02

Just imagining the looks of joy on his parents faces if he were chosen as a future Beta made him want to gag. Darren wasn’t a sheep. He no longer sought his parents approval, and doubted he could ever out rank his spoiled little sister whom they seemed to focus all their affection on.

His pack had never done anything for him in his life. At home, his parents wanted him to serve the pack obediently. At school, he was virtually invisible. To his bullies, he was a plaything that even the teachers ignored when roughed up. Why would he want to serve the pack when the pack never gave him a reason to ?

Glaring out his bedroom window, he thought about the black sheep of the family. His Uncle Donny. His parents never liked talking about him because he abandoned the pack to become a rogue, but Darren kind of looked up to the guy. He understood why he’d want to leave. He probably got fed up with the obedience bullshit too.

He was nearly seventeen, so he was technically old enough to live on his own. He’d just need a job and a place to stay for a while. Out of everyone in the pack, he knew of only one person who could help him.

That night, after his parents had gone to bed, he snuck out of the house and made his way down the street to his aunt Sophie’s place. She was his mothers sister, and the two women didn’t quite get along, which made him like her all the more.

He knocked on the door a few times, shivering in the October weather with his thin T-shirt and jeans. It was starting to get cold out, but his winter clothes were still packed up in the storage unit.

Eventually the lights flickered on and his bewildered aunt answered. Her dark black hair streamed over her shoulders messily, and she stood wrapped in a fluffy grey robe. She was thin and taller than his mother Emma was. The woman was always kind to Darren whenever he popped up to vent. On more than one occasion he was tempted to tell her about his ability, but he had always held back.

« Darren ? What are you doing out at this hour ? It’s passed midnight ! And… » She squinted at him as the light of her porch illuminated the newly blossomed bruise on his nose. « Oh sweetheart, just come in already. » She waved him in and quickly closed the door to keep the cold air out.

He made his way to the living room and sat down on one of her red leather couches. Next to the TV was a squat shelf full of books on the occult. Some of the books had very on-the-nose titles such as ‘Tarot for Beginners’, ‘Palm Reading’, and ‘Wicca : Book of Spells’.

Maybe it was because Sophie had never found a mate or had any kids of her own, but one thing was for sure. She always gave Darren her full attention whenever he visited.

« Tell me what happened. » She ordered gently as she sat beside him, and Darren proceeded to recount the entire day, up to his mother slapping him.

Sophie swore under her breath at that part, but didn’t interrupt until he was done.

« I want to leave. I don’t want to be part of this pack anymore. »

She shook her head worriedly. « Where do you think you’ll go ? »

« That’s why I’m here. I was hoping you could tell me where Uncle Don lived ? »

Sophie’s eyes widened, then furrowed as she understood what he was planning. She seemed conflicted at first. Even though Darren was old enough to live on his own, leaving the pack without the Alpha’s consent was considered borderline treason. On the other hand, the Alpha was part of the reason why he was leaving. There had been a time when he had the guts to try and speak with the man directly about how Jasper treated him. It was during one of their summer festivals, but the man had shooed him off, saying it was inappropriate to try and make another pack member look bad at such a public event.

He refused to ask for permission from a man like that. He was not his alpha.

« Oh Darren… » She finally made her mind up. Probably because she was familiar with his situation thanks to Don, but regardless of the reason, she wrote down his address and number on a napkin.

« I’ll let him know you’re coming for a visit. When you get there, it’ll be up to you to convince him to let you stay. I’ll deal with your parents. » She smiled sorrowfully. « You know how they’ll treat you if you ever return, right ? »

Darren nodded, unbothered. At the time, he had no intention of returning.

It took a few hours for the bus to arrive at his destination. There was a small town on the outskirts of his pack called Red Point. The humans who lived there had no problems with their supernatural neighbors. It was a rare symbiotic relationship where the local police agreed to keep their presence a secret as long as the pack caused no harm to the humans.

Ages ago, a werewolf pack would only contain a few members in a makeshift family, but as the world advanced, so did werewolves. Now when someone spoke about a werewolf pack, they generally meant an entire town. This was because Alphas began purchasing land far away from human society to build remote villages for their packs to live safely. The larger a pack’s population was, the less likely they’d be raided by enemies. Naturally over time these small villages grew to the size of entire towns. Now it was a common practice to meet a population size of at least 200 before they could be properly labeled a pack. Anything smaller would be considered a rogue community.

Every now and then despite their size, these remote packs would find themselves the target of wandering enemies. Of course the Alpha had to be strong enough to defend the town, but they were only one person. To help fortify their packs, Alphas started collecting werewolves with rare abilities to become their obedient Beta’s. What’s more, in order to become the next Alpha you had to meet certain criteria from a young age and then undergo training. It’d be stupid to just hand the title down from father to son if the son was incompetent after all.

This was how modern werewolves survived.

Stepping off the bus, Darren took a deep breath of fresh pine before getting body slammed.

Dropping his bags, he stumbled for a few steps trying to regain his balance before the culprit finally let go and stood back. Sophie’s long black hair was now cut short and dyed purple, with thick black eyeliner accentuating her eyes. She was skinnier than he remembered, but still lively.

« Aunt Sophie ! » Darren smiled at her. « It’s been ages ! »

« Hasn’t it ? » She smirked, amused by her own antics. She then gave him a once over before whistling. « Look who filled out, and was that muscle I felt on those scrawny bones of yours ? »

Years ago, Darren was as much of a twig as his father was. After leaving the pack to live with his uncle Don he started working multiple jobs so he could save up to go back to school one day. It just so happened that those jobs were all labor intensive, like his construction job. Over the years he had filled out nicely, though his clothes still made him look a bit weak. What’s more, he grew his hair out passed his shoulders and currently had it tied back in a ponytail. His clothes were just as plain as ever though, with a black band shirt and skinny jeans with sneakers.

« Maybe. » He replied as he picked his bags back up. « So when are you going to tell me what the emergency is ? It’s kind of annoying that you didn’t say anything on the phone. »

He had sworn that he’d never return to the pack, but a few nights ago he received a very distressing call from his aunt. She was very cryptic about her reasoning, but she insisted that Darren return ASAP. Naturally he wanted to argue, but his uncle had sat him down and explained how Sophie wouldn’t ask something like that from him if it wasn’t important. So he gave in and agreed to visit.

She sucked in a breath and held it, then glanced around suspiciously. « Let’s head back to my place before we talk about that. » She then led him to her green Subaru Forester and began driving into the forest towards their home town of Parkwood.

For their protection, the pack had no major roadways in or out of it. Anyone visiting the pack had to stop in Red Point first and hitch a ride from there. That way no one would accidentally show up and blow their cover.

The trees in this area were huge and thick, making it difficult for anything but wildlife to find their way in the foliage. As he watched the trees pass by, he spotted a small herd of deer grazing in the distance, just barely visible from the road. He also spotted a turtle trying to cross, which Sophie swerved to avoid.

Then he saw it. Just a little ways away from the road, mostly hidden by the trees, was the figure of a man. He looked to be in his fifties and was standing in hunting gear, his body partially transparent.

As the car passed, Darren couldn’t help but notice how the ghost was staring him down intently. He raised an arm and began pointing deeper into the forest as though trying to say something.

A shiver ran down his spine.

It’s not like Darren had never had that happen before. Every once in a while he’d encounter a ghost that somehow automatically knew he could see them. It unsettled him to see one so close to the pack though. Hopefully this one wouldn’t haunt him like others have.