Fic: The Memory of Skye (3/4)

[miss_annthropic]

The first lavender hues of dawn were just starting to stain the sky when it was clear everyone who intended to be at Tanya's was there. The group had taken over one corner of the diner, with Sam sitting in the booth in the very corner, slid over until his shoulder was against the window. Dean had practically herded Sam there and was staying close by as he walked the floor restlessly. Sam had the very real impression he'd been put in a corner so Dean could bodily shield him if necessary. There was tension in the air directed definitely at him, and Sam kept quiet. He was not Eclipse River's favorite person right now.

Though he wasn't talkative, he was observant. It was a larger gathering than Sam had expected given it was a meeting at the request of the Winchesters, plus the fact that wasn't even morning yet; word traveled very fast in Eclipse River. Those who hadn't shown up were possibly adopting a 'watch and see' policy where it concerned this 'test of loyalty' of the Winchester brothers. That made Sam feel very pressured to not screw up this time as he looked around at those in the diner.

Sitting at the tables and booths around Sam's sequester booth were Jaina and Ramon, Tanya, Jasper, Franklin (one of Jasper's friends from the barbeque), Selene, Josephine (Dean said she was a friend of Skye's), and Jeremy. Jeremy was the biggest surprise, and perhaps the reason Dean felt the compulsion to stick Sam in a defensible corner. Jeremy was perched on the back of a booth's bench seat, elbows on his knees, hands clasped, and eyes locked on Sam.

No one had mentioned being hungry, but Tanya seemed incapable of being part of a group without making herself responsible for the feeding of them. She whipped up the fastest mess of hash browns, eggs, and toast that everyone knew better than to refuse. While they ate, it gave time for any stragglers to arrive.

Sam tried to get the measure of those whom he did not know already (if for no other reason than to avoid Jeremy's searing stare). Josephine (or 'Josey' Sam had heard the others call her), was about Dean's age, with curly black hair loosely controlled in a sloppy ponytail with a body that looked soft, but not entirely unfit. She spent an awful lot of time watching Sam, and she wasn't apologetic about it when he caught her doing it. If anything, it felt cowing.

Franklin, or 'Frank', was a tall, bald man of an even temperament with Jasper. Sam could see why they got along. They seemed in deep, whispered conversation most of the time, and no prizes who was the topic of choice.

After wolfing down half his breakfast, Dean was up and moving, full of pent up energy that he wasn't used to reining in for a crowd.

Finally, Dean stopped his pacing, looked around, and began, "We can't wait any longer. I guess you all already know why we're here."

"Barely here fucked up and sent a hunter after us," Jeremy said snidely, still staring at Sam.

Sam didn't want to take Jeremy's side in anything, particularly after the way he had treated Dean at the barbeque, but on that count Sam could hardly argue.

Apparently, Dean didn't feel similarly restrained. Dean turned on Jeremy, angry. "Why the hell are you here, Jeremy?"

Jeremy was unmoved by Dean's ire, which was a rare sight. Dean's fury was not an easy thing to dismiss with any degree of cavalier. For a second, Jeremy continued to stare at Sam, as if Dean hadn't spoken at all.

Jeremy finally looked at Dean, but his gaze was no less venomous than it had been when it was locked on Sam. "Because I don't trust you to take care of this. Left in your hands, more lycans are going to die. I'm here to make sure it doesn't happen."

"No one is going to die," Sam spoke up. All eyes turned on him, and Sam lamented the new doubt in faces he'd finally seen turn kind toward him. Even Jaina looked worried that she had misjudged Sam Winchester. Sam sat up straighter. "Dean and I will make sure no one here gets hurt."

Jeremy scoffed and looked out the window.

"So..." Jasper said slowly, "we're here to form a hunting party, then? Track this hunter and kill him?"

Sam's chest clenched.

"No!" Dean barked, looking quickly at Jasper. "No, when we say no one is going to die, we mean no one."

Jasper and Franklin both frowned, as if they knew from a longer lifetime of experience that such a neat and pretty end was impossible.

"You're the hunter or you're the prey, Dean," Jeremy snarled, "which one are you? Which one would you have us be?"

Sam grimaced, feeling like that was somehow a trick question. Knowing Jeremy's disdain for Dean, it probably was.

"No one has to die here," Dean insisted.

"What do you suggest, then?" Josephine asked flatly.

"I called you here to be eyes and ears," Dean answered. "We form patrols, watch the borders of town, and at the first sight of the hunter, you contact me or Sam, and we'll get this hunter to leave Eclipse River without anyone getting hurt."

Sam could see dubious expressions on everyone in the diner. Selene alone looked hesitant, but she had important information that no one else did.

"Dean," Sam said lowly, and when he had his brother's attention he said, "they need to know."

Dean's face darkened and his jaw clenched.

"Know what?" Jeremy demanded.

Dean didn't answer.

"Dean..." Jaina said softly, "know what?"

Dean tensed and his eyes sparked with inner fire, a combination Sam knew meant Dean Winchester was about to come out in fine form, but just short of being downright belligerent, he seemed to break. "Fine... the hunter on his way to Eclipse River is John Winchester. Our father."

A stunned silence stole the conversation in the diner for all of three seconds.

It was broken sharply. "Ha!" Jeremy laughed sardonically. "More Winchesters! Well, isn't that just great?"

"Jeremy! Shut your damn mouth!" Ramon snapped suddenly. "Your nasty remarks aren't helping!"

Like a trap snapping shut, Jeremy slammed his mouth closed and looked in something bordering on wounded at Ramon.

Ramon looked up at Dean, his voice heavy and weary. "Go on, son."

Dean swallowed and nodded. "Sam and I can talk to our dad. Make him understand you are not dangerous monsters. That the pack is not a hunt."

Franklin piped in, "And if he won't listen to you?"

"He will," Dean insisted, then frowned, "but if he doesn't... I promise you, nothing will happen to the lycans in this town."

There was a dark undertone to his voice that made Sam start and wonder, for just a second, what Dean meant by that. It sounded like he meant it with every predatory instinct in him, but Sam knew Dean would sooner die himself than see John lose his life. Sam looked closer at Dean, and for a moment he didn't know what his brother was thinking. Dean was more foreign creature to him then than his wolf ever was.

Everyone looked around amongst themselves, quiet and thoughtful.

"Your father or not, you obviously consider him a danger to us. Why shouldn't we just kill him?" Franklin asked.

Dean frowned. "Because I'm asking you not to. Besides… if you confront him, someone will get hurt. Our dad's good; if any of you try to take him on…" Dean smirked humorlessly, "believe me, our father will take his pound of flesh."

That didn't make anyone in the diner happy.

"Listen…" Sam began, sitting forward and resting his elbows on the table. "I know some of you," he glanced briefly at Jeremy, "have your doubts, but we mean what we say when we tell you we don't want to see anyone get hurt."

"Isn't that what you do as hunters?" Josephine asked bluntly. If there was acid in her tone, she hid well. She seemed to genuinely want to hear how the two Winchesters would respond. Sam took her for someone for whom the jury was still out when it came to the Winchesters.

"We hunt monsters, ugly things that exist just to hurt people," Dean answered lowly. "None of you are that. Not even Jeremy."

Despite himself, Sam smiled a little at that.

Jeremy was conspicuously quiet, and Dean turned to level a look at him. "You could have killed me once. You didn't."

Sam's eyes widened.

Jeremy sat up straighter. "Don't think I haven't wished I'd done things differently that night in the clearing. Don't think I haven't wished it a thousand times."

"Jeremy…?" Jaina questioned, sounding careful. Obviously this was new to her, too.

Jeremy scowled and ducked from Jaina's attention. "Skye would have hated me if I killed him. I didn't do it for her sake," Jeremy glared at Dean, "not yours."

"For Skye's sake, I am not going to let anything happen to any of you," Dean insisted vehemently. "I'm here because of her; for her sake, I won't let anyone attack the pack."

Jaina's head snapped up at that, hearing in it the same thing Sam obviously did. What everyone heard… Dean's words were 'the pack', but everyone in the diner heard the hint of 'my pack' in his vow. They all just stared, their intense scrutiny suddenly razor-sharp. Sam didn't realize he was holding his breath until he sucked in a breath. He could feel his heart pounding. There was a strange fire in Dean's eyes Sam couldn't recall ever seeing in Dean's expression before. It was territorial, but not of a family member or a car… it was territorial in defense of a home.

"I'm asking for your help," Dean said, his voice lower and sincere.

It was subtle at first, but Sam eventually noticed everyone mull over the request and then turn to look to Jaina and Ramon. Skye's parents. This lycan not born to the pack was theirs as much as anyone's, since he had been their daughter's mate. Sam understood they would make or break depending on what Skye's mother and father decided. Side with the Winchesters, trust in Skye's love and faith in Dean, or refuse to risk the pack on a lycan like Dean.

Ramon's eyes were on the table top before him, as if waiting for inspiration. Jaina touched his arm gently. Ramon looked up, met Dean's eyes, then sat up in his chair. "We'll help."

And just like that, they had everyone in the diner.

Dean nearly smiled in relief. "Thank you."

Jeremy grumbled and raked a hand through his hair. "Shit… well, just what are we looking for?"

Sam, seeing a chance to contribute, jumped in. "Our dad drives a black truck. Dad himself…" Sam looked toward Dean, thoughtful. "Looks more like Dean than me. Just imagine twenty years older, dark hair, brown eyes, usually unshaved, kind of gruff-looking…"

"Geez, Sam," Dean grumbled, "you make him sound unwashed."

Sam made a 'you said it, not me' gesture. He wouldn't bother reminding Dean of all the times when they were growing up when John staggered in drunk (usually self-medicating to dull the pain in any number of injuries).

It was Tanya who stood up first. "Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get out there and keep a look out."

Dean just barely smiled. He handed out his and Sam's cell phone numbers to everyone, and armed with that everyone started to leave. Tanya hung by the door just outside, clearly waiting for Dean.

Sam slid out of the booth quickly and caught Selene by the elbow. When she turned, Sam dropped her arm and recoiled back, not sure how she was going to react. "Selene..."

"Yeah?" She didn't look so much dangerous as cautious.

"You heard Lucas. He wants someone pack with me and Dean, and somehow I don't think he meant I could partner up with Dean." Sam smiled thinly. "I want to help in the search... would you stick with me?"

Selene glanced briefly at Dean, who was pretending badly to not be eavesdropping, then she nodded. "Okay."

"Thanks. Let's head back to Dean's place; I've got the Jeep, we can use that."

Selene almost smiled for a second. "Patrol by car, huh? Guess that's one way to do it." There was the barest flick of gold in her irises.

Sam smirked. "Have pity on the plodding Barely, huh?"

Selene bit back a chuckle and started for the door. When Sam was moving past Dean, Dean reached out and grabbed Sam's arm. Sam stopped and looked at his brother. Dean looked fierce, determined, and worried. "Be careful, Sammy."

Sam mustered up a smile. "I will... you too."

It felt strange having to take care against their own father.

Dean nodded and dropped Sam's arm, letting him and Selene leave the diner.

It was fast approaching dawn, and Sam was setting off as part of a search party to hunt down John Winchester.

*****************

Sam stood by the side of the road next to the Jeep - his Jeep - with his forearms resting on the warm hood. The woods around him were quiet, not a whisper of trouble, but Sam knew all the same that trouble was coming. He looked around with sharp hunter’s eyes, searching for any sign of the walking disaster to Eclipse River that was John Winchester.

Movement in the woods drew Sam’s eyes quickly just in time to see a sleek wolf bounding out of the foliage and loping toward the Jeep.

Sam tensed as he looked down at the animal. She was lighter in color than Dean, coat almost dusted blonde in hue, and much finer-boned than his lycan brother. She also wore nothing around her neck.

“See anything?” Sam asked.

The wolf came to a stop in front of him, ears pricked in his direction, then the animal began to shift… change.

Into Selene, on all fours and naked.

Sam turned his back quickly.

“No sign of him,” Selene answered.

Sam sighed, nodded, and without turning around reached to the pile of clothes on the hood and pushed them closer to Selene.

He heard her snort behind him. “You Barelys are too sensitive about nudity… anyone ever tell you that?”

“As a matter of fact,” Sam replied, his back turned, “my lycan brother.”

“Well, he’s right.”

“For the record, Dean wasn’t that progressive about going without clothing before he was one of you.” Sam shrugged. “Maybe you’d have to be a Barely to get it. All bodies are not created equal.”

Sam could hear that wolfish grin in Selene’s voice. “Is that your own insecurity talking?”

Sam chuckled.

“Because from the look of you clothed,” Selene continued, “I don’t believe that it could look all that bad nude.”

Sam was glad he was turned away from her, so she wouldn’t see him blush. As it was, he cleared his throat. “While you were scouting, I tried my dad’s phone again. No answer.”

“Is that unusual for him?” Selene asked, walking around him and giving Sam a second of panic before he saw that she was clothed once again.

Sam looked down at her and frowned. “Actually, no.”

Selene looked perplexed. Sam didn’t blame her… what kind of father would not take his sons’ calls?

Sam shook his head. “We aren’t exactly the Bradys,” he said in weak explanation.

Selene mulled that over a second, began to smirk, and answered, “Well, none of the Eclipse River families are, either.”

“Trust me, the ability to transform into wolves aside, the Eclipse River families are still more normal and adjusted than the Winchester family is.” Fearing the conversation was going to continue to pick apart the fabric of the Winchester family - and find that it unraveled far too readily - Sam preempted Selene. “So,” he said, “you think maybe head over to dirt road we passed a while back, see if we can take it south to check out the other end of town?”

“All right. There are some old logger roads that wind through the forest, too… they haven’t been used by actual loggers for decades, but some of the locals keep the roads in use enough that they haven’t been completely overrun by the forest. We should check out some of those, too.”

“Sounds good.”

Sam and Selene climbed back in the Jeep and Sam started them back toward town.

They drove a couple of minutes on the simple two-lane road winding its way through verdant forest in silence before either spoke. Then, without preamble, Selene said, “That was really self-sacrificing, what you said to Lucas.” When Sam began to frown in confusion, she clarified, “when you begged him to banish you but let Dean stay.”

The memory of was a sour pit in his stomach. “Oh.”

“Did you mean it?”

“Of course I did,” Sam answered.

There was a momentary pause before Selene asked, “You’d be okay with Dean staying in Eclipse River if you weren’t welcome?”

Sam frowned, his grip on the steering wheel tightening slightly. “Yes, I would.”

“Why?”

That was a sensitive question to answer, but Sam was not about to lose was ground he’d gained with Selene. He needed all the friends in Eclipse River he could get. And so far, honesty had been the way to reach Selene.

“Thing is…” Sam began haltingly, “for all intents and purposes, Dean raised me. Sure, we had our dad, but he was hit or miss when it came to being a parent. Dean was only a kid himself, but he made it his job to be a mother and a father to me, on top of being a big brother.” Sam smiled sadly at the thought, the unfortunate past that was the Winchester boys. “He gave up a lot to give me as much childhood as he could, even when that meant he didn’t get to have one. It’s his turn to get what he wants. What he needs. I’d do almost anything if I thought it would make him happy.” Sam took in a breath, “And I think Eclipse River could.”

Selene was silent for long enough that Sam started to feel uneasy about laying it all out there like that. It was a relief when Selene finally said, “He’d be family here, you know.” When Sam briefly glanced her direction, she made a dismissive gesture, “Jeremy and the other hold-outs in town aside, eventually, he’d be just another member of the pack.”

“Especially if he can prove his loyalty in this little crisis?” Sam asked pointedly.

“Especially.” Selene smirked. “Your screw up might have been exactly what Dean needed to show Eclipse River his true colors.”

But only if the showdown with John went well, and Sam’s personal track record with their father would seem to suggest it wouldn’t. John wasn’t one for making exceptions; he was uneasy enough having a lycan son. Sam still felt anger when he thought of busting into that hotel room to see Dean strapped to the bed, writhing in agony as John tried to ‘exorcise’ the wolf. Because he couldn’t abide his sons being different. Disobedient. Whether it was grasping for normal or the very opposite of, it seemed John’s sons could not please him. Sam was shunned for wanting a life away from the hunt; Dean was spurned for practically being one.

Before Sam had to say anything in response, Selene laid a hand on his forearm. “Stop for second.”

Sam did, silencing the engine and sitting perfectly still. They had done this periodically on their search for John Winchester and Sam just obeyed without question.

Motionless in the passenger’s seat, Selene strained first to hear, head slowly turning on direction, then the other. Then she tilted her chin upward and sniffed at the air. Then she looked, peering intently into the woods, her intensity seeming to travel through her body and practically passing off an electric energy into Sam’s arm through the hand she still had resting against it.

Then, just as abruptly, Selene relaxed and dropped her hand.

Sam had never said anything before, but this time (because it would get them off the topic of the Winchester family), he said, “I don’t hear or smell anything.”

Selene looked sidelong at him, one corner of her mouth quirking up wryly. “No, you wouldn’t.”

Sam started the Jeep again. “You mean your senses are better than human senses?”

“Actually, when we’re in human form, our sense range is the same. But we can utilize aspects of the wolf - like heightened sense of hearing and smell - without changing.”

“Dean never said anything about being able to do that,” Sam mused, certain it would have been an advantage on the hunt he would have brought up before.

“Probably because he can’t.”

Sam looked questioningly at her.

“Dean wasn’t born as one of us, he became one of us. And not too long ago at that.” Selene brought up a hand and brushed away a windblown strand of blonde hair from her face. “There are a lot of things natural lycans can do that Dean may never be able to do, even if he applies himself.”

“Like having spidy-senses?”

Selene smiled. “Like that.”

“What else?”

Selene thought about that for a moment. “Well, I know some lycans that can, very briefly, take human form on the night of the first full moon. Skye could.”

“Oh… can you?”

Selene shook her head. “I never cared to devote the time to trying. Fighting for human form seemed like a terrible waste of the night of the run.”

“I’ve seen Dean fight the change on that first night… it wasn’t pretty.”

A taut look overtook Selene’s face. “Imagine every bone in your body trying to break while you spike the highest fever you’ve ever had in your life… think the kind of high temperatures that would normally induce seizures.” Selene shivered, as if horrified at the very thought. “I only ever fought it once to see what it was like. Never again.”

Sam didn’t have to imagine… he’d seen it. Dean’s body knotted in agony, his body heat a palpable aura around him, his voice so torn and strained. ‘Don’t be afraid, Sam.’

Too much pain in their lives, his and Dean’s.

If Sam had anything to say about it, some of Dean’s pain would stop here… in Eclipse River.

********************

Jeremy Barker stood in the middle of the glory of the forest in a blasphemous shape and despised every second of it. Of course it was all because of the Winchesters… every last one of them a curse upon the town. It just killed Jeremy that the others did not see that. It was an insult to Skye’s memory.

Even though they had been the same age, Skye had always seemed like a big sister to him and Trey. Trey was the risk-taker, the one a little too adventurous for any of their goods and leading them to know farther limits of the pack territory than anyone else. Jeremy had just been interested in having fun, and Trey was always pushing the limits; no time spent with Trey was dull. Skye was the responsible one… their caretaker. If he was honest with himself, Jeremy always had a bit of a crush on her, but Skye never saw anything more than a brother in him. For a while, Jeremy thought Skye might think of Trey as something more, but Trey never showed the least bit of interest in Skye as more than a friend, and she never once gave the indication that that bothered her.

They were great together, the three of them. Wild and free.

Until that last year before Trey left. His thirst for going one step farther, going just past where the pack allowed, got out of hand. He had been growing restless and hostile for years, and it finally came to a head when Trey enlisted without discussing it with anyone.

Jeremy remembered the last fight between Skye and Trey. It had been vicious. Trey would not be told what he could and could not do. Skye was not about to back down from trying to keep Trey from endangering his life. After their bitter screaming match, when Trey turned his back and walked away from the both of them, Jeremy had looked at Skye. She was practically shaking with fury and fear… not for herself, but for Trey. Jeremy had offered some simpering words of comfort that not even he believed, and Skye had looked at him. Jeremy understood a painful truth that day, at that look. Skye had never looked at him the same way she looked at Trey. As if she was equal to Trey but somehow more than Jeremy. And Jeremy hated that it was kind of true… he never stood up to Trey like she did; never challenged him or questioned him. Jeremy was the go-along, in some awkward sense the pup while they were the wolves.

Jeremy paused to listen for Jasper, but the old man was still nowhere to be seen or heard. He scowled and returned to his unpleasant ruminations.

One of the things Jeremy hated the most about Dean Winchester was the way Skye had looked at him. The look of affection aside, she had looked at him like she had looked at Trey. Like she was looking upon an equal, someone who was enough for her. More than Jeremy could ever be.

It wasn’t fair… he was a human. And a hunter. And even when he became a lycan, Skye died because of him. He believed Dean loved her - who wouldn’t love Skye? - but that didn’t undo her death. A huge part of Jeremy felt like it was torn out when Trey and Skye were gone, and injured animals lashed out. Jeremy just happened to have a deserving target. If Dean had never come to town, Skye would still be alive… and maybe she could have gotten through to Trey. Saved him. If anyone in the world could have, it would have been Skye. Things could have been like they were before, Skye, Trey, and him finding adventure in their untamed backyard. Safe. Together.

A sound in the forest tore Jeremy from his thoughts and he turned to see Jasper in his wolf form, the animal just as grayed and silver as the man, trotting toward him.

When the elder animal was close, Jeremy sneered. “This is stupid, this wandering through the woods in these forms.”

Jasper retook his human form and reached down to his pile of clothes on the forest floor. “Unless you have a wolf fanny pack for your cell phone that I don’t know about,” Jasper replied tersely, “this is the only way we can do it.”

“We wouldn’t have to worry about our damn phones at all if we took care of this our way,” Jeremy growled while Jasper put his clothes back on. “But no, we have to do it the way Dean Winchester wants it.”

Jasper zipped up his pants and sighed. “You should give the boy a chance.”

“Why should I? The last time he was in town, Trey and Skye died.”

Jasper frowned. “It’s not fair for you to blame Dean for Trey. You know as well as I do there wasn’t much hope Trey could be saved.”

Jeremy stiffened. “You don’t know that. Skye could have helped him.”

Even before Jeremy finished talking, Jasper was shaking his head. “Boy was beyond help. Don’t forget it wasn’t Dean who ended up shooting Trey.”

That comment made Jeremy’s heart hammer and his jaw clench.

“As for blaming him for getting Skye killed…” Jasper paused to wince, as if physically pained. “Dean would have died in her place if he could have. If you can’t see that just by looking at him, then you’re a fool. Skye would want you to give him a chance… she’d want you to get to know him.”

“I can’t do that,” Jeremy answered. He remembered vividly standing over Skye’s grave at the funeral while Dean stood among them, an unnatural presuming to share their grief, as if he could hurt as much as they when he had only known her a short time, whereas Jeremy had known Skye all his life. “I can’t,” Jeremy insisted.

Jasper looked more sad about that than angry, then he sagged. “If you can’t look past your own grudges and do what Skye would have wanted, there’s no hope for me talking some civility into you.” The old man looked weary. “Go on.” He gestured toward the trees to Jeremy’s right.

Jeremy grumbled and began to strip. Given the fact they were shackled to their cell phones, they were working their way through scouting like an inchworm. One would stay behind with the clothes (and the phones) while the other changed and went off in one direction. After a while searching, the scouting wolf would return, and the other would turn and scout in the opposite direction. When they met up, they would both move on a distance before stopping and repeating the whole process again.

It was maddeningly slow and inefficient, but heaven forbid Jeremy Barker defy the will of Dean fucking Winchester.

Jeremy shifted into his wolf and took a moment to feel and sense the woods suddenly alive around him. In human form, the forest was like a cardboard cutout, flat and lifeless. In wolf form, it was alive with sights, sounds, smells, and energy that the human body could not experience.

After reveling in it for a second, Jeremy turned to his right and started loping.

He kept all his senses on alert for any sign of an unfamiliar human. He wended his way between trees, over animal trails, through brush, always smelling and listening with his keen senses.

They’d been searching since morning, and so far nothing. This ridiculous search could go on for days… the Winchester brothers didn’t even know where their father was.

How could Lucas even consider giving Dean and Sam this kind of deference, to let them dictate the way they would search? This was a matter of pack safety, and giving the Winchesters the reins was asking for more lycans to die. They knew the Winchester dad was as hunter… what else would one expect of a meeting between hunters and lycans but death?

Jeremy slammed to a stop when a scent not woodland crashed into him.

He stopped and stood stock-still, nose to the wind, inhaling deeply.

The smell of car exhaust, sun-warmed metal, and the stink of human filled his lungs.

Jeremy, on high alert, followed the smell.

From a distance, peeking between tree trunks, Jeremy saw a man standing beside a black truck parked on one of the old logging roads. He was studying a map laid flat on the hood. A sawed-off rifle sat on the hood beside the map. There was a similarity in scent between the man and the Winchesters… the stench of human family members.

Jeremy lowered his head and began to growl.

But first things first.

Jeremy whirled around and raced back toward where he’d left Jasper. When he started to get close, he slowed his stride to an easy lope. When he came back upon Jasper, the old man looked toward him eagerly.

Jeremy turned his form and affected an air of annoyed boredom. “Squat.”

Jasper sighed. “All right… get dressed and let’s keep heading east.”

Jeremy nodded curtly and got back into his clothes. Then he gave a deliberate pat of his front pockets. “Hold on… my cell phone’s gone.”

“Huh?”

Faking a very put-upon sigh, Jeremy groaned, “I must have dropped it at our last stop. I’ll just run back and check.”

“Don’t bother, I have mine,” Jasper said.

Jeremy cast him a withering look. “I thought the whole reason we were doing it this way was to have our cell phones. Just wait here, I won’t be long.”

Jeremy took off at full speed (pathetic as it was in human form) back the way they had come. He stayed gone just long enough, then headed back toward Jasper. When he caught back up to the older man, he called out nastily, “Well, this is just fantastic.”

“What?”

Jeremy pulled his phone from his pocket and held it up as evidence. “Found it, and I had a message from Josephine.”

“Did they find him?” Jasper asked immediately.

“No, but they want to double up on the area north of the meadow. She asked if you could meet her and Jaina by the creek while I’m supposed to meet Tanya and Dean by the town welcome sign.”

Jasper frowned. “I didn’t get a call about that…”

“If any of this were up to me, I’d just as soon not. You think I want to team up with Dean?” Jeremy countered.

Jasper looked weary of Jeremy’s persistent animosity, which was much preferred to suspicion. “Just don’t get so caught up in hating him and letting him know it that you foul the search, Jeremy.” With that, Jasper started north. Jeremy turned and headed back west. He walked only as long as Jasper was in sight. When the old man was gone, Jeremy stopped. He turned and listened with wolf-borne acuity for any sign Jasper was coming back.

When Jeremy was certain the old man was leaving, Jeremy practically tore off his clothes in his eagerness to reclaim his wolf form.

When he was standing over his discarded clothes with four paws braced apart, he took off toward the south, back to the place where he had spotted John Winchester.

Jeremy was going to take care of this threat to the pack his way. That is what Skye, their constant protector, would have wanted from him. That he keep the pack safe at all costs.

He was not about to let another Winchester kill another lycan.

********************

John Winchester stared intently at the map he had spread flat on the hood of his truck. He had stopped a few miles out from Eclipse River, halting what had been a headlong rush to Oregon in order to plan his next move.

Sam, no doubt unknowingly, had given John the missing piece of a puzzle that had been eluding him for years. John stored details away like odds and ends in a junk drawer. Some things were discarded after so long without use, but others stuck no matter what. Oregon stuck for John.

He remembered his son meeting up with him in Utah after months hunting on his own. It was after The Stanford Fight. John hadn't liked Dean going solo, but he understood that it was something Dean needed to do. Sam's leaving hurt John, but it absolutely crushed Dean. Dean never said it, but John knew how close his boys were.

It was a downright listless Dean that turned up on John's motel room doorstep after months on his own.

John never got any explanation out of Dean for his behavior. The most Dean would confess was that he'd just come from Oregon. Beyond that, Dean wouldn't say what had happened.

Since then, John was able to piece together the story of what happened from the evidence.

Dean had been turned in Oregon. A lycanthrope in the Pacific Northwest had condemned Dean to life as a thing. And Dean, ashamed and embarrassed, could not bring himself to tell his father what he had become.

After John found out what Dean was, after he tried to tear out the wolf in his boy only to fail and then be told by Dean that he didn't want it gone, John came to some conclusions of his own.

At some point in the years Dean was living with the curse of lycanthropy, he went from living with it to owning it. Dean was adaptable as hell like that; John was certain that was how Dean had taken to the life of hunting like he did. Sam had been the normal kid with all his protests against the nomadic, warrior lifestyle - any normal boy would rail against that life. Dean refused to see the hardship right in front of him… instead he embraced it, and for it was happier growing up than Sam ever was. Dean had done the same thing with the wolf inside him… when he couldn't change it, he refused to see it as a burden. It was an admirable trait and had spared John the heartache and headache of another son like Sam, but in this case it was misplaced. But Dean, the poster-child for rolling with the punches, couldn't see that anymore.

It was Dean's defense mechanism, and after a while to mull that over John accepted it. It was screwy, but it did make its own kind of sense.

Sam, on the other hand, was infuriating. Instead of trying to help his brother, Sam was encouraging Dean to nurse his misguided new idea of 'right'. The wolf taking over Dean was not right, but Sam was going along with Dean's delusional coping mechanism. When he should have been doing his damnedest to find a way to get the beast out of his brother, he was defending Dean's choice to be a creature instead, as if it was one of those controversial fad topics that Sam liked to argue so much. Sam ought to know better.

But then, John had only himself to blame. He raised his boys to be too close, too united against the world… which, at times, included him. With Dean's notion and Sam's support, John came up against a wall of resistance when he showed up to help.

It was hard for John to walk away, to leave Dean like that, but he had to trust that his oldest would come around and see reason. He believed in Dean; the boy would make the right decision in the end. It might just take some time.

So John Winchester let the whole matter sit cold and undigested in his stomach and was effectively bound from doing anything.

Until Sam slipped the name of Eclipse River. Then the last piece of the puzzle fell into place. Given Dean's condition when he showed up in Utah, John presumed his son didn't get the creature he'd been after in Oregon. The lycanthrope that changed him got away. Before, for lack of enough information to track down and get revenge on the thing that damned his boy, John had to live with that. Now, with Eclipse River in his sights, he could finally do something.

Dean might still need time to understand what was the best thing for him, but John was not going to wait for that in order to dole out some payback. If the lycan that turned Dean was still around Eclipse River, John was going to find it and make it suffer.

John knew his boys were trying to reach him, but he didn't answer their calls. Didn't even listen to their messages. He knew they wouldn't be ready to understand yet what he was doing. Dean was still lost in the warped reality created by his own coping mechanism, and Sam was pandering to it with all the gusto Sam threw into everything he did. In time, they'd realize he did it for them, but John didn't have the time to wait around for them to figure that out.

He had a job to do and his sons to protect.

John scowled down at the map. He was close to Eclipse River, but he had to be smart about how he went in. Something he shared in common with his youngest son was attention to detail and a knack for research. Being prepared before going into combat counted for half the battle - something Sam had always understood better than impetuous Dean.

Eclipse River was nestled smack-dab in the middle of the forest. From what he could tell, it was small, too. That would make moving around unnoticed difficult. Small towns noticed strangers. He could always avoid the town all together and stick to the woods, but if there was a monster out there, he would be in its territory where it had the home advantage. And what if there was more than one? The literature was damnably scarce on the differences between werewolves and lycanthropes… John just wasn't sure how much of werewolf lore he could apply to lycanthropes.

What he wasn't going to do was rush in half-cocked and unprepared. He wasn't a damn good hunter by being careless.

It wasn't a sound so much as a sense of being watched that made John look up and peer into the woods. It looked quiet, idyllic even…

Still, John deftly reached over and picked up his rifle resting on the hood beside the map. He stood with weapon in hand, staring hard into the woods. He froze in place, listening with every sense he had.

A rustling in the brush brought John to immediate attention. A shadow detached from the underbrush and moved toward him.

John brought up his weapon.

A wolf stepped purposefully out of the forest, like a ghost appearing from nothingness, and stopped just beyond the bush to stare at him.

John's entire body told him to take aim and fire, but experience and collected calm stilled his hands. Instead, he returned the animal's stare. It was not merely an animal, John knew that just from the look about it. There was far too much cognizance in those amber eyes.

A lycan.

John's finger slipped inside the trigger guard.

He eased himself around the front of the truck to give him an unimpeded shot at the creature. The wolf's leveled stare ratcheted up in intensity. It lifted its head slightly, ears pricked and locked on John.

He had a clean shot, but a seed of doubt made him refrain from taking it… a fear he could not ignore.

"Dean?" John called out tentatively.

The wolf visibly reacted to the name but came no closer.

John swallowed. He had to be sure… if that was his son, he could not shoot.

"Son… is that you?"

The wolf just stared back at him.

John felt the stare creep right up his spine. It sang of wrong. All of this was wrong. But if that was Dean… he'd never forgive himself.

"Damnit, Dean, if that's you, you need to let me know right now."

The wolf lowered its head, eyes locked, and took a step closer to John.

John held his ground, rifle held tightly in his hands but uncertainty preventing him from shooting. "That's an order, Dean. Tell me if it's you." It couldn't be… Dean would have proven himself by now.

In the distance came the sound of a car engine closing on his position.

Much closer was the sound of the wolf beginning to growl.

Dean wouldn't growl at his own father. John took that for an answer. He lifted the rifle and took aim.

The wolf bared its teeth, snarling.

"Dad!"

John shifted his aim and looked quickly toward the sound of his son's voice. Sam's.

Running toward him from the direction of a parked Jeep (where a blonde woman in the vehicle talking on her cell phone) was Sam.

"Dad, stop!" Sam yelled frantically.

Oh god…

"Is that your brother?" John demanded, gesturing toward the wolf with a tick of his head. He felt sick at the thought maybe he was wrong, maybe it was Dean, and he'd been about to shoot him. The wolf, upon seeing the new arrivals, had pinned back his ears and resorted to furious glaring.

Sam staggered to a stop next to his father, his expression immediately flickering to confusion, disgust, and surprise all at once. "That? No, that's not Dean." As if John should be ashamed for not being able to tell on sight.

"Dad, what are you doing here?"

"What the hell do you think I'm doing?"

"You're making a huge mistake!"

"I'm doing what you should be doing. Didn't I teach you anything? These monsters turn your brother into a thing and you ask me what I'm doing? They hurt our family and they will pay for that! I thought that was something you understood."

"You don't understand, Dad."

"Seems there's a hell of a lot I don't understand these days, isn't there? Where is your brother?"

"Looking for you. We all are."

"Who is we?" John looked past Sam's shoulder toward the woman next to the Jeep. She was watching them closely.

Sam glanced toward the wolf, including it as he answered, "Some of the townspeople and us."

"Jesus, Sam… how far gone are you two? You're working with these things?"

The wolf began to growl again. John lifted his gun.

Sam hurried forward and stepped between his father and the animal.

"Get out of the damn way, Sam!"

"No! You can't do this to Dean!"

Now John was getting really frustrated. "You said that wasn't Dean!"

Sam looked exhausted. "Just put down the gun and let me explain."

Before John could refuse or comply, the choice was taken from him. The next few seconds passed in a blur of motion. The wolf, tired of waiting, bolted forward. For a second, it looked like it would attack Sam while his back was turned, but instead it clipped Sam's knees, took him down in a surprised fall. The animal rushed past toward John.

John brought up his gun to fire. His finger closed around the trigger.

Another wolf exploded from the bushes at full tilt. The first wolf, taken by surprise, flinched just enough. The shot from John's rifle buried into the dirt, missing the wolf entirely.

Then the second wolf was on John, its teeth closing around the hunter's forearm and jerking him off balance. John staggered and fought to keep hold of his rifle.

The wolf let go.

John reclaimed his grip on the weapon, brought it to bear in order to fire…

"STOP!" Sam screamed.

John hesitated just shy of firing on the new wolf attacker.

"Dad, that's DEAN!"

John froze stone cold. He looked toward Sam, who was jumping back to his feet, then at the wolf that had attacked him. It looked just like the other animal… how could Sam know that one was his brother?

Sam rushed to the second wolf's side and dropped to one knee beside him. Without fear or hesitation, Sam's hand flew to the wolf's throat. "See?" Sam demanded, and John saw that he was holding up the amulet Dean always wore. It was looped around the wolf's throat.

John lowered the rifle muzzle toward the ground. "What the hell is going on around here?" John bellowed. "My sons working with creatures they ought to be hunting? The same monsters that did this to Dean?!"

Sam dropped the amulet back into its nest of fur and slowly stood. "These people are not monsters, Dad."

"They're not people, Sam!"

That was when John noticed it. They were no longer alone. Figures in the forest surrounded them. Wolves. There had to be at least half a dozen of them, watching intently from the tree line.

John looked between Sam and the wolf at his side that he'd identified as Dean. He knew that he had lost his opportunity. If he started shooting now, he would be taken before he got them all. Worse, these beasts might turn on his boys. They had not killed his sons yet, for whatever reasons, but he didn't think for a second those reasons would keep his sons alive now if it became a firefight. He had to regroup and think of a different plan.

Though it went against every instinct he had, John held up his hands and slowly set his rifle on the ground. The wolves stirred restlessly but did not come closer. The first wolf that had lunged at him was backing away slowly, joining the others in the trees.

The wolf beside Sam seemed to rally itself…

Then it transformed. It became Dean, bare but for the necklace lying against his sternum. Slowly, his son rose from his crouch and stood shoulder to shoulder with Sam. Both of them were watching their father. John gaped for a moment, still not comfortable watching his son flip back and forth between man and animal. When he got past that, he said angrily, "You attacked me."

Dean barely smirked, but it was brittle and humorless. "I didn't even break the skin. I had to stop you. You are not hurting these people."

"They're not people!" John countered hotly. "They're monsters!"

"Then I'm a monster, too."

John drew in a sharp breath. "No… no, you're not. You're sick."

Never in his life had John seen that shuttered look in his oldest son's face. "I've never felt better in my life. This isn't a disease. I'm exactly what I want to be."

John glanced around at the wolves, his hairs on the back of his neck rising. They were closing in. The wolves were emerging slowly from the forest now that John no longer had a weapon in hand. They were walking closer and closer to his sons.

John fought the urge to dive down for his rifle and blast them all clear of his boys. It was with great effort that he focused on Dean. "One of these creatures cursed you, and it deserves to pay for that with its life."

The stone-like quality in Dean's face vanished, and suddenly it was a look of fury Dean directed at John… white hot and serrated anger like nothing John had ever seen in Dean. "Her name was Skye, and I loved her!"

That struck John silent. Presently, he was looking at his sons standing together, one fully clothed and tall as a bear, the other nude and shameless about it, and surrounding them on all sides, wolves. The animals were clustered around the boys, each of them watching John. He wasn't sure when they'd formed a bunch around their legs or how he'd not realized it happening, but there they were. Dean and Sam center of their own small pack of wolf sentries.

John suddenly wasn't sure if the creatures were closing in for a group attack or protecting his boys.

"Who?" John asked dumbly, feeling like his control and understanding of the situation was gone while he scrambled for purchase.

Dean went from furious to weary. "The one who changed me… her name was Skye, and I loved her. I was in love with her." Dean looked like he might be sick for a second. "She saved me, Dad. She loved me. The lycans in Eclipse River… they're her family. I won't let you hurt the pack… you'll have to go through me first."

"And me," Sam added resolutely.

John had no idea what to think anymore. When he'd been certain it was a wicked monster that had done this to Dean, it had been easy to want to track it down and kill it. But this… John didn't know anymore.

He did know his sons meant what they said about putting themselves between the lycans and John's quest for vengeance.

"Come back to the house with us, and I'll try to explain," Dean asked in a much calmer, plaintive voice.

John eyed the wolves warily. "What about them?"

Dean smirked. "They won't attack unless you do."

"How can you be so sure?" John challenged.

"Because I'm one of them."

That was the moment John realized that Dean was. Until that instant, John had seen Dean as afflicted with an illness and the lycanthropes as little better than vile beasts. Watching Dean stand comfortably within a cluster of wolves, the wolves just as comfortable around him, John understood that he had been wrong to see his son as different from them.

Which meant he had two choices… change the way he saw lycans or change the way he saw his son.

With a relenting sigh, John grumbled, "This better be good, Dean."

Dean almost smiled.

****************

Sam could tell that John felt like he was smack dab in the middle of enemy territory. Sam was in Dean's living room with their father while Dean was in the kitchen with Lucas (among others). Several of the pack elders had been waiting for them at the house, so Dean had not been able to sit John down and explain things to him. The matter of the threat to the pack posed by John had to be addressed first. So Dean left Sam with their father in the living room while Dean and the members of the pack retired to the kitchen.

Sam sat awkwardly on the arm of the sofa and watched John. He didn't really know what to say. For that matter, John didn't really look like he knew what to say, either. He was slowly pacing the living room, slow enough that to the casual observer it might not even look like pacing. Sam knew better.

John's attention was almost entirely on the lycans in the kitchen with Dean. Though it might be misplaced and misguided at times, Sam could never deny that John Winchester was protective of his boys.

"Maybe we should go in there," John finally said.

"I think the best thing for everyone would be for you to stay here," Sam countered calmly. "Let Dean handle this."

John scowled and stopped his pacing to look around the living room. "Whose house is this?"

"Dean's."

That got a reaction out of John. He looked quickly at Sam, eyes demanding an explanation.

With a sigh, Sam explained gently (as if gently would make it easier on John), "Dean and Skye were mates… to the pack, that's the same thing as husband and wife. So whatever belonged to her belongs to Dean, too. This was her house." Sam shrugged. "Which makes it Dean's house."

John looked long and hard at Sam, then he turned and surveyed the place again… perhaps this time with a new eye.

"Did you know her? This Skye?"

Sam shook his head. "I wish I had, but… she died before I got a chance to meet her."

"Sammy," Dean's voice called from the kitchen.

Sam stood up. "Yeah?"

Dean came into the hallway halfway and said, "I'm going to step out for a sec with Lucas and his bunch… be right back." Unspoken was the order 'watch out for Dad'.

"Okay."

Dean turned and the group, Dean included, walked out the back door.

That set John Winchester's papa bear circuits to sparking. "We just going to let him be alone with them?"

"Yes. Dad… you have to stop seeing them as the enemy."

"I want to know why in the hell you did. Didn't I teach you better?"

Sam frowned. "Dean is proof that lycanthropes aren't monsters. And when I got here, the rest of the town proved Dean wasn't a fluke." Sam shook his head. "If you could just stop seeing these people as creatures and talk to them, just take a few minutes to get to know them, you'd see what I mean."

Obviously irritated, John started down the hall and Sam, frustrated, did not follow. Not that he was above getting into a fight with their father, but it would be really hard to be alone in the house with John if they had a blowout, and Sam was adamant about making sure John Winchester didn't turn himself loose on Eclipse River.

When John's footfalls stopped abruptly, Sam turned. John was in the hall, staring at the pictures hung there. Specifically, at the pictures of Dean and Skye.

Feeling a strange twinge of sadness, Sam approached his father and joined him in the hallway.

John was intent on one of the photographs, his jaw jumping and his shoulders tense. Sam looked at the same picture as John… the one of Skye braced over Dean on his back while Dean gazed up at her, positively smitten.

"I've never seen him look so happy with a woman," John admitted grudgingly.

Sam let slip a tiny smile. "Yeah… he really loved her, Dad."

John shook his head, totally baffled. "But this is Dean… he's a hunter." Suggesting that Sam might do something like this, but Dean should have been impervious to such folly.

"And he loved her anyway," Sam returned. "Don't you think that says a hell of a lot about these people?"

John turned a thoughtful look at Sam. Hoping he had his father's attention finally, Sam pressed, "Skye turned him because it was the only way to save his life. I don't know about you, but I'd rather have Dean like he is than for Dean to have died that day." John blanched slightly. Sam, on a roll, continued, "And being the wolf makes him so happy. Dean might not have been born to this, but he should have been. It fits him that well."

John sighed, though whether it was because he was thoroughly fed up with his sons or because his resolve was crumbling, Sam couldn't say.

"Just… when Dean comes back in here, really listen to him. Don't take my word for how perfectly this suits Dean, see it for yourself. Dean deserves at least that much from you."

John opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, the back door opened and Dean came through alone.

Sam perked up. "Well?"

Dean looked harried but determined. "Lucas is calling off the dogs, so to speak… Dad's safe for now, but he's definitely on probation."

"You mean I'm being watched twenty-four seven while I'm here," John groused.

"Yep," Dean answered. "By some other pack members and by me."

John bristled. "You'd do that? Turn on your own family?"

Suddenly, Dean looked tired. "I hope you won't ask me to pick between you and them, Dad." Dean looked past John toward Sam. "What did I miss?"

Sam ticked his head toward the wall. "I was telling Dad about Skye."

"Oh…" Dean looked sucker-punched. He took a steeling breath, looked directly at John, and said, "Look, Dad… you don't like lycans, don't get us, don't trust us, I understand that… but you need to understand that I. Loved. Skye. If we have to duke it out about everything else, fine, but…" Dean looked somehow younger and older in the same instant, "leave her out of it. I couldn't stand you making her less. The way you have people leave Mom alone, leave Skye alone."

That clearly surprised John. Sam just felt heartsick for his big brother.

"Ahem," John cleared his throat, obviously thrown off-guard, "Sam said she saved your life."

Dean nodded. "She killed one of her own kind to do it. That was the day she turned me… and I'm glad she did it."

John grasped for something to say next, failed, then let out a huge sigh. "Christ, Dean… I don't know what to say. What do you expect me to do with this?"

"Honestly, everything you have done so far. That's you. But," Dean cast a look at Sam that held a hint of mirth, "try to be more like Sam about this, okay?"

"Meaning…?"

Sam jumped in. "Meaning that as long as Dean isn't a danger to people - which he isn't - his happiness is more important to me than making sure Dean fits into a certain mold."

John headed back toward the living room and plopped down on the couch, running his hands roughly through his hair. His sons followed him and John said gruffly, "I just can't believe you like being like this."

"I know you can't… but I do, Dad. Being the wolf is amazing. I would never want to give that up. Even when you were trying to rip it out of me, I didn't want it gone."

That something so unnatural could make Dean so content was clearly hard for John to fathom.

"You've never seen him after a run," Sam added. "Shit, Dad, Dean gets downright giddy."

"I do not," Dean said.

Sam grinned. "You do too."

"Not."

"Too."

Despite himself, John chuckled.

In the following silence, Dean and Sam moved around to the middle of the room. Sam sat down in the armchair while Dean fidgeted as he stood at the end of the coffee table.

John looked up at Dean quietly a moment, then said, "So what's the deal with the others?"

"You mean the pack?"

John nodded faintly.

"They're just looking out for their own survival."

"And this little town arrest they've got me under… what is the point of that? If they were really looking out for their own survival, they would have killed me," John pointed out in his pointed, gruff manner.

Dean just barely flinched. "They considered it, but I convinced them to let me try and stop you without it coming to that."

"Why?"

"How well Sam and I can stop you from going on a killing spree will decide if I can stay in Eclipse River."

John's eyes widened. "Is that what you want? To live here?"

"Yeah… maybe. I know I want the choice. Since Lawrence, this is the first place that has ever felt like home. Plus, I'm with my own kind here."

John looked over at Sam. "And what about you?"

"I doubt I'd be welcome in Eclipse River after this, but if Dean thinks of this as home, then I'm going to fight for his right to stay."

"You're in, Sammy," Dean said softly.

"What?"

"Part of what I was talking with Lucas about… as long as Dad doesn't do anything to upset the pack, you're welcome here just like me." One corner of Dean's mouth turned upward. "I wouldn't take no for an answer."

Sam was starting to smile, feeling truly relieved for the first time since this whole mess began, when John interjected, "Wait a minute… Sam, you want to live here?"

"Possibly. Like Dean said… I'd like to have the option available to me."

"What could you possibly want here? You're not even one of them!"

"No… but if Dean decides to live here, I'd like to be able to visit. And everyone here knows I'm a hunter. I don't have to lie or pretend or keep people away out of fear of them finding out the truth about me. I'm free to be me here… I would never find that anywhere else."

John all but threw up his hands and sat back. Sam could almost hear what his father was thinking. He knew John had picked apart from what Dean said the fact that he could easily get Dean away from this town and these people just by doing what he did best… being a hunter and killing a supernatural being. The pack would do the rest of the work of ousting Dean. It was no doubt very tempting, and Sam wouldn't be surprised if John were to follow through with it.

At long length, John looked up at Dean. "Son… is this really what you want? If you get the green light to set up permanent shop in Eclipse River, is that actually going to make you happy?"

Dean considered his answer for only a second. "I know I could be happier here than living anywhere else."

John gave in with a groan. "Fine."

Both boys looked at one another, too cautious to hope. "Fine?"

John looked at Sam. "Sam told me I would be convinced this pack isn't full of monsters if I got to know some of the townspeople, so prove it. Show me Eclipse River and let me meet some of these lycans. If I decide you're right…" John shrugged. "I'm only looking out for your safety, son… that's my top priority, and I won't apologize for that, but I do want you to be happy. Whether you boys believe that or not, it's true. It's what your mother and I always wanted for the both of you. And if this," John waved a hand at the house, "is what it's going to take… well, hell, I guess I could learn to live with it."

Dean was trying not to get too excited. "You mean that?"

"But only if I agree that these people are not a danger," John reiterated, aided by a finger aimed at Dean. "I'm not saying I'll ever like it, but I know what happens if I give you boys an ultimatum." A sidelong look at Sam, the outspoken college runaway, was pointed. The family had been dealt a staggering blow the last time John tried to make his will absolute law with a resistant son, and none of them wanted to go through that again.

"And don't think that I'll think twice about smoking one of these things if I get the slightest idea they are out to hurt you boys," John warned lowly.

"We'll have to warn you that Jeremy's mostly bark and just some bite," Dean muttered.

At John's sharp look, Sam chimed in, "He just means that even the people in this town who don't like Dean all that much aren't going to actually hurt him. He's pack, simple as that."

"Okay… then convince me," John grunted.

Dean looked at Sam and grinned.

Sam smiled back. "Trust us, Dad, the people in this town are good people. Not so different from you, actually."

John's eyebrows rose incredulously.

"Nothing is more important to them than the pack… family." Sam glanced toward Dean. "And to them, Dean is family. They'll take good care of him here."

"Okay, hello," Dean waved his hands dramatically, "I'm not a destructive dog you're trying to find a new home for, you know."

Sam laughed and John, at seemingly great pains, smirked.

"I hope like hell you boys know what you're doing," John grumbled.

"Just give us time," Sam said, "give us…" a thought occurred to him and he looked up at Dean. "Until the full moon… we can prove to Dad that the people in Eclipse River are not a threat and you'll get to run with the pack."

John, puzzled, looked toward Dean.

Dean broke into a wolfish grin and his eyes flashed gold.

Next