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There were a few hints of early morning on the horizon as two large dark furred wolves slunk along the Bow River, they both had scented something that had both sides of their personalities rattled. It had the normal scent of something of their type, the scent of a Were-creature. Though this creature wasn't a wolf... that was what had them both rattled the scent had a distinctly feline lilt to it, though it wasn't any creature that was native to this part of North America. What they had also found, at one point had also done little to ease their minds, a paw print... that was easily half again as big as their own paws.

"Regi I don't like this." The junior of the two sent to his partner. "We should inform Beta Simon that there's something out here."

"What are we supposed to tell him Jack... that we have a bad feeling, if we don't tell him precisely what it is we are following he might have our hides for shoes."

"He's not that bad Regi, just because you've gotten on the wrong side of him a time or two doesn't mean that he wants your fur for a rug."

The junior wolf shook his head and stopped to look around. "If I knew what we were risking our hide to follow I might feel a little better."

"Well until we have confirmation of what we are tracking we will keep silent." The senior wolf ordered as he slunk through some river side bushes to see what was ahead of them.

"Down!" The junior hissed through their link seeing something that had hints of white, pale orange, and black. He was younger and smaller than the senior wolf but in this case his speed saved both of them as the figure in the distance turned its head. "Regi that isn't a wolf... it's a cat... and not to be messed with... He probably outweighs the two of us put together by a factor of two."

The wolf who was called Regi got himself back to his feet and glared at his partner, but he had glimpsed what Jack had seen "Beta Simon, we have a problem." He sent nervously his ears, and tail telling his partner what he felt about the situation.

After a short time, a tired sounding mental voice answered him. "What is it Regi? You are aware that it is not even six in the morning."

"I'm sorry Beta but that intruder that you told us to find... we've seen him... it's not a wolf... it's a tiger..."

Jake interjected, "It's the biggest and palest tiger I've ever seen Beta, and his scent isn't nice... smells almost like a rogue wolf sir."

There was a growl of both surprise and anger in the link, "Stay on him, don't let him out of your sight but don't get too close. I don't need to explain to you two what will happen if you get too close to a rogue Were-tiger."

Both wolves shook their heads, they had been taught, as youngsters what the various Weres had in terms of strengths and weaknesses, it was part of learned to become pack patrol members.

The sun was starting to come up as a young man set up his tripod to take some pictures, "Damned it's been a long time since I had any time at all to do this," he mused fiddling with his camera he hadn't had a chance, in a very long time, to pick up his camera and get out by himself to take pictures. One of the biggest issues he'd found that one of his friend's who'd helped him get into photography had moved away abruptly the year before. Too much time was taken up by his numerous hobbies, his job, and his relationships.

"Damn it Adam where the heck to you up and vanish to? You'd be able to assist me in getting all this together and out here and even with getting the right basic settings." He muttered as he looked into the viewfinder trying to find the right settings. Trying to read his guides on how to get perfect dawn shots, in the current light was next to impossible, unless he wanted to drag out one of his stupidly bright LED flashlights. The side-effect of those lights was to completely ruin one's night vision and make them as blind as a bat when it was turned off. "Why didn't I grab one of my MPLS light's off of my helmet to bring with me?" He half grouched at himself for the oversight while still trying to figure out what settings to use. Like at dusk, pre-dawn, and dawn were interesting times to be out taking pictures, though getting the right settings took some time and experience to get right.

The man wasn't doing too much about paying attention to his surroundings as he fiddled around with his camera, so when the giant cat slunk into the clearing he could see his next meal being oblivious to his presence. "This is almost too easy." The great cat thought to himself as he slinked around in the shadows, though his pale colouration did little to conceal himself in these surroundings. His stomach growled again and he sensed the creatures that had been following him for the last dozen or so kilometers. "Damned dogs... don't they know to leave their betters alone" He growled softly to himself if he was lucky he might be able take this wimp of a human down and get a few bites before the bothersome insects got too close.

At exactly the wrong time, when the great cat was only a couple dozen meters away the man turned around and spotted him. "Holy Fuck!" He exclaimed, not really sure what to do. He was smart enough to know that running from a predator would activate said predator's chase instincts but he also knew that standing his ground against something like this tiger was a good way to end up dead. Furthermore, he could see the cat's eyes and the burning intelligence that was in them, what he saw chilled him to the core, there was a frightening mixture of cold, calculating, brutal sanity and an edge of bloody minded lunacy in those eyes. Though scared out of his ever-loving mind he couldn't help but admire the stunning beauty of the creature in front of him, from the tip of his nose to the tip of his tail the massive tiger was easily 3.5, maybe even 4 meters long and if he had to hazard a guess it weighed in the area of 450 to 500 kilograms. "Damned you're a big cat... but what are you doing out here?" He stuttered trying to back away, always keeping his eyes on the giant feline.

For his part the cat gave voice to a slow murderous growl as he stalked forwards almost laughing to himself as the human pulled something from his pocket. "How cute... he has a toy knife." The cat though as the human flicked it open, the cold glint of the sharpened steel in no way dissuading the cat from his intended purpose.

With a soul freezing roar the cat leapt with his power, stretching his massive body out and flying like some great furry missile of death.

The human froze for a fraction of a second before shifting, not quickly enough mind you, to try and protect his head and neck from the monstrous cat, while at the same times trying to slash out with his knife. The old steel that he had lovingly kept sharp enough to shave with found something of a target as it sliced into the cat's ear.

The shock of pain from his ear surprised him to a great extent as he bit down, hearing the blood curdling scream from the human. No human in thirty years had ever managed to blood him with a blade but this one had, his movements had been, slow, clumsy, almost predictable but he'd had more luck than anyone else had.

At that moment as the human passed out from the massive amount of pain he was experiencing in his arm and chest a howl sounded from the edges of the park clearing, it was followed by four more howls and the cat looked up. "Damned insects..." He thought looking out and spotting four, no five wolves closing on him. His ear was a torn bloody mess from the human's struggles and he was badly outnumbered, but he hadn't finished the job... There was no way in hell he'd even consider leaving behind a turned cat.

As he tried to come up with options one of the wolves shifted to Were and pulled a heavy blade from a pack he was wearing on his back. After sparing a glance at the massive Were the cat turned and dived into the bushes on the edge of the river before popping up several dozen meters downstream swimming powerfully for the opposite bank.

Quickly shifting from wolf to human the youngest of the five wolves who'd chased off the tiger ran to the human and knelt down and looked at him before he growled out, "Beta Simon, this man, he's still alive. His arm's a mess but he's alive."

The wolf in Were form shifted down and walked over to where Jack was sitting and nodded. "Will he live Jack? How much damage did that damned cat do?"

"Well sir I think I can stop the bleeding, it will require a tourniquet on his upper arm but I think I can save his life. Sir the other issue is... well, this bite, it will turn him and we don't really have much in the way of resources, or knowledge on how to deal with Were-tigers sir."

Simon patted Jack on the shoulder. "I know that but I don't think this young man wants his story to end here." He said as he picked up the bloodstained knife from the ground beside the man "He has a lot of fight and spirit in him. Even though he knew that he wasn't going to get out of this alive he also knew that he wasn't going to simply give up and die.

Jack nodded. "Why did he go for the knife sir? I mean a lock-back knife isn't all that dangerous but he still tried."

"Sometimes that's the way humans are Jack, they don't all give up when the odds aren't in their favour, they still fight because that's part of their nature, that and some would rather go down fighting than to give up and die without trying to survive."

After a few more moments Jack sat back on his heels, "I think I've managed to get him to at least some semblance of stability. Not sure if this will hold, but for now he won't die on us, at least I don't think he will, but he's lost an awful lot of blood."

Nodding Simon reached into the pack on his back, and pulled out his phone before making a quick call to his Alpha. After six to seven rings a sleepy sounding voice answered the phone. "Simon this had better be important it's quarter to six in the damned morning."

"I wouldn't be calling if it wasn't important Alpha, we tracked and chased off a Were-tiger. But the worst of it is that he bit a human. A young human male, roughly mid thirties, pale skin, shaved head, bushy mustache, fairly fit."

"So, what you are telling me is that we have a rogue turned human on our hands, one who isn't a wolf."

"That's right Alpha, he will live, though he was badly injured in the attack and his arm looks like it's been through a meat grinder. What I'm more concerned about is the fact that he needs to be cared for... You and I both know that since he was bitten, he's going to need care in an isolated environment for the next couple weeks, if not longer. I don't know if the fact that he's going to be a tiger will change how his change will happen."

There was a thoughtful pause at the other end. "I think I may have to call in some favours from some of the prides to see if we can find a home for our cat, once he gets through the first few weeks. Who is with him right now Simon?"

Simon glanced over at Jack and then shook his head slightly. "I have Jack taking care of him."

"You mean Junior Patroller Jack? Winston and Claire's son?"

"Yes, sir that is what I said?" Simon winced slightly and looked at the young wolf who was kneeling beside the human.

"Damned I hope they don't cause trouble because of this. He's only seventeen and his parents are a royal pain in my tail sometimes. Anyways I'm having an extraction vehicle coming out to you to get you guys out of there before more humans wake up. Gather all evidence of this attack up with you when you leave, and don't forget to make sure that you have all of our cat's belongings too."

"I understand Alpha. We will be ready for evac in less than five."

"Very good, Report to me when you get back... and tell Jack that he's now going to keep our new friend alive."

"Understood sir, not sure if this is what he really wants to spend the next few weeks doing but I will tell him that." He said before putting his phone away and pulling out some basic clothing. "Okay everyone be ready to evac in five, clean the area, hide the blood and collect this man's camera gear, I think if he had it when he wakes up he'd feel a little bit better about the whole situation." After getting himself decent Simon knelt down and used a clear ziploc bag to collect the bloody knife.

Six minutes later a vehicle that appeared to be an ambulance pulled into the park and two attendants jumped out and wheeled a stretcher over to the inert form of the young man. "Yikes it looks like somebody fed his arm into a meat grinder." One of the attendants muttered as he got the pale skinned man onto the stretcher.

Young Jack nodded, "Yeah it does look that way doesn't it, but this one had courage and guts... wonder what he'll be like when he wakes up, I've also managed to get the bones, such as they are, in pretty much their right positions. I wish I could do better but healing really isn't my forte."

The older attendant smiled a bit. "You did fine, though I know that your father is gonna tear a stripe off of anybody even remotely involved with this since we all knows how he feels about letting you start to take on adult jobs."

Jack chuckled and rolled his eyes. "If it was up to those two I'd spend my entire life balled up in cotton wool, and that is something that my wolf hates the idea of. I mean I can't do anything about the fact that David and Serena were killed when they were my age but..." He trailed off shrugging his shoulders as he hefted the young man's bag of camera gear and climbed into the ambulance with his charge. "One part of this I am not looking forwards to is the boredom... how long will this guy be little more than a sleeping body?"

The attendant looked across to Jack, "To tell the truth I am not sure, the thing is since this is a rogue change he might take a lot longer than a mate-change, but I think you can read up on it while you are being bored out of your mind."

While they were talking, the ambulance sped along the roads that lead to the packhouse, followed by a pair of black Ford Excursions which contained the rest of the Weres that had confronted the tiger.

Three hours later Jack shook his head as he read up on how changes happened to those that weren't willingly changed. "Damned this isn't going to be fun, but I guess I am stuck with you Mr. McEwan."

At the same time as Jack was getting settled in his father was trying to shout down his Alpha. "Oscar what right did you have to..."

"Winston shut up and sit down!" Oscar growled out coldly. "You and your mate have made your position quite clear when it comes to young Jack's future. What you both fail to realize is that he asked for this opportunity."

"He doesn't..."

"He fully understands what he's getting into Winston, what you seem to have failed to realize is that he isn't a puppy anymore, he rapidly growing into his full growth as a member of this pack. He wants to prove himself!" Oscar stood up walking around his desk softening his tone. "I know that the last ten years haven't been easy for you and Claire, but the truth of the matter is that Jack isn't either David or Serena." He sat down next to the older man and ran a hand down his shoulder. "You've not made it any easier by being a stubborn old fool by not coming to me or Olwen to talk about it. You've bottled up you fear and anger at the loss of you oldest two and let it guide you in your decisions regarding Jack."

Winston looked at his Alpha and a number of emotions could be seen flickering in his eyes. "We only want our remaining pup to survive Oscar, is that too much to ask? When David died... it felt like apart of us died along with him. That was made worse when Serena also died... Claire... well she's never been the same. I mean I do what I can to help her, but she's... different."

"I know she isn't Winston, Olwen has tried to get close to your mate, but Claire is stubborn and shuts down, sometimes we can barely feel her at all."

Winston nodded trying to keep a straight face but his wolf was softly urging him to talk to his Alpha. "Sir what are you having Jack do? I mean is it safe?"

"Winston, I really don't know, for the time being, yes, it is safe, but you have to realize that Jack himself requested to become one of our patrollers and so far his testing has demonstrated that he has both talent and some common sense.

Winston nodded softly and closed his eyes.

"Winston, I can tell, your wolf wants you to talk to me. I'm not going to snap at you if you need a shoulder to lean on. I'm not just here to give out orders but also to give all members of my pack what they need. If that includes letting stubborn old wolves like you a place to relax and talk."

While the males were talking, Olwen walked in quietly and set two cups of coffee down before taking a seat on the other side of Winston. "Winston let us help you and Claire, if you push him too much Jack might just shut you out, and I doubt that is something either of you want. As for where Jack is at the moment, he's in isolation with human that was bitten this morning by a rogue."

Winston took several breaths and nodded. "I think that Claire won't mind that, at least he's not out exposing himself to danger for the time being."

"Only time will tell Winston, only time will tell." It will entirely depend on what this person is like when he wakes up.