"Even a Man Who is Pure in Heart" - CHAPTER FIVE
The next couple of days created a sort of routine. By the time Jensen would head down stairs to scrounge up something for breakfast, most everybody else in the house would be gone. So he would curl up in one of the over-stuffed armchairs in the living room and poor over the reading material Misha had supplied him. Werewolf communities didn’t have much written history or recorded information. It was too risky. The wrong person could find it and tell the world about them. Misha had lectured him for a moment that it was imperative he not leave the material behind anywhere. It was a very surreal Beetlejuice type moment. Jensen had giggled and Misha had rolled his eyes.
Misha explained that while there were no “official” books of history, there were several that werewolves had sneakily published as occult myths and legends books that contained a lot of factual information. So Jensen was soaking it all in and trying to learn as much as possible about his new life.
A couple times a day, he would ignore Jared’s warning and patrol the perimeter of the house. He knew it was probably a bad idea, but couldn’t handle doing nothing all day. He’d never been so unproductive in his life … and it was driving the wolf nuts. He wouldn’t go further than the wrap around porch, though. Once or twice into the back garden to watch the butterflies drift around. Then he would head back inside and continue to go stir-crazy.
Around three or four in the afternoon, people started to drift home. One by one, usually beginning with Chad and ending with Jared and Danneel arriving around six. Then chores would be divvied up. (None of which they would allow Jensen to do.) And dinner would be made. (Not that they would let Jensen help.) When everyone sat down for the meal, no one would eat until Jensen started, and no one would leave until he was done. Then the household would go their separate ways to enjoy the evening watching television, reading, drinking, or who knows what … only to reconvene right before bedtime. Where the next day would be planned and no on would leave until Jensen gave the okay.
He felt like he was living in some kind of bizarre movie. For most of his life he had just been another one of the Ackles. A son, brother, friend and lover. Then he had become a ghost. Drifting through a life that he could barely stand, seemingly unnoticed by everyone around him. Now, he had a house full of people that were beginning to look at him as if he’d hung the moon in the sky. Just because he’d apparently been chomped on by the werewolf equivalent of Superman.
The only odd one out was Jared. Jared didn’t cater or cower to him. (Not that the other’s cowered, mind you… figure of speech and all that.) The exact opposite seemed to be true with Jared. Jensen found himself looking to the other man for approval, for a smile, a grin, a pat on the back. He knew that he was following Jared around like a little lost puppy half of the time, but he absolutely couldn’t stop himself. The man would step inside the door after a long day at work, and Jensen would have to violently suppress the desire to bound over to him and wag his proverbial tail.
Every night Jensen would go to sleep in his own room, his own bed, and every morning he would wake up wound around Jared and clinging like an octopus. For his part, Jared never said anything about it, and Jensen was kind of eternally grateful for that. Although he was curious as hell at the behavior. He just couldn’t bring himself to ask the man in question about it. So he asked Chris.
“It’s a wolf thing, man.”
They were circling their way around the house during their three AM perimeter check that had become a nightly ritual. This time, however, Jensen had asked Chris to shift back to human so that they could talk. He was studiously keeping his eyes above waist level, because Chris was … hello naked.
“What do you mean?”
The shorter man shrugged a shoulder and stopped to watch that same damn ginger cat scurry out from the back porch and take off into the night.
“Well … wolves take pack relationships pretty seriously, you know? And even though we aren’t technically the same, there are similarities. Even though you didn’t really understand what you were doing at the time, you submitted to him and basically told your wolf that Jared was your mate.”
Jensen tripped over his own feet and nearly swallowed his tongue.
“MATE!? What the hell? Just because I was submissive?”
Chris laughed low and warm.
“Naw, son … you two came in the house that afternoon reeking of attraction. If that hadn’t been there already you probably wouldn’t have submitted at all. What you did instead was pretty much tell your wolf that you were the Alpha bitch to Jared’s Alpha male.”
Jensen sputtered and subconsciously crossed his arms over his chest.
“But Jared’s not even an Alpha.”
The smaller man chuckled again and shook his head.
“To us? No … to you? Yes. It’s an all around pretty bizarre situation … but hell … werewolf town. You really gonna be surprised at anything anymore?”
He chewed his bottom lip absently for another moment before stopping to face Chris directly.
“But … mate? Man… that just sounds…”
Chris nodded his understanding and turned his gaze out towards the twinkling lights of the town.
“I know it sounds kinda corny, but its … like … you know how humans like to talk about soul mates? Even though it’s really more about perception and personal beliefs? With werewolves … mates are sort of the same thing. A romanticized ideal. Real wolves in the wild have mates, and often times they do actually mate for life. To us, it’s more like a romance novel. Teenage werewolves swooning at the idea of finding their ‘one true mate’ or some shit, and adults understanding that it’s just a game of chance. You work hard at just finding someone that compliments you and loves you … but in the back of your mind there’s that idea. The mate. The soul mate. The one person you were destined to be with. So we use that term to describe a pairing that seems like … more. Something driven more by instincts then brains. Something like what happened between you and Jared.”
Jensen felt his jaw drop and his eyes widen as he had listened to Chris’ words. Not only because it was probably the most he had ever heard the man utter at one time, but also because it instantly reminded him of his mother. His mom had always said that ‘everything happens for a reason’ and that you would never really understand that reason until you were already smack-dab in the middle of it. She believed in soul mates and destiny and meant to be. If she had been here at this moment and heard Chris’ words, she would have immediately told Jensen that he had meant to be bitten by that Alpha werewolf. That he had been destined to come to Tilbury Falls. Destined to find Jared.
He giggled a little hysterically. It was all a bit much.
Out of nowhere the tabby cat came streaking out of the woods, puffed up and hissing like a mad thing. It dove under the house and Chris and Jensen only had a brief second to ponder at it before that sour tang of copper assaulted Jensen’s nose and something large and black burst from the tree line and headed straight for them.
“FUCK! RUN!”
Chris was shifting instantly beside him when Jensen realized the thing charging him was a massive black wolf … with gleaming silver eyes. He froze for a second and Chris nipped at his knee. They were no where near a door to the house and everyone was asleep. Jensen turned on his heel and took off towards the unlocked back door. He could hear Chris on his heels in wolf form, and he was making loud calls of alarm towards the house. Jensen risked a glance over his shoulder and the black wolf was barreling down on them. They would never make it to the door.
Suddenly Chris spun around and stood his ground, hackles raised and growling. Jensen skidded to a stop. He knew logically that he would be no match for a wolf that size, but he also knew instinctively that he was responsible for Chris’ safety and he couldn’t leave him alone. Lights were popping on all over the house which meant they would have backup soon.
The black wolf slammed straight into Chris and the smaller animal yelped once, but then proceeded to bite and claw with abandon. Jensen took a spare second to glance frantically around the yard for some sort of weapon, and apparently that was all it took for the black wolf to dislodge Chris and send him flying. The next thing Jensen knew, he was being knocked to the ground by a solid wall of furry muscle … and then those familiar silver eyes were glaring at him only inches from his own.
There was no doubt in his mind that this was the Alpha that had bitten him. The beast growled low in warning, as if trying to force Jensen to submit to it. His own lips split into a snarl and a low rumbled growl rose from deep in his chest. He wasn’t submitting to this son of a bitch! He had a mate! He had an Alpha! The wolf seemed taken aback for a moment, and then a blind rage filled those silver eyes and a spike of fear lanced down Jensen’s spine.
Its growl was angry and combative, and Jensen responded in kind. He was prone on the ground with the monster hovering over him, but he wasn’t ball-less god dammit! He was an Alpha, too! The back door slammed open and wolves of all colors piled into the back yard. There was a large, tawny one in the lead with glowing gold eyes and a massive stature. It wasn’t as big as the wolf pinning Jensen down, but it was still significantly larger than the rest. It had to be Jared.
Jensen could tell the instant the big black scented Jared and realized exactly who and what he was. The massive animal snarled in rage and shifted to charge. Not even considering his own safety, Jensen gripped the front legs of the wolf above him, preventing it’s movement. Those silver eyes swung back his way and Jensen growled through his grit teeth.
“You don’t touch him!”
In the next instant, the sharp teeth that had been precariously close to his face before were puncturing deep into his upper arm. Jensen howled in pain and brought his hands up to pull at the jaws clamped on his shoulder. He could hear the echoed howls of rage from his pack in the yard around them. The giant tawny wolf had reached them and had sunk it’s own teeth into the attackers flank. Several others had surrounded them and were snapping their jaws at the large Alpha.
Jensen felt the jaws biting his shoulder start to loosen and slip away and a spike of adrenaline shot through his system. If the wolf released him, it would be free to attack the others. So he ignored the pain and released the jaws in his hands to fist his fingers around a solid, furred neck and hold the head in place. The wolf snarled in frustration and bit down harder in retaliation. Jensen couldn’t help the cry that escaped him and it seemed to send a ripple of fury through his friends. They increased their efforts and latched on where they could. Finally, Jensen brought up his knee to slam into the wolf’s underbelly. He could feel the ribs creak through the fur. He repeated the movement and the wolf pinning him keened slightly.
“If you leave now … we won’t kill you.”
He wasn’t really sure where his bravado had come from, he only knew that he wanted his attacker gone … and all of his pack safe. Jensen almost didn’t recognize his own voice, for that matter, it was a mixture of words and snarls and growls. The nameless Alpha heard, and apparently understood, because with one massive shake of his body Jensen’s pack was sent flying and the jaws were releasing his shoulder. As quickly as he had come, the wolf took off into the night leaving them all stunned for a moment.
Jensen didn’t move from the ground, still panting from exertion as he heard his pack shift back to human around him. And then he realized he had been referring to his housemates as HIS PACK in his head … and his wolf had been determined not to see a single one of them injured in this. And holy FUCK … he really was an Alpha werewolf.
“JENSEN!”
The stars blinking at him merrily from above were blocked out by Jared’s head and shoulders as the man knelt over him. Silhouetted shapes of the other others began to move closer and Jensen allowed his eyes to fall shut, because … again… hello… all naked. Apparently this was the wrong thing to do, because Jared screamed his name again and frantically gripped Jensen’s face between his hands. Jensen opened his eyes to worried hazel ones.
“Oh thank God! Stay awake! You have to stay awake! Stay with me okay? Please stay with me?”
Jensen lifted the hand of his good arm and tangled his fingers in Jared’s hair. He fought to smile at Jared, but was pretty sure all that came out was a pained grimace. Now that the fight was over, his bitten arm was on fire.
“Jared. It’s just a bite. I’m not dying, promise.”
Jared nodded and then started chewing on his own bottom lip in worry. Jensen shifted to sit up and gasped as the pain sent lightening through his nerves. He could tell that his arm was mauled pretty badly, but he just wasn’t ready to look at it yet. He leaned heavily on Jared until the man got the idea and gingerly helped him to his feet. He wobbled a bit, but when he was steady enough Jensen glanced around the yard.
Steve was supporting Chris, who appeared a little bruised, but no worse for the wear. The girls were all standing together with nervous looks on their pretty faces. Misha was eying the tree line as if he didn’t really trust it was over. And Chad was standing behind Jared staring straight at Jensen with a shit-eating grin on his face. As soon as Jensen met his gaze, Chad whooped out loud.
“That was fucking awesome, man! Dude! We’re going to be the most bad-assed of packs ever! Our Alpha beat another Alpha before he could even shift! We’re gonna be legen-fucking-dary!”
Jared tensed against Jensen and everyone else froze. Maybe it was taboo to call yourselves a pack before the Alpha gave the permission, but it wasn’t as if Jensen cared. He had already termed them that in his own mind anyway. He realized that everyone was waiting for his reaction to the words, so he slowly reached forward and scratched Chad behind the ear like you would a puppy. Chad looked mortified, Jensen chuckled, and the rest of the pack let out a collective breath. Jared grabbed Jensen’s good arm and wound it around his own neck to support him.
“Chad. Get the first aid kit up to Jensen’s room, please? And-”
“Duuuude… you know the sight of blood makes me sick, right? Can’t Mish-”
Jensen snapped loudly, adding a growl to his tone.
“Chad. Kit. Now.”
The blonde took off like a jack-rabbit muttering a quick ‘yes, Alpha’ under his breath. Jensen turned to the rest of them. If there’s one thing he had noticed about this group of people, was that not a single one of them seemed inclined to step up and take charge when the situation demanded it.
“Steve, get Chris to room. Figure out if he needs medical attention.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
“Danneel, whoever we need to contact. The police, Jim … whatever.”
“Yes, Alpha.”
“Misha, girls … shift and patrol the perimeter until the authorities arrive.”
“Yes, Alpha!”
Jensen watched people and wolves scatter and thought … maybe this is why packs still need Alphas. He turned to Jared, and the other man was staring at him aghast … with the strangest look on his face. Jensen quirked an eyebrow and Jared shrugged off his stupor and blushed. He turned his gaze to his feet and began to maneuver them slowly towards the house. Jensen had never seen the man appear so shy before.
“Jared? What?”
The taller werewolf shook his head and laughed deprecatingly at himself for a second.
“At the risk of getting my head snapped off … um … it’s just that … that was really hot.”
Jensen’s face instantly flamed up to match Jared’s and they walked the rest of the distance to his room in silence. Chad was waiting for them with a bowl of warm water, clean towels and the first aid kit. They helped Jensen cut away his ruined shirt, and then lay prone on a towel-covered bed. Jared cleaned the wound slowly, having to carefully pull out little bits of fabric from the ruined shirt.
“The good thing is, since tomorrow night is the full moon, you’ll heal a lot faster. Most of the wound should be gone before you shift. I hope so at least … it’s going to be hard enough on you the first time.”
Jensen hummed a response, but his energy was draining quickly. He had been tired all day, a strange sort of ache deep in his bones, and now after the fight and subsequent victory … he just wanted to sleep.
“Go ahead. Get some rest. We’ll be okay.”
Jared’s voice was warm and pleasant in his ear. Jensen was out before he could even formulate a reply.
