Page 33 of Wolf Betrayed

Chapter Nine

Shane was taking notes. He figured he’d be taking notes for the next decade at this rate and never catch up. He should have understood that changing his entire life twice over would be difficult, but he hadn’t taken into account the history of a world he’d never truly been a part of.

“You’re going to give yourself a brain aneurysm if you don’t stop and breathe,” Brandon said from his side.

The two of them were taking a walk through the den so Shane could get acquainted with the layout as well as ask any questions he could think of. Brandon was a good listener, but more importantly, when prompted, he was a good teacher. The Brentwoods had been taking turns with Shane, showing him around the den, as well as staying at either his place or one of theirs for a meal so he would feel more included.

They not only wanted him to learn what it meant to be wolf and Pack, but they also wanted the side benefit of others watching them. Shane hoped that if those who were wary about his presence saw him with the Alpha and his family, they might learn to trust him. Of course, trust took time, and helping them blow up one building along with the formula to create monsters wasn’t enough.

Once he could shift—if he could shift—he’d find other ways to prove to them that he was here to stay. Honestly, he wasn’t sure how he’d come to know this so quickly, as he hadn’t been in the right mind when he’d shown up at the Talon’s door, but he thought it probably had something to do with the bonds sliding through his system, anchoring him to a group of people he’d never met before.

Though he’d trusted his team through his career as a soldier and would have died for them if the need arose, he’d never felt what he did now. It was…different.

He stopped where he was and ran a hand over his face.

Different was the word of the day, wasn’t it. And what a sad word it was since it couldn’t possibly encompass everything that had happened in the past weeks.

Brandon, who had stopped walking when Shane had, merely nudged him along to a bench by a grouping of trees. The wooden seat looked like it fit perfectly with nature and not like something they’d placed without thought. He liked that about the wolves around here. They did their best not to hurt the land that fed them and always made sure it and den were taken care of.

Shane sat down slowly with Brandon taking the seat next to him. He wasn’t truly in control right then since the full moon was the next day, and neither Bram nor Charlotte was there to help. Brandon, however, soothed him in a different way.

“Are you working your Omega magic on me?” Shane asked, his voice a bit rough from lack of use. He’d been doing his best to listen and learn from the other man and hadn’t really spoken much that day other than to ask a question here or there.

Brandon smiled and shrugged. “Not really. It’s sort of inherent sometimes, so my wolf is forever reaching out to each Pack member to see what it can do to help. Some have learned to erect shields over time to prevent my help unless I push them, and others are content enough that I don’t need to help at all. There are only a few instances where I’ll go out and try to do what I can with pure thought, rather than allowing my wolf to use the bonds from a distance. With you, though?” Brandon frowned. “You’re a bit different, honestly.”

Just what he wanted to hear. That word, different, again. Shane ran his hand over his knee, annoyed with himself for hating that word. The wolves didn’t have to take him in or even like him. They didn’t owe him anything. And it would do him well to remember that.

“What do you mean?”

“You’re not like other wolves, Shane.” The other man winced. “Sorry, that came out wrong.”

Shane waved him off. “It’s the truth, though. And we don’t even know if I’m going to change at all. Could be, come the full moon, I’ll die because I can’t shift, and all of this worry will be for nothing.”

The Omega pressed his lips together. “Shane, that’s not what I meant, and you know we’re not going to let that happen. Somehow, we’re going to find a way to make this work if it doesn’t happen the way it should. As for what I meant in the first place? Each wolf in this Pack is different. We aren’t a damn hive mind. If there is something deep inside hurting another person, it’s my job to try and fix it. With you, it’s like you have a natural shield. It could go away once you shift, or it could get stronger. I don’t know, but we’re going to figure it out, damn it.”

Shane didn’t say anything in answer to that and wasn’t sure there was anything he could say that would matter. He wouldn’t know what the future would bring until the next night when the moon shone high in the sky and his wolf, if he indeed had one, felt the urge to shift.

“Do shifters always have to wait for the full moon for their first shift?” he asked after a moment. They’d been sitting without speaking, listening to the world around them. He could hear other Pack members talking to one another as they went about their day, as well as animals in the forest who felt safe for the moment from the predators living in their midst.

“Not at all. For those born from shifters, they can transition at any time after age two, though I know a few who shifted a during their first year.” Brandon smiled then. “Startled their parents, that’s for sure. The first shift for a child can come during a time of great emotion, or for those like Brie, when they feel like it’s time.” The other man met Shane’s eyes. “According to her parents, one day she was toddling around, feeling like she needed to scratch her skin, and decided it was time to be a wolf.”

“And now she’s your Alpha’s mate,” Shane added.

“Yep, and my sister-in-law. I never would have picked a woman like her for my brother, and I’m glad I was wrong. Hell, she’s the best thing that’s ever happened to Gideon and our Pack.”

Shane smiled then. “And now she’s going to have a pup of her own.” One day, he’d get used to calling children “pups” interchangeably. At least, he hoped.

“It’s our first baby,” Brandon said softly. “I mean, the family’s first, you know? And because Brie is a submissive wolf, it’ll be interesting to see what happens.”

“You mean because the eldest child eventually becomes the Heir of the Pack when they’re ready?”

“It doesn’t always work out that way, but yes. Finn actually became the Heir at a young age because their former Alpha, Finn’s grandfather, was killed during the Central war.”

Shane flipped through his notes. “I don’t know a lot about that time period. I was only a child then, and the humans didn’t know you guys existed. It’s still strange to think that all of you were fully adults at that time, too.”

Brandon looked over at him, a strange expression on his face. “Not all of us. Charlotte and Bram are around your age, so they’d have been kids, too. Brie as well for that matter. Once we hit adulthood, you kind of forget that some of us have hit a century of living and still haven’t lived.”

Before Shane could ask the other man what he’d exactly meant by that, the Omega stood up and rubbed his chest bone.

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