Early the next morning, Asher yawned and rubbed his eyes as he made his way into the small bathroom. Rubbing his eyes he grabbed a small purple toiletry bag as he stepped into the shower.
Under the warm spray of water he ran his fingers through his faded "ash" dyed hair, brushed his teeth and got ready for the day. In the mirror he looked at himself, rubbing his chin. I might need to get a new razor, he thought idly, rubbing his fingers along his jaw, feeling the small prickly hairs of his beard.
He always liked having a cleanly shaved face, but with all the work (and stress) he was doing lately he had let the stubble grow out and it had taken over his face a little. Maybe letting it grow out however wouldn't be so bad... after all, it would be another way to disguise himself.
Holding a towel in one hand he dug through one of the boxes with his other, and decided on a decent looking black shirt with thin white stripes with a high enough collar to conceal the bite, and a pair of black jeans.
Walking down the small, dark hallway he knocked on Raven's door.
"Raven! Wake up, we're going out in..." clicking on his phone he checked the time, "around 2 hours!" He heard the tired grumblings of his teen from behind the door and Asher knew she had woken up.
Heading downstairs he groaned when he saw the stacks of boxes awaiting him. They had most of the bigger furniture already moved in, such as the kitchen table and the sofa but he sighed thinking of the work awaiting him. Great... unboxing. Again.
Pouring a bowl of milk and cereal Asher kicked up his feet onto a chair to the side. He heard Raven walk down the stairs and he looked up.
She yawned and the long black hair she was named after was a mess, sticking out and tangled in places that were usually brushed smooth, most likely having not found a hairbrush yet. She had inherited the black hair from him, and chose not to dye it. The hair hung down to the middle of her back and she was dressed in a plain grey shirt with white shorts. Asher frowned.
"Aren't you going to wear pants? It might be a bit cold," he offered. Raven shrugged.
"I can't find any. And it doesn't really matter, we're only going to be out of a few hours, right?"
"I don't know how long the process will take, though I'm sure it will be fast," he said. Raven poured her own bowl of cereal, and plopped herself down. She scooped it into her mouth at almost a ferocious speed.
"Slow down," Asher chided, finishing his bowl with a gulp and setting it off to the side.
When they were finished, the pair deposited the bowls in the sink and Raven went out to the car, while Asher grabbed his keys off the kitchen counter.
The car wasn't anything impressive, an old blue-gray colored sedan that held the slight smell of wet dog which they couldn't seem to shake no matter how many times they washed it. The inside was a bit of a mess, with leftover boxes yet to be brought in and food wrappers strewn about the floor. Raven sniffed as she sat on the back seat.
Asher brought himself toward the front of the car, opened the window and slid in. Turning on his phone he put in the address for Raven's new school, a local pack-run middle school that supposedly had a mix of human residents as well as werewolves.
Driving the small car through the unfamiliar roads, they finally stopped and pulled into a parking lot in front of a moderately sized building. On the grass was one of those cardboard signs stuck on metal legs that wrote Welcome new students to Coningsby Middle School!
Asher had googled the pack before they arrived, on a hidden wolf safe-search of course. Turns out they were one of the older "original" residing packs, larger than his old pack, and owned half of the town, even having enough money to build their own middle school.
The school itself was not much to look at, the walls were a weathered red brick color, and the rooves a dark green. Pushing open the front door Asher was surprised to see that the inside was relatively modern.
Inside there were plenty of other kids and adults, all mingling together, most likely starting the next school year. There were large plastic tables set up with smiling teachers and pamphlets for clubs and other information.
Slightly overwhelmed, Asher pulled Raven closer to him as his nose flared, taking in the very distinct scent of another pack. The place was well marked and probably swarming with wolves, he could smell it. The familiar scent of another pack, hanging heavily in the air. Except the scent wasn't a warning or a threat... it was almost welcoming. Friendly.
"Hello there. How can I help you?" asked a deep voice, suddenly jolting him out of his thoughts. Turning nervously, Asher saw a very tall looking beefcake of a male. His eyes were slightly narrowed, a bit on wary but not entirely hostile.
"I- I uh-" he stuttered, panicking at the smell, all the smells and the scents, and this man right here was so strong and could rip his head off his shoulders in an instant and-
"We're here to help register me for the new school year," said Raven, clearly sensing her dad's panic. He shot her a grateful look. The other wolf's eyes softened.
"Oh of course. My name is Jeremiah Coningsby, but most of the others call me Jerry. If you'll just come this way..." he said, motioning his hand to a door that read Office. Asher followed him into the room.
Jeremiah sat down in a plush looking chair in front of a table, put on a pair of glasses and pulled out some papers.
"Can I have your first and last name's?" he asked.
"Asher- Asher Grim and Raven Grim." he said. The last name of course was complete bullshit, it's what the two had used bouncing around from town to town in case Jacob decided to look for them to finish them off and tie off loose ends. Their real last name was a bit distinct and would be much easier to trace. Jeremiah frowned.
"I'm not seeing any of her school records show up in our system..." he said. Asher swallowed.
"We kind of left the last place with a rush," he said, "I guess you could try contacting her old school and they'll send it over." Jeremiah nodded.
"Alright, just write the name of the school down right here and I'll go get her school records," he said, tapping at a yellow post it note. "Since we don't have your records it's going to be a little bit hard for us to get you into the system, but I'm sure they'll be sent over soon enough. If there's any problem the pack will take care of it," he said casually.
The pack.
"And talking about our pack, what pack are you from Asher?" he asked. Asher blinked, then lowered his gaze.
"... I don't have a pack. It's just the two of us," he confessed. He felt Raven tighten her grip on his hand.
"Really? What about her mom? Dad?" he asked. Asher shook his head.
"I uh, would rather not talk about them," he said curtly. Jeremiah nodded.
"Alright. However, if you are going to live in this town then it is preferred if you come visit the pack some time and meet the alpha. Of course you don't have to live in the pack house, but we just don't want any random wolves living out here," he explained. Asher nodded.
"That's totally understandable... wait are you not the alpha?" he asked, confused. Jeremiah had the last name as the school, so he had assumed he was the alpha. Jeremiah chuckled.
"Me? No, I'm just the Alpha's younger brother. The alpha is Wyatt, the oldest of us three. I'm a pack delta, and our sister is out of town currently," he said. "Speaking of our family, this weekend we're having a back to school picnic of sorts at the pack house. It'll only be pack members, no humans and if you're free you can come and meet the pack?" he asked, hopeful. Asher glanced at Raven and she nodded.
"Sounds like fun." she said. "We aren't doing anything, right dad?" she asked, giving Asher a pointed look. Asher sighed.
"Yeah, sounds good." he said. "What's the date and time? Actually, could you just forward it to my phone? Here's my number," he said, jolting it down underneath Raven's old school on the post it note.
"Alright!" said Jeremiah, clapping his hands he suddenly stood up. Asher startled back a little bit but relaxed when all the delta did was take off his glasses and put them in a case. "Since this is your first day in town would you like a school tour?" he asked Raven. Raven glanced up at him and nodded.
"Sure."
Jeremiah pushed open the office door and the trio walked out of the room, following Jeremiah as he lead them down the hallways, introducing them to the rooms. Asher started falling behind and observing the school as Raven chattered along and listened to Jeremiah.
Soon, he found himself in an empty hallway staring at his reflection in the glass of a trophy case, hollow and tired in the dark glass. The case was filled with mostly second or third place trophies, but he reached his fingers out to touch the glass anyway,
"Hey Jacob!" called a voice as Asher felt himself get slammed with a heavy body of another werewolf. "Fuck," the voice muttered. They glanced up at him and Asher felt himself shy away as he reached for his papers and books that were scattered along the ground.
"Oh shit! Are you okay man?" asked a kind voice. Sophomore Asher looked up into the eyes of Jacob and blinked in surprise.
"... yes I'm fine." he said after a moment, taking the hand offered and getting up from the rough concrete. Jacob smiled.
"Glad to hear it. Wouldn't want my future delta to die after getting bulldozed to the ground by this idiot," he said.
"Hey you take that back!" said Jacob's friend in mock anger, punching him in the arm. Jacob just flashed a smile.
"... excuse me what?" asked Asher. Jacob looked at him.
"Your parents? The deltas? Of the pack?" he said. "I'm pretty sure the Drexter's have been our deltas since the pack was like, formed so I think it would just make sense to make you the delta as well," he said casually. Unable to stop himself, Asher scoffed.
"Really? Tradition? That's a stupid excuse to name a delta," he sniffed. Jacob looked at him in surprise.
"Don't you... want to be delta?" he asked.
"Want to be? Yeah sure, it's great and all but you shouldn't just make someone delta because their parents were deltas. You need to pick someone who will be good at managing the pack, who's responsible and smart. You don't even know me, an alpha needs to trust the others who are leading his pack," he explained with a rush. Jacob was frozen for a moment and his friend coughed. Then he broke out in another large smile.
"You see! That's the type of thinking our pack would need in a delta," he said. Asher rolled his eyes.
"Yes... of course," he said. Jacob pulled out a slip of paper and handed it to him. Asher looked at it, and stared at the numbers messily scrawled on it.
"Well future delta, since I'm going to have to trust you so much give me a call hmm? We can hang out sometime," he said, then was tugged away by his friend as the bell started to ring.
Asher stood there for a solid few minutes trying to comprehend what had happened, then stuffed the paper in his pocket. Interesting.
However, it wouldn't matter much anyway because the summer after sophomore year Jacob and a few of his groupies were shipped away, across the country to alpha school and whatnot and Asher never heard from him again, text's left unanswered and-
"Oh hey dad there you are!" said Raven, as Asher shot his head toward her. "We thought you had gotten lost. Did you know this place has a swimming pool?" Asher rushed to catch up with his daughter who seemed much more energetic than this morning, talking about all the things the school had to offer. He glanced at Jeremiah.
"Your daughter is a very bright student," was all he had to say. Asher nodded. "Say, you got here yesterday right? Would you need a hand in unpacking by any chance? I'm free this afternoon, if you need some help."
Raven shot a glance at Jeremiah, then back at her dad. She nudged him. "Dad?" she asked. Asher shrugged.
"Sure, I don't see why not. We're going to need some more food, and to unpack all the stuff," he said, standing in front of the car. Jeremiah smiled.
"Great! I just have to finish up my shift for the school signups and I'll head over," he said. Asher watched as he walked away.
"Wait! What about the address?" he asked. Jeremiah turned his head.
"It's a small town, I'm sure it's easy enough to find," then disappeared into the doors of the school. Asher turned to Raven.
"Well?" he asked.
"Well what?"
"How do you like the new school?" he asked her, getting the car started and pulling out of the parking lot. Raven stuck her head out from the back seat.
"I think it's fine. It's smaller than the old school but a surprising amount of facilities, most likely made with pack funds," she said. "Some of the teachers were setting up their rooms, it seems like a solid mix of wolf and human teachers." Asher rubbed his chin in surprise.
His old pack was a small pack, much smaller than the Coningsby pack, but that wasn't a high bar to pass. This pack was very old, old and large enough to run it's own town and school. The town, Little Ivywood, for as much as he could tell was half human, half wolf.
Since their old pack was smaller they had to go to a human high school, with all human teachers and mostly human students. This of course brought up some awkward conversations on why some of the students would disappear on the full moon together, and the wolf students often picked on the human students. Since Asher himself was a werewolf, he never got picked on but he wasn't overly friendly with the others either, some who were jealous of his parents rank and position.
Asher's parents had come from a line of deltas for the Litwood pack, friends with the alpha when they split from some original pack. He was a delta-in-training, then Jacob had come back from fancy alpha training camp and all had gone to hell.
The car stopped, and Asher pulled out his keys and parked it in the driveway. Opening the door he stuck the house key into the lock and pushed the door open with a grunt. "Chop chop, these boxes aren't going to unpack themselves," he said. Raven mock saluted him with a twirl.
"Aye aye sir," she said, trailing after him into the house.