I awoke the next morning to a loud pounding on my door, which was strange, since I didn't have a door to pound on that wouldn't collapse when you touched it. I rolled out of bed and had a robe on before I even thought about it and I stood at my front door. Hey! I had a front door! I opened it and watched as a service truck drove away from my house and down the street.
I looked at my door and there was a bag taped to it. I pulled it off and went back inside. I locked the door and sat down at the kitchen table with my new mystery bag. Cerberus had followed me out of the bedroom, to the front door, and back here to the table to sit by my side. I opened the bag and inside was a note, the keys to the new locks, and the receipt.
I nearly fainted at the cost of having a rush job done to replace a door. I looked at the list of things that were repaired and fixed and I saw the reason behind the enormous cost. I didn't think there was that much damage done; but, I wasn't a carpenter so I couldn't honestly say for sure. The note was from Mark and it said that the door was replaced at no cost to me. There was no mention of it being his own fault that it was destroyed in the first place. At least he was nice enough to get it done without being asked. I wouldn't know the first thing about what to do to get things like that handled properly.
I got dressed and ready for work while Cerberus followed me around again. When I left the house, I left him outside this time, that way he could run around. I told him not to get into trouble and he just huffed at me and trotted off down the street. I shook my head at him and drove to the office.
Alice was waiting for me with my messages as usual. I got halfway through the stack and saw a note from Sheldon. He said the admittance ritual was to be held the next night and that he needed to speak to me about something first. I called him on his cell phone and he picked up on the first ring. He said that he had found out about something and wanted to ask me what was going on.
I told him that I didn't know much, but that I'd help him with whatever I could. He hesitated for a moment, probably deciding if he could trust me or not, and then he asked to meet. I looked at my schedule for the day and nothing would be affected if I left. I told him that we could meet right now and after a few moments, he suggested a walk in the nearby park. I was a bit surprised that he would want to be out in the open like that, considering his personality. I had to assume that was just my paranoia talking and I agreed to meet him there in a few minutes.
I told Alice that I was going out for awhile and that I'd be back as soon as possible. She didn't ask me where I was going and just nodded. Either she wasn't curious or she had overheard me talking. It wasn't like I was being quiet about it. I left the office and walked over to the park and waited on a bench near a small pond.
Sheldon walked up and sat next to me. “It's been an unwritten pack law that no one is supposed to ask how someone became a werewolf.”
“Well 'hello' to you, too.” I smirked.
Sheldon blushed and ducked his head. “Sorry. Um... hi.” He said awkwardly and blushed even harder.
“That's better.” I smiled at him. “Now, what you were saying?”
“How did you become a werewolf? You don't have to tell me, but you... you're someone special. This could be very important!” Sheldon gushed.
I was quiet for a moment, then spoke softly. “All right.”
I would have to trust him completely if I was to reveal what had happened to me that night. I had thought it was only a delusion at first, since it was so fantastical; but, now with everything that has happened since then, it had to be true. So, I told him. I told him everything. Right from the moment my car left the road and right up until the meeting last night. Sheldon sat in silence for a long time after I stopped speaking.
“Sheldon?” I said after ten minutes had passed.
“I knew something was going on, but I had no idea.” Sheldon said.
“What do you mean?” I touched his arm.
“His name was Randal. They said that he was in a car accident. Just a stupid accident and that he'd been partially thrown out through his window and that the car had rolled over onto him. That's what had broken his neck.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“B-because... I wanted you to know his name. It had happened about a month and a half ago, around the same time of your attack. I knew something was wrong with their story and I just couldn't sniff out the lie. The wolf... the one you killed that night... his name was Randal.”
The blood drained out of my face and I slumped back on the park bench. It's not true. It can't be! I didn't kill anyone... it was just a wolf. Just a wolf.
“... just a wolf...” I whispered.
“Jessica, listen to me. You don't understand. I wasn't telling you to make you feel guilty! I was telling you one of the names of the men who attacked you!”
I closed my eyes and tried to deny it. I couldn't have. I did. I had killed someone!
“Jessica! JESSICA!” Sheldon shouted as he grabbed my arms and shook me.
“What?” I said when I broke out of the fit of depression I was in.
“You were attacked on purpose! We aren't mindless beasts when we change, Jessica. We are cognizant! We know exactly what we are doing!” Sheldon let my arms go and sat back on the bench. “Do you get it now?”
I thought about what he said and it took me a minute to process it. Then my blood started to boil again. How could they do that? They tried to kill me! No wonder they don't want anyone to ask how they became a werewolf! If they did, then everyone would know of their crimes!
I could feel the energy pulsing down my arms and legs and my shoes got tighter and I tightened my grip on the bench. I heard the wood start to split and Sheldon turned to me.
“Not here!” Sheldon gasped and then whispered. “Control it. You can't change here.”
“I thought we could only change during the full moon.” I said with a harsh laugh.
“The strong ones can do a partial change during any phase of the moon. Their hands, and sometimes their feet. It's only on the nights of the full moon that we can all change completely.”
That little detail caught my attention and I worked to calm myself. I looked down at my hands as they gripped the edge of the bench. There was some extra hair that wasn't there before, then it vanished as I relaxed.
“So, I'm a strong one, then.” I spoke and Sheldon nodded. “What else can I expect?” I asked him.
“You're stronger and faster than the rest of us gammas. You can see, hear, and sense better than the rest of us, too.”
I closed my eyes and asked the question that had been burning in my mind since he made the connection with Randal and my accident. I opened my eyes and speared Sheldon with them.
“Who were the other wolves that night?” I demanded.
“I don't know.” Sheldon said as he stared back at me.
I saw the truth in his eyes and nodded. “How do I find out?”
“I... have an idea about that. There are a couple of catches to it, though. Would you be willing to trust me and go through with it?”
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“If it will get me those names, I'll do whatever you say.” I smiled.
The next night was the night of the ritual for my admittance into the pack. With Sheldon's help and liberal access to the Book of Pack Law, I was as prepared as I was ever going to be for what it entailed. I was dressed in a sleek and formfitting spandex pants and top with a lose t-shirt over that. It was blood red in color, so I stood out from the average person, or wolf, as the case may be.
I put on a coat and headed out to the place where they held all of the pack's rituals. It was the regular meeting place for the pack as well, and Sheldon said that I was in for a real treat. I arrived at the downtown address and looked up to see a huge skyscraper that touched the sky. How this was supposed to get the wolves in touch with their roots was beyond me. I shrugged and pulled into the parking garage that was for pack use only.
The attendant there took my car and said that I don't have to worry about it and to go on ahead to the meeting. I was about to ask where to go when Sheldon came out of the door behind the guard station. He waved to me and I smiled.
“Hi.” I said.
“Hi.” Sheldon responded. “Are you sure you're ready for this? It's not too soon to back out, you know.”
“I'm ready... and don't worry. I've got this.” I smiled again and took his arm in mine.
We walked through the door and into a small room with monitors. It looked like a security station, except that all the cameras were outside and pointed away from the building. They weren't worried so much about security, but about seeing anything coming at them from a distance. Good to know. We went through another door and into a stairwell.
I was about to ask why we couldn't use the elevator if we were going to walk all the way up to the top using the stairs when Sheldon motioned for us to go down. I raised an eyebrow and he gave me a little smirk. It warmed my heart a little that the shy man could play coy if he wanted to. We went down a few flights of stairs and I was relieved that I had decided to wear flats instead of high heels tonight.
When we got to the bottom I saw a large sized garage door. Before I could ask what it was for, it started to open. I stood there and fought like crazy not to kneel down and peek through the widening gap. I won my fight against my curiosity and to my amazement, I saw what looked like a bank vault door. A man stepped out of a concealed cabinet and opened the door for us. It must have been about four feet thick. I made a mental note to ask Sheldon later what it was made of.
We stepped through the cavern-like opening behind the vault door and I stopped to marvel at the sight inside. Wilderness was there for as far as the eye could see. I didn't know how they had pulled it off; but, the pack had their own personal jungle under the streets of a very modern day city. I ran my hands along the tree trunks and picked up vines and brushed the leaves and smelled the flora and fauna all along the well worn path to the center of the wilderness.
A clearing appeared in front of us almost as if by magic. It was a good size I think, or at least it would be if everyone wasn't crowded into it at the moment. I smiled at them and it touched off a wave of smiles and greetings that flowed with us as Sheldon and I made our way to the center of the gathering.
Mark was there, along with the others that had confronted me during our first meeting the other day. Andrew half waved to me as he elbowed Colin to pay attention. A bubble of laughter sprang from my lips and the sound reverberated through the trees and echoed back to me. It was the greatest sound that I had ever heard. I wasn't alone in that assessment, either.
Everyone around me took on an expression of happiness... except for Mark. He had noticed that I was on Sheldon's arm and he didn't like that one bit. I narrowed my eyes at him and he shook himself and smiled.
Surprisingly, it wasn't like a blood sharing ritual, where we would have to drink each other's blood, or make lasting marks by burning our skin with a mystical tattoo or something. All they did was an odd tribal dance, kind of like a Hawaiian Luau, did some funky hand waving to the 'sky' above us, prayed to the moon, then bowed to the ground. After that, I just signed my name into their book.
That was it.
Once all the formalities were done the pack started to mingle. Most came to me and shook my hand or gave me a hug to welcome me into their pack and into their family. After a while the people spread out a bit, and then it was Mark's turn to greet me. I kept Sheldon close to me the whole night mainly because I didn't really know anyone else and he stepped closer to me and spoke just as Mark approached.
“It was a tragic thing that happened seven weeks ago, wasn't it? When we lost Randal?” Sheldon said to me.
“Yes, I know. I've heard the story... a car accident. I'm so sorry.” I said as I gripped his arm.
“Thanks. We'll all miss him. You wouldn't think a car could be so dangerous to people like us, would you?” Sheldon said.
“No, not really. In fact, I was in a car accident recently, too.” I said as I dropped my head.
“You were? What happened?” Sheldon said in mock surprise.
“It was about seven weeks ago while I was driving along the highway, and something darted out in front of me. I slammed on my brakes, but it was too late and I skidded into whatever it was. I cut my wheel the other way and my car flipped over several times.”
The whole place seemed to stop and everyone turned to look at Sheldon, Mark, and myself. Our audience stood stock still as they heard the truth in my words. No one moved or made a sound, I think in fear that they would put a stop to my little melodrama if they did.
“I survived, but my dog was badly hurt, and... and when I tried to help him...” I stumbled over my words and Sheldon patted me on the back.
“Go on.” Sheldon said.
“I was attacked... by a pack of wolves.”
A collective gasp filled the forest as my words filtered through everyone there. I continued my story and told them everything that had happened, even waking up in the hospital with no damage from the attack. No one made a sound and I turned to Mark.
“I can't make anyone tell me who did this to me. I don't have any standing in the pack. But you, you're the leader, their King.” I said. “They can't refuse if you ask them in my name.”
Mark backed away from me and I saw the fear in his eyes. I shook my head at him and several voices spoke up at the same time.
“No!”
“He couldn't have!”
“He didn't!”
“It's against pack law!”
“It can't be true! It can't!”
I let my anger out and I let my blood boil. I asked it. I begged it. I needed its help. Help me! I screamed in my head. The pulse of energy I could feel went out of me and into the surrounding pack. They felt what I felt and most of them dropped to their knees. Others didn't let my feelings move them and stood their ground, like Mark's guard.
After a few moments, it was like a switch had been thrown in my brain. I let it go. I let it all go. The fear, the hatred, the malice, the denial. It meant nothing... and everything. I understood now what it was to be what we were. I locked my gaze onto the 'king' of the werewolves as the energy I built up went away and everyone stood.
“I challenge you, as is my right. The defender becomes the avenger. The attacker becomes the attacked.” I spit at him.
Mark winced away from my words and took another step back, only to find that he had nowhere to go. He was surrounded. His guard stood behind him, except for Andrew and Colin. They had moved away and were now mixed into the surrounding crowd. Andrew shook his head and I nodded to him. Neither he nor Colin were involved. Good. Innocence was to be protected, not destroyed.
“What is your answer!” I yelled. Everyone winced as they felt the pure anger I was sending out to them. Mark put a good smirk on his face and stepped towards me.
“Women are forbidden to fight. It's pack law.” Mark grinned.
“You're wrong.” I said defiantly.
“Women are forbidden to fight for position in the pack.” He countered.
“Women are forbidden from fighting each other for position in the pack. There's nothing in the book that says they can't fight normally.” I said and I smiled.
Mark stood there with his mouth hanging open. He didn't realize what he had gotten himself into when he argued with a lawyer.
“Sheldon! Tell her she can't fight me!” Mark demanded.
“I can't. She's right. There's no pack law against her fighting men.” Sheldon said and stepped back to give me some room.
“I'll tear you apart!” Mark screamed at me.
“Does that mean you accept my challenge?” I folded my arms and waited.
“Sure, I'll accept your challenge.”
There was another collective gasp from the audience.
“Just as soon as you fight your way up through pack. When you're next in line for leadership, then I'll fight you.” Mark got a satisfied look on his face. He turned to his guard and they all had satisfied looks on their faces, too. I would have to fight every one of them just to get to Mark, and that was after I defeated everyone else.
I just shook my head. “You really are as dumb as you look.” I said and he growled at me. “I'm not fighting for succession or pack dominance. I'm fighting you... my attacker... to take revenge on you!” I pumped up my anger at each pause until it was nearly a suffocating weight in my chest. I could only imagine what the rest of them must have felt like. Sheldon stepped forward and spoke.
“Her challenge is valid and in accordance with pack law. She has the solemn right to accuse her attacker and then fight them in combat... no matter who that may be.”
“No one is above the law.” I said.
“I am KING here!” Mark spat. “My word is the law! Kill her!”
Before anyone could react, a loud growl pierced the serenity of the forest. Everyone stood frozen in place and didn't move. Whatever made that growl didn't want anyone to move. We could feel its presence in the trees as it moved towards the clearing. The crowd on that side moved away from the edge of the woods and parted so we could see what it was. The growling got louder and louder and then a dark shape stepped out of the forest and into the clearing with us.
“Cerberus!” I shouted and everyone around me jumped.
Cerberus trotted over to where I stood with Sheldon and stood at his place by my right side. Mark and his guard got a cocky look on their faces and were busy telling each other that he was just a dog. Unlike them, I could see recognition on Mark's face. He remembered how they had so much trouble with 'just a dog' that night and I smiled.
“You are not going to escape by having me killed for no reason. Everyone knows what you did and that you're a liar.” I said and patted Cerberus on the head.
“Fine. I accept your pitiful challenge.” Mark said and then snarled. “I am going to eat your heart out!”