The Wolves of Cain

Wolf Puns

Mason yelps like a kicked puppy and Lena jumps. Then she takes a deep breath to calm herself. Monique walks up and stands beside Adrian.

"Adrian. We were just trying to figure out what you were talking to John about." Lena says while taking the straight approach instead of gingerly going around the subject.

"Good answer." Adrian says seriously. Lena doesn't say anything because she knows what Adrian means. He can tell when people are lying.

"Hey! What's going on?" Jerica comes to stand next to Lena.

There's a clear separation between this group of people. Lucas is facing Adrian with Mason on one side of him and Lena on the other. Jerica stands slightly behind Lena, confused with what's going on. And Monique is standing bedside Adrian like his second in command.

Lucas wonders if it's bad for Adrian not to have followers or pack members, as werewolves would call it. Lucas still isn't used to the unsaid rules of being a werewolf, but he understands that it's important to have a pack standing with you to watch your back.

So how does Adrian get along without one? Is his sister really enough to help him?

That's what makes it click in Lucas' head. Adrian was technically recruiting John. That sounds like another pack member, even if John isn't a werewolf.

Besides, Lucas considers Lena and Jerica a part of the pack and they're not werewolves. Maybe everyone in a pack has to be supernatural?

Lucas stops contemplating this when he realizes Lena is explaining something to Jerica.

"We're trying to figure out what Adrian's been doing." Lena tells Jerica.

"Well yeah, he's a complicated person." Jerica says with a sly grin towards Adrian.

Lena rolls her eyes and turns away from Jerica. Lucas hopes that doesn't turn into another fight between them. It was upsetting to see Lena distraught over a fight she had with her best friend.

"Anyway, John is meeting us at your house at 9:30 tonight. I'm having him come earlier because Ivie decided she likes going out around 10 pm now." Adrian says playfully.

"How many times do we have to go over this? Ivie isn't doing this. Vine girl is. Ivie isn't vine girl. Vine girl isn't Ivie!" Lena snaps at Adrian, loud enough that a couple of people near give them weird looks.

Adrian holds up his hands in mock surrender. "Sorry. And not to change the subject but where is Ivie?"

"I don't know. Probably with her friends." Lena answers vaguely.

"And who are her friends?" Adrian asks, sounding annoyed.

"I'm not telling you so that you can go scare them off too! You already did that with John." Lena says viciously. Lucas is surprised at how fierce she suddenly got. Lucas knows Lena is strong, but wow...

"Actually, John left because he's afraid of Mason and Lucas." Adrian retorts smugly.

Lucas looks to the ground. He knew it. Lucas knew that John knew their secret. But was it Adrian who let the wolf out of the bag?

"What? Why? I mean, I know you can smell emotions but... Does he know about...?" Lena trails off so no one around them will understand what they're talking about if they hear the conversation.

"I assume so. Why else would he get so nervous when I called Mason over? And sneaking suspicious glances at both of them too." Adrian says with a shrug, like he's not hurting Lucas with every word.

Lucas can't believe John would stop being his friend because they accidentally became werewolves. Lucas wouldn't shut John out because he's a Spellcaster. Does John really believe Lucas is a monster?

"I scared John?" Mason questions suddenly. Everyone turns to stare at him blankly. "What?"

"Yes, you scare him." Adrian says in a bored tone. "Now let's get to your house to start the next part of my plan."

"Which is...?" Lucas asks Adrian with a "go on" hand gesture.

"Part 2 of my plan. Duh." Adrian grins and walks away.

Lucas lets out a huff of air in frustration. Lena puts a hand on Lucas' arm to calm him. She's not surprised with the muscle under her hand because Lucas plays football every year in school.

What shocks Lena is how hot Lucas feels. As in his body temperature. Her hand heats up in seconds. Lena lets her hand casually drop away. Lucas smiles gratefully at Lena for trying to calm him.

Lena concludes that the hotter temperature must be a werewolf thing. She decides to test it out on Adrian.

"Sorry guys. He's just grumpy sometimes, especially when he's stressed." Monique apologizes for Adrian.

"It's not your fault." Mason speaks up in defense of Monique.

"I'm going to grab a drink before we leave." Lena says before disappearing into the crowd.

Lena sees a glimpse of who she hopes is Adrian. When Lena finally catches up, she grabs the guy's arm. He turns and Lena sees it is Adrian. How embarrassing would it have been if it wasn't Adrian? Gosh...

"What?" Adrian asks as he quickly pulls his arm away possessively.

Lena notes that Adrian isn't as warm as Lucas was. Actually, Adrian feels a bit cold, like his eyes appear to be now. It must only be when a werewolf is angry that they're very warm. At least Lena knows now.

"Lucas might trust you if you stopped acting so arrogant. Or maybe just try to stop keeping things from him. He could live with the arrogant thing." Lena says with a dismissive wave of her hand.

Adrian takes a step closer until they're only a foot apart. Lena has no idea where that speech came from, but it's true so Adrian won't be suspicious.

"Did you just tell me what to do?" Adrian asks with a glint in his eyes.

Lena stands her ground, refusing to be afraid of Adrian. "No. I just told you how to gain trust and maybe a little respect. That is if you wanted help with your stalker problem."

Lena has gone out on a limb with that stalker thing. She only knew that Mason said Adrian mentioned it.

Adrian growled and stood up straighter, glaring down at Lena since he's at least an inch taller than her. "I don't have a stalker problem." Adrian replies, suddenly calm.

"See you later." Adrian steps away with a wink. Lena frowns as she watches Adrian confidently walking away. What changed his attitude?