"It's Ryder. You wanted to talk?"
"Yes, but I'd rather talk to you in person. It's about the pack. I want to fill you in on everything that is going on and we need everyone we can get. It's bad, Ryder."
"Alright, I can't come over tonight—I promised my mom I'd spend some quality time with my dad. We can meet tomorrow evening after school."
"Okay, good. We could really use a smart mind like yours on this."
"I've gotta go. I'll see you tomorrow." I hang up my phone.
I work my way downstairs and wander around, trying to find where my dad has gone off to. I spot him in the dining room, unboxing new dinnerware and utensils.
"What's all this?" I ask my dad as I enter the room.
He looks over at me. "New china. Your mother and I thought it'd be best to sell the old stuff and buy some new ones. Which didn't hurt your mother's feelings. She had been eyeing up some she saw online for a while."
"Can I help?"
"Uh, sure, if you want to," he says.
"Yeah, I feel like I don't get to spend much time with you, and I'd like to try to do stuff together more." I stare at him for a moment, trying to read his expression.
He looks a little shocked, then changes to a smile. "Yeah, I'd like that. I'd like that a lot. I don't feel like I've gotten to know you as well as I'd like to."
We continue unpacking and putting dinnerware in the cabinet in silence.
Dad breaks the silence. "We should go camping."
"Camping?" I ask.
"Yeah, it'd be fun. We'd have to go next weekend, though, since this weekend is your sister's birthday. What do you think?"
"Sounds fun, Dad, I'd love to."
***
I run into the house and toss my backpack inside. "I'm going to hang out with a friend. Be back later," I shout to whoever might be home.
I jog down the street to a diner Daniel and I had agreed to meet at to talk. I walk inside and scan the room. I spot Daniel at a booth in the back. I sit across the table from him.
"So..."
"Did you look at the file?" Daniel asks.
"Uh, no, I haven't."
"Alright, I just wanted to make sure I didn't say anything about them until you looked at it. Anyway, we're here to talk about something else. Alpha Eli told me he had re-offered you back into the pack, but you were very on the edge about it. Our pack is facing a very large threat. Larger than anything we've faced in the past."
"Worse than the rogue threat you had back when you were helping me out?"
"Much much worse than that. It's bad, very bad. They have been plotting and scouting around our territory for months. We've received a threat letter from them saying if we don't surrender to them that they'll wage war against us. They even threatened to hurt not just our pack but the town. Innocent humans, Ryder—that's a big no no. We're afraid we don't have enough forces to take them on and win with no human casualties."
"Why don't you ask for outside help from other packs?"
"We have, but everyone is dealing with their own rogue problems. Ours just happen to be worse."
"And how am I supposed to help? I'm one person."
"You're a very intelligent person."
"Yeah, and how would you know that?"
"I looked up your grades. Straight A's and honors classes in every school you've been to. And you got those grades despite all the bouncing around you did. The stress didn't affect your school. Which shows you work really well under pressure."
"Daniel, I want to help, but I can't join a pack right now."
"You don't have to, we just really need your help. The only way I predict we win is to win before the war even starts."
"How are you supposed to win a war if you don't start a war?"
"By destroying them from the inside. I've recently started on a plan to do so. And conveniently, since you aren't a part of the pack, it will make it easier."
"So, your plan is to send me alone into the heart of a massive rogue pack and have me do what exactly? Because it sounds like a suicide mission."
"You won't be alone. Because you'll be taking Hunt with you."
"You do realize he's not as bright as me, right?"
"Oh, I'm aware. I saw his grades, but he does have potential."
"So, if I agree to this, what do I get out of it?"
"Anything you want. We'd be in great debt to you for helping."
"When would this mission take place? I kinda got a full schedule the next two weeks, no time for rogue pack infiltration."
"That's not a problem. We'll need some time to prepare the rest of the plan and give Hunt some more training."
"How are you going to get Hunt to agree to this?"
"I already did. He's got spunk."
"What the hell, I'll do it, but I need a one hundred percent guarantee that none of this will backfire on my family. And you're going to have to do something about the days of school I have to miss."
"Done and done. So, you're in?" Daniel asks.
"I'm in."
"T minus 20 days and counting."
"I swear I'll murder you if you get me killed."
YOU ARE READING
Foster Wolf
Werewolf(Complete) Ryder is a teenaged boy in foster care. his parents died when he was two and was put into the foster system. He has bounced from one home to another. Either he was sent back or ran away, but this time when his social worker, Mary, found h...
