A Werewolf Guardian for Niall Horan

11. Damien

With all the heads turning in our direction and Niall going unnoticed as who he really is; he enjoyed being out and walking.

He refused to go back to the hotel for as long as he could. We walked and observed the streets for hours, watching the life of one of the worlds largest city's.

"It's a good life, Beatrix." Niall sighs as we park our butts down on a curb of the nicest parts we've seen of this city. In front of the broadway theater, in fact.

I had zoned out for most of the walk, letting my mind wander away from my body as I moved alongside Niall. I thought of nothing really important, just thinking about food. I haven't eaten in a little while.

My ears perk up slightly when a deep sound resonated within the crowds surrounding us. My head turned from side to side and I hear the noise again, a call.

"Hot dogs!" A bellied man bellowed. "Fresh hot, hot dogs for a steal of a price! Three for two!"

"Beatrix?" Niall asks for my attention, his hand pressing against my fur on my back to try to capture my attention. It didn't work. My stomach began to growl loudly. "You okay?"

I don't think Niall would've thought anything of it, really. I could hear, smell, and see the hot dog man, but Niall could barely even make out what direction any particular noise is coming from.

I whine quietly and stand to my paws, nudging Niall roughly to get up from his spot. I continued until he stood to his feet. He picked up the brightly colored leash and held on as I began dragging him down the street with me. He instinctively leaned back to keep his balance, but didn't pull too much on the harness.

The mess of people moved out of my way, some with gasps and some with shrieks of complaints. I didn't care. I was hungry. And I love food.

A loud growl erupted in my ear as soon as I passed by a dark narrow alley and I stopped my advance to the hot dog man. He began to push his cart farther down, away from us to a place more crowded.

My head turned down, but also in the direction of where the growl came from. It was too familiar.

My stomach sounded slightly, but the hunger was running away with nerves.

A male wolf from my tribe, my brother who was my brother in all but blood and sometimes not even emotions, padded over to me slowly, circling Niall and I with searching eyes. We moved slightly closer to the mouth of the alley. The wolf stopped as he came back around, towering over me with an extra three inches. He was the third oldest on our tribe.

Damien.

His fur stood up, down the spine of his back and I could tell by just that, that he was angry. His ears stayed straight up and his eyes only watched my face.

I bowed my head, begging with my eyes that he wouldn't tell Xena of where I am and who I'm with.

"Is this one of your fiends?" Niall asks in a slight baby tone. "She's so cute."

He couldn't be that oblivious to this situation, can he?

Damien looks over at Niall with an appalled expression, shaking his head in shocked disbelief as he lifts his head back and stares at the human hanging on to my leash.

"You're such a pretty grey-" Niall continues to talk, but I interrupt him with a whining complaint, my jaw opening and closing as I make the noise until he shuts his mouth. Niall huffs out a sigh, looking around at everyone who passed by.

"Can't believe my dog just told me to shut up..." I hear Niall mumble.

Damien focuses back on me, motioning his head into the alleyway, beckoning me to follow him. The twitch was almost unnoticeable, but I watched him carefully so I saw every little movement he made.

He walked into the dark narrow space and expected me to follow, but I stood still. He barked a complaint when he didn't hear me behind him.

The aura color that trailed behind him- making his trail of scent- was the same as his fur, all of our colors are and the color of smell is very strong to us if we let it be. Everyone has their own and its never the exact same color as anyone else's.

I've never gotten the lock of any one particular human in months, but its normally the color of their eyes, because if it'd be like the color of their hair like wolves, life would be very complicated for us. Niall's trail would be an icy blue, but I can't tell now. I wasn't using any of my ability senses around him.

If I'd want an easier time to track him, anywhere, I'd have the latch my senses on to his particular colorful scent.

We normally don't use that sense because some have a difficult time of getting in and out of it. I secretly practiced and got the hang of it, but the rest of my family, they still struggle. Xena included. It took me many tries, hours and hours spent on this ability. The others doesn't think it'd be worth the mental struggle, but I begged to disagree.

Damien turned around and dipped his head toward me, giving off a soft growl before he turned and sprinted off. I looked up at Niall and whined, continuing on my way to catch up to the hot dog man.

Niall had to run to keep up, letting out laughter as the situation we just faced with Damien flowed out behind him and stayed at the mouth of alley.

* * *

The day continued on peacefully after the roaring in my stomach stopped. Niall and I made it back to the park where only some people still litter around, and we watched the sky turn colors, listened to the city life, breathe in the fresh air only really found in parks here.

I was lent against Niall and he, the same on to me. It wasn't too boring, it was rather a feeling of serenity. The grass was long enough that the wind made it dance peacefully.

"I wish your owner didn't leave in such a hurry, Beatrix." Niall sighs. "I feel bad that you didn't get a good bye and it would've been nice to know more about your species."

I shifted my head closer to his lap and shut my eyes.

"The other dog earlier, you two looked like you know each other. I wonder if she was the same litter as you." Niall mumbles. I lift my head and watch his face.

He's getting the genders wrong again. My look is of disapproval.

"Am I right? She's your sister?" I shut my eyes and huff a complaint. "Uhm, is it a he? He's your brother?" I nuzzled my massive head against his leg, bobbin my head up and in a discreet nod. "Did he train just as you did?"

I whined quietly, but it was a sound of accomplishment. His guessing right on point now.

"Good. We could use more animals like you two in this world." Niall sighs.

The wind picked up just a bit more, bringing in the smell of lush green vegetation and.... An awfully familiar stench.

I nudged Niall quickly and shot up to stand on my paws again.

See, with vampires, the smell for us isn't as you read in books. To humans, the smell isn't bad. It's actually a rather pleasant aroma that I wouldn't be able to describe for the life of me, but it doesn't lure their prey in. Their cunning words do.

But with werewolves, we smell deeper than their skin. We smell the decade corpse under the immortal layer of skin that stay hidden to everyone besides us; human or animal. And they have no colored scent. It's more of a mist that follow them. All the same, no difference.

"What's the matter?" Niall complains as he stands up, dusting his butt off before turning his gaze on to me.

I quickly begin pushing him to the exit of the park with my head and when we make it to the gate, the sound of another wolfs growl made its way to my ears, but went unnoticed to Niall.

(I don't know /.-)