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Cries to the moon

A Lamb among Wolves

Daniel's fear was dismissed as the pack sped up, reaching the top of the hill before stopping. "We're being followed aren't we?" he whispered to Justin who laid his ears back. Looking to Ruby who had turned to look down the slope they had scaled he relaxed standing up to his full height again. Beside Justin the other two he had not been introduced to yet began running down into the wooded valley. Shane walked up beside Justin and spoke in a calmed tone for someone who had just run half a mile uphill.

"Our second den for summer is over in that hill." He stated pointing to one of many hills towards which the other pair had begun running. "I'm surprised you knew we were being chased. Not many people can tell the difference between the howls before their first change." Justin turned and whined to Shane who patted his nose. "Take him to the den and don't stop until you get there, mutt."

Daniel's eyes widened and his grip tightened on Justin's fur once more as Justin leaped forward into his previous pace. Shane walked to Ruby and placed a hand on her shoulder. Ruby looked to him as her form shifted changing in such a way as to leave her standing there with his hand still on her shoulder. "You know you're going to have to tell him who's after him before his first change."

Shane caught a glare from her as she stared down the hill at the quiet town. "I know but my little brother's not going to be happy with this." She said relaxing a bit. "Ruby we haven't got a choice. If he goes to them he won't last the night." Ruby sighed and turned to him resting her head on his chest. "Does Justin know?" she asked in whisper. "For now, no. And until you wish it that will remain the same." He replied gently brushing her scarlet hair from her face. "They've stopped pursuing for now, we should get to the den." She said turning back towards their objective.

After close to thirty minutes of non-stop running Daniel and Justin reached the hillside den. Justin laid down allowing Daniel to tumble off of him in somewhat of a rushed stupor. After a minute to pull himself together Daniel stepped towards the mouth of a cave he had been brought to while Justin reverted behind him. Inside of the cave Daniel could make out a faint conversation. "Who are the other two?" Daniel asked turning towards Justin. "Ruby's kids. Dawn and Sammy." As he spoke, Justin walked past Daniel towards the door and paused at the entrance.

Daniel's mind ran rampant with questions and he struggled to sort through them. The names for the others clicked though. Dawn, Sam, Ruby, these names in particular seemed to strike a cord in his head but Daniel struggled to place it at this point. He walked up to Justin for now and hugged him, embracing the one semblance of a friend he had left at this point. Justin was caught off guard but still wrapped his arms around Daniel. Keeping an arm around his shoulder Justin led Daniel into the den.

Inside the den was a large central room lit by kerosene lanterns that had several hallways leading back into the hillside. Four of the hallways were lit another two were growing brighter by the minute and Justin led Daniel to a bed on the wall. After a few minutes Ruby entered the den and padded up a hallway and into a room. Shane walked in behind her turning to spy Justin tucking Daniel in. He cleared his throat softly causing Justin to look up. When he did Shane waved him over before speaking in a hushed tone.

"His turning signs will begin to show up tomorrow so you'll be staying with him for now." Shane murmured. Justin nodded and continued casting furtive glances over at him. "What happened with the other pack?" he asked. "They stopped tracking at the den. We should be safe for now with the storm coming in." Shane replied before nudging Justin towards the now sleeping object of their discussion. Justin walked over and crawled onto the bed with Daniel and sighed closing his eyes and attempting to fall asleep.

Meanwhile a wolf gently pawed at the ground near the abandoned den and turned to a man in a hood before growling. "Ruby huh? She just can't seem to stay out of my business can she?" He asked the large wolf. "No sense in chasing, they're long gone. Regroup for now and I'll meet up with you after I check on Jennifer." He said turning towards Daniel's house. As he strode down to the house he removed the hooded robe and tossed it over the wolf's back before straightening his suit. "This is shaping up to be a problem quickly." He muttered as the wolf broke off in another direction.

After a few minutes the house came into sight and he made his way in through the back door. Jennifer sat at the table in the kitchen tapping the table with her fingernails impatiently. "Robert what the hell was that?" She demanded as he drew a chair and sat in it. "You're cronies busted in the second they knew Justin was here." Robert held up and hand and stopped her. In the pale light of the kitchen Robert's face was expressionless. A single scar marked his face running down from his forehead to cup under his eye.

"Justin is in Ruby's pack and I sent them." Jennifer's face reflected confusion and she growled in frustration. Robert placed his hand on the table again and continued, "My sister will take care of him through the first change and then he will come back to me." He said somberly. Jennifer bit her nails while thinking about what had happened. "She's been watching him for almost a year now if Justin's with her." Robert nodded then stood up and walked from the room. "I'm going to meet up with the rest of the pack and clue them in to what happened and what our plans are." He said opening the front door. "Fine, I'll straighten up the place and meet you later." Jennifer said as the door closed behind Robert. A few steps from his door Robert shifted in the dimly lit street and took off at a run through the streets towards his own den.

The breeze rushing through his fur made him long to be able to remain in this form permanently. The heaviness of his job and his position as a pack leader took their toll on him as it was. On top of all of this, now he was now genuinely worried. If his pack didn't accept his explanation of why they weren't going after Daniel there would be an uprising. Fights for dominance happened often but if a pack turned on its leader, things wouldn't end well. A gentle rain began falling followed by several low rumbles of thunder as Robert's mind drifted.

In his mind the same scene replayed over and over of his last encounter with Ruby. Coincidentally he was not the only one. Daniel had drifted into his memories in search of answers and had returned with a handful of vague memories of twins named Sam and Dawn. Polar opposites, these twins used to play with him regularly until one day when a woman whose face he couldn't place picked them up and left screaming at his father. They were a year older than him with the same long black hair and blue eyes, a family trait perhaps, and certain mischievousness to them.

Beside him Justin had taken to sleep draped lazily across the bed. Daniel couldn't help watching him sleep. His face contorted in his sleep with a mixture of pleasure and confusion as Daniel watched and a few times his body would tense as if he had been on the edge of a fight. Daniel yawned and rolled towards Justin draping his arm across the sleeping figure's chest before resigning himself to sleep. Justin, meanwhile, opened his eyes in the darkness of the cave and stared at Daniel, a helpless lamb separated from his usual herd and thrown into a den of wolves. It was hard for Justin to resist feeling sympathetic for him. Sighing, he closed his eyes and drifted back to sleep.

Morning came uneventfully and Daniel woke to find himself snuggled up to Justin who had made himself quite comfortable. Smiling, he quietly got up from the bed and made his way outside. To his surprise a woman wearing a silky black dress stood outside the cave entrance watching the horizon with amazing concentration. Her red hair fluttered gently in the breeze as he stepped out of the den. "You're up awful early pup." She said sounding a bit annoyed without bothering to turn and face him.

Her voice reminded him vaguely of someone he could barely remember and he took a half step closer to her. "Ruby was it?" he asked with all the confidence of a stray puppy. Ruby turned and looked at Daniel with a little bit of a smile. "You know if you haven't put two and two together and come up with four by now I'm going to be very disappointed in my little brother." Daniel caught just enough of a glimpse of Ruby's face to place it into his dream of the twins. "You're my," Ruby cut him off, "You look like you've seen a ghost kid." She said holding her arms out.

Daniel nearly tackled her as he hugged her tightly. Shane cleared his throat from the entrance of the den. "Mind keeping it down? Twins are still asleep and I'd prefer to keep it that way." He said lighting a cigarette. Daniel turned to him and frowned. "Does that make him my uncle?" he asked looking to Ruby for confirmation. Ruby nodded and Daniel yawned again. "Go back to bed for a little bit pup, you're in for a rough night tonight."

Daniel nodded and walked back into the den crawling back into the bed with Justin and curling up with him. "Is he showing anything?" Shane asked Ruby in a hushed tone looking out over the valley. "He has the fever. Aside from that the migraines don't appear to be showing up yet." She said somberly. "I wish he didn't have the gene. Things would be so much easier." Ruby said looking to Shane. "At least his first change will be here. With some one he can trust." Shane replied receiving a warning glare from Ruby. Shane seemed unmoved by this and walked up to her hugging her lightly.

|X|X|X|

A few hour later the Den bustled with activity as Dawn and Sam awoke and began fighting over who got to wrestle Daniel first. Daniel however remained on his bed huddled up with Justin to watch the twins duke it out. Shane and Ruby, meanwhile, had left for a bit to make a run for town, literally, and grab supplies. Daniel's mind numbed as he thought back to the events leading up to his current predicament.

"Jennifer must be worried sick." He muttered. Not knowing exactly what had happened only that she was somehow injured. He wondered exactly how she was reacting to all of this. If his father had come home how she'd have explained it. Admittedly he still hated Jennifer but, nonetheless, he was worried for her safety anyway. She, meanwhile, had finished straightening the house and left for work almost as if nothing had happened last night.

Last night went without a hitch according to her husband. The pack was made aware their leader's pup was taken and they were instructed to report any sightings of Ruby or Daniel to Robert immediately. As she walked down the street a soft voice drifted into her ear. "Oh Jenny. Can I have a word?" Jennifer spun on the spot glaring at Shane. "What are you doing here?" she asked in a deadly tone. Shane pursed his lips and frowned. "Now is that any was to greet your ex, Jenny?" he asked in reply. Shane had the most mischievous look on his face which clued Jenny in within an instant.

"She's not-" Jenny's inquisition stopped abruptly as a light brush across her back told her exactly what she feared. "Yeah, I'm here Jenny. Did you miss me?" Ruby asked, walking past Jenny and taking her place next to Shane. The only redeeming factor here was that the street was quite empty, otherwise there would have been nosy people butting in. "You know why we're here, Jenny." Shane began. "Then you know what I'm going to say." She replied.

Shane smiled brightly at Jenny. "Never change, do you?" he interjected before turning and placing a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Tell my little brother I said hi, Jenny." Ruby said before turning with Shane down a nearby gangway. Jenny rounded the corner to follow them but was caught off guard when the same path they had taken seconds before had returned empty. Turning back towards her office she pulled her cell phone from her purse and began dialing. "Rob, see me here." She stated taking an air of purpose around her.

Daniel, meanwhile, had taken a turn for the worse as the rain set in. What would have been a quiet noise to him became as loud as guns going off next to his head. His senses began to go haywire, starting with his hearing and followed by his sight. If he wasn't seeing the most miniscule detail of a drop of water falling through the air of the cave it was the complete blur as his migraines made it back with a vengeance. Justin was busy ordering the twins about while he sat on the edge of the bed, draping a damp cloth over Daniel's forehead.

Justin finally managed to get Daniel to understand that he had to be moved and sat him up on the bed. In one fluid motion Justin picked Daniel's limp form up from the bed and began walking into the back room with the twins in tow. Ruby entered the cave in time to see Dawn enter the hallway and followed her at a quick pace leaving Shane to lug in a crate of food by himself. "Yeah don't worry Ruby the food won't spoil sitting in the rain. Not a bit." He muttered sarcastically earning him an over-the-shoulder glare from Ruby.

In the back room, Daniel's other senses began kicking into over-drive and the light faded outside. Ruby entered the room and turned to Dawn and Sam. "Go help Shane get the den locked up." She ordered, sending the twins scrambling from the room. Justin set Daniel as gently as he could onto the mattress as Ruby closed in on them. "His hearing's gone off the charts and his sight isn't that far behind. The fever's picked up and he's beginning to get hypersensitive to touch." Justin explained to Ruby who nodded and gently opened one of Daniel's eyes. Its immediate reaction to the light told Ruby exactly what she needed to know as yellow streaks began to race across his iris. His breathing nosedived into shallow gasps as he tensed into a mini-seizure. "Justin, get Shane." Ruby almost growled at him. As he left the room Ruby leaned down to Daniel's ear and whispered. "Kiddo this isn't going to make much sense right now but try to remain calm. There's something you need to know now."

Daniel shivered in the cold having already retreated to the corners of his mind to escape this pain. "Isn't going to make much sense." Daniel's only thought was when has this made sense? At what point did werewolves and transformations make sense? "Something you need to know." He nodded feverishly prompting Ruby to continue. "The leader of the rival pack is your Father." Daniel's blood ran cold as these words sank in, but not from any type of shock. Outside the clouds parted and the rain had stopped as the waning crescent of the moon slipped from the sky.

His body tensed again as Ruby spoke and his hand flew out connecting with her chest and launching her backwards. All at once Daniel's world melted away and he was left shaking in the deepest corners of his mind. Scenes of wolves hunting in packs played out before him until all at once it stopped. The pain was simply gone from his mind as it froze on a single picture he had drawn as a kid of a black wolf with sky blue eyes.

Shane, meanwhile, had come into the room in time to be cushioning for Ruby's landing. As they pulled themselves up a slight gurgling noise filled the room followed by a snarl. On the mattress Daniel's forearms lengthened and his ribcage cracked loudly, nauseatingly contorting his chest to twice the depth it had been before resetting itself. As his physiology changed before them, facial features blurred and black fur grew out along his body. Snapping sounds were heard as his spinal column lengthened into a tail which fluffed over with fur as well. Within seconds Daniel stood, claws dug painfully into the rocky floor of the den, shivering in a small amount of shock before raising his head and letting out an unearthly howl.