Chapter 18 – New Werewolves for the pack – part 1

When the Uber car left after dropping Aniya and her group in front of her secret house, the front door opened, and the green-eyed man smiled at them, in his tight t-shirt, lycra shorts, and tiger-foot slippers, “My, my, so many visits! Do come in. I have some drinks ready, and we can talk for a bit while I finish dinner.”

As soon as Aniya crossed the door frame and as she was passing near the smiling Nick, she got a quick peck on her lips, which made Lisa snort. Nick winked and asked, “How was your day, dear?”

Aniya grinned and gently patted Nick’s left cheek, saying, “It was perfect, my pretty Luna. Did you take care of all your chores?”

“Stop calling me Luna in front of our guests, will you? Geez, woman, I thought we had that thing settled!”

“You thought wrong. Now, be a dear and pour a cold and extremely alcoholic drink for us, will you?”

Lisa rushed to Nick’s side and grabbed his right arm. “I will help you with that, gorgeous! While we are at it, I want to know everything about you! Like, if you have any siblings, friends, or know a guy as cute as you!”

Nick raised one eyebrow as he walked to the kitchen and said, “You seem way too comfortable with someone you just met, you know?”

Lisa pointed at his feet with a grin. “That look on your face from a guy wearing tiger-foot slippers is rather funny, you know? Do not worry anymore, for I came bearing gifts!”

While Nick went to grab the glasses, ice cubes, and a bottle of whisky, Lisa put the bags she was carrying over the kitchen table. “Here you go! I hope everything fits you. If not, it’s Aniya’s fault because she was the one to tell me your sizes!”

As he was glancing at the contents of the several bags, Nick spoke, “How does she know my clothes’ sizes? I don’t even know it myself!”

“She has a gift for that, you know? She can look at someone for a couple of seconds and figure out the sizes and what clothes would be best. I didn’t know why she told me to buy this for you, but looking at what you are wearing right now, you need everything in here. It would probably be better if you chose something to change. Not that you don’t look good, but I can see you can’t move properly with such tight clothes. Let me take the drinks to the dining room while you change.”

Without waiting for an answer, Lisa grabbed the bottle, the glasses, and the ice cube tray and rushed out, giving him one wink, “I think Aniya wouldn’t mind seeing you like that, but there is another couple in there, and you have to look good. Aniya can’t be seen with a guy wearing those funny clothes you have now. You have to look at least decent instead of a porn star.”

Lisa put the glasses on top of the dining table, and as she was putting the ice cubes inside, Aniya asked, “Where is Nick? Too ashamed to come out?”

“I told him to change. I can’t take him seriously if he keeps wearing those clothes he has. I don’t know what he is cooking in the kitchen, but it smells divine.”

“Yes, for a powerful Alpha, as he likes to be called, he is a very gifted Luna.”

Anna Kent wondered what Aniya was talking about, and Aniya noticed her puzzled look and explained, “Yesterday we were talking and comparing Werewolves to wolves. He talked about wolf packs and how the leader couple is normally called. Alpha for the male, and Luna for the female. He saying that while we were eating the food he made was rather funny, and he even said he knows a lot of house chores. After that, I couldn’t stop teasing him, calling him Luna, and saying that I was the Alpha.”

From behind her, Nick’s voice startled her. “You might say what you want, but Luna suits you way better than me. A Luna is level-headed, and she is always in control, while an Alpha is strong and more reckless than he should be. That combination works because they make up for each other’s faults and weaknesses.”

Aniya rolled her eyes and turned back to answer, and her jaw dropped. Nick was wearing a dark blue polo with a V neck, classic dark trousers, and dark shoes. His eyes looked greener than usual, and he was looking at her with a big smile that made her heart pump like crazy. He approached her and gently massaged her shoulders, and after just three seconds, she was closing her eyes and almost drooling.

He pretended not to notice her silence and addressed the others. “It’s nice to meet you all. I am Nick Kerrish, and I am the partner of this gorgeous blond here. Miss Lisa, I already know because Aniya kept on talking about her yesterday, but what about you two?”

Anna took a sip of her glass and spoke with a slight smile, “I am Miss Aniya’s assistant, Anna Kent, and he is my friend, Jack Holland. It’s nice to meet you.”

Nick gently kissed Aniya’s head and asked, “Enough, or do you want more? I don’t mind massaging your shoulders for a while, because you seem rather tense.”

“I was, actually, but now I am feeling much better. Nick, you are fantastic with your hands. Thanks for this.”

“Not a problem. So, what about if we talked a bit about our history as mindless beasts so that we got to know each other a bit more? Aniya already told me that Lisa is a bit nuts like me and I would like her. Considering she gave me these clothes, I like her already.”

Nick looked at Anna Kent with a slight smile, waiting for her to say something. He kept on staring as if he was memorising her features. A small young woman with dark blond hair that was always tied in a long braid and tiny glasses that almost completely obscured her dark blue eyes. Next to her was Jack Holland, with light brown hair, dark brown eyes, and a slender figure. Both were holding their glasses and staring back at Nick’s green eyes, which seemed to look at their souls.

Anna was the one that gathered the courage to speak, but her voice came out lower than she had expected, surprising even Aniya, who was used to seeing her nervous, but never that nervous. “My grandmother was a Werewolf, but the Hunters came and took her when my father was young. I also inherited her condition. They came to my house yesterday, looking for me, and my parents told me not to return home. I went to Jack’s house, and we locked ourselves in his cellar. He doesn’t know if any of his ancestors were also Werewolves, and the first time he changed, he almost killed his parents. Miss Aniya had already gotten us used to the wolf’s bane, and she told us to come here so that she could try to wake us up after we changed tonight.”

Nick nodded and took a sip from his glass. “It is not guaranteed that she will be able to do it again, you know? I am not sure how she woke me up last night, but it was an amazing surprise. I remember little about the first change because I passed out in the first seconds because of the pain, but I was fully awake in the morning and it hurt a lot. We ran most of the night in the forest at the back of this house, and it was an experience that I wouldn’t mind repeating. Surprisingly, we could communicate with each other in our minds. It was as if I was hearing Aniya inside my head, and I only needed to think about what I wanted to say to her. I don’t know if it had something to do with our bond, or if it’s a Werewolf thing.”

Lisa frowned and interrupted, “What is that bond? Are you talking about the light that surrounds Aniya sometimes?”

“Now, it’s not that. The light is an ability that my mother also had. The bond is a kind of connection. It’s like all your life, something was missing and you never realised it. I knew I had a partner somewhere, and I searched for a very long time until I saw Aniya for the first time. I was immediately attracted to her, not only because she is extremely beautiful, but it was like... my soul was craving for her for all this time, and since I met her, I feel at ease and complete.”

Lisa wrinkled her nose and said, “Darn it, now I am feeling envious...”

Anna Kent confirmed, “I also felt that when I met Jack. We did our best to go against it because we always feared we would pass our condition onto our children. It has been hard…”

Jack held Anna’s hands and felt her trembling. Nick looked at them and tried to reassure them. “You are not alone anymore. I was born into a community of Werewolves, and I was happy and always felt safe. Until the Hunters came in the middle of the night, near the end of the month, when the full moon was still far away. They were an enormous group, outnumbered us by two to one, and they killed everyone, most of them in their sleep. Not even babies survived the slaughter. Supposedly, Hunters only kill a Werewolf when he is a mindless beast, never when he is Human, but they make an exception for Werewolf communities because they consider that everyone living there is a Werewolf or will soon be. Werewolves that stick together and are prepared have better chances of survival, but they are a bigger target for the Hunters.”

Lisa McCarty gulped, “The… way you are speaking, it’s like you are telling us we are better off alone than in a group…”

“No, alone, you are an easy target. One Hunter would be enough to take you down if you are not used to fighting. Werewolves in their Human form are faster, stronger, and have sharper senses than normal Humans, but that means nothing to a well trained Hunter. They train for their entire lives to fight Werewolves. Or better yet, they train to fight Werewolves in their Human form, because to take down a Werewolf they need at least five Hunters fully armed with silver weapons and ammunition. Even that doesn’t assure them a victory.”

Nick sighed, remembering, “I once set my father free during a full moon to protect our community. He alone killed ten Hunters, fully armed. The silver injured and poisoned him, and he could barely fight back while I dragged him home with two of my friends who were about my age. I was fourteen at the time, and I was in charge of the night shift. Our scouts alerted me, and I released my father. As the Alpha, it was his responsibility to defend the pack. As I opened the door, he darted to the upper level and went straight in the direction the scout alerted me about. It was as if he immediately knew the pack was in danger. I inherited his Alpha duties, and I can promise you I will defend you all until I am dead, if you join us.”

Aniya put her hand over Nick’s and made a slight smile at the others. “We both will. Considering Lisa’s parents already contacted a few Werewolves and my hard-working assistant here will take care of contacting a few to visit my company, our numbers will increase pretty fast. Tomorrow I am going to meet a few Hunters with my father, and I will see if I can get accepted to go on missions with them.”

Nick became alarmed and gently squeezed her hand. “Aniya, is that wise? If they find out about you-“