Calvin Roseblade's Story

Calvin barrelled down the stairs into the middle of the small crowd gathered there with a grin. He was dressed in a basketball top and jogging pants, and looked more or less like he had rolled straight out of bed, and he looked around at everyone with a bleary smirk.

"What's going on?" he said, "Things turned 90210 down here already? Come on guys sort it out."

He turned to Anya, noting that she seemed to be gearing up to head out for a run. His smirk turned into a slight leer and he propped himself up against the bannister.

"Going for a run Anya?" he said, "Gimme a minute to eat something and I'll join you. The road'll look so much better with both of us on it."

Anya froze in place when the twins exchanged their unpleasant words. Cautious her eyes flickered to Ares, James and Adrian. This was not what the kid needed right now. But she did feel sorry for Jac, though less so for Dante. Of course, she didn't know the second twin and felt somewhat protective over the twin that had known for a while now. Still, she would not get involved. Rather, she averted her eyes as she leant against the door frame chewing the inside of her cheek slightly. When the commotion was over, she remained silent, waiting for someone, anyone to take up her offer of going for a walk or run. It looked as though Gavin would of, had he not wanted to comfort Jac, which was understandable.

"Going for a run Anya? Gimme a minute to eat something and I'll join you. The road'll look so much better with both of us on it."

Anya allowed herself a tiny smile, before rolling her eyes. "The road looks good enough with just me on it," She grinned, shaking her head. "But if you must insist on coming with me, then hurry up." Turning on her heel, she snatched an apple from the basket on the counter and headed outside. Taking a deep breath, she waited there to see if Gavin or anyone else would join her on her run. If not, well then it would be peaceful out there alone. Even if Adrian had warned them about being extra careful for people who might trespass...

Calvin snorted and shook his head. “Alright well sit tight for a minute, the road can wait.”

He heaved into the kitchen and grabbed a sandwich steak out of the freezer, sliding it under the grill and grabbing a crusty roll. Breakfast was always the main meal of the day for Calvin, and he didn’t have time of day for the dainty cereals and fruit assortments some of the other members of the household favoured. It only took a few minutes to be ready, and the smell of the salty beef sliver overtook any other scent that might have been detectable in the kitchen. Slapping the meat into the roll, he rejoined Anya in the hallways, his breakfast in hand.

“Alright let’s go shall we?” he said nonchalantly, making his way out of the front door and bidding her to follow him as though the whole thing had been his idea in the first place. He devoured the sandwich before they’d even reached the end of the driveway, and started to jog on the spot a little, warming up his legs. “Where were you thinking of running? We need to make it a good one, I gotta be in top shape for tonight.”

“Oh, my, my don’t tell me if guys get to…clingy…you might go all big brother on me.” Gavin caught the worry behind her mask of playful teasing.

He shrugged passively, "Not exactly." Jac pulled him back down to the ground and let him fall. He huffed and shook his head. Women. Standing up again, he brushed the dirt and grass blades off his shorts. While Jac headed off to school, Gavin grabbed his coffee and her empty mug, and went inside, hoping to get a few games on his computer before he had to go out. On his way up, he gave Kathy a wave and said a quick congrats to Reina on another year conquered. Parts of his mind still on her, Gavin washed her mug and put it away.

"Me either!" He said right after Kathy about the party. Then he mentally kicked himself, but supposed his and Jac's being gone wouldn't upset the balance too much, Calvin had a basketball game tonight, anyways. "I know nothing of a party."

In his room, he booted up his computer and took another gulp of coffee. Nectar of the gods, it was. His eyes fell on his backpack, thinking about what was inside of it. He chewed the inside of his cheek. The whole thing was bothering him... He considered confiding in Calvin- but was completely unsure how he'd respond. On one hand, being in possession of such a feminine thing would undoubtedly draw a laugh. On the other hand, it was a pack-related matter. If one girl knew her mate, others were bound to follow.

On the nightstand, which is backpack was leaning against, his phone erupted into a violent lightshow of vibration, and danced around in a galore of rapid taps. He saw that he had missed four calls- undoubtedly from Blondie. Gavin pushed the call to 'busy' and texted Calvin: "Got something to show you." Gavin was a social being, he couldn't really keep secrets... And he didn't want to involve Jac. After he sent it, the damned thing rang again. Annoyed and angry, Gavin shut it off and threw it on his bed.

Around noon, he finally quit playing games- over all, happy with what he accomplished- and jumped in the shower. After he changed, he grabbed his backpack and swung it over his shoulder, ran downstairs. There were still a few things he had to do before tonight...

"Yeah, tonight." Calvin said, raising his eyebrows incredulously. "Darby game. I'm heading up the team again, there's a lot riding on this one. Be good to see your face in the crowd if you fancy it."

He grinned, turning aside as if he didn't much care what her response was. The fact that it was Reina's birthday hadn't so much as occured to him. Even less so when the attractive blonde mentioned how she would be 'safe with him'. (His ego filtered out any flippancy there may have been in the remark.)

"Ya we'll be fine I'm sure. There's nothing out there, and we'd know if there was." She bolted off ahead of him, and his grin broaded as he launched himself after her competitively. However she was going at full pace and had a head start, so to his dismay he didn't catch up with her before she deliberately fell back to get in-step with him. "Hey don't lay off on my account sweet stuff. Remember I'm chasing the moon, and it's just around the corner."

He threw her a wink as the forest canopy cascaded over them and the pack house and the town disappeared. He knew they had plenty of time to run more or less the full perimeter of the pack house grounds; Calvin didn't have any morning classes, just one afternoon class. As for Anya...well he didn't know her schedule but she could worry about herself.

His phone, back in his room on his bedside table, beeped and buzzed with Gavin's message, but for now there was nobody around to hear it.

"Well, you might be lucky," Anya grinned to herself slightly, as she kept a steady pace alongside him. It would do no good exhausting themselves on the first stretch, especially if Calvin had a big game that evening. She'd never seen him play, though it always interested her when she heard it mentioned. Of course, although she loved to run, she didn't know much about sports. In fact, she knew very little, but she wouldn't let on to Calvin about that. He'd been nice enough to invite her (even if it hadn't been a direct invite) and she too was ignorant of the party plans for Reina's birthday. Making a note to check out more sports on her laptop when she got back, she focused on keeping her strides long and using her arms to pump herself forwards. It wasn't hard for her. This was what she did best. And she hoped that when she received her wolf she would be even better at it. Fingers crossed.

"I may show my face if you play your cards right." It was her turn to throw him a wink as the trees flew past them in a blur. Although the Pack used these paths, some of them could become overgrown. Brambles snagged at their ankles occasionally, but it wasn't hard to dodge them. "Probably even easier for Calvin who has received his wolf." Pulling a slight face, she shook her head playfully. "Even with the full moon just around, the corner, you don't stand a chance against me." To prove a point, she increased her speed a little, moving so that she was running directly in front of him, with no room to manoeuvre around her. Tossing him a smile over her shoulder, she arched a eyebrow, almost teasingly, daring him to even try.

Luckily for Anya, she didn't have lessons until mid-morning. It gave them enough time to have a good long run, as well get showered and ready for school. Ugh school. It wasn't Anya's favourite thing in the world, though she was looking forwards to the music lessons that were being held afterwards.

Calvin laughed aloud as he followed Anya onto the narrower woodland paths. As competitive as he felt, there wasn’t much point trying to race her through the trees. Besides this wasn’t his usual route...she was more in the habit of going into the woods than he was and, although he wouldn’t admit it, he was sort of relying on her to know the way. As for ‘playing his cards right’...well, he knew Anya better than to suppose she was being flirtatious, but that didn’t change the fact that the more good looking girls he could get cheering him on for the game the better it made him look.

“Maybe if you play your cards right,” he called after her between laboured breaths, “you can get your photo taken with the captain of the winning team after the game.”

As the light became more sparse – broken up by the forest ceiling – Calvin’s mind began to wander and his eyes veered off deeper into the woodland. It made him think of the stories he’d heard of years earlier, around the same time he was born, when rogues had attacked the pack house. These woods, the Khöller territory itself, were where the rogues back then had struck from. It was strange to think that the woods were big enough for a whole pack of rogues to stay hidden, even from the patrols? Perhaps security was more lax back then.

He straightened his eyes up just in time to duck an obstructing branch, which Anya had evidently been paying enough attention to avoid in good time.

“Woah...” he grumbled, “hey Anya, not that I’m calling for an easy ride or anything but is there any chance we can get back to the civilised world? I prefer being a lion on the plains to a snake in the grass.”

Calvin broke out of the woods close behind Anya and eased up the pace as they crossed the field approaching the house. He couldn't help but wonder if Anya had deliberately taken him on that little 'adventure trail', but in any case it had certainly broken his body in for the day and put a little adrenaline into his system.

"Better offer?" Calvin grunted, "I'll be disappointed if I find out you went to that beach party with the monkeys, but hey it's a free world. I'll catch you later."

He threw a final glance at the girl before he left. Anya was a stunning specimen of a female, there was no doubt about that. Surely no wolf would consider it bad news to learn that she was his mate. But even looking directly at her, Calvin rankled at the thought. He couldn't help the fact that his mind had already made up about who he was going to be with, and even though that sort of revelation was supposed to take place in the female's mind, he was still sure that his certainty was a 'wolf thing'. Anya would make a fine mate...but she wouldn't make him an alpha. No. She could go to some other lucky pup.

Making his way inside, he took a leisurely shower and prepared to while away the hours before class.

-----

After school...

Calvin left the community school building without his bag. He'd left it inside to pick up later before the game; it was easier that lugging it all the way up the hill to the pack house and back. He was dressed in everyday clothes, but he wasn't aware that the older males every wore anything in particular to go on patrol. What would it matter anyway.

Eagerly, he started walking towards the town square and send Duncan a message.

Hey D I'm out, were you wanna meet for patrol? Lyra will join us after her group.

Lyra blushed at Tabby's mentioning of her trills sounding oriental and glanced away timidly. "Yeah, one of my friends was born in Japan. The move here was rough on him, so I tried comforting him with some songs that may have sounded familiar to him." Lyra chuckled to herself pleasantly. Although she began drifting towards Kiyoshi's culture to comfort to silent boy she had first met him as, it had grown on her in the past few years. The attraction was strong enough that she almost preferred the use of chopsticks to that of western utensils.

Lyra nodded to Tai when she passed the papers out and sent a quick text to Calvin. I'm almost done here. Are we still on for patrol? After hitting send, Lyra was drawn back into Tabby's story with equal portions of confusion and interest.

“Yeah I’d love to do music professionally. Lance runs the music side of the talent camp, and there was this guy passing through said he had a studio here in Connorsford and he wanted to give me some studio time for whatever reason. So yesterday we drove here looking for it but it turns out nobody’s heard of it. I don’t know what’s going on with that.”

"Someone directed you here purposely?" Lyra fidgeted uneasily in her seat, biting her tongue incase there was another slip. Something about this did not sit right with her. It almost felt like someone had purposely sent Tabby to Connorsford. Out of all the towns in the area, the secret werewolf just happened to be sent into a werewolf pack? Lyra shook herself out, trying to dissuade her mind that it was all a big set up. Coincidences did exist. But still. . . It was so close to the full moon.

"That is odd. I just hope you haven't wasted too much time with this wild goose chase. I hope you are able to find what you are looking for at the end. It would be a shame if nothing came out of this." Lyra sighed and ran her hand through her hair. "Things tend to have a weird way of working out in the end, so keep your hopes up. 'Kay?" Lyra smiled and picked up her flute, blowing once as a practice to make sure her lungs were ready before kicking off into the new song.

Calvin was already at the square when he got Duncan’s message, and had barely put his phone away when it beeped again with Lyra’s. That’s cool, he thought. He could go and meet them both in practically the same place. Grinning with satisfying anticipation, he turned around to head towards the community school, but paused after a few steps. There was a strange wolf scent nearby. Was it the same one Duncan had picked up the night before? There was no way he could know. He looked around to identify the source, before he realised that the wolf he could smell wasn’t hiding, but was actually strolling directly towards him. A male in his mid thirties with a mellow smirk on his face.

“Hey there champ.” The man said.

Calvin nodded at him in greeting. They were both males, so it went without saying that they would recognise each other as wolves. Except this other guy wasn’t a member of the Khöller pack.

“Hey,” Calvin responded, “you lookin’ for someone?”

“I was,” the man replied, his smile fixed in place, “some friends actually. But I think there’s been a mix up and now I find myself at a loose end. So I thought I might as well ask one of the...outstanding residents what one of 'our kind' might spend an evening doing to kill some time?”

Calvin smirked at the use of the word ‘outstanding’. Naturally this man was using it as a euphemism for ‘wolf’, but the particular choice of word jived nicely with Calvin’s own perception of the distinction between the town’s human residents, and the wolf pack.

“That’s too bad,” Calvin said, “but yeah there’s stuff happening. You like sport?”

“I like sport just fine.” The man grinned.

“Well there’s a pretty big basketball game happening at the sports hall this evening. I’m captain of the local team and I can promise you a good show.”

“That sounds right up my street,” the man said, “thanks for that, I will be there.”

He walked away casually and Calvin huffed to himself in bemusement. Seems like a nice enough guy, I wonder who he was here to see. Not bothering to reply to either of the text messages, he simply made his way to the community school and propped himself up again the wall, waiting to be spotted by Duncan.

The forest creaked with the movement of life – critters creeped and creepers crittered, scurrying along the terrain of a thick forest floor. The sun was just beginning to fall across the sky closer to the horizon leaving the clouded dome with faint pink and orange illuminated lining, only a few more hours still it set fire in a blazing sunset.

If you wandered through the crowded bush you would find a small woman rested on her rear against a thick ancient tree trunk, one of which had been wrapped in thick deep green vines, the vines – they wound up the base and twisted in intricate patterns until disappearing in the crown of said tree.

There sat Sahvanna her eyes to the sky viewing naked branches which were assorted with the red and orange hued leaves, leave that had been swaying in the autumn breeze, threating to detach and drift to the floor of earth. With a rock in one hand and a short dagger in the other this strange woman ran one along the other in a smooth rhythm, the scrapping sounded about the forest. She wasn’t far from the town now, maybe half a mile.

A large black duffle bag rested at her side, lumpy and foreign, covering the canvas material were small stitched flags. The red white and blue of Czech Republic, France, Yugoslavia, Iceland, and America - The red and yellow of Spain and China – If one knew their flags they would see a vast array of a strange collection: India, Rwanda, Brazil, Germany, Ethiopia, New Zealand, Cambodia, even Antarctica. The most prominent was the Russian flag which was clearly the largest and the only flag with not a speckle of dirt.

Sahvanna took a long lean finger pushing it to the tip of her blade, with the softest touch a small bead of blood bubbled at its tip. A threatening smirk of satisfaction became etched on those plump and luscious lips. Coming to a slow stand the woman placed her blade back in its sheath and tucked it in the waist of her skin tight leather pants. “Is looking aboaht time to go.” She spoke to herself - the rather hefty Russian accent rang in her own ears – She almost missed her little Russian buddy, eh, maybe not.

The natural light of the sky showed the beauty that was Sahvanna. Long chocolate brown hair fell to the small of her back, the shine showing hues of red, thick lips pouted naturally on a narrow face. The body of this woman was of average height standing at five foot five inches, and deep running flattering curves held tight in all the right places. Those curves which drew the eye were coated in sun kissed flesh – flesh which had several faint scars including one of which that ran through her bottom lip to the base of her chin. Her attire consisted of skin tight leather pants which looked as if they had been painted on clinging to the bends of her lower body, knee high loose fitting – steel toed leather boots with gold buckles up the sides, and finally a tight fitting deep V-neck tee - which had smears of dirt and blood.

With her bag heaved over her shoulder long lean legs lead Sahvanna closer to the town – Once breaking from the tree line her speed slowed to something more casual making not a sound, not even to the most sensitive of ears.

There it was – the source of the smell – a building – a school. “Zere ve go.” The words slipped from her mouth like silk as she made her way closer to the entrance and passing two males – Duncan and Calvin. Abnormally bright blue eyes snapped to each in hopes of making eye contact, if the connection had been made her lips would part in a warm welcoming smile; a faint blush of pink rising to the apples of her cheeks. Long delicate fingers would brush the silk of her hair behind her ears as she looked to the ground in a bashful manner.

The sound of Sahvanna’s bag hitting the pavement outside the doors of the community school would echo about the building, ‘Vanna instantly dropped to be seated on her bag – she looked tired with deep dark circles surrounding her eyes – and in truth she was weak with hunger, maybe she should have hunted before coming, but, she had to come – didn’t she?

Calvin was absentmindedly bobbing his head from side to side when he became aware of Duncan approaching. He quickly stood upright and slipped his hands into his pockets semi-casually.

"Hey man." he said, "Yeah I'm all set. Just a routine thing tonight yeah? It'll be good to know the route, having more eyes open in the pack can only be a good th-"

His words trailed off as his eyes slid distinctly to the side, clocking the noteworthy figure who passed by throwing them both a glance. Her unmistakeable she-wolf scent tingled his nostils...again, utterly unfamiliar. Not a part of the local pack. Not that Calvin needed to rely on his wolf senses; hell if she lived in Connorsford he's have remembered seeing her.

The momentary fixation did not, however, stop him from considering how strange it was...

"Hey D," he said in a low voice, "she's the second out-of-town wolf I've seen in ten minutes. You know anything about people visiting?"

Ducan nodded slowly at Calvin's first comment his head tilted at the sound of someone approaching, sniffing slowly his eyes locked on a female wolf the scent matched the one he found in the forest earlier by the stripped down deer in the forest. There was a faint trace of the scent in town too perhaps the young wolf was there too. perhaps he could talk to Tai about the new visitors later on in the day of course he would tell Adrian too.

When he was sure that the new woman had left he spoke " well that older female was the scent I picked up in the forest, and on my walk through town today I caught a young female too she's in there with the other kids, I find it strange that the town has suddenly become popular. We must be cautious Right?" Ducan asked to see if Calvin understood.

Lyra chewed her bottom lip thoughtfully as Tabby spoke, her mind dancing on what the underlying causes anyone could have for sending this poor girl here. Unfortunately, she came up empty handed. As Tai lurched into another tune, Lyra joined in quickly. At first her toe tapped in rhythm to the beat, but she found herself easily distracted by how late it was getting. She did not want to miss patrol with Calvin and Duncan. . . Nor did she wish to sacrifice any time to prepare herself for the party tonight. Unusually, Lyra was not a girl of fashion; a skirt and top were enough for her. For tonight, however, she had purchased a new dress. If she had already gone that far, she might as well go all the way. Although make-up was not her thing. Perhaps she could ask Jac for advice, or use this as an excuse to meet Dante, or. . . Lyra breathed out impatiently, not knowing what she was going to do. This entire event stressed her out enough, including the fact that she had no idea why this mattered to her so much.

As the last note was played, Lyra stood up slowly and collected her belonging. "That was awesome guys. I'm going to head out so I don't hold up Calvin and Duncan, okay Mother?" she asked, turning to Tai for a moment. Lyra glaced to Tabby and smiled, scribbling down her address and phone number and handing it to the girl. "Here's where I live and my cell phone number if you need anything. It was nice meeting you, Tabby. I hope to see you tonight!" Lyra said cheerfully. With a soft wave, she headed out the door to the front preparing to send Calvin another text but saw him nearby and tucked her cell safely away in her bag's pocket.

With a gentle jog she went over to the guys, blinking in surprise to see a female sitting near the door that she hadn't used. She hurried her pace to find Calvin and Duncan, not wanting to keep them waiting anymore. "Hey guys, I'm here. Did you happen to see the girl near the music room?" Lyra asked cautiously. Whereas Tabby seemed innocent at the beginning, something about Sahvanna settled uneasily with Lyra. Once again came the frustration of what race the newcomer was. "Is she a. . . " Lyra cleared her throat softly, not wanting to finish the sentence in case Sahvanna was human.

Calvin raised his eyebrows as Duncan mentions yet another new wolf in town...in the community school with Tai’s music group? Well, the choice of activity certainly made the whole thing seem less ominous. If it was rogues on the advance it hardly seemed likely they’d be joining music groups and attending basketball games. Besides, that guys he’d seen in the square hardly seemed the threatening type. A little sleazy, perhaps, but not dangerous. After all he’s walked away slightly awkwardly, like he had an old injury that caused him pain. Maybe he’d been into sports himself, and that’s why he’d been interested in coming to the game. Calvin mused on it, resolving to try to find out more later.

“Yeah we ought to keep our eyes and ears open.” He said, “At the same time it could be nothing. Not like any of them have done anything worrying yet, and two out of three so far are females.”

Calvin turned to Lyra when she approached, and hastened to be the first to answer her question.

“Yeah she is.” He said, “And there’s at least two more outsiders in town as well. One of them was in there with you, we believe. Know anything about that?”

He gave one last curious glance at the female stood by the school building. He had to admit that she looked like a classic honeytrap, but he didn’t want to say so in front of Lyra.

---------

Tai dismissed the rest of the group shortly after Lyra and Tabby left, and patiently started to put the equipment back as she found it. Naturally she had to be the last one out so she could lock up and set the alarm. As she went through the procedure her mind rolled over all the things that had to be done. She’d prepared a whole buffet of food which just needed to be laid out, or in some cases heated up, ready for Reina’s birthday.

After about ten minutes she was ready, and stepped outside, closing and locking the door behind her.

Lyra nodded to Calvin's question, glancing back at the school building unconsciously to watch Tabby leave the building. Her gaze lingered on the other female that appeared to be waiting for someone. She turned back to Calvin and Duncan casually, wondering what they thought of the new female. She defiantly was not what you saw every day in Connorsford, she could already see the heads spinning at Vanna's looks. "Yeah, Tabby joined the music group. She's definitely a wolf, Tai confirmed it, but if it's worth any input Tabby doesn't know what she is." Lyra paused to give the boys a chance to react to this before continuing. She never referred to Tai as "Mother" when not speaking to her directly, a subtle indication of the rift formed between mother and daughter. That, and Lyra did not want to appear better than anyone else in the pack due to her heritage.

"Tabby went to a monthly music camp back in her town; conveniently whenever the full moon was around. And she said that her town was set up like ours with a pack house. She's been kept ignorant of what she is. Tai and I think something may be up with her coming around here so close to the full moon. Not to mention the fact that someone sent her here on a wild goose chase for some production studio that doesn't even exist. She's here with a human, Lance, claiming to be her uncle." Lyra hesitated before added her last piece about Tabby into the conversation. She was going to forget about it in general, but decided it was better for it to be put out into the open. "I invited her over for the party tonight. Before you say anything, the poor girl has been traveling in a car with Lance for who knows how long. She just needs a good place to rest her head for the night and plan her next move."

Lyra sighed and tussled her hair, giving Vanna a final look and then stepping closer to the woods in anticipation. "If anything, it will be good for Tabby to spend some time with her own kind. Are you guys ready yet? You can gossip and drool over the new comer later," she teased, sending Calvin a soft smile.

Ducan watched as Vanna introduced herself to Tai, he found Vanna to be nonthreatnas of yet he didn't really want to endanger the female alpha. He looked over to Lyra and nodded. " sure come on Calvin, Anya convinced me to go to a birthday and I said I go so we can get this done in about half an hour that all right with you?" he asked walking up to Lyra turning his head slightly still watching the community centre incase anything developed between the two female before he left.

Turning back to Lyra he spoke " so this girl Tabby hr parents have been hiding this from herr all this time, poor kid, she is going to panic when she recieves her wolf " he commented

Calvin frowned when Duncan said he was meeting Anya for the party, knowing that meant she’d obviously decided not to come along to his game. Ah well, he thought, she probably had a crisis of conscience about not being there for Ray’s birthday. Calvin himself didn’t have a choice of course; he had to go to the game.

He laughed out loud when Lyra mentioned about ‘Tabby’ not knowing her own nature as a wolf.

“Are you serious?” he scoffed, “What’s going on? Wolves hanging out with humans, wolves thinking they are humans. Seriously messed up. See this is why we need to be getting involved with stuff like this, so at least some of us are remembering what it means to be what we are.”

Saying nothing about the fact that he wouldn’t be attending Ray’s party because of his game, he peered towards the older female loitering outside the school, and wondered to himself if she knew she was a wolf. Given her age, it seemed likely that she would have ‘recieved her wolf’ and at least been made aware of her mate...as to whether she’d actually ever been mated was something nobody could tell without asking or witnessing them shift. His eyes shifted back to Lyra and he smirked.

“Pah,” he said, “forget her. I’d rather spend my time with some people who I know are real wolves. Lead the way Duncan.”

The route initially took them along the edge of town before snaking up onto the hillside. Being in the forest gave Calvin a tingle of excitement, and he threw his mind ahead to the full moon when everyone would congregate in the glade and shift together. Sure, the purpose of it was to make sure it took place out of sight of any humans, but the communal aspect of it was still emphasised heavily in their classes.

“Shame we can’t do this in wolf form.” He mused out loud, “Could cover ground twice as quickly. Bet you look forward to receiving your wolf, huh Lyra? Should be quite impressive in your case.”

Lyra smiled as Duncan mentioned that he would be accompanying Anya to the party. It would be good for him to have some fun for one. As beta, Lyra thought of Duncan as a second father to herself. Whenever Adrian hadn't been around, his second in command was only a call away. She felt bad for Duncan, though, struggling with decaying patience at his mate to reveal herself to him. This must have been a challenge for any male, the waiting period of uncertainty and confusion at the female that would choose him. All the boys were at the mating age, and girls for that matter. Would everyone be ready when the time came? Lyra sighed softly, wondering if she was ready.

“Pah,” Calvin said, “forget her. I’d rather spend my time with some people who I know are real wolves. Lead the way Duncan.” Lyra returned Calvin's smirk, laughing slightly as she did so. She was grateful for the excursion into the woods. It gave her a time to think, to fully consider the options that laid before her. And she was glad to have Calvin with her also. She did not feel that they spent enough time together. He never once doubted that she could one day reach the title alpha. All throughout her life he was always there, right beside her. Lyra trusted him as a confidant, blinded by her own ambitions to realize that he was there beside her intentionally. She never saw that he was hoping for more than she could ever give him. To her, Calvin was just someone she could be herself with, someone who would listen, and someone she could trust. Sure, he may have his disagreements with Kiyoshi, but Lyra did not expect everyone in her life to fit together perfectly. Perhaps she could help the two work through their differences. She chuckled to this though, smiling to Calvin, biting her lower lip shyly to his next comment, "Shame we can’t do this in wolf form.” He mused out loud, “Could cover ground twice as quickly. Bet you look forward to receiving your wolf, huh Lyra? Should be quite impressive in your case.”

Lyra's gaze tilted toward the sky, allowing the last few rays of daylight to strike her features. "You'll just have to be patient for a little bit longer, Calvin to find out what my wolf form looks like. I am excited, I think every female is when it comes time. It's different for us than you guys, the waiting and anxiety over who hold the key to unlock us. But," she smiled softly in hesitation, her eyes darting around the forest. "You guys might get a new addition to the pack run for this moon."

So few words had enough impact to send Calvin into a dizzying stupor, though he tried not to be too transparent about it, taking a deep breath and retaining his outward composure. What did she mean? By the next moon...really? That was just a few nights away. Which could mean that she was planning on telling her mate very soon...and might that be a hint that she needed to speak with Calvin alone, away from Duncan? Is that why she'd agreed to come on this patrol?

Or it could mean that she had already told her mate...which was such a repulsive idea that Calvin could scarcely get his mind to entertain it. More than anything he hated how the words "you guys" seemed to include himself, and refer to 'recipients' of a new wolf rather than 'participants' in the inaugeration of a new wolf...No, it couldn't possibly be that. It must be that his first impression at the dinner table was correct; this increased interest in pack duty was a portent by their wolves, and the pack's destiny was soon to be revealed...

He took another deep breath and eventually spoke, as they made their way deeper into the forest.

"Really, huh?" he said casually, "Well goodness knows we could use it. If you mean what I think you mean, then do yourself a favour and don't waste time over it. Destiny waits for nobody, that's what I say. And the moon's pretty close; anybody actin' on it at this stage it cuttin' it pretty fine."

His heart was throbbing with anticipation...as well as desperation. More than most males, it was especially difficult to accept that the mate situation was completely outside of his control.

" I agree..." Duncan began as he lead the two along a path through the forest that forked into differents sections all going past the territory border he pointed down one of the paths " this path goes past our borders I wouldn't recommend going there in case you want to meet some dangerous wolves, so well be be going this was just a half mile to the border to the left and straight ahead, and I do occasionally patrol in my wolf form but staying as a human gives me time to think we as me in wolf form in concentrating on everything, but I am concentrating now though don't worry" Duncan reassured as he maintained a reasonable pace, he looked to Lyra and smiled " it's good that you are positive Lyra you need to be positive before a full moon otherwise it seems to be more painful if you panic about something." he added looking back to the path ahead. Duncan paused suddenly his ears picking up a sound he lifted his hand telling everyone to stop, he sniffed rapidly trying to pin the smell it was far away but seemed to be approaching on the border, he looked around he didn't really want to shift into his wolf form just yet incase it was a false alarm, Duncan stood still and watched.

Lyra looked to Calvin, surprised by his encouragement in revealing who her mate was. The possibility that he was anticipating it to be himself never crossed her mind. Calvin was Calvin. He was the type of brother she would be proud to have, rather than the lazy, unmotivated one that James turned out to be. Loosing Alpha to Calvin wouldn't be as much as a disgrace as looking to James would be.

She smiled to the boys, running her hand through her midnight hair in thought. "Thanks, Duncan. I'll try to remember that. Adrian mentioned some wolves around, right? Do you think they would try to invade the pack territory? And Calvin," she said, patting his shoulder softly with a warm smile spreading across her face. "Thanks for the advice. I think I'll take it actually. You are right, if I wait any longer, I'll miss the moon. It only comes once a month," she giggled, adding a wink. Her golden eyes were dancing with confidence, her features elegant with the soundless bells even when trekking through the woods. "Calvin, you have a game tonight, right? It's a shame you'll have to miss Ray's party."

"No way." Calvin answered the question ahead of Duncan. "Not without us seeing them coming. Pack our size, it'd be a full scale war to try to take us on and even rogues wouldn't risk drawing that kind of attention."

He said it with confidence, taking upon his own generation some of the pride in the events from eighteen years earlier. But it was true. The Khöller pack was large and well established. Not the kind of target picked by have-a-go rogue bandits.

Lyra's words did nothing to placate him on the whole. He would have preferred if the words "I think I'll take it" had been accompanied by a sense of immediacy...like she meant in the next ten to fifteen minutes or so...

"Yeah yeah..." he continued absentmindedly, "...tell Ray I'm sorry I couldn't make it. It's a big game tonight."

He was actually more inclined to feel that it was a shame more people couldn't come and watch the game because of Ray's party, but naturally he didn't say so. Just then Duncan stopped. Calvin halted and listened carefully. He couldn't pick out anything obvious.

"What's up D?" he said in a cautiously low voice.

Duncan didn't answer Calvin immediately, and the three of them stood in the woods listening intently. Such was the silence that even the vibration of Duncan's muted phone was enough to make them all jolt with surprise. Duncan answered the phone and listened to Galvin's notification.

"You serious?" he said, "That's strange because I thought I picked something up too. OK, well thanks for letting me know, I'll see if we can track it at all."

He put the phone away and looked at Calvin and Lyra. "Gavin said there's been a sighting of an outsider in wolf form down by the beach. It's not there now."

"What's that mean then?" Calvin gruffed.

"It means I'm going to cut the patrol short and go to investigate." Duncan said curtly, "And that means not taking you two. I know you could handle yourselves, but Adrian would have my had if I took anyone who wasn't response-enabled yet. Especially his daughter...no disrespect Lyra."

Calvin was about to object. This seemed like an excellent opportunity to prove himself...but the beach wasn't exactly close by, and if it turned out to be a wild goose chase it would waste more time than he could afford to lose without making himself late for the game.

"Alright." he answered obligingly, and turned to Lyra, "I guess I'll go with Lyra back to the house. Not that she needs protecting, but if there's strange wolves on the loose then it's a simple fact that she could probably use my nose. It just makes sense right?"

Lyra felt her fist clench as Duncan refused to continue the patrol. "No disrespect Lyra." That simple sentence flashed daggers through her golden eyes. No disrespect? Is that what the pack thought of females without their wolves? A hassle to tag along, just another damsel in distress to protect and flaunt once mated? The entire process sickened her. Perhaps, the thought that sickened her the most was the realization that they were correct. Although Lyra could hold her own against any human or male in the pack house, without her wolf she was utterly defenseless. A wolf could be stalking her right now and she would have no idea until it was too late. If James had been her instead of her, surely Duncan would have allowed him to tag along.

She sighed heavily, her eyes falling to the ground in defeat and inner pain. Her wolf, that was a joke. She could feel it laughing at her in this moment, taunting her with how close, and yet how far it truly was from her grasp. "Oh, all right," she snarled, her pride bent and broken. No matter how hard she tried, she never truly could be 'one of the boys' while she remained in only one form. "I guess you're right, I wouldn't want to slow anyone down," she stabbed violently with her tongue, turning and walking briskly back to the house. She crossed her arms and hurried away, not caring if her bells rang out with every step. She hated the fact that she was without her wolf, but she hated even more how childishly she was acting. All through her mind, four taunting words repeated endlessly: Lyra is a girrrrrl.