A Son of Wolves

Chapter 9: The Call of Family

Just as Leo thought his sanity couldn't get any lower then it was, that or his nightmares couldn't any worse, he's now walking through a forest, having talking wolves following him, persisting that they're his family. Kate, Humphrey and twelve others followed and pursued him as he tried to get away from them and block out what they were saying. He covered his ears as he walked, each time one of them blocked his way, he'd turn another direction and carry on. Talking wolves were following him, he was hearing them with his ears ears and no in his head, he had completely lost it. Garth, Winston, Humphrey as well as most of the others following found it rather funny, that the small human that they knew all those years ago, was now in front of them and grown up, but acting the way he was. They did see the serious point in this, it was just too miniscule to feel compared to the funny side of it. Kate saw nothing but the serious. Her son was back, she had the chance to have her family again. But Leo didn't want to believe, it, how could he? How was he supposed to believe that his parents were wolves and he lived with them when he was younger? For one he was a completely different species, secondly he was fourteen, if this was possible then they'd look and sound far older and practically be on deaths doors. No, his parents were psychopaths who thought they were wolves, he did not come from Kate, it wasn't possible!

She walked right behind him, nearly stepping on his heels as he "la la la'd" to block out their voices, the voices they shouldn't have. Everyone knew this was the Leo they once knew and had been waiting for all these years. He had the necklace, the name, the eyes, the strange thing he'd do with his hand on another's cheek, it was him. "Leo just please listen." Kate pleaded as she ran around him. He only turned another direction and walked away. "Leo you're my son, we raised you from a pup and let you go."

"I can't hear you!" He yelled. "This isn't real, wolves can't talk!" Humphrey grabbed a twig in his paw and hurled it at Leo's back. He spun around and looked him in the eyes.

"Feel that?" Humphrey asked. "Could something not real do that son?"

"You're not my father and I'm not your son! Leave me alone!" He said ripping off a large thick stick from a tree and waving it out at them. Kate jumped back to avoid it, this really wasn't going well. He stood defensively with the stick in his two hands. "You're not my father and you're not my mother. I'm human and you're wolves, just leave me alone. If you want you're son back then take this!" He pulled off his necklace and threw it at Kate's paws who followed it as it landed. She looked back up painfully into his eyes that bore nothing but the desire to be left alone. "If you want your son then take that and find him, but leave me alone." He added. He dropped the branch at his feet and then walked further into the forest. Kate let a tear fall down her cheek as she lowered her head. Winston padded up to his daughter and nuzzled her neck.

"Maybe it wasn't him Kate."

"It was dad." She muttered while trying to hold the tears back. "I know it's him and he knows it, he just doesn't wasn't to believe it."

"I've got an idea." Garth said stepping forward. "He thinks he's crazy right? So we just need to show him that he's not a human. We need to get him back in touch with his wolf."

"How do we do that?" Kate asked thinking that maybe this wasn't the end of it.

"We run."

Leo stomped away, never looking back or even thinking about it. Who were these hallucinations, what were they talking about? He really needed help. He knew what he was going to do. He was going to find his way to town, get back to the home and get the help he desperately needed. Seeing a wolf as his reflection was one thing, but now having talking wolves follow him was another. He chanced it and looked back, not seeing anyone. He sighed in relief; maybe his mentally ill brain was giving him a rest. He looked ahead; he was coming into a rocky part of the forest. Large rocks, boulders and small cliffs scattered themselves around.

Something snapped to his left, and he looked over and up to a boulder, where that brown and white wolf stood on the boulder. She smiled down at him; he only shook his head and looked ahead to walk on. The again to his right, that smaller grey wolf that insisted he's his father sat looking down at him from another boulder as he walked through this sort of valley of them. He started walking along the small cliff and followed Leo as that red one that he first fought with joined him, then the second grey wolf on the other side with his apparent "mother". He looked back and forth up to them on both sides; all had smiles on their faces, but why? What was his brain plotting?

Leo picked up his pace to a brisk walk, only for them the pick theirs up also and keep up with him. He stopped, and so did they, still looking down at him. He carried on, and so did they, he wasn't going to lose them. He didn't know why, or what he was really feeling, but for some unexplainable reason, he was starting to see this as something more then a way of escape, but as a game. He shook the thought and feelings out of his head and quickened his pace to a fast walk, but they just started trotting as the boulders came to a gradually decrease in height and to ground level. He started to jog, but then so did they. He slid to a stop, just as the boulders were at ground level again, and so were the wolves. He looked to his left out the corner of his eyes, then to the right, barely moving his head as he did.

Suddenly, he sprinted forwards and ran for all he could. Kate, Winston, Humphrey and Garth paw spun before getting a grip in the earth and running after him all with smiles on his face. Leo looked back, only to see them running after him, but making no effort to catch him. He faced ahead, only in time the dodge a tree and jump over a fallen one. He landed perfectly and was able to keep up his speed to run away. Kate, Humphrey, Garth and Winston, all still with smiles on soared over the log gracefully to continue their chance. Leo looked back once again, he didn't shake them, not that he thought he would or could, even if they were his imagination. He looked back ahead, the way was blocked with a tree and thorn bushes, but he could go right and around. He ran at the tree and jumping at it. He placed one foot on the truck and then moved all his weight to the side and pushed off so he could carry on running and still not losing any speed. Once more he looked back. Garth used the same manoeuvre and used the tree to turn faster, Kate jumped and using her claws, dug them into another tree to swing herself around and not lose any speed. Being an Omega, Humphrey wasn't able to pull off such feats and neither was Winston due his age.

What was happening to him? Why did a smile grow on his face, why did he suddenly see this as a game? He was having…fun? This had gone too far, this had to stop, he was letting his mind get away with things. But he just didn't want it to stop, he was loving this. It felt so natural, it was so right, this was one of the best moments he's ever had. Another set of bushes came towards him, this time pulling him to a dead end with bushes and trees surrounding him. This time, he jumped at a tree, turning completely horizontal in mid air and placing his foot on the tree to spin him over. He landed on his feet and on the other side of the bush. It wasn't a smooth landing, but he was able to keep moving. Kate and Garth also pulled of some impressive jump, whereas Humphrey and Winston jumped over with a normal wolf's grace. Leo laughed; this was no longer a run to get away, but a chasing game. He was having so much fun! But wait, what was going on? He's never down anything like this before, or those moves he did just now. How was he able to suddenly run of this period of time, not tire out and pull off those acrobatic moves? This wasn't right.

The trees started thin out, and eventually lead into a plain of tall grass that spanned of as far as thee eye could see. The sun shone on the grass and the sky was clear, Leo loved this. He must have run for three miles in a sprint, and he was now starting to tire. He slowed his sprint, eventually coming to a halt. He bent over and placed his hands on his knees has he breathed deeply. He looked back and his pursuers came running out, panting, but not as bad as Leo. "Why'd you stop?" Kate asked.

"We thought you were trying to get away?" Winston added.

"Then why were you chasing me?" Leo asked standing up straight and turning to face them.

"To remind you of who you are." Humphrey said stepping closer. "Our son." Leo groaned.

"Oh this again?" He questioned. "I'm a human and you're a wolf, how can I…"

"Not many humans can do what you've just done." Winston said stepping to Humphrey's side. "How many humans do you know can run for miles at a speed like that and only tire now? Who do you know can feel what others are truly feeling, a gift only a wolf possesses?"

"Marathon runners and cold readers." Leo answered, but he was only given faces of confusion. They didn't know what he was on about. Leo signed. "Ok, say I were to believe you, how would it be possible?"

"Kate and I were on a walk when we came across a human den thirteen years ago." Humphrey started. "Inside we found a human pup, on it's own with no parents."

"So we brought it back to the pack…" Kate continued. "We kept it for four years after naming it Leo."

"And how do you know that's it's me and not some coincidence?" Leo asked.

"Because I made our Leo a necklace." She said removing the necklace she had around her neck. "It came to a day that we were forced to give you back to the humans. You were so confused and frightened because you didn't know who or what you were. So we gave you back, but we knew that one day you'd return." Leo looked long and hard at them all, trying to figure out if what they were saying was true, and that's all he saw, the truth.

"Ok, then how are you still alive? Wild wolves only live to be around ten years old." Leo interjected. He had them there, even his imagination couldn't think of a way to come up with how they could be alive, especially the older grey wolf.

"There's a wolf in the pack that adored you, she spent four years making this horrid tasting stiff which stunted our life and growth for ten years." She said pulling a contorted face, as did the others as they thought back to that day. It was equal to eating a rotten fish, eaten by a bear and then eating its faeces. To be honest, they thought that was far more preferable.

Leo was lost I thought as something came to him, like something sparked in his mind. He saw like a flash picture of a stark white she-wolf with two eagle feathers attached via a vine threaded through her ear. The picture was over in a second and he was left staring at the wolves before him. "Sahara…" He muttered quietly and with a shocked expression. The wolves could barely hear what he said, but it sounded like he recognised it.

"What did you say?" Garth asked as they all took a step closer.

"Sahara." He said again. "She had two feathers in her ear." He replied gesturing behind his ear. Their eyes widened, was he starting to remember?

"What else do you remember?" Winston asked as they took another attentive step closer. He thought long and hard, looking at things on the ground and in hope that they sparked a memory or something. He saw a stick in the floor. He picked it up and folded with it in his hands and looking closer at it. An image flashed in his mind, a salmon, fobbing on the end of the stick with it impaled through the side.

"A salmon?" He questioned. But then a third picture flashed in his mind, and one that made him snap the stick in his hand. He looked back up to Kate, who looked back at him.

"Bears…" He said. "I was attacked by bears."

"That's why we sent you away." Humphrey said. "It wasn't' safe for you here anymore, in or out of the pack. You had to be with your own kind." He locked gazes with Humphrey, seeing nothing but truth and plead in his eyes. He stood back up and turned his back on them, but only because he was in thought, a very deep thought. Why, why did it start to make so much sense? He's felt more alive in this place then he ever has anywhere else. His higher empathic sense on others, his above average senses, awareness, and above all, his nightmares all started to make sense that maybe... maybe this was all real. That maybe he really was talking to wolves, that they were the family he had before, that his nightmares weren't nightmares, but memories, distant memories.

He looked back at Kate and walked up to her to kneel down in front of her. She looked at him puzzled, and he still saw the same look in her eye, one of happiness and splendour that she found something she spent so longer looking and waiting for. "I used to take my hand…" He said raising it. "And place it on your cheek, and look into your eyes." He said as he did that and while thinking back to something else. "I used to see everything that made you, you."

"You did it because you're my pup." Kate said as her eyes began to well up. "Because we were meant to find you all those years ago and to keep you but we couldn't." He looked back and forth from each eye, and then looked down to her paw which stood over the necklace. Taking his hand away from her cheek, he picked it up and held the chain to dangle the triangle between them. It spun slowly, the tree sap and the hairs glistening in the bright light. Humphrey padded over and stood next to his mate, wondering what he running through his long lost son's head. The three letters was what captivated Leo the most. He held the triangle in his palm for them to see.

"Leo…" He said pointing to the "L" at the top. "Kate…" He said again then pointing to the "K". "And "Humphrey"." He added pointing to the "H" skilfully carved into the small thing. He looked back up to them, only to be met with the wateriest eyes he had ever seen. He felt a pang in his chest, one that started to bring on his own. He looked passed them and to the old grey wolf stood behind them. "Grandpa Winston…" He said quietly and retrieving a small from him. Then to the red wolf. "Uncle Garth?" But there was something missing when he saw him, there wasn't something that should be there. Something that was nearly with him all the time.

"You remember them?" Kate gasped. Could it be?

"Mom?" He asked and as a tear fell. She choked and cried loudly as Leo grabbed her and pulled him to him. Kate couldn't believe it, her pup had returned to her; neither could Humphrey who soon found himself wrapped around the two and Leo's arm around him.

Leo knew, now it all made sense. He wasn't crazy, he wasn't the weird one. He was normal, he was normal for a wolf, but because he was one. He was the son of the wolves Kate and Humphrey, even though it wasn't by blood. It explained his behaviour, his gifts and talents, it explained how everything that he was before and started turning into was normal and because it was what he truly was.

"Oh Leo." Kate sobbed into his bloody neck caused by the scratch Garth gave him.

"Sorry I hit you Uncle Garth." He said looking over them and at him. Garth only smiled in return.

"Oh Leo don't let me go again." Kate muttered happily. He pulled her and Humphrey to him tighter, showing that he never was. But he still had his eyes on Garth, there was something missing from the picture.

It was then that the air around them was filled with a howl, a faint and distant howl in Leo's ears, but a loud and beckoning one in Garth's. Leo let go to listen, as did the others whose ears perked to take in the message. Garth's face changed into one of happiness, to one of worry. "Who's that?" Leo asked.

"Mom." Kate answered as she listened to the message.

"Oh no." Garth said before taking off running.

"Come on, we need to get back." Humphrey said getting to his paws.

"Back where? What's happening?" Leo asked.

"It's not safe around here anymore, you'll see why." Kate said as she started going into a fast jog. Leo was right behind them, he didn't know what that howl said, but he once again knew that name, "Eve". It brought back a spark of a memory which only pulled through more. He ran behind his parents, only seeing that this was one thing he wanted to do before he died. To run with Wolves.

He didn't know where he was going, but he felt he was getting deeper into the forest after they ran across the plains. Garth was long gone; he took off in a sprint and left them in his wake. That howl he sensed had a ring of seriousness and therefore he started to sense the fear and depression coming off his family, more so his mother. It was following off her like smoke and into him, making him worried it could be something more to do with him.

They ran and ran, finally emerging into a great open space that made Leo gasp in awe. It was a giant Valley, huge, wolves walked around with their pups playing and talking, just enjoying that day. But it was brought to a stop when they all saw Leo. He heard them talking, but like I said, it stopped when he came walking through. They all scowled and glared at him, some even growling. Word had reached that a human was in the territory, and that it was a possibility it could be the one that was supposed to save them, that it could be Leo. Either way, if it was then they weren't happy about his return seeing as they all wanted him out, or if he wasn't, the fact their was a human in their Valley. Leo gulped as the run was brought to a walk and he stepped closer to Kate, seeking protection and reassurance that they weren't going to go for him.

They walked across the Valley, back into the trees and through the deep forests until they came to another clearing. This one wasn't as big, but it was still pretty good in size. They headed towards one den, up a small hill with a rise on it. More wolves gathered below the rise as if waiting or expecting news soon, there wasn't many here though. Once more, he was glared and growled at as he passed and up the slope. Inside, Leo could hear faint talking and whispers as they came to the entrance. Kate continued inside while Leo was frozen outside, fearing what could be waiting for him inside. Humphrey was with him, wanting to comfort and reassure him that nothing was going to hurt him here. It was then that he was called inside by Kate, so he took a deep breath and walked inside, having to duck under a little to get under the archway. He stood back up straight and walked the rest of the way in. In the back sat Kate, Garth, the one he recognised as Eve, all around some white thing.

Eve saw Leo's approached and readied to attack, but she was assured it was defiantly Leo. She came running back to spread the news after Leo walked away, but she was also called for other needs. Leo slowly stepped forward, seeing the white thing they sat around come into view. It was a she-wolf; he would say it was beautiful with a perfect white coat; only, it was rugged, unkempt and had a giant bloodstain on her shoulder. Kate shuffled to her right to let Leo come closer as she whispered into the she-wolf's ear. "Hey sis, I've got someone here to see you." She then motioned for Leo to kneel down. Another picture flashed in his mind, one of him playing with this exact she-wolf, only without the bloody mess on her. He got down on his knees as Lily lifted her heard up and looked at Leo with a tired look. He scooped his hand under her cheek to hold her head up as another thought came to mind. He remembered the news recording he saw a few weeks ago, the one of the wolves running through the construction site, then one in the forest and a white wolf was gunned down.

"Aunt Lily…" He muttered.

"Leo?" She asked tiredly. "You're back." She smiled feebly.

"Oh my god, what happened to her?" Leo asked to anyone who could answer.

"The humans." Garth asked coldly. "That's what."

"What do you mean?"

"She was hit by one of those bang stick things the humans have." Kate answered and lifting up a large leaf placed over a wound. Leo looked closer, seeing it was a bullet wound.

"A gun?" He questioned, but nobody answered him, for this was human talk, something they didn't understand. He covered the wound back over. "You'll be ok." He said soothingly. She only started to whimper lightly as a small wave of pain came flooding through her, something she had frequently.

"She's been getting worse." Eve said. "Nothing we do seems to make it better." Her voice suggested that she had really given up on the fact that Lily may not make it, that there was nothing more she could do. Her eyes and body language seemed to have said it all. Was there something he could do perhaps?

"Did it come out the other side?" He asked to anyone who could answer.

"Did what?" Winston asked.

"The thing that was shot out the gun. Did it come out the other side?" All the wolves looked around at one another, unable to understand what he was talking about, or this "gun" he keeps mentioning. He sighed; he was going to have to explain this as if saying it to a four year old. "Is there a wound on her other side?"

"No, just this side." Kate said confused.

"The bang sticks are called "guns"." He said. "Inside them are small rock like things called "bullets" that fire out the end of it which makes the bang and then into whatever is in front of it and that's what kills. If there was a wound on the other side of her then that seems the bullet came out the other side, but seeing as there isn't then it's still in her shoulder."

"You can do something?" Garth questioned with a hopeful glint.

"Maybe, we just have to get the bullet out her shoulder and stop the bleeding." He said sitting back.

"How?" Eve asked.

"I don't know." Leo answered as he thought hard. "I need something to pull it out with and cover it afterwards and I don't have anything."

"I'll be fine." Lily breathed.

"You're dying Lily." Garth said with a pained tone. "I can't lose you." He added nuzzling her cheek. "None of us can." Leo sat back as she started to whimper again through the pain that coursed through her body and mostly her shoulder. It brought tears to all their eyes. But Leo had an idea. The place she got it from, the construction site. They'll have a first aid kit there, maybe even more things that could help. Yes, that could work, it will work!

"Do you know where the construction site is?" He asked, once more making them all look at him with a confused face at the strange words coming out his mouth. He rolled his eyes. "The place you all ran around with the big loud things."

"That horrible place?" Garth exclaimed.

"We're never going back there." Winston said quickly. "We lost many good wolves out there, I've put an order that no-one goes near it."

"But I know where to find the things to help her." Leo said more positively. "If you can show me where it is, I can get inside and find what we need, then I can try and help her."

"Leo I can't let you go in there." Kate said worried for his safety, They lost five wolves when they went, Lily nearly being the sixth when they ran, she couldn't let her long lost pup go back into the devils world.

"Mom…" He said and looking into her eyes, oh how she missed hearing someone say that, but how weird it was for him to say it. "I can get inside, find the things we need and get back here without them knowing. I'm human if you didn't realise, they won't hurt me." Nobody answered, but he was going to find that place whether or not it killed him or they came with him. Moments later, no-one still hadn't said anything. So he bent down and kissed Lily's cheek. "I'm going to make you better Aunt Lily, I promise."

Kate and Humphrey have their pup back! Hurrah! Family's back together. But it looked like the pack weren't happy about his return. Think about it, the last time they saw Leo, he brought two bears into the pack. Plus that to their new history with humans, they won't be happy anyway. So read and review to find out. Wanna know something? It's funny this. I get an email that comes through to my phone when anything happens on fanfiction, whether that be someone reviewing my stories, favouriting them, favouriting me or anything like that. Now I've put this story up, i wake up in the morning with around ten emails about you guys reviewing it, and it's amazing to wake up to, puts a smile on my face. If you're not too paranoid and don't mind, i'd like to here where you guys are from, find out where about this is being read from. But then again you don't have to. So until next time. :D

The FalconWolf