by E Gregory
Michael laughed as Elaine nodded. “You should have seen him. You’d have thought these were real vampires and not just a bunch of kids messing around. I thought he was going to make them cry.”
“What did they say? You were light on details when we Skyped last.” Niki asked.
He could just picture Ethan doing that looming thing he liked to do which always made him seem about a foot taller than he was. Niki thought if he were human he’d give himself premature wrinkles the way he scowled all the time.
“He had them promise to get tested for HIV and swear they wouldn’t taste any more blood. They even begged to stay. They said please sir!” Michael chortled, as did Niki.
It was so like Ethan to intimidate beyond necessity. As an alpha werewolf, he felt a lot of responsibility for their town, but Niki thought he took it too far sometimes. Though this sounded hilarious. He wished he could have seen the look on those kids' faces, or on Ethan’s. He had gorgeous golden eyes, a face full of freckles, a soft-looking beard trimmed close to his face, with a shock of auburn hair. It should have made him more approachable, but the way he carried himself and the way he glared at everyone made him anything but. He used to terrify Niki until he got to know him better and came to realize that under all that gruffness was a big softie. Though he would never say that to Ethan’s face or else he’d risk getting hurt. Probably.
“Ah, I miss all the best stuff.” Niki sighed. “So tell me what else there is. What pack intrigue have I missed out on?”
“Well, Harper and Tony are back together,” Elaine said with a grin.
Harper Sanchez and Tony Clemmons were two beta werewolves under Ethan. He’d turned them both shortly after Michael had been turned. Harper had short dark hair and equally dark eyes and she was especially petite next to Tony who stood at six foot two. He was muscled like nobody else and his deep dark skin always shone with an unworldly quality. Pair that with his sculpted face and people always remarked on how he should have gone into modeling rather than law enforcement.
They’d always been joined at the hip so to speak and had even joined the sheriff’s department together when they were old enough, Harper being distinguished as the first female latinx deputy the department had. It was sort of awesome having two insiders when bodies turned up that were killed by supernatural means and they needed a good animal attack story to cover it up, or when someone fishy moved to town and they needed background information. The only problem with Harper and Tony was that they had a major on again off again problem. Ethan said it was because they were both made wolves and wouldn’t settle down until they were older. Apparently it wasn’t like that for born wolves. They found their mates and stuck to them. Though that didn’t explain why Ethan was still single.
They’d had lots of contact with other somewhat local packs and Ethan never made a move on any of the good looking male wolves, born or made. It more than likely had to do with the fact that he’d had an abusive boyfriend in high school. Another born wolf that was all about pack purity and controlling Ethan.
The guy had wanted Ethan to leave his family behind and start a pack, just the two of them. Ethan’s older sister had relayed the tale once a long time ago. Ethan’s boyfriend had done his best to make Ethan distrust his family and used physical abuse when Ethan didn’t do exactly as he wanted. Niki couldn’t imagine someone able to use physical violence against Ethan who was so buff it almost hurt to look directly at him, but then that was the nature of abuse. Niki understood that.
It had driven a wedge between Ethan and his family, but ultimately he was able to get away and start repairing the rift between himself and his pack. Niki really didn’t know a lot about it, but he felt sad thinking that might be why Ethan stayed single. Michael thought it was because he was a romantic at heart and just hadn’t met the right person, which might be the case, but Niki doubted it.
Niki just rolled his eyes at the Tony and Harper news. “Anyone else paired up? I feel like I’m going to be the last single guy in the pack at this rate. Except for Ethan of course.”
“Ryan is dating some guy from her Econ class. But I don’t think it’s very serious.” Michael told him. “Other than that everyone else is still single, so you aren’t last.” He assured Niki.
Niki didn’t mean to be so sensitive about it, but he’d always been terribly unlucky in love. There was his long-standing crush on Jessica to contend with and the fact that none of the girls seemed to notice him at all in high school. Even later when he realized he was bi, that hadn’t really opened up new avenues for him. Now, even in college, it was hard to find the right guy or girl. He’d dated a few, but none of them ever stuck around. In fact, Niki felt he was either too weird looking for the average person to find attractive or too weird in general. Despite being friendly and being able to meet new people, he couldn’t seem to meet Mr. or Ms. Right and it bummed him out on a regular basis.
At least Ryan seemed to be putting herself out there. She had been very quiet when they’d first met her. Ryan had been raised in New Mexico by her mother until she was nineteen. Then, when her mother remarried, she’d been shipped off to her dad. They’d never gotten along, not that anyone could blame her. Liam was weird on a good day. He wrote creepy bodice ripper romance novels all about innocent maidens being taken by rogues and falling in love with them. Niki knew this because he’d read through a couple out of curiosity. Also she looked nothing like her father. Ryan was blonde and pretty with big blue eyes, but was a bit on the shy side. Since she’d joined Michael’s pack last year, though, she was coming out of her shell more and more. Liam on the other hand was dark in all of his features, dark like the bad villain of a high school play, Niki always thought. He might as well grow one of those twisty mustaches and call it a day.
“Thanks, man,” Niki said with a shrug. Time to change the subject. He didn’t really want to think about his non existent love life anymore. “So the last I heard from Jessica, in an official sage capacity, was that there was something weird everyone was sensing, but that no one could get a handle on. What’s that about?”
“Oh yeah, it’s strange for sure,” Michael said. He pursed his lips and ran his hands over his knees in a gesture Niki had learned years ago meant he was uncomfortable. “Ethan was the first to notice it. You know how he is about the town perimeter. It’s his pack’s turn to run it and guard it this month and he came back from his run all out of sorts. Swears something has crossed the town line but doesn’t know where or when. And worse than that he has no idea what it could be.
“Okay, that’s odd.” Niki agreed. “Ethan always knows what it is. His born wolf nose never lets us down.”
“I know, that’s what has me worried too. If Ethan doesn’t know what it is, then could it be something he and his family never saw? Or dealt with? That kind of freaks me out.” Michael said.
“So have there been any other strange occurrences, anyone gone missing, any injuries or murders?” Niki asked. If there was something dangerous in town, they needed to move on it and fast.
“There was a young woman that went missing. She never called in to work one Monday and by the time anyone else was looking for her all the leads had gone cold. She just vanished. But she’s the only one. And that was three weeks ago. Still, the Sheriff’s department is beside themselves and asking everyone to be careful. Harper and Tony are officially on the case as deputies, but with no new leads it’s been hard on them. Ethan’s beside himself too. He thinks this girl might still be alive since he couldn’t pick up any blood around her house or car.” Michael explained.
“I need to get with Jessica about this.” Niki decided.
Jessica was their pack’s sage. A human that kept the books for them, kept track of lore and creatures and kept the pack informed on whatever they might be dealing with. She was their research guru and he just knew if they could put their heads together they could come up with something. There was probably a spell that could help too. He thought.
Elaine nodded. “She said the exac
t same thing when she heard you were headed home.”
Jessica and Elaine were best friends and had been since Elaine moved to town in their sophomore year at high school. Immediately the family of Forest Guardians had zeroed in on Michael, being so young and a made wolf at that, without a pack. He’d still been an omega then, but he’d proven that he was in control of himself and Ethan had assured them that they were all on the same side. Jessica was a major supporter of their relationship, earning her place as Elaine’s new best friend. The two had been just as inseparable as Niki and Michael were.
“I’ll shoot her a text tomorrow,” Niki assured them.
The conversation turned to lighter topics. They talked about the weather and about hanging out with Gedeon, Niki’s dad. Then Niki beefed up their perimeter defenses, using his new mark to lay the groundwork. Afterward, they all had a beer, just the normal kind which wouldn’t have any effect on Michael, but he still enjoyed them anyway.
After a while, Niki looked at his phone and then back at the two of them. Michael looked like he could gab all night, but Elaine was looking a little tired. Niki felt the same way. One of the many downsides to being human. Humans needed sleep. A lot more than werewolves.
“Actually I think I better go,” Niki told them. He could see the immediate disappointment on Michael’s face. “We’ll have plenty of time to catch up before school starts up again, I promise.” He said. “Right now I’m just beat.”
“Fair enough,” Michael said. “I guess I could let you get some rest after that drive of yours.”
Niki stood and Michael and Elaine joined him for goodbye hugs and he promised that if he and Jessica came up with anything the next day he would let them know. Then he was out the door, into the night, headed back to his car.
Before he got in the car, Niki looked around and tried to see if he could sense any magic nearby. Unfortunately, he felt nothing. Whatever it was that was in town, it was definitely keeping to itself. He drove home in silence thinking. Mostly he just thought that if there wasn’t some imminent supernatural danger, then he wouldn’t really be home. Either way, he was glad he was back, and just maybe he could find a way to help.
Chapter Three
Niki woke late the next morning. He knew his dad would already be at the shop. People tended to go either early or late to get their cars worked on, trying to get their errands done outside of work hours. So the house was quiet as he padded to the bathroom for a shower that would hopefully help wake him up. Back at the mage house showers had been first come first serve so if he’d been back there he would have been out of luck when it came to the hot water. Here he could use as much of it as he wanted and that was the plan. Niki loved a long, hot shower.
He mostly ignored his reflection in the mirror. He was still too lanky for his liking though he’d gained some muscle definition during his training with the mages. His light brown curls were always more like a mop in the morning and his eyes were too gray to be called blue, which was what he wished he’d inherited from his mother instead of his reddened mouth and pale skin. He looked like an overgrown teenager who saw too little sun and probably always would. Ah well.
Niki scrubbed his teeth and then rinsed with mouthwash while the water in the shower heated up. Then he dropped his batman pajama bottoms and underwear on the floor and stepped in under the hot water. He closed the plaid shower curtain he’d picked out in eighth grade and leaned back letting the water run over him. He’d been up too late last night after his long drive, but he’d enjoyed both dinner with his dad and getting to see Elaine and Michael. He’d missed everyone so much.
Today he might see some of the pack, he wasn’t sure, so he avoided using his dad’s body wash, it had too much scent to it, especially for born wolves, and chose his own instead. Both his shampoo and conditioner were unscented. Or at least as unscented as he could get in such a small town. He might have to check Amazon at some point for something better.
Born wolves' noses were incredibly sensitive. Not only could they sniff out where a person had been, but a lot of times they could scent what that person had been doing and even how they’d been feeling. It was a lot to get used to. Niki wasn’t known for keeping his emotions in check, but around Ethan particularly, he tried his best to keep things under wraps.
All his growing up years Niki thought he was in love with Jessica Johnson, the beauty queen of his dreams. Her creamy brown skin was always luminous, her green eyes haunted him, he longed to touch her soft cloud of curls, her brilliant smile gave him life. Though as one of the most popular girls in school she was not only unreachable, she was wildly out of his league. Then, when everything went upside down in ninth grade and he learned about werewolves and met a then eighteen-year-old Ethan, his inner world also got turned around. After a serious gay crisis, he decided he must be bi because he still thought Jessica was one of the most attractive people he’d ever seen outside of movies, but his crush was stuck squarely with Ethan. Not that there was anything wrong with being gay. Ethan was gay and Niki just thought the world of him. But he was still definitely bi. Not that that mattered when his dating life was more like a desert than anything else.
Niki finished his shower and just stood under the water a little longer because he could before hopping out and drying off. His green towel was worn but smelled fresh and clean despite being washed in another only lightly scented product. He breathed it in, enjoying the smell of it, one of the many smells that meant he was home. Then he wrapped it around his waist and walked back down the hall to his room to get dressed.
Back in his room, Niki dressed in clean jeans and a band t-shirt that had a hole in the hem. He cherished it, despite the state it was in. It was black, although faded, and so soft. Then he dug his favorite tennis shoes out of the back of his closet and pulled on a fresh pair of socks before putting them on. Next came his glasses.
Now that he could see clearly again he took a wide toothed comb to his hair and tried to make sense of the curls so they could dry in a reasonably tidy manner. Niki kept his hair fairly short, but the top had grown out a bit and would need cutting again soon. For now, it was a little on the messy side, but he wasn’t too worried. He’d have time to get it cut before classes started up again in the fall.
Once he was dressed, Niki sat on the end of his twin bed and looked around his room. The band posters were a little outdated and the mandala cloth hanging over his bed was a bit cheesy, but it was still very much, his. Maybe more so than the Target decorated room he had waiting to be unpacked into a new dorm back on campus. His desk was tidy in a way it never was during high school. His old PC was still sitting on it, dormant now. He needed to get rid of it as he kept everything important on the cloud or his hard drive. His laptop was still in his backpack. The window was covered in yellowing blinds and navy blue blackout curtains which aided in his sleeping in on days he could afford to do so.
In the corner sat the guitar he’d never quite learned to play. It was his mother’s though, so he would always keep it. The bookshelves were bursting with all manner of fiction and nonfiction that he was glad no one had ever looked too closely at. The fiction was mostly sci-fi, which was sort of funny considering what he’d learned about the supernatural world, and the non-fiction was everything from ancient Sanskrit to modern Egyptian lore. He might not be the pack’s sage, but he could at least keep up with her when it came to research.
Speaking of, he needed to send her a text.
Niki picked his phone off the side table and unplugged it before thumbing it on. He had several new pointless emails he would delete later and one text from Ethan that surprised him. ‘Saw you were back in town.’ Was all it said. No hello, no welcome back, just that he’d seen Niki was back. Weirdo.
He typed out a quick reply, ‘that’s me, back in town.’ Then he hit send. Was Ethan expecting him to check in when he got home? He hoped not because it hadn’t even occurred to him to do so. They hadn’t yet worked together in any real official capacity, but Niki
liked to think that they were at least friends at this point. Friends didn’t always have to check in with friends, but people who worked for you did. He was hoping he wasn’t the latter.
Once that was done he pulled up his conversation with Jessica and sent her a more detailed message. ‘I’m home again. Michael and Elaine said there was possibly a new big bad in town. I wanted to come pick that gorgeous brain of yours. Let me know if you’re free today.’
He didn’t have to wait long for a reply, which was nice. ‘I’m free! Bring coffee!’ She said.
Niki laughed. It was good to be home. And it was good to be going to work. It felt like everything was right in the world.
He grabbed a few of his books out of his suitcase, ones he thought might come in handy, then made sure he had his laptop cord in his backpack with his laptop before slinging it over his shoulder, cutting out his light, and leaving.
Jessica lived on the other side of town, in what his dad referred to as the “good” neighborhood, which was his way of saying, rich. She still lived with both her parents although she could definitely afford to move out. Working at the metaphysical shop earned her enough that she could get a cute apartment in town, but she said she was saving up for a house. Why live in an apartment when what I really want is a house of my own? Don’t waste money renting, Niki. A home is an investment. She’d told him.
Not that she intended to stay in town. Even though she was sage to Michael’s pack, she still wanted to see the world. She’d already explained to them all that being a sage was something someone could easily do long distance. Her first sights were set on L.A., but after that, none of them knew where she might go. She planned to have properties all over so she never had to settle down.
Niki listened to his podcast on the way to her parent’s house. It put him in the mood to think about all the things that might be going bump in the night there in Rush Creek.
The drive to the coffee shop was uneventful. Niki parked and went inside. He was greeted by a new kid that didn’t recognize him, so he had to carefully place his order for a triple espresso with vanilla syrup and half and half for himself which wasn’t on the menu and a cappuccino with extra foam the way Jessica liked it. He also splurged for a couple of cheese danishes that looked particularly tasty. Then he sat by the window to wait and watch the passersby as they went about their day.