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Part 25 - November 1992

The rain had begun to fall steadily in town when school had finally let out for the afternoon. Tommy had forgotten to bring an umbrella today, so the rain was now starting to soak into his hair and his clothes, weighing down his backpack a little bit. He didn't care about the rain, however. Tommy was only concerned with getting home as quickly as possible. The days were getting shorter and sundown was now only about two hours after school got out, and with the full moon approaching he had no time to waste.

The other boys showed a similar haste as they walked to their respective homes. The one person that was absent from the group, however, was the one that the pack had been instructed to leave alone. Ryan trailed the group a few minutes back, still hoping to stay in touch with the boys even after being told that they'd have to keep their distance. While they were willing to associate with Ryan during the school day, they made it obvious when heading for home that nobody wanted to be seen walking with the younger boy when they left.

Every once in a while, Tommy would slow down for a moment and look over his shoulder, seeing the boy he still loved but couldn't be seen with anymore, keeping his head down ostensibly to shield it from the weather, but also because he didn't want anyone to see him crying. This was going to be his first moon, and he had wanted to spend at least some of the night with Tommy. But he'd been put into quarantine again, and now the only company Ryan was going to have during his first compulsory change was his father, a former werewolf hunter. Tommy's lupine instincts revolted at the thought of leaving the boy he turned alone during the full moon, but the pack's orders could not be disobeyed.

The plans had been put in place for several days leading up to the full moon. By the time Tommy made it home, his parents were already there to meet him. An early dinner was had and a quick shower was taken to warm up from the rain, and it was shortly after 5:00 in the evening when Tommy and his father got in the car to make the short drive to Anthony's house. Moonrise was less than 15 minutes away and Tommy could already feel the anxiety of another change lightly buzzing in his veins.

Unsurprisingly, the pack Alpha showed a similar level of sobriety when the boy and his father arrived.

"Thomas, you'll be spending the night in Justin's old room," Mr. Grey directed. "Keep the lights off and the blinds drawn, so nobody can see from outside. Michael, I have the guest room ready for you to wait things out."

"No offense, Mr. Grey," Tommy's father said, mindful of the Alpha's authority. "But I've seen my son change in front of me plenty of times. I don't see the point in separating us now."

"Andy will be keeping Thomas company tonight," the Alpha explained. "I'd rather not have a human in close quarters with any more werewolves than necessary, for safety reasons."

"Wait - is Andy here too?" Tommy asked. "But what if there's another Paladin attack?"

"If there is, I doubt he'll come to the same house twice. Honestly, he's probably safer here than in his own house." The watch on Mr. Grey's wrist began to chirp. "Ten minutes to moonrise, guys. Let's get situated."

The three of them went their separate ways. Anthony went all the way down the hall to his own bedroom, closing the door behind him. Tommy and his father went down the hall themselves, splitting up at the doorway leading to the bedroom that once belonged to Anthony's son. "Just hang tight with Andy, OK? I'll be right across the hall if you need me."

"I will, Dad." The two of them shared a hug, then Tommy opened up the bedroom door and made his way inside.

Andy sat at the desk facing the opposite wall, turning around at the sound of the opening door. He was already prepared for the change; most of his clothes were off, save for the dark pair of boxer shorts he wore which Tommy could only guess were modified to later accomodate his tail. His expression immediately brightened once they made eye contact. "Hey Tommy!" he said cheerfully. "Glad you could make it."

"Thanks," Tommy said sheepishly. The two boys slapped five with each other as Tommy made his way inside. Although they never had the type of relationship that Tommy had had with Justin, certainly nothing like what he felt for Ryan now, Andy had grown into his new role as Junior Alpha quite well. Tommy could only imagine what plans Andy had for the two of them to spend the night, but his excitement was tempered by the setting where they would be doing it.

The bedroom looked like it hadn't been touched since Justin's death. The bed was still unmade. The top of the dresser and desk was now coated in a thin layer of dust. All of Justin's various toys and memorabilia, much of it sports related, still occupied most of the shelf space, and posters of Karch Kiraly and James Worthy adorned the wall. It was a stark contrast to Tommy's bedroom, which still featured plenty of wolf imagery to provide unsubtle clues to those perceptive enough to figure them out. By comparison, Justin's old room had no references to anything lupine or supernatural. Tommy wondered if there was less of a novelty to being a werewolf for someone like Justin that having pictures of wolves on the wall wouldn't have interested him.

"You OK, Tommy?" Andy asked, noticing the boy's retreat into his own mind.

Tommy snapped back into reality. "I'm still scared about tonight. I mean, after what happened last month, I don't feel like anywhere is safe anymore."

"My parents talked to me about the last time we had to deal with Paladins," Andy explained. "It lasted about six months."

Tommy stared at the floor. "Benny said you guys hadn't seen a Paladin in decades, and then my mom and dad were the first ones that were killed."

"Right. And usually a Paladin only sticks around for one or two months, then leaves for another town. It keeps us from noticing anyone suspicious. But this guy... he stayed in the area for way longer than that. This is one of the biggest packs on the west coast, and I guess he knew that. He wanted to take out as many of us as he could before he moved on."

"How many werewolves did the Paladin end up killing?"

"Seventeen," Andy replied coldly. "He cut our pack down by, like, 20 percent. They were talking about having everyone in the pack move away, to keep us all from being wiped out. But then I guess the guy just decided to go somewhere else, 'cause six months after it all started, it stopped again. There hasn't been any Paladin attacks since then, so we figured we were safe again."

Tommy sighed. "And then last month happened."

"Who knows. Maybe this was a one-time thing. Maybe the fact that Mr. Grey survived the attack scared him off."

"Or maybe he'll come back tonight and finish what he started."

Andy sat silently in his chair for a few seconds. "You'd better get your clothes off before the change starts."

Tommy nodded silently, and began removing his shoes, then his socks, then his T-shirt, and finally his blue jeans. Moments later, the pull of the moon began overtaking the bodies of both boys, and a chorus of growls and grunts were heard from both of them as their wolf sides emerged from hiding. Andy was always the tallest of the boys, and that height difference was only more pronounced in their new forms, with the other boy now towering seven inches over Tommy's frame. He was also one of the few wolves that was fully monochromatic, as his entire body was covered in a dark brown pelt. His ears were long and narrow, complementing the rest of his body, and his tail was so long it almost reminded Tommy of a cat the way it stretched out two feet behind Andy's backside, and nearly curled around his hips as it wagged.

Tommy couldn't help himself. The sight of another beautiful werewolf in front of him made his sheath thicken.

"Geez, Tommy, don't be so impatient," Andy chuckled after noticing the effect he had on his friend. "We've got plenty of time to do that stuff later."

"Sorry," Tommy apologized. "You just look so cute. Your tail is awesome."

"It runs in the family," Andy boasted, now wagging it even more eagerly to show it off. "My mom's got a hip-whipper that's about three feet long."

"Wow..." Tommy gasped. "I wonder what stuff I got from my parents."

"Just looking at your fur coat," Andy explained, "I'd bet one of them was totally black-furred, and the other was a mix of white and grey. It's rare to have someone like me where all of my fur is the same color - and Dad told me it's something that the females really desire in a mate. Who knows, maybe I'll have multiple females fighting over me instead of the other way around like it usually is."

"Are there any girl werewolves around here, though? I don't think I've seen any."

"Not a lot, and the ones that are around are younger than us so they're off limits. but that's why we have proliferations."

"What're those?"

"In the summertime, some werewolf packs will travel to other parts of the country. Some even head to Canada or the UK. The members of those packs will then mate with each other. It keeps the variety of the species going - you have too many generations of one pack breeding with themselves and you start getting birth defects. That's why we were all gone this summer - there's a pack in the Florida panhandle that had us all visit."

"Did you get to... proliferate?" Tommy asked, treating the term with more reverence than it maybe deserved.

"I wish," Andy snickered. "They don't want us fooling around with any females until they're out of high school. Teenage pregnancy is bad enough, but for a werewolf it's ten times worse. Just imagine being a female werewolf, going through the change every month like you normally do, but now you've got a baby inside of you the whole time? I mean, I guess whatever magic allows us to change is doing something to keep the baby safe through all of it, but I'm glad I don't have to go through it all."

"What do you mean, 'magic?'"

"Think about it, Tommy. How come we turn into wolves when there's a full moon? It should be impossible to do physically. Even the Paladins can't explain it. It's so specific, too. Like someone decided a long time ago to mix people and wolves together and see what happens. Don't you think that's weird?"

Tommy shrugged. "I guess. Never really thought about it before."

"Well, you know there used to be other creatures too, right? Warlocks and vampires?"

"Yeah... Mr. Grey said something about that when he first mentioned the Paladins."

"Right. See, I have a theory. Warlocks made werewolves through magic. It makes sense, doesn't it? Some warlock dude decided he wanted to combine a human and a wolf, and presto, the first werewolf. And since he didn't want to have to do it to everyone, he made it so we could pass it on ourselves. Makes sense, right?"

"I guess so. But..." Tommy paused. "Who gave the warlocks their powers, then?"

"I haven't figured that part out yet. I've heard that warlocks were a lot better about keeping records of their works, but nobody's been able to find anything. That's what I want to do when I get out of school - I'd love to travel the world and look for those records. If I could find out for sure where we came from, I'd go down in the lore as the werewolf who discovered our origins."

Tommy smiled. "I hope you do."

"Kids?" Mr. Grey's voice was heard from the other side of the door. "You guys ready to come out?"

"Yes, Mr. Grey," Andy replied. "We're all changed."

"Good. Michael, we're all ready to go."

Even behind two doors, Tommy could make out his father's response clearly. "OK, Anthony. I'll be right out."

Almost simultaneously, the doors opened, and Tommy was reunited with his father. He stood silently for a moment, taking in the sight of the first two werewolves he'd ever seen in their other form besides his son.

"You're not scared, are you?" Mr. Grey chided.

Tommy's father had to clear his throat to speak. "No... it's just... a bit unnerving."

"Decades of monster movies playing in your head, I'm sure. It's fine. But we've still got quite a bit of the lore to catch up on with you guys, so let's get comfortable in the living room and get started."

Anthony led the group down the hallway, followed by Andy. Tommy was about to join them, but his father took Tommy's arm and stopped him. No words were exchanged between the two of them, but Tommy could see that his father was still a little spooked at having three werewolves so close to him now. Mr. Ainge gave his son an unsteady look as he gave the boy a small slip of paper. Tommy unfolded it, and read his father's hurried handwriting that was scrawled on it.

We need to get out of here RIGHT NOW!!

Tommy gasped when he finished reading the note, and looked nervously at his dad. But before he could ask what was going on, a voice echoed down the hallway.

"Thomas! Michael! Are you guys coming?"

A single finger on the lips was the only communication Tommy's father gave his son before calling back out. "Uh, yeah, we're coming."

Tommy jammed the note in the front pouch of his tailshorts as the two of them came out of the hallway. Mr. Grey and Andy were already seated in the living room, and Tommy almost felt their eyes burning into him as he tried to sit casually on the sofa next to his friend. But with the four of them now in apparent danger, Tommy's mind began to race about what the threat could possibly be - and how they were going to get out.