The Lost Relic of the Lycanthrope

Why Didn't You Tell Me?

"You want me to do what?"

"We've all agreed to claim you as a member of our pack." Kane explained.
My eyes darted around to each member of the pack, I was feeling unsure about this. Tess picked up on my distress and gave me an encouraging smile, I calmed down a bit.

I thought about the offer. Could I take it? It made sense for me to be in a pack, seeing as I had no idea what it meant to be a werewolf and I'd probably need the guidance. However, besides Bae, I didn't really know any of these people. I felt safe with them, yeah, especially Kane for reasons I can't understand- probably because I've seen him naked and we bonded while he was in his wolf form- but was I ready for him to be my Alpha? Was I ready for them to be my pack? I looked around at all of them again, they all seemed so nice, except Luna, who was inspecting her nails as if her life depended on it.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

Fine.

"Okay. Fine." I opened my eyes and looked at Kane, he smiled triumphantly. "But I have some questions first." He nodded and waited expectantly. If I was going to do this, I wanted to be clear on the specifics. No more surprises.

"How does one get 'claimed'?" I asked slowly. He laughed at my suspicious tone, and the others tried to hide smiles.
"It's not as strange as it sounds." Kane reassured.
"No, it's pretty weird." Bae interrupted, Kane shot him a death glare.
"Will someone just tell me what I should expect?" I asked again, desperate for answers. Luna stepped up looking annoyed.
"The next full moon, we all come here to the clearing, take off our clothes, and turn together. Our wolves bond, and then we run together, and voila. Just like that you're part of our pack." She rolled her eyes. "Can we be done now? I'd rather be anywhere else then here."

Kane closed his eyes and inhaled deeply. "Fine. You're dismissed, you're all dismissed."
Luna backed away and walked back to her car, a little red BMW. Damon awkwardly followed her and got in the car with her. She must've been his ride.

Kai pat my shoulder as he passed, and Finn gave me a thumbs up. Tess followed the twins but stopped to give me a reassuring hug. "You'll be okay." She whispered. She sounded so sincere that I almost believed her. The trio disappeared into the woods. I wondered where they were going.

Matty was next to leave, giving me a playful wink as he passed. I saw him get into a silver Chevy Trailblazer. Once he left, the only cars let were Kane's black jeep and my white Nissan Altima. I didn't see Beau's gold Buick anywhere but I figured Kane gave him a ride.  

I looked at Bae, who was looking down at me with a regretful look. Kane was also looking at me, but I couldn't read his expression. He looked at Bae. "I said you're all dismissed." He said, emphasizing the word "all".  Bae turned to look at him angrily.
"I'm staying." Bae spoke through a clenched jaw. I didn't understand this dominance battle that they seemed to be having, but I figured it had something to do with the fact that Bae hated bowing down to authority.

"Fine." Kane allowed. He turned back to me. "Any more questions?" I had too many.
"Was what Luna said true? Is that all there is to it?" I asked.
"Yes." He answered back. I shivered, not because I was cold, that hasn't bothered me much since yesterday, but because of the thought that I would have to be naked in front of all of these people. Bae put his arm around me in an attempt to comfort me. I leaned into it gratefully.

"It's not that bad. I did it too." Bae sympathized. I nodded as I stared at the ground.

After hearing all of this, I really wanted to just go home and sleep.

***A/N: HERE IS THE UPDATED PART

"I think I'm ready to go home now." I said plainly, I needed out of this clearing fast.
"Of course." Kane accepted. "I'll see you tomorrow." He turned and went to his car, got in, and he was gone. Suddenly I became increasingly aware of Bae's arm still around my shoulder. I cleared my throat and stepped away. I wasn't sure why I felt so awkward around him now, especially since we were best friends, but something seemed different about him to me, and I couldn't tell if it was because he hadn't told me about him being a wolf or about the pack or any of it, or if all of my newly heightened senses were playing a trick on me.

"Well, my secret's out." He stated as he lifted his shoulders and put his hands in his pockets.
"Yeah." I didn't really know what else to say, so instead I looked around the clearing, it wasn't until then that I realized my car was the only one left in the clearing. "Where's your car?" I asked.
"Oh, um, it's at home." He looked away from me and kicked the ground with his shoe.
"What do you mean it's at home?" He didn't answer so I pushed a bit more. "What, did you like get a ride here?"
"I ran." He answered while shrugging, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
"What do you mean you-" I understood before I finished. "Oh."

He looked back up at me. "Yeah, I just needed to clear my head, been trying to figure some stuff out, like about all of this." He motioned to the clearing and to me with his hand before shoving it back in his pocket. 
"Well, now you can talk to me about this stuff." I tried for humour but it only half worked. "Wanna talk on the way home? I'll give you a ride."
He nodded and we went to my car.

It was silent most of the way home, I waited for him to start talking about whatever was bothering him until I couldn't take it anymore. If he wasn't going to open up to me on his own, I'd make him.

"Why didn't you tell me?" I blurted. I had thought of several other things to say, but that's what came out instead.
"I couldn't." He said with a hint of bitterness. " I wanted to but-" He gritted his teeth and took a deep breath, "-Kane. It's against pack law to tell humans anything about us. Punishable by banishment.. and death to the human." I was shocked by what he said.
"That seems harsh." I interjected. "What happened to knowledge is power?"
"If the wrong person got a hold of that knowledge, others like us could become experiments." His tone softened as he continued. "I understand why he wouldn't let me tell you about us, but it still sucked. It tore me apart because.. Well, we're best friends, we're supposed to tell each other everything." He didn't look at me once, instead he kept his eyes trained on the dash, which is something he did when he thought I was angry with him.

I gripped the steering wheel harder and let out a long sigh. "Well, it doesn't matter anymore, because now I'm part of your secret society too." He looked over at me and realized I wasn't mad at him. I saw him grin from my peripheral.

"What?" I asked. It typically wasn't a good thing when he smiled like that, it usually meant he had just gotten a bad idea.
"Oh nothing, I was just thinking about the bright side of you being a wolf." His shoulders shook as he muffled his laughter.
"Oh yeah, what's that?" I looked over at him.
He looked at me and gave me a mischievous smirk. "I finally get to see you naked."
"Oh my god! Bae!" I shoved at him and he winked. I tried not to laugh as he turned his attention back to looking out of his window.

It felt good to joke around with my best friend again, but I was secretly terrified of what would happen after I took off all of my clothes on the next full moon.