocent little blue butterfly flew away, only to end up back on the healthy green leaf it had originally been relaxing on.

The butterfly lingered on the leaf for a little while longer before flying off.

'Bye, Butterfly.' Zak thought as he watched the butterfly disappear into the shadows of the forest.

'Now what was I doing again….' Zak thought for a moment. 'Oh yeah! Getting the Saturdays to leave. Right.'

Back on task, Zak sniffed the air. He was surprised to smell that his little chase with the butterfly had led him very close to the Saturdays. He thought about sneaking up on them again, but after remembering what happened last time, he decided he wouldn't be scaring them again anytime soon and decided against sneaking up on them.

Zak readied himself. It was now or never, and he wanted the Saturdays to leave him alone. For good.

Said family was aimlessly wandering around the forest trying to locate the stubborn hybrid in an effort to convince him he was not safe. So far, they had found no sign that Zak was anywhere. They were starting to wonder if the kid was invisible or something.

Zak silently ran ahead of the Saturdays, deciding to amuse them by letting them, once again, believe they had 'found' him.

He sat on a large rock and waited.

~ 1 Minute Later ~

Zak was fidgeting. Patience wasn't something he was good at.

'Man, they're slow… I've already been waiting here for, like, a long time!' Zak sighed.

After what seemed like forever to Zak (1 Minute 10 Seconds). He heard the bushes rustling as someone walked through them.

"Hey!" Doyle shouted once he spotted Zak. "I found the kid."

The rest of the family soon followed.

Zak was annoyed. Yes, very annoyed.

"My name's Zak! Not kid!" Zak shouted.

"Yeah, whatever." Doyle replied, not caring that Zak was annoyed.

Zak glared.

Drew stepped forward. "Have you thought about coming with us? You're not safe here."

Zak jumped down from the rock. "Yeah, I have. I want you guys to leave me alone and leave! I don't need someone to protect me! And even if I did, which I don't, I don't even know you people! For all I know you could be on the same side as Argost!" Zak snapped, he crossed his arms defiantly against his chest.

The family looked shocked at the hybrid's statement.

"What?" Doc exclaimed. "You think we work with Argost?"

"Well, it's not like I know you guys." Zak pointed out again.

Drew sighed. "This is getting us nowhere."

"You're right! I'm leaving! And you better not follow me!" Zak said. Turning to walk away.

Fiskerton, out of desperation, grabbed Zak's arm and started mumbling reasons that Zak should come with them. The gorilla cat did not want to see him get hurt or worse by Argost or his henchmen.

"Hey!" Zak yanked his arm out of Fiskerton's furry grasp and before he realized the big mistake he was about to make, made wolf-like snarling and growling sounds one would not normally hear from a normal eleven year old human kid.

Realizing his mistake he attempted to cover with a cough. It didn't work.

The family looked – well, they looked like they didn't really know what to think.

"Did you just growl at us?" Drew asked.

Zak hesitated, trying to figure out what to say to get himself out of the situation. "Uh... No. It was probably some animal off somewhere growling to some other animal who was probably trying to take it's food or something."

'Yeah. That works.' He thought.

"No, I think that was you..." Doyle said, not really buying Zak's story.

Fiskerton grunted to say that he thought it was Zak who made the dog-like noises too.

"Oh hey! You know what?" The young hybrid turned to Fiskerton. "You were talking so fast when you grabbed my arm I couldn't tell what you were saying. Why don't you explain that to me now?" Zak put a thoughtful look at his face, as if he was listening intently to an interesting story.

Fiskerton shook his head, he, as was the rest of the family, were still curious as to where the growling sounds had come from.

'They're not buying it! What do I do now?' Zak urgently thought to himself. He had to think of some sort of excuse. After a second, he though of an idea.

"Look, I don't know whether you guys are imagining things or what but I don't what to go with you!" Zak shouted.

Zak wanted them to forget all about the growling, so he tried to bring their thoughts back to why they where there in the first place.

Zak decided it was time to leave. And quick as a flash, before any of the Saturdays knew it, he had disappeared.

Suddenly, as fast as he had left, he was back. But this time he had a serious look on his face. "Don't try to follow me!" He warned, and then he was gone again.

The new discoveries of the mysterious kid known as Zak troubled the family.

This kid had once again escaped them. And they were sure the growling had come from him… Maybe. Though, they had absolutely no idea as to how, if it had been Zak, he had growled so animal like. He was human after all… Wasn't he? They immediately discarded the idea, there was no way Zak wasn't human. It just wouldn't make sense. (AN: This coming from the family who tracks down mythological creatures for a living?)

They decided that Zak would certainly not be back that same day, and noting his mysterious behavior, the family went back to their giant orange airship. Perplexed by the mysteries of Zak.

Zak, after putting good distance between himself and the Saturdays, shifted into wolf form. As he was trotting through the chilly forest he hoped that his plan had worked. Sure it may not have been the smartest one, Zak realized, but he wanted to get them to focus on something other than the growling. Still, the growling would be much more interesting to them, but he had had to try something.

A little later he followed the Saturday's scent back to town, confirming that they had, in fact, gone back to their airship. Zak spent the rest of the day doing various activities like playing in the water and hunting whatever caught his eye. So basically he stalked butterflies while he was soaking wet.

Soon it was night and Zak settled down to sleep, once again hoping for advice from his parents.

Zak: Oooooohhh! Long chapter!

White Wolf: I know! I know! I know! *White Wolf Victoriously Howls At Moon*

Sorry this took so long guys. '-_- But I hope you enjoyed anyway! ^_^

Please review! ^_^

~White Wolf Out~