“Did it?” Daniel twisted to see for himself, and ended up walking in a circle for a while before he gave up with a huff. “I’ll have to take your word for it.”
Alex ran over to them. “How’re you feeling?”
“Not bad,” Daniel replied, his tail wagging once to express his gratitude. “Resting today helped. I’m not gonna run all night, but thank your boyfriend for helping out last night.”
“He’ll be pleased to hear it; he was worried about you,” Alex said. “I told him Stephen would take good care of you. Did he?”
“I went to work,” Stephen said, glaring briefly at Alex. “Daniel mostly took care of himself.”
“And I cooked,” Daniel added.
Karen and Lily briefly went up to Daniel to wish him a good night, then the duo ran off. “If we see any strange wolves, we’ll howl,”Lily promised.
“You don’t think…” Daniel’s tail drooped slightly and Stephen knew what he was thinking.
Holly and Peter ran up to them. “Will you stay alert as well?” she asked. “If McClanahan shows up, we have to know.”
“Do you think he will?” Stephen asked. He resisted the urge to snarl at the thought.
“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Peter said. “Daniel, from what you said, he sounded very controlling. He said he was the alpha and should be obeyed, right?”
“Right.”
“So,” Holly continued, “he doesn’t want to lose a follower. And he probably doesn’t want to risk you running into other werewolves who might help. He has to establish dominance. I’m surprised he didn’t come here last night.”
Stephen moved closer to Daniel when he whined softly. “We won’t let him hurt you.”
Daniel was cowering slightly now, his good mood from earlier gone. “I shouldn’t have run away,” he muttered. “Now he’s gonna come here and hurt you.”
“Let ‘em try, I’ll gnaw his tail off if he comes here,” Stephen growled, low and dangerous, then froze when the others all looked at him. “What?”
“No one is fighting anyone,” Holly told him sternly. “We’ll look for a peaceful solution.”
Peaceful? With that asshole? “You saw what he did to Daniel!”
“Yes, but fighting another werewolf isn’t going to solve anything,” Holly told him. “Daniel can’t stay here forever.”
“You think McClanahan lives anywhere near you?” Alex asked.
“I don’t know,” Daniel replied quietly. “Probably. But he knows where I live.”
Holly gave Stephen another warning look. “Another reason to avoid fighting him. He might take it out on you when you’re back home,” she told Daniel.
“So what do we do if he shows up?” Stephen demanded. Daniel was radiating misery. “Talk with him?”
“Yes,” Peter told him. “We talk to him, see if we can’t reason with him.”
Stephen huffed. He wanted nothing more than to tear McClanahan limb from limb for what he had done, for the bullshit he had fed Daniel, and here Peter and Holly were, suggesting they have a nice talk.
“I know,” Richard said, who had come up after checking his cabin was locked up. “But they’re right, Stephen. Let’s try and avoid getting any more werewolves hurt.”
“Fine,” Stephen snapped. “If I come across that asshole, I’ll howl and let you all know.”
“Let’s all head out into the forest,” Richard said. “If any of us smell or see any strange wolves, howl.”
After Stephen promised, again, to do that, he ran after Daniel. “Wait up.”
Daniel was moving slowly as he wandered further into the forest. “Don’t you want to do your own hunting? I’ll only slow you down.”
“I don’t need to hunt every night,” Stephen said, after catching up with him. “Besides, someone should be with you if McClanahan shows up.” He wasn’t going to let Daniel face him alone.
“You probably think I’m a massive idiot,” Daniel replied, his tail hanging low. “For staying with McClanahan for so long.”
“No,” Stephen immediately told him. “No, we don’t.”
“Really? Who else stays with a werewolf who bites them every month and thinks that’s normal?”
“You didn’t know any better,” Stephen said. He tried to put himself in Daniel’s shoes. Scared of what was happening and the only person who could help him was also hurting him… No wonder Daniel had stayed.
Daniel didn’t look at him. “I should’ve run away sooner.”
Stephen wasn’t sure what to say to reassure him, so they ran in silence for a while, Stephen staying by Daniel’s side. He showed Daniel what he considered the more beautiful parts of the forest, they tried and failed to catch fish in the river. They were more successful with the hares, Stephen managing to kill two while Daniel was unable to keep up with their prey for long. Daniel was surprised when Stephen dropped one of the hares in front of him. “You don’t need to feed me,” he said, still panting. “I’m not starving.” He limped slightly with one hind leg as he moved closer to sniff at the dead animal.
Stephen looked up from his hare. Had he overstepped his boundaries? He hadn’t wanted to eat while Daniel had nothing and remind the other wolf he wasn’t fully healed. “If you don’t want it, I’ll eat it,” he offered.
“I didn’t say that,” Daniel swiftly replied, tearing open the hare and eyeing Stephen. “You shouldn’t feel obliged to take care of me just because you found me.”
“That’s not - I don’t mind,” Stephen assured him. He had hoped Daniel had stopped feeling bad over accepting help. “Besides, you cooked tonight.”
Daniel, his snout red with blood, looked pointedly down at his hare. “Well, it’s no tuna casserole.”
Stephen gave him a friendly nudge with his shoulder. “I didn’t see you catching the tuna yourself.”
“Fine, next time I will. And I’ll grow my own tomatoes.”
The idea of a next time made Stephen feel giddy and when he felt his tail twitch, about to wag, he quickly lowered it.
“Something wrong?” Daniel asked. He raised his head to sniff the air.
“No, nothing,” Stephen said. If he wasn’t careful he’d be acting around Daniel like Alex acted around Nathan. It was far, far too soon for that.
They finished eating, then wandered back to the river to drink some water.
“I like this,” Daniel said out of nowhere, looking up at the sky.
“The water?”
“No, this.” Daniel walked around in a half-circle, and Stephen followed him. “Running around, hunting… well, trying to hunt,” he added. “Not having to worry. It’s not how I usually spend these nights.”
Stephen was both sad and relieved to hear it. “You said you get bitten, what else did he do?”
“McClanahan certainly doesn’t offer me anything. He says I need to hunt by myself, although usually when I catch something he takes it,” Daniel said bitterly. “It’s his right as an alpha, he said.”
He wished Daniel had come here sooner. “I’m sorry he treated you like that.”
“Yeah. But enough about me, what do you usually do on these nights?” Daniel asked, tilting his head to look at him curiously.
“What we’ve been doing now. Run around, hunt a little.”
“By yourself?”
“Usually, yes. Sometimes me and Richard run together for a bit, but I prefer spending the night by myself.” He realised how that must sound to Daniel. “But I like your company.”
Daniel scratched at the leaves on the floor, sniffing at them before raising his head again. “And when it’s not the full moon?”
He wondered what Daniel was getting at. “Nothing out of the ordinary. Sometimes I go out to a bar with some buddies, sometimes I stay at home. Why?”
“Just curious,” Daniel replied, then his head turned sharply and he sniffed the air.
“What?” Stephen asked, worried. Daniel had become tense, and Stephen didn’t like that at all. He didn’t smell anything out
of the ordinary.
Daniel took a few steps away from Stephen. “It might be nothing,” he muttered. “It’s probably something else.”
“If you think it’s McClanahan, we should go and check,” Stephen told him. “I’ll come with you. We don’t have to go near him or talk to him.” He could smell a hint of fear coming from Daniel, a sharp change from his earlier happiness.
After a few seconds, Daniel hung his head. “Right, let’s go.”
Stephen got the feeling that if he hadn’t been there, Daniel would’ve run in the opposite direction instead. “I’m here,” he reminded the other wolf. “And the others are all nearby.” Close enough to hear him howl, at least, but even then it’d take time for the others to find him. Time in which McClanahan could… no, he wasn’t going to think about that, he was going to stick by Daniel’s side. Maybe it was just Daniel being paranoid.
~*~
After a few minutes of following Daniel, Stephen caught the scent of an unfamiliar wolf too. Daniel must’ve been more attuned to McClanahan to notice him sooner. “It’s definitely a wolf I don’t know.”
“It’s him,” Daniel replied. His tail was hanging low, and his entire body was radiating uncertainty and submission. “And if we can smell him…”
He could smell the two of them too. “What do you think?” Stephen asked. “Howl so the rest of my packs knows to come here, or keep moving?”
Daniel let out a frustrated whine. “Keep moving.” He eyed Stephen. “I have to face him eventually, right?”
“You’re not in pain?” Stephen was feeling fine, but it was obvious Daniel had needed their brief break. “We can wait here.”
“No,” Daniel said immediately. “He can’t see how wounded I am.”
Stephen understood the urge not to show any weakness. “All right. Let me know if you need to rest again, or if you want to howl for the others.”
Daniel ran off without a reply, and Stephen followed him. If it had been up to him, he would’ve howled already to let his pack know what was going on, but it was only fair that Daniel got to call the shots.
He was starting to feel nervous himself the closer they got. Would McClanahan want to pick a fight? It was unusual for werewolves to wander into each other’s territories unannounced. Daniel hadn’t known about that unspoken rule, but McClanahan probably did. Maybe he didn’t think other werewolves would want to help Daniel. Stephen growled quietly in the back of his throat, intent on making McClanahan regret ever biting Daniel in the first place.
Daniel heard the growl too, as he gave Stephen a look. “Peaceful, remember?”
“I’ll be peaceful if he is,” he grumbled. But the closer they got, the stronger the urge to fight got. The wolf-part of him definitely wanted to tear McClanahan apart, and Stephen wasn’t sure if he could fight that urge if he got face to face with the other wolf. He reminded himself that he had never been in a serious fight with another wolf before, and that fighting Beale wouldn’t solve anything, but it didn’t much against the instincts of a wolf.
“Don’t start a fight, please. It’s not worth it,” Daniel told him, who had no doubt sensed Stephen’s rising aggression.
He huffed. “I’ll try.”
~*~
Daniel spotted McClanahan first, as the other wolf stood bathed in the moonlight on a small hill. “That’s him,” Daniel said quietly, already taking a few steps back.
“Not that big,” Stephen scoffed. McClanahan had noticed them too. “He’s coming this way, Daniel.”
Daniel whined, his tail between his legs. “This was a terrible idea.”
Stephen moved to stand in front of him, making sure McClanahan didn’t see Daniel cower. “It’s not,” he told him firmly. “I’ll alert the others.” He threw his head back and howled, hoping his friends were nearby. While Stephen thought he could hold his own against McClanahan, he would feel safer with the others there.
He noticed McClanahan freeze at the howl. Clearly, he hadn’t expected that. But he continued his approach, and Stephen heard the low growl from the other wolf.
“Maybe you should leave,” Daniel said quietly, sounding worried. “He might hurt you.”
Stephen didn’t move. “I’m not going anywhere,” he replied, his eyes on McClanahan. This wasn’t just about Daniel, this was also about showing that asshole other werewolves didn’t stand for this.
McClanahan stopped about ten feet from Stephen. “Daniel, won’t you introduce us to your friend?” McClanahan asked, giving Stephen a disdainful look.
“Stephen, this is McClanahan.”
“I’m the one who turned him,” McClanahan added. “Only a few months ago. Poor Daniel got confused and ran off last night, I’ve been looking for him ever since.”
Stephen could tell by McClanahan’s ears, fur and tail that he was ready to start a fight at the slightest provocation. “And you’d like him to come back with you?”
“He belongs with me,” McClanahan said, stepping forward. “Don’t you, Daniel?”
“I’ll come with you.” Daniel moved to stand next to Stephen. “Just don’t hurt anyone.”
“So he can bite you again?” Stephen couldn’t believe how quickly Daniel was giving into him. “Because you had the sense to run away?”
McClanahan growled. “How I run my pack is none of your business.”
“Two wolves is hardly a pack. And it becomes my business when a wolf comes into our territory, barely able to walk,” Stephen replied, glaring back. “He was bleeding when I found him.”
“He could’ve got hurt trying to get underneath some barbed wire.”
“They were bite marks,” Stephen said before Daniel could step in. He wasn’t going to let McClanahan get away with this. The arrogance to assume Daniel would come back with him was ridiculous. “What kind of bullshit have you been feeding him, McClanahan? Telling him you’re an alpha, that it’s normal to treat him like garbage… did you really think no other werewolf was going to find out?”
“It is none of your concern,” McClanahan snarled, standing taller.
Stephen wasn’t backing down no matter how much the other wolf tried to intimidate him. “It is when he comes to us for help.”
Daniel moved forward at that. “I didn’t come to them for help, please, Stephen found me. I met him last night.”
“You’re supposed to stay out of another pack’s business,” McClanahan told Stephen, baring his teeth. “I suggest you do before I make you.”
“Try me,” Stephen replied, growling.
“Stephen, don’t,” Daniel warned him, but by then it was too late. McClanahan snarled, then leaped forward.
Stephen managed to move out of his way, but McClanahan was fast. He was clearly a more experienced fighter, nipping at Stephen’s tail and hind legs. Stephen had done some play-fighting with Richard and Peter, but they hadn’t wanted to hurt him. McClanahan did. He focused on avoiding McClanahan’s teeth, and yelped when he was too late and felt McClanahan’s teeth dig into his right thigh. He went for McClanahan’s ear and bit into it, not letting go until McClanahan let go of him.
McClanahan lunged for his right side again and it became more of a wrestling match, with McClanahan trying to push Stephen to the ground. Stephen reared up, barely able to standing on his hind legs as he tried to bite McClanahan’s shoulder, but the other wolf shoved him aside with ease, his claws nearly scratching across Stephen’s eyes.
“Submit while you can,” McClanahan snarled, the fur around his ear slowly becoming dark red. He lunged, going for Stephen’s right side again. He put all his weight into it, his shoulder slamming against Stephen’s ribs.
“Not to you,” Stephen managed, trying to get his breath back. His ribs didn’t feel broken or bruised, but it was close. He could also feel the blood dripping down his hind leg. He wished Daniel would help him, but he also realised Daniel’s fear of McClanahan ran deep. At least Daniel hadn’t run away yet. If he could hold out until his own pack got here, he’d be fine. He wouldn�
��t give up now and let Daniel go back with McClanahan.
“I’ll make you.” McClanahan looked smug as he lunged for Stephen again, his sharp teeth glinting in the moonlight. The slight ear wound wasn’t slowing him down at all.
Stephen narrowly avoided another bite, and he focused his energy on darting out of the way rather than attacking. He was moving slower than before, but he noticed McClanahan wasn’t as fast anymore either. That gave him some hope.
“Stay still, coward,” McClanahan snarled as he tried to bite Stephen’s shoulder again, only missing narrowly.
“Stop.”
Stephen looked up, surprised to see Richard standing there. He had been so focused on McClanahan that he had completely missed the approach of the other wolf.
McClanahan bared his teeth. “Who are you?”
“A member of his pack,” Richard said, moving to stand next to Stephen. “You two will stop fighting.”
“Oh?” McClanahan replied. “And why is that? I only wanted to bring Daniel back home, but Stephen insisted on starting a fight by calling me a liar.”
“Because you are,” Richard told him.
Stephen’s eyes darted from Richard to McClanahan, who seemed surprised. Stephen knew Richard wasn’t going to submit to McClanahan, but he hadn’t expected this bluntness either. Or did Richard have something planned?
“I think the only one who has been lying is Daniel.” McClanahan’s golden eyes focused on Daniel, who cowered before him. “Haven’t you?”
“Leave him out this,” Stephen snarled. He hated seeing Daniel like this. “We get it, you’re a power-hungry asshole. Well done on convincing him it’s normal what you’ve done. But come on, you didn’t think it was going to last?”
“If Daniel comes with me now, I won’t hurt you,” McClanahan said, ignoring Stephen’s words. “Much.”
Stephen growled. He really wanted to sink his teeth into McClanahan’s flesh. But when the other members of his pack arrived, he caught their scents. He could smell Alex approach from behind them, along with Holly and Peter. Karen and Lily couldn’t be far behind. “You might want to rethink that.” He wanted McClanahan to leave, the sooner the better. Maybe if the other wolf had some time to think, he would realise that Daniel was never coming back with him.
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