The Righteous Man Regardeth (Part 2)
Jensen wandered out of his room some time after ten the next morning, the heel of his hand pressed against one eye under his glasses to try and soothe the jack hammering pounding in his skull. He staggered towards the kitchen, but paused when he caught sight of Jared on his couch, playing his Xbox on low volume. Torn between apologizing for acting like a nitwit the night before and the siren song in the form of coffee wafting from his kitchen, he eventually decided that getting caffeine into his system was more important.
The pot in the kitchen was half full, and cool enough that it was obvious that Jared had been up for a while. The bright side was that it was cool enough that Jensen was able to pour himself a cup and slam it without burning his mouth. He did that, drinking it black and bitter, and then poured himself another cup, but added a little creamer before taking the cup into the den. The last little bit in the pot he dumped and started another pot going, using pre-ground beans rather than suffer the scream of the grinder as he ground his own.
He collapsed on the couch next to Jared and watched him try to stealthily assassinate his character’s next target. He was doing mostly okay, Jensen decided. Except whenever he got close, instead of continuing going slowly and hugging the wall, he’d rush the target and get spotted and fail the mission.
Jensen tried to find a happy medium between nursing his coffee and drinking it before it got too cold, and was so absorbed in both watching Jared and his coffee that he jumped a little when Jared finally broke the silence.
“So what was last night all about?”
With those few words, everything Jensen was trying to forget rushed back and the twisting ball of guilt of self-hatred clenched in his belly. With a sigh he set his coffee down on the table, not sure if his guts would accept even that little bit without rebelling.
“Danneel broke up with me,” he said, looking between his spread knees to the carpet below.
“We established that.”
Jensen felt a brief surge of anger. “That’s not good enough? After a couple years which we were happy, really fucking happy, she breaks up with me and I’m not allowed to get upset?”
Jared snorted, “Fuck yeah, you’re allowed to get upset. But I know you, and you’re not the kind of guy who goes on a bender on cheap booze like an idiot because your girl dumped you.”
Jensen eyed Jared for a moment, who was still seemingly engrossed in his game. “I thought you were supposed to be like a therapist, aren’t you not supposed to call me an idiot?”
Jared grinned, eyes still on the TV. “When I have to drive out here to take care of your drunken ass, we lose the professional distance.”
“I suppose that makes sense,” Jensen shrugged.
“Jensen.”
“Yeah?”
“You’re changing the subject.”
With a sigh, Jensen let his head fall against the back of the couch, an unintentional reflection of last night. The movement made him wince as a lance of pain stabbed through his temple, but he kept the position. Anything to keep himself from looking Jared in the face.
“I attacked Danneel,” he said.
The sound coming from the TV abruptly changed to the familiar ‘pause screen’ tune, and Jared turned so that he was facing Jensen, one arm thrown against the back of the couch. “Alright,” he said. “What are you talking about?”
Jensen gulped, swallowing air. “She came over yesterday,” he explained. “And before I could explain anything about the whole… Therian thing, we were kissing. And I could *smell* her, you know? Better than I was able to ever before. And she just smelled so *good*. So I kept sniffing her, and, and licking her. And even when she told me to stop I didn’t, because I… I don’t know. I missed her, or something. I didn’t want her to leave, and I think some part of me thought that if I made her a werewolf, like me, we’d stay together.”
“Did you…?” Jared trailed off, his voice soft.
Jensen shook his head, his face hot from the blush he knew must be across his face. He wasn’t friends with a whole lot of people, and he didn’t want to lose Jared’s friendship. He could just imagine what Jared might be thinking about him.
“No,” he said. “She stopped me before anything went too far. But she shouldn’t have *needed* to stop me, Jared!” he sat forward, hands in his hair. “I just went crazy on her for no reason. It’s no fucking surprise that she dumped me. I would, if I were in her shoes.”
He was crying again, but this time instead of trying to hold them back or hide them he just let them fall. He almost jumped again when he felt a warm hand rub along the top of his shoulders, comforting. That just sent him further over the edge, sobbing with full-bodied shudders.
They both sat in uncomfortable silence for a long while, Jensen crying and Jared being quietly supportive. Jensen’s tears finally dried up, but he felt shaky and a little ill and dehydrated. He considered taking a drink of his now-cold coffee, but even the thought made his stomach lurch uncomfortably.
“Wolf Therians don’t really form packs,” Jared said, and Jensen glanced at him with an eyebrow raised at the non-sequitor. “Packs involve a sort of full-time involvement on part of the individual. Lone wolves rarely survive very long. However, Wolves are still really social. We don’t do well without an extended social circle, and at the Full Moon there are groups who get together to run and play and sometimes hunt. We call them ‘Howlings.’ When we don‘t have that network of friends and family, we want to *make* one, no matter what.”
“What does this have to do with what happened?” Jensen asked, his voice watery still from tears.
“You’re lonely, Jensen,” Jared explained, giving Jensen’s shoulder a rub. “Which is why I’m going to invite you to my Howling for your first shifting.”
Jensen looked at Jared, stunned. “You’re what? Don’t you need permission or anything for something like that?”
Jared shook his head and started to smile, that bright grin that made Jensen want to smile in reply. “Not me, I’ve got status. Anyway, what do you say? You’ll be around others who’ve been shifting for years, some of them were born fully human, like you. It’s a friendly place, and in the days between it’s basically like camping; barbecue, swimming, hiking, all that fun stuff. And we’re far enough away from the city we don’t have to worry about cars hitting us when we try to cross the street or something.” He reached up to ruffle Jensen’s hair. “Don’t want you turning into road kill your first night out.”
Jensen huffed out a laugh and shook Jared’s hand off his head. “Wouldn’t want that,” he said.
Turning and grabbing the controller that he’d set on Jensen’s coffee table, Jared said, “I’ll get a hold of you before the Full Moon and tell you what to bring. Don’t worry, it wont be much.”
Jensen nodded and watched as Jared went back to his game. This time their silence was more comfortable, even though Jensen was thinking hard.
Loneliness was why he acted so strangely around Danneel? He just wanted someone close to him? It seemed like such a major reaction to something so basic. Going crazy in a desire for companionship, for someone who wouldn’t leave for months at a time.
He winced at his thoughts. That wasn’t fair to Danneel. He knew what it’s like to be driven for your job, and she was getting better and better roles all the time; he knew it was only a matter of time until he got a lead in a good TV show or started on a legitimate movie career, doing summer blockbusters or something. The fault was all his own: he’d had moments of heartache, where he laid in bed late at night and wondered if she was alone in her hotel room or if she was wrapped in the warm arms of someone else, far enough away that he’d never know. When he’d hate her so much for leaving him behind for so long. When every time he’d suggest getting out and going on a vacation for a week or so and she’d shake her head or sigh into her phone and say sorry, but her agent has her lined up to try out for a part in a couple days, but maybe some other time?
Stupid and possessive, he scolded himself. She had the right to live her life her own way, and keeping her at his side when she’s got all these choices before her is so, *so* wrong. He’s not a chauvinist; one of the things he loved about Danneel was that she had her own mind, insisted on not letting Jensen baby her or treat her with kid gloves.
But if this Wolf thing was making him treat people like *that* when he was just lonely, then perhaps the best thing for them was to break up anyway. She stopped him last time, but what about the next time, or the time after that?
“Can you show me?” Jensen asked, surprising himself with suddenly breaking the silence between the two of them.
Jared grunted, turning the controller like it’d help his character move any better. “Show you what?”
“What it looks like when you transform into a Wolf,” Jensen said.
Jared’s hands froze on the controller and there was a tinny scream from the set as his character was killed gruesomely. He ducked his head and chuckled, a quiet sound for a guy normally taken to throwing his head back and baying. “Already?” He said. “The past couple didn’t want to see it until there was less than a week until their first Full Moon.”
“I want to see it,” Jensen said, with an intensity that surprised him. “I want to know what’s going to happen to me, and all I got is Hollywood shockers and a video my dad shown me as a kid.”
Jared winced. “First, Hollywood is Hollywood, and would sensationalize a kindergarten graduation if they could. And second, if you’re talking about the kind of videos *I’ve* seen which shows guys screaming and frothing at the mouth and twitching like an epileptic as they shift, then I don’t blame you for being nervous. What they don’t tell you in those videos is that those guys are affected by silver poisoning, which messes with us when we shift.”
Jensen was aghast at the thought, “They wouldn’t do that, would they? Poison someone just for a film?”
Jared shook his head. “Not just for a film, no. But back in the 70’s, which is when most of these propaganda films were made, some geniuses thought that by steadily introducing silver into the blood stream they’d be able to cure them.”
“Oh,” Jensen said, uncomfortable. Then, “When can you show me? Does it have to be close to the Full Moon or something?”
“Nope. After your first shift you can do it at will. Are you sure you want to see it, though?”
“Yeah. Please.”
Jared nodded, and stood. He moved to the side, where there was a small open space, and Jensen leaned back to watch him. He sat up real damn quick when Jared started stripping though, tugging off his button-up and slicking his T-shirt over his head.
“Whoa, wait, what are you doing?” Jensen said.
Jared tossed his shirts to the side and said, even while unbuckling his belt, “You can’t expect me to turn into a big, four-legged beast while I’m still clothed?” he asked, glancing up with a small smirk.
Jensen felt his face flush and he scratched the back of his neck, trying not to look too close (though he did noticed with an envious sort of admiration the swell of his pecs and the flat plain of his belly) as Jared slid his jeans off, along with his underwear.
‘There’s a seven foot tall naked werewolf standing in my living room,’ he thought, somewhat wildly.
“Jensen,” Jared said, and Jensen fought his embarrassment enough to look Jared in the face. “Watch.”
Jared closed his eyes in concentration, and immediately Jensen could sense a change in the air, a sudden intensity, like the feeling right before a thunderstorm. Deep in his heart he knew that before when he was completely human he would have never have sensed it.
There was a muffled cracking, groaning sound that confused Jensen for a second, and it wasn’t until he could see a shifting beneath Jared’s skin that he could see that it was coming from him. Jensen watched with a feeling akin or horror as Jared’s face suddenly seemed to bulge out and his jaw dropped, giving Jensen a glimpse of those startlingly white teeth sharpening and shifting to fit his new jaw. He hunched forward, and his spine seemed to twist and then extend into a ropey naked tail. His fingers shortened and nails lengthened and curved, forming paws even as his instep lengthened until he was standing on tip-toes, which was when he fell forward in a surprisingly graceful move for what looked like a half-formed beast. Finally the fur came, dark and thick and covering him in a wave.
The beast Jared had become opened his still-hazel eyes, opened it’s jaw, and smiled a doggy smile. He was *huge* which was not exactly a surprise considering Jared is a big man, with thick mottled dark fur and long legs that seemed slightly longer than was normal for a wolf. He didn’t think that Jared was a timber wolf or any other specific breed, but something very different but still obviously 'wolf.' He remembered the envelope with information about Therianthropy, and it said something along the lines that Wolves more closely resembled the extinct dire wolves in anatomy than any modern wolf, and as Jared stood there he could sense the primitive beast under that still-hazel gaze.
When Jared started wagging his tail though (even if it wasn’t like a dog’s tail wag; when he did it the tail stayed mostly limp but it still got the point across) Jensen had to restrain the urge to look through his refrigerator for a hot dog or something as a treat.
“That looked like it hurt,” Jensen said, feeling slightly foolish for talking to what looked like for all the world a wild animal.
Jared yawned his opinion about that and padded over, stepped up on the couch and curled up next to Jensen, head in his lap and looking up at him with big soulful eyes. Jensen couldn’t help himself but to scratch Jared behind his ears, fingers digging into that thick fur. Jared closed his eyes and sighed in bliss, nuzzling at Jensen’s hand whenever he stopped like a dog begging for attention.
They stayed like that for a while, eventually Jared falling asleep on Jensen’s lap and snoring wolfish snores that made Jensen grin despite himself. He could hear the pot in the kitchen finish percolating and, while part of him really really wanted to get in there and pour himself a fresh cup, another took comfort in Jared’s warm weight on his leg and didn’t want to disturb it.
All good things must come to an end, he knew, and besides; Jared had some information that Jensen needed and couldn’t necessarily tell him in Wolf form.
Jensen poked Jared in the side a couple times until Jared grunted and pried his eyes open, looking up at Jensen with an expression that told him very clearly that he’s an awful, awful person for waking him and should be ashamed. Jensen wasn’t bothered: He’d lived with cats.
“I think I remember you saying something about a job for me,” Jensen said. “I need info, man, and you can’t tell me if you don’t have lips.”
Jared sighed heavily and oozed off the couch, stretching when he was half off in a way that made Jensen chuckle, and trotted over to where he’d thrown his clothes. As he walked Jensen could see another shifting under his skin and muscle and bone started reshaping itself, and the fur looked like it was getting sucked into his body. All in all it was a very neat, though creepy-looking process.
Once Jared was more human than Wolf Jensen looked away, fiddling with the discarded Xbox controller while he heard Jared making getting dressed noises off to the side. When Jared sat back next to him Jensen handed the controller over, but instead of picking up where he left off on the game he just turned the console off and set the controller back down.
“I got a friend who does the hiring at a warehouse that supplies local grocery stores,” Jared said, picking up their conversation like he wasn’t just a Wolf a few minutes ago. Jensen had a feeling he was used to doing that. “She’s looking for someone to work evenings. It’s not going to pay a whole lot, but it’ll help out until you get something better under your feet.”
“Does she know about the whole Therian thing?” Jensen asked, remembering to use the correct term just in time.
Jared nodded. “Yeah, she’s got no problem with it. Plus, knowing her, she’ll let you know exactly her thoughts on the subject your first day in.” There was a hint of amusement in his voice that made Jensen wonder, but the fact that he had a job and a real paycheck was too much to turn down for no real reason.
Jared told him he could start the next night if he wanted, working the midnight shift.
Jensen wanted.
--------------------------
Jared was right about his new boss. Samantha was tough as they come, no-nonsense with a sharp sense of humor. She told Jensen straight out that she “didn’t give two damns if he turned furry every month, just keep his teeth to himself and not in any of the stock. Even though his pay was less than a third of what he got working at the restaurant and the hours sucked, but it paid the bills (barely) and kept him fed (more or less) so he wasn’t complaining while he continued looking for something better.
All in all things weren’t too bad until his face got splashed over the morning news.
--------------------------
He’d just gotten home from a long shift, had his shoes kicked off, and was laying on his couch debating whether or not he wanted to take a shower after he slept a few hours or if he had the energy and willpower to get a quick one before when his cell beeped and booped at him. Sighing inwardly as he didn’t feel up to dealing with anyone that day, he pried his cell out of it’s holster at his waist and looked at the display before he decided to answer it.
He woke up real damn quick when he saw that it was his dad calling.
Even though he could feel himself growing pale he flipped the phone open and pressed it to his ear.
“Hello?” he said, though his heart was in his throat.
“Jensen, hello,” his father replied, and Jensen gulped - when his father had that ‘oh, I am very calm, can't you tell’ tone to his voice, he knew he was pissed. “How are you?”
“Good,” Jensen creaked. He cleared his throat. He hated this small-talk. “Not bad, managing to get by. You?”
“Oh, I saw something on the news this morning that’s got me a little concerned. Maybe you should take a look.”
‘Oh shit,’ Jensen thought. He fumbled for the remote, almost dropping the phone while he was at it, but when he had it in his hand he couldn’t make himself turn the TV on right away. His hands were shaking but he could hear his dad breathe over the phone, so he took a deep breathed and pressed the power button. It was on some movie channel from the day before, so Jensen had to change it to the local news station, where he was immediately assaulted by the image of his and his father’s face on the screen next to the anchor woman with the words, “Senator’s Son A Werewolf” emblazoned at the bottom of the screen.
“Oh my god,” Jensen whimpered. That was not good. He continued watching as Dr. Cortese was accosted as she was obviously trying to get home by reporters who wanted her to confirm or deny rumors that one Jensen Ackles did indeed get bit by a werewolf, but she brushed them off with ‘no comments’ where she could and flat-out ignoring them when she couldn’t. Then the screen switched to an anchor who verified that it was a 'source from inside the hospital' who'd leaked the information, and they couldn't at that time release who it was.
“Can you see why I’m concerned, Jensen?” His dad said over the line.
Jensen swallowed, trying to wet his bone-dry mouth. “Y-yeah,” he said. “I can see why.”
“Is it true?” That faux-calm voice was sliding off like water off a ducks back, and Jensen felt all of five years old when he whispered, “Yeah.”
“What in the world were you *thinking* Jensen!” his dad said, snarling like a wolf himself. “How could you do this?”
“I didn’t mean for it to happen!” Jensen shouted defensively. “It was just a random attack, even the police couldn’t find anything. I was just walking home from work and ‘bam!’ Next thing I knew I had teeth in my shoulder and a doctor saying I‘m a Therian.”
“Therian,” his dad scoffed. “That sounds like what one of those fringe groups is wanting the media to call werewolves and their kind. They’ve always been weres, Jensen. Calling them a prettier name isn’t going to change what they are. And you should know better than to be walking around at night, I thought your mother and I taught you better than that.”
Jensen pressed his hand into his eyes, really wanting to take his contacts out so he wouldn’t have to see the clips of his father giving speeches denouncing werewolves and their kind. He kind of wanted to cry more.
“It wasn’t my fault,” he said, biting the words out.
“Well I hope your little midnight stroll was worth it, Jensen,” his father replied. “My career’s probably in the toilet because of this, and it’s going to take a while to try and fix this. If you cooperate we should be able to earn the voter's trust eventually.”
“Cooperate with what?” Jensen asked warily.
“There are programs out there for people like you,” he said. “Camps that will teach you how to deny the animal part of you and to be human, medications you can take, therapy. You’re usually a smart boy and you love God, so you should have no problem becoming just a regular human again. I have enough stocks in pharmaceutical companies that when they find a cure I can make sure you’re one of the first ones treated.” His voice softened, no longer full of The Wrath of Dad, but more soothing, concerned. “I can help make you better, Jensen.”
“Okay, Dad,” Jensen whispered. “Whatever you want.”
“Good boy,” his dad said, unthinkingly making Jensen feel like a dog. “I’ll call around, see about getting you into a program right away. We’re only a week away from the next full moon, so it’ll be difficult getting you all the help you need in time, but we’ll manage something.”
“Okay dad,” Jensen said.
“Goodbye, Jensen,” his dad said. Then he paused for a second. “You know I love you, son. Right?”
Jensen *really* felt like crying. Or throwing up. Something. “Yeah dad, I love you, too.”
“Right,” Alan said, uncomfortable. “Goodbye.”
“’Bye.”
There was a muffled click, and the phone went dead.
Jensen stared at it the phone in his hand for a long moment, thinking.
His dad did love him, he knew. He never felt like he and his siblings weren’t anything more than first in his parent’s eyes. Even his father’s crusade against Therians was an extension of that love - he loved his family enough to protect them from what he felt to be a real threat to their safety.
But did he want to go through the programs his dad suggested?
Jensen wanted to be human again as much as a starving man wanted steak. He didn’t even care that he never even been through a single Full Moon phase yet, so never got the full experience. Just remembering that so many of his rights that he took for granted no longer applied to him made him desire humanity so much.
Then he remembered Jared telling him that people used silver as a way to try and cure Therianism and shuddered. While there were always, “Breakthroughs on the Lycanthropy virus!” and “Steps closer to a cure!” Jensen was always of a mind that no one had any idea of how to cure it, and it’ll be long after he’s dead and gone that anyone will.
His phone beeped again in his hand and when Jensen glanced down at the display he saw Jared’s name pop up. He sighed, flipped it open, and brought it to his ear.
“Yeah?”
“Jensen, it’s Jared,” said the man himself, sounding slightly out of breath and panicked. “Jen, whatever you do, *don’t* turn on the TV. It got out that you got bit, so nearly all the news networks are eating this up. Just-”
“I know,” Jensen interrupted. “I’m watching it right now,”
Jared was shocked into silence. “Oh.”
“Yeah.” They were both quiet, just the sound of Jared breathing down the phone while Jensen watched with an abstract sort of dismay while a pundit gave a run down of his father’s political career, focusing mainly on his stance against Therians. “Listen Jared, can I call you back? I just got off work and I’m exhausted.”
“Yeah, sure,” Jared said, even though he sounded a bit insecure. “Are you alright? I mean, I can always come over…?”
“Nah, I’m good,” Jensen lied. “I’m just going to get some sleep, in a couple days the only people that’s going to remember this is politicians who want something against my dad and the people who make funny captions on pictures on the internet.”
“They shouldn’t have to use you against your dad,” Jared said, his voice low and serious that somehow hit Jensen deep in his belly. “You shouldn’t have to *be* a weapon just because of what you are. You’re a person, Jen, and people should judge you on what you do, not what you are.”
Jensen didn’t have the heart to tell Jared that just wasn’t the way the world worked: People would always judge another person just on what they are, the little things that they can’t change. So instead of responding, he said, “I’ll talk to you later, Jared.”
“Later, Jen.”
Even as tired as he was, Jensen didn’t get much sleep that day.
---------------------------
Jensen avoided his father’s calls for the next few days, ignoring the phone whenever his or, once, his mother’s name was on the display screen. He’d decided that instead of immediately going through any treatments or camps, he’d experience one Full Moon cycle, and afterwards if it was as traumatizing as he’d been told, he’d do what his dad wanted. Jared didn’t seem very traumatized, he mused. But then again, some people get off on really weird things and seemed otherwise normal. Looking at Jared, you’d never guess he was addicted to gummy bears, and usually had a bag stashed nearby for that quick fix.
He was only glad that none of his coworkers recognized him at work, and no reporters or anything tracked him down. They were able to corner Frank, his old boss pretty quickly, but he’d no idea where Jensen went afterwards.
Not so much for his own home.
He had been driving home when he turned the corner and noticed a couple news vans outside his house. He’d panicked and turned around, driving for several minutes before pulling over to hyperventilate for a little while. When he got his breathing under control he was able to call up Jared and freak out to him that he couldn’t go home, or the paparazzi would *eat him alive*.
Jared calmed him down and soothingly said that Jensen’s an idiot and if he needed to crash for a couple days he’s perfectly welcome to.
That was how Jensen started living in Jared’s guest bedroom. He’d bought a couple changes of clothes and some toiletries from the store down the street, and settled in.
Two days after that was the night of the full moon.
----------------------------
The day before Jensen's first full moon he got a call on his cell not long after lunch. Jared was in his room writing for his magazine, so no one was around to see his minor freak out when he saw Danneel's name on the display.
His brain sort of disconnected while he stared at the screen, and it wasn't until it finally penetrated his brain that *Danneel wanted to talk to him* that, mostly on instinct, he flipped the phone open and raised it to his ear.
"Hello," he said, but it wasn't until his second try that the world came out as something other than a puff of air.
"Hey Jensen," Danneel said on the other side. Jensen closed his eyes. God, she sounded so... normal. "It's me."
"Yeah," Jensen said quietly. He glanced at the closed door of Jared's office and stood, heading out to the back yard where he could talk without Jared's suspiciously sharp ears listening in.
Neither he nor Danneel said anything, and his stomach twisted with the realization that it was the first long uncomfortable silence they'd had since when they'd first started dating.
Slightly desperate to hear something other than the faint sounds of her breaths over the speaker, he said, "So..." He trailed off, unable to think of anything else to say.
He heard Danneel sigh, and say, "I'm sorry, I probably shouldn't have called, but I just thought we needed some closure."
Jensen gulped dust. "Closure?"
"Jensen baby," Danneel said, and God, but he hated that tone of voice. "I don't think we can continue being together. Not after what happened back then."
Jensen started to nod, caught himself, and rasped out, "Yeah." He paused for a moment, then said softly, "I'm sorry,"
He heard a sigh and Danneel said, "Jen, it's not your fault. I shouldn't have ran off like I did. It was just... I know you, Jensen. You don't want anything to do with werewolves, and all of a sudden you've changed. I love you, but I can't be with you anymore. I mean, what would you have done in my shoes?"
'About the same,' Jensen thought. Then he thought of Jared, and felt like a tool.
-------------------------
Samantha had given him the previous night off, so Jensen was able to have a mostly-human sleep schedule. He still woke around noon that day, and as soon as he work up he felt…. Odd.
He was reminded of that charged feeling in the air right before Jared shifted in his living room. But instead of feeling it in a distant sort of way, he felt that almost electrical current running under his very skin. Like if they stuck a wire to him he’d be able to power up a whole neighborhood all on his own. Even as he sat up and swung his legs off the bed it seemed like just moving felt weird, like his body wanted to run and jump around like a five year old in one of those inflatable bounce houses. He took a quick shower and brushed his teeth and, remembering Jared’s warning, chose to put on his glasses that day instead of his contacts. Apparently there had been ‘issues’ with Therians shifting with contacts in that haven’t ended well.
When he was finally dressed and ready he found Jared in the kitchen, packing some food in a big portable cooler. There was also an unopened twelve-pack on the counter. Most of the supplies they needed for the three nights were already packed and in Jared’s truck; a single-person tent for the two of them, sleeping bags, changes of clothing, stuff like that. Jensen was sort of reminded of camping trips with his family, only instead of roasting hot dogs at night and swatting mosquitoes, he’d be a Wolf and doing… whatever Wolves do at night. He never quite sussed it out of Jared other than “Running” and “Occasionally hunting. Nothing bigger than rabbits though.”
Call Jensen stupid, but that didn’t seem like enough to make everything Therians have to put up with all that worthwhile.
“Mornin’, Jen,” Jared greeted. In the past Jensen would have grunted something at him until he had a pot or two of coffee in him, but he was instantly awake that day.
“Morning, Jare,” he said, reaching past Jared to grab a banana off the counter. He turned aside to peel it and throw the peel in the trash, and when he turned around Jared was watching him. Something about his gaze made Jensen’s skin flush. “What?” he said, somewhat defensively.
“You can feel it, can’t you?” Jared asked, a note of excitement in his voice. “You feel hyped up, like you’ve been mainlining sugar all day, right?”
Jensen nodded. “Yeah. What the hell is that?”
Jared shrugged and closed the top of the cooler. “Can’t say for sure,” he said. “Some people put it more poetically than I ever could, but it’s your body preparing for the change tonight. It’s all that extra energy building for the main event.”
“As soon as the sun goes down?” Jensen confirmed.
“As soon as the sun goes down. Now come on, we don’t want to be late.” With that, Jared motioned Jensen towards the door and they headed to his truck.
They were about half an hour out with a little over an hour to go when Jared said, “Alright, a couple things you need to know before we get there. First of all, I’ve got to introduce you do Jeff. He’s alpha, so you have to be vetted by him first before he will let you into the Howling. You should be fine, it’s mostly just tradition that no one really puts much stake in.”
“Has he ever told anyone they can’t join?” Jensen asked.
Jared nodded. “A couple, but they were the type of people we wouldn’t want to be associated with, anyway. Hell, we’ve got a couple non-Wolves in our group.”
“Really?” Said Jensen. “Like what?”
“Well, there’s one Stag,” he said. There was a small smirk on his face when he said that that Jensen wondered about. “He’s kind of a jerk, but not bad. He’s the reason we make sure we don’t hunt anything bigger than rabbits, though. Just safer that way for him. Then there’s one Puma, and a Fox. You’ll probably not meet them, as those two are more unofficial members. The biggest reason Chad, the Stag, stays with us is he’s a friend of mine from way back, and any place a large number of Lycanthropes gather tends to scare off most of the large natural predators for the night. They come back when we’re gone, though, so don’t worry about us ruining the whole,” he made a circular motion with his hand. “Natural balance thing.”
“Alright,” Jensen said. “What else?”
“Don’t worry about trying to impress anyone, or offending anyone. Most likely by the time we get there it’ll be late enough that some people would have already shifted and disappeared. Once we get there, we’ll set up our tents, roll out our bags, and grab some food.”
Jensen nodded, trying to appear cool, calm, and collected even while his heart was pounding like a jackhammer.
He always knew that eventually he’ll go through the transformation that night, but everything was just becoming more real. It was really happening, he was going to go through this.
“Hey,” Jared reached over the center console to give Jensen a nudge in the arm. “Stop freaking out, it’ll be fine.”
Jensen sighed, “It just seems like even though everything changed for me once I got bit, it’s *tonight* that things officially are different. This is my life now, I’m a Lycanthrope.”
Jared ruffled Jensen’s hair roughly. “’Bout time you figured it out,” he said.
Jensen flailed, trying to get Jared’s hand off of his head. “Bitch!” he cursed, and had to grin and Jared’s answering laugh.
Maybe things would be different after that night, but Jensen was prepared for whatever may happen.
Part 3