Pack Mentality: A Wolf Alone

Chapter 8

No news is good news might have been reassuring for medical matters, but it wasn't so helpful when there were potentially murderous werewolves after you. Since the last full moon, Seth had contacted every member of his father's extended family that Holly had information for. Many wanted nothing to do with him at all, even despite his WWE fame: they considered him a blemish on his father's past and they didn't want to disrupt his life with his current family. Some wished him well, but had no advice to offer. Only a few were willing to speak about being werewolves, and then only in person. It was hard fitting meetings in alongside his WWE schedule, but Seth did his best, Hunter adjusting his schedule when necessary.

But no one had heard of large packs, especially not violent ones. On the rare occasions they had encountered another werewolf on a full-moon night, it was usually a joyous thing, a pleasant surprise to be able to talk about their condition with someone else who understood first-hand. Most of them had kept in touch with the other werewolves they had encountered and while they didn't offer their friends' identities or contact information to Seth, they had asked on his behalf and the consensus was the same. Most packs were small, usually family units, and they kept to themselves for obvious reasons. The main goal was to not draw attention to your werewolf nature. The wolves that had attacked Seth seemed to be doing the very opposite, flaunting themselves and trying to be noticed.

It wasn't just information Seth had been hoping for from the meetings. He longed for a sense of connection to the other side of his family. While he loved his mother, step-father, and half-siblings, his father's side was still mostly a mystery to him. When he met these uncles and cousins, though, Seth found he had only the vaguest interest in them. He asked the type of questions politeness demanded—what they did for a living, if they had a family of their own, what hobbies they enjoyed—but their answers never encouraged any sense of connection. They might be related by blood and share some genetic traits, but that was as far as the bond went. When he thought of family, Seth had two distinct images: Holly and her kin, and then The Shield and Becky.

He wouldn't have necessarily included Hunter in that family portrait, but Hunter insisted on accompanying him on his next full-moon outing. "I want to make sure for myself," he had said. "I don't want The Shield or Becky covering for you." He fit in with the forest, though, large and powerful; once you had Hunter out of a suit and wearing jeans and a t-shirt, you remembered how physically intimidating he could be.

Becky, Dean, and Roman were there too, and Seth was helping Becky arrange a recovery area just in case she turned. Thinking about it all month had been pure hell; now that they were on the cusp of discovering whether she was infected or not, Seth was shaking. "If . . . if something happens and I'm still out in the forest or whatever, Dean and Roman will know how to help. Don't worry about hurting them. If you . . . are infected, your first transformation will leave you really weak; you wouldn't be able to hurt them even if you tried."

Becky glanced down at herself. She had worn old clothes, purposefully baggy so she wouldn't strangle herself if she did transform. The claw wounds were mostly a distant memory; Seth had to get right up to her face and squint to see any scars, but he wasn't sure if that was a good thing. Did it mean she was developing werewolf-grade healing? Or had she simply been lucky and maybe Seth hadn't gotten a deep enough hold before Roman wrenched her free? After making sure Hunter was out of earshot, she dropped her voice and said, "Is it weird that if it . . . doesn't happen, part of me will be disappointed? It's just . . . it's been in every conversation, every thought, for the past month, and for it all to just be nothing. . . ."

Seth could hear the unsaid part: It's not that I WANT to be a werewolf. She would never say it out loud; she wouldn't want to hurt his feelings. "On the bright side," he said, forcing himself to smile, "it would mean Hunter might lighten up a bit. You'd be able to wrestle again. We'd be able to. . . ."