A Wolf's Howl

Jay hated it, but had no choice. He staggered out of the hospital, a small cast of gauze and medical tape wrapped around a splint on his wrist. He couldn't walk straight on his own, so Cole and Paul had to help him, supporting him from either side.

He growled as he clambered into the backseat, sitting down haughtily next to Julia. Concern showed in her eyes.

"Are you okay?" she asked politely.

"I'm fine," he snapped, leaning away from her. He let his head rest back, against the seat, as he stared out the window at the world. "Let's get the hell out of here. Now."

Julia turned away as tears pooled in her eyes. Did I do something wrong? Is he mad at me? Julia and Jared stared out of their seperate windows as Cole pulled the truck out of the hospital parking lot. Julia drifted off, slumping against the seat drowsily.

"Julia. Julia dear wake up." Paul murmured, gently shaking her shoulder. They had stopped in their driveway, helping Jay inside to his room.

"Paul, let her sleep," muttered Cole. Julia barely noticed the difference between Cole's arm and the seat as he picked her up, holding her in his arms. "She's had a long day."

Cole brought Julia inside and laid her on the couch as Annie brought out a blanket and a pillow.

"Wait Cole," Annie said as he walked towards the front door. "Where are you going?"

"You know the packs gonna wanna hear about this. I'm calling a meeting about the cougar attack; you don't usually see them around this neck of the woods." And with that, he left.

Jay groaned as plopped onto the bed, wincing when his arm and shoulder burned. Damn, it got him good! He'd be sore for days!

"Need anything?" Paul asked as Jay got comfortable.

"No," he answered shortly, picking up the remote that controlled his six-CD player. He turned it on, and Three Days Grace blared from it. The roaring guitars, thumping bass, and teenage-life lyrics would help him calm down, get more relaxed, get over the pain and his foul mood.

Speaking of foul moods...

"Did...did I upset Julia?" he asked, fearing the answer.

"A little." With that, Paul pat his son on the head and left. "Now, get some sleep."

***************

Mike and the others were already gathering in the remote clearing, standing in a tight circle, voices lowered. They could sense that something was wrong, that something had happened. It was just the common connection they all had, being pack mates.

Most of them were tense, but Mike was clearly worried. He was trembling as Cole came into view.

"Settle down, boys," Cole demanded, and all the chatter ceased. All attention was turned on him. "It's not good, but it's not too bad, either. Jay won't be joining us for a while, not until he's recovered."

"What happened?" Mike blurted urgently, desperately. A few others muttered the same question.

"A cougar attacked him while he was out walking with some girl, Julia. It messed up pretty badly; busted shoulder, broken wrist, blood loss, and then exhaustion from having to transform and fight."

Many swore.

"Transform?"

"In front of a human?!"

"What was he thinking?"

"Was she hurt?"

"Did she see him transform?"

"What now?"

Cole held up a hand, getting silence once more. "I don't think Jay is that stupid, but if he is...the girl isn't talking, on her own accord. Okay? Relax for now; all that matters is we have a cougar to hunt."

"Wait," Mike said. "Where's this Julia chick now? She's not with Jay, is she?"

"She's spending the night over there, yes," Cole answered. "I'm going to have Maria talk with her, to help her understand what's going on a little better. She's going to have to be told whether we like it or not; she's seen his wounds, and when they're pretty much healed she's going to want some answers. But like I said, we can't worry about that now. We need to find that cougar. Let's go."

Cole gave the signal, and everyone ran off as they transformed, searching for any sign of the cougar.

********************

Julia woke up to people muttering from the other room. She opened her eyes and checked the clock on the wall. 12:00pm. Was I really asleep that long? And how did I get in here?

She sat up and stretched, standing afterwards and looking around. The room she was in looked like a living room, complete with a T.V. and a fireplace. The dining room was adjoined to it, and the kitchen was seperated by an open archway. Julia walked warily to the kitchen, where she heard the voices.

"Yes, she needs to know," she heard a man say. She recognized it as Cole's.

"But why? I was perfectly fine not knowing for the longest time, and you never told me until after we were married," A woman hissed.

"But Maria, you were never put in this situation."

"Oh yes, I was. I remember you coming home plenty of times with tons of scratches all over-once you even came home with a broken leg and broken ribs! I insisted that we take you to the hospital, but you convinced me not to because they would heal naturally. I was pretty darn worried and you never told me a thing about being a werew-" Suddenly Maria's voice was muffled.

Cole muttered something low in Maria's ear, so that Julia couldn't hear what it was.

"Keep it down, Maria," Cole hissed. "We can't just tell her bluntly; it'd be too shocking. Hint it, reveal it slowly. Introduce her by segments. Okay?" Cole pulled away then, but returned for a quick kiss. "Love you."

"Where are you going?" Maria asked as Cole began to walk toward the door.

"To check on the boys. I'll be back by breakfast."

The door creaked, the only thing to show that he really left.

Hey, where've you been?

Maria grumbled under her breath and Julia backed away. She didn't see what was behind her and bumped into the dining room table, knocking over a candlestick in the process. Maria jumped in surprise when she heard in thunk on the table and went to check hat had knocked it over.

Julia held her breath as Maria saw her. "Oh, well....I'm glad to see you up and about. Are you feeling any better?" Maria asked nervously.

Julia nodded. "I-I didn't hear a word you said in there," she stuttered. "I just saw you to talking, didn't hear a word."

Maria nodded, not believing a word of it. She held out her hand to Julia. "I'm Maria, by the way; Cole's wife."

Julia smiled and took it. "I'm Julia, Jay's friend."

"Nice to meet you, Julia. Are you hungry? You must've had a long night."

Julia shook her head. "No, I'm not that hungry. Do you know if Jared's up yet?"

Maria hesitated. "He most likely will be. Would...would you like to go see him?"

Julia nodded quickly. "Yes, please."

Maria sighed. "Okay. Follow me." She headed upstairs, Julia following suit. They stopped outside of Jay's room, Maria's hand on the door. "Julia, before we go inside, theres something I have to tell you. Jay's wounds...you saw them at the hospital, didn't you?"

Julia nodded hesitantly.

Maria nodded in response. "Okay, well, when you see them again, they...well...they'll be pretty close to gone. Do you understand?"

Julia frowned, looking confused. "Yes....but how?"

"Well, you see, his body is able to heal itself at a faster rate than yours or mine. I'll just leave it at that for now." Maria opened the door, letting Julia walk inside.

~~~~~~~~~

Cole walked inside his house to see the pack lounging in his living room, junk food everywhere. "I knew you guys would be here eating my food. Mike, Joel, where did you guys take the cougar after we caught it?"

"Down to the reserve in New Mexico," answered Joel who was lounging on the couch. He took a handful of Cheetos and shoved them into his mouth.

"Oh my gosh," replied Lizzie, the only she-wolf in the pack. She had taken a soda from the fridge and was waiting to open it. "Could you be any more of a pig?" She sat on Joel's stomach, causing him to spit them out.

"Oh, I'm sure I could," Joel growled playfully, grabbing Lizzie by the waist. He yanked her down under her and nuzzled her neck as she squealed and dropped the soda.

"Hey hey hey, none of that on my couch, thank you very much," Cole said, walking over to his near-empty fridge. He looked to see how much food was gone from it.

"Yeah, we don't wanna see none of that," a member of the pack continued. He sat on the chair and stared at the T.V. that blared MTV from it. "We all haven't Imprinted yet, so we don't wanna see it."

"I can't believe you guys ate so much," retorted Cole, shoving his hands in his pant pockets. "Y'know, we are going to eat breakfast over at Jareds', but I think I'm just going to tell Annie and Paul to not even bother; I highly doubt you guys are going to be hungry anyways."

Right when Cole said breakfast, the entire pack was up on their feet and out the door.

*okay, I'm done! Your turn! *

**Two band trips that lasted all day long, and then the hospital. I almost broke my ankle!**

Jared was watching music videos on Fuse when the door opened. He looked up to see Maria...and Julia behind her. Julia was confused, obviously, and timid. Had he been that harsh with her?

"Good morning," Maria offered, smiling hesitantly. "How do you feel?"

Jay gingerly sat up, using the remote to mute the television. "Um...better, I guess." In truth, he was only sore. His wounds had already partially healed, leaving nothing but "old" scabs. The minor cuts had already scarred over, leaving white slashes where they had once been. His wrist would take a few more days to heal, having been broken.

He looked at Julia, not sure how she would react. "Julia? Are...are you okay?"

She nodded, silent. She was studying his wounds attentively.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you. Do you forgive me?"

Julia bit her lower lip hard, but tears spilled over anyways. She ran over to him, forgetting what Maria had told her a couple minutes ago, crying.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" Julia hiccuped. She crawled onto Jay's large bed and sobbed into his shoulder as he held her, surprised. Nonetheless, he stroked her hair, whispering to her that everything would be okay. He held her tight, watching his strength so he wouldn't crush her.

Suddenly they heard the front door slam open and a million feet running through the entryway.

"Heads up!" Cole called from downstairs. The footsteps charged their way upstairs and a pack of wolves swarmed into the bedroom. Julia screamed and Jay held her tighter, laughing as the pack shoved their way onto his bed, licking his face as well as Julia's.

Jay growled, withdrawing when the attention became too much to handle. A couple of them jarred his unhealed wrist, which hurt like hell. He snarled, pushing them roughly away.

"I know you're thrilled, but damn!" he hissed. "Chill! Jesus!"

Jay watched as Julia studied the others. "Jay, who are these people?"

He hesitated. How could he phrase this? Hmm... "You could them my crew. We're all practically inseparable."

I think we should name the pack members!

Alpha: Cole

Beta: Joel and Jarred

Regular pack members:

Lizzie

Mike

Blake

James

Dale

Nate

Sean

How many members do you want in the pack?

***That is GREAT!!! Way to go, girl!! But, if I mess up colors, it's because my computer is a piece of shit and is SO out of whack (red looks like brown, green looks like blue, and so on and so forth)!!!!!! Oh, btw, your turn in DW.***

She nodded, and Jay continued into introductions.

"Of course you know Cole," he began. "He's like our other father. He watches out for us, teaches us, the typical fatherly stuff.

"This is Joel," Jarred indicated a tall, cotton-haired boy of about twenty. Whenever Jay would mention someone new, he would gesture to them and let them wave or give some sort of greeting. Lizzie was curvacious and also pale-haired, like Joel, and never left the boy's side. Mike, Dale, and Nate were all brown-haired and smaller compared to everyone else - with the exception of Lizzie, of course. Blake and James had black hair; James was taller and broader. Sean, finally, was the oddball, and had reddish hair and was among the thicker boys.

"And nothing can separate us. Period."

Julia exhaled, smiling at the different faces.

*Ok, I posted on DW. Your turn! *

"It's nice to meet you all," Julia said, smiling. That was a lot of information to get in one morning. She hadn't even been awake for an hour and she'd already learned so much!

"Hey, um, can we go eat now?" Sean asked, fidgeting. "I'm starving!"

"Wait, how can you be starving? You just ate two large pizzas and five bags of potato chips from my kitchen!" exclaimed Cole over by the door. He leaned against the frame, hands shoved deep into his pockets.

Everyone laughed and the pack headed downstairs; their mixed conversations sounded jumbled. Only Jarred, Julia, Lizzie and Joel stayed behind.

"So, do you have a big family like ours?" asked Lizzie, immediately glomping onto Julia, though she still had ahold of Joel's ginormous upper arm.

"Um, no, I don't think so," said Julia. She liked Lizzie already.

Jay rolled his eyes. Lizzie was always the compassionate, bubbly one. No wonder Joel liked her so much...not to mention, such a close match in colors and histories...

Jay got to his feet, pausing a moment as his wrist ached. Just a few more days...that was all...

"Jay?" Julia's voice brought him back to the real world, to the moment. She was waiting at the doorway, concern written over her face.

He nodded and followed her down the stairs, to the kitchen, and finally into the living room. Pizza boxes - about ten of them - were laid out across the coffee table and empty chairs. They had saved the recliner - a two seater - for Jay, obviously, and had left an entire box untouched for him.

He opened the box, glanced inside, and roughly sat down. "Thanks guys." He looked at Julia, and pat the seat beside him. "Come on. Join me."

Julia blushed and her eyes sparkled. "Okay!" she said, and plopped on the chair next to him. Jay grabbed a big piece of pizza from inside the box and handed it to her. "Thanks," she said, and bit in.

The rest of the pack dug in, scarfing down the boxes of pizza. Lizzie was the only one who didn't--she actually knew when to have manners.

Jay's face became red. "Sorry," he said to Julia. "My family can be kind of a pig when it comes to food."

Julia laughed. "It's okay," she said. "I think it's kind of funny."

Jay was the one who laughed this time. "Well, at least your not uncomfortable. That's a plus."