We arrived, like always, in Juneau around Friday evening. As we pulled up into the driveway of the pack house, Rodney stood on the porch. He was dressed in a khaki colored, corduroy coat, with dark gray gloves and hood. The wind blew through his hair as the headlight beams flashed across his face. He looked perturbed as we began piling out of Moses van.
"Everything okay?" Moses asked, shutting the driver door.
Liam and I were already pulling our luggage out of the back of the van, while Paige stood at the passenger door studying Rodney's face.
"The twins are ready. I'm about to start a bonfire out back" Rodney smirked.
We exchanged looks amongst each other. We were both worried and anxious to meet the new additions to the pack. As we entered the house, Liam immediately dropped his duffel and took off in a jog towards the back doors of the house. Outside I could see a huge pile of wood stacked up a few feet from the back porch.
"I'll just take these up" I nodded to Moses, as I reached down, grabbed up Liam's duffel and headed for the stairs that led to our rooms.
Moses and Paige followed soon after to put their things away before the introductions started. Around nine p.m. I headed outside with everyone else. The bonfire was blazing, and Liam was already working on roasting his first hotdog. Moses was seated next to Rodney as they began tearing into a bag of marshmallows. Paige sat to herself adjacent in a mesh fold out chair. Her arms were crossed in front of her chest, and she had a look of annoyance on her face.
Clearly, she was upset that she wasn't Moses' center of attention for a moment. I was starting to wonder if the whole thought of imprinting on a person was real, because if it were, it was Paige and her codependency. Beside Moses and Rodney sitting on a blanket were the twins. They both had hair so blonde it was almost white and Aquamarine eyes. Other than being the opposite sex, they were practically identical in the face.
Ada was short, with a very tiny, petite figure. Between she and Alex, you could tell who got all the nourishment in the womb. But even still, Ada looked like she stood at five-six, so she was an inch or two shorter than Paige. She was dressed in a cream-colored Tunic sweater under a black and white letter jacket, jeggings, white leg warmers and furry peanut butter-colored boots.
She had her stringy blonde hair up in a butterfly hair clamp. Alex on the other hand was about the same height as me, with a slim, but athletic build. He was dressed in a hooded, long-sleeved black shirt, under a black leather coat, regular, slim fit jeans, and a pair of black and white Retro Air Jordans. His hair was done in a tapered haircut. They looked as if Moses plucked them straight from a high school pep rally.
"Everyone, this is Alex and Ada. Guys, this is the pack. You already know me and Rodney, well this is Paige, that's Liam and the quiet one is Theo" Moses informed, nodding to me.
At the moment, I was busy losing the fight and getting third degree burns on my finger from a marshmallow. At this point it was up in flames and melting from my stick. In an effort to catch it, I missed, and it fell into the brush around my feet.
"Don't you mean Zac" I sassed, licking the remains of the marshmallow from my right thumb.
Liam immediately snickered at my comment. Ada let out a light giggle as well. I looked over to her and she smiled at me.
"Just ignore him he can be an asshole at times. Although, the bite is as bad as the bark he's a sweetheart" Rodney smiled.
"Plus, I won't bite unless you ask me too" I muttered, not looking up, digging through the marshmallow bag.
I heard a small gasp escape Ada's lip. Unfortunately, I think she took the comment in the wrong context.
After the bonfire that night it started to rain. It was late and everyone had turned in for the night. Rodney was making rounds through the house most of the night. I guess after Liam got caught sneaking back from his trip to Juneau, everyone was on high alert. So, that night I couldn't go to Maggi, but tomorrow I didn't care whether I got caught or not. It was weird, all of us having this new, strong, freeing power, but were all prisoners in this large cabin. Or at least that's what it felt like. The thunder drummed loudly outside the window, threatening of a worse storm brewing.
I didn't care about Moses' stupid rules at this point. Keeping a low profile, making sure you stay close to the pack territory. I was far away from pack territory now and had been for a while. But although I heeded his words, I still had to see Maggi. I watched Maggi quietly and cautiously; my eyes peering through the hedges, fading behind the shadows. She was wearing a black, sleeveless dress, with sheer lace covering the shoulders and chest and going down a little passed the hem. She crouched down on the next to last step of the back porch, her knee high black and white converse exposed. In her hand she was holding a slab of raw pork. Dangling from her black painted fingertips. She rested her arms on her slightly bent knees, dropped her head, and began to sob. Heavy sobs, tears pouring from her face. That's when it hit me...she was coming from a funeral.
She stepped out into the icy depth of her backyard. The temperature was dropping, making a slight chill go through my fur. Behind her I could see the house buzzing with people. Family and friends from the ceremony. It was starting to sleet now. Maggi shuddered at the feeling of the icy water landing on her bare shoulders. She stopped at the bushes edge near the fence, and she dropped to her knees, sobbing uncontrollably. It killed me to see her like this, but soon I could go to her, I just didn't know what her reaction would be to seeing me. I was finally able to control the change, and do it on command, so I knew I'd be able to reclaim my human form. She dropped the pork and swaddled her arms around herself as if that were the only thing holding her together.
"This...this hurts. This hurts so much. First him and now my dad" Maggi sobbed through bare teeth.
Oh my God, her dad had died. My ears lowered to my head from pity. I didn't necessarily understand her pain, but to some degree I felt her pain.
"I miss my dad so much and I can't even call the guy I love to talk about it. He's been missing for like five months now, and I don't know what to do. I'm so tired of losing people I love" Maggi cried.
My ears shot back up in curiosity. Me. She was talking about me. I felt awful, as I lowered myself to the ground, tucking in my paws. She loved me and I just left her. I should have taken her with me, but then again would her fate be the same as mine.
"I know one of you are here, a big one, I can see your paws on the porch" Maggi muttered softly.
It was strange how she knew about the wolves all this time, but never seen any of us, other than through her camera. She never knew if it were a wolf, dog, cat, hell even a raccoon going through the trash, or eating the morsels of meat she would leave. My only give-away this time was my fucking mammoth sized paw print.
"Please...you're all I have" She whimpered.
She broke me, her words broke me. I couldn't stay silent and hidden anymore. I raised back up on my haunches and slowly began stepping out of the bushes. I lowered my head a little and pushed passed her mom's rose bush as I stepped out into view. Maggi's mouth gaped open at the sight of me, tears frozen on her cheeks. I kept my ears low, and my head bowed so she'd know I wasn't a threat. She leaned back a little in shock as she examined my black, white, and burnt red fur. I looked as if I'd rolled in a hill of red clay. Even on all fours I knew I was massive. I was roughly larger than an adult Tibetan Mastiff, a little bigger maybe, but more stout, almost as much hair. Maggi stared at me in wonder, and then her mouth closed and formed into a grin.
"You're...you're so beautiful" She whispered, as she wiped the cold tears from her face.
She shuddered. Icy cold rain was starting to fall now, landing on her face. She was cold, I'd better get her to go inside. I felt something against me, and it startled me a little. I turned to my right to see that Maggi was hugging me. She'd buried her entire face and hands into my coarse fur as if hugging a large plush toy. She was bawling hysterically as she rubbed her face from left to right, soaking my hair with her tears. I wanted to let her know that I was hers. She was my baby and I loved her so much. But I had to get her inside, the rain was really falling now.
I turned to face her as she stood up. I leaned down and looked into her eyes, and she into mine. Her face contorted into a confused expression as she examined me, leaning closer. Oh, shit did she recognize my eyes? I knew my eyes were the only things that didn't change when I did. I lowered my head and began pushing into her back, pushing her towards the house. She stopped and turned to me again.
"But I want to stay here with you" she muttered, throwing her arms around my neck, tangling her tiny fingers in my ruff.
I growled lightly and began pushing her towards the house once more. She stood back up and sighed, turning towards the house. She picked up the slab of pork and placed it in front of me before turning and heading into the house. She was my baby and I loved her. I quickly gobbled up the cold, slick, delicious meat and headed back for the bushes. I could feel the rage building up in me and it was time to hunt again.