Becca had just finished her breakfast. The empty bowl of oatmeal, orange rind, and a crushed box of juice was all that remained on the tray. She had been resting and playing dumb since she realized she was in trouble. 

All of the wounds she had were healed and her strength had come back. What truly amazed her the most was that the skin didn’t even have a blemish let alone a scar from what she knew was a gunshot wound. She might not have seen them on a daily basis but she did know what they looked like. Something weird might be going on with her but she had more important things to worry about at the moment. So she simply added it to the ever-expanding list of things that didn’t match up since that night.

She had been trying to get the nurse who checked on her to trip her up on what she had been telling Becca. She’d asked questions about her parents’ conditions, when she could visit them, who was handling the funeral arrangements for her friends, and why she hadn’t been allowed a room with a view. Heck, she even started asking about how the high school football team had been doing.

Becca had to give the woman credit at least. She had been able to keep her stories straight. If Becca hadn’t known the truth about Kyle, Richard, and most of the town, she was sure she’d probably have accepted it as fact and not the blatant lies they actually were.

Someone sure went to a lot of trouble over me. I don’t know what their game is but I am fed up with being a pawn in it. It’s time I became a player instead. Getting up off the bed, she started stretching as she prepared for a grueling workout.

 

***

 

It was 4:00 in the morning when an old-fashioned ringing alarm clock went off next to Kyle’s head. Totally unexpecting the raucous bells, Kyle did a combination leap/tumble/fall out of the bed. Trying to get himself out of the tangled bedsheets, he was able to poke his head out to see Kurt standing at the open door fully dressed and sipping a mug of coffee.

“There’s some sweat clothes in the bottom dresser drawer for you. Breakfast is on the table. You’ve got thirty minutes to shower, dress, eat, and get outside. If you’re not there on the dot, we’re done.” He left the room before Kyle even had a chance to speak.

Kyle sprinted to the shower. He was just about done before the water had really had a chance to heat up. He toweled himself on the run back to his room, silently thanking God that there wasn’t anyone else up, and opened the dresser. He found a couple of pairs of dark gray sweatpants, a stack of folded white T-shirts, boxers, socks, and a shoebox with a brand-new pair of running shoes. He hurriedly dressed and ran to the kitchen. After scarfing down a few eggs and some bacon, he downed a glass of orange juice and sprinted back down the hallway to the tavern below. He made it outside with only a couple minutes left on the clock.

Kurt looked up from his watch and merely grunted. He then turned to Ayla who was standing next to him. “He’s all yours. You know where I’ll be.”

“Have fun dear.” She leaned up and pecked him on the cheek. As he walked away, she gave him a swift slap to the butt. Kurt didn’t even react but Ayla’s grin was wide enough to split her face. 

Kyle tried not to look confused but Ayla answered the unspoken question. “I’ll be your trainer for a little while until you’re up to snuff. Kurt’s morning runs are probably a bit too much for you right now. Thus, I’m here to get you up to speed.”

“Gotta crawl before I can walk?”

Ayla nodded. “Pretty much. How did the clothes work out?”

“Pretty great. I’m just wondering how you knew my sizes.”

“You forgot we washed your clothes, didn’t you? It wasn’t hard to read the tags.”

Kyle blushed. “Oh. Right. It’s been a long time since anyone else has done my laundry that I forgot those things were there.”

“Ah, the joys of bachelorhood. I remember those. Mark and Mara are out doing a shopping trip picking you up some more regular clothes too since you’ll be with us for a while. That is assuming you make it through to the end that is.” She nodded over to an old antique triangle hanging from a rafter. Kyle had thought it was just part of the western-style decor but it was brightly polished and shining in the dawn light. “If you ever want to quit, ring that. You’ll then have a half hour to pack and get moving before Kurt comes for a second challenge fight. Understood?”

Kyle nodded. “Just like the SEALs and their bell.”

“Where do you think they got the idea from? Someone had to teach it to them.”

Kyle’s eyes boggled at that. Ayla laughed again. “Oh, it wasn’t me.” She nodded to the departing figure of her husband. “He’s had quite the life you know. If you survive, he might even end up telling you about some of it.”

“I see.” Kyle was slightly worried about just what he had gotten himself into but he had agreed to this and he’d see it through, no matter the cost. “Also, I’ll pay you back for the clothes and board. If I have some free time, I can fix up the place or find an odd job or two around here. Someone’s got to have a busted chair or leaky faucet somewhere.”

Ayla waved the offer off. “Don’t worry about it. You’re going to be paying us back in sweat, tears, and blood.” Her grin turned mischievous. “Though, if you are serious about fixing up a few things around here, I’ve got some ideas. We’ll just see if you’re up to it when we’re through with you. I know just how much stamina a Wolf has and you better believe I intend on running you ragged.” Her tone turned serious. “Now, we’ve wasted enough time. Let’s begin with some basic stretches and warm-ups. After that, we’re going running.”

“Okay. How far?”

Ayla’s voice took on a commanding tone, each word tinged with ice. “When I say stop. Is that clear enough?”

Kyle instinctively snapped up straight, his eyes fixed on a point over Ayla’s shoulder. “Crystal.” Why did I even do that? I’ve never been in the military.

You seriously want to argue that point, hotshot?

Hell no. 

***

 

Almost two hours later, Kyle’s chest and legs were on fire. He had lost count of how many miles they’d covered after the fifth road marker. After about forty-five minutes, he had completely zoned out and focused solely on the never-ending blacktop and the woman in front of him. It took all he had just to keep pace with her. She wasn’t even breathing hard. Ayla would occasionally glance back at him to see if he was lagging behind but that was about it. About fifteen minutes into the run, he had let his gaze drift down to her shapely figure as her firm curves moved under her sweatpants. Ayla then called out, never once turning her head, “Quit staring at my ass, Cub. You’ve got more important things to think about. Breathing for one. Now pick up the pace!” Kyle quickly locked his eyes on the swaying blonde ponytail and struggled to keep up with her steady, unyielding pace.

They made a giant loop around the tavern by crossing various backroads interspersed with the main road. A few cars would pass them by and Ayla even waved to some of the drivers, who returned it. By the time they had reached the Howling Moon a fifth time, Kyle finally collapsed. His legs were jelly as each breath sent a plume of fire down his tortured lungs. His shirt was translucent from the amount of sweat that poured off him. He tried to stand but his legs gave out once more. Ayla jogged over to him, the only sign of exertion on her part was a thin bead of sweat on the crown of her head. She looked down at him and nodded. “Ok. Now I know what I have to work with. The good news is that you went further than I expected. I figured you’d have dropped by the third lap. Want to hear the bad news?”

Gasping, Kyle nodded. “I was taking it easy on you. If I was really trying, you’d have dropped by lap two.” Kyle groaned as Ayla chuckled. “I’m going to get you some water and then Kurt will take over for a bit.” As she walked away, she called out again, “If I were you, I’d keep the part of you staring at my ass a secret.” Kyle winced and frantically looked around for a very angry Wolf about to pounce on him as Ayla’s laughter rang across the lot.

 

***

 

Kyle was just finishing downing an entire gallon jug of water by the time Kurt showed up. He had Kyle follow him back to the clearing where they had fought. Kyle went instantly on alert and Kurt just scoffed at the young man.

“Not today, Cub. You’ve got a long way to go before we start any kind of combat training.” He pointed to the turf. “Sit down.” Kyle recognized the tone of an Alpha and instantly obeyed, sitting cross-legged in the grass.

Kurt took a matching position a few feet from him and faced the younger Wolf. His eyes were once again the flint-like brown that had Kyle trembling slightly. He didn’t understand why but he was being affected at an almost instinctual level. 

Kurt softly growled and then shook his head in disappointment. “I don’t know where you learned your Wolfcraft, Cub, but there’s one thing I’m certain of. It sucks.”

Kyle instantly growled in return. He couldn’t help himself. “Pops did a fine job. It’s not his fault I was a bad student.”

“That’s, even more, his fault than yours. If he truly cared about your Wolfcraft, he would have made you listen and learn, no matter how hard it took to ram it into that thick skull of yours.”

Kyle’s lips curled back in a snarl. “You don’t know that and you don’t know him. He’s led us through a lot of bad times and he’s gone through a lot himself! Say whatever you want about me but leave Pops out of it!” Kyle thought he felt the ground vibrate from his growling tone.

Kurt smirked a little. “Nice to see you have a little fire in your belly, Cub. But there’s something you don’t know. I do know Richard. I know him better than even you do. That little message I gave you wasn’t just for show.  I also know that he’d rather spend his days either in that hardware store of his or out fishing rather than running through the woods on a hunt.” He let a note of derision enter his voice. “He allowed the entire pack to become nothing but dogs. All they’re good for now is a belly rub and a scratch behind the ears.”

Kyle growled even louder at the way Kurt spoke about his grandfather. “He and I took down almost a dozen armed thugs the night they attacked Becca’s house. That doesn’t sound like a little dog to me.”

“Even a chihuahua has teeth, Cub.” He shook his head. “Almost a dozen huh? That’s impressive.” His gaze locked in on Kyle’s. “So the two of you took on almost a dozen men armed with silver bullets and weapons expecting a pair of Wolves at a dinner party where the hostess was a dragon? That about sum it up, Cub?”

Kyle let his retort die on his lips. It galled him to admit but he had to. “No,” he whispered through clenched teeth. “They didn’t know shifters were there at all. They were using regular bullets. When Kiera transformed as well, it took all of us by surprise.”

Kurt’s face remained impassive. “My mistake. So two Wolves managed to fight off a dozen or so regular humans armed with nothing that could possibly have left any lasting damage to them and still had to have a dragon finish the job. That sounds about right?”

“Yes,” Kyle answered, the word acid on his tongue.

“But that’s not the whole story, is it Cub?”

Kyle blinked in confusion. “What are you talking about?”

“Richard fought back but you didn’t. Your wolf did. If what you told Lexi is the truth.”

Kyle flinched but nodded. “Yes.”

Kurt nodded. “I bet that’s probably the first time you have ever allowed your wolf to come out in a fight right?”

“Yes.”

Kurt then pointed straight at Kyle. “That’s why you’re a cub. A true Wolf works in tandem with both their human half and their wolf. We allow the wolf inside to guide us with instinct and ferocity. Our human side tempers the bestial side with logic and reason.” Kurt had spread out his arms as he spoke and then pushed his hands together. “When both are working in balance, we are a killing machine very few can stop. The stories of us becoming bloodthirsty raging berserkers are true but not in the way humans think in their fiction. We aren’t mindless killing machines unless we’ve truly been pushed over the edge. Still, even for that to happen, it takes a very important reason to do so.” Kurt’s voice turned slightly soft. “Like watching the woman you love get shot before your eyes and you couldn’t do a damn thing about it.”

Kyle couldn’t speak past the lump in his throat and he only nodded in response.

“If you or Richard had truly been in sync with your wolves, either of you could have cleared that room without any trouble within a minute. The speed at which I moved during our fight is normal for us yet you couldn’t track me, could you? Do you think if I was there, a dragon would have needed to have gotten involved at all?”

Kyle shook his head.

“Hell, the two of you together could have painted the walls red long before Kiera’s surprise debut. You would have even smelled them coming before they had fired a single shot. Hell, you would have heard them before they even got close enough to shoot.”

Kyle just stood there shell-shocked as his mind whirled through the possibilities. His throat turned dry as he realized something crucial about that night. “I could have stopped it,” he whispered so softly he wasn’t even sure he had spoken aloud. “I could have saved all of them. I could have saved Becca.”

Kurt nodded. “Yes. Yes, you could have.” His brow arched slightly. “Didn't you ever stop to wonder why I brought you to my home and not skin you alive for what you did at the depot? Sure, Lexi told me what you thought was happening but I didn’t care. The assault on Bob and what you cost us was more than enough justification for giving Ayla a new fur coat. Yet, I didn’t. Why?”

Kyle thought for a moment but he slowly shook his head. “I don’t know.”

Kurt sighed. “That’s part of the problem, Cub. You just accepted your circumstances. You never once questioned them. A Wolf has to always be on the alert in unfamiliar territory. He has to assume everyone and everything is an enemy until proven otherwise. That is how we survive. It’s cruel and unfair but we live in a world just as merciless. No matter how civilized the times we live in are, we still have enemies out there. I can guess just how many Wolves are in Derrick’s Falls by now but, do you honestly think you could walk down Main Street in either your hybrid or full wolf forms and not have some people screaming for the torches and pitchforks?”

Kyle again shook his head. 

“That’s what Richard has forgotten. Humanity is quite comfortable thinking they’re the dominant species on the planet. The moment that quaint little security bubble is popped, it’ll be an all-out war between all of us. How many examples throughout history have shown the cruelty of humanity? 

From the European settlers to the Americas, the Southern slave trade, to Nazi Germany, just to name a few. That was what they did to each other. Imagine what they could do to us when they find out the stories they read and the movies they watch are based in fact, not from some writer’s overactive imagination.” 

He sighed and his tone softened. “Do I want everyone to live in peace? Yes. Do I want a world where Bob and Lexi could walk down the street hand-in-hand without having to hide who they are? Yes. I’d die to give them that if I could. But the world we live in isn’t that world. Shit, it might never be that world. So we have to always be on guard. That’s what I’m here to teach you, Cub. How to be the Wolf you should have been taught to be.”

Kyle sat there silently for a few minutes as he slowly processed everything Kurt had told him. He tried looking at it from all angles and the more he did, the more he realized Kurt was right. Humanity as a whole would never accept them. Yes, a lot would be tolerant, out of sheer curiosity if nothing else, but there would still be the fear lurking just beneath the surface of even the most benevolent heart. Mankind had never liked what it didn’t understand and it positively hated what it feared. Considering that children, practically from birth, were told that monsters were things to be feared, the odds of any kind of peaceful coexistence were slim at best. He couldn’t fault Kurt’s line of reasoning. He just hated how it made Pops’ teachings sound. There was just one final thing he had to know though.

“Ok. I see your points and I agree with you. Still, if all that’s true, why did you bring me here in the first place?”

Kurt slyly grinned. “I’ll tell you as a graduation present. It’ll give you something to look forward to.”

“That’s a dick move.”

“My house, my rules. You made your choice and I still gave you an out. Until you take it, you’re mine now, Cub.” Kurt darkly chuckled. “Now, I’m going to show you the basics of what being a Wolf really means.”

 

***

 

They spent the rest of the day with Kurt teaching Kyle some of the basics of hunting and tracking. Kyle tried to explain that he had already knew all this. Kurt’s answer had been surprisingly mild. He simply ordered Kyle to stay put and walked out of the clearing. After twenty minutes, Kyle stood up to stretch his aching legs. He then felt a sharp slash to his back as his legs were taken out from under him. As he groaned in pain, Kurt returned to his original spot and silently sat down. As Kyle’s back healed and the sharp pain became a dull ache, Kyle resumed his crossed leg position as Kurt remained an impassive statue. Kyle then became a very attentive student from that moment on. 

By dusk, the two men returned to the Howling Moon for dinner. The tavern was closed for the evening so they went upstairs for dinner. It was Bob and Lexi’s turn to cook. According to Lexi, the only thing Bob couldn’t burn was pasta so they had spaghetti and meatballs. While the meal was delicious, it reminded Kyle so much of home that he had trouble finishing his plate. He didn’t want to seem rude to the couple so he forced himself to finish his plate. 

After a shower and shave, he headed for bed. He was turning down the sheets when there was a knock on his door. He turned to see Lexi waiting with a concerned look on her face.

“Everything ok, cutie? You hardly ate anything tonight.”

Kyle tried to reassure her. “Yeah, no problem. It was great. I finished my plate so that doesn’t exactly qualify as hardly eating.”

Lexi’s large pink eyes narrowed dangerously. “Don’t play games with me. I know for a fact that a Wolf eats at least three helpings of my spaghetti on average. I watched you struggle with just one.” Her tone softened. “What’s going on?”

Kyle’s shoulders slumped and he beckoned her in. She hopped up on the stool and waited for him to begin. “A little homesick I guess. Last time I had that same meal, it didn’t end well. In fact, we hadn’t even gotten to the spaghetti before…”

“Before the attack,” she finished.

Kyle nodded.

Lexi whacked her forehead with the palm of her left hand. “I’m such a ditz. I’m sorry Kyle. We weren’t thinking. If you were offended...”

“No! No!” Kyle quickly interrupted waving his hands wildly. “It just brought back some memories, that’s all. Both good and bad. I cooked it for her the day I decided that I was going to ask Becca to marry me.” He chuckled softly. “It took me a good month afterward to gather up the nerve to actually do it though”

Lexi smiled as she waved her hand dismissively. “That’s nothing. It took the big oaf at least three. I knew about it though when I was cleaning out the closet one day and saw where he stashed the ring. I say at least three because it took him that long after I found the ring for him to pop the question. I played dumb the whole time and even started to wonder if he’d ever ask.” She winked at him. “You didn’t hear that from of course.”

Kyle winked back. “Hear about what?”

Lexi ran her hand through her blue hair, wrapping a loose end around her finger. “I’m really glad you decided to stay. It’s nice having someone new around here. It helps liven things up a bit. Oh, before I forget, I put a little present in the bedside table for you. Take a look.”

Kyle opened the drawer and found a brand-new set of earplugs. He laughed for a bit and turned to Lexi. “Planning a little fun with the hubby tonight?”

Lexi’s eyes sparkled. “All the time, cutie. That’s what keeps the romance first in mind.” She grinned wickedly. “He might not look it but that orc is one tender lover. That said, we do tend to get a little loud so those are to protect virgin ears and all that.”

Without thinking, Kyle blurted out, “The ears aren’t, the rest well …” His mouth dropped open in shock as he realized what he said.

Lexi blushed slightly but then her expression drooped. “Becca and you were never together?”

Kyle blushed furiously but he nodded. “We wanted to wait for the wedding night. Took a great deal of self-control some nights when I smelled just how good she was, even if she didn’t realize what she was emitting." He smiled softly. "She was worth the wait though. I’d have given her the world if I could.”

“I’m sorry, Kyle. I wish I could have met her. She sounds like someone who could’ve been a good friend.”

“Same here, Lexi.” The two were silent for a moment and then Kyle smiled and laughed. “Now you better get going. I don’t want to ruin your fun tonight.  I sure as hell don’t want to cockblock an orc.”

Lexi laughed as the somber mood broke. “Yeah. He does tend to get a little bit possessive when it comes to me. I keep him in check if he goes too far but damn does it get my engine revving when he acts that way. Don’t forget the earplugs, cutie. You’re going to need them tonight for sure. You also better get to bed too. You’ve got a long day tomorrow.”