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Lykos - Lone Wolf

Chapter 16

Ben had the day off and was relaxing alone at home when there was a knock at the front door. He walked over from the couch to let his expected visitor in. "Uhh... Hi," Berke said nervously. "Thanks for letting me come over."

"Sure thing," Ben said, letting the alpha in.

Berke began sniffing around, acting very nervous. "We're ahh... We're all alone here, right? No one else is home, right?"

"It's just us, just like I told you when you called," Ben said to him, wondering why the tall, beefy wolf was acting so timid and nervous. "What's this about? Are you okay?"

Berke looked at Ben's nose, then sighed heavily. "I should do this right," he said awkwardly. "First, I owe you an apology. It was wrong of me to treat you and yours so poorly just because you all only like guys. Umm, you ARE gay, right?" he asked nervously, shifting from one foot to the other, full of the jitters.

"Always have been. I was born gay, and still am. Even changing species didn't alter that," Ben told him calmly.

"How do you do it?" Berke asked rapidly. "How...? How do you be comfortable being with other guys... THAT way?"

Ben's mouth fell open in shock his eyes all but bugging out. "Are you seriously asking me this?" he inquired, feeling like someone had just broken a two-by-four across the back of his head. "Berke... Are you in the closet? I thought Misty was your mate. She's the one with the mufti-colored hair, right?"

"Yeah that's her, and yes, she's my mate..." Berke answered hesitantly, seeming to have to force himself to go on, speaking haltingly. "But once she bit me, things started to change... -I- started to change... You know... Inside... The way I was... About sex. It turned me bi, but I just couldn't bring myself to admit it," he admitted with difficulty, dropping onto the couch and making the frame of it creak from his large, yet fit body. "Now I don't know what to do. I'm hurting my pack because I can't come to terms with myself. They deserve to be loved... I want to show them my feelings, but it's not easy for me," he said, rubbing the back of his neck with a nervous hand. "I don't want to hurt them... I love my pack. I can't help but to feel ashamed of myself. Then I go and take it out on gay folks because I'm angry at myself and can't admit it... I'm sorry." He hung his head, feeling full of shame for his past behavior.

"Apology accepted," Ben said gently, seeing how difficult this all was for the burly wolf. "Are you actually asking me for advice on having sex with other guys?" he asked, wanting to make sure he understood correctly why Berke was here in his home.

"Well, uh..." Berke's face, what little of it could be seen under the beard when he lifted his head, was turning red. "I... Uh... I could... Use some help," he said with difficulty. "With, uh... How, exactly..."

Ben stood there numbly, his brain refusing to work. "...Berke... Let me see if I understand you clearly, because I don't want to offend you or misunderstand... Are you asking me to teach you how to have gay sex?" the Head Alpha asked slowly, unable to believe that this was happening. Berke blushed harder, nodding rapidly and unable to look at him. It took over a minute for Ben's brain to remember how to work properly. "Why me? I mean I'm flattered, but I don't get it. Why come to me of all people? You have other guys in your pack, and if this is to please them, then why not go to them rather than someone who's almost a complete stranger?"

"Well that's part of it," Berke admitted. "It's easier to come to someone I'm not always around, you know... In case I do it wrong. Besides... I'm the alpha of my pack, so there's stuff I can't do because of my station; things I've never done before... Special stuff... Butt stuff," he said, copying the words of his beta and feeling like an idiot for how it sounded.

Ben hung his head, trying hard not to smile or laugh in amusement. He saw just how difficult all of this was for Berke; accepting his bisexuality was proving to be very difficult for the man. The Head Alpha could see the inner conflict in the larger man, he could see that it was Berke's instincts at war with his human prejudices and fighting against his true sexual nature that was causing him such heartache. Now his anger, his contempt for gay people made perfect sense; they were nothing more than a mask to hide his true self, a self he was now trying hard to accept.

On an instinctual level, Ben understood why Berke had chosen him to be the one to help him break down the barriers inside of him. As the superior wolf, he had every right to mount Berke and dominate him sexuality. They both understood this, as well as why it needed to be Ben who did it to him. Ben was the only wolf stronger than Berke that the lesser alpha had to turn to. Also, Berke's alpha pride wouldn't allow him to make a fool of himself in front of his pack, so he sought outside assistance in learning how to be a good lover to other men... His pack mates... By going to the only wolf around he could feel comfortable submitting to because of Ben being stronger and more dominating than he himself was.

Ben calmed himself as he understood these things and looked up to see Berke looking rather lost. It made him sad to see this man... His friend... Hurting, confused and embarrassed. "So," he said softly. "I assume you wanted to experience this kind of thing today? It'd be a good opportunity, seeing as how no one's due home for several hours."

"Yeah..." Berke said quietly. "I was kind of hoping... You know, the sooner, the better."

"All right then," Ben said. "Let's go upstairs." He led the way up to the guest bedroom, feeling that overloading Berke with the scents of gay sex that were still in the pack's bedroom might be too much for a man fighting to accept his attraction to other guys. They entered the room and shut the door. Berke turned to him, looking very nervous. Ben began to walk towards him, his instincts guiding him, before he paused. "Steve..." He looked at Berke thoughtfully. "I need to tell Steve first," he said. "He's my mate; I can't do this if it will hurt him. Do you mind if I call him?"

Berke realized that it was only fair; after all, he'd told Misty what he intended to do and had gotten her consent. "It's the right thing to do. I'll wait here." With that, he sat down on the bed as Ben went to get his phone.

*I can't believe this is happening,* the Head Alpha thought to himself, shaking his head at the bizarre twist the day had taken as he dialed.

~"Hey, what's up?"~ Steve asked cheerfully when he answered.

"Steve..." Ben began with difficulty. "You know how much I love you, right?"

~"I do... Is something wrong?"~ the beta asked, sounding concerned.

"Berke's here... You're not going to believe this, but he just came out to me as bi and said he's having difficulty being comfortable with it. Specifically, the intimate aspects. He asked me to show him the ropes, and-"

There was a loud clattering sound, followed by silence. "Steve? Steve?" Silence was the only answer. He looked at the phone and saw that the call had disconnected. Frantic to explain himself and tell Steve it wasn't worth hurting him, Ben dialed frantically, but it went right to voice-mail. "Steve please! I won't do it! Not if it hurts you! I could never stand to cause you pain! Please! Please call me back! Please forgive me!"

He looked up to see Berke standing in the doorway, attracted by his frantic tone. "I'm sorry," he said, looking guilty. "I shouldn't have come... I had no right to make trouble for you for my own insecur-"

The phone rang in Ben's hand and he looked at it quickly, but didn't recognize the number. "Hello?" he asked as he answered.

~"Ben? Shit, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hang up on you... I dropped my phone... I think I broke it when it fell,"~ Steve said, sounding embarrassed.

"So you just dropped your phone and it broke," Ben said, catching the sound of humor in his mate's voice. Berke sighed in relief when he realized he hadn't wrecked the Head Alpha's relationship with his mate. "Steve... If you're not okay with this, I won't do it. I don't want to hurt your feelings or make you think I don't love you."

~"Ben,"~ Steve said, sounding deeply touched, ~"it's okay. I don't mind. It's shocking, yes, but I'm not hurt. It's only natural for... Us... to want to have fun. If it helps Berke, then go ahead with my blessings. It's okay, really. Thanks for taking my feelings into account; it means a lot to me."~

"Thanks for being okay with this," Ben said softly.

~"I can tell from your tone that it sounds like he really needs this so he'll be okay with himself. I'm really surprised, though... Say,"~ he added in a whisper, ~"You think he'll let you catch it on camera?"~

"No... I don't think so," Ben said, fighting a smile of amusement.

~"Oh well, it was worth a try... I have to get back to work. Have fun. Love you."~

"Love you too, see you in awhile," Ben said, then hung up and set down his phone. He turned to his guest. "Steve's okay with it. He said if it helps you, then he gives his blessings."

Berke sighed and nodded. "That's good. I don't want you to end up in trouble with the one you love for my sake." He looked at the triple bed. "You all sleep together?" he asked, sounding interested.

"Yeah," Ben said with a smile, looking at the bedding. "One big wolf pile... It makes Kyle happy... The rest of us too."

"Wallace did good work," Berke said, examining the room. "If it wasn't for the second door, you'd never know this used to be two separate rooms." He looked around, then took a deep breath. "Fuck," he said softly. "It smells nice in here..." His body seemed to quiver slightly.

Ben saw the lesser alpha's inhibitions start to slip, spurred on by the scents of old musk and cum that permeated the bedroom. "Would you like to be in here instead?" he asked, seeing that the olfactory stimulus was helping Berke to overcome his nervousness, rather than hindering him like Ben had originally thought.

"Yeah," Berke said, his eyes closed and breathing deeply. "Wallace made this room... It's almost like he's here with us... It feels right, somehow."

Ben walked over to him, moving softly and rubbed Berke's shoulder. "You don't have to do this, you know. If you change your mind, I'll understand."

"No," Berke said, shaking his head and looking at Ben's nose. "I NEED to do this... My pack is suffering because I'm not bonding with them fully, all because of my lousy dad's rantings about morality. I don't want to hurt them anymore and I'm sick of lying to myself. I WANT to do this."

"Okay," Ben said softly. "A couple of things to remember. First rule, I rarely stare down during sex, so you have my permission to look me in the eyes while we mate." Berke looked up to meet his gaze nervously, shuddering slightly as he remembered the strength of Ben's incredible will, but the fear left him as all he saw in those hazel eyes was compassion. "Second rule," Ben continued. "This only goes as far as you want it to. If you start to feel uncomfortable, if you need to stop, then we'll stop. The goal is for you to enjoy this, not see it as a chore or an ordeal to tough your way through. Mating is about love and pleasure."

"You love me?" Berke asked, sounding stunned.

"As a friend, yes. My mate comes first, then my pack, then my friends... And that includes you."

Berke's jaw trembled. "I don't see how you can treat me this way after how I treated you," he said, lowering his head in shame.

Ben put a hand under Berke's chin and lifted his head to look him in the eyes. "I don't base things solely on first impressions," Ben said gently. "People have off days; there might be issues they're having that affect their behavior... You only really get to know someone over time. You've proven yourself to be a good man. Flawed, yes, but who isn't?" he added with a smile.

"Well, I know I'm not your type... You don't seem to find me very attractive... You said as much the night I challenged you."

Ben snorted. "Berke, that was trash-talking! We were fighting and your words weren't very nice, so I said things designed to hurt you at the time. I didn't really mean it. You're actually very handsome."

"Really?" Berke asked, looking at Ben with such a pity-inspiring expression that it was almost funny. "And I don't stink, either?"

"No, that was trash-talk too." Ben leaned in and sniffed deeply. "You actually smell really good... Manly, and like the sea."

"I work at the docks... At least I don't work the fish market," he joked. "Then I really WOULD stink."

Ben chuckled. "True... So, how far do you want to go? We can do as much or as little as you want."

"Let's go for broke," Berke said shyly. "I want to know what I'll be doing with my guys... I want to know what it all feels like."

"Okay," Ben added. "Rule number three. We're both men. There's no lady, so never treat a guy like he's a woman unless that's a fetish of his."

"No, no," the lesser alpha said quickly. "None of my guys is like that." He took off his boots and socks, not wanting to wreck them when his toe claws grew in.

"Good, just respect their masculine pride and there shouldn't be any issues," Ben said, then reached forward and slowly unbuttoned Berk's blue flannel shirt and slipped it off, revealing his 'wife beater' tank top undershirt. Ben stepped back and pulled off his dark blue polo shirt, revealing the well muscled torso that had developed on him since receiving the gift of lycanthropy. Berke pulled of his tank top, revealing a very hairy barrel chest, covered in muscle. "Fuck... You ARE like a tank," Ben said with appreciation of the dock worker's physique. He began to stroke the lesser alpha's chest with his hands, feeling the strong muscles beneath, then beginning to firmly thump Berke's pecs with the bottom of his fist, lightly hammering at the beefy chest in appreciation of the wolf's raw masculinity. Berke growled in surprise, then began to grunt in growl instead in lust, appreciating and understanding what Ben was doing; he was proving that Berke was still a masculine man despite making out with another guy. It helped to ease his inhibitions further.

Ben thumped Berke's chest, massaged his abs and biceps, and appreciating the way his body was built so powerfully. "Flex for me," Ben said, "I want to see those manly muscles in action." Berke felt a thrill of appreciation and pride, and did as instructed. As he posed, feeling the energy of his muscles as they strained and swelled, showing off his level of definition, he opened golden eyes to see Ben rubbing his crouch lewdly in appreciation and lust. "Fuck yeah... That's so hot..."

Berke felt his wolf rising up, the animal part of the man loving Ben for helping his human half see that he didn't have to compromise himself to enjoy mating with men. Part of the human side of Berke's problem was that he assumed that liking guys made him less manly. The Head Alpha's methods were worthy of applause; the more Ben acknowledged Berke's masculinity, the more his fears eased, slowly starting to bring the two halves of the lesser alpha back into synch, the separation between man and wolf into separate minds decreasing gradually and restoring them to a whole werewolf once more, stable in mind and heart. Berke couldn't take it anymore, this was too hot for him, and he growled as the lycanthropic power welled up within him, triggering his transformation more fully.

He flexed more, feeling the power in his muscles increase as he watched Ben start to transform, the arousal drawing out his own wolven power. Suddenly, however, Berke became distracted by a straining feeling from the waist down. Realizing what was happening, he put the brakes on his transformation as he fumbled at his pants. His wolven form was a good deal larger than his human one, and there was no way his clothes could survive the change in size. Seeing as how he had no other clothes with him and there was obviously no one who lived at the Den who had clothes large enough for him, the loss of his pants would be as devastating as it was embarrassing. *Maybe I should keep a spare set of clothes in the truck from now on,* he thought. *Three decades a wolf and still I'm not prepared for everything,* he grumbled, annoyed with himself for the major oversight in regards to his supernatural nature.

Ben couldn't help but chuckle as he watched the burly wolf fumble to get his pants off before he wrecked them. "That's what you get for wearing tight-fitting jeans. You might want to wear looser pants." He unbuttoned his slacks and let them drop, revealing his altering anatomy as his penis began to change forms. With the pants gone and no underwear or socks, the Head Alpha was totally nude, his body hair slowly thickening to hide the skin.

Berke growled in annoyance. "Misty insists on them. She says she likes the way they make my butt look," he said. He finally got them off, then after a moment's hesitation, dropped his briefs as well, leaving him as naked as the day he was born. He closed his eyes, breathing deep, catching once more the scents of stale musk and gay sex that surrounded him. "Ummm... It smells so good in here... You guys love each other a lot... I can smell it... I want my place to smell this way..." His penis began to rise as he became horny, the phallus stretching as it turned redder and redder and morphed into a wolf cock, sticking out above the foreskin, which was turning into a sheath.

Ben moved up close and took the reddening length into his changing hand as the wolven palm pad began to thicken and the claws pushed out slowly, hair sprouting on the back of his hand and working its way up the wrist to join with the thickening hair on his arm, making sure not to scratch the lesser alpha's sensitive shaft with his natural weaponry. "Don't worry, by the time we're done here and you go home to your pack to show them how much you love them, the place will smell a lot like this." Berke leaned back, lifting his head to face the ceiling as his proto-muzzle stretched forward, the tongue, teeth and nose moving smoothly from one shape to the other. Ben leaned up and licked upwards along the exposed throat of the wolf before him, his tongue changing forms as he licked upwards along Berke's neck in a slow, deliberate fashion. The tongue was human formed as he began at the collarbone, but by the time he reached the chin, it was the long, flat, wide and highly flexible tongue of a canine, seeming to stretch from the friction against Berke's body rather than from the transformation as he drug it steadily upwards.

They moaned in pleasure, both from the stimulation, and from the pleasurable sensations the transformation itself stirred within them as their passion manifested their animalistic qualities. Ben knelt down as his mouth finished reconfiguring, then reached out with his tongue and curled it up around the tip of Berke's shaft, feeling the mushroom head dissolve away into the tapered tip of his wolf-formed canine phallus as it rested on his tongue. He reached up to cup the balls, which grew fuzzier by the moment as Berke's body hair thickened, earning him a reward in a hard shot of precum into his open mouth, hitting the back of his throat and making him moan in a combination of pleasure and surprise.

They groaned as their tails formed almost simultaneously. It was almost a slow and steady race, but Berke won by a fractional amount. The long furry appendage began to wave back and forth lazily, showing his pleasure at what was being done to him. He sighed as his body grew even larger, pushing him to a greater height as the transformation came to a halt.

Ben closed his mouth... And taught Berke just how well a man could suck dick. The crane operator groaned, feeling shocked at just how good Ben was; he was hitting all the right spots, the ones he always had to remind Misty to pay attention to. He shuddered and the instinct to hump made him start to ride the mouth engulfing him. He reached down to stroke Ben's hair gently, the wolven instincts taking over to help keep the human side from wallowing in doubt and loving how good the Head Alpha was at pleasuring him. It was several long minutes later that Ben finally pulled away and stood up, making Berke feel disappointed before he realized that the reason was to make sure he didn't cum too quickly and spoil the encounter by ending it early.

Ben maneuvered Berke to the closest of the three side-by-side beds. The dock worker dropped onto it carefully... And a cloud of scent wafted up over him, smelling primarily of Ben and Steve as air trapped in the mattress brought the smells out into the air as the bed was compressed under his weight. It was like being wrapped in an invisible fog of gay sex, and Berke moaned at the scents that surrounded him. "Fuck..." he said softly in a near whisper. In his mind, he began to picture flopping down onto his own bed, the scents of Wallace, Dennis, Brad and Samuel surrounding him in the same way. The wolf in him spurred on these feelings, combining them with love and helping Berke overcome his fear. The wolf thought Berke was doing very well, from the small part of the animal that remained a separate awareness. He was finally starting to understand. "I want my bed to smell like this," the human half said, lost in bliss.

"It will," Ben said, "but first, you need to know how to stimulate a man properly." He stood up. his crotch at Berke's neck-level. "Your turn... Rely on the tongue, lips and sucking sensations... DON'T use the teeth. They hurt and distract from the pleasure, so if you close your mouth around me, keep your jaws as wide as you can and be especially careful of your fangs."

Berke looked him in the eyes and nodded, then leaned down. Ben, seeing that scent was an even stronger stimulus for Berke than for most wolves, released more of his musk as Berke came in close. "Oh fuck..." the burly wolf moaned as the smell hit him.

"Yeah," Ben growled lustily. "You like that, huh?" Berke nodded in response. "This is what you do to me... What your raw masculinity does to people... Your pack mates are going to love you for what you'll do to them... You're going to drive them fucking wild!" Ben growled savagely, making Berke shiver, his wolven half filling his mind with fantasies of mating with his guys. "Take me into your mouth," he instructed. As Berke did so, he sighed in satisfaction. "You know what a dick feels like, you know the spots that feel best... Use that knowledge... Make me feel good." Berke began to experiment, doing as instructed and using his understanding of his own body, along with his tongue, to slurp away at the wolven penis in his mouth. He found Ben's canine urethra and poked the tip of his tongue into it as the Head Alpha shot a burst of precum into his mouth.

Ben shuddered and gasped in pleasure, his body spasming involuntarily. "That! What you just did... Do it again!" the lesser alpha complied, making Ben groan in bliss. "Fuck yes! Remember that, That move's a keeper! Do that to Wallace and he'll be whimpering in no time, I'll bet..." Berke murred at that, liking the idea.

For the next few minutes, Berke worked on Ben's shaft, finding that sucking dick wasn't bad at all... In fact, he seemed rather talented, based upon how Ben was reacting. *I can't believe I was so scared of this,* Berke thought to himself. *This isn't bad at all... It feels kind of natural, in a strange way...* He pulled off of Ben's penis to take a breath. "Fuck," he said, his voice filled with pleasure and amazement.

"Now do you understand?" Ben said to him. "Making love to another man doesn't make you less of one yourself. You're still a manly stud and will always stay one. Never feel weak for loving guys."

"Yeah," Berke said with a blush. "Guess I was pretty dumb to be so scared and angry."

"You enjoying yourself?" Ben asked, looking Berke in the eyes.

"Yeah... I am," Berke said with a smile. "Thanks for agreeing to do this... Can we do more?"

Ben growled lustily and squeezed his shaft in his hand. As his fingers wrapped around the sensitive base of his phallus, he shuddered and a jet of precum blasted forth onto Berke's face, shocking the both of them. Berke moaned, and rather than wiping it off, he used his hand to smear it all over his face. "Fuck that smells so good," he sighed softly, growling in a low, husky tone. "More?" he begged. Ben complied eagerly, Berke catching the next wad in his open muzzle. "Mmmm," he said, swallowing the musky juices that had sprayed forth from the other man's penis, murring in satisfaction and enjoying the taste of it.

Ben moved up to Berke and leaned in, bringing his face in close. The lesser alpha looked at him eagerly, so the Head Alpha took that as permission and leaned in to kiss him. Berke moaned into the kiss as they began to grind their tongues together and explore the inside of each others' mouth. Ben kept kissing him as he worked his way to the side, moving his tail to the side of his body opposite of Berke, and sat down next to him, before leaning them both back, twisting to face each other and laying on their sides on the bed before inching their way upwards to have more room. Once they were settled, Ben reached around Berke as he held him close, still kissing the lesser alpha, and squeezed his buttock. "You still want to experience the rest?" Ben asked, breaking the kiss.

Berke nodded. "Yeah... I want to experience all of it. You're the only guy my wolven side can accept mounting me."

"Being mounted isn't always about dominance," Ben said matter-of-factly, "at least not for me. I let Steve mount me."

"Really?" Berke asked, looking shocked. "But you're the most dominant wolf around here! How can you let someone else mount you?"

Ben shrugged. "Because it's about love, not posturing. I enjoy it and so does he. I might even let Luke have a go... Possibly Kyle too, but not Ken. He lacks the discipline needed to earn that kind of privilege. Don't want my favorite smart-mouth getting ideas above his rank," Ben teased.

Berke nodded, understanding that part. "Well... Let's see what it's like."

"Well -I- already know what it's like," Ben teased. Berke gave him with a look of suffering, as if to say 'really?', so Ben relented. "Sorry, bad joke."

The burly wolf sighed with disgust, then became nervous. "So, uh... What do I need to do?"

"Have you used the bathroom recently?" Ben asked, his tail twitching back and forth in anticipation of what was to come.

"Yeah... I, uh... Kind of prepared. I figured it would be better if I was empty back there..."

"Exactly the right thing to do, in part. There's special kits you can get that will help clean you out even better, but what you did is correct under the circumstances."

"So what do I do?" Berke asked, his wolf side helping to quell his nervousness by making him horny enough to not be able to think about it much.

"The main thing you need to do is relax. Much as I hate the analogy, think of it as kind of like with a woman. You need the person you're going to fuck be relaxed and loosened up so your entry won't be as painful... Preferably there won't be any pain at all, but they'll need time to adjust to your penis... Or in this case, mine in you. Now, roll over onto all fours," Ben ordered gently. Berke did as he was told and soon was in a rather animalistic posture, waiting to be mounted. Ben moved behind him, standing on his knees, and taking Berke's fluffy tail in his hands, began to stroke the fur of it, pulling it up so that he could brush it across his face and smell the precaudal gland near the base of it, taking in Berke's scent.

"You like my tail?" Berke growled huskily.

"Almost as much as what's under it," Ben said, lifting the tail away and bringing his nose to the lesser alpha's anus, inhaling deeply at the glands there, taking in the spicy muskiness of the werewolf he was pleasuring, before swabbing the knotted muscles of the sphincter with his tongue. He heard Berke moan in shock and pleasure. "You like that?" he asked.

"Yeah... That felt good."

"Then you'll love this," the Head Alpha said, before he began licking the anus with his lupine tongue several times, feeling it loosen up, then pressed his proto-muzzle to the opening and drove his tongue up inside the lesser alpha's body, making Berke cry out in bliss. Ben worked away, digging his tongue in as deeply as he could, lapping and scraping away as the larger wolf writhed in ecstasy. Once the muscles had properly loosened up, Ben pulled his tongue out, his head swimming from the potency of Berke's musk. He found his instincts taking over, and rose up before in a single motion, he ran his penis into the exposed tailhole, driving himself all the way to the base of his sheath. "Just an FYI," Ben said, pausing and only just realizing he should say something, "I'm okay... Meaning I don't have anything," he said. He already knew Berke was in good health and free of any diseases. He would've smelled them on the massive wolf as he had rimmed him.

"I'm fine too," Berke said. "Besides, we're pretty safe as far as HIV and STDs go. We're basically immune to the virus and diseases can't take a good hold on us, so they only last a few hours, maybe days or so before our healing abilities get them out of our system.

"Huh," Ben said. "Being a werewolf gets better and better. Okay big guy, let's find out how sturdy your ass is," he finished huskily, then with a growl of pleasure, he first pulled almost all of the way out before he pushed his precum-gushing shaft back into the lesser alpha's ass in a slow and steady motion as he worked his way deeper inside.

Berke groaned, feeling a slight stab of pain, before the healing abilities of his body kicked in, driving away the discomfort until only pleasure mixed with pressure remained. Then as Ben pulled most of the way out before thrusting back in a second time, and began to fuck him properly, the larger werewolf started to moan and rock back and forth, his eyes closed as he experienced a feeling of rightness about being mounted by the superior wolf, his butt tingling pleasantly from the sensations of being mounted. Ben fucked him for several minutes, his knot slowly swelling, milking the experience for the pleasure of them both.

Finally, the tightness around the knot became too much; it becoming more and more difficult to get it past the sphincter as he pushed and pulled, pistoning the bulge in his dick in and out of the alpha's hole; until he pushed in one time too many, and with a sudden rush of blood, the lump grew too large to remove as he became locked inside of Berke. He gave a few tugs to confirm it, then humped him rapidly, laying over his back and panting hard near his furry ear, whimpering in pleasure.

Berke groaned, feeling for the first time what it was like to be mounted by choice. He had experienced being mounted before, years ago when he and Misty were still new as a pair and low on the totem pole of their pack when their alpha had forced it onto him. Now that Berke was doing it voluntarily, he had to admit that it didn't feel bad at all. In fact, he rather enjoyed it. He still preferred being on top, his alpha ego unwilling to fully relent to the idea of always being mounted by other males, but he still found pleasure in the way Ben filled his insides, the inflated knot scraping away against his prostate.

Ben suddenly groaned, and Berke could tell from the sound of triumph accompanied by the rhythmic twitching of the wolf cock buried in his ass that Ben was pumping him full of wolf spunk. "Fuuuuuccckkkk... I'm cumming," the Head Alpha groaned in satisfaction as he released his load inside the warm ass of his friend.

Berke reached down and began to jerk himself off, but Ben's hand on his wrist stopped him. "No, don't cum... Not yet."

Berke growled in frustration. "Why not?"

"Just trust me," Ben said, shuddering as his orgasm continued.

After a few minutes, Berke began to tremble from fatigue. "My arms are giving out."

"Lay us down so you can rest," Ben told him. Berke, realizing that they had to move as one due to the tie, complied, laying himself down as Ben laid atop of him. "So- Huh! Did you enjoy that? Uh!" Ben grunted, still cumming as he spoke.

"Yeah..." Berke answered slowly. "It was nice giving up my ass by choice. You're the first person to ever fuck me out of anything other than dominance, as well as the first person I ever wanted to have do it. Thank you for making it pleasurable... For the most part."

"Relax," Ben said in his ear softly. "And it's an honor to be the first you've ever wanted in you. Thanks for that. Your ass feels so good around my boner... Don't worry, though, you'll blow a load before I let you leave. I want you to leave here feeling satisfied. "

Berke sure hoped so, but went quiet, enjoying the way the Head Alpha's wolfhood jumped erratically within him as Ben gasped from occasional orgasmic spasms. Finally, the orgasm ended and they waited for the swelling to go down so that Ben could free himself from the burly dock worker's insides. He tugged from time to time, testing to see how much give there was, and finally after several long, post-orgasm minutes, Ben pulled, and with a wet, squelching pop, he freed himself from the prison of Berke's ass.

"There we go," Ben said with a sigh of satisfaction, then asserted his authority by pulling Berke to a sitting position as he rose up onto his knees and pulled Berke's face to his groin. "Clean me up," he ordered huskily. "You made me make a mess all over my dick, so it's only fair you be the one to clean it up."

Berke was nervous, but saw no telltale signs of brown on the appendage, so he leaned in and licked Ben's penis and groin clear of his spent seed, finding that the taste wasn't half bad. Once he was done, Ben pulled him up for a kiss. "You know, if you ever want to be mounted again, I'm here for you."

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," the alpha said. "It felt much better than I was afraid it would."

"Now," Ben said, "Let's see how well you learned," he finished, moving up onto all fours and lifting his tail away.

Berke trembled in shock and excitement. "Really? I can mount you?"

"Yeah," Ben said. "That's why I wanted you to save yourself. You proved how manly you are to take a dick, now let's see just how manly you are when you give yours to another guy. Shove that monster between your legs inside of me."

Just the thought of mounting someone and sating his lust made Berke grow aroused all over again, his penis beginning to re-emerge from his sheath. He crawled onto his hands and knees, buried his face under Ben's tail, and went to town, drinking in the Head Alpha's tangy, spicy aroma as he ate out his ass. He felt the muscles loosen as he dug deep, thrusting his wolven tongue as far inside of the offered ass as he could, then once he felt that Ben was loose enough, climbed him and thrust in with a single stroke. Ben snarled in pain. Berke was so huge that it still hurt when he entered. "You okay?" Berke asked, worried at Ben's reaction.

"You're so fucking massive! ...I'll be okay, just give my body time to heal. You'll need to take longer to loosen guys up for you if you don't want it to hurt going in."

"I'm sorry," Berke said sheepishly.

"It's okay. It's my fault too... I thought I was ready for you, but I guess not... Okay, the pain's gone. Go ahead Berke; fuck my ass. Let me show you how a man handles that pillar between your legs. Show me how masculine you are!" Ben growled.

Berke growled in reply, and started plowing the Head Alpha's ass with gusto. "Ah yeah... Take my fucking dick," he growled as he rode Ben hard, thrusting with rough, powerful strokes he knew the other wolf could take.

"Yeah," Ben snarled. "Fuck my ass hard! Bury your knot deep inside me! I want your dick fucking trapped inside me! Blow your fucking load up my ass!"

Berke groaned, going wild as he humped with abandon. When his knot started to become engorged, he rammed it in forcefully, making Ben snarl in feral pain and lust as it bashed it's way past his anal ring, locking them together. It ended quickly after that, and he howled victoriously as he came, shooting his lupine seed deep inside the other male's rectum. They collapsed sideways on the bed, then Ben surprised Berke by curling up on himself, using his canine flexibility, and took his shaft into his own mouth, then proceeded to suck himself off until he groaned, pouring the remaining contents of his balls down his own throat. Berke moaned, feeling Ben's insides contract in a steady rhythm around his shaft as he continued to cum.

Once Berke's knot had shrunk down enough for him to safely pull out, Ben rolled over and they cuddled in residual afterglow. "You enjoy all of that?" Ben asked, his face pressed to Berke's chest, the larger wolf seeming more like a super-sized teddy bear than anything else.

"Very much so," Berke said, leaning in to kiss the top of Ben's head and breath in the scent of his hair. "Thank you Ben; thanks for helping me learn how to get over myself. I don't want to hurt my guys. They deserve better than an alpha who's too hung up on self-hatred to show them how much he loves them. I've been hurting them for so long without even knowing I was doing so... I've been an idiot."

"Don't be so hard on yourself," Ben said, pulling back slightly to look up into the burly wolf's eyes. "When I was fourteen, I hit puberty and realized I didn't like girls the way other guys did. I never even knew what homosexuality was, so I spent a year thinking I was losing my mind. I honestly had no clue about why I felt the way I did. Then some kids from the base I was living on at the time got a hold of several magazines someone had thrown out and one of them was one on gay and bisexual people. I snuck off with it and it taught me why I felt the way I did. To be honest, it was a relief, but I didn't know anyone else like me and thought we were incredibly rare, so I effectively went into the closet. I spent the next three years not even wanting to admit to myself, even inside the safety of my own head, that I was into guys. It was horrible to live like that."

"What finally made you accept it?" Berke asked, wanting to learn more about his friend.

"Shortly after my eighteenth birthday, while I was making plans on going to college, I woke up one morning from a dream. In it, I had gone on a dinner date with a guy and enjoyed myself. There wasn't any sex, just dinner out in public and good conversation. I woke up from that feeling very happy. I thought it over for a few days and realized I could finally admit to myself that I was gay... Then I made the worst decision of my life by coming out to my dad. You'd have thought I had told him I'd raped a kid. He went ballistic, screamed at me for hours, then shipped me off to the farthest college he could find and told me to never contact him ever again. He said he'd pay for it because he'd made a promise to my mom that he'd make sure I went to college, but as far as he was concerned, I wasn't his son anymore..."

He stopped then, his voice breaking from old, unhealed pain, and Berke hugged him tightly, seeing how difficult it was for Ben to talk about. "I'm sorry you had to go through that," he said thickly.

"Not half as sorry as I am. That was the last time I ever saw him... He really doesn't want anything to do with me anymore. I hate him for it, but even if he was still willing to talk to me, I can't stand being around him, knowing that he hates me for such a stupid thing as what people I'm attracted to. I'm better off without him. I have my pack now... People who actually give a damn about me."

"You have more than just them, you know. You have all of us now too. Me and my pack, Angela and hers, Monica and her pack, the keepers... All of us. We're your family now. Never forget that."

Ben's eyes grew moist and he began to tremble. "I-I thought... I mean... Even my own dad didn't want me... I thought no one ever would." And with that, admitting what he had always feared, the one thing he hadn't even told Steve, Ben broke down and began to cry in earnest.

Berke took one look at his Head Alpha and felt something new well up within him. Love. It wasn't romantic in nature, not even the close love Berke had for his pack; although it came very close... He took Ben into his arms and held the wolf's head against his chest as he sobbed, and it came to him. Ben was like a brother. With his biological brother on the opposite end of the country and the distance increased by the secret of his true nature he was too scared to tell of, Berke had no relatives he was close to anymore. In that moment, he gained a new one... A younger brother he could be honest with... One he could share the things he couldn't share with others.

"Let it out, Little Brother," he said soothingly. "Let the pain out and let it go." He felt Ben pause in his arms. "I want a brother again... One I can be open with... One I don't have to hide from. You said you never had a brother, right?" Ben nodded silently against his chest. "Well you've got one now if you want one. I'd be honored."

"Don't you have any family of your own?" Ben asked thickly, his voice slurred.

"The only living blood relative I have left is my older brother... But I can't tell him the truth. He hates even the merest mention of the supernatural... He'd never accept me for what I am and if he saw me now, he'd see it instantly."

"How?" Ben asked.

"Because I don't show my age. Werewolves age slower than humans. I'm in my fifties, but I look like a human in his early forties."

Ben pulled away, looking at him in shock. "I thought you WERE in your forties, or maybe your late thirties!"

"Thanks for the compliment," Berke said with a wry chuckle.

"How long do we live then?"

"Well, I suppose we live almost double what humans do on average... I never met her, but I heard of a she-wolf who lived to the ripe old age of a hundred and fifty five."

Ben's eyes bulged as he forgot his pain. "That's going to make for a long-ass retirement!" he said, looking worried.

"Well," Berke mollified, "that's assuming one gets to live a rich, full life. With all the threats we face, the violence that worms it's way into our lives on a regular basis, dying of old age is a rare treat for werewolves."

"Lovely," Ben said. "You sound like you know a lot about our kind. How long have you been a wolf?" he asked thoughtfully.

"Just over thirty years now. Why?"

Ben spoke slowly, thinking as he talked. "The keepers aren't telling me everything... I don't blame them for holding stuff back. I'm the strongest wolf around, so naturally they'd want to keep that power in check... I need a mentor. An adviser who knows more about werewolves than I do who can teach me and be someone I can bounce ideas off of. Want the job?" he asked.

"Sounds good to me. I'll guide and teach you all I can. It's what brothers do for each other."

"Thanks, Big Brother... That... All of it, it means a lot to me." He leaned in and kissed Berke passionately, loving him as a friend and brother. If not for his love of Steve and the rest of his pack, Ben could have easy accepted Berke as a pack mate, but they each had a pack and mates of their own, so they found this to be the way that worked best for them.

"You know," he added as they broke off the kiss, "the offer stands; if you ever want to mate with me again, I'm all for it."

"I'd like that," Berke said, kissing him again; his discomfort for being sexual with men gone forever more. They sighed and hugged, feeling the love of kinship, brotherhood and friendship two werewolves who accepted themselves and each other for who and what they were, could. "You ready to face James?" Berke finally asked.

"Yeah... It's time he was put in his place," Ben said firmly.

"We'll be ready to do what needs to be done. Just kick his ass and we'll handle the rest."

Ben growled in anticipation of the battle to come. James would answer for his crimes... His willingness to threaten everyone's safety for the sake of power he had no right to lay claim to...

It was about an hour later when Berke went to leave, feeling like a changed man, a better one. "Ben, thank you so much for all you've done. And thanks for accepting me as a brother."

Ben smiled. "Thanks... That means a lot. I never had a sibling but always wanted one. That means more to me than you'll ever know."

"And I'll teach you everything you need to know about being a werewolf, the things that only someone with experience like mine can give... I'll tell you right now that the worst threat of all is a hunter. Werewolf hunters are as real as we are, and many of them are rather skilled. My advice if you run into one is to run. Run as fast and as far as you can, because they'll kill you without hesitation. They don't care that we're people. To them, we're all monsters; they make no distinction and cannot be reasoned with."

"Thanks," Ben said, nodding. "So," he spoke, changing subjects, "you ready to show your pack how much you love them?"

"Very much so," Berke said with a smile. "Thanks for that... I owe you a great deal for all you've done for me. Plus, maybe now HE'LL shut up." the burly wolf said, tapping his temple.

"Your inner wolf giving you grief?" Ben asked with a smile.

"Yeah, but now that I'm comfortable being intimate with guys, he'll quit bitching at me and go back to being in the back of my head where he normally is."

"Is that normal? For werewolves to have the two sides of them act like separate people sharing the same body?"

"It depends. For some they have separate consciousnesses, for others it's not like that. It's rather them having different sets of mannerisms."

"I used to argue with my wolf before we unified."

"Unified?" Berke asked, frowning with confusion, so Ben explained what had happened to him. "Be careful with that," Berke said. "That will make it very hard not to let your instincts take over completely and control your behavior. Giving in to the wolf is not a good idea. If you do that, you could end up doing something that you'll regret so much it will shatter the harmony between man and wolf in you and turn your halves against one another. That's how direwolves come about."

Ben nodded. "I know, but I have a high level of self discipline and Mitchell has me on a regimen of daily meditation to control my instincts now."

"Well it explains how you always seem so animalistic in your mannerisms."

"I like being this way," Ben said with a shrug. "It makes me feel happy to be half animal. Don't worry, I won't go off the deep end. I'd never be willing to hurt people that way."

Berke nodded, then realized how late it was. "I should go. See you soon."

"Take care, Big Brother, and see you soon. Now go home and show your guys how much they mean to you."

"I will," the lesser alpha said. "Call me if you need anything. It's an honor to have a brother I can be open with. It means more than you'll ever know."

"I know," Ben said gently. "I never had any siblings, so I've always wondered what it's be like. Thanks for that."

"Any time," Berke said, hugging and kissing Ben deeply before he walked down the steps, got into his truck and drove away...

*****

James pulled up the driveway to the Den with three of his strongest followers in tow. He refused to use the term 'pack mates' because they needed to remember that their purpose in life was to serve his every desire. James didn't need mates, he only needed people who would do what they were told. He pulled up at the Den and got out of the front passenger seat, looking upon the two storey house with interst, then glanced around at the woods that surrounded it. *Not a bad place... Nice and remote... No neighbors... I think I'll take it once I put these upstarts in their place. It would be way better than the shit-hole I'm putting up with now...*

He saw several vehicles parked out front. *That's right... They all squat here like a swarm of rats. Well once this is MY home, it'll be less of a parking lot.* HE noted the battered Honda with distaste. *Maybe I'll burn that one,* he thought with disgust, knowing all of the vehicles here would need to be cleared out once this was HIS home.

He saw Mitchell waiting for him at the top of the stairs with a grim expression, and the human descended the steps to stand there, waiting for him with his arms crossed over his chest. Furious, James strode forward to stand before him, fighting hard not to wipe the smug look off the man's face with his claws. The werewolf glared at him, showing his contempt openly and resentful of having to smell the human, even if it was from several feet away. Humans smelled so disgusting... *Like pigs who don't know that their place is to wallow in their own filth...* He glared at the so called 'second highest-ranking keeper' and finally swallowed his bile enough to speak. "What the fuck are you doing here? This has nothing to do with you!"

Mitchell clenched his jaw for a moment before he spoke. "This is a battle between alphas for dominance, so since it affects ALL werewolves of the region, I have EVERY right to be here. At least someone who cares about the wolves should be here to bare witness to this."

"Fine," James spat. "Where is he?"

"Out back," Mitchell replied coldly. "Follow me."

"If this is a trick, you know what it will cost you all. My pack has strict orders to make sure that it's my way or the highway."

"You'd really go through with it?" Mitchell asked, his voice full of scorn as he glared at James. "Reveal the existence of werewolves to humans unless we all bow down to you? It would mean the end of ALL werewolves, including YOU!" he stated firmly.

"I deserve to be in charge," James growled. "You've all kept me from my rightful place long enough. If I can't be Head Alpha, then no one can! I'll destroy everyone for spiting me! That's what you all deserve for not recognizing my greatness! NOW WHERE IS HE?!?"

Mitchell fought hard to contain himself. "This way," he said, utter hatred in his voice, and led the way around the house and a short ways into the woods to where Ben and his pack clearly stood inside a wide, rough circle of trees... Along with Berke, Monica and Angela.

James had expected this, Ben having bragged when he had called Bentley that he wanted to humiliate James in front of the other alphas. He said he had wanted to show them what a real Head Alpha was like. If James'd been there in person when he'd said that, rather than talking over the phone, James would've ripped his throat out right then and there. *Guess I'll have to do it now. It's time this upstart was put down and out of my misery.*

"Took you long enough," Ben snapped, glaring at James with disgust. "I haven't got all day, you know."

"SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTH, YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT! NOBODY TALKS TO ME THAT WAY!!!" James screamed in rage, his face turning red.

"I'll talk to you any way I damned well please," Ben said coldly, arms crossed over his chest as he looked at James in a judgmental way. "I'M the Head Alpha around here; you're just some selfish little bully who storms around like a belligerent two-year old screaming 'Mine! Mine!' You don't give a flying fuck about anyone but yourself and have the ordacity to claim to be worthy of the role of leader of the community? You make me sick!"

James clenched his jaw tightly. "I'm not the one who had to go begging for help!" James snapped, looking at the other alphas. "So you're taking his side?" he asked them.

"We're only here to bare witness," Berke said firmly, glaring at James with open contempt. "We're not getting involved in this fight. It's between the two of you."

"And you?" James asked Monica.

"I'm just here to watch you get your ass handed to you again," she answered with a savage smile. "I enjoyed it so much the first time that I want to see it again," she added darkly.

James scowled, but turned to Angela. She sighed and tossed back her hair. "I'm sick of you, James," she said, beating him to the punch in a strong, clear voice and giving him her full attention. James noted that the ever-present reek of wolf's bane that was absent from her. "I'm sick of your threats, your tantrums, and your acting like you're the only one deserving of being in charge. You have no right claiming to the title of Head Alpha. I'll put my stock in Ben. He may be new, but at least he's not an insufferable little shit who only cares about himself the way you do."

James stared at the she-wolf as though she had suddenly sprouted a second head. "What the Hell's gotten into you?" he asked, shocked at her drastic change in personality.

Angela no longer had that vague, dreamy quality about her, like she was a million miles away and without a care in the world, like she was a moderately bored tourist in reality. This Angela was focused, her gaze sharp and piercing, all of her attention on what she was focused upon, which in this case was James. Her speech was precise and well thought out, as well as passionate, with a fire in her eyes and her voice that he had never seen before. Angela was acting like a completely different person. In fact, she was finally starting to behave like the person she had once been, before she had dove head-first into a haze of drug-use to escape from her pain and guilt. She opened a pack of commercial-made cigarettes, pulled one out and lit it before taking a puff and blowing the non-addictive, tobacco-only smoke in his face with disregard. "I'm sick and tired of you James, and I'm here to watch you have your ass handed to you. Now get out of my face before I use your eyeball as an ashtray!" she said coldly, brandishing the cigarette suggestively.

"No one talks to me that way!" James ranted darkly. "Shut your fucking mouth if you know what's good for you, Cunt!"

"I only take orders from the Head Alpha, and you're not him," she replied bluntly, taking another puff of her cigarette.

"I -AM- HEAD ALPHA!" James roared furiously.

"No," Angela replied in a tone of boredom, "He is," she said, looking to Ben, who stood there, waiting for James to finish his ridiculous ranting.

"HIM?!?" James exploded furiously, pointing at Ben with a trembling finger. "HAVE YOU LOST WHAT LITTLE BRAINS YOU HAVEN'T FRIED IN A DRUG-BINGE?!? HE HASN'T EVEN BEEN A WEREWOLF TWO MONTHS AND YOU CHOOSE HIM?!? HE'S PATHETIC!!!"

"He whipped your sorry ass," Monica drawled. "And that was after Lester weakened him for you."

James looked around suspiciously. "Where IS Lester, anyways?" he asked, phrasing it more as a demand.

"Lester is gone," Mitchell said coldly. "He picked one fight too many and we were forced to relocate him for the good of everyone."

"That son of a bitch!" James spat. "He knew he was leaving when he called me to brag about the full moon! I'll track him down and make him pay for that!"

"Not until after we settle things," Ben said coldly. He turned to Mitchell. "You have any objections to us settling things here and now?"

Mitchell, hands in his coat pockets, looked thoughtful for a moment, as though concentrating. "None," he said, lifting his head. "I won't interfere in this," he said, stepping away and outside of the large circle of trees they all stood in, Ben's pack in tow. They had strict orders not to interfere, though they had objected strongly. Ben, however, was resolute. They would remain with the keeper and not act unless Ben or Mitchell told them to. They stood there silently, looking deeply agitated, but said nothing.

Ben proceeded to strip down to a pair of boxer shorts, as James did the same until he stood there in his white briefs. They concentrated, letting the power of the wolf out rapidly. Once they had fully changed forms, James snarled in rage, issuing his challenge.

James' betas moved onto position to block the other alphas so that they couldn't interfere, following the instructions James had given them.

He saw Angela frown with distaste as she looked James over in his underwear. "Get used to seeing me this way," he told her firmly. "Once I prove myself to you all by putting this piece of garbage in his place, you and I will be spending a lot of time together."

Angela, and Monica too, looked revolted. "Please!" Angela spat with contempt. "I'd rather fuck a direwolf husk that's been left out in the sun for a month!"

James snarled and turned to her, but Ben stopped him. "Hey! I thought you were here for me," he said sharply. James turned his attention back to the insolent asshole, roared furiously, and charged the usurper...

*****

Lance looked to Jack with a frown, the mall patrons milling about them, lost in their own plans and desires and not realizing that the leather riding suit-clad biker they steered around was as different from them as they were from any other species of animal crawling on the planet's face. He didn't like this particular keeper, seeing as how the man's reputation with potions and powders was well known, and he seemed to be getting better and better at it, as though he had suddenly found new motivation to perfect his craft. Knowing that the human could mix up all kinds of nasty things gave Lance the creeps. Still, he would play along because Angela had told him to do as instructed by the Head Alpha.

Also, though he hated to admit it, he owed Ben for giving them back their alpha. Angela was finally beginning to act like her old self, rather than the distant woman who had buried her pain down deep inside of herself and wallowed in self-accusation and despair. For the first time in longer than Lance had cared to admit, Angela was strong again, full of the clarity and determination she had always possessed, but had forgotten in her pain. She was finally acting like an alpha again.

*I sure as fuck couldn't fill the role; just look what happened to us! All we did was to do whatever felt good without considering how it made us look. We were a joke, as far as packs were considered. Animal rape and torture, drugs and booze... We acted less like a pack and more like a frat house that was the disgrace of the university... It's a wonder we weren't dealt with sooner... I guess the keepers were too busy trying to work out solutions to the problems Lance and James presented. We were lucky we weren't shipped off to Timbuktu, or something.* Lance felt horribly guilty over the behavior of his pack, and most especially ashamed of how he himself had acted.

Now that his head was finally cleared of the drugs and he could think properly again, he felt nothing but shame for how he had handled things with the pack. *Guess I'm not cut out to be an alpha, even a substitute one. I couldn't even keep MYSELF under control, much less the rest of the pack. Why Angela didn't boot me out of the pack or at least demote me from head beta I'll never know...* He sighed, deciding to dwell on other things. *I wish Robert was here... Keeper, you picked the worst time to come down with the flu,* the werewolf thought, hoping the human who kept his pack would recover from his illness soon. He'd wanted to come, to help with putting the plan into action, but Mitchell had ordered him to stay at home and rest, with Jessica there to make sure he didn't leave his bed except to use the bathroom. *Glad I never get as sick as he does.*

He was about to return to dwelling on his shame further when he saw Butch wave to him, then point. He followed the direction indicated and saw the targets. "We got 'em," he said to Jack.

"You smelled them?" Jack asked, having missed the exchange between the wolves as he had been looking the other way at the time, "in all of this?"

"No, Butch saw them. You ready?"

Jack nodded, his jaw tight. "Is everyone else set?"

Lance stood on tiptoe and looked around before he dropped back to the flat of his feet. "Yeah, everyone's in position."

"Then let's do it," the human said, letting Lance lead the way with his superior height. They approached a pair of wolves in human-form, a man and a woman. "There you are!" he said, speaking quickly in a frantic tone to James' thralls. "We've been trying to find you! James has been hurt and we don't know how bad it is. I know he'd want you both to be there to help him."

"James is hurt?" the man asked, his Hispanic-colored skin growing flush in agitation under his short brown hair, his brown eyes wide.

"Where is he?" the woman pleaded, her pale face framed by blonde hair to her shoulders; fear evident in her ice blue eyes as she looked around frantically, as though he was nearby.

"We'll take you to him. Come quickly, time is of the essence!"

With that, he led the wolves away with Lance in tow, the rest of the pack hidden in the crowd. The enthralled pair were so frantic with worry for their alpha that they didn't even think to feel suspicious as to why Lance was there. Perhaps he had been there and had offered to help find them so they could help their alpha in his hour of need.

*How kind of him,* the woman thought. *Maybe now he can see just how great a man James really is...*

Jack led them out to his car, but let Lance take the driver's seat. They climbed in quickly, the pair desperate to be by their alpha's side, and the SUV sped out of the parking lot and onto the street before entering the freeway. They were driving quickly, doing over seventy miles per hour, when Jack reached into his pocket. "James had something he told me to give you both for safe keeping. He said you'd understand what to do with it and to give you a message." he said fiddling with the thing in his hands.

"What is it?" the woman said, leaning forward.

"Tell us," the man said, leaning forward next to her, bringing their faces close together. "What did he say?"

Jack opened his hand to reveal a handful of off-white powder, which the wolves stared at in confusion. Jack blew it into their faces as Lance covered his nose and mouth with a hand. "He said to say 'Sleep tight'," Jack said as the sleeping powder took effect, rendering the wolves unconscious...

*****

Ben dodged a claw swipe aimed at his eyes, snarling at the vicious attack. James, true to form, was using every dirty tactic he could, not caring the least about fighting fairly. Winning was clearly the only thing he cared about, and wasn't about to let things like integrity and fair play interfere in said victory. Ben retaliated, slashing James across the arm and drawing blood. He could've finished this already, but if the plan was to succeed, he had to play this very carefully. Fight too hard, and the match could end too soon. He glanced over at the lead beta of James' pack as he jockeyed for a better position, seeing the open cellphone in the wolf's hand. He was waiting, the text he had already entered just waiting to be sent at the slightest word from his alpha.

Conversely, however, Ben couldn't go too easy on James, either. If he did so, the rogue alpha might figure out that Ben was stalling for time and have the beta send the text, the wolf being too far out of anyone's reach to stop him before he send the message to the others of his pack.

"Come on, Ben," Mitchell called out to the Head Alpha after a moment of concentration. "Break him in TWO!" he said, as Ben's pack cheered him on.

Ben blocked another blow and countered... Buying as much time as he could for the plan to be completed...

*****

Wallace crouched in the snow, staring through the binoculars to see with his eyes what his nose already told him. Two of James' pack, both men, stood shivering in the wilderness, hands in the pockets of their coats. Ferris'd had the magically gifted keepers scry them out, finding the duo waiting in the woods and away from civilization for word from their master as to whether it was safe to return, or time to flee and put their plan into action. The human fiddled with the signal jammer and turned it on, scrambling all communication signals of a technological nature in the area. It had cost a lot to get the device, but when everyone had scattered to track down James' pack, the scryers had told Ferris that he would need the jammer the most.

"It's done," the keeper whispered softly.

"I don't hear anything," Wallace said with a frown.

"You wouldn't; the sound is too high pitched for even werewolves to hear it," the keeper said, then picked up the tranquilizer rifle and took aim, using the long range scope on the modified non-lethal weapon to pick his target. "I don't like being so far away. Getting a clear shot will be tricky. Can't we get closer?"

"Not without them smelling us," Wallace whispered back. "I can just barely smell them as it is and we're downwind of them. You'll have to make do... Just make sure you don't miss."

Ferris scoffed. "Easy for you to say. You're the one with the superior reflexes."

"But you're the better shot," Wallace said with a smile.

"Flattery, my dear friend, is appreciated, but not exactly helpful. I can hit either of them, assuming I get lucky. Which one should I go for?"

"The blonde," Wallace said, looking through his binoculars. "He's the faster of the two. If you can tag them both, then go for it. Aim for the leg or the neck. That thick coat of his will interfere with the shot."

"Let's do this," Ferris said grimly, his aim steady.

"Take the shot when you're ready; we'll charge in the second he drops."

Ferris took a deep breath... Then fired... And the tranquilizer dart struck the unsuspecting werewolf in the back of the thigh, causing him to buckle from the pain. The wolf's pack mate saw him drop and went to help him as Ferris reloaded. The wolf saw the dart, and tried to run, but Berke's pack was there to cut off his escape. The wolf snarled and reached for his phone to call for help, but began fighting with it when it wouldn't work. The second dart struck him in the shoulder, penetrating the coat most of the way and seeming to have minimal effect.

Snarling in rage and fear, the wolf yanked out the dart and tried to run, stumbling as he took off from the effects of the drugs that had made it into his system. He didn't make it very far, though, as Berke's pack mates closed in on him and knocked the partially drugged wolf out.

Ferris and the wolves closed in and, with liberal amounts of duct tape, subdued their unconscious prisoners...

*****

Ben roared in pain as James ripped open a series of slashes across his upper back, then moved away from his opponent to give his body time to heal. The damage wasn't as bad as it could've been, but it still hurt horribly. He felt his flesh shifting and itching as the wounds began to close, panting from exertion and pain. The battle, and the plan that hinged on it, was taking longer than Ben had expected, and the balancing act was becoming harder to maintain. He sighed mentally as he realized what he needed to do.

*He'll get suspicious if this drags out much more... There's only one way to make this last longer...*

He took a deep breath, swung clumsily, and left himself wide open with a close, but intentional miss that was as convincing as he could make it. James took the bait and slashed deep into Ben's side, opening him up in a spray of blood and making him scream in agony. Ben dropped into the snow, convulsing as his blood stained the white-covered ground crimson, the rapidly fading heat of his vital fluids partially melting the white powder as it landed.

"BEN!" Berke shouted in shock and grief as he watched his adopted brother fall.

Angela had watched him collapse, her jaw trembling. "Damned you!" she screamed in rage at James, hating him more than she had ever hated anyone.

Monica clenched her fists, trembling with suppressed fury. She'd actually come to like and respect Ben, and swore to herself that if need be, she would kill James, the traitor to his own kind, rather than let him leave this place a free werewolf.

Ben's pack was beside themselves with fear.

James roared in triumph. "NOW DO YOU SEE?!? NOW DO YOU UNDERSTAND MY POWER?!? I AM THE -ONLY- WOLF FIT TO BE HEAD ALPHA!!!"

Beyond the trees, Mitchell stared at his fallen friend, looking pale. He had seen the move and knew it had been intentional, but still... "Get up, Ben! You can beat him! You've already done it BEFORE!" he said with emphasis.

Next to him, Steve's face went pale. "No!" he cried, then turned to Mitchell. "I have to help him!"

"No!" Mitchell said blocking the wolf's path with his hands in his pockets. "No matter what happens, you must not interfere! I know how you feel, Steve, but it has to be this way!"

The head beta sighed in disgust, his heart aching, until he saw Ben stir ever so slightly and whimpered, but stayed in place, seeing that the keeper had a point.

Slowly, panting in pain and straining to get up, Ben looked at the keeper and nodded to show he had heard him, then slowly, painfully, rose to his feet.

"Don't celebrate just yet, Asshole!" he snarled, turning to James. "You haven't beaten me yet!" he said as his wounds started to close.

James scowled at Ben. "Take a good, long look at yourself," he said, the claw wounds to his own chest closing. "One more good hit and you'll be finished! You, Head Alpha? Don't make me laugh! You're pathetic! I'm Head Alpha, and I'll make sure you never forget it!..."

Ben just stood there, letting the rogue alpha rant to his heart's content as his body continued to heal itself...

*****

Dudly and Melissa followed their quarry from a distance, keeping the two women in sight as they walked along the street, humans crowding in on them from all sides as they made their way through the business district. He knew the omega as Crissy, but the name of the redheaded woman with her escaped the werewolf's memory at the moment. *Look at her,* he thought in disgust, *she's nothing but literal skin and bones! At least we make sure Dustin gets enough to eat, even if he IS our omega. How can an alpha let one of his own just waste away like that? It's disgusting. If we ever even tried to do something like that to Dust, Monica would beat us six ways from Sunday! James doesn't deserve to be an alpha! I hope we can somehow help this sad excuse of a pack of his. I know they're not really evil like their so-called alpha. They're just so deeply enthralled to him that they'd let him slit their throats if he said it was the only way to cure his boredom! I'm glad I'M not enthralled... It's a horrible way to live... No will of your own, your only desire being to please your alpha...* He shuddered more from that than from the cold.

"You okay?" Melissa asked with concern, noting his reaction as she glanced sideways at him.

"Is there any way to break through enthrallment?" Dudly asked nervously, staring at the she-wolves with a sad expression. "Are they always going to be like that?"

"There are ways to free them, yes," the keeper said slowly, looking sad as well, "but it'll be a long and difficult road to independence for them. We'll help them, Dud... I promise," she said with a weak smile.

"We have to catch them first, though," the wolf said thoughtfully, frowning behind the bushy, light brown mustache on his Scottish face, crossing his arms over his large chest. His phone buzzed and he glanced at the text message. "Everyone's ready," he said. "We just need to separate them from the crowd, then we can get them into the van. Dust's ready when we give the signal."

"We just need to get them alone," Melissa said thoughtfully. "Strange," she said, noting their surroundings. "They keep circling the same block... And every time they pass the coffee shop, they stare into it... Why?"

"Maybe they can't decide if they want coffee?" Dudly ventured.

"I don't think so," the keeper said slowly. "I think they're planning something, but what?"

"Grrr! We'll never get them alone at this rate," the werewolf grumbled. "with the way they're staying in the crowd. We can't just grab them without people noticing," he said, eying the milling throngs of humans that filled the streets around them.

"What do we do?" Melissa asked.

Dudly sighed. "We need to drive them away from the herd," he said, using predatory language. "Scare them and control where they run to so that we can trap them."

"You think it will work?" the keeper asked speculatively.

"It will if we can trigger their flight instinct," he said thoughtfully, then began to coordinate with the rest of the pack by phone. "Okay," he said once they were all in position. "Let's spring the trap."

Parker waited for the prey to approach, then made himself visible, the bald muscular man with a bushy black-haired beard glaring at them. The girls took one look at him, went pale, and turned around only to find Dudly and Melissa waiting for them. They looked across the street to see Jennifer with her long black hair and American Indian features and Randal with his red hair and freckled Irish face waiting for them, blocking their escape. The redheaded woman looked around, saw the alleyway behind them empty, and dashed down it with Crissy in tow. A white utility van pulled into the opposite end and moved in slowly, blocking their escape as the pack and keeper closed in on foot from the back end, trapping the girls within. Sensing trouble, Melissa pulled out the tazer she had brought; and as the redhead drew in her breath, preparing to scream for help, the keeper shot her with it, the prongs flying forward to stick into her body as the voltage struck her, causing the werewolf to lose all motor control of her body before she collapsed to the pavement, spasming in aftershock from the assault.

Crissy backed against the wall as her throat locked up in fear, her eyes bulging in terror and hands over her mouth as they closed in on her, trembling like a leaf in a hurricane. "If you try to scream," Dudly warned her gravely, "you'll get what we gave her," he said, nodding towards the incapacitated she-wolf on the ground. "Do you understand?" Crissy swallowed hard and nodded rapidly, too frightened to make a sound. "Good, now get in the van, and no tricks, or it will cause me to become VERY angry!"

The girl, bullied into submission by the more dominant wolf, complied meekly as Parker and Jessica picked up the unconscious woman and put her in afterwards while the keeper concentrated on both ends of the alleyway, making everyone who passed the entrances to want to not care about what laid down the dim corridor. Once they had James' wolves in the van, they climbed in and drove away carefully. Once they left the business district, Melissa turned to Crissy, who was sniffling with her head hung in shame. "James," she whispered, "I've failed you... I'm sorry... Please forgive me."

"What were you doing?" the keeper asked. "What was your interest in the coffee shop?"

Crissy went pale, shaking her head silently in a blur of motion. Melissa decided to play hardball and snapped another cartridge into the tazer, then aimed it at her. "What was your interest in the coffee shop?" she asked more sharply.

Terrified of being electrocuted and glancing at her pack mate, who was still unconscious on the floor, Crissy hung her head. "We were waiting to see if we would put the plan into action," she whispered.

"What plan?" Melissa asked coldly.

"If James told us to, or if we didn't hear from him within an hour, we were to go inside, transform and start attacking everyone."

"WHAT?!?" Parker exploded. "THAT'S INSANE!!! WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU DO SUCH A THING?!? DON'T YOU SEE THAT DOING THAT WOULD DOOM US ALL?!?"

"Stop yelling!" Melissa snapped, her ears ringing. The keeper sighed with disgust. "So he'd really do it... Expose all werewolves to the world in spite if he doesn't get his way," she said bitterly, her jaw clenched so hard it hurt.

"He's insane!" Jennifer spat, glaring at Crissy. "He needs to be put down! If he's not, we'll all pay for his selfishness!"

"You don't understand!" Crissy cried, coming to her alpha's defense. "James is the most wonderful person to ever live! You're all just jealous of his greatness!" she said in a pleading fashion as she tried to get them to see what she saw in her alpha. "If you'd all just learn to stay in your place and obey him like you're supposed to, then none of this would be necessary!"

"But he doesn't have the right to threaten us with extinction for not letting him play king!" Dustin said, feeling that it was alright to speak, since it was a fellow omega who was talking, looking anxious with his tanned New Zelander skin and short, dark brown hair, his brown eyes wide.

"You just don't get it," Crissy said imploringly. "James is the strongest, most handsome, wisest man to ever walk the Earth! If only you could see how amazing he is!"

"Amazing?!?" Dustin retorted with disgust. "That lousy, no good-"

"Stop it, Dust," Parker said, his lips pursed within his thick beard and his dark blue eyes staring into those of the captured omega with sadness. "It's no use. You can't reason with her... She's too deeply enthralled. You can talk yourself blue in the face, but she'll die before she thinks poorly of her master."

"He's right, Dustin," Melissa said heavily, looking at Crissy with sadness. "It's no use trying to reason with her, so save your breath... Well, we have them, it's time to report in."

She pulled out a large marble identical to the one Mitchell had and poured her concentration into it...

*****

Mitchell felt the stone pulse in his pocket and concentrated, absorbing the knowledge that was sent to him. He sighed and pulled his hands from his pockets, then spread his arms wide and concentrated. Glyphs painted in translucent pigment upon the trucks of the trees surrounding the clearing glowed, and a barrier sprung up, reaching from tree to tree until they were all connected by the barrier of force, a shimmering, circular curtain of white light that was just barely visible in the light of the overcast day.

"...And if you all know what's good for-..." James paused in the middle of his rant and looked around wildly, then saw Mitchell posing and snarled. "WHAT IS THIS?!? JUST WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING, HUMAN?!?"

"Sealing you in," Mitchell said loudly, his voice somewhat muffled by the barrier that held the eight werewolves inside. "I'm through listening to your ridiculous prattling, James! It makes me SIX to my stomach!"

"Six to your stomach?" Ben asked, looking at the human through the barrier as he slowly stood upright, the last outward traces of the wound in his side healing.

"Six," Mitchell said, nodding with a firm jaw. "We've got all of them."

"Ben!" Berke said, "Catch!" He threw what looked like an oddly thick ball-point pen to the Head Alpha, who caught it.

Ben raised the modified Epinephrine pen to his neck and injected himself with a concentrated healing agent mixed up by Jack, feeling the rate of his healing speed up and helping him to recover faster. He dropped the empty pen and glared at his opponent with utter contempt. "It's over, James. Your bid for power is finished. Your pack is all in custody."

"Impossible!" James spat. "There's no way you and the keepers could have captured them all!"

"Not alone, they couldn't," Monica said coolly.

"What?" James gasped. "You helped him?"

"We all did," Berke answered, uncrossing his arms.

"There's no way," Angela said, "that we'd ever let a petty tyrant like you dominate all of us," the she-wolf finished, glaring coldly at the pretender.

James looked around, his gaze falling on Ben. "This is your fault!" he snarled.

Ben sighed as the last of his pain faded away, the healing of his body completing rapidly. "To be fair, this is actually YOUR fault, not mine."

"What are you babbling about?" James snapped.

"It's called a trap, Stupid," Ben retorted sharply, glaring at James in disgust, then smiled grimly. "And to be perfectly honest, it never would have worked if not for you. Your challenge made this all possible. I enlisted the other alphas, along with the keepers, to track down your wandering pack mates and round them up. They're all in custody now, so your plans to expose our kind to the world is never going to happen. It's over James. Surrender now and maybe the keepers will go easy on you."

"You," he hissed in utter hatred, looking around at the alphas. "You'd side with him?!?"

"Why not?" Berke asked grimly. "At least he gives a damned about someone other than himself!"

"At least he reaches out to help others!" Angela said firmly, glaring at James with disgust.

"And you?" James snarled, staring at Monica.

She shrugged. "I never wanted the position, but I'll take Ben over you any day of the week. Unlike you, he values the input of others. What's more, he ASKED us to make him our leader, unlike you who came in out of nowhere and started bullying everyone around! I prefer answering to someone who's willing to answer to us in return. All you would do would be to sit on your throne and allow us the pleasure of kissing your feet before you kicked us away. If it's a choice between your arrogant nature and his, I'll take his. At least he cares."

"We chose Ben because he knows what it takes to make a good leader," Berke said firmly. "It takes respect for others and earning the respect of those you lead in return. He knows that his power is granted by us, not stolen away by force and deception. You as Head Alpha? Don't make me laugh! It was NEVER going to happen!"

James looked around, panting in fury. He roared defiantly. "KILL THEM! KILL THEM ALL!!!" he screamed, then lunged at Ben as his betas attacked the alphas. The alphas squared off against James' wolves and began fighting them with skill, while Ben and James resumed their battle.

This time, however, Ben didn't hold back. He had done so in order to lull the rogue alpha into a false sense of security, but the time for stalling was over. James needed to be stopped here and now, so Ben fought using all of his skill and discipline. He blocked James' attacks easily and countered with skill, inflicting wound after mild to moderate wound against his foe. James was too furious to think, and his temper made his fighting sloppy. He was hardly a challenge at all in comparison to Ben's skill. Finally, when James swiped at his head, Ben felt no desire to be merciful and blocked the blow, then quickly snapped the bone of James' upper right arm in retaliation.

James screamed in agony from the injury and backed away, his broken arm dangling uselessly, as one of his betas was knocked to the ground by Berke and send sprawling face down near the injured alpha's feet. "James," he said, wheezing. "Are you hurt?" he asked looking up from the ground.

Furious at the stupid question as another of his betas abandoned Monica and came rushing to his leader's aid, James snarled in rage, lifted his foot, and brought it down on the back of the beta's neck, driving him hard to the ground as a sickening snap filled the air... And the beta went limp, the life draining from his body. The second beta stopped in his tracks and looked down at his pack mate in horror, unable to believe what had just happened.

James stared down at the body of his pawn, seeing red. *Useless! They're all so fucking useless! Unable to even beat a musclebound retard like Berke! Unable to keep from getting caught by such pathetic excuses for werewolves! I don't need someone so weak in my pack! I'll find someone else! Someone stronger and more worthy of my gift!*

Inside his mind, the wolven part of his soul snarled in fury, hating the weakness of his pack mate even more than his human side did. Together, both halves looked at Ben and seeing the cold, merciless look in the man's eyes, felt conflicted. James was scared. Ben was suddenly much stronger and more skilled than before; he had clearly been holding back. James realized he couldn't win, and what was worse, there was no route to escape. His betas were clearly useless, unable to even take down the drug addicted Angela. He was alone and scared. He knew that no scheme or trick could help him now. He was doomed.

Meanwhile, the wolf in him was furious. It wanted nothing more than to rip every last one of them to shreds. It stared down at the fallen beta beneath his foot with utter hatred for the lesser wolf's weakness, feeling no remorse of any kind. It looked inward and saw the sniveling human it had to share its body and soul with and felt disgust. If the man had been a separate being, it would've ripped his throat out.

Everyone stared at James in silent shock, unable to believe that he had just murdered his own pack mate like it didn't matter.

"James," the second beta said, edging up close to him. "James, why?"

James' eyes snapped up at the beta, his good left hand shot out... And with a single, savage motion, he tore the hapless beta's throat out with his clawed hand, the wolf feeling a surge of unquenchable rage. The beta clutched his ruined throat and gagged as blood gushed forth in a torrent, soaking down his torso and to the ground as he dropped to his knees, then collapsed sideways into a heap. Inside of their shared body, the human struggled, trying to run in fear from the wolf's anger as well as from the alpha's that surrounded him, while the wolf wanted nothing more than to slaughter everyone...

And in that instant, when the two halves of the same soul fought with all they had against the will of the other, the bond of harmony between human and wolf shattered beyond repair, the hatred of the wolf winning out over the human's fear.

James doubled over as a pain unlike anything he had ever experienced before shot through him. It felt as though his body was shredding itself apart from the inside out, and he screamed in agony, his voice deepening to an impossibly low level as the scream turned into a roar of hate-fueled physical torment. His chest swelled as he began to transform further while everyone watched in horror. His broken arm twitched at the site of the break, before the flesh bulged and tore open, the broken arm detaching and falling to the ground as something moved under the flesh at the sight of the stump... And a dark-furred, canine foreleg began to push out of the wound, stretching forward as it grew a set of long, wicked, dagger-like claws that were pitch black in color. Growling and roaring in agony, he clenched his good fist, as claws punched through the skin at the first knuckle of each finger, coming out in the wrong part of the hand, the claws matching those of the canine limb protruding from his ruined right arm.

"Shit!" Berke swore. "He's lost it!"

"What's happening to him?" Ben yelled, staring at his mutating opponent in shock.

"He's turning into a direwolf!" Angela exclaimed, looking horrified.

"You have to stop him!" Mitchell called out through the barrier. "We can't let him turn all the way! Do whatever it takes to stop him!"

The remaining beta tried to run to James to aid him, but Monica spun the man around and slugged him across the jaw as hard as she could, knocking him out. Meanwhile, Berke ran to James and moved around behind him the grab him in a bear hug from behind as Angela came in quickly and began slashing away at the transforming werewolf, trying to kill him, before he kicked her away, roaring in fury in that impossibly deep and monstrous roar of rage. Ben charged in low, dodged a swipe of the mutating foreign foreleg that protruded from the severed humanoid arm, and drove his clawed hand upwards, stabbing into James' stomach, shoving in and upwards as his hand sunk into James' torso.

James roared in agony again as he turned blood red eyes on his most hated enemy, wanting to tear his head off, but the spasms of his mutating body wouldn't let him move properly for a moment. His proto-muzzle stretched unnaturally, and a second, dark and furry canine muzzle filled with twisted, wickedly sharp teeth began to push out of his mouth, drooling gooey, dark grey slime as it started to emerge.

Ben continued to dig upwards into the mutating chest cavity, the toughening flesh resiting him and forcing the Head Alpha to use all of his strength to continue pushing his way in until he found a pulsing organ. Roaring in savage fury, Ben's clawed hand reached the wet, beating heart which seemed to be swelling larger and larger by the second, closed his fingers around it as the claws sank into it for a better grip, then began to pull as Monica rushed over to help. Berke growled and snarled, holding the expanding horror in his arms as tightly as he could, using his incredible strength to hold the thing as still as he could so that the others could do what they had to.

Pain exploded in Ben's side as James' remaining hand dig deep into his kidney, the wicked claws on the knuckles stabbing into his exposed side and making him scream in agony. Monica reached him, saw what he was doing, and focused her efforts on trying to pull away the monster's arm from his side. The skin under her hands gave way and she fell to the ground, clutching the decaying flesh of James' body, it having peeled away to revel a twisted, dark furred canine foreleg beneath the surface. She saw what she was holding and horrified, threw it away from her in disgust. Angela had recovered and charged in, snarling, to dig her finger claws into the revealed limb and using all her strength, pulled it away from Ben's side as he pulled with all of his strength...

And with a roar of triumph, Ben tore the swelling heart out of the creature. He held if for only a moment before he flung it away. James gurgled as blood poured out of the snout sticking out of his mouth and the hole in his torso, the fire fading from his eyes, and he went limp in Berke's arms. The burly alpha held him for a few more seconds, feeling the flesh of the torso move in unnatural ways, like it was loose against the muscles underneath, then let go as the others pulled away, letting the horrible thing collapse to the ground.

The alphas stood there, panting hard, until Ben keeled over face first in the snow...

*****

In the darkness of his mind, as the light continued to fade away, Wally, who the werewolves and keepers only knew as James, drifted, feeling full of frustration, shame and bitterness.

*This wasn't how it was supposed to be...* he thought to himself as his life drew slowly to a close. *This isn't what they promised! I did everything they suggested! I was supposed to be King! King of all werewolves! But it was all a lie, wasn't it?* he asked bitterly of no one in particular.

*It was supposed to be so easy...* he thought in a simpering tone, full of disgust, *'The packs are too busy fighting amongst themselves', they said. 'The keepers are too busy trying to get them under control. All you need to do is take your pack there and assume your rightful place as Head Alpha. It'll be easy.' LIARS!!! I should have realized you were just using me!*

He began to cry in anger. *All I wanted was what was owed me! But still everyone looked down on me, treating me like an omega again! I'm not an omega! I'M NOT! NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO TREAT ME LIKE THAT! TO BEAT ME! TO STARVE ME! TO GRIND ME INTO THE DIRT! I'M BETTER THAN ALL OF YOU!!!* he screamed inside his own mind impotently.

He let the thought ring inside his own head. *I'm better than all of you! Did you think I'd let you all treat me like trash and let you get away with it? I only wish I'd been there when the hunter I made that deal with killed you all. I would have loved to see the looks on your smug faces when I walked in and saw each of you realize that -I- was the one who brought your deaths upon you! I mean who ever heard of a werewolf making a deal with a keeper? It was tricky to convince him I was human, but it worked! ...Oh how I would've loved to be there to watch you all die, but our dear, self-assured alpha needed to be dealt with as well. I loved watching him stare at me in shock as I aimed the gun at his face! Who would've suspected the poor, worthless little old omega Wally to be the one to destroy the pack that tortured and humiliated him?*

James' thought back, remembering with a sinister joy as to how he had unloaded the entire clip of silver bullets the hunter had provided, convinced that Wally's girlfriend had left him to become an animal as he'd said she had, right into his own alpha's face. 'Now I'LL be top wolf!' he had said, savoring his triumph, one he could still savor, even in the face of his own death... He had never regretted getting his revenge, and treasured it even now.

After that, he had faked his death, disappeared, and changed his name. Then he began a new mission: to make a pack of his own; one that would love and worship him as the alpha. He wandered the country, dodging the others of his kind and the hated keepers who had allowed him to be abused by his pack, blaming all their kind for the lack of discipline and control his own original keeper had possessed. He found humans he desired, ones who looked strong of body but weak of will, then bit them, not caring if they died from a lethal reaction. Those who survived the bite, he watched closely, claiming those who became enthralled to him as his servants and killing the ones who retained their independence.

He'd even managed to find a keeper of his own, a man he could easily control through threats he'd had every intention of carrying out if need be, to make sure he and his pack of loyal followers had been kept from being discovered. He knew that the local keepers had tried repeatedly to bully information out of him, but James had used the man's devotion to werewolves against him, keeping him as deeply under control as his lupine servants. It had been easy to control the weak-willed human.

Finally, a strange old human woman had contacted him while he was in Seattle, planning his next move, and told him of the situation in Bellingham. Intrigued, yet suspicious, he had asked her why she cared, and why not want to take over the area herself. The old woman had said the pack she served didn't have the necessary numbers to take over themselves and didn't want the region anyways even if they were large and strong enough to do so. She had offered James her help, saying that if he succeeded in dominating the region, she would help to further his goal of becoming king of the werewolves, saying she wanted a powerful ally in a high position of authority and that James would do nicely. The idea had appealed greatly to him, and James agreed to enter Bellingham and set forth on his mission of becoming Head Alpha of the area, which would further his goal nicely.

Now he saw the folly of the plan. They never would've accepted him as Head Alpha. The entire concept was doomed from the start. He had been a fool to allow himself to be talked into the plan.

*I hate you, you dried up, useless old cunt!* he thought sourly. *You were just using me all along... If it were possible, I'd kill you for what you've done to me... But lucky for you, I'm no longer able to hunt you down...*

A dark, feeble growl from beside him made James turn his head weakly to see the direwolf he had started to become drifting beside him. The creature was massive and hideous, a monstrous mockery of a wolf. It drifted there, too weak to move, just like the human it had shared it's life with. It could only hang there in the fading grayness, hating him with it's blood red eyes.

"You... You son of a bitch!" James said weakly, hating the creature, but unable to move in order to hit it. "I hate you... I wish I'd never been bitten... Everything fell apart when that happened... When I became stuck with you... But I refused to let that hate change me... I worked with you because I wanted to remain in control... To not let you win by default... But you won anyways, and now look at us... You ruined my life, you fucking traitor! You're no better than that hag... I wish you'd never become a part of me..."

The direwolf growled, disgust and hatred in its tone, apparently feeling the same way about him.

James looked back to the last traces of fading light. "Well Ben," he spat the name with disgust as the last of his strength began to wither away, "you won... Take your victory... And shove up your ass... I only wish I could be there... When they come for you...

"I'd love...

"...To see...

"The look...

"On your face...

"As...

"They-...

"..."

The darkness became complete as the tormented man's life came to an end, and the two halves of his fractured and stained soul vanished from existence...

*****

Ben, still wolfed-out, moaned as the sunlight hit his face. He scrunched his eyes closed and tried to burrow deeper into the soft bedding, but jolted awake with a hiss of pain in his side when he tried to turn over, wincing and keeping his eyes closed to protect himself from the bright illumination. "Careful," Steve said softly from beside him.

Ben could smell the comforting presence of his mate and sighed, aligning his head to let the light seep in through his eyelids to help the sensitive orbs adjust to the light gradually. "What happened?" he asked thickly, still groggy.

"Don't you remember?" Steve asked from somewhere to his right side.

Ben moaned, then felt a surge of shock. "James!" he tried opening his eyes, but the light was still too painful, so he closed them again with another wince of discomfort. "He's... Is he? ...Did I...?"

"He's dead," Steve said laying carefully on the bed beside his mate."You did it, Ben. You stopped him."

Ben smelled Steve more strongly, but even as a werewolf, scent wasn't enough for him at the moment, so he carefully opened his eyes and turned his head to his right to see Steve staring at him with a reserved smile in his own wolven form."I killed him," Ben said softly, regret heavy in his voice. "I didn't want to, but my instincts told me he had to be stopped. I hated him, yes, but I didn't want him dead."

"You did what you had to do," Steve said sadly, sharing the pain of his mate. "Don't beat yourself up over it. You heard James... He didn't care about anyone but himself. He killed his own pack mates right in front of all of us, for crying out loud. No alpha should treat his pack that way, nor should a wolf of any rank do such a thing. He was a monster... And in the end, the monster started to show itself."

Ben remembered how James had begun to transform into a direwolf. "You were right," he said quietly.

"About what?"

"Remember after we first became mates? You said that if anyone was likely to become a direwolf, it'd be James. You were right about him."

"I guess so... I wish I hadn't been." He watched as Ben shuddered, remembering what he had done, then he winced in discomfort from his still healing body. "I wish I could take your pain away."

"I'll be fine," Ben said. "Just give me time to heal up... That was a nasty wound I took."

"I wasn't talking about that, but for the record, the keepers managed to stabilize you in time to save your kidney. You'll need to take it easy for a week or so, but you'll be fine and intact... For the record, though, I mean the pain in here," he said, placing a hand over Ben's heart.

Ben sighed. "I'm a predator... I've ripped the throats out of animals and gorged on their flesh without shame... But killing a person?" He shook his head. "I just feel bad that I don't feel worse than I think I should. I killed a man, but on an instinctual level, I can't feel too torn up inside about that and it bothers me."

"We're killers, Ben," Steve said softly. "We're predators. We hunt for prey to eat and kill to protect ourselves and our loved ones when given no other choice. We don't take death lightly and we don't resort to murder if given another choice, but we don't shy away from it either when there's no alternative. James was a threat to all of us. He didn't care about our safety. If you hadn't killed him, someone else would have. Don't feel guilt over killing a monster to protect the ones you love. I don't think any less of you for what you did, and you shouldn't feel that way about yourself either."

Deep inside, Ben's instincts, the part of him that had once been a separate creature within his mind, accepted that, knowing already that it was truth; but the intellectual side of him, the human part that had been conditioned by society to see any form of killing another person as wrong, was having a hard time.

He thought it over and finally realized that in the end, if he had been human, he probably would've shot James dead with a gun if he had still been human at the time. Was that really much different than what he had done? Yes, but only in the way he would have killed the rogue alpha. He didn't like that about himself, feeling the weight of James' death on his soul, but he realized he would have to trust that what he had done had been the right thing to do. He nodded heavily, trying to put it in the past where it belonged, reaching to his instincts to help him to move on and taking comfort from the formerly separate wolven half of his soul. As he did so, he felt the pain and guilt ease to something manageable.

"I wish I could share your pain," Steve said. "I wish we all could share your feelings the way some packs can. Then we could all help to ease your pain and show you how much we love you and don't blame you for what you did."

Ben shook his head. "This is my pain to carry-" he began, but Steve covered his mouth by wrapping a hand around his proto-muzzle.

"No, Alpha," he said. "Your pain is OUR pain. We're a pack. We share anger, fear and sorrow just as much as we share love, joy and pleasure. That's the way it is among close-knit packs. That's the way it will ALWAYS be for us."

Ben sighed and nodded at that, then his sharp ears finally recognized the murmuring in the distance he had been hearing without realizing it. "Who's here?" he asked.

"Just the rest of the pack, our keepers... And your brother, of course," Steve said with a smile.

"Berke told you?" Ben asked, feeling slightly embarrassed despite the smile on his face.

"Yeah," Steve said with a smile of his own. "I like it... I think you could use a brother. They've all been waiting for you to wake up. Want to see them?"

"Just so long as they don't all jump on top of me, sure. I don't think my body can take much more abuse," Ben joked weakly, looking apprehensive at the idea of being tackled by his loved ones in his current condition.

"Okay," Steve said, giving him a kiss before he went downstairs to get the others.

They all came in a minute later to see him laying there, his pack... His loves, as well as Berke, his big brother who was currently in his human form, who all looked at him with a mixture of pride and relief, and all three of the keepers coming in behind them, all looking relieved to see him finally awake. The pack gathered close, each of them smiling and wagging their wolf-formed tails in happiness that he was alright. "Hey guys," he said softly, still not feeling strong enough to speak at normal volume.

"Alpha," Kyle whimpered. "Are you okay?" he asked, his ears drooping and tail faltering.

"We were so worried about you," Ken added, looking at Ben with concern. "You were out so long!"

"How long?" Ben asked nervously, feeling as though he wouldn't like the answer.

"Over two days," Luke said with a grimace. "The keepers told us you'd be alright, but still..."

"Two days," Ben said with disgust, laying back... Then did the math. "Oh fuck! I missed work again!" he tried to sit up, but pain in his side stopped him and he dropped back down with a groan.

"Relax, Ben," Mitchell said soothingly. "We called your work and told them that you've been in the hospital with a moderate concussion from a slip and fall on the ice. Monica forged you a doctor's note to show your boss, but I told the woman who I talked to that you'd be back next week." He saw Ben frown thoughtfully as he looked at the keeper. "I posed as your doctor," he added by way of explanation.

"Oh," Ben said, then frowned again. "How did Monica manage to forge a doctor's note?"

"She's a nurse," Jessica said. "Rather handy, having one of the community in the medical field."

"Oh," Ben said again and let the matter go.

"You'll need to take it easy for a few more days," Jack added gently, "to give your insides enough time to finish mending themselves, so take it easy, alright?" Ben nodded to show he understood.

"How are you feeling?" Berke asked. "You going to be up for another tussle in the sack sometime soon?" he teased with a lecherous smile that shocked everyone.

Ben stared at him in shock. "What the Hell did I do to you?" he asked, stunned by the burly wolf's behavior, especially in front of everyone.

Berke shrugged, looking slightly bashful. "After you taught me about being with other men, the last of my inhibitions fell away and now I couldn't care less what anyone thinks, even my dearly departed dad and his messed up teachings." He leaned in close and kissed Ben gently with passion, causing the Head Alpha's groin to stir in interest despite the pain in his side. "I've never been one to do things half way. Once I commit to something, I give it my all, and that includes my love for men."

Ben let out a growl of passion before he could contain himself; but he could tell that while the spirit was willing, the flesh was weak. "Soon, Big Brother. Give me a few more days to heal up and I'll gladly bend you over," he said huskily.

Jessica's smile became rather strained. "T.M.I.," she said crisply.

"Get used to it, Keeper," Ben said. "Wolves don't have hang-ups over sexual expression the way you humans do. That's something you'll need to learn to live with if you want to be a keeper."

"He's right," Mitchell said sympathetically, Jack rubbing the groaning woman's back supportively as she hung her head.

"Fine, take his side," she mock-sniffled, making everyone laugh, Ben less so due to the pain.

Ben looked to his pack, slightly concerned that they might be jealous of his display of affection with Berke, but all his loves gave him were smiles of encouragement without the slightest trace of jealousy, even Luke, oddly enough, who had more reason than anyone else for having hard feelings as far as Berke went.

*I wonder of Berke and his boys might be up for some group fun sometime,* the Head Alpha wondered privately, the pain in his side preventing him from groping himself lewdly in anticipation. Some of Berke's guys ARE fairly handsome.

Berke looked him in the eyes briefly and grinned, seeming to read his younger brother's mind and liking the idea...

The keepers exited shortly afterwards, leaving the wolves alone. The pack cuddled up close as Berke watched appreciatively, leaning back against the wall. "Are you okay, Alpha?" Luke asked with concern.

"I think I'll live," Ben answered. "Sorry to have you all worried for so long, but I had no idea I was out for two days."

"That was because of Jack," Ken told him with an apologetic wince. "He felt that you'd heal up better if you were kept in a medically induced coma, so he kept you drugged until today."

Ben stared at him in shock. "He drugged be into a two-day coma!?" He growled dangerously as he began to sulk. "Okay, now I'm REALLY motivated to get better... Just so I can dig some toe claws into his ass!"

Everyone chuckled at that and Ben realized they didn't think he was serious... Well, okay, to be honest, he wasn't COMPLETELY serious, but a good part of him DID want to do it. Ken patted him on the thigh consolingly, but the physical contact was too much for the alpha, who had gone too long without sexual release. Ben's body reminded him how long it had been, and his balls felt so full that they were likely to explode. He growled with frustration, thrusting gently with his hips. The pack sensed the urgency of their alpha's need, and began to offer their assistance. Luke and Ken stroked his legs, Kyle held his hand and rubbed his arm, and Steve kissed him with gentle passion.

Berke watched them with a smile, seeing just how much they loved their alpha, his little brother, and felt his own passions stir. He leaned back against the wall and rubbed the bulge in his tight jeans as he enjoyed the show, letting the pack have their moment of togetherness and not wanting to barge in on their private moment.

Ben moaned, bucking his hips, then wincing. "I'm so fucking horny. I gotta blow a load..." He looked down. "Ken... I need you... I need your mouth," he growled as the lust drove him with its irresistible need.

Kyle and Luke eased Ben up to get his boxer shorts off as his tail moved under him to avoid being squashed, then gently set him back down as the Asian gladly changed forms and scarfed down his alpha's throbbing dong, slurping away at the canine shaft and drinking down the squirts of precum eagerly. Ben lost control, his knot swelling rapidly in intense need, and as Ken's hand wrapped around it lovingly, the tongue stroking his moist length, the sensation proved to be too much for him, and Ben climaxed, filling his hungry beta's throat with his essence, growling in triumph as he came.

"S-sorry I couldn't ho-hold out longer," he gasped between orgasmic spasms.

Ken murred and stroked the alpha's chest with a free hand, showing that he understood.

The display was took much for Berke, who unzipped his pants and pulled out his human-formed dick to stroke himself off. Kyle, seeing that, scrambled off the bed and knelt before the burly wolf eagerly. "You want this, Pup?" Berke growled suggestively.

"Umm hmm," Kyle said as he knelt before the strong brother of his alpha. Then he dove onto the offered man meat and slobbered away, painting it in his saliva.

"Pull my pants down," Berke instructed, and the beta complied eagerly, never pausing in his oral attentions to the large alpha's shaft. "You like that dick?" he asked in a lusty growl.

Kyle pulled off of him for a moment, licking his chops before he answered. "Uh huh... I'll admit that I always had a bit of a crush on you, Alpha Berke... You're so sexy..." He dove back onto Berke's member with eagerness as the alpha began to transform.

"That makes me happy to hear. Your alpha's my brother now, so I'm sure we'll get lots of opportunities for you and I to play together... You're pretty hot too, Pup, by the way," he said tenderly, running his hand through Kyle's hair in an affectionate manner. Berke leaned back against the wall and shoved his crotch forward, his musk right next to the beta's nose. Kyle moaned, sucking away as the smell reached the rest of the pack, who reacted with enthusiasm. Luke moved in next to Ken and the mates began taking turns swallowing the sporadic jets of cum that continued to shoot forth from their alpha's erection. Steve, meanwhile, moved down, maneuvered Luke's body, and took the mechanic's penis into his proto-muzzle as he jacked himself off.

Ben, not wanting Ken to feel left out, instructed him to move his body around so that the alpha could take his canine shaft in paw and stroke it some, until a twinge of pain in his side made him stop moving. "Hump my hand," he instructed the beta, who eagerly complied, fucking his fist with rapid strokes. "Fuck yeah, mount my fist." Ken moaned, loving the attention and not minding a bit that he had to share his alpha with the rest of the pack, nor did he mind merely getting a handjob, rather than being mounted like he would've originally preferred. That Ben was willing to do this much for him was more than enough as far as Ken was concerned, especially in light of Ben's injuries. He stared into Ben's eyes with gratitude and love, then moaned as his knot formed and Ben squeezed his fingers behind it, simulating the act of tying. "Who's your alpha, Beta?" Ben asked huskily as he squeezed the sensitive base behind the knot.

Ken lost it, both from the feelings in his penis and from the manliness behind the totally hot question, and cried out loudly in bliss as he came, praying his yellowish sperm all over his alpha's torso, bathing him in lupine cum.

Luke, seeing his mate climax and also feeding off of their alpha's masculinity, growled in satisfaction as he came, filling Steve's muzzle with his masculine wolf jizz. The taste, feel and scent of Luke's orgasm was all it took for the head beta, and Steve groaned in bliss as he shot his load all over Luke's side, hosing him down in his canine semen.

Berke, driven wild by the displays of virile masculinity around him, groaned in bliss as he filled Kyle's maw with his essence for several minute. Then Kyle whimpered as Berke pulled off of him, lifted him to his feet and spun him around before pulling him back against his muscular chest. "Look at 'em all," he growled lustily in the beta's ear. "Look how fucking lucky you are... You wanna cum for us, Pup?"

"Uh huh," Kyle said, stroking himself rapidly with both hands.

Ken looked over with interest, wanting his pack mate to enjoy himself too. He caught Berke's eye for a second before lowering his gaze to the alpha's chin, but lifted a hand to his chest between spasms, and rubbed his nipple suggestively. Berke caught on and brought his large clawed hands up to stroke Kyle's nipples and was shocked at the strength of the blonde wolf's reaction. "Fuck yeah," he growled huskily in the beta's ear. "I think I found your 'on' switch, huh, Pup?"

"Uh huh," Kyle panted, "uh huh, uh huh... He clamped his muzzle tight to repress a howl of joy as he came, his sperm flying everywhere, his one hand stroking himself while the other squeezed his knot as he came, Berke still stroking and pinching his nipples.

It was a minute or so later when there was a tapping at the door. "Guys," Mitchell said through the closed door, "Ben's still recovering, so don't put him under too much strain, okay?"

"We're not," Ken said with a smile at his alpha.

"No," Ben said softly to his lowest beta, "THIS is a knot!" he finished, squeezing the bulge in Ken's penis firmly. Ken gasped at that and shuddered, his eyes rolling back in his head in reaction.

They heard Mitchell walk away with a sigh of resignation, chuckled, then as their orgasms faded, basked in the afterglow for a bit before the betas went to clean up quickly before bringing towels to clean up their alpha and the room as best they could with Berke chipping in to help...

*****

It was a few hours later and Berke had taken his leave, missing his own pack and inspired to spend another hot group mating session with them, the pack loving their alpha's new found lack of shyness in regards to same-sex intimacy. The betas of Ben's pack were all out of the room to let him rest peacefully, when there was a knock at the door. "Come in," he said, smelling Mitchell beyond the door.

The keeper came in with a smile. "I hope I'm not disturbing you," he said.

Ben shook his head. "What's up?"

Mitchell entered, closed the door behind himself, then took a deep breath and winced. He swallowed, looking uncomfortable as he shifted from one foot to the other. "Can we... Crack a window, or something? It's a bit musky in here."

Ben liked the smell of old sex, but realized that the human might find it uncomfortable, so he nodded.

"Thanks," Mitchell said, opening the widow farthest from Ben. He took a deep breath of the crisp late January air and turned back to the werewolf. "I knew you'd want to know what's happened since your fight with James."

Ben nodded. "I've been curious. What's going to happen to James' pack? Also... What's going to happen to me?" he finished nervously.

Mitchell sighed. "To you? Nothing. Ben, you did what was right. I know it was cruel to make you guys be the ones to kill one of your own, but we COULD NOT afford to let James escape. He was beyond out of control and you acted appropriately, so there will be no punishment for you and the other alphas. Normally, the keepers would try to deal with a direwolf, but I'll be honest in saying that this was a special circumstance and you have nothing to feel shame or guilt over; let it go. You saved everyone with what you did, and that's something to be proud of. As far as I and the other keepers go, you're a hero."

Ben couldn't help himself, Mitchell's words fed his alpha ego and drove his guilt down, making him swell with pride at the praise. It didn't drive away all of Ben's guilt, but it helped.

Mitchell smiled, having seen the pain and fear on the wolf's face an knowing now that he'd said the right thing. "As for James' pack, the six surviving members have been split up and are going to be tended to by some new keepers who are on the way and will be staying in the area to help us out with managing the community. You'll get to meet them later after they arrive and start tending to their charges."

Ben frowned, mulling something over. "Six surviving members? James killed two of the three that were there, but there should be seven left, not six."

The keeper sighed heavily and leaned against the wall next to the window. "One of the betas, Katie, you would only know as the redheaded woman of the pack, committed suicide when she heard that James was dead. We didn't think she would be a danger to herself, but she had a silver knife with her and slit her own throat in the bathroom. Apparently she had it hidden in her purse lining."

Ben stared at the human in shock. "She killed herself?" he asked, stunned.

"I'm afraid so. Melissa is beside herself right now, feeling as though she no longer deserves to be a keeper for having that happen on her watch. We're trying to help her, but it will be some time before she's fit to resume her duties." He sighed. "We also lost James' keeper Bentley. When he found out that James was dead, he took his own life with a gun. He left a suicide note explaining that James had been basically holding him prisoner with threats of killing his family and exposing the werewolves to the world, so he went along with it all to keep everyone safe. The guilt over the deaths at James' hands was too much for him and he couldn't bare to face his family again, so he ended his own life. It's a genuine tragedy," Mitchell said, looking deeply saddened by the losses, "but it could've been much worse than it was."

"Will you be able to help the others?" Ben asked. "What about their enthrallment? Is there any way to break it? I mean how does it even work?"

"I, personally have never really understood it as well as I should," Mitchell said slowly. "There are other keepers elsewhere in the world who know more about enthrallment than the keepers here do... As far as I can tell, the awakening wolf in a cursed person can sometimes develop a strong emotional dependance on their sire. As far as I can tell, it creates feelings of deep affection and loyalty, like a crush that is much stronger in nature. It will take time and effort, but eventually we can help them to regain at least some of their independence."

"That's something, at least," Ben said with a sigh of resignation.

"But now we can help them and it's all thanks to you." Mitchell said. Ben tried to meet his gaze, but couldn't. "Ben, look at me." Feeling that it was all right to do so since he had permission, Ben looked into the keeper's eyes. "You did more than you realize. You actually saved us. We keepers have kept a secret from you wolves. Between the troubles with Lester, James and the direwolf, the upper keepers, the ones we report to, were ready to disband this community. They felt that this region was too unstable to be allowed to continue, but Ino and I convinced them to give us another chance, a chance to let you help stabilize the community. Now that Lester is gone from the area, Angela is off the drugs and James, one of the major threats to the region, is eliminated, the first signs of true stability have begun to show themselves. With that, the upper keepers have withdrawn their consideration of disbanding the community. You save us, Ben. You saved all of us."

Ben sat there, feeling stunned. "They really would've done that?" he asked numbly.

"Yes. But now that things are calming down and coming under a semblance of control, they no longer feel that it's necessary. We have you to thank for that. As your keeper, I'm proud of you for all that you've accomplished.

Ben sat there, feeling happy. If he was wolf-formed, his tail would've been wagging...