Chapter 5 - Gabriel

Exasperated, he dismisses me, and I leave without argument.  I promised Sherry I would take a shift at the bar, and I have an hour before I have to be there.  Situated on the remote end of a plot of land belonging to the pack for more than a century sits a large three-story contemporary mansion.  The pack house is modern, and has all the bells and whistles, conference rooms, office space, 17 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms, a fancy security system, full kitchen, the works. 

West of the house is a path that leads to the previous pack house.  Its older, and doesn’t have a complete gym for training, but it does have running water and electricity.  It was my home, the only place I ever knew, and it’s where my mother is still present.  Everything in this house belonged to her.  A three-bedroom farmhouse with a wrap around porch.  My mom loved the country style of decor, and its functionality.  She made everyone feel at home here, and my dad loved that about her. 

I remember he would bring her little gifts just to show his appreciation for her.  Once, he brought her a jar of honey from a hive he found on the property.  She loved it so much.  This was the only thing that I wanted to inherit from my parents, not becoming Alpha of the pack.  We are a small pack now, only 23 of us left after my dad died.  Before that, only the Alpha, my grandfather, and his family lived in the pack house.  My dad wanted to modernize our pack.  He said that the world was always changing and growing, and he wanted to open everything up for people to enjoy.  After he died his plans lost momentum, and a lot of folks went to join another pack an hour drive north of here. 

Bob is a good man, and he means well, but he isn’t business savvy or near as ambitious as my dad was.  Everyone that remains moved into the new pack house.  Everyone but me.  I’m not a pariah, no one treats me badly, there are just a lot of memories in this house.  I change into a clean pair of jeans and a black “Sherry’s” t-shirt throw on my boots and head out the door. 

The sun was setting when I drove my 87 Dodge pickup into the parking lot of Sherry’s bar.  A little hole in the wall bar at the edge of a small town of only about eight thousand people.  There is a small grocery store, two crappy motels, a small clinic, a K-12 school, and Sherry’s bar.  I get out of the truck and notice a familiar car in the parking lot of the motel across the street.  One whiff in that direction and I know its her.  She walks out of the lobby, and I watch her walk over to her car grab her bag and walk around to the back side of the motel. 

“Dang, Gabe you sure are happy to see me.” Joe, the short order cook says through his window as he backs his car in next to my truck.    

“Huh, what no, what are you talking about man?” I stumble over my words.

“what’s with the pup tent?” he adds. Pointing towards my crotch.

I look down and realize that it does appear that I am in fact happy to see…. someone.

“Might want to go take care of that ‘for someone gets hurt son”, he says. 

Joe is an old cowboy that has lived in the area for about thirty years.  There aren’t many people in this town that know about the pack, but old Joe is one of them.  “All God’s creatures got a purpose on this earth” is what he told me when I found myself in a particularly sticky situation and he saved my ass.  That was when I found out that he knew that werewolves and other things exist.  “Well, ‘cept pedos’ all them sick sons’a’bitches can go straight to hell”. 

Joe was a sheriff deputy for 25 years.  He was one of the first responders for the car accident my mom and I were in.  When my uncle told my dad that I had my wolf, Joe was the one that they trusted to help get me released from the hospital before the doctors realized that I was healing far too quickly for a human.  Joe’s wife Molly was the head nurse, and he was able to get her help getting me discharged and back to the pack doctors.  That’s how Joe and Molly met.  She is a nurse at the clinic in town now and has been a good sport patching up pack members from time to time.  Needless to say, Joe has seen how crazy and violent being a werewolf is.  Now, he is giving me advice about how to deal with a raging boner. 

“Joe, I’ll be right back”, he nods an acknowledgement as he settles in for a cigarette before heading into work.  I run across the street following her, and peek around the corner just in time to see her close the door to her room.  I make my way back over to Sherry’s and see Joe still standing there, lighting another cigarette from the cherry of the one he just smoked.  

“Hey, let Sherry know I am going to be a few minutes late.” I shout as I grab a jar of honey I was supposed to sell tomorrow from the crate in the back of the truck and pluck a flower from the flowerpot on the window.

“Sure, but don’t let her catch you picking her roses.  She’s likely to skin you alive Boy.” He says.

I make my way back across the street and take a look before rounding the corner to her room.  I tuck the rose into the piece of twine tied around the jar and set it on the ground in front of her door.  I knock on the door and make a mad dash for the woods about fifty yards from the door.  I quickly take off my clothes and toss them across a branch before shifting into my wolf.  I make my way out of the brush in time to see her slowly open the door.  She is standing there wearing nothing but an oversized t-shirt that falls just below the apex of her long thick legs.  Her hair is wet, I assume from taking a shower and falls around her shoulders down full and perfect breasts.  She looks at me and my wolf grumbles, urging me to go to her. 

His excitement at the sight of her standing there is almost too much for me to control.  I know that he wants to run over there and mark her, but I reason with him that she would not appreciate that.  Though I know there is something different about her, I’m fairly certain she is not a she-wolf.  My wolf would be able to sense it.  She closes her eyes as a warm breeze carries over my scent and I can tell it is effecting her.  The look, and smell of her is almost more than I can take, and I run back into the woods before Theo gets his way.  I grab my clothes, get dressed and make my way back over to Sherry’s.  “Theo, what is she?” I mind link to my wolf.  “She is our mate” is the only reply.