Thasher

The wind plastered my black fur to my body as I ran, the dirt beneath my paws was hard, cold. I was panting as I followed the scent that I was chasing and sniffed at the air; I was gaining on her.

The moonlight filtered through the trees, lighting the beaten path of the forest that I was running on. A wolf howled in the distance and I let out a growl, picking up my pace. I had to find her. She was mine, and I wasn’t going to lose her again, not when I’m this close. I could see my breath in the cold night air, and my lungs burned with each icy breath that I took.

Finally, I broke through the tree line! I looked around the clearing, panting, my ears twitching around, trying to hear her, scent her, see her. I cautiously took a step forward, my head low and my body ready to fight.

I wasn’t the only one out here trying to find her, but I was going to be the one to get her. I sniffed at the air again and let out a low growl. Jasmine and evening primrose; It filled my lungs and calmed my wolf. Intoxicating.

She was everything. I saw her once, years ago when we were children, and again not long ago and I knew she was mine. Mine. No other man or wolf would touch her, my wolf growled at the thought and I tried to calm him.

I took another step forward, and then another until I felt confident that there were no other wolves around the clearing. I sniffed at the air, at the dirt packed ground, trying to find her scent again.

A twig snapped behind me and I froze as that sweet, floral scent returned to my nostrils. My heart sped up as I slowly turned my head and saw her.

A beautiful wolf with mousy brown fur and piercing blue eyes stood staring at me, with one leg bent in the air as she studied me. She sniffed the air and took a hesitant step backward and lowered her head in submission. She had smelled my scent and knew that I was an alpha, and it frightened her. Shit.

I took a step forward and lowered my head slightly, signalling that I didn’t want to fight, and saw her tight muscles relax under her silky fur. She shook her head and turned from me, slowly walking over to the lake and I followed her, unable to look away from her intoxicating figure. She was beautiful, the most beautiful wolf I had ever seen, and she was mine. I watched her dip her toes into the cold lake and lower her head, watched her tongue slide out of her mouth as she began to take dainty laps of water into her mouth. I walked over slowly, stood beside her, and mimicked her movements, swallowing the freezing cold water.

We stared at each other, her ears were flat against the back of her head as she studied me, her blue eyes piercing into my dark ones. She closed her eyes and sniffed the air, then I watched as they snapped open and she looked around, panicked. She took a step away from me and ran toward the tree line and I let out a growl of frustration. I wasn’t going to lose her, not again.

I ran after her, snarling until she stopped, turned her head and looked at me. She knew I wasn’t going to let her leave.

I approached her again, towering over her smaller frame and nuzzled my nose against the side of her neck, inhaling her scent.

She immediately snapped, bolting away from me as she growled, barring her teeth and readied herself for an attack. I returned the growl and barred my own teeth, ready to fight.

But not her.

I charged at the grey wolf that had snuck up to the tree line and had his eyes on her. I growled as the male charged at me, I relied myself and just as I jumped through the air…

“Thasher!”

I sat up with a jolt, and looked around, my heart racing.

“Fuck.” I hissed, running my hand through my dark hair.

I was in the office of what would be the new pack house of this unconventional new pack. It wasn’t anything spectacular or extravagant, but it was what we had to work with, and it was perfect for my liking. A brown brick three story spacious house surrounded by a small, yet thick forest and about forty small residential homes. This was what was formally known as the Blue Moon Pack, and was now called… Fuck, I don’t know. Nobody from the Blue Moon Pack was even still alive, they were all wiped out after that fucking vampire witch Andrena went on her killing spree. Over half of the packs in America had been fully, or almost fully wiped out because of her, including my own. She murdered my mother and father, the alpha and luna of the Greybrook Pack as well as twelve of my thirteen siblings, leaving me to care for my now mentally unstable fourteen year old sister, Lauren. She had witnessed our family die, and I had found her clinging to the body of our mother in shock. She hasn’t been he same since the attack, understandably. Myself a bunch of other wolves who’s packs had been completely or partially attacked joined teams with the vampires of New York to end that crazy bitch, and after one hell of a fucking long night, we did.

There was death on both sides, but we fucking won, and now for some fucking reason, here I am, the son of a dead alpha in charge of a fucking pack. I was never trained to be an alpha, my brother Luka was next in line, with Sebastian being trained as a spare, since he was the second born son. Me? I was the third born and the most rebellious. While Luka and Seb were working with dad, I was out partying, getting into fights, and fucking. I never wanted anything to do with being an alpha, I didn’t want that kind of responsibility. Now, here I am, thrown into something I’ve never wanted all because out of all of the wolves that have come together I’m the only one with alpha blood besides Lauren, but like I said, she’s borderline Norman Bates.

Cash chuckled, shaking his head and banged his fists on the oak desk again. “Wake up, alpha.”

“Shit, don’t do that.” I pushed my dark hair out of my face.

He laughed again, grinning at me through his shaggy blonde hair. “C’mon alpha, you’ve got work to do.”

“Huh?” I furrowed my brow, “What work?”

“Time to declare who your beta will be.” Cash shook his head with amusement.

“Fuck.” I hissed. “I uh… I have no idea. I don’t even know most of these wolves.”

“Dude… Seriously?”

I grinned at him “Don’t worry Cash, I’m joking. Obviously you’re my beta.”

He grinned at me and let out an exaggerated breath, “Oh thank god, you had me worried.”

I laughed and stood up, stretching my arms above my head.

“Still reaming of your mate?” He nodded at me.

“Yeah. It’s so fucking frustrating.”

“At least you know you’ve got one.” Cash shrugged.

“Yeah, but where? There’s nobody here in this pack with fur that shade of brown and those gorgeous fucking blue eyes.”

“Well, you’d feel it if she were here.” Cash grinned at me.

“I’m gunna go get a shower.” I mumbled.

“Gotta rub one out?” He nodded at the tent in my jeans.

“Fuck you.” I grunted, pushing his chest.

He laughed as he fell back onto the brown leather sofa against the wall. “I’m just saying, it’s pretty fucking noticeable.”

I shook my head, but couldn’t stop myself from chuckling as I walked out of the office.

“The pack meeting is scheduled to start in twenty.” Cash called out.

“Yeah, yeah.” I grumbled as I walked down the hall.

I jumped in the shower, enjoying the warmth of the water as it ran down my tattooed body, down the tribal markings on my chest, the skull and fire sleeves on both of my arms, the devil and scribe on my abdomen that almost expertly covered the long scars on my side from a fight I’d gotten into when I was sixteen with two wolves from another pack. I reached up and cleaned around the black gauges in my earlobes and the piercing in my septum, then my body, carefully making sure the reverse prince Albert piercing on my cock was clean before I stepped out. I threw on a pair of ripped jeans, a white t-shirt, and a black leather jacket, then ran my hand through my jet black hair while looking in the mirror of the bathroom, parting it on the side so that the length was all on the right.

I slipped into my converse’ and went out into the hall, where Cash was waiting.

“Dude, you need to dress the part of an alpha.” He cocked an eyebrow at me.

“I am.” I grunted as I walked, “This is how I dress, and I’m damn sure not going to change that.”

Cash shrugged and walked beside me, stopping me. “Nick, listen.”

I listened for a moment and let out a groan as I heard loud screaming coming from somewhere in the pack house.

“Lauren.” I groaned.

Cash ran right behind me as we got closer to the screaming, and weres were standing around, unsure or what to do.

“Get out of the way!” I growled at a were who was blocking the doorway to the kitchen.

Lauren was standing on the island countertop, throwing plates, screaming like a banshee as five people were trying to coax her down.

“Get away!” Lauren screamed, her long brown hair a greasy mess around her face, and her white nightgown unfortunately not leaving much to the imagination.

A woman jumped back, dodging a plate that Lauren threw at her.

“Fuck.” I hissed.

“Y-you’re all… G-get away!” Lauren screamed.

“Lauren.” I said calmly.

She turned to look at me, a plate aimed to throw as tears streamed down her cheeks. Two males steadied themselves, growling, ready to attack if she threw it at me.

“Back the fuck up.” I growled, “All of you. Nobody fucking touches my sister.”

They backed away as I slowly approached Lauren, who was crying and looking around in a craze.

“Lauren, hey. It’s me, it’s Nick.” I said softly, “Put the plate down, sweetheart.”

She looked at me, her lip trembling and shook her head. “N-no! No, I c-can’t! Sh-she’s coming, Nick! She’s going to k-kill us all!”

The wolves around me gasped and murmured to themselves.

“No, Lauren. No sweetheart, remember… Madison killed her.”

“M-Madison?”

“Yeah, Madison.” I nodded, “Remember, Madison? Your friend?”

“T-the vampire?”

I nodded with a smile, “Yeah, the vampire. She saved you, do you remember that?”

Lauren sniffled and nodded her head. “Yeah, I remember her… She’s nice. I l-like your little girl.”

I went closer to her, standing beside the island and held my hand out to Lauren as I looked up at her.

“Come on, Lauren. Give me your hand, and get down from there.”

She whimpered and looked around. “They’re all going to kill me!”

“No, I promise nobody here is going to kill you.” I said softly.

“But-”

“No buts, come on down. You’re tired, sweetheart.” I said, noticing the dark circles under her eyes.

She nodded her head.

“And you need a bath. Come on, let’s get you ready for bed.”

“I can’t!” She screamed, holding the plate up again, “They’re trying to kill me!”

“No, they aren’t.” I growled, “Come on, get down. I’ll keep you safe.”

She whimpered again but dropped the plate to the floor and shimmied over to the edge of the island, reaching her hand out. I grabbed her hand and helped her down, and she immediately buried her face into my chest as I rubbed her back.

“Alright, come on. Watch where you step, there’s broken glass.” I said softly, holding her closely as we walked out of the kitchen.

“Nick-” Cash raised his eyebrows.

“Meetings postponed till tomorrow morning.” I growled, “Nine o’clock.”

He gave me a nod. “You got it, alpha. Do you need anything?”

I rubbed Laurens trembling arm and gave him a nod. “Yeah, can you get someone to clean the mess in the kitchen? When she snaps out of this, she’ll be ashamed to see what she’s done.”

“Consider it done.” Cash gave me a nod.

“Thanks.”

Lauren sat in the tub hugging her knees to her chest as I scooped the water up into the cup and poured it over her head.

“Nick?”

“Yeah?”

“When are mommy and daddy coming back?” Lauren asked quietly.

I let out a small sigh and clenched my jaw before clearing my throat. “Soon, Lauren.”

I poured conditioner into my hands and rubbed it through her hair, carefully working my fingers through any tangles.

“Tomorrow?” She turned her head to look at me.

“Yeah, maybe.” I cleared my throat again, washing her back with the soapy cloth, “Maybe tomorrow, maybe the next day.”

She nodded slowly. “Nick?”

“Mmhmm?”

“Marcos and Heather won’t play with me.”

I felt my eyes start to tear up and quickly blinked them away. “Uh,” I cleared my throat, “Why not?”

She shrugged, “I don’t know, but that’s why I need mommy and daddy here… They listen to mommy and daddy.” Lauren turned to look at me again, “We’re triplets, you’d think they’d let me play too.”

“I’m sure they’ll play with you, Lauren.”

“But I can’t find them.”

“You will. Maybe they’re playing hide and seek, here, wash between your legs.” I said, handing her the cloth.

It took her a minute to figure out what I meant, but she did as I poured more water over her head, rinsing out the conditioner.

“Nick?”

“Yeah?”

When are we going home?”

I squeezed the extra water out of her hair and sat back on my heels and cupped her chin.

“Remember we talked about this Lauren? This is our home now because Greybrook is gone.” I said softly.

Tears filled her eyes and she sniffled. “B-but… How will mommy and daddy find us?”

“They will, don’t worry. They’ll come here soon.” I gave her a small reassuring smile.

“Promise?”

“I promise. Now, let’s get you out of this tub and into pj’s, hmm?”

She gave me a smile and nodded, “Yes please.”

I got Lauren into a light pink flannel nightgown and gently brushed her hair as she sat cross legged on my bed humming softly.

“Can you braid my hair like sissy does?”

She was talking about Lily, who always braided Lauren’s hair before bed, until she found her mate and left the pack house.

“I can try.” I chuckled.

“Okay.” Lauren smiled, closing her eyes.

I struggled a bit, but not as bad as I did at first, and managed to give her two mostly even pigtails.

“Can I sleep with you tonight Nick? Only for tonight.” She asked me, with big, pleading eyes.

“Sure.” I chuckled.

I went into the bathroom and stripped out of my clothes, slipped on a pair of plaid pyjama pants and a white t-shirt, then went back into the bedroom where Lauren was cuddled under the blanket.

“Comfy?” I grinned.

She grinned back at me and nodded, “Yes, very.”

I turned off the light and climbed into the other side of the bed and wrapped my arm around Lauren, who instantly curled up beside me.

“Good night, Nick.” She murmured sleepily.

“Good night, Lauren.” I said, kissing the top of her head.

“Nick?”

“Yeah?”

“Mommy and daddy are dead, aren’t they?”

“Yeah.” I said as I rubbed her back.

“We’re the only ones left of Greybrook, aren’t we?”

“Yeah, we’re all that’s left, Lauren.”

She nodded her head slowly and closed her eyes. “That’s really sad.”

“I know.”

“Nick?”

“Lauren?” I sighed.

“When are mommy and daddy coming home?”

Tears rolled slowly down the sides of my face, and I kissed Lauren’s forehead, closing my eyes.

“Soon, they’ll be home soon, Lauren.”

She sighed happily and quickly fell asleep.

I clenched my jaw and drew in a shaky breath, wiping at my eyes with my thumb and forefinger, praying that tomorrow she’d snap out of this shock. Her mood swings would come and go, but she’s been stuck in this state where she doesn’t remember that our pack is gone for almost a week, and it’s exhausting; she thinks she’s a little girl again, I believe she thinks she’s nine, because Lily left when Lauren was ten.

I sighed and closed my eyes, trying to put my family out of my head. Tomorrow I’m going to have to call Madison and see if she and her bonded soul Chris know of anyone who could help Lauren. Fuck, I hated having to talk to Chris after the history between Madison and I; it’s so fucking awkward, but he’s a billionaire and has ties to way more people than I do, so maybe he knows of a good shrink who can help with Lauren.

I tried to focus on my mate, whoever she was, with beautiful blue eyes, and mousy fur. Maybe, just maybe, tonight I’ll get to see her face in my dreams instead of just her beautiful wolf.