CHAPTER 6

Wolves

At first, Eliot thought that Parker was scared, and he was ready to jump in with reassurance or pack magic to make sure she didn't get stuck but then he realized that this was a familiar emotion. It was the same as when Parker leaned out over the edge of a skyscraper or leapt with an untested rig. There was fear there but also excitement, adrenaline, and pure joy.

She needed no additional coaching and no help from Eliot as she began to melt into her wolf shape.

When Parker was nearly done with her shift, Eliot started his own, and closed his eyes as the wolf's shape swallowed him. The shift was no better and no worse this time than any other, and it didn't take very long before his wolf was looking up at Parker's.

He'd heard the others describe Parker's wolf, so he wasn't exactly surprised to see the large black wolf in front of him but experiencing something in person was almost always better than description alone. Her wolf was every bit as big as Hardison's, making her at least six inches taller than him. Most of her was black as a moonless night, but her legs, ears, the tip of her tail, and a fringe around her cheeks were a lovely gray.

Eliot yipped at her and took off into the brush. He knew that Parker would chase him and he was unsurprised to hear the crash of brush announce her pursuit. He could feel her excitement and it blended with his own as they sped into the deep woods.

~~o0o~~

On their way back from their run they entered a clearing near the tower for the zip line. Eliot picked up the warm musky scent of a fat gray squirrel. Parker's nose tilted up as she caught the scent, but she didn't make another move.

Eliot spotted the squirrel scavenging under a log on the edge of the clearing. He debated with himself about encouraging Parker to hunt the squirrel or if they should pass it by in preference to the upcoming moon hunt.

Parker followed Sparky's line of sight and spotted the flit and flip of a fluffy tail. She settled into her wolf's instincts and sank low. Her belly nearly brushing the ground.

Eliot watched as Parker crept closer to the squirrel and was surprised at how quiet her approach was. There was no avoiding stepping on old leaves or twigs and the edge of the clearing was too dense to avoid brushing up against the various plants that filled this part of the forest. However, Parker managed to keep the noise to a minimum and didn't do anything to alert her prey.

Parker crept closer. All of her senses were focused on the squirrel, and she realized that she could hear it breathing and the beat of its heart.

The squirrel, seeming to sense her approach, peaked it's head out from under the edge of the log and peered around. Parker froze, she didn't breathe, didn't blink. After a tense second, the squirrel went back to scavenging under the log.

Eliot was surprised that the squirrel hadn't seen Parker. He figured she had to be no more than ten feet from the log. Watching the way that she moved he realized that she looked like a shadow in the dark. The gray fringes of her coat helped to break up her shape making her even harder to detect.

Parker crept closer. She could hear the scratch of tiny claws in the dirt and taste the scent of earth and rodent on her tongue. She was inches from the log and there was no chance the squirrel could escape. The tiny heart began to beat like a trip hammer, and Parker could taste the change in scent as the Squirrel realized it was in trouble. With the shove of a massive gray paw, Parker rolled the log back revealing the squirrel.

The squirrel, caught unprepared for such a happening, froze. The little heart skipped a beat and the breath caught hard in the little chest.

Eliot expected Parker to follow up on the wolf's instinct and snap the squirrel up. He'd eaten plenty of squirrels over the years and found that in his wolf shape they didn't count as much more than a snack.

Finally, the tension broke and Parker darted her head down. With all the sloppiness and enthusiasm of a Labrador, Parker licked a stripe up one side of the squirrel.

The squirrel remained frozen for a split second, as it processed the fact that it hadn't just been eaten, before it sprinted high into the branches of the nearest tree.

Parker trotted and hopped her way back to Eliot clearly communicating how funny she thought she was.

Eliot snorted at the sound of the squirrel's chittering rebuke, and Parker's antics. She nudged him with her shoulder, and he licked her cheek.

~~o0o~~

Parker felt the tingle in her pack bonds that told her the boys were changing to their wolves. With a yip and a bump to Eliot's shoulder, she raced toward the cabin.

The slap of branches and the tug of undergrowth at her belly fur hindered her not at all, as she bounded into the open space in front of the cabin.

Quinn was in the final seconds of his change and managed to dance to the side, narrowly missing Parker's headlong advance.

Hardison's shift wasn't nearly as far along, and being only partially shifted, meant that he was able to catch Parker as she leapt at him. Unfortunately, his awkward shape and her larger mass, and greater than human speed, tumbled them both into the side of Lucille.

Whether it was the dent to Lucille or the pain of being touched in the middle of the change, it was unclear, but Hardison winced as he rose from the tangle of limbs.

"Not like it's the worst thing that ever happened to one of your vans." Nate tried to control his smile but gave up the effort.

Hardison gave Nate a reproachful look as he finished his shift.

"Oh my, would you look at them." Sophie gushed as she took in Parker and Hardison standing side by side in their wolf shapes.

"They're like mirror opposites." Chrissa grinned.

Hardison's wolf was big, well over three hundred pounds, and nearly able to look Sophie in the eye. Smokey gray with black trim, he looked like a giant ghost of a wolf. Passing him off as a very large dog required a lot of pack magic and convincing body language.

Now Parker stood next to him, and it was impossible to miss the resemblance. Her wolf was every bit as big and imposing as Pretzels. The only difference was in her coloring, dark black where Hardison was gray and silvery gray trim where Hardison was black.

"Like smoke and shadow." Julio's mouth tipped up in a small smile.

Chrissa nudged Julio with an elbow and gave him an eye roll to communicate her thoughts on his observation.

"While you're right, I can't think of two more generic dog names even if I try." Tyrel chuckled.

Gemma smiled and went to Eliot. Bending just slightly she kissed Sparky on the nose. Only two monstrous wolves like Hardison and Parker could make Eliot look small, but it was true that next to them his tan coloring and shorter stature did make him look like more of a dog and less of a mythical wolf. "You did good." She smiled and scritched behind his ear. "They are beautiful."

Quinn couldn't help the wolf whine that snuck out as he watched the rest of his pack. A feeling of pure happiness swelled in the bonds and before he could do a thing to stop it, his tail began to gently wag.

Gemma reached out and Quinn went to her. In only a moment Gemma disappeared in the middle of a massive pile of fur and wet noses as the rest of the pack surrounded her.

The wolf pile wiggled and hummed in pleasure and before long, the humans standing nearby began to pass looks back and forth. Ms. Teo looked on with fondness as she remembered her husband and others now gone.

Tyrel, still a little shaken from earlier, tried to keep an eye on Gemma who was only occasionally visible in the mass of fur and fang.

Julio and Chrissa watched with amusement and a quiet happiness for their friends.

Nate and Sophie looked like proud parents but there was a hint of sadness, knowing that their own choices would always keep them just a little on the outside of the pack; loved, valued, but separate.

Eliot backed out of the wolf pile with a sneeze and a quick shake to settle his fur before tossing his head back and howling. Parker, Hardison, and Quinn gave answering yips before sprinting into the woods. Eliot paused to give a quick lick to Gemma's cheek before he chased after the others.

Tyrel gave Gemma a hand up as all the humans headed back into the warm cabin. "Looks like everyone's happy."

Gemma touched her chest. "Yah, they are." Her smile faded a little as she looked at him. "I'm sorry I scared you earlier."

"I think you scared us all, but you seem like you're doing okay now." Tyrel put an arm around her shoulders as they walked back into the cabin.

"I am." She sighed contentedly. "I honestly didn't know how it was going to turn out. Ash thought I might die but I hoped not." She smiled up at Tyrel. "Turns out I was right."

"Hang on a second." Tyrel frowned. "The guy, vampire, whatever, that gave you the knife said it would kill you and you did it anyway?!" Tyrel considered himself a peaceful man, someone who chose healing instead of violence, but he suddenly wanted the shake Gemma.

Gemma rolled her eyes. She'd had this same conversation with Ash several times. "Ash doesn't know everything."

"But why would he give you that knife if he knew it would kill you? Why would you even consider it, if that was the likely outcome?" Tyrel threw his hands in the air and began to pace.

"Because, Ash doesn't know everything!" Her exaggerated pronunciation nearly making each word its own sentence.

"Really?" Tyrel rolled his eyes to mock Gemma's previous eye roll at him.

"The dream about fixing the bonds wasn't the only dream." She couldn't help it as her cheeks colored. As she looked away from him, she saw that everyone else was watching their exchange.

"You ever considered that that's all they are? Just dreams."

"I can't explain it, but I know the difference between a regular dream and the ones that are things that haven't happened yet."

Tyrel was about to launch into another argument when he felt a hand on his elbow.

"Baby, not everythin' is define' by science and med'cine. You know dat. You known it since you was dis high." Ms. Teo held a hand low as she pictured him as a toddler by her knee.

"But, mama…"

"But nothin'." Ms. Teo grinned. "If we don' take chances we ain' livin'. Heart might be beatin', lungs might be breathin', but we already dead ifn we don' really live life while we can."

. ͽϿ Ѻ Ͼͼ .

It was in the still small hours when Gemma woke to the feel of cold skin touching her. For a split second her mind was cast back to her time in the Sanguinary and she startled. On the heels of her fear, +she smelled fresh air, earth, and Eliot.

Eliot started to pull away when he realized that he'd startled her but Gemma's hand came up to grip his wrist, holding him to her. She snuggled back against him and hummed a sigh as she settled.

"Did you have a good run?" She whispered.

"It was wonderful." He smiled into her hair, placing a gentle kiss to the top of her head. "Better than I'd imagined."

"You're cold." She ran a hand over the cold arm that held her to his similarly cold chest. "Why are you cold?"

"Because it started to snow about an hour ago." He nuzzled into her neck. "When I shifted back in the clearing my clothes were frozen to the rock I'd left them on."

"You walked back here naked? In the snow?" She turned a little trying to get a look at him in the dim light from the windows. "It's May! Why is it snowing in May?"

He chuckled at her barrage of questions. "Yes, I walked back naked. So did the others." He kissed her forehead. "And before you start to worry, it would take a lot more than a light snow to damage a werewolf." He kissed her nose. "And it's snowing in May because we are in the cascades at over 3,000 feet. It might snow occasionally all the way to June." He kissed her lips.

She ran her hands down his chest to his waist, where she felt the warm soft waistband of his pajama pants. "You feel a lot warmer now."

He smiled and kissed her forehead again before pulling her around so that her back was to his chest again. "That's all you." He felt an odd little buzz in the bonds he shared with Gemma. "Is something wrong?" He squeezed her a little tighter.

"No." She smiled and cuddled against him.

"What is it then?" He blew at a strand of her hair that had settled on his nose.

"This was something I dreamed about." She whispered.

He leaned up on one elbow so that he could see her face. "You did?" He could feel her skin warm with her blush and, even in the dark room, he could make out the color in her cheeks. "What did you dream?"

"Us talking. When you kissed me." She pointed to her forehead, nose, and mouth.

Sliding one warm rough palm up to cup her cheek he bent to kiss her again.

~~o0o~~

Hardison could hardly feel the rest of the pack for the happiness bubbling in his chest. Parker was alive, and healthy, and a werewolf. For hours he had held the large unconscious wolf that was his mate and he'd worried. He'd worried he'd never see his girl again. He'd worried that Eliot was going to die too. And now he had them back. He had his family safe, and warm, and together.

He flinched as pain bit into his arm. Looking down he could see Parker's claws had poked four little holes into his upper arm where she was hanging onto him in her sleep. The black claws at the ends of her slim pale fingers should have been monstrous or disturbing, but he found them to be a comfort. Parker was brave, and strong, and a little reckless. And as a human she had been so very fragile. He knew that werewolves could be killed and that there were no guarantees in life but something in him relaxed knowing that she had a few more protections now.

He cuddled her closer hoping that she would warm up soon. The cold weather hadn't bothered him, and he could tell that Quinn had thoroughly enjoyed the weather and the pack run. But Eliot and Parker were both chilled by the time they'd made it into the cabin. They'd been through a lot today. A lot that Hardison didn't understand and might never fully comprehend. He could feel that they were tired, more tired than a run through the woods could account for.

He and Parker had crawled under the blankets on one of the mattresses that someone had put down near the fireplace, and she'd almost immediately fallen asleep. He remembered needing a lot of sleep right after his change and he hoped that was all that was happing for Parker.

He could hear Gemma and Eliot talking quietly on the other side of the room but he tried to tune them out and give them what privacy he could when they were all sleeping in the same room.

He settled next to Parker and fell asleep to the hint of werewolf that now colored her scent.

~~o0o~~

The run through the woods with the pack was exactly what Quinn had needed after the hellish day they'd all had.

The cold air and the feel of his pack thundering in his bonds was refreshing and grounding.

He'd fought his wolf all day. He'd fought off the need to change. He'd fought off the urge to lash out at everyone around him. He'd fought to be the leader that Eliot wanted him to be. He'd fought. The whole day had been one battle after another.

But the run through the woods following his Alpha had been heaven. He could be just another part of the pack. He could be brother, friend, protector, and not have the crushing weight of leadership. It was freeing and empowering. He'd never in his life been so happy to Not be an Alpha.

He'd scented Nate, Sophie, and Ms. Teo in the camper trailer that they kept for extra guests who might not want to sleep on the floor. Julio and Chrissa were in the little cabin that was there to house wayward hikers. So, it was no great surprise to find the Doctor asleep on the couch and Gemma on a mattress near the fire.

The pack hadn't been loud, but they weren't terribly quiet either, when they'd entered the cabin. Despite the hubbub of everyone getting in the cabin and getting settled Tyrel continued to snore. Everyone had moved to their customary spots. Quinn settled on his mattress between the pack and the door.

He wallowed in the feel of the pack bonds. Hardison, so happy that Quinn wondered if the man would get any sleep. Parker, exhausted and immediately on the verge of sleep. Eliot was content, but there was something deeper to it. It made Quinn think of a healing wound. And then there was Gemma. She was a whole new feeling in the bonds, and it made Quinn terribly happy for Eliot and maybe just the tiniest bit jealous. He wasn't interested in Gemma in that way, but he was a little jealous that Eliot had his girl and now had a pack bond to her. Quinn was sure that wasn't something for him.

Charlie flitted across his mind. She was feisty and tough but she could also be sweet. He shoved the thought aside. It didn't matter what kind of person Charlie was, it mattered what kind of monster Quinn was.

A pillow hit Quinn in the side of the head startling him badly. He grabbed the pillow and glared around the room. Everyone looked, still, sleeping, innocent, but Quinn felt the flutter in the bonds that told him who the culprit was.

He flung the pillow at Eliot and it was only after it had left his hand that he worried that it might hit Gemma too hard.

Eliot's hand shot up and grabbed the pillow out of the air. "Tonight was a good night. Stop borrowing trouble."

Quinn huffed at the admonishment and tried to settle. He flipped and flopped for a moment before he heard Eliot again.

"Grab your mattress and get over here before you wake everyone up."

Quinn did as instructed and settled down next to Eliot. A moment later Hardison and Parker's mattress slid across the room, coming to rest next to Gemma.

Hardison set a still sleeping Parker down next to Gemma and curled behind her.

Eliot reached across Gemma, resting a hand on Parker. Hardison gently gripped Eliot's wrist as he drifted to sleep. Quinn finally settled back to back with Eliot, able and ready to defend his pack if the situation called for it.

. ͽϿ Ѻ Ͼͼ .

Joze had kept his distance from the wolves and the humans alike, but he'd also kept a careful watch from the moment the sun went down. He checked his watch even though he could feel the approach of the sun in his bones. He had an hour to make it back to the cabin or Benny and the others would come looking for him.

He slipped his phone from his pocket and tapped his contact. "Ash. Yah, you were right. You were right about all of it."

~~The End~~