Act 4: Who is the real Steele?

Steele looked over at her noticing her maternal side come out in full swing as he now had to protect the wolfman from her wrath. He looked towards the wolfman noticing his fear from her, and he got between them to break eye contact. The wolfman sighed and looked towards the ground submissively. "I transformed in front of him, and he ran off" he said.

Steele looked at him oddly and scratched his head. "Are you a thrall?" he asked.

The wolfman whimpered softly and nodded. "Yea..." he said before he began to tear up. "...this damn curse has taken everything from me. My wife left me and took my kids. I can barely afford to live in my home...I lost my job, and..." he said before Steele stopped him.

"Calm down...Your throwing a fit over nothing. Kids run off...He shouldn't have gotten that far. How old is he? Like eight or nine years old?" he asked. The wolfman nodded slowly before Steele patted his shoulder and laughed. "Come now. You couldn't catch him?" he asked.

The wolfman scowled at him. "Are you going to help me or not?" he asked.

Steele chuckled to himself and looked towards Lilian and grinned. "You mind if I..." he said before she shot him a glare with her arms crossed.

"Go ahead!" she said harshly before she turned back to her bedroom. Steele gulped and followed her inside, which she stopped and looked towards him worried as he got dressed. "Steele...does this kind of thing happen to you regularly?" she asked.

Steele looked up at her and nodded. "Yea...it's been relatively quiet to be quite frank" he said before he scratched his head. "Are you worried this will disrupt our relationship?" he asked.

She clenched her teeth and gulped before she looked away sighing. "How active do things get with you?" she asked.

He pulled his shirt on and smiled. "Well, I have to take part in longer patrols when gammas get canine flu. I typically do them during the evenings...I have it, so we have four days per gamma with six hour shifts, but there are times where weather makes it less efficient or epidemics start where all able bodies are needed" he explained.

She sighed heavily. "So is helping him going to be alright? You aren't going to stir up trouble with the werewolves here are you?" she asked.

He shook his head as he put his shoes on. "It shouldn't be...I have connections with the clans here, and this thrall needs to get in contact with them or else he'll be giving them trouble down the road" he explained before he stood back up and touched her shoulder smiling. "It's my duty as Alpha to bring order and other things" he said.

She frowned as she changed from her robe to put on regular street clothes. "Well, judging by this guy's lack of control, I think it will be a good idea if I come along with you. It worked very well last time" she said.

He smiled at her. "Well don't say we don't do things together" he said before he trailed off looking her over. "Although I'd rather stay in bed..." he muttered lowly.

After they finished getting dressed, they went off to find the boy, which the wolfman were very solemn and mopey, and this infuriated Lilian. "Jesus Christ man! Pull yourself together! Look at my boyfriend here! He's just like you and there are no problems here! Look at him! Look at him!" she shouted as she grabbed onto her boyfriend's arm.

The wolfman tensed up and stared into the sidewalk and she walked around in front of him. "If you're going to act like this, you aren't going to get better! Do you want to get better!? Do you care for your son!? Well, do ya!?" she shouted.

He whimpered and whined, but he looked up at Steele and felt like a weak defenseless pup compared to him. "I do..." he muttered feeling guilty.

Steele smirked and slapped him on the back playfully almost knocking him off his feet. He had to catch himself from falling onto his face, and Steele laughed helping him up. "Sorry about that...you really haven't been a wolf for long" he said reaching down to pick him back off the ground while dusting him off.

The wolfman stared at him surprised, but deep down, he knew Steele was holding back a great deal. "I don't know how you can control something so powerful. I see it, but I don't believe it" he said.

Steele smiled. "I don't live a caged up life. There are so many wolves out here, and I'm surprised I'm the first one you've actually spoken to" he said.

The wolfman looked away. "They have, but...I thought they were a part of some gang. I've watched Buffy, and there's no such thing as a group of werewolves that want to recruit you to help you" he said.

"Buffy?" Steele muttered looking towards Lilian.

Lilian rolled her eyes. "Of course there are groups out there to help you. If you go by there narrative that the animal side in you is bad, then it's definitely going to make things worse for you. You've pretty much destroyed everything yourself than the lycanthropy did" she said.

The wolfman stared at her surprised. "What do you mean? If I give into every impulse, I'm going to end up killing everyone I love" he said before Steele erupted into a big guffaw. He glared at him, but Lilian smiled huddling up to her exotic lover.

"I've already spent a full moon with him...do you know how much of an animal he was that night? I can assure you it was the most underwhelming romantic nights we ever had" she said.

Steele whimpered. "I can make it up to you I swear! If there weren't so much other things going on, you'd be..." he said before she laughed.

"Oh, quiet down, you. You're an overachiever already. I know what you're capable, hun. Don't get huffy with me. A couple bad moments will keep me from being jaded with being with such a fantastic lover" she said.

He frowned. "I'll make it up to you...I promise" he said.

She laughed. "You already did" she said before she started tracing circles into his chest. "But you know you could make up for earlier...I know that wasn't anywhere near your best" she said with an amused grin before she elbowed him in the gut. "Jez Steele, I'm not worried about you. My point is that werewolves don't go crazy during full moons" she said.

The wolfman looked between them dazed. "Have you two even had sex with him transformed?" he asked.

Lilian blushed, and Steele laughed. "We have several times...she's only found out about my lycanthropy only recently, but it's doable, albeit we do have to get creative" he said.

She let out a heavy sigh. "I'm still getting used to it. No books can prepare me for a werewolf his size" she muttered before she glanced at him trying to hide her arousal from the thought. "Let's get back to finding that kid! We got to go get groceries later!" she scolded him.

As they finally arrived at a playground, Lilian wondered up to the boy who was hiding underneath the structure in the fetal position, and she pushed back Steele keeping the boy from being even more terrified than he already was. She crouched down to crawl underneath, and out of natural instinct, she looked the boy over for any signs of abuse.

"Are you okay there bud? Where's your parents?" she asked with her sweet caring voice. She reached over to touch his shoulder, and he looked up at her sobbing. He stuck his head back between his knees and remained quiet. She let out a heavy sigh as she pulled out her phone. "Am I going to have to call the security?" she asked.

The boy looked up at her in horror. "No! Don't do that!" he shouted grabbing her arm. She looked at him sternly, and he quickly released her arm. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you" he said.

She laughed at him and stuffed her phone back into her purse. "You know...I've been hearing that line a lot lately" she said before she looked into his eyes softly. "Just so you know--my dad and I found out that my boyfriend turned out to be a werewolf" she said.

The boy's eyes widened and gazed upon her intensely as she rubbed his shoulder. "So, would you tell me what's going on?" she asked.

The boy gulped as he thought back on the events that transpired. "Well my dad just turned into a werewolf right in front of me!" he said quickly.

She scowled at him and raised her eyebrow. "Would you mind telling me what made him turn into a werewolf kid? I know for a fact that werewolves just don't transform for no reason. Isn't that right, honey?" she asked before she turned towards where her lover were standing.

"Nope" Steele said simply before he paused. "It sounds to me that, your father is really stressed out. I don't think running off like this is going to help him much either. Werewolves are very protective over their pups...I know that I would do anything I could to protect my pack. I would run hours on end to find my pup if they were missing" he said.

The boy frowned and looked away. "I snuck out last night to my friend's house. Dad came over, and when he picked me up, he turned. I thought he was going to hurt me!" he shouted.

Lilian gulped and looked towards Steele as he poked his head in. "He could have...but has he ever tried to hurt you in the past?" he asked.

The boy looked back at him. "No, but...he's been getting a lot meaner since mom left him" he said.

Steele sighed. "It's scary, but he cares about you too much to be hurting you. I'm going to try to get him some help, but you need to help him" he said before he left him to speak with the wolfman. "So are you divorced?" he asked as the boy looked out to see his father speaking with a very large man.

The wolfman shook his head. "No, but I've scared her too much that she wants nothing to do with me. She's living with her parents right now, but she doesn't know about this!" he said before he pointed to his slightly transformed body.

Steele sighed heavily. "Yea, just get you and your son back, and I suggest you contact that alpha. You're lucky that their gammas have not taken you against your will. They can do that if you pose that much of a risk. I hate to see you go down that path" he said as Lilian brought the son back.

His son looked up at him nervously, and Lilian patted his back. "Everything is going to be fine" she reassured him. She gave a cute giggle after she heard Steele's stomach growl loudly. "You want to eat out tonight hun?" she asked as she ran in front of him and spun around with her arms behind her back cutely.

Steele grinned. "Yes, we will...and I'll make up for disappointing you" he said.

She rolled her eyes at him and shook her head. "I'm just going to go with it" she said.

Later that night, they made it to restaurant which was recommended by another alpha werewolf over the phone, which once they got inside, everyone looked at them, and they started up a commotion as they were seated. When a group of older werewolves came up, they were immediately friendly to him.

"Hey, hey! Look what the cat dragged in! I haven't seen you in ages! Still fucking huge like I remembered!" the man said.

Lilian raised an eyebrow. "Steele...is there something you haven't told me about your whole celebrity status?" she asked as she took a sip from her water.

The man looked at Steele curiously. "So she knows?" he asked, which Steele nodded quickly. The man grinned. "Look here guys! We got ourselves a real dog lover here!" he shouted obnoxiously.

The other men raised their beer mugs shouting, "Eay!" while giving their best Fonzarelli impressions before they went back to talking amongst each other. Steele smiled awkwardly at his girlfriend as she scowled at him picking up on the werewolf slang easily.

The man squeezed in the booth next to Steele, which he gave off a low growl. "You see here, Steele has a reputation to being the most badass of mutharfuckas ever! He and another wolf Bernie totally demolished Ian and his followers. He saved President Truman from a Nazi super soldier, which that helped keep SAD afloat, and oh yea, his team took down the most Fire Balloons...I could ramble all day, but I can see you're on a date with him" he said as the strong scent of alcohol came off his breath.

She looked back at Steele curiously. "Um...Thanks, but...I'd like to hear about Steele ramble on about his awesomeness" she said before she nudged Steele's leg with hers. "Let's start from the beginning...No more of this hiding that you're a werewolf filter. You're a lousy liar anyway" she said before she looked into his eyes endearingly.

He leaned back into his chair and sighed heavily. "Very well, I guess a little back story is in order, although I've been alive long enough to make it a novel or two...or three. I'll do my best to condense it as possible" he said.

Lilian smiled happily. "Well, I'm not going anywhere" she said before she looked over at a crowd of people surrounding them like a ghost story around a camp fire. A majority of them were very young, and their parents loomed behind wanting to hear more about this guy. "It's probably not going to be boring" she said.

He chuckled. "Well, to start things off, I was the product of a celebration to the end of the first world war. Many werewolves fled to the neutral nations like Switzerland to avoid being conscribed into the war. My father told me that they were well aware of the chemical weapons and other high tech wizardry being used, and the conventions of war were to be forever changed from then on. It was no longer a battle of the strongest and the fittest, but the smartest and the richest" he said before he put his hand over his heart. "My bloodline was rendered obsolete that moment...my bulkiness is nothing but an aesthetic at best and a relic of a bygone era. My father was a very smart man, so he changed his tune towards omegas and thralls literally overnight.

He had gotten all the werewolves in Switzerland to adopt the new philosophy, so when we returned to our homelands, it would spread out faster than the gas dropped on the battle fields. My father convinced the Hochdeutche werewolves to remain in the Black Forest since the hyperinflation was going out of control. We managed to build a nice town, and we prospered just using our natural talents than relying on money. We had done so well that after the hyperinflation stopped we unsurprisingly stayed together. I actually had some cute shewolves always wanting to play with me. Heh, I was only ten years old at the time. I could say that the depression did not impact us at all, but it did in one way" he said before he got interrupted.

"Hitler?" One of the adults interjected.

"Ja, we were aware even before he rose to power that he was bad news. Most of the older wolves remembered the werewolf witch trials, and his hate rhetoric made it clear that we were heading towards that dark path. So we left our homes on the night of the wolf moon, and we headed west for Strasbourg. It was strange living there, but I did get a lot of attention from the local shewolves. My teenage years were very amusing to say the least. Getting challenged by blokes in their twenties was not a match for me. When I was eighteen, I met an older posh shewolf from Liverpool who was scouting for the Supernatural Affairs Ministry. Her name was Ilene, and she was one hell of a fighter. You could say I won by a tail" he said before there were some snickering.

"She invited me and my family to come to London and work for them as a part of a special squad being constructed to undermine a super human eugenics research lab in Germany. I accepted, but my family stayed in France. When I got to Westminster, I got the displeasure to meet Mr. Baldwin. He wasn't the kind man I liked being around...left a bad taste in my mouth. He thought we should be put down for being abominations to god, he says! He did not want anything to do with us. Our only saving grace was with King Edward the eighth, which he had high hopes that we'd annihilate the lab, and we did! We swooped in, took back the Niederdeutsche werewolves from the labs, and Operation Hamburger meat was a success!

That was when I drew the attention of Sir McLoughlin. When he heard that SAM got a hold of a Noble, he pulled some strings to get me over to the Canada to help with the unrest spawning all over. They sent me over to Churchill...I've never been to a place so cold and dark. I waited for a train for Winnipeg where I met a very lovely Inuit girl named Amarok. It turned out she were a noble werewolf as well. You could say that we hit things off very well" he said before some of the elders gasped.

"So that's how you met Amarok?" The elderly man asked.

"Such a shame what happened to her" The man's wife mentioned.

Steele nodded. "Amarok were a very spirited and confident girl. What surprised me the most was her ability to speak English. It turns out her family had been in contact with the Hudson's Bay Company for decades, and they learned the trade language. I learned quite a lot about the practices of fur Company's employment of werewolves, and she told me the tale in why her family was blessed to turn into wolves.

Essentially, her family got into contact with Europeans much earlier before. A member of Erik the red's family rescued one of her ancestors from a Polar bear, and they had kids. Being married to any member of her family was a high honor, and this was a common theme with most of the natives I've came across.

Anyway, she then asked where I was going and I thought nothing of it. I had no idea she decided to follow me until I found her on the train with me. I learned about how troubled her pack was up in Iqaluit, and she wanted a better life for herself. She got arranged to marry a man she did not like, and when she became of age, she wrote a suicide letter then she wondered across the bay for days. She almost died when she got stranded on a sheet that separated and flipped over, but that was when she was a mile away offshore from Churchill. She swam over and got medical attention as the station. She said she could smell me, and her rushing to get to me caused her to get into the situation.

Well, she spent all of her money on the train ticket to Winnipeg, so I offered her a spot in my bed, which she had no problems to it. She was so happy that night that she said this was the best day in her entire life. She became my companion, but I already knew she chose me as her mate. I got swept into her attentiveness and affection. We could barely understand each other, but we could tell we were compatible. When our train got stuck in a snowstorm in Canadian Rockies, that was when we proclaimed our love for each other.

A month after we got to Kelowna, she announced to me that I was the father to her litter. She gave birth to a beautiful girl, and she named her Taavligaq. It meant daybreak, and she saw her daughter as a symbol of the next chapter in life. We stayed well away from the people, but she loved talking with other shewolves. She was an intellectual through and through, and I encouraged her to become the powerful shewolf I saw her to be.

When we moved to Whidbey Island, she was already pregnant with another litter, and I managed to get us a house. Two boys, I named Gunter and Garou. They were very hyperactive two, and they always caused their mother grief when I left the island. I did fight that super soldier, but he was a joke. I totally eviscerated him right in front of Truman, and he was so impressed that he promised to do everything in his power to prevent defunding SAD. I was officially married to Amarok by then, and I gotten her pregnant again after our honeymoon. She said she wanted to have a big family" he said before he went quiet and his head sank. He clenched his fist and the older couple frowned.

"My wife had not gone one hour from giving birth when the hunters came to shoot her dead and they put my pups in a burlap sack and tossed them into the sound. I was teaching Taavligaq and the boys how to hunt, and I were only able to come back to save my wife from bleeding out. Four pups! Who would be so cruel to do this!?" he said before Lilian reached up to touch his hand. Her eyes became puffy and red as she tried to hold back her tears.

The other people snarled with disgust and hatred, but they looked between her and Steele silently. The pregnant waitress stood behind about ready to cry her eyes out at the sad story, but she pressed on to get their orders. She stopped only to hear Steele continue on with his life story.

"We had to leave that place...so we left for Vancouver, and that was when I got contacted face to face with Jean and Bernie. Amarok got contacted by Ian. They both knew about what happened to us...everyone knew. I never had such a fight with my wife over something so horrible. She only dropped it after I reminded her that this speak was the same that Hitler did. She was never the same since that night. Nightmares kept replaying at any time. She had a couple miscarriages that just made things worse. I tried my best to support her, but...how can I tell her to forget about the four lives she carried and nurtured within her for nine months?" he said before he took a deep breath.

"Anyway, a couple years later once Bernie became of age, we took back Portland from Ian. One of Ian's followers tried to take us out by blowing up a dike, but luckily it was Memorial Day weekend and not many people were in town. Though, it only got us more angry because a lot of our Gammas lived there. Ian's followers were strictly werewolves, and we had the strength of everyone. That's why he lost the Battle of Vanport. All we did was go toe to toe with Ian and chase him off" he said before a man scoffed.

"For a hundred miles!?" the man shouted.

"Well, we had help" He said before the waitress came up smiling at his modesty.

"Are you ready to order?" she asked them as she rested her hand over her belly.

Lilian nodded, and they ordered the usual. What was apparent where that the item choices were relatively the same with subtle differences. As the waitress took their menus, Steele would begin again with his story.

"After that battle, I became the Alpha when I was thirty. I saw Bernie has a lot of potential, so I gave him the chance to be my second in command. He were very good at what he did with the restructuring the clan as everything gelled together. We found it easier just to have multiple betas everywhere to ease travel. We modeled it after the senate, and we had our elders act like a supreme court in some respects. Everything worked better that way for the most part. I made sure that everyone was safe and the laws were being enforced. I got more involved with SAD thereafter.

Amarok got some help from my baby sister, and they were insufferably close. She birthed a few more pups, but by that time our eldest daughter moved up into Alaska. She found a nice man and settled down to have her own family, but..." he said before he shook his head. "She and her pups got gunned down by a hunter in an aircraft. When my sons got the news, they lost it. Amarok lost it, but not to the degree that they did. They found out where a hunter lived and slaughtered them. Well, Hunters came over and killed my pups. Amarok killed most of them, but a couple managed to escape. I was told that my boys tracked them down and killed them before they succumbed to their wounds.

Amarok could not deal with all this loss and she could not stand that I did not want to get revenge for what happened to our daughter. She divorced me and left for the Arctic...I assume she went up there to find who killed her daughter and bring them to her own justice. I stayed here and kept my clan stable. I've had my share of relationships and not just with one kind of shapeshifter, but they all just turned out as flings. I don't know what happened, but I suspect it has to do with my work involvement" he said.

Lilian stared at him and gulped. "Well, so am I going to have to worry about Amarok coming back? And when you say your son's succumbed to their wounds...did you mean that they died?" she asked.

He looked at her strangely and shook his head. "If Amarok comes back then that's her prerogative. Our ideologies have changed so much that we could not have a stable relationship together. As for my sons...I would recommend to not believe all hearsay or anecdotes. The truth is...I never saw their bodies. If they are alive, I hope they find the right path...just as I do for Amarok. Until they want to change telling the right path will fall on deaf ears" he said.

The group around them dispersed, but they still spoke more quietly until Lilian asked her next question. "So what has this Ian guy done to get a bad rep? Is he like a mass murderer or something?" she asked everyone went quiet, and she shot them an annoyed glare. "It's not polite to eavesdrop!" she scolded them.

Steele scratched the back of his head and sighed. "I don't know the guy too much, but he has racked up the body count that's for sure. Jean told me that for eighty years, Ian and his followers terrorized Oregon Country. They did not want American settlers and missionaries from coming in and molest the land.

His goal was pretty simple, and he got all the support from the other wolves. They destroyed towns, raided wagon trains, stole cattle, wreck crops...anything. He was brought up on the belief that werewolves were perfection and our duty was to control the population of prey...that includes humans. He was a freak of a werewolf in his younger years, and Jean could not do much to stop him. Ian became more powerful thanks to manifest destiny, and the HBC pulling out from area. He basically was a dictator at that point and egged on the other clans into stirring up conflicts.

That just brought in the hunters, and instead of accepting the humans were there to stay and lost the cause. He brought everything underground. I mean that in every sense of the word. He kidnapped humans and kept them in dungeons underneath the city, and they either ate them or sold them off. He was waiting for everyone to come to their senses and take back the region in blood. He still is to this day. I'm already seeing everyone in the pack lose their morale, and I'm trying to find an endgame to this all before things blow up" he said.

"Endgame?" Lilian muttered.

He nodded. "Humans are going to find out about us...I'm not an idiot to think we can stay hidden forever. Our rules are becoming more and more unreasonable to have any comfortable living. I think everyone here can agree to that" he said, which most of the men at the bar grunted and lifted their mugs and bottles up to him.

The waitress came back with their orders, and she set the huge heaping plate of steaming meat in front of him. Lilian leaned in and looked into her cup of soup and blew into it. "So how are you going to do this?" she asked.

He stroked his chin and smirked. "Well, I thinking about trying a reality show" he said before several snickers filled the air.

She smiled and dipped her sandwich into the soup and giggled. "That's a genius move...who would be the unfortunate one to be under the microscope?" she asked.

A devious smile crept upon his lips as he sliced up the steak with his knife. "I would say it would have to be with a human and werewolf couple--what do you think?" he asked.

She raised an eyebrow and snickered. "Oh dear, where are we going to find a couple like that? I mean...is it that common for humans to date werewolves?" she asked.

He rubbed the back of his head. "It is more common than you think, but what is rare is for a shewolf and a man to pair up. I don't know why that is..." he said.

She shrugged. "I guess not a lot of men want to give up a position of power to a female" she said.

He sighed heavily. "I know that...but you would think that they would want a strong female to give the strongest possible offspring" he said.

She laughed. "You're thinking though. Unlike them, you can have your own pick...and you settled with me over all the stronger females" she said.

He blushed and flinched. "Well, uh, I'm not saying strength is everything. Personality and other things will still apply" he said before he raised an eyebrow. "Besides that...who says that you're not strong? I've seen you make several werewolves cower in fear, and you didn't lift a finger" he said.

She grinned. "I don't take shit from anyone hun..." she said.

He nodded as he gulped down a beer. "Ja, I could tell you had an alpha predisposition very early on. I don't normally have humans coming up to chastise me for the way I dress for work" he said.

She glanced over at him and sighed. "By the way...you need to dress in appropriate gear. You have to set an example for the others. They don't know that you're different" she said. She smirked at his blank expression before she continued on. "I had a patient come in with hypothermia and they specifically mentioned you for why they did not feel the need to wear a coat" she said.

He closed his eyes and nodded. "I do wear coats when it gets really cold and windy. Unlike him, I make sure to check forecasts and weather conditions before I start my day. I can overheat easily if I'm not careful. I know my limits, and he doesn't. If he wants to be stupid, he can be my guest. He should have already known I was different when he saw my height and size" he said sternly.

She giggled and winked at him. "I was only teasing...well not about the climber. He really did say that. I still chewed his ass out for being an idiot" she said before she touched his hand. "I'm sure your superiors would have said something if it were a problem" she said.

He laughed lightly. "Ja, well, they are afraid to tell me" he said.

She grinned at this. "Oh my god, Haley had her tail between her legs when she saw me tell you off. I never saw her act like that before. You such a nice guy that I would think she would be more relaxed about the whole thing" she said.

He scratched the back of his head. "Like I said, I don't get humans come up to do what you did to me, and not many shapeshifters go and do it to me. She's only heard about those few instances where I did lose my temper, but it looked worse than it did. Never killed and maimed anyone. Sure there were a couple broken bones and torn tendons, but they should learn to use their words before they resort to violence" he said.

Her eyes widened. "You struck back?" she asked.

He nodded before he chuckled. "I just do enough to put them in submission. I can't help if I'm much stronger than them" he said before he munched on the last of his steak. "Besides, you were expressing your concern for me. You weren't challenging me for a position as Alpha. I'll do anything I can to prevent a fight from happening to begin with. Haley doesn't know me enough to know this...she just knows the rumors, and her father is very vivid with his detail" he said waving the fork around.

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Has that been the only time when you lost your temper?" she asked.

He shook his head and laughed. "Nah, I'm how you say...very food aggressive" he said before he pointed between them. "You can get away with teasing me some, but please don't do it when I'm really hungry. You've already seen how bad I can get" he mentioned.

She nodded. "I know, I know...I just hope you don't get that way all the time. That can't be good for you...right?" she asked.

He paused and took another swig from his mug. "Well, I won't have negative health effects at that point, but my hunting instincts will start taking over, and I'll start transforming and..." he said before she interrupted him.

"Yea, I already saw that part" she said before she began fiddling with her glass. "So, how close to danger was I when you were like that?" she asked.

He laughed. "Zero percent, there's no way you'd be in danger. I knew you were taking me to food. The only thing in danger was my clothes from bursting" he said.

She rubbed her leg up against his and grinned. "You know...I do think it's kind of hot how you do that" she said she touched his hand and bit her lip. "Steele? Would you mind if I go for my Doctorate?" she asked.

He stared at her and cocked his head cutely. "Uh, you can go for it. That's only two years correct?" he asked.

She nodded before she clasped her hands together. "I want to know if you can get me in contact with any werewolf doctors. I really want to immerse myself into your world as much as possible" she said.

He scratched the back of his head and smiled awkwardly. "Why are you acting like I'm going to say no? We're always looking for more specialists" he said.

She grinned and batted her eyes at him. "I'm just making things official" she said while she traced his hand with her finger. "I would have thought you'd object to me maybe having to move back to Portland for a while" she said.

He let out a chortle as he sat his beer. "Well, you're not moving off my territory. In fact, you'll be moving into the heart of it" he said.

She paused and thought for a moment. "So, just how big is your territory?" she asked.

He laughed nervously. "It's very vast, which It's about a hundred miles east to west and eighty miles north to south, and it encompasses Washington, Multnomah, Clackamas, Clark, and Hood River counties. We have our big meeting place in Portland, so you don't have to worry about having too many lonely nights. I'll definitely be paying you visits when you least expect it" he said.

She let off a heavy sigh. "Well, I don't know if my program will require me to take lecture classes or if I can take them online" she said.

He cocked his head cutely. "You can do that?" he asked.

She giggled. "Yea...I'm really hoping that I can take most online. I could make better time doing my dissertation instead of commuting. I really like my job up here on the mountain" she said before she grasped onto the cup nervously. "I'm not just saying that because you're on the mountain, but I like how open everything and everyone is" she said.

He nodded and leaned forward. "Well, It's a great place to live, but I don't think you've lived in the mountains long enough to realize the challenges to accessing some services. It doesn't seem so bad now since there isn't three feet of snow everywhere. I would hate to see you get overwhelmed on your first winter here" he said playing devil's advocate.

She rolled her eyes at him. "Steele, they plow the roads don't they? Asides from that, I would expect for you to be quite the provider. I saw how easy it is for you to move around. I'm not a pampered city girl...I like adventure and the wild" she said.

He scratched his head laughing nervously. "Yea, I figured from the books you read" he said as the waitress came over to drop off the tab smiling. She said nothing as she looked between him and his human lover. He looked up at her and smirked. "Yes?" he asked.

The waitress stiffened up and gulped. "Oh, it's nothing...We just don't get many visits from Alphas from afar...and Nobles are very hard to come by these days" she said.

Lilian giggled. "Don't worry, she's just fangirling right now" she said.

He raised an eyebrow, and the waitress quickly rushed off, which Lilian grinned. "Do you get this reaction with shewolves a lot?" she asked.

He paused for a moment giving it a lot of thought. "Well, it's usually with outsiders, but it's either they are terrified of me, they want to fight me, they want to pal around, or like what she's doing right there" he said.

She grinned. "That's fangirling" she said as she looked over towards the waitress looking from around the corner. "I'm guessing that Nobles are like the werewolf equivalent of celebrities" she said before she looked back at him. "So, not all Alphas are Nobles?" she asked.

He nodded. "Ja, Nobles are hard to come by. We are sought out as the top prize for hunters because of how challenging we are, but now it just seems that they are seeking us out because of how rare we are" he said before he chuckled. "Bernie has been breeding like a rabbit because of this...He got into the police force to give the hunters a second thought about seeking him out" he said.

She frowned. "It must be very stressful to always be hunted...isn't it?" she asked.

He nodded. "It is, but I'm not on my own" he said as he shoved a credit card into the clipboard. "We have gammas, and we don't leave anyone to fend for themselves. It's the wolves in us that possess us to network ourselves. Also, we'll typically cluster ourselves together, so there's never a werewolf too far away from another. Haley and Tyler live only a mile away. They can get here in a minute if things got too bad" he said.

She nodded and smiled. "Okay" she said as she stood up. "I got to use the bathroom" she said left him. As she went into the bathroom, the waitress followed her inside, which she took no notice at first as she set her purse on the counter and sifted around reaching for a pill blister pack with days on it.

The waitress stood by the door as more women came in, which Lilian popped a pill into her mouth as they messed with their hair in the mirror. The waitress finally spoke up, and the others glanced over with great interest. "So, what was it like finding out your boyfriend was a werewolf?" she asked.

Lilian looked over and smiled. "Well, he's very good looking. I would have been more terrified if my best friend didn't transform beforehand. I would have still dated him even if she didn't do it. I kind of saw him transform before, but I was nearly unconscious" she said.

They gasped. "What happened?" another asked.

She pulled out her phone checking for messages, while she kept a content smile on her face. "A tree fell on me. It wasn't like tiny one either. I'm talking a big ol' tree that you can't wrap your arms around the trunk. Steele came along and lifted that suck up and his bulging biceps made his sleeves literally burst at the seams" she said as a couple swooned at the thought.

"He picked me up and took me home, warmed me up, and he charming. I wasn't too keen on the wolves wondering through his home, but I got used to it. I didn't really connect the dots for a while. I just didn't think it made sense" she said before she stuffed her phone back into her purse. "So can he hear us?" she asked.

They looked at each other and the waitress pointed up to the fan overhead. "He won't hear everything" she stated.

Lilian took in a deep breath and sighed. "Am I a terrible person to want him to stop helping so many people on his free time?" she asked. They thought for a moment before she continued. "I really like him, but I can see this becoming a big problem for us. My first full moon with him was spoiled because of a stupid mishap at a youth camp...I want to spend more time with him, and how can I expect to raise his kids without him around?" she muttered.

One cleared her throat. "I don't think you're a terrible person...you are looking past that he's a werewolf for howling out loud!" she said before the others nodded. "I can see your point, and we do have Gammas who are more than capable in handling most things that come their way; although, somethings can't be helped" she said.

"I think you could do it" The waitress said. They looked at her unsure before the waitress cleared her throat. "It would be easier if you became a werewolf, but I could see you being able to manage. Pups get very clingy to their mothers. Mama is in charge" she said as she placed a hand over her belly.

"Yea, we hold the whelping room to be very sacred, and no one shall separate your bonding time with your pups which depending on how insufferable the father is, it's usually better just for you and your midwife to care for your pups. Papa and his pack hunts and protect the den. I would guess that, judging by how many pups your mate has produced, that he'd have more of an idea on what the pups needs are. It's usually first time fathers and those who stress too easily that are best to be away from the pups for a while" another female chimed in.

"If you want more time with him, you should just tell him. He doesn't have a leg to stand on now that he's no longer single. He knows something is bothering you...we all do" The waitress said.

Lilian adjusted her bra strap and sighed. "The thing is...I kind of hinted at it with him. He's so very altruistic that I couldn't bring myself to look like a selfish monster" she said.

They giggled and looked at each other. "You think we should help her out?" the waitress and they all nodded, which Lilian gulped as she was grabbed by the hand and dragged back over to Steele who had already bought a slice of chocolate cream pie.

He looked at the mass of women forming a wall as if preventing him from escape as Lilian sat down meekly. Steele raised an eyebrow. "I got you chocolate pie" he said.

She looked at the pie smiling before she sighed. "Steele...we need to talk..." she said before he interrupted.

"I should have gotten the rhubarb, shouldn't I?" he asked.

She gulped. "No, it's lovely" she said grabbing the fork before the waitress growled.

"Don't get distracted by pie! This is a matter of love and pups at stake!" she shouted balling her fists.

They all looked at her oddly where they all muttered, "Wha?" and "Huh?" in unison. The waitress blushed and took a deep breath.

He looked over at his lover curiously and she quickly held her hands up while flailing them about. "No, I'm on birth control! I know what you're thinking, and..." she said before he touched her hand.

"You do remember that your moving in with me...we'll be spending time together seven times more than we have before" he said.

Lilian gasped and looked at the women in shock. "You said he wouldn't hear!" she shouted.

"Look, he went to the pie rack! It's not my fault he's got wolf in him!" The waitress fumed.

"You didn't think he'd go and do that!?" She asked.

Steele quietly munched on a slice of pie as he watched the ladies bicker about their intervention being thwarted. The waitress ran her hand over her forehead as the other women snickered. "Did you forget that wolves are smart?" one asked.

The waitress groaned. "I forgot he finished eating!" she stated.

"Man this is very good pie!" Steele said.

They all looked at him, and Lilian smirked. "I bet you're enjoying yourself, aren't you?" she asked.

He nodded. "I like pie" he said before he tapped her foot with his. "Do you feel better now?" he asked. She nodded and had already stuck her fork into the pie, which the women dispersed smirking with the waitress blushing at being careless.

After their dinner, Lilian drove the two of them home. Steele had dozed off with the seat reclined back as the two beers helped him to relax. His mate glanced over and smirked admiring the sight of a powerful werewolf snoozing in the car with her. She thought about how extremely rare a human like her could catch a glimpse of this, yet she would see this so often that it would be taken for granted. She reached over brush her hand through his hair before she scratched behind his ear. His eye nearest to her opened slightly and smirked, but he allowed her to continue for the rest of the short ride home.

Once they got home, they resumed their romantic night together; although, everything still remained reserved, but her lover made a compromise by prolonging their mating to showcase a werewolf's sexual stamina. To her surprise, he lasted a couple hours with toned down growling and gnawing. What was embarrassing for her was she could not hold herself up as her wrists and legs would cramp up, but through it all, he was understanding and helped her along.

After their long passionate love making session, she collapsed on top of him sleeping on top of his chest still amid coitus. She woke up in the morning after feeling a familiar euphoric sensation during one of her erotic dreams, and she remembered what happened the night before. She blushed as he looked down at her confused as to what happened.

"Uh, I promise this looks worse than it looks like!" he said nervously.

She laughed at him and patted his chest. "Steele, it's alright...we never separated" she said before she gave him a barrage of kisses on the neck before she encouraged him to continue. "Really, it's fine. Let's just finish...I don't think it's normal to have sex for ten hours straight...even for werewolves" she said before she gave him a reassuring wink.

He blushed and laughed. "Well, it can happen...I was super tired from my mountain climb" he said before he finished her off.

After they showered together, the wolfman from next door came over with his son and the alpha. They knocked on the door, which Steele answered fully clothed. The alpha's eyes widened as he looked up at him horrified. "Holy cow! You're freaking huge! They weren't joking about you being a noble!" he shouted.

He held his hand out and smirked. "The name's Tai, I'm the South Sound Alpha. I've heard so much about you from my clan already" he said.

Steele stared at the smaller Polynesian man blankly before he cleared his throat. "So how did you become Alpha?" he asked.

Tai chuckled. "Oh, it's simple. The Alpha before me wanted to step down, and I challenged the second in command" he said.

Steele stared at him in shock. "Wow, so you use the old system?" he asked.

Tai nodded. "Yea, though we're looking to merge with the rest of the Sound Clan pretty soon. The old system is going to be no longer used here. You pretty much did the same thing I did, but only on a larger scale I hear" he said.

Steele scratched his head. "I did...but I had everyone's support" he said with a modest smirk. "So When is your merger?" he asked.

Tai chuckled. "It's going to be within a year...I've been in talks with Scott, but they need to get their elders get used to ours, and then they have to grandfather some of our laws. We're already phasing in, but it's why hour gammas are spread thin recently. We've been having them go to seminars with Scott. I was in a meeting with their betas. I'm fine with beta work...I just go with the flow you know what I mean" he said.

Steele cocked his head cutely. "I do but...what would motivate you to take over in the first place?" he asked.

Tai laughed. "You know this business with Ian? Well, this second in command did not particularly like humans. Rumor was that he's been in communication with him. We weren't going to have it" he said.

Steele sighed. "I know what you mean...I have a beta I've been keeping tabs over. I can't do anything about it because he represents his constituents. A majority have the old way of thinking in his precinct" he said.

"I'm surprised they are still a part of your clan still..." Tai mentioned.

Steele nodded. "Yea, well, I've been around a lot longer than he has, and I know how to make him feel real small. He's a populist and not very smart on any policies. His tactics are just like Ian's, and the rest of the majority of the clan as a whole are sick of it" he said sternly.

Lilian looked over at him worried. "Who's is this you're talking about?" she asked.

He looked back over at her. "His name is Peter...just be prepared to be hated by him and his little entourage. You are the contradiction and antithesis of his rhetoric" he muttered.

She rolled her eyes. "I'll be on the lookout...He'll learn not to fuck with me. Just you wait!" she said.

Tai stared at her in shock before he looked at Steele confused. "Is she serious?" he asked.

The neighbor gulped. "She's not a normal human" he added.

Steele grinned. "I armed her with all the secrets to defending herself against a werewolf. This is what she was like when I first met her too. She's a real Tsundere!" he said before Lilian elbowed him in the rib.

Tai looked at him oddly. "What did you just say?" he asked.

She cleared her throat. "It's an inside joke and nothing more!" she spoke harshly.

Steele laughed nervously. "She beats me up a lot" he said as he rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"I do" she agreed with a sadistic grin.

Tai stared between them not sure what to make of their relationship seeing Lilian as the dominant one. "So...uh...huh...I'm glad that you found a strong woman to be your mate. She'll make an excellent Alpha Female" he said before he gulped. "Yea, um, I'm going to help out Jared here. It was nice talking to you" he said.

Steele smirked and waved them off. He looked over at Lilian who was scowling at him with her arms crossed over her chest. He raised an eyebrow and stared at her in confusion. "What!?" he shouted.

She stared him down. "You know what a Tsundere is, but you don't know who Buffy is!?" she shouted.

He laughed nervously. "I don't want vampire stuff" he said before she threw a punch into the same spot she threw her elbow into. "Hey, I never said I didn't know who Buffy was! There are just some things I like to pretend that don't exist" he muttered.

She looked back at him and sighed. "Steele, is it just their portrayal of werewolves?" she asked.

He closed the door and snickered. "Have you even met a vampire?" he asked.

She glared at him and crossed her arms over her chest in contempt. "Have you!?" she shouted back irritated.

He walked up to her and smirked at her. "Are you hungry? Man I'm starving!" he said before he walked around the kitchen looking for food. "Scheiße! We forgot to go to the store! Quick, let's go get the food!" he said grabbing the keys.

"Oh no! I'm not letting you off that easily! You have met some, and you're just going to leave it at that!?" she shouted as she jabbed her finger into the spot she just punched at.

He cringed at she dug her knuckle into the spot, and he brushed her hand away. "Please, Do you want to have spoilers?" he asked.

She raised an eyebrow. "What is this break the fourth wall day?" she asked.

He snickered and patted her on the shoulder. "I've lived long enough to see where the plot is going. Just pay attention to the foreshadowing I gave you, and do what you do best" he said before she sniffed the air as he opened the door.

"Is someone smoking pot?" she muttered. They stepped outside and she covered her nose. "Oh, man that's strong!" she said before she walked over to her neighbor's fence that was upwind which she saw a teenager smoking a joint on the other side. "Excuse me! Are you seriously doing this right now!? Put that doobie out before I slap that mullet off your goddamn head!" she shouted.

The teenager looked at her annoyed before his eyes widened at Steele looming over her. He quickly threw his joint into the ground and stomped it out. She looked over at Steele's red eyes, and he had transformed ten percent, which the boy ran inside freaking out. She grumbled as she dragged her drugged out boyfriend back into her house. "Jesus! I didn't want to see what a werewolf on pot looks like" she said.

He laughed at her hysterically before his stomach growled. "Seriously...I'm really hungry" he muttered. He smacked his lips and frowned. "My mouth is dry" he said.

She ran her hands through her hair. "Okay, look...I'm going to get you some Jack in the box! Promise me you'll stay here and chill...got it!?" she said firmly.

"Are we supposed to be married?" he muttered.

She patted him on the shoulder. "God, I hope this don't last all day" she muttered before she left him.

She had been gone for fifteen minutes before she came back to him in his anthro form with his mouth wrapped around the arm of her father's chair. "Honey...dear..." She growled as her eye twitched. There was a loud rip before she threw the bag of food at him, and it bounced square off the side of his head. "Quit eating the couch!" she shouted.

He looked back at her with a wide eyed vacant look with a strand of thread hanging from his mouth. He looked down grabbing the bag and sniffed it as Lilian walked outside grasping her forehead. "Oh, I'm going to kill that kid!" she muttered.

There was a loud bang from inside her house, and she looked back in horror. "Oh my god! What now!?" she shouted before she ran back inside of her house. When she got inside, Steele had disappeared as well as the bag of food. She followed the trail of scrambled eggs into the dining room where she saw him eating the breakfast burrito she bought him.

"What did you just do!?" she shouted at him.

He looked up at her and snickered. "Nothing" he muttered with a mischievous grin.

She glared at him. "I heard a bang!" she shouted at him.

He held out a popped paper bag that his food was in. "Everything is fine. Why are you so stressed out all of the sudden?" he asked as he rubbed his forehead and yawned.

She scowled at him before she took in a deep breath. "Steele, don't ever do pot..." she said lowly.

He finished his burrito and grinned. "I don't need a Maui Waui that's for sure" he said.

Her eye twitched. "You know the different strains?" she asked.

He laughed. "I lived through the sixties! Trust me, I've seen what kind of affects drugs have on the supernatural. You don't want to see a werewolf on PCP" he said before he got up. "I should be fine now. I was really hungry" he said.

She raised an eyebrow, and she placed a hand over her hip. "Are you sure there big guy? You're still in your anthro form...and naked" she said.

He walked passed her. "Well the pot didn't make me naked...I took my clothes off" he said.

She shook her head. "Just get some damn clothes on and let's go get the shopping done!" she shouted before she slapped him over the rear.

Later that week, Lilian moved into Steele's home, and all of the her stress with not having much quality time with her werewolf lover vanished. As they returned to work, Lilian had begun to think about her future goals. Haley noticed that Lilian had become quiet for the past couple of days, so during their break, she pulled up a chair next to her.

"Hey, is everything going alright between you and Steele?" she asked.

Lilian broke out from her concentration and stared at her blankly. "Huh? Oh! No, everything is going great! A lot better than I imagined actually" she said before she stared into the computer screen. "It's just...I was thinking about going back to school after a year. I really like it here, and I think moving in with Steele just made things worse. I really don't want to have to leave" she said.

Haley ran her fingers through her hair and smirked. "You'll live...Just stay strong willed, and it'll pull you through. I hate to see you be a puddle of mush like this" she remarked.

She looked up at her and frowned. "But I'm not...It's just that I've grown accustomed to his companionship and his scent..." she said before Haley interrupted.

"Ho, boy! You've got suckered into his werewolf pheromones?" she asked.

Lilian rolled her eyes at her. "Did I look like I got suckered in the first week of being around him?" she asked.

She laughed. "No...but I recall you not being able to stand being in the same room as him. Though I would have to say that after he saved you that one time, which was when you stopped resisting it" she said with an amused smile.

Lilian paused briefly before she shook her head. "I was a little shaken up, but I knew he was different. I liked that he was exotic" she said. She closed her eyes and took a sip of tea from her mug. "Besides that...wasn't there a medical study on scent playing a big role of picking mates...especially for us women?" she asked.

She looked off to the side. "Yea, well...werewolves do the scent thing better. If a lot of the wolfmen weren't so damn aggressive and meat headed, a lot of women would flock to them no problem" she said before she put her hand to her chin. "I think that's what makes Steele a little special. Sure he's dense when it comes to social norms, but he doesn't have anything to prove. He's already got it all" she said.

Lilian set her mug down and snickered. "Wow, you're turning around quickly. You were so scared of him first meeting him, and now you don't think he's so bad" she teased.

She scowled at her. "Look! I thought he was going to be like all the stories I've heard about him!" she shouted defensively.

Lilian leaned back and sighed happily. "Oh, I believe he could do some nasty things...and yea, he doesn't have to show me. I'm glad he hasn't yet..." she said before she trailed off. "So, do you have problems with vampires at all? Steele doesn't really like to talk about them, and I'm beginning to get an impression that you kind of do" she said.

She stared at her blankly before she raised an eyebrow. "Uh, this is news to me...I think it might be a European thing. Vampires are more of an East Coast thing...There's not a lot of people over here for a coven, so I would say no, we don't have problems here. Nope!" she rambled on.

Lilian looked at her oddly as she took another sip from her mug. "So what are they like?" she asked.

She sighed heavily. "I've not met a vampire, but from what I was told is that they are practically like werebats only they drink blood instead of fruit smoothies" she said before she snickered. "By the way, don't ever call a werebat a vampire. We have a guy we call Flying Fox, he knocked out a werewolf named Pete. Oh man, those wings are very powerful" she said.

Lilian's eyes widened. "So are vampires stronger then?" she asked.

She shook her head. "They are a lot smaller actually. The only thing they got going for them is their heat sensing and being more mobile in their fully shifted forms. They aren't as strong as you think, but they have numbers. There's something with hunters always having to go for the biggest of creatures that I don't get. All that they have killed were the werebats" she said.

Lilian frowned. "Damn, so you think that Steele doesn't like vampires because of how they don't get touched much by hunters?" she asked.

She thought for a moment before she shrugged. "I don't know...I still don't have him figured out. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a whole lot of history between him and them" she muttered.

Lilian looked into her empty cup and the tea granules on the bottom. "Well, not talking about it is sure going to bite him in the ass" she added.

They looked up at each other, and Haley nodded. "We can gang up on him if you want" she said before they saw Steele enter the room with Tyler, which they were very worried. Haley looked at them confused. "What? What's going on?" she asked.

Tyler cleared his throat. "We're going to the Gulf coast" he said.

"Rescue and Body recovery" Steele said.