Zeke turned and spoke to Thomas only after the fire was roaring. “Thomas, have you met my daughter yet?”

  Thomas hesitated for a moment, but Joy’s voice came from down the hall. “No daddy, we haven’t met. I assumed it was you in the bathroom. We have company? Awesome!”

  The young woman walked out of her bedroom, wearing a tight-fitting tank-top and jean shorts which were extremely short. Thomas immediately thought that they put Daisy Duke’s shorts to shame. The front pockets hung out under the shorts themselves, there was such little cloth actually there. Thomas found himself getting aroused again. He didn’t know if she was hotter buck naked, or in those shorts. Either way, his palms were sweating again. He was happy she didn’t tell Zeke about how they’d actually met.

  “Joy, this is Thomas. I found him in the woods. Another runner. Fleeing them damn wolves,” Zeke insisted. By the man’s tone, Thomas wasn’t sure if his daughter was a believer in werewolves.

  “Really?” she asked rhetorically.

  “Yes,” Thomas and Zeke both answered simultaneously.

  “Great. Just great,” Joy said to herself aloud. “First cute boy I meet in months, and he’s as batshit crazy as my father.”

  Joy went back to her room and slammed the door.

  “She’ll come out when dinner’s ready. She always does,” Zeke reassured Thomas.

  “So she doesn’t know, or she doesn’t believe or…?” Thomas was trying to navigate the situation, feel out the dynamic between Zeke and Joy.

  “She’s an adamant non-believer. Says I’m crazy, that it’s my way of tryin’ to cope with the war and everything that happened. Everything I did over there…” Zeke started to drift off to another place, another time. Thomas’s voice snapped him back to the present.

  “I know how that is. You can’t convince anyone of it. Not until they see one for themselves,” Thomas did his best to comfort Zeke.

  “No, Thomas. You sure can’t,” Zeke said, taking a long pause before continuing. “But she has seen one. She saw her own mother killed by one when she was only nine. It’s just too much for her to believe. I guess it’s her way of dealing with it. I just let her have her space, but I made sure she knows how to take care of herself.”

  8

  The next few days were somewhat awkward, but also comforting for Thomas. It became clear that Zeke was not right in the head, that the war had taken its toll on his mind as it had done to so many others. Joy was all he had to keep his bearings, as some days he would simply be incommunicable. Lost in whatever jungle he’d fought in, long ago, and far away.

  Because of the dynamic of their family, Thomas seldom got time to get to know Zeke. It was just as well with him, as he preferred the company of Joy anyway. It was less than a week before Thomas realized that he was in love with her. That he’d do anything in the world to protect her, and he’d die for her. Thomas thought that she might feel the same way sometimes, though not all the time. Often he’d take notice of how she looked at him; sometimes longingly, sometimes apathetically.

  On the night of his first week in their house, Joy crept out of her bedroom after her father passed out. He’d eaten a handful of his various prescription medications and washed them down with a six-pack of Coors. It had been everything she could do to get him to bed. When she got to the living room, she leaned over the couch and planted a kiss, deep, wet, and passionate, right on Thomas’s mouth. She pulled away, put her finger over her lips, signaling to him to keep quiet. Then she motioned for him to follow her, down the hallway and into her bedroom.

  Thomas felt butterflies in his stomach. He was so nervous that he thought he was going to throw up. Thomas had never made out with a girl before, though he wasn’t bad looking. He’d been a nerd his whole life, and then there was Candice. The first girl he ever loved. The girl who’d rejected him before he’d even tried telling her about his feelings. The girl who had been a werewolf. The girl he’d killed. Thomas did everything he could to keep his mind off Candice. He didn’t want to ruin the situation that was unfolding, even if it was only destroyed in his own head.

  Joy took Thomas by the hand, led him into her room, then softly and gently, with all the love and tenderness he required, she took his virginity.

  Thomas lay in bed with Joy, staring at her face as she slept. The moon cast a pale blue glow on it through the window, and he thought about her name, and about how appropriate it was for her. She’d brought him nothing but Joy herself. Nothing but healing. She’d taken him in, just as much as Zeke had. She’d helped to heal him, body and soul, without asking any questions. Joy had been a godsend for Thomas.

  He wanted to wake her up, to tell her how he felt about her, but he was happy to be next to her, holding her through the night. The way she had him sneak into her room made Thomas think that Zeke wouldn’t exactly be cool about him having sex with Joy. He thought it through, then got up and went back to the couch. As he settled back into place and got comfortable Thomas reminisced about making love to Joy. He’d never even imagined that it would feel so good, or so real. He’d felt the space between them disintegrate as the two of them had been one mind, one body, one soul.

  And then she screamed. The bloodcurdling scream of someone in fear for their very life. Thomas jumped up and flew down the hallway, a tornado of fury about to be unleashed on whatever it was that assailed his love. Zeke didn’t respond. He was out of it, passed out, sleeping so deeply it would have taken an act of God to wake him.

  Thomas burst through Joy’s door ready for anything, but what he saw shocked him to the core. Trevor had come through her window and was standing over her, pointing a pistol at her. She was whimpering on the bed, the covers clutched tight against her naked chest. Thomas could see that Trevor had pistol-whipped her. He had no time to act, no way to clear the few feet fast enough. Thomas knew that any move he made could cause Trevor to fire.

  “Good. Now that I have your attention…,” Trevor taunted Thomas. “I’d like to talk Thomas. Just talk. No violence, no fighting, no arguing. Just talking.”

  Trevor lowered the gun, then tucked it into his belt, against his lower back. He then held his hands up to show he meant no harm.

  “Why did you attack her?” Thomas demanded, his voice a furious rage. “What do you want Trevor? Haven’t you caused me enough pain, killing my uncle?”

  “Ok. Ok. I understand where you are coming from Thomas. I’m very sorry about your lady friend here,” Trevor turned to Joy. “Sorry sweetheart, I really am. I promise.”

  “Well?” Thomas was growing impatient.

  “You killed Candice, Thomas. She was to be my mate. We were to be married, and I loved her more than life itself. I came here to get revenge on you, to kill her and make you watch, then kill you. But I just couldn’t…I can’t,” Trevor took the gun out of his belt and handed it to Thomas, slowly. He put the grip in Thomas’s hand and made sure it was fully under the young man’s control before continuing.

  “Thomas, you were going to be set up. To take the fall for a lot of things. They were going to use you as a scapegoat to cover up many of their crimes. Of our crimes. After the events in Lexington, they knew it was time to reveal ourselves to the world at large. Or at least they thought it was right. I knew all along we must remain in the shadows…” before Trevor could continue Joy interrupted, whimpering.

  “Are you buying this shit, Thomas? What, does he think he’s a goddamn werewolf too?” Joy stared deeply at Thomas, urging him with her eyes to shoot Trevor. “This guy’s as crazy as my old man.”

  “No, I’m not Joy,” Trevor said unemphatically. “I will show you, but first I must continue. Thomas, I came here to do you harm, but it is not in my heart to do so. I wanted revenge on you, but I know that it wasn’t your fault. I could feel your blood, I know your heart. You didn’t even know she was one of us, not until you’d killed her. I know you did it in self-defense.

  “I’m the pack Alpha now, Thomas. I know my pack. I know you. I feel you. We are bonded. And now that I know your heart, that I know the truth, I want nothing to do with revenge on you. You are my little brother. We are of one heart Thomas. One blood. My blood boils when you howl at the moon, as does yours when I do.”

  Thomas was relieved but didn’t know what to say. He was relieved that Trevor would not harm them, but he was still furious that the man had attacked Joy, even if she was going to be okay. Joy, on the other hand, began to have a mental episode. She started screaming, yelling at them to both shut up. Incomprehensible garbled speech came out of her like a thousand freight trains running over a thousand goats. But what both men could take away from the situation was she thought they were crazy for even talking about werewolves, let alone thinking they were werewolves.

  As Joy demanded they both leave her house, over and over, Trevor began to disrobe. Joy yelled for her father to help her, turned to plead with Thomas. She thought Trevor intended to have his way with her. That it was some sick game they were playing with her before raping her.

  The sense of relief she should have felt never came. The shock of seeing Trevor turn was beyond her ability to process. A thousand memories she’d repressed for a decade descended on the forefront of her consciousness, a thousand vultures divebombing into the carcass of her childhood. She was wracked with emotional pain as she watched Trevor slowly change. Shifting at will was not easily done, though Trevor managed. Within a few moments he was standing before her, a beast-man on two legs. A shaggy, vicious, wolf-headed monstrosity straight out of Joy’s absolute worst nightmares. And when the change was done the smell of the beast triggered the last of her memories to come loose from the walls of whatever dark caverns of her mind they clung to, and she was changed.

  Joy knew that everything she’d criticized her father for believing was true. That everything she remembered about her mother’s death was also correct. Not simply the bad dreams her therapist said she was having, coming into her waking life. No. Now she was sure of it all. She was sure that Trevor was something out of myth and legend. That he was a fantasy made real before her. Sweat built up on her forehead as she realized that Thomas was one too.

  The young woman looked from Trevor’s wolf-form to Thomas, and said only, “I’m in love with a werewolf.” Then she fainted.

  9

  With Joy fainting and Trevor in his wolf-form, Thomas felt a little unsure of what to do or say. He didn't know for sure if Trevor could communicate with him, or even understand him, so he decided to find out.

  “Hey, Trevor?” Thomas tried to get the wolf-man’s attention.“Trevor, can you hear me?”

  The wolf-man turned to him and bowed slowly. Trevor was able to show more control than any werewolf Thomas had encountered. The man was totally aware, had total control, and seemed to view being a werewolf as a bonus instead of a curse. Thomas wanted nothing more than to feel that way himself. To have that balance of raw power and absolute control.

  “Can you teach me, Trevor? To be like you are? To control it?” Thomas was excited at the prospect.

  Again, Trevor nodded. Once for each question that Thomas put forth. Trevor began the process of shifting back to human form. It took some time, about a minute total, but then he was again a man standing at the foot of Joy’s bed. Trevor got his clothes back on and gave Thomas the gravest of stares.

  “Thomas, I can teach you all of it. How to change when you want. How to control yourself when the beast overtakes you. How to use your power to do something good in this world. But mostly, and most importantly, I can teach you not to hurt anyone you don’t want to.”

  “Ok. How does this work? Is there some formal way that I need to accept you as the pack Alpha?” Thomas was not hesitant to determine the structure of his life as it was to come. “Is there like an oath or a ceremony or something?”

  “We’ll get to all that. But first, we need to get the hell out of here. It isn’t safe here Thomas. Trust me. Zeke isn’t who he seems to be,” Trevor spoke as Thomas’s eyes widened.

  “I should have known. After all, he lost his wife to a werewolf attack. He knew what I am from the moment he saw me, I bet,” Thomas was beginning to worry. He fretted over the idea of not being with Joy.

  “Thomas, Zeke hunts us. I came here to end him tonight, just as much as I came here to end you,” Trevor said, coldness in his voice. Thomas knew he spoke the truth. There were no lies between them any longer. Thomas could smell it, could sense it was true. “Zeke killed the woman who turned me, who made me a werewolf. I can’t let him live Thomas.”

  Thomas knew that Trevor was probably right. But he also knew that if he took part in killing Zeke, or even stood aside and let it happen, that Joy would never forgive him. Would never have anything to do with him again. As it was, he was already concerned she might feel that way, and his worries were exacerbated when she began to stir.

  “Not tonight Trevor. Not with her here. I love her Trevor, you gotta understand that,” Thomas plead with his pack Alpha. “Please,” he began to weep as he tried to bargain.

  “I understand. For your love, I will do this one thing and leave the old man alone tonight. But I will have my revenge on the next full moon. In three weeks Thomas, I will have my revenge,” Trevor was trembling as he spoke. “Am I clear?”

  “Yes. Yes, Sir!” Thomas was all too eager for the night to end. To wake up the next day and have new things to deal with. He was not fully aware of the bargain he made, nor of the price it would cost him.

  “Thomas, I must go now. Come to the house tomorrow around noon. Find a way to get away. We need to talk. I can tell this is a difficult situation for you. I smell your uncertainty. It envelopes you like cheap cologne. But more importantly than all of this…you are hot as hell. Wanted by police and federal agents from coast to coast. And then there is the matter of all the bodies at the house…I’m gonna need help with all that,” Trevor said as the weight of Thomas’s responsibilities began to settle on his shoulders. “We need to get you a new identity and get on the road to somewhere new. You can’t stay here any longer, and even if there’s only a few of us left…the pack stays together.”

  And with that Trevor left out the way he came in, though he left the pistol he’d brought with Thomas. Not more than a minute after he departed Joy was fully awake again. Conscious and cognizant.

  “I don’t know what to say, Thomas,” Joy said, though she didn’t expect a response.

  “I don’t either, Joy. I don’t either,” Thomas replied. He crawled back into bed with her, and they held each other until the sun rose.

  10

  When the roosters began crowing they could still hear Zeke snoring from the other room. He was sawing logs, and they didn’t bother getting dressed. It usually took him some time after he began to stir before he came out of his room. Joy was confident they even had time to make love again. Thomas gave her no argument, even agreeing enthusiastically.

  In their post-orgasmic bliss Joy asked a question which took Thomas entirely off guard. “You won’t actually let him kill my dad, will you?”

  “No. I won’t. I want to go, just run away with you. To like Mexico or some shit. I dunno. Anywhere, far away, where we can be together,” Thomas was grasping at any straw he could find, and coming up short.

  “I heard everything, Thomas. Trevor wants my dad dead. But he’s the only way that you can learn to control what you are…at least in time so that you don’t hurt anyone. So that you don’t hurt me,” Joy burst into tears as she spoke.

  “I don’t know what to do. I really don’t,” Thomas said. It was the first thing he’d been entirely sure was true in a while.

  “I have an idea. Take me with you when you go to meet Trevor this afternoon,” she said.

  Thomas was shaking his head no. Over and over again. No. Vehemently no.

  “Look, Thomas, do you want to be with me, or not?” she asked, then kissed him deeply. “We can be together, my dad can live, and you can learn from Trevor. If he accepts my offer.”

  “I think I know what you have in mind and I cannot let you do it. Not you Joy, not you!” Thomas broke into tears.

  “Don’t worry Thomas. We can be together. Everyone lives, everyone’s happy. I can learn from Trevor too,” she confirmed his worst fear. “It might be the only way. After all, what kind of pack only has two wolves?”

  As much as he hated to admit it, Thomas knew she was right. There was no other way. No other way without bloodshed. Still, it would only work if Trevor was willing to let her into the pack. If he didn’t accept her, then Thomas had no idea what would happen. Ultimately he knew that his loyalty to Trevor was a new thing, still fragile and untested. Then again, so was his love of Joy. Thomas knew in his pants that he would side with Zeke, to secure the love of the man’s beautiful daughter. But he knew in his heart, and in his mind, that he’d side with his pack Alpha. With his mentor. His own survival was dependent upon the lessons that the Alpha-wolf could and would teach him. Everything was dependent on those lessons. Without learning to control his beast-form then there was no future for him at all.

  A life of joy with his lover Joy would only be possible with the helping hand of Trevor. There was no denying it. Thomas knew that he would come clean and explain all his thoughts to the Alpha-wolf. He didn’t want any kind of deception within the pack, nor strong disagreements. He’d been betrayed by his own uncle for nefarious purposes. Trevor had shown himself to be honorable if anything. And Thomas appreciated that Trevor would choose loyalty over all other things, even if it meant his own death. That was as apparent as the sky was blue.

  And so, even as he held Joy, Thomas decided that his ultimate loyalty would be to Trevor. If the Alpha-wolf declined Joy’s offer to join the pack, then he would still help Trevor take out Zeke, no matter how Joy felt about it. Thomas kissed her on the back of the neck as they spooned, knowing that he’d betray her if it came to it. He hoped she wasn’t thinking the same thing, though he found he could smell it on her, and she was.

 

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