Author's Note: So last time, Elena went back to Toronto, and discovers that she was wrong about Philip when he saw her change. He wasn't horrified by it, but he was upset and hurt that she wouldn't share her secret with him. We also learn that Philip played one professional hockey game in his life for a team known as the Wolves.

Your reviews and comments are appreciated, as this is one of my first non Hotel Transylvania Fan Fics.

Chapter 2

The Theory

Jeremy had heard Elena leave, as he was out for a run when she left. Being the pack alpha, Jeremy could see into the other's dreams. That was how he knew about Philip trying to save Clayton, and also how he knew that Elena was going back to Toronto, but more importantly than that the reason she was.

Jeremy had spoken to Philip before, only for a few minutes, but Jeremy could tell just by his voice that Philip was one of the few humans who might be able to handle the truth and keep the secret of their kind. Jeremy also knew that there would be no need to kill Philip, as he would not do anything to harm Elena nor any of her friends.

More importantly, Jeremy's run had given him time to think. He wondered if a human was truly ready to know the secret of their kind. He thought of when Clayton first brought Elena to Stonehaven. As much as it pained him, Jeremy had forced Clay's hand into having to bite Elena so she would be accepted by him. Elena might have been ready to know the truth, but he wondered if she would have chosen that path? Would she have been able to keep their secret, and would she had knowingly consented to the fate that Clay forced on her? Yes, Jeremy thought, some humans were ready. I am almost certain that Philip is.

Jeremy's change back to human was more difficult than he had experienced in a long time. For the first time since he began to master the change, it stalled about half way through. Normally his change was quick, taking about a minute, but this one took more than three and was more excruciating than any he had in a long time.

To take his mind off of his issues, Jeremy went to the kitchen and began to make breakfast. The sounds and smells of eggs and bacon frying awoke all of the other werewolves in Stonehaven. As he finished cooking, Antonio and Nicholas entered the kitchen. "Man, something smells good this morning!" Nicholas commented as he sniffed the air.

Antonio had this morning's New York Times in his hand as he walked into the kitchen, and used the rolled up newspaper to lightly smack his son on the nose for his comment. This resulted in a laugh from Jeremy and even a slight chuckle from Nicholas.

Jeremy was still smiling a minuted later as he caught sight of his pack sons as he said, "He'll never grow up, will he?"

Antonio also had a smile on his face as he shook his head. He had been trying for decades to convince his son to do so, in both his behavior and his business acumen. He had even gone as far as to compare his son to Francisco d'Anconia from the novel Atlas Shrugged, hoping that was the case for his son. Alas, unlike the fictional d'Anconia, who's talent was beyond compare, despite the fact that he deliberately sabotaged his own company, his son lacked the foresight to turn a reasonable profit on any venture he education afforded to Nicholas should have guaranteed his success; a BA in business for Penn's Wharton School, and a MBA from Harvard should have all but set him on the right path. But no, Nicholas found a way to lose money on any business he started.

Jeremy was filling a large platter with eggs, bacon, and pancakes to take up to Clayton, but before he left, he invited his family, "Please, help yourselves," said Jeremy smiling. "Just leave whatever is left in the oven, and I'll eat later."

"Why, who's that for?" Nicholas asked, but the only reply he got was another light slap with the paper from his father. He finally guessed the correct answer, which he displayed with a face-palm before he resumed tearing into his breakfast.

Jeremy had mandated that Clay spend most of his time in his bed. He had just about completely recovered from his injuries and also the effects of the barbiturates he had been forced to take. It had been more than six weeks since Clayton's last run, and Jeremy knew that the time was near that he would have to change.

As Jeremy entered Clayton's room, he didn't even notice the alpha enter. Jeremy knew by the way he was laying, that Clay was deep in thought. More importantly, Jeremy knew that whatever Clay was thinking about was a serious matter. Clay may not have been a student of the physical sciences, like chemistry or biology, but his field of expertise did involve some level of deductive reasoning. He may not have been strong with the scientific method, but what he was thinking of would have been hard to test using traditional methods.

"What's wrong, my son?" Jeremy asked as he set the tray down containing the food that he had brought for Clayton next to his bed.

Clayton remained in his thoughts. His mind could be like a trap, and once he was lost inside of it, it could be tough to extricate him from it. One of the best things that could was his stomach, which began to growl when he smelled the food in his room. Snapping back to reality, Clayton realized that it was Jeremy in his room, who by now had sat in a rolling office chair in his room.

"Something been troubling you, Clay?" Jeremy asked again, but this time it only elicited a shake of Clayton's head as he began to eat some of the bacon on his plate. "Can I tell you what I have been thinking?"

This was new to Clayton. Jeremy never asked him for permission or advice on anything. His most trusted confidant was Antonio, and second to him was Elena. Clay was his best soldier. Those two jobs didn't normally coincide. Clay could only nod his head.

"I know what Philip did for you. But more importantly, I know he saw Elena change." A look of dread came over Clayton, and he stopped eating. He knew what this meant, but he couldn't bring himself to ever harm Philip, especially after Philip had tried to save Clay from the mutts. "Eat, my son," Jeremy pleaded with him.

Clayton breathed deeply to gather his courage. What he had been thinking about was extremely taboo, and he could be risking his life by even mentioning it in the presence of his alpha. "You really want to know what I've been thinking about the last week?" Clayton finally asked, nervous about what Jeremy's response would be.

To Clayton's surprise, Jeremy was supportive. "Of course I do," the alpha said smiling.

"We always thought that the odds of a successful first change was about one in eight, right?" Clayton asked, almost terrified that Jeremy would discover what his theory might be before he could explain his reasoning.

"Not quite," Jeremy answered looking right into the eyes of Clay. "Yes, it's true that the chance of surviving the change until mastery is about one in eight, assuming that the bitten isn't eaten by the wolf. However, it's not the first change that is the most dangerous. Most bitten werewolves die after a few changes when they cannot overcome the wolf instincts. The first change in men is successful about half the time; we cannot be certain for women as I am not aware of enough to be statistically reliable."

"But three out of four of the mutts' selected changes were successful," Clayton added. Jeremy's nod confirmed what Clay feared the most. Jeremy knew already what he was theorizing, and all Clay could do was to hope that Jeremy would order Clay not to think of it any more. "I think I know why that was."

Jeremy remained silent; to Clayton this was almost more troubling than an outright forbidding to continue his thoughts. He remained silent, almost begging for Jeremy to give him the order to drop the subject, but that never came. The only reply was another soft nod, followed by Jeremy placing his right hand on Clayton's left shoulder.

Clayton breathed in deeply one more time before announcing his hypothesis. He repeated, "I think I know why." Clayton thought back to what Elena had told him about her first change. She was in so much pain, that she wished it would just kill her, but someone unexpected had helped her, and told her exactly what she needed to do at the only time she was ready to follow his instructions.

Flashback, Stonehaven, 11 years ago

The first two days after Clayton had bitten Elena, she was allowed to rest in a regular bed in what would eventually become her room. Clayton had been banished from the pack for biting Elena without her consent, even though her consent was immaterial as intentionally biting a human was forbidden. The morning of the third day was when Elena would be forced to move to the cage, as her first change could happen at any time.

The walk to the basement was excruciating, as everything in her body hurt. Jeremy had explained the basics of what happened to her, but she still didn't want to believe it. She collapsed twice on the walk to the room that contained the cage; the walk taking almost fifteen minutes, and was made only with the help of Jeremy who supported Elena.

After being left in the cage for twenty minutes alone, Jeremy returned carrying food and a cup of water. "You must eat and drink now. Your body will need it," Jeremy said, concern dripping from his voice as he knew what she was about to experience. "You are about to experience the first change. I'm sorry, but you're about to experience a world of pain you could have never imagined." There was something in his voice that Elena had never heard before from any of her foster parents; it was genuine concern for her well-being. Tentatively, she took the food which was just three hamburger patties and devoured them, followed by downing the water in one gulp. Almost immediately after she finished the water, the cup dropped to the floor, and Elena let out an unholy scream of pain as she watched her right hand begin to twist into a knot. Her fingers began to retract into her hand, and when she looked down it was no longer a hand, but a paw. Jeremy knew what this meant; her first change was beginning.

"What's happening to me?!" Elena screamed in pain, tears streaming from her eyes that resembled sweat more than tears. "Please! Please help me!" She looked right at him and was horrified that he was doing the exact same thing that all of the foster parents in her life had, abandoning her in her greatest time of need.

Elena was trying to fight the change, which was the worst thing one could do. Jeremy saw this, and started to turn away, but something stopped him; it was Elena's pleas for help. He turned back and reached through the bars on the cage, gently stroking her hair. This was it, he thought, she wouldn't survive her first change. No woman ever had. But he couldn't just abandon her. The best he could do would be to comfort her, as he doubted a woman could survive the change. The screams suggested that the pain she was in would be impossible for her to accept, and it would kill her. "Elena, listen to me. Listen to me now!" Jeremy said forcefully, almost shouting before sounding caring again, "Don't fight it." He was unsure of why he was trying to help her. "Elena, you can't fight the pain. If you fight it, it will kill you," Jeremy added sounding only slightly sterner, but there was still concern in his voice. "You must accept the pain, Elena; accept it and let it take you to where it needs to."

Elena's hands started to convulse as her hands began to twist into paws. The crack and creaks of muscle and bones were hard for Jeremy to just watch, but he saw something he never though he would. Elena began to strip her clothes off, as she got in the proper positions. Despite her pain, she was giving in to it. She had followed his instructions and ceased to fight her pain.

Jeremy smiled as he saw her change progress, adding small words of encouragement. After her arms had changed, the legs were next. They stretched and contorted into positions not normal for a human, but like her arms they changed as fur began to grow on her body. Next her back began to convulse as her spine began to bend in ways that a human's spine was never meant to. Jeremy knew that this was the most dangerous part of the change, since if Elena fought at this time, her spinal cord would be torn into pieces. But yet again, it passed with her still standing. The change progressed to its final and least dangerous part, although it was far from painless. For the first time, Jeremy was almost certain that her change would be successful. Her mouth and nose began to lengthen into a muzzle, as her teeth morphed into fangs. The whole process took about 5 minutes, although to Elena it felt like an eternity.

As her change finished, Elena, now completely in wolf form, stood erect as she shook her head and stretched her legs for the first time. She turned to him as Jeremy smiled and whispered, "I'll be damned." However his thoughts were, It is possible. He offered the new wolf a bowl of water, and it drank greedily, lapping until there was little left in the bowl. But this would not be the first time that Elena would be allowed to roam the property, as the first change was always spent in the cage, as was the second. This repeated until the alpha felt that the new wolf could be trusted to keep its instincts at bay, and not harm any innocents. In Elena's case, the first time she was allowed to run on Stonehaven's property was almost six months after Clayton had bit her.
End flashback

"It was the same reason that Elena was successful," Clayton told Jeremy. "You helped her, while they had help from the mutts. But I think we can make the success rate even higher; my estimates show a success rate of about nine out of ten for men, and seven out of ten for women."

"How?" Jeremy asked, hope filling his voice. He knew what Clayton was proposing was extremely taboo, but his pack had been decimated. Help from the right bitten humans could prove invaluable.

"The mutts all had one thing in common that not even Elena did; they all wanted to be bitten." Clayton's statement was met with a slight gasp from Jeremy. "That's why their success rate was so high, but we can provide something that the mutts couldn't. A loving pack family to guide the new ones."

Jeremy was still shocked that he was even considering the possibility. He was on an extremely dangerous ledge. The alpha checked his watch thinking, She should have just arrived in Syracuse. He knew who Clayton would want to give the first choice to be bitten to, as he thought of the same man.

Jeremy, figuring that Elena would fly to Toronto, called Philip. If there was one human who was ready to learn most of the secrets of their kind, it was him. Two rings, and the phone was answered, "Hello. Philip McAdam here, how can I help you?" He answered not recognizing the number on the caller ID.

"Good morning, Mr. McAdam, My name is Jeremy Danvers. I believe you're friends with my … uh niece, Elena Michaels."

"Yes, sir," Philip answered a little unsure of the voice he heard. It had a slight sense of familiarity to it, as if Philip could swear that he had heard it before.

"Well then, I'll cut to the chase. Elena is on her way back to Toronto. I figure she should arrive about 4:00, but I'd like to invite you to join her on her return to my beautiful estate in upstate New York for the weekend as a token of my thanks for your understanding during this very difficult time for my family."

"Thank you, sir. I'd enjoy it."

Something in the man's voice told Jeremy that Philip had military training complete with the discipline it instilled. This could make him an even better candidate to be changed, as his strength would be high, and he would have skills no current member of the pack did. "You're very welcome, Philip. May I ask you for one more favor?"

"Anything, sir."

"Please ask Elena to call me when she arrives."

"Absolutely, sir."

"Thank you, Philip. Goodbye."

The line went dead before Philip could say, "Goodbye."