Call of the Wild

love and dying *~*

A/N: I have four flashback chapters planned: two from Wyatt, and one from Addison. I hope they help fill in some information about what has happened in the past, as Addison and Wyatt's friendship has lasted a good number of years.

Here is Wyatt's first POV flashback, all the way back to Prawn in 11th grade.

4 years ago

Wyatt could only watch with trepidation as Addison looked at the Alpha Moonstone cradled in her hands, Zed standing off to the side looking guilty and like a sad sack of shit, like he ought to. His crime was one Wyatt would never forgive him for, stealing something so precious to their pack, letting Addison take the blame, allowing her to feel the brunt of Willa's anger and Wyatt's disappointment. That was also something he could not forget or forgive himself for, not believing her when she said she hadn't known what had happened to it. Because of Zed and his insecurities.

But he held off on attacking the zombie only because he was downright terrified of what could happen when Addison put that necklace around her neck and he had no time for the anger that Zed caused him. Would it glow blue, would her eyes turn yellow, would she succumb to the sickness like almost the entire pack had?

"Willa," he breathed, glancing at his sister, his alpha, who stood beside him, head high and arms crossed as she too waited. "We can't really let her do this, can we? What if-if-she is and then-"

"It's her decision," Willa cut him off. He stilled at the authority in her voice and said no more, turning his focus back on the girl that had clawed her way into his heart and held fast. His fingers twitched and panic began to settle within; all he wanted to do was lurch forward and yank that necklace out of her hands, retreat back to the forest and not look back, if only to save her from an inevitable death.

Addison turned away from them and fastened the necklace. When she turned back, a mixture of grief and relief pierced Wyatt so hard he would have staggered if Wynter wasn't there beside him, clutching his arm as both a comfort and to hold him back lest his silly emotions gain control.

Her face was so expectant, so earnest, that he had to look away. Bree said something to her, but he wasn't listening now.

So she wasn't a werewolf. Maybe, if they hadn't just watched the power plant crumble with their only chance of saving themselves and their pack, he would have been heartbroken. There was no way a human and a werewolf could ever hope to entertain anything other than friendship, but now. Now, he was only glad that she wouldn't die alongside them.

One by one the other members of the pack that had rallied together slunk back into the forest until only Willa, Wyatt, and Wynter were left. The humans and zombies had also gone back to their homes, save Zed and Eliza and Addison, whom he still couldn't look in the eye.

"I'm sorry, Addison," Willa was saying. "We need to head back now, the pack-" she broke off as her voice warbled in a rare show of emotion. "Well, we just need to go. Maybe we'll see you around before-"

"Before we all die," Wynter supplied in a hushed voice, mouth set in a grim line. She gave Addison a tight hug and nodded her head to Zed and Eliza and then turned and started back towards the forest with Willa in tow. Wyatt watched them, wondering why he was hesitating when there was really nothing else for him to do, nothing he could really hold onto here anymore even if he wanted to.

Someone touched his shoulder and he flinched. "Wyatt? Can I come visit you guys tomorrow?"

He lifted a shoulder non-committedly. "If you want."

"I do. Want to, that is. I really do," and then she was throwing her arms around his neck and Wyatt's self-control crumbled just like the power plant and his arms were around her waist, his face in her hair, inhaling that clean, crisp scent of hers that reminded him of the forest after a torrential downpour.