"Home? What are you two even doing in the country!? I am already home, and you two should be back at the pack house. You shouldn't be here!" Alex's voice carried through the forest, and he looked around himself, just to double check that no one was listening in on their conversation.
The two guys seemed unfazed by Alex's outburst, both standing before him, full of confidence.
"This isn't your home anymore Alex, you should know that by now," Cole told him with an emotionless voice.
"You belong with the pack, in Italy. Not here," Archer told him, "these people don't understand you. These people will hurt you if they find out what you know, or you could hurt them Alex."
Alex shook his head. "I wouldn't hurt my family."
Archer stepped forward, causing Alex to move back, stepping on the leaves and grass which lined the forest floor. "You can't control it, little one," he said in a low voice.
Alex had always hated the nickname of 'little one', it made him feel young and small, and he was absolutely sure that the effect was exactly what Archer had desired. Alex wasn't young, nor was he small, he was taller than Archer, but as a wolf he was young. He was the youngest wolf in the pack that he knew of, and Archer had just loved that fact, Alex knew it. Archer loved to be in charge, and so naturally he opposed Alex's good nature and natural leadership qualities. Archer wanted to be the leader of others, and Alex knew that he envied the Alphas power. He wasn't Alpha, but Archer was second in charge, and loving it.
"Don't you remember what happens when you get angry, when you get upset?" Archer continued, and Alex was suddenly angered. Of course he knew, of course he remembered what he had done.
Alex opened his mouth to reply but Cole spoke first.
"Do you remember that night, you hurt people Alex. Don't you remember?"
"Don't I remember? I remember what I did every single night before I fall asleep, I remember their screams! I have done everything to make sure that what happened that night never happens again. I cut all my ties, I never get angry, I never let myself do anything because of that night!"
"You can try, but you can't control it Alex. One day you will make a mistake, and you will hurt people you love. You are alone here, when you shift you won't be able to control what you do, and you will become a danger to everyone around you and even yourself. If you change because of anger, even just once, you could hurt your mother or even your brother."
Alex opened his mouth to refute the words, but it was no use. He knew that what Archer was saying was the truth.
"Come with us Alex," Cole pled, allowing only a sliver of emotion to enter his voice.
"Why do you want me to come back to Italy? It can't be for my benefit." Alex almost rolled his eyes, there was no way that Archer would come across the world to help a fellow wolf, even if they were supposed to be in the same pack.
"We are pack brothers Alex," Archer spoke almost convincingly well, pouring emotion into his tone, "we just want to help you, we want our pack to be together, to help each other, not be separated into different continents."
"That's a lie. Why are you really here?"
Archer's sympathetic expression instantly turned into a sly grin, "Well at least you aren't an idiot." Cole shot Archer an unimpressed look.
"Alpha sent us," Cole mumbled out.
"Of course he did," Alex muttered. 'I told him I was going home, I told him that I couldn't stay in Italy and he told me I could come home, he said that I could go home to my family, to my friends."
"Things have changed Alex, and we need you," Cole told him.
"Changed how?" Alex asked.
"More packs have moved into the area and the woods are starting to be urbanised. The packs have been fighting, fighting each other for land and out of frustration. We need all of our strong wolves with us, and you are one of them."
"Go make more wolves then," Alex huffed out, standing his ground.
"You were created by the Alpha," Archer explained. "That means that you are a beta, like me. The Alpha can only create a few Beta's a year, it drains their power too much, so that means that we need you."
"You have enough wolves," Alex told them with a sigh. "Your pack is the largest in the area."
Cole spoke up. "The pack is ours, ours Alex. You are just as much a part of it as we are."
"Our pack isn't the largest anymore, the forests are being urbanised, and you must know the importance of the pack house being in a remote part of the forest. Wolves fight, it's in our nature, and with this many wolves in the area we are in danger. We are at war Alex, and we, well, we need you. Alpha says that in the time you were there you showed potential, a lot of it." Archer told him, quieting down at the 'need you' part of it.
Alex may have not made any close friendships in the short time he spent at the pack house, but there were good people there, he knew that. There were women and children who needed to be protected, and he seemed to have gained an inherent need to protect those in his pack. He almost considered going with them, but then he remembered the other people in the pack, the ones who used their abilities to take advantage of others, those who killed for fun, those who stood by and watched as Alex had done unspeakable things in a mess of anger and unexplored abilities.
"I am not going with you. I'm sorry, and I truly hope that things work out with the pack, but I left the pack the moment I stepped on that plane. Go back to Italy, go protect the pack."
Alex turned and tried to continue on his way through the forest, but suddenly a low growl sounded from behind him.
Alex turned back around to see that Archer's expression had turned livid and fierce.
The sight caused Alex to growl back with a dangerous look in his eyes.
"Calm down, brothers."
Cole's words seemed to calm Archer enough to take a few breaths. He then spoke, in a loud, harsh tone. "We have been ordered by Alpha to bring you back. The Alphas orders are not a joke. We are not leaving here without you."
"I don't answer to the Alpha anymore, and, I won't hesitate to hurt you, brother."
"Stop this." Cole pressed his arm across Archer's chest for a moment, creating a barrier between the two boys, if only for a second. Archer stepped back hastily away from the arm, sending Cole a dangerous glance for a moment.
"Alex," Cole began, "the pack is what is most important here. You are coming with us. You want a few days to say goodbye, to prepare. That is alright. There is no choice in this. We have already enrolled into your school, we will be following you, we will know if you try to get away from us, and even if you do we will find you. Orders are orders, and you have two weeks. That is the best we can do. Then you will come with us."
"No." Alex growled out. "I am not coming with you."
"Two weeks, little one." Archer told him. "And then you are coming with us."
The two guys turned around, walking back through the forest and leaving Alex alone.
Anger bubbled up into Alex's chest, until all he could think about was the emotion. His hands started shaking and his fury seemed to engulf him, making his already racing heart beat so fast it felt like it was moments away from popping out of his chest. He was going to shift, he could feel it. He felt it in every inch of his body.
He had to calm down, he had to stop it. He had only changed a handful of times since he came back from Italy, and each day it got harder to keep it from happening. He had to stop it, he had to stop the shift. Shifting due to over emotion was dangerous, he needed to stop the anger, he had to think of the people he loved.
He thought of his mother, he thought of his brother and he thought of Carter.
After a few minutes he had managed to get his heart rate down, and he pressed his back up against a tree, breathing heavily.He wasn't planning on ever going back to the pack house and he desperately needed to figure out a plan, but he couldn't think of that right now. Instead, he breathed in the scent of the forest, letting the fresh air bathe his lungs and allowing the energy of nature to enter his body. It only took a few moments for him to be back to his usual, calm self.
Alex pulled his cell from his pocked and noticed that he had over five minutes to get to school, which he would make easily. He kept walking, weaving in between the trees as he headed towards the direction of the school. This gave him a few minutes to think over the unexpected situation he had walked into that morning.
Alex figured that he should have known it was too good to be true for him to be a wolf yet not a part of a pack, and to be able to live with his family and go to school with his friends. Withdrawing from them had been for their safety, and it had killed Alex, but he was able to do it. To leave, to not see his family every day and to not know whether everyone was safe was too much to handle.
The thought of someone taking his life away from him like that awakened some primal instinct inside of Alex. He was not going to go down without a fight. The pack was important but his family and their safety were more important.
Suddenly Alex realised that he was standing outside of the school, students streaming past him as they made their way towards the main building.
One student caught his eye, the boy was casually making his way towards the main doors, a look that was almost sad on his face, a dark bruise placed just under his eye. The silver ring on his finger shined under the sunlight and caught Alex's eye.
Carter.
There was no way that Alex was leaving.
He had to protect Carter, even if they weren't together.
Wolves protected their family, it ran through their bodies like blood. It was stamped into their brains. It underlined every thought and decision. Alex would protect his family from any danger, and that included himself. Being in Italy may have made the danger he presented stop, but there was an entire world out there of creatures in the dark and Alex was going to protect his family. That family, for Alex, wasn't his pack, it was his mother, brother and Carter.
Alex suddenly realised that he was working himself up again, his heart race increasing and his hands shaking.
"Woah Alex, calm down dude. You having some sort of a reaction?" Jake was suddenly standing before Alex, and the words shocked Alex into calming himself down enough to focus on what was going on.
He still hadn't moved from where he stood on the sidewalk before the school, Jake and William, two of his friends were standing before him, both looking as high as kites.
"Dude what did you take? Cause I want some," William laughed, slapping Alex on the back lightly as he kept walking towards the school.
Alex turned to Jake and the first thing he noticed was his obviously bloodshot eyes, that and the bag of chips he had held between his fingers. Alex almost laughed at the fact his friend was high before school had even started. Jake wasn't exactly a good person, but their friendship was the best thing for Alex. There was no emotion involved in their friendship, therefore no chance that Alex would shift and hurt him. Well, that had been true until the day before when he had found Carter and Roxy on the ground with Jake standing over them. It had taken everything he had not to transform out of anger right then and there. He couldn't let anything like that happen again, but generally people stayed away from Jake and his friends and that's what Alex needed, to have the least human interaction as possible. The access to drugs didn't hurt either, they made it harder to shift and kept Alex calm.
'Come on man,' Jake nodded towards the school, and Alex followed him.
He hoped that Archer and Cole were lying when they were talking about joining the school, but something told him that these boys weren't playing around. They weren't going to leave him alone, but Alex was going to stand his ground. He had to. He refused to go back to Italy, to the pack, where little value was placed on life, human or otherwise, and where he would never live the normal life he wanted.
Alex had just walked up the schools front steps when he smelt them, identifying the two boys immediately. Alex turned his head, and had to hold back a growl as he saw Archer and Cole walking towards the school.
Cole held a neutral expression but Archer smiled the second he met Alex's eyes, a cruel smile that said you-aren't-getting-out-of-this.
Well, Alex was damn sure going to try.