Howl

Chapter One

This chapter is dedicated to TanviSharan for the wonderful cover!

Chapter One

Lukas waited impatiently for the sun to go down, as he did every day. He absolutely could not stand the heat, yet for some strange reason, he had moved to California three years ago. At first, he thought he might just get used to it - after all, the heat in his hometown didn't bother him nearly as much, and Denver could get pretty hot. But something about the year round heat got to him. At least in Colorado, he had the winter to look forward to.

Fortunately for Lukas, there was no need for him to go out during the day, and so he didn't. While he waited for night to fall, he sat in a chair next to the air conditioner. As he had done every day for the past four months, he stared at a crumpled piece of paper on the table. No matter how many times he crumpled it up and threw it across the room, he couldn't bring himself to throw it away, and so it ended up on the table for him to read over and over again.

He knew that eventually, he needed to give his former pack some kind of response. He had made it as far as entering the phone number, pressing send, and allowing it to ring once before hanging up. For some reason, he couldn't bring himself to make the call. Maybe it was the wolf in him, but he couldn't tell them to screw off over the phone. It was something that had to be done in person.

Ever since receiving the letter, Lukas had known deep down that he would end up returning to the pack. He had been able to justify not going for the past several months, always coming up with a good excuse, or sometimes, a not so good excuse. Now, as he sat staring at the paper, he could not convince himself to delay much longer. It was time to get it over with.

Instead of leaving the apartment when he decided it was cool enough, he instead spent time packing a small bag. He knew he'd be on the road for a day and a half each way, and as long as he was going back to Denver, he might as well enjoy himself. He packed enough clothes for six days, not sure if he'd spend that much time there or not.

He locked the door on his way out and threw the bag into the passenger seat of his old, beat up Subaru. Despite its appearance, the vehicle ran well. However, Lukas had doubts about its ability to cross the Rocky Mountains.

He briefly considered leaving right then, but he knew he needed to at least let the pack he was hanging out with know he was taking a vacation. Lukas was not part of their pack, although not because they didn't want him - they offered to take him in as an official member several times but he always had to refuse. It wasn't that he didn't want the responsibilities of being part of a pack; he was always the first to volunteer to help others out. He simply didn't want any permanent ties.

He pulled up at the home of the alpha of the Valley pack and walked in without knocking - despite not being officially part of the pack, he was treated as one. After all, he did one of the most important jobs for them. It was oddly empty, but Lukas didn't care to find out why as he had more important things on his mind.

"Hey Brad," Lukas greeted the first pack member he ran into, a young man a few years younger than himself.

"Lukas," Brad said in return.

"Is Damian around?"

"In his office."

"Thanks." Lukas headed off to the office where Brad had directed him. He always had the feeling that Brad did not like him. Usually, other wolves had much more to say, but as Lukas hadn't spent much time around the young wolf, he supposed he simply was not a talkative fellow.

Before opening the door to the office, Lukas knocked and waited for a grunt on the other side to let him know he could enter. The man inside was the alpha, after all, and even if Lukas was not truly part of the pack, he would not tolerate disrespect.

"I'm not going to be here for a while," Lukas said immediately upon entering.

"Hm. I see." Damian didn't bother looking up from the paper he was reading. "I take it you're going to Denver."

"How do you know?" Lukas was a bit shocked. As far as he knew, Damian wasn't telepathic, and Lukas wasn't even entirely sure that Damian knew he was from Denver.

"The pack there sent me a letter about three months ago requesting that I send you home if I saw you," Damian explained as he looked up at Lukas. "From the wording, I assumed they had sent a letter to you and you didn't want to go, so I didn't say anything. I knew you'd come to the right decision eventually."

Lukas could hear the slight disapproval in the alpha's voice. For a wolf, ignoring the needs of the pack was not a good thing. Even if Lukas was no longer affiliated with the Denver pack, it was at least his duty to find out what they wanted. "I should be back within a week," he said.

"You don't have to tell me these things, you know. You are, technically, a lone wolf, allowed to come and go as you please."

"Yes, but I've been with you guys for so long, it just didn't feel right to leave without saying a word." Lukas paused before making his request. "And I also wanted to ask if there was a vehicle I could borrow. I don't know if mine will make it through the mountains."

"I knew you wanted something!" Damian wasn't angry, rather, he was amused as was evident by his laughter after he spoke. "I can't believe you even still drive that piece of shit Subaru. You know you can borrow the pack's cars whenever you like. Any preferences?"

"Good gas mileage?" Lukas hadn't expected Damian to let him borrow a car, even though he had offered many times in the past, claiming he didn't want to see his ugly old car anymore. "Preferably not a hideous color."

"Take the blue Accord," Damian said as he opened one of the drawers in his desk to retrieve the key. "And don't crash it."

"Don't crash mine either," Lukas said as he gave his key over to Damian.

"I won't crash it," Damian said with a mischievous grin. "Torch it, maybe."

"Thanks Damian," Lukas said before he left.

He took his bag from his car and walked down the street a bit to where the Accord was parked. As soon as he got in, he realized there wasn't a clutch. He reminded himself that driving an automatic would be worth making it over the mountains, and he started the car to return home for the first time in ten years.