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©® KAYCEE** Pseudonym 2012

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5

I could hear Blake's truck pulling up the driveway. That tired old 57 Chevy of his had seen better days. It was weather beaten, rusted out in spots and had numerous holes in the cab that water leaked inside. He wouldn't give it up though.

Gran turned back to me from looking towards the backdoor to the mudroom off the kitchen, "Once he walks in he'll realize that you've been turned by the spell. He's sensitive to it. His Alpha senses and power will manifest and you'll feel a pull within yourself. Not to submit but to recognize who and what he is to the wolf within you. Mostly, it's the wolf inside recognizing him as Alpha and that you're part of his pack. It's really a rather unique experience."

Blake walked in a minute later. I've really never met him in person until now. He bought one of the hotels in Gorda with his partner, Gordon. Gran's told me a bit about him when she met him about a year ago, but never told me he was a lycan until a week or so ago when she called me about needing some help with the feral issue. He's not a small man either. He's a couple inches shorter than Kyle, probably about 30 years old or close to it and by the scruff on his face hasn't shaved in a couple of days.

He was a hell of a lot more muscular than Kyle. I've never seen such forearms or biceps. Since he was wearing a sleeveless sweat shirt, they were front and center as he opened the screen door. The jeans he was poured into only accentuated his thighs. Knocking his hiking boots on the grate in the mudroom to knock off any muck, he stepped inside, "Morning Althea!"

"Morning Blake," Gran said making way to stand up until he stopped her. "Hey, hey... Sit down," he laughed, "You don't need to be putting weight on that ankle yet." Gran pulled out a chair for him, "Coffee?" Blake nodded.

"Jess," Gran said turning towards me, "Would you get Blake some coffee?" I didn't hear her. I was intrigued with this man. He was clearly of mixed ancestry but I was having a bit of a time trying to figure it out. His dark hair, almost black, and the shape of his brown eyes made him look almost Latino.

"Jess?!" Gran repeated.

"Huh?" I asked turning back towards her. She rolled her eyes and laughed, "I asked if you'd get Blake some coffee."

"Oh sure," waiving my left hand. The cabinet door opened and a coffee cup levitated across the room towards the table while the coffee pot slipped off the stove and over as well. The cup landed in front of him, the coffee then floated over and poured into the cup. "That's enough," I said, making it stop pouring and return to the stove.

"Cream for your coffee?" snapping my fingers and listening to the fridge open while not taking my eyes off of him. He shook his head, "Just sugar," as he looked around the table for it. Gran reached over and put it in front of him along with a spoon while I shut the fridge door.

"I see you're a warlock," Blake stated as he placed two teaspoons of sugar in his coffee.

"Blake," Gran said doing the introductions, "This is my Grandson, Jesse." I reached over and took his outstretched hand and shook it. I immediately felt what could only be described as an acknowledgement on his part by his Alpha wolf. Still holding my hand he pulled me closer, leaned in and 'sniffed' me. His nostrils flared, yet his eyebrows rose in surprise.

However, much to my puzzlement and from what I could see as the same on Blake's face, I felt no 'pull' like Gran said I would. It was a simple feeling of "Ok, he's an Alpha but you don't belong with him."

"He's been changed," Blake asked Gran while pulling his hand back with obvious questions looming over his face. Gran nodded, "The spell called to him and he invoked last night. I'm sure you've both felt the pull by now."

Blake shook his head and took a sip of his coffee. I only sat there trying to figure out what was going on because I didn't even feel what Gran described. I could see that Blake's face was trying to figure it out as well.

"What?" Gran asked, "Why are you shaking your head?"

"I didn't and don't feel anything Gran," I said speaking up.

"What do you mean?" she asked me before turning to our visitor, "Blake?"

He put down his coffee, rested his elbows on the table and made a pyramid with his fingers, "I don't know Althea. I don't understand it myself. It's as if he already belongs to some other Alpha; as if he's been claimed."

"That's impossible! Blake," Gran's shocked voice echoed the kitchen, "That blood used in that spell came from your Great-Grandfather. When it infused into Jesse, via the spell, that should have made him part of your pack. Your Alpha should have recognized the bloodline immediately."

"What do you mean I've been 'claimed'?" I asked starting to worry.

Blake turned to face me, "Jesse, as Althea said, the blood used in that incantation was from my bloodline, a direct bloodline of Alphas. I took over from my Father when he passed a year ago. Our bloodline is unique in that all the first born males tend to hold an Alpha gene. It's only passed through procreation, not a bite. Our blood and bites create other lycans but none are Alphas. We're not sure why but it started appearing in our history well over seven hundred years ago. We also live longer than most other lycans. Our blood and, if someone is changed through a bite, allows the person changed to live longer than normal. Most lycans live around three to four hundred or so years, however, our bloodline extends that to around six hundred."

"It's through the bite or blood that I can tell if you're part of my pack. Generally any newly turned lycan, if bitten by a feral or a rogue, can be attuned and fixed to a nearby Alpha and become part of his pack. It's part of the Alpha power. If you are of my bloodline and have been turned, the wolf part of you should automatically recognize me as your Alpha and submit," pausing to take a breath, "The incantation that was created by your Grandmother used the blood of my Great-Grandfather. That blood and the other parts of her magic and that of Druid healing made an incantation that would make whoever was called by the spell to be part of the pack without submitting."

I looked over at Gran, "He knows all the history of the spell?" Generally that was something that no witch or warlock divulged. Our spells and incantations were sacrosanct.

"It's in his family's history and only passed down to the next Alpha by the father before," Gran stated.

"Ok," I said sitting back and rubbing my forehead, "this is all well and good as a history but what the hell does it have to do with me being 'claimed'?"

Blake stood up and began pacing the kitchen, "Somehow either during the incantation, immediately after or maybe before, it gets tricky in the before part, you've been exposed to another Alpha. His Alpha power would make your wolf call out to him and accept him. The problem I see is that you're in my bloodline. My wolf recognizes the blood through the incantation. I can sense it but your wolf part doesn't recognize me as your Alpha. That shouldn't have happened. Because of the spell's design, it shouldn't have let your wolf recognize any other Alpha but me or my lineage. It would have held out until it found me or an Alpha of my bloodline."

Gran looked upset, "Blake, I have this place spelled to high heavens. No other lycan can enter these grounds unless the spell has been set to allow them to pass on the property. We would immediately know if any tried. They'd be rebuffed at the perimeter of the spell. Any attempt to cross that line would send them rebounding in the other direction. How could another lycan gotten onto the property?"

Blake shook his head, "I don't know." He pulled out his chair again and sat down, "The only other way of exposure would be prior. However, it seems to be someone of my bloodline. That person either is or shows signs of being an Alpha."

"Transmission would have to be through a bite or some form of saliva transmission. If you were just exposed to another lycan that wasn't an Alpha you'd have to be seriously bitten. Non-Alpha's don't carry a strong amount of the virus in their saliva. Lycans are generally born now. Very few are changed via a bite. It's a painful transformation. The gene that literally infects the host is held in the saliva. That's why historically, most of the worst feral attacks usually led to death. Alpha's only need to make a small bite since they carry so much of the virus in their saliva," Blake continued, "and it has to be consciously released. Unless this person isn't aware that it is an Alpha. It could have unconsciously released the virus in their saliva based on the wolf's desire for that person."

"Wait," I said holding up my hand, "Are you telling me that some unknown Alpha lycan out there has the 'hots' for me, either may or may not know what they were doing, and exposed me to the virus before I completed the incantation?"

"I am," Blake confirmed, "the incantation then pulled you to complete the process. If you were exposed to the saliva of an Alpha and you weren't bitten then it would have been present at the time the incantation was invoked and thus you were marked as of that Alpha."

"The virus was already in you or on you. The incantation based on my bloodline sensed the same bloodline in the virus and thus when the spell was completed, well...." he trailed off.

We sat there in quiet for around five minutes mulling it all over before he turned to me, "Have you been around anyone that you're not familiar with or has shown signs of being a lycan?"

I shook my head.

Blake sat back and shook his head, "I don't know Althea. It seems we might have more than one lycan in the area that could be changing people and they are somehow from my bloodline."

"Right now there's no harm. The spell's in place and it's fixed within Jesse but somewhere out there," as he pointed out to the woods, "there's an Alpha whose wolf has claimed Jesse."

The next half hour we all sat there without saying a word. The implications were mind boggling. I had been claimed by some Alpha lycan and I had no clue as to by whom.

Finally I spoke up, "Will there be a problem with me helping to hunt this feral?"

I think my words shocked both Gran and Blake. She looked worried. He just smiled.

"No," Blake said standing up and looking me in the eye, "I don't think there will be. It actually might help us determine who the Alpha is that infected you. If it's this feral or not."

Gran started to protest, "Jesse, I'm not sure that I want to send you out there now."

I turned to her, putting my hands on the table, "Gran," I said gritting my teeth, "Now I really need to be out there."

I gathered up what I needed and followed Blake out the back door and to his truck. A few minutes later we were going down one of the old logging roads towards the back part of our property. I don't know what we would or, if we even might, find but I knew I needed some answers.

***** Fifteen miles away a battered old truck hauling a rusty old trailer pulled up a recently renovated motel. It was actually cabins that had been refurbished to attract some of the more off the road tourists from San Francisco, Monterrey and LA. Each either had a fireplace or a glass faced wood stove that offered the guests a coziness that came with being along the coast and warmth against the chill of the Pacific nights.

The truck pulled in and the young man driving got out. He was unhitching the trailer when a man in his thirties walked up and slapped him on the back.

"Hey Kyle!" Gordon's voice boomed with the same amount of force the slap to the back had to it.

"Hey Gord! He's the three cords of wood that you requested. Where do you want the trailer?" Kyle asked as he finished unhooking the wires for the trailer lights. "Over hear," Gord indicated and moved to help Kyle roll the trailer to where they'd dump the wood.

As Gord leaned over, Kyle got a strange scent from him. It was familiar but at the same time he couldn't place it. However, it made him think of his brother. There was a connection.

As they got the trailer into place, Kyle stood and stretched his back, "Where's Blake?" Blake was Gordon Hale's partner. The both of them had bought the motel/cabins a year before just after Blake's Dad had suddenly passed. It seemed Blake also had to take over his Father's business that he ran from his home.

Gord balked. He wondered just how much to say without giving information out about his partner's business. He pretended to cough into his hand, "Um, he's up at Althea Meriweather's place. It seems there's some wild animal up there that she needed help chasing off."

Kyle's head perked up, "Wild animal?"

"Yeah," Gord lied, "Most likely a badger or something like that running around."

Something about Gord's demeanor didn't set well with Kyle. Something told him that Gordon wasn't telling the truth and whatever it was that had sent Blake to Althea's was more important than he let on.

As he was talking to Gord, something hit him like a ton of bricks. It was Jesse. He could feel it.

"I've gotta go," Kyle said running to his truck. "Wait!" yelled Gord, "what about your money?"

"Drop it in the mail!" Kyle yelled as he tore out of the parking lot and back on the highway towards the Meriweather's home and Jesse.