Into The Woods

Chapter 6

Drake POV

A year later

My phone rang, and I saw it was Janet. She was one of the three female members of our pack. My brows furrowed as I picked up the phone. She hardly rang me, I wonder what was going on that made her resort to using a phone. In fact, hardly any of our pack used phones. That's what the mindlink was for. It took me a while to figure out how to answer it. Tech wasn't our strongest suit. We had all been exiled to this small backward town for over a hundred years and had only just been released by the council. Now we are all struggling to adapt to the changes in the world.

"Hello?" I ask.

‘Drake, Drake. Oh my God, you're never going to believe it. Someone inquired about the cabin,' she gushed and squealed excitedly.

"From which pack?" I asked, a little shocked. We were outcasts. No one came to this town, so that is some surprising news. We had only just had phone lines and cell service put in only six months ago. Janet falls quiet for a second.

"Ah, well… that's the thing, she doesn't have a pack," Janet blunders her words nervously.

"So she is a rogue?" I ask, trying to understand. Well, that isn't an issue. We were outcasts from werewolf society, as it is. A rogue would easily fit in.

"Ah, not exactly," Janet says hesitantly.

"I'm not following, cut to the point, Janet. Who is she?"

"She's a human, but hear me out, I think-," Janet begins.

"Nope, absolutely not. We are a werewolf town, and how do you know she is human? Nope, no, definitely not. Do you know how difficult it would be to hide what we are from a human when the entire town is a werewolf town?" I growl, I’m absolutely not going to agree to this. It was ridiculous.

"I may have already met her. She met me in the city," I sighed. Janet was one of the few of us that had the ability to function. When we were shunned like me, she wasn't shunned in her werewolf form, whereas half my pack was and had spent the years stuck in that form, relying on their animalistic side. So besides Janet, Melody, and a handful of others, including myself, we were the only truly sane ones remaining. So for humans, the other members of my pack would seem very different. Strange even.

"Come on, Drake. Please, I am sick of being the only girl my age here. Melody is annoying as hell, and Barb is as old as dirt."

"A girl your age? Janet, you're 170. What human girl do you know that is 170 years old?" I say skeptically. What did she think? She’s still a teen?

"You know what I mean! Please, please, please," she begs.

"No, it's too risky," I snapped, about to hang up when her voice screeched through the phone.

"I already took her deposit," Janet blurts, her voice turning to a squeak at the end.

"You what?" I growl.

"She moves in next week." She says in a rush to keep me from cutting her off.

"Well give her the deposit back, tell her you changed your mind. I said no, Janet! That means no!” I snarl.

"No, I won't. We need change, Drake, accept it, so what if humans come here? You never know. Some of us may even find our mates. This is happening, end of discussion."

I narrow my eyes.

"No, it's not. I am Alpha. I say what goes," I snarl at her.

"Fine, you ring and tell her it’s canceled then. I left all her details and paperwork in your letterbox. She seemed lovely, I am not going to be the one to disappoint her!" she snapped, hanging up on me.

I growled, staring at the screen as my younger brother walked into the room. He was one of the unlucky ones, still trapped in his werewolf form. We had been trying to convince him to shift back, but have been unsuccessful.

Walking past him, I brush my fingers through his fur. He nips at my hand but follows as I step outside our lake house. Across the lake was a cabin that had been empty since we came here. It was supposed to be Clayton's, yet his refusal to shift back meant I had to keep him close. Then Janet had this bright idea to rent it out and see if we could lure more female werewolves here. It was a good idea, but not for a human to rent the place.

There were too many secrets that the town hides, and having her here would be a risk to all of us.

Stomping down the steps, I trudge over to my letter box to find a file. I slam the lid down and walk back, falling onto the steps. Opening it, my Beta Keegan comes out of the pack house.

"What's that?" he asked as he peered over my shoulder.

"Janet found a tenant for the cabin," I growled.

"Awesome; what pack is she from?" He asks, and I look at him.

"Oh, for f***s sake, she is human, isn't she?" Keegan sighs. I exhale, opening the file and wondering why the hell a human would want to live all the way out here, in the middle of nowhere.

"Oh, she is pretty," Keegan purrs, leaning closer.

"She is human," I state. When Clayton gets up from where he lay, he comes over, peering down at her picture, and sniffs it. As if he could smell her scent through the picture.

"Clay likes her," Keegan says, nudging me with his knee.

"Again, she is human," I tell him when Clayton starts drooling and licking the photo Janet must have taken. "Clay, stop it," I snapped, holding the file away, only for him to snatch it in his jaws and run off with it. I growl, stomping after him. Why is everyone so keen on allowing a human in our midst? Don’t they get how complicated our situation is, how dangerous it is?

"Bring it back, you monster. I need the number out of it," I snapped at him, but he dropped it, stealing the photo before shredding the documents. I groaned; I am going to kill him. "Clay, you mutt!" He then proceeds to lay on the photo, rolling all over it. Keegan, however, finds him hilarious. I’m meant to be the damn alpha, but all of them try to walk all over me all the damn time.

"I guess we are keeping her, then," he calls from the massive verandah.

"She's human!"

"So?"

I growl. What didn't they get?