✧Previously on Chapter Two✧
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Since Harry had agreed to working with Stan on their science project, he realized he had to actually go over to his house and spend time with the lad. So since the two of them planned to meet up today, Harry realized he had to spend the next few hours being with just Stan at his house. After school had ended, Harry followed the directions Stan had texted him to get properly to his house, which Harry realized was only a few streets over from his.
When Harry pulled up into the driveway of Stan's home, he saw Stan waiting for him on the stairs to the front porch. Harry smiled at him as he got out the car, walking over to Stan about the same time he stood up to greet Harry.
"Hey, bud," Stan greeted, eyes falling down towards Harry's chest with a frown. "You're wearing the necklace again?" He questioned slowly, almost as if he didn't mean to ask.
"Oh!" Harry squealed, protectively placing his hand on the pendant of the necklace and twirling it between his fingers, "I suppose so. It was a gift."
Stan squinted his eyes and stepped closer to Harry, leaning in to directly examine the piece of jewelry. "May I ask from who?"
Harry smiled, a pink tint coating his cheeks as he dreamingly glanced towards the woods beside Stan's house. "Someone very special," was his best response, quickly glancing back at Stan when he started to pull away.
"Very well," Stan grunted, offering Harry a small smile before he was guiding Harry into his home.
Harry followed Stan through the front doorway of his home and immediately paused once he was in the foyer. Harry had a strange feeling that was running through his body that made him feel slightly uneasy, and then a sudden, suffocating scent started filtering through his nose. The smell made him instantly reach up and grab the necklace around his neck, feeling his heart race in a way that made him nervous.
"What's that smell?" Harry asked as calmly as he could, trying not to let on that the smell was making him think of Blue.
Stan breathed out his nose and walked over towards the fire place in the living room. Harry raised an eyebrow and hesitantly followed behind, trying to ignore all the pictures of Stan and his family with knives and bows and arrows hung up all over the walls.
"Aconitum. It's a flower," Stan explained, taking a seat on the arm chair caddy-cornered to the fireplace.
Harry frowned at the name of the flower, since he's never heard it, before he was joining Stan on the couch next to the one he was on. Once Harry was sat, he was able to idly look around and observe the inside of Stan's home. It was an odd living space in a sense that the walls and the floors were wooden, there were no lights on the ceilings or the walls, only using a source of light from the fire or any candles placed around.
The house smelt rustic and strange, and Harry knew it had to do with the Aconitum and with the wooden structure everywhere. But it was the way the room was set up that was making Harry nauseous. There were deer heads place above the fire place and souvenir weapons displayed across the room, as if both were some sort of trophies Stan's family took pride in.
Harry continued to look around the room until his eyes landed on the carpet in front of his feet, feeling his face completely drain from color when he realized it was a skinned gray wolf's coat laying on the ground. Harry let out a brief gasp and quickly clutched his necklace, darting his eyes away and trying to avoid thinking about Blue being a rug.
"Shall we get started?" Stan asked after a few moments of silence, his eyes watching Harry carefully.
"Please," Harry muttered under his breath, wanting to do whatever he could to take his mind off of how strange Stan's home was.
Even though Harry felt uneasy the entire time being with Stan, they did manage to get their work done. If anything, Harry probably didn't need to meet with Stan to work on this project, but since Stan had been pretty adamant about them coming over, Harry couldn't refuse. By the time they were finishing up their project, Stan's mother was making her way through the front door with a vase of flowers in her hand.
"Hello, mum. This is Harry," Stan introduced, standing up and kissing his mother's cheek.
Harry stood up as well and walked over to greet Stan's mother, offering her a smile and shaking her hand whenever she released one from the vase. "Nice to meet you, Harry. I'm Genevieve Lucas. Would you fancy staying for dinner?"
Harry quickly darted his eyes over to Stan hoping he had the answer to the question. He wanted to polity decline, but his voice got caught in his throat when Stan's mother looked at him so kindly. It nearly made Harry feel guilty for thinking this family to be so odd.
"He has to go," Stan spoke for him, not paying much attention to the internal battle going on in Harry's mind. "But maybe another time he can stay for dinner."
Eve smiled at Harry, "No harm, sweetheart." Harry smiled in return and was fixing to head out the house when Genevieve suddenly stopped him with her hand around his bicep. She gently pulled Harry back and thrusted the vase of flowers in his direction, offering a kind smile that nearly left Harry queasy. "Please, take these. I hand picked them myself and are wonderful for house decorations."
"Thank you," Harry smiled hesitantly, trying to look as thankful as he could, but simply from getting a whiff of these flowers made him want to toss them away. It smelt like the house, and the house was creepy, so Harry didn't really want that reminder being in his own home.
Harry left shortly after with an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach. He didn't like how Stan and his mother were standing at the top of their porch watching him leave. Harry could tell they were whispering something to each other, but he didn't know what exactly they were saying. So the second he got in his car and set the vase of flowers in the passenger seat, he quickly drove off to get home as fast as he could.
Harry made it home within seconds and quickly trudged up to his room with those damn flowers in his hands. He set the vase on top of his dresser before he was walking over to sit on his mattress. He planted his elbows on his knees and buried his head deep inside his hands, feeling the sudden weight of the day drowning him in his spot. He couldn't stop thinking. He couldn't stop worrying.
Stan had a wolf rug - on the floor of his living room. A rug that was skinned from a gray wolf - a wolf that could have been Blue. Harry was running with a million different thoughts through his mind that was starting to get him worked up and anxious. He didn't know what Stan was or what his family was capable of doing, but a part of him considered Stan to be a wolf hunter.
It made sense with all the deer heads on the wall and the weapons they had in the house. Especially with the wolf rug laying on his floor that led Harry to believe they took pride in killing animals. The thought alone sent a deep shiver through Harry's body, and it led him to the point where tears started to fill his eyes. Harry let out a pitiful sob at the thought of Stan hunting and killing Blue just to make his coat into a rug. Blue was a good werewolf, a protective one, and Harry hated to even think of such pain being inflicted on his wolf.
Harry quickly scrambled from his bed and ran over to the window. He unlatched it with his shaky hands and sat down on the chair he recently moved there. He poked his head out the window and began looking - listening to anything that would give him some sort of sign that Blue was okay, but when the silence of the day continued to drag on, more tears fell down Harry's face.
Harry was panicking his own mind, worrying himself whether or not Blue would ever be skinned into a rug. He knew that rug in Stan's house wasn't his wolf, but he simply needed the reassurance that Blue was okay. He needed to know, but the silence he continued to hear only made him cry harder. It took a couple more minutes of Harry sobbing before he heard a loud wolf howl that snapped him from his tears.
Harry's head quickly shot up from where it was buried in his hands to stare out the window. He couldn't find any traces of his wolf, but there was something inside of him letting him know that the howl was from Blue. It left a sense of relief inside of Harry that finally willed him to calm down, and he knew immediately that his wolf was okay and that his wolf was letting him know that he was okay.
Harry got a few seconds of this relief filling his system when the front door to his house was suddenly thrashed opened. Harry shot up out of his seat and turned towards his bedroom door when he heard the stampede of someone running up his steps. It took a couple more steps before Harry could make out Ed running up to him, but the minute Ed stepped foot inside Harry's room, he crumbled to the floor and began choking on his own breath.
"Ed?" Harry cried, quickly sprinting to where Ed dropped on his floor.
Harry got to his knees as well and reached to touch Ed, but the minute Harry's hand came in contact with Ed's skin, Ed let out a horrific animal cry. Harry retreated his hands and watched as Ed fell to the side, clutching his throat while the veins on his forehead poked out and the skin on his body began turning purple. Harry let out a cry when he reached to touch Ed again, but he knew if he did that then Ed would let out another pitiful whine.
"What's going on?" Harry asked frantically, shaking his hands out in front of him because he didn't know what he could or couldn't do. "Why can't I touch you?"
Ed's face began turning beet red the longer he continued to choke for air. His hands were still wrapped around his throat as if it would help alleviate the pain he was feeling, but it was coming to the point where Ed's eyes were slowly starting to change colors, almost inhumanly. Harry tilted his head to the side and scooted closer to Ed, realizing his once pale blue eyes were shifting yellow, and his once human teeth were turning pointy. It was at the loud growl coming from Ed that finally snapped Harry out of admiring him before he was scrambling against the furthest wall away from Ed.
"Ed?" Harry cried again, wrapping his arms around his body and staring at his friend that was making a slow attempt in trying to leave the room.
Harry watched as Ed began rolling over to get on his hands and knees. He made the attempt to grab on to something to lift himself to his feet, but he was too weak. There was something in the room that was causing Ed to choke and remain on the ground, but the more Harry thought about what he could do to help, the more he considered taking his necklace off, the one thing Ed always ensured he kept on.
Harry unclipped his necklace and tossed it somewhere on his bed. He then scrambled forward and attempted to help again, but when Harry went to grab on to him, Ed let out another pitiful cry. "Now what?" Harry whined, nearly in tears as Ed fell back on the ground. "I don't understand."
Harry sat there useless as Ed tried moving again. He had enough energy to get on his hands and knees and look over at Harry, seeing that the boy had tears in his eyes and looked completely defeated. But the more Ed watched Harry, the more strength he started to develop. He suddenly got to the point where he was able to lift his hand up in the direction of the dresser behind Harry, and when Harry snapped his head to see what he was pointing at, Harry realized it was the flowers causing all this commotion.
"The flowers?" Harry checked, standing up and running straight to them.
Ed nodded his head weakly and fell back to the ground. Harry grabbed the vase of flowers from the dresser and ran straight to his window to toss them out. Once they were gone, he quickly turned the fan on high speed and ran to the bathroom to clean himself up. He knew he had the flower all over his body, so he quickly got a wet rag and wiped it all over his exposed skin before he was changing in to some clothes he found on the floor. When he finished cleaning up, he walked back into his bedroom to see Ed finally returning to normal.
Harry furrowed his eyebrows once Ed was on two feet and rushed over to push him against the wall. "What the hell are you?" Harry growled, pushing Ed one more time before he was backing off with a frown. Harry continued to stand there and stare at Ed while Ed darted his eyes everywhere else but at Harry. Harry let out a frustrated groan and quickly reached up to grip the sides of Ed's face so that he was forced to finally look at Harry. "Look at me, Edward."
"H-Harry, please. I'm just allergic," Ed coughed, frantically licking his lips.
Harry rolled his eyes at the remark and let go of Ed's face, stepping back with a loud huff. "You're hiding something from me," Harry bellowed out, digging his fingers into his curls and beginning to pull on his hair. "What are you? I'm not asking again."
Ed sighed defeatedly and slumped against the wall, "I think you already know," he mumbled under his breath, dropping his head against the wall and looking up at the ceiling.
Harry deflated, walking over to the bed to sit on the edge of the mattress. "I-I don't know. I need to hear you say it."
"Werewolf," Ed said on a held breath, cautiously looking at Harry to see his reaction.
"Don't lie to me," Harry complained defeatedly.
Ed let out a sigh and finally gained courage to walk in front of Harry. Harry flicked his eyes up to meet Ed's that were staring at him intently, not entirely sure what he was about to do. But when Harry stared longer in to Ed's eyes, he realized his pale, blue eyes were suddenly changing yellow. Harry let out a big gasp when the wolf eyes appeared and Ed's once human teeth started to shift into sharp pointy ones. When Ed let out a final growl, Harry scooted back with a surprised yelp coming out.
"What the hell?" Harry cried, breathing heavily as he grabbed a pillow from behind his body to place in front of himself as a way to block himself from the real life werewolf standing in front of him.
"You can't tell anyone, though," Ed quickly informed once he returned back to normal, losing any trace of wolf on his face in replacement of looking fully human. "It's not safe for you to know, or for anyone."
"What just happened?" Harry continued to breath heavily, ignoring the comment Ed had made and instead flicked his eyes between the window and Ed, still trying to process everything that just happened. "Why couldn't you breath?" Harry then questioned, blinking up at Ed with wide eyes.
"The plant you had is wolfsbane. It's a poison to werewolves," Ed explained with a sigh, walking to join Harry on the bed.
"And my necklace? I can't touch you whenever I wear it."
"It's silver, the ultimate weakness for wolves," Ed began while he used the edge of Harry's comforter to pick the necklace up without actually touching it. He handed it over to Harry with a faint smile and watched as Harry twirled the pendants between his fingers. "But the blue gem attached is laced with wolfsbane. The whole necklace weakens wolves ability to control a human and strengthen their ability to resist a human. That's why Louis gave it to you."
Harry widen his eyes and abruptly snapped his head over in Ed's direction. He dropped the necklace on the spot next to him and leaped closer to his friend, dramatically gripping his shoulders and putting nearly all his body weight on top of Ed. "You know Louis?" He questioned wildly, pushing Ed further back.
"I'm his Delta," Ed replied with a small laugh, gently pushing Harry off of him. "Im in his pack."
Harry cocked his head to the side and leaned back on his thighs, anxiously drumming his fingers on top of his jeans, "His delta? What does that mean?"
"I am basically the messenger of the pack. I communicate the most with the werewolf world and the human world," Ed had explained, watching Harry carefully as he absorbed all this new information he was feeing him. "Each member of the pack has a role to fulfill, and whoever the alpha is gets to declare what title each member holds. As of right now, Louis is in the process to become the new alpha, so he's been assigning what roles he wants his pack members to have, ergo, I am his delta."
"Alpha?" Harry whispered breathlessly, running his fingers through his curl and casting another glance towards the window. "Louis is an alpha?" Harry decided to question, focusing mainly on that piece of information rather than anything else.
Ed nodded slowly, "Almost. His father his currently the alpha of the Tomlinson pack, but he is next in throne."
"Tomlinson?"
"It's the oldest pack in Colchester."
Harry felt his stomach twist and turn in all sorts of different ways the more he learned about werwolves. Not only is Ed a wolf and a part of a pack, but he's apparently a part of the oldest pack in town, and that same pack happened to be the one Louis was about to be the alpha of - the same Louis that had his name engraved on the gemstone that Harry wore around his neck everyday - the same Louis he continuously had dreams about every day. The alpha Louis.
Harry genuinely had an alpha stalking him.
"He's not stalking you," Ed randomly blurted when the silence was dragging on, letting out a small laugh when Harry raised his eyebrows at him. "I can hear your mind right now because you don't have your necklace on."
Harry let out an annoyed huff when Ed gave him a scolding look. Harry rolled his eyes in response and reached over to grab his necklace from the mattress. He then clipped it around his neck and made sure Ed was watching so he could stop looking at Harry with a disapproving look. When the crescent moon and the gem stone were resting comfortably on Harry's chest, Ed finally smiled cheekily.
"Okay, so, what's the deal with this?" Harry then questioned, holding the pendants in his hand. "Why do I have it?"
"It's Louis' way of protecting you," Ed sighed, blowing a raspberry past his lips and slumping his back against the headboard of Harry's bed.
"From what?"
"Other Alpha's," Ed explained, grimacing as he grumbled, "Like Nick."
Harry widen his eyes and nearly choked on his own breath. Nick? Harry thought abruptly, remembering how much Nick had interacted with him that one day. Harry had no idea Nick was an alpha, and all that time he felt so uneasy around the wolf, he now realized it was because he was an alpha not a part of Louis' pack. And even worse, Harry realized that Nick was sniffing him whenever they greeted each other, and Harry always thought that was the strangest thing to happen.
"Nick was scenting you. Which means he was trying to put his smell on you," Ed continued. "He was able to do that because you weren't wearing your necklace, so you were vulnerable to him."
"Why me?" Harry cried, slumping his shoulders.
"Because you've been imprinted to Louis for the past four years."
Harry sucked in a deep breath and sat there for a moment, really trying to understand what that exactly meant, but he really didn't know what to take from it. He eventually let out that big breath and laughed pitifully, "What?"
"Louis saved you in the woods that day," Ed began to explain slowly, twisting his fingers together on his lap and trying not to let his nerves prevent him from continuing this talk. "The wolf that attacked you was Nick. He tried marking you that day, which is an abused powerful alphas do to omega-like wolves or to humans, so Louis prevented that from happening." Harry let out a choked breath and blinked at Ed, staring at him as if he was crazy. "Louis never intended anything further to happen, but he said the minute he laid eyes on you, he felt a connection like never before. So he scented you so that other alphas would smell him on you, but he also gave you the necklace to protect you from being vulnerable to him and to other wolves."
"What does this mean, Ed?" Harry questioned confused, blinking rapidly and using the comforter under his fingers as an anchor to keep him from drowning from all this information being thrown at him. Harry was overwhelmed, but at the same time, he wanted to know more. "I don't get this whole scenting thing, and why I'm the one being scented."
"It's an alpha thing. They like to make their mark on someone so other alphas won't be able to take them away as easily. So since this necklace is laced with Louis' scent, whenever you don't wear it, you're no longer marked with Louis - which is how Nick was able to scent you so easily."
Harry sighed dramatically when everything started to click together. Everything that once left him confused was now finally starting to make sense, and Harry could now realize why everything had been so odd. With Ed and his adamant desire for Harry to wear his necklace and for him to stay out the woods. To why Harry had the necklace in the first place and why Louis was engraved on the back of the pendant.
Harry completely understood the most of what was going on, and now Harry really knew the importance of wearing his necklace at all times. It wasn't just for the appearance, but it was to prevent other alphas from taking advantage of him.
"This is seriously crazy. I'm just a human," Harry breathed out, shaking his head in disbelief while looking out the window again, surveying the woods in hopes of seeing some sort of sign about Louis. "Why would they want anything to do with me?" Harry questioned under his breath.
"Well, Louis felt a connection with you the minute you two met," Ed admitted a little more shyly, hesitating before he continued with a huff. "In the supernatural world, it's very special when you find a connection like that, so when Louis felt that with you, he held on to it."
Harry smiled at the confession and felt his heart fluttering underneath his skin. He knew he was blushing when he felt his cheeks heating up, and he didn't even try to hide it because he had nothing to be ashamed of. He knew he wasn't crazy for feeling a spark between him and the wolf. Even on nights when he knew Blue couldn't control his mind, he still always thought about him.
Harry constantly thought about the warmth Blue would always wrap him up in - the soft fur pressing against his skin and a wet nose nuzzling his neck. On some nights he felt like arms were wrapping around his body to protect him through his sleep, and other times, he craved for that touch. He always craved something from Blue, and now Harry felt even more at ease knowing Blue - Louis - felt the exact same way.
"Nick is just a dick." Ed continued, ignoring the distracted look on Harry's face and opting to continue their previous conversation. "Wolves have complete control over who passes through their land, so whenever you walked on to Nick's territory, he had any right to do what he wanted. He was going to kill you, but since Louis saved you and continued to show interest in you, Nick just wants to mess with him by messing with you."
"Nick makes me nauseous," Harry admitted bashfully, tucking a piece of hair behind his ear when he felt a shiver run down his spine, hating that all he could remember about Nick his how uncomfortable he felt around him.
"Louis sensed your discomfort, which is why I was rushing to save you that day at school," Ed smiled shyly, clearing his throat before continuing reluctantly. "He also sensed you crying earlier which is why I was running into your home to make sure you were okay."
Harry hummed, oddly finding himself okay with how easy it was for Louis to sense anything about him. In most cases, Harry would find it creepy how someone was so in tuned to him. But this was Louis he was thinking about - an alpha who was pretty hellbent on protecting Harry from other wolves and from himself. And from what Harry had realized, Louis has been doing a pretty good job in making sure Harry was safe.
For the past four years, Harry has felt his safest, and he had Louis to thank for that. He went to sleep every night knowing Louis was out there watching him and comforting him. He went to school everyday with Ed by his side to make sure nothing unusual put Harry in danger. Harry was able to walk around freely because of the necklace around his neck that protected his vulnerability from other wolves, so yeah, Harry could definitely appreciate Louis' efforts in keeping him safe.
"Harry," Ed then stated sincerely, shifting his body so he could really look in Harry's eyes to make sure the boy knew just how serious he was being. "I need you to pay attention to me, please."
Harry nodded his head obediently, "What is it?"
"I need you to never go into the woods," Ed spoke slowly, making sure Harry understood every word he was saying. "Unless Louis or someone from his pack lets you go, then stay away."
"How will I know they are a part of his pack?"
Ed gave Harry a brief smile before grabbing a pillow behind his body to toss playfully in Harry's direction, "You'll be able to tell. Trust me. You'll feel safe and comfortable."
"Noted," Harry smiled in return.
"Next," Ed then breathed out, raising his eyebrow at Harry in a scolding way whenever the boy look over at him. "Don't take your necklace off. Especially if you leave the house. It protects you, and it lets wolves know you're Louis'."
Harry furrowed his eyebrows quickly, abruptly putting his hand up, "I'm not anybody's."
"You know what I mean," Ed argued, rolling his eyes. "You're under his protection, so he's just marked you to where no other alphas can hurt you."
"Just - Just keep going, please," Harry demanded with an eye roll in return.
"Fine," Ed grumbled, thrashing his palm in Harry's direction, "I still need to take shirts from you."
"What? Why?" Harry cried, furrowing his eyebrows together as he darted his eyes from Ed's hand to his face, realizing he was making a face and staring oddly out the window, hinting at something. "If it's because of Louis, tell him to visit me instead."
"He can't," Ed argued.
"He still does."
Ed rolled his eyes and pointed accusingly in Harry's face, "Its your fault. Without the necklace, he's so tempted to come and be with you. But it's bad, and dangerous."
Harry furrowed his eyebrows at Ed's finger and slapped it away, giggling quietly when Ed hissed in pain, "Dangerous, how?"
"He's in rut, Harry," Ed nearly blurted, scooting further back on the bed so Harry had to make more of an effort to reach him. "It's a mating cycle that alpha's go through on an irregular basis, and it can be a dangerous thing whenever they are unmated. But since he's scented and marked you, his wolf side craves you badly - like wants to ravish you kind of bad .More times than not, an unmated alpha can't control what they do when they are in rut."
Harry widen his eyes at the confession and ended up giggling behind his hand. "He wants to ravish me because of my scent?" Harry continued to laugh, shaking his head at the odd correlation.
Ed growled in frustration, "It's not funny, Harry," Ed complained, throwing another pillow at Harry's head. "It's the whole reason why he had to give you the necklace. When he turned sixteen, which meant you were fourteen, he hit his wolf puberty as a growing alpha. It's when his first rut began, so to protect you, he gave you the necklace to calm his possessive wolf side and then use your clothes to help him get through the cycles."
"He wanks to my clothes?" Harry continued his giggling spiel, nibbling on his bottom lip when Ed made an annoyed face at him.
"You're lucky the times you forgot the necklace that he wasn't in rut," Ed scolded. "His ruts get too strong so we have to chain him up most of the times. Normally alphas experience the mating cycles with their mates, omegas, who get heat, and they ride out this experiencing by fucking for days. It's quite intense."
"Good to know," Harry snorted. "Well, if he needs my shirts to help him through his rut, then take them to him, but when will I get to meet him?"
"When you're 18," Ed informed. "It's already dangerous enough."
Harry raised his eyebrow, "How is it dangerous?"
"This is another thing I need for you to pay attention to. You can't tell anyone."
"Why?" Harry frowned.
"Because the founders council and the werewolves aren't exactly on the best of terms, but they were able to live in a world where they respected each other's treaties. Humans stay in the town where no werewolves were, and werewolves stay in the woods where no humans were. It hadn't always been this peaceful. It took a couple hundred years before the humans and the wolves were able to make a neutral agreement."
It had apparently been a horrid war zone in Colchester hundreds of years ago. The humans and the werewolves were practically against each other and creating a major havoc between the two species. The wolves would run freely in the towns and abuse their power to take control over the humans. Since alphas have the ability to mate and mark who they want, they took this power to turn the humans into their sexual slaves.
It was an abused power that nearly left the humans who got caught in the mess to be dead. So in return, the humans started to hunt the wolves, and that was when the overall war started. It took awhile before the humans were tired of losing their people and the wolves were tired of losing their pack members, so there had been a mutual agreement between the founders of Colchester and the alpha of the Tomlinson pack to meet.So a deal was made. Wolves stay away from the humans, and the humans stay away from the wolves.
The agreement completely separated the wolves from the humans so the two species could live in their own peace. However, if any wolf crossed into the human territory to abuse the humans, or if any human passed into the wolf territory, they each had their right to do what they pleased to the trespasser. Everything had been working smoothly for the hundreds of years this agreement had been implemented, but then Harry came along.
"Your sixteen, Harry," Ed accused desperately, "You have no legal consent to anything until you are eighteen. So interacting with wolves are illegal. If you got caught talking with the packs, then we could go extinct."
Harry widen his eyes and moved closer to Ed, "But what about you?"
"There is loopholes," Ed reassured quickly, offering Harry a weak smile to keep him calm. "Since I am the delta of the pack, I am allowed to interact with humans. I'm the bridge for our pack to the human world, so I can interact with you as long as there is no manipulation involved."
"Oh, so-"
"But with Louis - there is a problem," Ed interrupted right away. "He's an alpha, and since the humans and alphas haven't always had the best relationship, he really runs a bigger risk. That's why he wanted to wait until you were eighteen so all the legalities won't get in the way."
"He wants to mate me, doesn't he?" Harry asked under his breath, feeling an ounce of hope bubble up inside of him. He didn't know what it was, but there was something about the fact of someone like Louis wanting to be with him forever that made butterflies fill his belly. They may have not known each other at all, but Harry has felt a connection with him since the moment they met, and something about being Louis' mate left a comforting feeling settle in Harry's stomach.
"In a way," Ed sighed, pinching his bottom lip in between his pointer finger and thumb. "Nothing can really be planned though until you're eighteen. If anything were to happen now, then the founders council has every right to kill him."
Their conversation was abruptly stopped when they heard Anne coming home for work. She immediately called for Harry to come down for dinner since she brought take out home, so Harry knew Ed probably needed to head back home - or to his pack - or to whatever he went home to. So the two of them got up from Harry's bed and left to where they needed to go. Ed went out the window with a couple of Harry's shirts while Harry rushed down the steps to join his mother at the dinner table.
It was hard for Harry to keep up a conversation with his mother and have a peaceful dinner when all Harry could think about was werewolves - Louis, to be exact. He was thankful his mother could tell there was something on his mind so she stepped back from trying to keep a conversation up and allowed their dinner to be finished in silence.
It worked to Harry's advantage because she let Harry go on up to his room for the remainder of the night while she stayed back to clean the mess. When Harry got to his room, he unclipped his necklace and walked to the shower to wash his body from all the stress he was feeling. He used the shower as a good time to clear his mind and soak in all the information Ed had given him that night.
It's all crazy the more Harry thinks about it. He still cant properly process how an upcoming alpha is interested in mating with him and how this said alpha has a desire to protect him. Sure Harry believes everyone is destined to be with their special someone, but Harry has a hard time believing that his special person is destined to be with a werewolf.
It's an odd thing, but at the same time, the idea didn't bother him much. In fact, the idea really excited him.
With all of these things running through his mind, Harry decided to research some more about werewolves after his shower. Once he put his clothes on and got settled comfortably in his bed, he pulled his laptop out and googled topics about werewolves. The first topic he chose was alphas, wanting to have a better idea on what an alpha really was beside being in control of the pack.
Many websites emphasized what the dynamic role of an alpha was, which Harry had assumed as much - the leader of the pack. But the more Harry continued to scroll down the page, the more websites that started to pop up about the Tomlinson name. Harry immediately clicked on the first link he found and saw an article that talked about this pack and the complications they've had in the past with the founders council and with neighboring packs.
Most of the articles showed statistics on how many human deaths were connected with the Tomlinson pack, and although there had been no identified culprit, all the victims did have teeth marks sunk into their neck and various parts of their body ripped off. When Harry continued to scroll on the page to see photos of some of the victims involved, he quickly searched something else to get him more information.
The next thing Harry saw was an article about scenting and the mating cycles. Harry knew this was something he was more curious in considering he had been scented too many times and had an alpha who used his shirts during his rut. So Harry quickly clicked on the link and began reading what the website had to say about that.
The main thing Harry gathered about scenting is how alphas do this as a way to calm their possessive wolf side. But then the scenting led into rutting and mating cycles, which then into something called knotting. It seemed like an intimate and monumental thing for an alpha to do with their mate, bonding them for life and sealing it with the alpha knot. But the more Harry continued to read about this, the more the article started to talk about abusive alphas and BDSM relationships.
When pictures of omegas being tied up with their alpha dominating it start to appear on the article, Harry realized he may have read too much for one night. So he shut his laptop close and set it on the nightstand next to his bed. Since it was getting late and the weight of the day was draining his energy, Harry figured he should try to get some sleep now instead of wasting the night away thinking too much.
Once Harry was tucked in his bed and facing the window, he whispered a quiet, "Night, Blue," before his eyes were slowly starting to close. And right before Harry realized he was fully asleep, he heard one last howl into the night.
However, what Harry thought wass going to be a peaceful night of full rest, actually turned out to be a restless sleep. Harry knew he was tired and knew his body needed this rest, but after everything he learned earlier in the day, he couldn't stop thinking about it. His mind was running too fast to allow his head to fall asleep, despite how dead his body felt against the mattress, but his mind kept wondering straight towards Louis.
And in the midst of the night when Harry kept tossing and turning to tire himself out, he suddenly heard his window being lifted. When a strong musky scent made its way into the room, Harry immediately froze in his spot, trying to remain as calm as he could. He knew it was Louis who was walking in, and this was his one chance to act like he was sleeping so that Louis wouldn't feel obligated to leave.
Harry could hear feet shuffling across the wood on the floor until the sound stopped right next to his bed. He tried to keep his breathing slow and steady and keep his heart from beating too fast, so in order to keep up the act, he shifted his body dramatically under the blankets to cover more of his body. A tired groan had accidentally slipped out of Harry's mouth, and Louis had giggled quietly to himself before he gently sat on the edge of the bed.
Harry felt the mattress dip next to his body, and he took his chance of cracking one eye open to catch a glimpse of what he could see of Louis. He could only make out a tan arm that was planted right next to his head, covered in a couple of tattoos that made Harry's heart beat a little faster. It was when that same arm Harry was staring at started to move closer to his face when Harry really tried his hardest not to flinch.
When the soft hand of Louis' tan arm reached up to caress the side of Harry's cheek, Harry saw the perfect opportunity to trap Louis in his spot. On instant, Harry reached up and gripped Louis' wrist, pinning him in his spot and quickly looking up to catch Louis' eyes.
And for the second time in Harry's life, green eyes met blue.
☾
Key Components:
* Harry finds animal heads and a wolf rug in Stan's home
* Stan introduces Aconitum to Harry (wolfsbane)
* Ed is suffocated from the wolfsbane in Harry's room
* Harry discovers Ed isa werewolf in Louis' pack
* Louis is an upcoming alpha
* There is an agreement amongst the wolves and the humans to keep their species at peace
* Harry learns a little more about werewolves and the Tomlinson pack
* Harry has a restless night and ends up trapping Louis whenever he comes to visit in Harry's sleep