Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Are you sure you’re going to be alright here by yourself?” your best friend Kaya asked nervously glancing around the small condo.

“I’ll be fine,” you assured her for what felt like the thousandth time, though you couldn’t blame her for her worry, the neighborhood you’d moved into was a little sketchy, but it was the best you could afford. You couldn’t all be rich heiresses like Kaya.

“You could always stay with us longer, mom and dad like you a lot, they wouldn’t mind,” Kaya tried again.

“I appreciate the offer,” you told her hiding a grimace. It wasn’t that you didn’t like Kaya or her parents, but staying with them made you feel like a leech. It was about time you made your own way in the world, “But I think I’m going to like it here. I can’t just live with you forever you know?”

Kaya pouted at you, which you couldn’t help but find adorable, you and Kaya had been close since preschool when you’d jumped on then bitten a little boy on the arm for knocking her down on the playground. You’d been inseparable ever since, and you thought of her like a little sister.

Admittedly you were the same age, but Kaya just seemed so much more fragile to you, like she needed to be protected, which of course you were more than happy to do for her. You were more than a bit maternal and protective by nature and it was good to have somebody to protect, it gave you purpose.

“You could always just stay for a little bit, just until you can find somewhere better than… well… this,” she pleaded, wrinkling her nose at the slightly shabby walls and second hand furniture.

“I like it,” you told her, and you did, it felt comfortable, maybe it needed a few things to spruce it up a little and add some color, but it felt lived in. Kaya’s house always made you afraid to touch things in case you got dirt on it or broke something expensive, “Besides, with what I had saved up I managed to buy it outright, that means I can do some fixing up, a fresh coat of paint and some new flooring will work wonders.”

“Changing how it looks won’t change where it is, this part of the city isn’t safe,” Kaya argued frowning at you.

“So I’ll reinforce the locks on the doors and windows,” you told her with a shrug, “and keep my baseball bat handy. Really Kaya you fuss too much.”

“I’m just worried about you!” Kaya protested unhappily, “What if something happens? You’re here all alone! I know you’re tough and can protect yourself I just wish you had some kind of back-up, so you weren’t by yourself.”

“What like a room mate? Did that in college, and it sucked, dirty dishes, unwashed laundry, and getting kicked out so they can have alone time with their significant other? Yeah I’ll pass,” you told her wrinkling your nose unhappily.

“I wasn’t thinking about a room mate, you never know what you’re going to get with that,” Kaya retorted with a sniff, for all that she was a very kind girl she could be a bit stuck-up at times, her upbringing as an heiress shining through, “No I was thinking more along the lines of a pet.”

“A pet?” you asked curiously. It actually wasn’t a bad suggestion.

“A dog more specifically,” Kaya elaborated with a smile, “You’ve always liked animals, and they tend to like you too if I’m remembering correctly.”

She was right you were an animal lover, and you’d always had a soft spot for dogs, usually the bigger and scarier looking the better. They tended to like you too, though you weren’t exactly sure why. At times you’d been approached by the meanest, fiercest dogs in the neighborhood, ones known for lashing out or biting, and they would prance around like harmless happy puppies for you, all wagging tails and slobbery kisses.

Kaya had on more than one occasion asked if you were a dog whisperer. You just shrugged her off, not particularly believing in such things after all, it’s not like you could actually understand what a dog was thinking, you just had a vague instinct of how they were feeling based on body language.

“I’ll think about it,” you told Kaya with a smile.

Kaya beamed, “I’ll start looking into breeders in the area right away!”

You just shook your head in amusement and let her go, knowing there was no way to talk her out of it, still though, “I didn’t actually agree I said I’d think about it and if I did get one I would probably want a mutt from a shelter.”

Kaya pouted again and you knew you had another argument on your hands, still it was something to think over as the two of you carefully finished the unpacking and ran to a nearby hardware store for supplies.

By the time she left for dinner she’d talked you around to the dog, but you’d compromised that it could come from a shelter. With plans to go pick out one tomorrow you fell into your bed with a tired sigh, imagining different dogs, with the sounds of barking and howling echoing through your dreams.

The racket at the shelter was terrible, as a worker led you into the back where the dogs were kept. Several large dogs jumped eagerly against the fences penning them in, trying to catch your attention as happy barks and yips echoed around the concrete walls.

Walking slowly down the aisle you paused to read information and stick your fingers through the bars of the enclosures, receiving happy licks as you doled out pets and scratches to the eager animals, accepting treats from the worker and handing those out as well to the enthusiastic pups.

Almost every single one had come to the front of their enclosures to greet you, all but one. The dog was in the last enclosure on the right, with its nose in the corner, thus you couldn’t see much of it, but what you could see was absolutely massive.

It was at least the size of a St. Bernard with long, what looked like black fur though it was hard to tell with the amount of dirt and grime caked in it, but you knew it wasn’t a Bernard based on the ears, which stood at attention like a Husky’s, flickering every so often with the noise in the kennel. Glancing at the info card you noted it was a he, and he wasn’t at all friendly, in fact the card actually advised against any and all interaction.

“Best to leave that one alone miss, he’s a hostile beast, we think he’s at least part wolf and he won’t let anyone near him. Had to tranq him to get him vaccinated,” the shelter worker told you nervously.

“And you couldn’t give the poor thing a bath while he was out?” you asked unable to help the sharp tone on seeing the poor condition of the animal.

“Look miss, it was all we could do to get him vaccinated, the tranquilizer only kept him out for fifteen minutes, we were supposed to have an hour. It took everyone to even just get him corralled back into that enclosure, I even have marks to show for it,” he bit back shoving up his sleeves so you could see his bandaged forearms, liberally covered with scratch marks.

“He didn’t bite you then?” you asked interested.

“Naw, he didn’t manage to catch any of us with his chompers, but I pity the poor fool that gets bitten by a beast like him,” the worker told you seriously with a shiver.

“You don’t like him then?” you pushed eyes on the dog.

“Not a bit miss. He’s a monster that one, we’re generally a no kill shelter, but the boss is thinking we’re going to have to put him down, and I agree he’s way to hostile for adoption,” the worker told you firmly, “He just went out to finish getting someone who can fire a tranquilizer gun at him since no one feels safe enough to get up close and personal.

The bunching of muscle gave you the indication of what was going to happen before it did, as the dog whirled from the corner and launched himself at the door to the enclosure, making the whole thing rattle dangerously and bending the metal fencing out of shape, ferocious jaws snapped close to your face as he growled and snarled furiously.

It was only this intuition into his movements and instinct that let you hold your ground even as the worker stumbled away with a squeak, falling back on his ass and then scrambling away and running down the hall shouting for help, completely abandoning you.

You watched as the dog’s eyes followed the worker down the hall, a strange look on his face that had he been human you would’ve almost described as smug. Now that he was facing you, you could see why they thought he was part wolf. Hell, if you weren’t sure wolves didn’t actually get that big you’d think that was all he was. You were pretty sure wolves were supposed to be two hundred pounds max, and this fellow certainly looked over two hundred pounds. Standing on his hind legs he actually dwarfed your 5’8” frame by at least a foot, his front paws resting at around shoulder height for you.

The color of his eyes was really interesting too, unlike anything you’d ever seen before, the color of molten silver, and filled with intelligence and suddenly trained right on you.

“Well hello there handsome,” you acknowledged keeping your voice even and calm, knowing dogs could pick up on such things easily. Slowly you held out your hands palms forward toward his face so he could catch your scent. His lips curled back aggressively at your movement and you held still and waited, not looking away from those molten silver eyes, knowing to do so would be submitting to him, which was an extremely bad idea.

“It’s alright,” you crooned softly, “I’m not going to hurt you.”

The dog/wolf whuffed and you wondered if he was amused by the idea of a puny human like you being able to hurt him, before pushing the thought aside and watching as he slowly eased down to the ground of his enclosure. Even on all four paws he still looked enormous, his head coming even with your sternum.

Not wanting him to think you were looming over him you slowly lowered yourself into a crouch so that the two of you were closer to eye level, offering your palms again. This time he did sniff them, though he kept his eyes locked with yours.

“There, that’s not so bad right handsome?” you asked gently, “You really are a gorgeous fellow aren’t you?”

To your surprise the dog glanced away, head turning to the side. In a human that would be embarrassment, but in a dog such movements were submission. Slowly you reached forward and gently touched the bars of the enclosure close to where he was.

The noise had him looking back swiftly his eyes locking on your fingers and then on you, but he made no aggressive move against it. Glancing at the door to his enclosure you slowly eased out of your crouch and made your way over to it. This was probably the worst idea you’d ever had in your entire life, but you’d never seen such a magnificent animal before, and it would be a shame to see him put down.

You could feel his eyes on you as you slowly eased the door open, heart pounding and slipped inside, locking it firmly behind you. That done you moved over to the wall and slowly slid down to a sitting position, crossing your legs and waiting. The dog watched for a few seconds and you wondered if he, like you, were wondering if you’d totally lost it.

“Come here handsome,” you coaxed, carefully extending a hand and gesturing. Several long minutes passed as he just stared at you, eyeing you thoroughly before slowly taking several steps forward.

You waited patiently for him to come to you, and in no time he was standing in front of you, towering over your sitting form staring you down. You held his gaze fearlessly and watched, keeping your body language as relaxed as possible as the shaggy head of the dog lowered so you were literally eye-to-eye.

There was a surprising amount of intelligence in those mercurial eyes, and for a moment you could swear they were almost human, before the head lowered further and you felt him sniff you thoroughly, his powerful jaws right near your vulnerable neck, and against your will you felt your heart race.

Still he didn’t do anything more than sniff you and taking that as encouragement you slowly lifted a hand, experimentally touching his side. He stiffened for a moment, but you gently smoothed your hand along muttering soft encouraging phrases to him.

“You poor thing, you really do need a bath and someone to look after you properly huh?” you asked gently lifting your other hand to gently caress his fur.

He whuffled and you nearly jumped out of your skin as he licked a long stripe up your neck. You made a face at the sounds he made after, soft chuffing noises that sounded like amused laughter to your ears.

“Very funny mister,” you told him with a pout tangling your fingers in his fur and nuzzling your face into his, encouraged by his nonaggressive behavior, “Now is that you saying you like me or you trying to see if I’d taste good for dinner?”

He chuffed again and accepted your gesture of affection, this time licking your cheek, “I’m going to take that as you like me, and not ‘you taste like chicken’.”

You jumped as his wet cold nose found your ear and his breath ruffled your hair, and winced slightly, “Poor baby, you really need a bath handsome, and a toothbrush.”

The dog huffed, and you could almost imagine he seemed indignant so you ran your hands over him reassuringly, “Not your fault huh love? The awful people here weren’t very nice to you were they?”

Your bonding was interrupted by the sound of running feet and shouting,

“Oh my god he’s got her!”

“Get away monster!”

“Someone tranquilize him quick!”

“Forget tranqs, kill it!”

The dog quickly stiffened and began to growl, and you peered out from around his bulk to see the cowardly worker from before had apparently brought reinforcements, who were leveling a gun at the dog. Who was snarling ferociously, all the other dogs in the enclosures were only adding to the racket, howling and barking and snarling. The sound was nearly deafening.

“Wait!” you shouted angrily at the shelter workers trying desperately to work your way around the dog’s enormous bulk and be heard over the cacophony of noise.

Only they couldn’t hear, and the dog was standing between you and them, almost protectively, but making it impossible for you to see and be seen. You finally scrambled to your knees and were able to peer over the dog just in time to see a dart sink into his side.

He swayed woozily but stayed on his feet snarling aggressively, and you could see them loading another dart, completely uncaring that overloading the dog with tranqs might just kill him. You shouted in horror, trying to get them to stop, but your voice just added to the confusion and the noise.

You saw him raise the gun and you tried to do something anything to push the magnificent creature away, to protect him, to do something, but he refused to move from in front of you, not even to lunge at the workers to attack or make a bid for freedom.

You saw the man begin to pull the trigger, and you felt your heart squeezing in your chest. You couldn’t just let them kill this amazing animal, you wouldn’t let them hurt it anymore.

“DON’T YOU DARE!” the command was practically howled, fueled by your anger and desperation, you could practically feel it explode out of you and suddenly everything was quiet.

The dog in front of you swayed and turned to look at you with sad confused eyes a piteous whine leaving his throat as he stared at you with that unnerving humanlike gaze.

“Not you love, never you,” you instantly reassured him, reaching up and pulling him to you. As unsteady as he was on his feet he instantly fell into you, knocking you into the wall, and stealing the breath from your lungs. It didn’t stop your from wrapping your arms around as much of him as you could reach.

It enabled you to see over his neck finally, and allowed the shelter employees to see you at last.

“Miss you need to get away from him right now,” one of them told her earnestly, “That beast will take your head off!”

“He won’t,” you defended fiercely tangling your fingers in his fur and holding him to you protectively, “All he’s done since I’ve been in here is lick my face, not once has he tried to hurt me. I don’t have a scratch on me.”

“You’re crazy! He was trying to maul you earlier,” the worker who’d shown you the way earlier informed you flatly.

“He wasn’t!” you replied angrily, gently unwrapping your arms from the dog you moved so you could look at him face to face. He was looking back at you a bit blearily, but you could see he was coming around from the dart. Completely unafraid you reached out and took hold of his face nuzzling yours against it affectionately.

You completely ignored the worried cries, and protests that he would “bite your face off” just waiting until his eyes focused properly on you and he licked your cheek affectionately.

“There’s my handsome man,” you crooned softly tenderly running your fingers through his fur, ruffling his ears and stroking his cheeks affectionately.

“I don’t understand, he hated you,” the worker from before said dazedly.

The dog’s head whipped around and a fierce growl left his throat glaring at the worker who had spoken. Completely confident in your safety you wrapped your arms around his neck and glared at him as well, “Seems like it’s not me he hates.”

“Still miss, that beast is proven to be violent, it really needs to be put down,” one of the other workers insisted.

“Does this look violent to you?” you demanded frustrated running your hands over him gently trying to soothe him even as you got more and more agitated, “It’s starting to look to me like you just don’t know how to handle a dog like this, which is fine because I’ll be taking him with me.”

“Miss you can’t just…” another worker protested, “I can and I will, he’s not going to hurt me and so long as you stay far away I think I’m more than capable of keeping him from hurting you as well. It’s obvious he likes me more than anyone else here, so he’s best off with me.”

“Is that alright with you love? I’ll get you out of here okay?” you crooned at the dog who’s eyes were clear again and regarding you with clear interest. A soft chuffing noise was your answer, which you took as agreement.

“Alright someone get me my paperwork,” you ordered, “I’m taking him home today.”

Newly clean and smelling like a combination of wet dog and herbal shampoo Portgas D. Ace watched the woman who’d taken him out of the animal shelter and into her home.

He wasn’t entirely sure how he had ended up at the shelter in the first place, but he got the feeling it was supposed to be payback for a prank probably by one of his brothers. The timing fit anyway because the only time they really got drunk and ran around in wolf form was on the full moon and that had been yesterday.

He was appalled to have woken up in a kennel of sorts and had still been hungover from the booze, which was why he’d been more violent with the shelter workers than he probably should have been. In his defense he had at least refrained from doing any serious damage, and hadn’t bitten anyone. It didn’t help that while in canine form Weres tended to be more ruled by their instincts, and none of the shelter workers had approached the way they should have.

He really hadn’t appreciated being stabbed in the ass with a tranquilizer either and had taken out his displeasure on them when he woke up. After that he’d been sulking in a corner thinking about how much his brothers were going to tease him about his situation and plotting his escape for later that night. His thoughts had been interrupted by the arrival of someone new.

The rest of the dogs in the kennel, who knew what he was and respected him as alpha, had immediately become extremely excited, bouncing all over the place like hyper puppies, their eager greetings making the noise level almost unbearable, especially since the headache from his hangover had never really receded no thanks to those tranquilizers.

He’d been doing his best to ignore them, blocking them out to the best of his ability when the annoying voice of one of the workers from this morning penetrated his bubble, apparently telling the newcomer what a vicious, dangerous brute he was, and complaining about some measly scratches. Served the ass right for being part of the team to capture him, and for bugging him when he was so hung over.

Still listening to him whine was getting on his nerves, and he was starting to get really bored just staring at the corner. Everyone who knew him would tell you that a bored Ace is a mischievous Ace. Taking everything that the worker was saying in, Ace chose his moment and lunged.

He had a brief moment of panic as the metal frame of his enclosure gave way slightly under his paws and he wondered if he’d tumble through tail over snout, which would be really embarrassing. Luckily it held out and he snarled and snapped playfully eyes locked on the worker, laughing to himself as the man ran screaming like a baby out of the kennel area.

He was surprised that he wasn’t followed by the newcomer and turned his gaze on to her. She was fairly small by his standards, even in human form he would’ve had at least six inches on her but decent size for a human, about 5’ 8” with ample curves, clothed in practical jeans and a black v-neck t-shirt.

She had chestnut colored hair held back in a ponytail, with short bangs clipped out of her face with a couple of fancy clips, her skin was tanned, as if she spent a lot of time outdoors, her lips were full and a nice soft pink, her cheekbones were sharp and defined in a way that might’ve been unattractive if not for the luminous eyes that they helped to frame. Ace had never seen eyes like those, a vivid color that seemed to shift between blue and green and back again.

There was something fierce about her face that reminded him of an amazon warrior. This one was a fighter for sure, and apparently not afraid enough to back down even if he could hear her heart racing in her chest from the scare he’d just given her.

He’d half expected her to just up and leave, though in a far more dignified way than the shelter worker, but she had stayed, and approached. It was hard to tell with the other smells of the shelter in the confined area being so strong, but something about her smelled intriguing. Enough that he allowed her to enter his temporary prison without issue.

It helped that she made all the right moves, never too dominant or too submissive, letting him come to her. Even if he had actually been a dog he probably would’ve warmed up to her, as it was he was a werewolf with absolutely no desire to hurt humans, especially pretty girls, and certainly not pretty girls who acted so strangely whose brief whiff of scent had piqued his curiosity.

So he approached her, trying his best not to make her uncomfortable and doing everything he could to ignore when she called him handsome, sweet or love, because while it should’ve been humiliating it was instead more embarrassing. He would’ve been flushing badly if he was in human form from her compliments.

He’d been surprised when she reached for him, but decided it couldn’t hurt anything and let her as he breathed in her scent. Up close like this, close to her skin near the glands of her neck, it was strong enough to overpower the stench of the shelter, and it was intoxicating. He wasn’t sure what exactly he could liken it too, all he knew was that it was good, and he would’ve happily spent hours just breathing in her scent.

Interested to see if she tasted as good as she smelled he’d licked her, and been amused by her witty commentary, because despite what folklore may say werewolves didn’t actually eat human flesh. The very thought was appalling, sure he was extremely fond of meat, perhaps even overly fond, but that didn’t mean human flesh sounded at all appealing.

Seeking to reassure her, since he could hear her heartbeat racing, he’d carefully licked her cheek. Noting she did taste nice, not at all edible, but still nice somehow.

Admittedly he’d been a bit offended when she said he needed a bath and a toothbrush. Sure she was right, but what did she expect? He’d spent the night before drunkenly romping through the woods with his brothers, it was practically a given that the next day he’d need a nice long shower and to brush his teeth.

But it hadn’t been enough to make him move away surprisingly comfortable with letting her into his personal space, which was highly unusual for him. The number of people he let into his bubble without issue could be counted on two hands with fingers left over. The fact that he’d allowed a stranger to do it was unprecedented.

He’d still been caught up in her smell and his thoughts when the shelter workers had rushed in and assumed he was attacking her, which was ridiculous, as it was patently obvious she had entered his cage of her own volition. Something no sane person would do with a dog who was behaving aggressively towards them, although he did have a few worries about her sanity.

What happened after was a bit of a blur no thanks to the tranquilizer dart someone had fired into his ass again. What he did remember though was that his first instinct had been to protect her, getting between her and the potentially trigger happy workers.

He also remembered the Voice. He could still hear the words “Don’t you dare” echo through the confines of the dog enclosure. The only time he could ever remember being hit by a Voice that strong was when he’d faced off with his Pops. It was a Voice only alpha werewolves were supposed to have, one that enabled them to take control of and direct the members of their pack.

Ace himself had the Voice, but rarely used it, disliking the fact that he knew it was something he’d inherited from his father. Other than himself and his Pops he only knew a handful of others who could use it, and all of them were alphas and werewolves, none of them were tiny human girls.

If his interest hadn’t already been piqued that would’ve done it, the fact that even he, a strong alpha in his own right, had wanted to submit to her afterwards made her impossibly strong.

He’d had his third shock of the day when the strange woman had defended him from the workers, refusing to let them hurt him. He had to conclude that she must really like dogs in order to champion him against all those people, and he’d been touched by her kindness.

All these reasons meant he hadn’t bolted the minute she’d gotten him out of the shelter, instead calmly hopping up into her SUV and letting her drive him, first to the pet store and then to her home. Of course if he’d known the indignity that followed was going to occur he might’ve bolted.

Instead in order to maintain his cover as a dog he’d been forced to let her bathe him and brush his teeth. Luckily the toothpaste didn’t taste awful, but having it done for him was humiliating and he didn’t even want to touch on the bath. In revenge he’d made sure to shake himself thoroughly, throwing water all over the bathroom and drenching the woman as often as he could. By the end of it her clothes and hair were soaked, and he felt very much vindicated despite the annoyed looks she kept throwing him.

Sensibly as wet as she was, she’d decided to simply take a shower herself, after sending him out to the bedroom. He’d settled on to the bed, intending to think more on the strange woman, but his narcolepsy had attacked with a vengeance and he’d found himself sleeping until she returned to the room.

He’d woken to the sound of the bathroom door opening, and had absolutely no time to brace himself as the woman walked into the room in only a towel. The shock of it had kept him from reacting until she’d walked over to the dresser, and he remembered to shut his eyes, but not before he’d gotten a nice view of her naked backside.

He had been positively mortified, and if he’d been human, would’ve been blushing so badly he’d look like a lobster. He’d refused to even consider opening his eyes until the bed dipped beside him, leaving him where he was now, staring up into the eyes of the woman who’d taken him home.

She was gazing back her eyes locked with his having flopped over and arranged herself so they were face to face. Hands reached out and Ace held very still as she gently ran her fingers over his cheeks rubbing soft circles on them. He had to fight to hold still and not jerk his face from her grasp in embarrassment.

“You know I realized that I haven’t given you a name yet handsome,” she informed him softly, “I spent a lot of time thinking about it in the shower, but I’m having trouble.”

“I went through all the traditional names, for black dogs like Jett, and Shadow and I just,” she made a face and Ace chuffed in agreement, no way would he ever respond to something that lame.

“I tried normal names too like Rover, Fang, and Spike, and outlandish things like Kage and Inuyasha, but those don’t really fit either,” she informed him moving her hands to play with his silky ears gently scratching them in a way that made his back leg want to shake in pleasure, though he fought the embarrassing gesture with all his might.

“I can’t seem to come up with anything, so until I do I think I’m going to call you freckles,” she told him firmly.

She must’ve seen the flat unimpressed look on his face because she hurried on to explain, “I know it’s not the most masculine name in the world, but after I washed you I realized you have these tiny white spots on your muzzle that look just like freckles, it’s adorable.”

Ace let forth an unintentional whine of protest. If his brothers ever found out about him being called Freckles, of all things he’d never hear the end of it.

“Don’t worry love, it’s just until I can find you something more appropriate,” she eyes him speculatively, “You know you’re awfully smart for a dog, I’m starting to wonder if you understand everything I say to you.”

Ace panicked, he couldn’t help it, humans were definitely not supposed to find out about Weres not unless they’d been turned or had agreed to be turned. He would deny for the rest of his life what he did next…

You stared blankly at the dog you’d started to think was more human than you’d thought, who was currently in the process of licking himself.

“Or not,” you said flatly, face-palming at your own paranoia, “Guess I’m reading to much into things huh love?”

You gently patted his flank and left him to his business, heading for the kitchen to get dinner started, not noticing the absolute relief plain to see on the face of the dog behind you.

Chapter Text

You fought a smile as your new dog sat by your feet watching you cook with a deep sort of intensity on his face. His nose was twitching, and every so often when you turned to look at him, his tail would wag, just the tiniest bit. If he was human, you would’ve bet he would’ve been drooling, as it was you could see him licking his chops out of the corner of your eye.

You couldn’t blame him though. It did smell pretty good. You liked to think you were a pretty good cook, having been fending for yourself since you were fourteen years old. It helped that Kaya’s cook Ms. Potts had been happy to give you plenty of tips and recipes to you over the years.

Right now you were making chicken fajitas, enough that you would hopefully have plenty left over for both lunch and dinner tomorrow. The fact of the matter was, cooking for a single person was really hard, and you preferred to make large meals ahead of time so you wouldn’t have to worry about cooking later in the week.

Expertly you tossed the pan, allowing the vegetables and chicken you were sautéing to flip over so it would all cook evenly, keeping up the well practiced motion as you hummed along to a song on the radio, occasionally allowing lyrics of the songs you knew well to pass your lips.

When everything was done you moved your operation to the counter only to hear a soft whining noise. Glancing down you saw your dog staring at the fajita filling with the most pathetic, adorable look on his face that you’d ever seen.

“You’re so freaking cute!” you told the dog happily putting the pan down and kneeling on the floor to throw your arms around his neck, rubbing your face against his, “Yes you are, yes you are!”

Freckles licked your cheek and then whined again, staring at you pleadingly, and you sighed, “Hungry huh? Alright then love we’ll get you something to eat.”

These were apparently the magic words, as the enormous dog perked right up, practically prancing as you went to the bags you’d picked up earlier from the pet store, pulling out the enormous bowl you’d gotten for him. Then proceeded to fill it with the brand name food you’d gotten for him, it was the expensive organic stuff, nothing but the best for your new baby.

The dog stared at you, waiting, and you gestured to the bowl, “There you are boy, all yours.”

Slowly he moved over to it and gave it an experimental sniff, before jerking back, and turning to you with the most appalled and disgusted face you’d ever seen on a dog. Frankly you had to fight the urge to laugh. You’d never seen a dog as expressive as this one before.

“Come on Freckles it can’t be that bad can it?” you asked coaxingly.

In answer he pushed the bowl towards you, as if telling you to eat it instead, and you just shook your head, amused and resigned, “Alright I get it, you don’t like it, we’ll return it to the pet store tomorrow and try something else, but what the hell am I going to feed you in the mean time?”

Stepping over to your fridge you rummaged around until you found a carton of eggs, and nodded to yourself. You’d never known a dog who would turn down freshly made scrambled eggs. Setting a new pan on the burner you quickly cracked the eggs in, and added some milk to give it a little more body, and a few pinches of salt for flavor, before shaking your head over fussing so much over food for your pet. In your experience dogs didn’t care either way, food was food to them, especially if the food was people food and not actually meant for canine consumption.

Luckily scrambled eggs didn’t take long, and you managed to get them done quickly, setting them to the side to cool as you wrapped up the fajita filling into tortilla shells. Done with that you put a couple on your plate and left the rest on the counter, before fetching Freckles’ bowl, emptying it of dog food and giving him the scrambled eggs in its place.

To your relief he happily set upon the scrambled eggs, as you set yourself down to eat your own dinner. You grinned amused as the dog chased his dish across the tile floor, the force of his tongue pushing the dish forward and forcing him to move after it if he wanted to keep eating lapping up every last bit of the eggs. However you weren’t nearly as amused when he turned beseeching silver eyes on you once he finished.

“Oh no,” you told him firmly, “That was a dozen eggs doggy! That was more than enough, even for a fella as big as you. Besides those were the last of my eggs, even if I wanted to make you more I couldn’t, not without running to the store first, and that’s not happening. I was already there once today before going to the shelter. If you want more you’ll eat your dog food.”

Your little speech didn’t deter him at all, and he continued to watch you pathetically as you finished almost all of the fajita on your plate. Feeling like the world’s biggest sucker, you knelt down and offered the last of it to him. He yipped happily and quickly set about cleaning the plate off as you shook your head in amusement, gently ruffling his silky ears.

The sound of the doorbell interrupted your self-recriminations about giving in to the dog, and the pep talk you were trying to give yourself about not spoiling him and caving to his every whim.

You stood and moved to answer without even bothering to check the peephole. You already knew who would be standing on the other side of the door. After all you’d made plans to meet up today.

“Kaya!” you greeted with a bright smile, “Come in, come in!”

“Well did you get a dog?” she asked eagerly. She’d actually wanted to come with you today to the shelter, but had, had to cancel last minute because her dad was taking her to an important business meeting instead.

You had understood, after all she was going to be taking over the company eventually, she had to get used to things like this. Plus you were a bit relieved too, who knows how the visit to the shelter would’ve gone if she’d come too. She honestly did love animals, but not in the way you did.

She definitely would never have let you get into the cage with Freckles, let alone take him home, though she probably would have had a great deal to say about the incompetence and cruelty of the shelter workers. Especially the coward who’d abandoned her when it looked like the enormous dog might break free of his enclosure and attack them.

“I did,” you told her with a bright grin, “I haven’t decided on a name yet, but I’ve been calling him Freckles temporarily. He’s got the most adorable white spots on his muzzle and…”

“So where is he?” Kaya asked cutting off your rant, knowing you could go on and on about the adorable features of your new pet if she let you.

You glanced around with a frown, “That’s strange, as much as he disliked some of the shelter workers I’m surprised he didn’t follow me in here.”

Still frowning you made your way to the kitchen and instantly spotted your new pet, his forepaws on the counter, his face buried in the plate you’d left there, eagerly devouring the fajitas you’d hoped to have tomorrow.

“No!” you exclaimed immediately, “Bad dog! Get down from there!”

The big black dog immediately dropped down from the counter and turned to you, tail wagging happily, a content look on his face, until he saw the fierce frown on your face. “Seriously Freckles? Those were supposed to be for me for lunch tomorrow! Now what am I going to eat? You’d already had your dinner you big glutton!”

The tail immediately drooped unhappily and the ears went back, a soft sad whine escaping his throat. You tried to keep your stern posture and unhappy frown, but he was looking so guilty and sad. Plus who knew how long it had been since he’d last eaten a proper meal. If the shelter workers had been too afraid to enter his enclosure they were probably to afraid to try to feed him.

“Gah! Alright I forgive you! Stop looking at me like that okay?” you pleaded dropping down to give him a hug, running your fingers through his shaggy fur, “Just don’t do it again okay? I have to eat too you know.”

He huffed a soft agreement and nosed your cheek affectionately, provoking a soft giggle.

“Geez (name) you haven’t even had him a day, and he’s turned you into putty in his paws,” Kaya sighed with fond exasperation.

The dog startled and glanced up at her, a wary growl slipping past his lips as he finally registered her presence, nudging you away, trying to get between the two of you.

“No!” you said more firmly than you had with the food, causing him to look at you in surprise, “There will be absolutely no growling at Kaya. She’s my best friend and she’s going to be here a lot, so you’d best play nice.”

Your new pet stopped growling but didn’t make a move towards your friend either, staying glued to your side.

“Are you sure that’s a dog (name)?” Kaya asked a bit warily, “He looks more like a bear or a wolf to me, and he doesn’t seem very friendly.”

“He’s a dog,” you said defensively hugging him closer to you and rubbing your face into his fur, “A very sweet, very protective dog. He just wasn’t treated very well at the shelter, and I think that makes him nervous around strangers, and you know me and dogs, he would never hurt me.”

As if to emphasize your point the big dog licked your cheek affectionately, putting his big head on your shoulder and watching your friend with wary silver eyes, “They were trying to kill him when I was there, calling him all sorts of terrible names and using tranquilizer guns on him.”

Kaya immediately relaxed, she had a big soft spot when it came to injured or abused animals, “Alright (name) I believe you, and I know he won’t hurt you at least, though you should probably be wary about introducing him to people if you think he’s going to be aggressive.”

“I know, I’ll be careful,” you assured her giving the dog one last affectionate rub before climbing to your feet, “With his previous record on file in that animal shelter I have to make absolutely sure he doesn’t attack anyone or they’ll definitely take the decision to put him down out of my hands. Plus I don’t want any innocent people getting hurt either.”

Kaya nodded in satisfaction, “So tell me about this shelter then.”

You nodded and the two of you moved into the living room, with Freckles on your heels, and you immediately collapsed on to the couch with Kaya taking a prim seat in the chair opposite yours.

Carefully you explained everything that had happened at the shelter to her, editing a bit so she hopefully wouldn’t lecture about your reckless behavior. As you talked you watched from the corner of your eye as Freckles slowly inched his way closer to Kaya, apparently trying to be discreet.

He got close enough to give her hand a thorough sniff, from where it was resting on the arm of the chair, all without Kaya noticing, much to your amusement. Apparently satisfied he made his way back up to the couch, and climbed up, carefully settling himself so that his head was in your lap. You smiled down at him affectionately and began to pet hid head, rubbing your hands over his silky ears watching as his eyes closed in contentment as you continued to tell your story. By the end of it Kaya looked thunderous.

“I can’t believe that coward just left you there! What if the dog had actually been aggressive to you? What if he escaped the cage? You could’ve been mauled and there would’ve been no one around to help you!” Kaya said outraged on your behalf.

“It’s fine Kaya,” you soothed fondly, “I’m fine and so is my Freckles.”

“It’s not fine! The manager of that shelter and I will be having words I tell you!” Kaya shouted indignantly.

You just giggled and shook your head at her protectiveness. Kaya was a sweetheart, and had grown much stronger in the years you’d known her. She used to be so frail, and shy looking as if a stiff wind might just bowl her over. It had made you really protective of your new friend for a while. Eventually though between you and her parents she’d managed to grow a backbone and become a stronger much more confident young woman.

The two of you continued to talk, about your days, and how the meeting had gone, and eventually you got Kaya’s rage settled, though you wouldn’t be surprised if the shelter management received a very strongly worded letter or phone call from Kaya in the near future. Finally it was time for her to go though, and since it was dark you walked her to her car, your new pet trotting obediently at your heels.

“You know, even though it was a bit of an experience, and even though he doesn’t seem to like me I’m really glad you got him,” Kaya told you as you reached her car, “I was really worried, but it’s obvious he’s already very possessive and protective of you, and I feel so much better.”

“He’s a good one,” you affirmed, gently twining your fingers through his fur as he stood leaning slightly against your leg, “And I’m sure he’ll warm up to you eventually, just give it time.”

“Of course,” Kaya nodded with a gentle smile, “In the mean time you’re safe and that’s all that matters.”

You smiled and reached out for a hug, which she returned clutching you tightly, “Be safe (name) and if you ever need me, or you ever have second thoughts about this place, even if only for a little while my home is always open.”

“Thanks Kaya,” you told her sincerely, “But I think Freckles and I are going to be just fine”

Kaya grinned, “Yeah, you take good care of her okay Freckles? She’s my best friend, my family!”

The dog at your feet seemed to recognize the name you’d bestowed on him, because he let out a whuff, that almost sounded like an agreement. The two of you giggled and with a last wave Kaya headed home for the night.

“Just you and me now huh love?” you asked the dog with a smile, “Come on then, it’s time for bed I think, it’s awfully late.”

Obediently he followed you back inside, watching as you locked the front door carefully, doing a quick circuit of the house to make sure the windows were locked too before heading to your bedroom.

Quickly you moved through your nightly routine, brushing your hair and teeth and putting the hair into pigtail French braids to keep it from getting terribly tangled while you slept, then changing into your pajamas and heading for the bed.

You hopped up on it, settling yourself comfortably and then turned to your dog who was glancing around your room, and patted the comforter beside you catching his attention, “Come on love, time for bed.”

Ace stared at the strange woman in shock, praying she didn’t mean what he thought she meant. The time spent with her so far had been quite pleasant, and the food she’d made earlier had been delicious.

He did feel a little bad for stealing the food off the counter, but he was a werewolf, and werewolf metabolism tended to be pretty high, plus his was even higher than normal being an Alpha. She couldn’t have known that a dozen eggs wasn’t enough, and she was right in saying it probably would’ve been for a normal dog, and even for his Beta and Omega brothers and sisters, but certainly not enough for an Alpha, especially since it was the first meal he’d had all day.

He’d appreciated that she hadn’t tried to force the issue with the dog food. The stuff smelled positively unappetizing, and his brothers would never let him live it down if he actually ate it. She’d also been really quick to forgive him for stealing her own food, which endeared her to him further.

Her friend he hadn’t been so sure about, something about her smell made him a bit wary, though even he wasn’t sure why. At first he hadn’t wanted to let his (name) get anywhere near her, but she’d put her foot down, and he knew misbehaving would get him nowhere.

Still as the evening wore on the scent that bothered him wore off, and when he got closer to take a sniff he discovered to his surprise and relief that it wasn’t Kaya herself that smelled off, but someone she’d been in recent contact with. That made it much easier to relax around her, though he still preferred she not get too close.

Hell he didn’t like anyone close, which is why he’d spent the entire night on the couch in her lap, trying to figure out what kind of hold his new “owner” had over him and why. He thought at least in part that it was her smell, he just couldn’t seem to get enough. She was like the equivalent of cat’s catnip to him.

A part of him wondered if the others would think she smelled just as good, but another part, a darker and more possessive part didn’t want to find out. For whatever reason his instincts insisted that she was his, and he didn’t want to share.

It made it all to easy to agree with Kaya earlier when she asked him to protect her, even though he knew what he should be doing was taking off down the street and back to his pack. He knew they were going to start worrying about him soon when he didn’t come back, but he couldn’t quite bring himself to leave.

It didn’t help that she was so genuinely kind to him with absolutely no ulterior motives. There were plenty of people both inside his pack and outside it that wanted to use him, take advantage of him, or get rid of him for whatever reason. It was something he’d been forced to be wary of all his life, no thanks to who his father had been.

She on the other hand, didn’t have any ulterior motives at all. How could she? She thought he was a dog! Admittedly she’d already noticed that he was smarter and bigger than normal, but he was still just a dog to her, which led to his current dilemma. Because she didn’t know that under the furry guise he wore he had the mind of a man, and even the body of a man most of the time, and she wanted him to sleep in her bed.

Glancing around the room he grimaced as he realized that it was either the bed or the floor. He could probably deal with the floor no problem, he’d done it before. The only problem with that solution was her, as she stared at him with hopeful eyes, gently patting the mattress beside her.

He was trying desperately not to look into those eyes because they were going to be his downfall, even as he searched for a nice piece of floor, “Come on baby please? Won’t you come up here? It’s lonely by myself.”

He could literally feel his face burning beneath his fur, he knew she didn’t mean it like that, but his mind unfortunately had taken it and gone straight to the gutter. Who knew wolves could blush? He was probably going to hell for this.

“Come on handsome,” she coaxed softly, “come here.”

Screw that he was definitely going to hell for this, as unable to resist he allowed himself to be coaxed up on to the bed, settling on the opposite side from the one she had claimed.

“Thanks love,” she crooned, leaning over to plant a kiss on the top of his furry head that would’ve had him blushing down to the roots of his hair if he’d been human, as she leaned over and hit the lights, settling down under the covers for a good night’s rest.

He lay there for a while listening to her breathing until it became deep and even indicating she’d fallen asleep. He was just contemplating getting down from the bed, to keep his guilt levels down, when arms wrapped around his shoulders and a face snuggled into his side. He froze, shocked and mortified as he realized she’d latched on to him in her sleep and was cuddling him like a teddy bear.

Panicked, he tried to think of something, anything to get out of this situation when a familiar blackness began creeping over his vision. He cursed himself and his narcolepsy as he fell into a deep sleep.

It was the sunlight that woke him from his slumber, and he sat up and rubbed his eyes, trying to figure out where the hell he was. He half remembered waking up sometime in the middle of the night, and being too comfortable to move, settling back down into the comfortable bed for more sleep.

He didn’t recognize his surroundings though, that is until he realized there was a heavy weight on his legs. Glancing down he tried not to panic as he remembered all that had happened the day before, waking at the shelter, being adopted, the evening with (name) and her friend, and finally his narcolepsy kicking in before he could get off the bed.

To make things worse, apparently she’s shifted around in her sleep and now had her head pillowed comfortably on his thigh, his currently human naked thigh. Normally werewolves didn’t have a problem with nudity. Clothes didn’t shift when they did, either tearing into pieces or causing some really awkward accidents. This of course meant that as a Were you had to strip before shifting.

Ace was fine with that, he liked his body, and he knew others liked it too, so he was in no way self-conscious. However waking up completely naked in bed with a woman he respected and liked a lot with her head far too close to his…. Yeah not okay. Especially when said woman was expecting a dog, not a thoroughly naked human male. Luckily he’d somehow managed to wake before her, so the situation could still be salvaged.

Carefully he tried to shift away from her, desperate to get out from under her so he could shift back, only for her hand to come up and latch on to his thigh, an unhappy whine leaving her lips. Ace gasped in surprise, his face burning furiously trying not to think about how close that hand was to the junction in his legs.

Only his horror at the thought of waking her kept that particular piece of anatomy from standing to attention. After all, he found her extremely attractive. She was just his type, with her fierce, beautiful face, and bountiful curves.

Again he tried to shift her, very carefully removing her hand from where it rested, thanking his lucky stars she appeared to be a fairly deep sleeper. He just about had her off when the sound of an alarm blared through the room.

He about jumped out of his skin, and flinched, waiting for the inevitable scream as she discovered a strange man in her bed. Instead a soft groan emerged from her lips and she rolled off him of her own accord, moving towards the edge of the bed to turn the alarm off without even bothering to open her eyes.

Shocked he just stared for a moment before realizing he needed to move before she turned around. Panicked he rolled right off the edge of the bed, a large thunk! Making him wince.

“Freckles?” her sleepy voice asked worriedly.

He did the only think he could think of then and promptly rolled under the bed to hide.

“Freckles where are you baby?” she asked sounding more awake and concerned. This was so not good.

He went to shift only to smack his hand into something and let out an involuntary yelp of pain, before hurriedly stifling himself with a hand. Glancing around under the bed to see what he’d hit, he cursed. What kind of woman kept a weight set under the bed damnit!

“Freckles!” she exclaimed worriedly and he could hear her shifting around on the bed. Hurriedly he began to shift as fast as he could manage, eyes wide with horror as her face appeared leaning over the bed as he was mid transformation.

The sleepy blue green eyes widened in shock at seeing his face there, and he winced in sympathy as she tumbled head first off the bed. Apparently she hadn’t actually gotten down but had leaned over the side to check for him instead.

Cursing filled the air as she cradled her poor head, and he was actually kind of impressed by her vocabulary. Apparently she had a sharp tongue to match her wild, fierce looks. Rubbing her head she peered cautiously under the bed again. Luckily the shift was finished then, and Ace held his breath waiting for questions or screaming.

“There you are baby? What the hell are you doing under there?” she asked worriedly, “Come on, come out of there. It’s dirty down there. Considering how much you enjoyed your bath yesterday I really hope you won’t need another one.”

Shocked, and still waiting for the other shoe to drop he slowly crawled his way out from under the bed, and over to her. She beamed at him reaching out to ruffle his ears, “Good morning handsome!”

He whuffed at her hesitantly, wondering what the hell was going on. Hadn’t she seen him?

“I had the strangest dreams last night,” she told him still petting him, “Something about wolves turning into men I think. Which was really odd. I guess that means no late night werewolf movies for me. Too bad they’re some of my favorite ones.”

“But I can’t keep watching them if they’re going to screw with my brain like that! For a moment I even thought you were a werewolf, with a human face and everything,” she informed him with a bright laugh, “Ridiculous huh? And that bump to the head certainly helped nothing.”

“I think I’m even going to need some ice for it,” she admitted tenderly touching the bump on her scalp, and wincing as her fingers found the sensitive spot, “Come on then baby, let’s get me some ice and get both of use some breakfast.”

Ace honestly couldn’t believe his luck. She thought seeing his real face had been a leftover figment of imagination and her dreams last night. Though he did have to wonder if she had some sort of intuition that was trying to tell her about him. After all it was more than a bit odd that she’d dream of werewolves right after she took one home from the animal shelter on accident.

“You know, I think if you were a werewolf Freckles, you’d be an awfully handsome one,” she informed him, nearly making him trip over his paws like a pup, “The face I imagined on you certainly was.”

Again his face flushed in shock and pleasure. She thought he was handsome! He quickly shook that thought away and resolved not to think about it. He needed to focus on keeping the werewolf secret, not on the fact that this beautiful woman liked the way he looked.

He grimaced as he looked up and realized he was about eye level with a very shapely rear. Now if only she would stop distracting him.

Chapter Text

Breakfast had once more been a hassle as she realized that Freckles didn’t have anything he could eat. Eventually after a lot of debate she’d settled for feeding him slices of toast and some bacon, praying the dog didn’t start thinking that eating people food was normal for him and refuse anything else she offered.

Freckles had devoured everything happily, his tail wagging eagerly, acting just as a normal dog should. Unfortunately she couldn’t seem to shake the strange dreams she’d had last night of her precious new pet turning from lovable, ferocious looking dog into hot male stranger.

It was funny how her imagination seemed to think that Freckles would be extremely handsome as a human. In her dreams he’d been over six feet in height, with dark wavy hair, the same expressive mercury eyes, with a smattering of freckles across his cheeks.

She was a more than a bit embarrassed to admit he’d been completely naked in those dreams with a body that belonged on the cover of the smutty Harlequin Romance novels she liked to pretend she didn’t read but secretly enjoyed. She groaned and buried her head in her hands.

A soft whine distracted her from her thoughts and she glanced down at her dog, who was peering up at her in concern, having paused from devouring his breakfast.

“I’m alright love,” she assured him reaching down to gently stroke his head, “I’m just thinking that it’s been a long time since I had some male company if you know what I mean.”

She sighed and stood up from her chair, moving to place her dishes in the sink completely missing the gob smacked expression on the dog as she continued, “Of course you don’t, you’re a dog, but I’m telling you Freckles I really need to get out and get laid. I must be getting really desperate if I’m dreaming about my dog turning into a hot naked man huh?”

Choking sounds had her turning in concern to see her dog leaning over his dish making odd hacking noises. Concerned she made her way over and gently stroked his fur soothingly, trying to remember how to do the Heimlich maneuver on a dog, just in case she needed it.

Luckily after a few long moments he seemed to recover and went back to eating his food, not even bothering to look at her. She huffed in amusement, and climbed to her feet, “Guess males are all the same no matter what species, food pretty much trumps all else.”

Walking back to the sink she quickly cleaned up the dishes from breakfast and turned to eye the bag of food she’d bought yesterday. She just hoped they’d let her return it, it had actually been pretty expensive stuff. Heaving the big bag into her arms she stepped out to her car for a second to put it in the trunk.

When she came back to the house she saw her pet waiting anxiously at the door for her, and smiled, “Did you miss me baby? I was only gone for a few minutes.”

The dog licked her hand in answer apparently satisfied that she was in one piece, and trotted back over to his dish to finish eating. Apparently she trumped food after all. The thought made her warm and she smiled tenderly at the oblivious dog before turning her thoughts back to everything she had to get done today.

It was her last day off before she had to go back to work, and she had several errands to run, including going to the grocery store, since Freckles had eaten all her eggs, and her fajitas last night. She also had to run back to the pet store and see if there was any food he’d like.

She figured they might have samples at the pet store, and she contemplated what she would do if he didn’t like anything as she got dressed and ready for the day. She supposed if all else failed then it wouldn’t hurt to try making him some dog food herself. She’d heard if you didn’t mind putting the time in homemade food was actually far better for dogs than the brands, and maybe even cheaper than the organic food she’d been intending to give him.

Still she’d try the other stuff first, and if that didn’t work she’d cook for him, sneaking a glance at her contented pet, who was lying sprawled over the bed serenely she decided he was worth the extra effort if it became necessary.

Rummaging through the bag from the pet store she dug out the receipt in order to hopefully return the food, along with a couple of accessories she’d forgotten about. Approaching her pet she gently grabbed his head and spent a few moments cuddling and cooing at him as she rubbed his cheeks with her fingers, gently scratching his ears, and eventually reaching around his neck and gently snapping the collar into place.

Freckles startled slightly and let out a surprised whine. She pet him reassuringly then pulled back to look. She beamed at him, “Well look at you! Aren’t you so handsome?”

The collar she’d chosen was a burnt orange that showed up nicely against his dark fur, with a silver skull and crossbones at the center. She’d actually gotten several, but this was her favorite of the bunch and it did look very nice on him. He didn’t seem to agree and immediately began to itch at it unhappily staring up at her with pleading eyes.

“Oh no,” she warned him firmly, “I’m not falling for the puppy dog eyes mister, you need that where we’re going and this too.”

The dog practically balked at the sight of the leash, and quick as a flash was up off the bed, and squirming down under it where she wouldn’t be able to reach him. She blinked for a few seconds in shock, she’d never expected a dog that big to move quite that fast before she comprehended what had actually happened and cursed to herself.

Getting down on her hands and knees to peer under her bed, she spotted glowing silver eyes peering back at her, “Come on baby it’s just a leash. I promise it won’t hurt you.”

He whined and backed away from her and she spent a minute cursing whoever had owned this dog before. It was obvious that he knew exactly what the leash was, and for him to be so afraid of it? They had to have done something to him. She hoped whoever it was rotted in hell as she contemplated what to do to coax her pet from under the bed and on to the leash.

Contrary to what she was thinking Ace was in fact not at all concerned she might hurt him with the leash. Instead he was imagining the horror of what would happen if his brothers and fellow pack members ever found out about this. He could practically hear the strange fetish jokes now.

They already thought he was a bit odd having never really shown in interest in mating with anyone before, he didn’t need to give them more ammunition. The collar was bad enough, a leash would just be too much. The jokes were all in good fun of course, and he gave as good as he got, but there was only so much his pride could stand. He was an alpha damnit! He didn’t like wearing collars or submitting.

A part of him though was whispering to him that it might not be so bad, not if she was the one he submit to. It might even be nice. He quickly stomped all over those thoughts and turned his attention to remaining defiant in the face of her gentle persuasion.

She certainly wasn’t making it easy as she got down and reached for him, gently crooning and cooing at him sweetly. The thing to do to really get her to back off would be to growl at her, but he couldn’t bring himself to do that to her. He didn’t want to hurt her feelings, or worse, have her be afraid of him. He was too attached already for that.

Instead he did his absolute best to not look her in the eye and reinforce his determination not to be leashed by imagining the taunting faces his brothers would make as they found out. Unfortunately it didn’t seem to be working as well as he might’ve hoped. Already he’d found himself inching back out towards her and couldn’t bring himself to wriggle back once more, knowing it would disappoint her.

He had to wonder what the hell was wrong with him, that he was acting like she was his alpha, when once upon a time he’d vowed to never bow his head to anyone. Admittedly that vow had changed before when he’d become part of Whitebeard’s pack and had submitted to his pops as top alpha, but he’d never thought it would change again, and certainly not like this.

“Come on handsome boy, for me? Please baby, come on, come on,” she coaxed again. She could actually reach him now, and instead of trying to grab on to him and drag him out, which she would inevitably fail at, as he was pretty sure he outweighed her by at least fifty pounds, she was instead gently stroking his fur.

It felt nice, it always did when she was petting him. Werewolves were extremely tactile by nature and Ace craved physical touch perhaps even more than the average Were. His brother Sabo thought maybe it was because the two of them had been so touch deprived as children. Unfortunately despite this because of that same upbringing they were unlikely to actually reach out for it, or be affectionate first. Luckily their baby brother Luffy didn’t have that problem since he was such a demonstrative little brat and had taken affection from them whether they wanted to give it or not.

The petting also helped set his instincts at ease, and practically had his inner wolf purring, which was much different than what would’ve happened if she’d tried to grab him. That probably would’ve raised the wolf’s hackles. He had to admit the woman either had a lot of experience with dogs, or extremely good instincts for a human.

Frankly he wasn’t surprised at all to find himself sitting in front of the bed obediently waiting for her to put the leash on him. She was just so pleased about it, that he couldn’t bring himself to regret it, even if he knew this was going to be an absolutely miserable experience.

“I really am sorry about this baby,” she whispered to him as if she’d heard his thoughts, nuzzling her face against his affectionately, “But the law is the law, and I wouldn’t be able to take you in with me to the pet store if you didn’t put the leash on, and then how would I figure out what kind of food to feed you?”

He sighed, and resigned himself to the indignity. If his brothers ever found out he would just have to tell them he’d done it for the food. They’d certainly believe him, after all he was known for his appetite, and he’d definitely done some ridiculous things before in order to get some. This might not even be the most ridiculous thing… Yeah no this was the worst, but still it was better then letting them think he did it because he couldn’t help submitting when (name) turned her kind loving eyes on him.

Just as she had suspected Freckles had refused to eat any of the food at the pet store. The worker who was with them, and helping them with samples would probably have been amused if not for the sheer intimidation factor her large dog presented. Hell she would’ve been amused by the offended expression on his face, if not for the fact that his picky eating habits meant she’d have to make his food herself.

In the end though she’d resigned herself, and the helpful store clerk had pointed her in the direction of a book with healthy dog friendly recipes to try.

“You’re so lucky I love you,” she informed the dog in exasperation as they pulled into the grocery store parking lot. Once again she missed the surprise on his face, but she didn’t miss the cold nose on her neck or the tongue that left slobber all over her cheek as she parked.

She yelped in surprise then laughed and cuddled him for a second, “You’re too cute. I’m glad you love me too. Stay here and be good okay? I’m going to go see about getting food for the both of us.”

It was a pretty nice spring day, the weather had warmed up a lot for mid-March and it wasn’t too hot or too cold, so she rolled the windows down a crack to let fresh air in, and headed inside unconcerned about leaving him in the parking lot. Especially as it looked like he was settling in for a nice nap.

The trip took a bit longer than she would’ve liked. She’d apparently come at a good time, because they were having a good sale in their meat department. Knowing how big her dog was, and that his appetite more than matched his size she made sure to stock up, using her new recipe book as guidance.

Her wallet definitely took a hit as she went through the checkout line, but she consoled herself that it could’ve been much worse. Thus she was fairly cheerful as she popped open the back of her SUV and began loading her things inside. It didn’t take too long, and she quickly returned her cart hoping to get home and get cooking so she could test to see what her new pet liked and then maybe make several big batches to store in the freezer.

Her thoughts were put on hold as she accidentally ran into someone on the way back to her vehicle, “Oh! I’m so sorry! I wasn’t watching where I was… Klahadore is that you?”

Sure enough as the man straightened, adjusting his glasses in that strange manner of his, it was Klahadore. He was the butler at Kaya’s place, and while he had never been anything but polite to her, sometimes the things he said came off extremely rude even when phrased politely.

She didn’t know if she was simply being oversensitive but something about him made the hairs on her neck stand on end. She didn’t trust him.

“Ah, Miss (Name), long time no see,” he greeted calmly as he casually dusted himself off, “How have you been?”

“Not too bad, and yourself? My apologies again for knocking into you,” she replied automatically dropping into the more formal speech pattern she always used whenever she went to visit Kaya in her home.

“No harm done,” he assured her genially, “None at all, and I’m fairing rather well thank you for asking. Should we be expecting a visit from you some time in the near future? Miss Potts was complaining just the other day about missing having her kitchen assistant around.”

The words were kind, but the way he said them, as if implying she was only welcome as a lowly kitchen assistant as opposed to Kaya’s best friend, made her bristle slightly, her tone cooling a touch in response, “No, I don’t think so. I’ve just finished moving in to my new home you see, and I’ve gotten myself a pet. I rather doubt I’ll have the time for an extended visit any time soon, but please give Miss Potts my regards.”

“Of course, I’d forgotten about that, finally deciding to spread your wings and move out from under the shelter of the Kouda family’s hospitality,” he remarked casually, though the way he said “hospitality” made it sound more like “charity”, “And a what side of town are you living on again?”

“The South side,” she remarked calmly, though inwardly she thought she knew where this was going and was fighting the urge to snarl and snap at the man. However she felt like that would be letting him win, and so controlled her urges.

“Oh dear,” he remarked smug, “Quite a rough part of town isn’t that? Is it really safe for the young mistress to be visiting you down there?”

She kept her face bland and polite, even as a part of her hissed that she had known this was coming, “Yes well, I am sure Kaya and I will both be fine, that’s what my new pet is for after all, for protection.”

As if on cue a loud, rumbling snarl filled the air, and she was shocked to see her new dog, coming up behind her, his eyes fixed on Klahadore, gleaming with dislike, “What? Freckles? How do you get out of the car?”

The dog of course didn’t answer instead pushing his way in between her and Klahadore all the while growling viciously at the man.

“Oh my! What an ugly uncivilized brute,” Klahadore remarked with a snide sneer, “And you just let it run around freely? How irresponsible!”

“The doors were all shut,” she protested, still shocked even as she allowed her dog to herd her backwards away from the uppity, rude butler.

“Apparently not!” he hissed at her angrily. She was surprised to see he was actually a bit pale, sweat beading on his normally cool and composed face. Honestly she should probably feel bad he was obviously frightened, but all she felt was a strange sort of satisfaction.

“Get your mutt under control before I call the cops!” he threatened, taking a step backwards as her pet snarled menacingly at him.

“Come on Freckles,” she cooed softly, “Let’s get you back in the car huh baby? And see if we can’t figure out how you got out.”

The dog didn’t take his eyes off Klahadore as he slowly backed away from him, moving towards her and the car, still growling in warning.

“There’s a sweet love,” she crooned as he reached her, gently threading her fingers through his fur, “Time to go home.”

She was turning towards the car when Klahadore apparently decided he needed another parting shot, “I always knew nothing good could come for Miss Kaya associating with low class, redneck trailer trash like you, be sure Mr. Kouda will be hearing about this!”

Involuntarily her entire body stiffened in fury. She was about to give the butler a piece of her mind when an eerie howling roar caught her attention, and she turned just in time to see her dog lunge, furiously at the man. In that split second the world seemed to move in slow motion and she could see the strange, almost smug expression on his face and realized that if her dog attacked him now, not only would it get her in trouble with the Kouda family, it would likely also lead to her new pet being put down.

“STOP!” the word burst from her lips as the world sped back up, and Freckles froze in his tracks, just a foot from Klahadore, teeth bared and eyes intent on his prey.

“Freckles come back here,” she ordered sternly, but this time he didn’t seem inclined to obey. Dogs, she knew were very sensitive to human emotion, and it was likely he sensed she wasn’t as firm in what she wanted from him. Probably because a part of her, the vicious, vindictive part that didn’t trust the man at all, would really like to see him get his comeuppance.

Still that couldn’t happen here, not when Freckles would be the one to pay the price, this time she put all her resolve into it, “Come back here.”

He obeyed, slowly backing away from the man, who was looking none too pleased and returning to her side where she took firm hold of his collar, so he couldn’t lunge again without her noticing.

“Did you see that?” Klahadore asked the people in the parking lot, who had stopped to stare at the commotion, “That mongrel just tried to attack me! The little gutter snipe set her dog on me!”

“What they saw,” (name) spat back viciously, “Was you calling me names and verbally attacking me when my back was turned, and my loving pet trying to protect me! Yes he somehow got out of the car, when I thought I closed the door, which is of course my fault, and yes he lunged at you, but he thought I was in trouble, and he stopped the minute I ordered it. He didn’t touch a hair on your head. Yet here you are, once again calling me names even when I’ve done nothing to deserve it! It’s like you’re purposely provoking him and me.”

The bystanders murmured in agreement, one of them even commenting on how well the dog was trained to be able to stop on a dime like that at her command. Klahadore sensing he was losing the argument sniffed at her, “Either way the Kouda’s will be hearing of this!”

“Go ahead and tell them,” she challenged him flatly, “Tell them about how you decided to make a scene in the grocery store parking lot and then try to blame and provoke me. I’m sure they’ll be thrilled at your behavior, and that will be the story you tell them. After all I do have witnesses, and if that isn’t enough…”

She gestured for him to look behind him, pointing to the camera on the entrance of the grocery store set there to stop thieves, “I even have video evidence.”

“I really hate dogs, that mutt of yours needs to be put down,” he tried one last time.

“Good for you, but my dog is none of your business, now if you’ll excuse me, he and I need to get home before the meat spoils,” With that she turned on her heel and left, Freckles following obediently though he seemed to be watching Klahadore from the corner of his eye. Once they got to the SUV she groaned as she realized how he’d gotten out. Apparently she hadn’t latched the trunk as well as she thought she had, a dog as big as her Freckles could easily vault the seats and get out if he wanted to. At least the groceries seemed okay. She was a bit surprised he hadn’t taken the chance to snarf them all down.

She made sure to close it firmly this time, and coaxed Freckles back into the passenger side, shutting the door behind him then climbing into the driver’s seat. Once settled and away from prying eyes, she quickly shot a text to Kaya explaining everything that had happened before Klahadore could get home and start making up stories.

That done she took a second to lean back in her seat and just breathe, trying to calm down her still racing heart. A soft whine and a gentle lick to her cheek had her turning and burying her face in soft dark fur, arms twining around his shaggy neck, hugging him tightly. After several long moments she pulled back, holding his face in her hands so he had to look her right in the eye.

“You can never, ever do that again,” she informed him sternly, “You scared at least ten years off my life!”

He stared at her pitifully and gave a soft whimper, and she sighed, “I get it. I really do, Klahadore is a jerk, and frankly a part of me thinks he deserves to get his face bitten off. I’ve never, ever liked him, and it’s pretty obvious you didn’t either, you certainly weren’t nearly as aggressive with Kaya.”

“He’s never been that rude or hostile towards me before though, normally he’s much more passive aggressive in the things he says, subtle insults that most wouldn’t even catch. I’ve tried talking to Kaya about it, but she really likes him and says I should be more open minded,” she explained still holding his head with one hand but using the other to begin combing her fingers through his fur.

“You see Kaya’s father found Klahadore on their doorstep about three years ago. He’d been badly beaten and mauled by something. They took him to the hospital, and even paid for his treatment, the Kouda’s are generous like that. After he tracked them down and insisted that he had to repay them somehow. Eventually they agreed to take him on as a butler, since their old one Merry, is getting up there in years.”

“I’d been friends with Kaya for years by that point of course, but he made it obvious to me right from the start he didn’t think I was a good friend for her, always casually pointing out anything and everything I did wrong to the Koudas. Kaya said I was being too sensitive and that he probably just hadn’t ever seen quirks like mine before, but I didn’t think so. Something about him just raises my hackles, and I don’t know why,” she continued her fingers tightening in his fur.

“Maybe it’s because I’m such a dog person, and he reminds me of a cat,” she mused with a tired smile, “Either way I can’t have you attacking people like that.”

“That camera was right there. There was nothing I would’ve been able to do or say if you’d actually hurt him. Not when the fault was obviously mine for not closing the trunk of the car well enough,” she told him sadly, “They would’ve taken you away, they would’ve put you down and it would’ve been all my fault.”

She buried her face in his neck again at her admission trying not to cry at the thought of someone taking him away and the light leaving those beautiful silver eyes. It had only been just over a day and already she couldn’t bear the thought of losing him, “Kaya even warned me about this last night, and I said I knew but I guess I didn’t.”

“I’m sorry for being such an irresponsible idiot love,” she told him nuzzling her face into his fur, “I promise to be better. I’ll keep you safe, and in return, how about you promise me not to go attacking people like that unless they invade our home or physically try to attack me first okay?”

She wasn’t exactly expecting an answer, but his small ‘whuff’ with perfect timing did make her giggle. She clutched him tighter for a moment and then planted several kisses on his head and muzzle in a storm of affection, “Thank you for protecting me though, my fierce defender. I do appreciate it, just be more careful next time.”

Ace watched as (name) moved around the kitchen. For once his stomach was extremely full. He’d been a bit leery when she’d announced she was going to make him dog food herself, but seeing as she’d used regular grocery store ingredients, and nothing at all strange had made him feel a lot better about it.

The smells as she’d cooked up a storm had been positively amazing, and even though she claimed it was dog food, it had looked much more like people food to him. Frankly he was pretty sure it was people food, just dog friendly considering it didn’t use too many spices or anything that wasn’t okay for dogs to eat.

It was probably nutritious, but he didn’t really care about that, what he did care about was that it was absolutely delicious. (Name) had been trying recipes since they’d gotten back from the grocery store, and he’d gotten an enormous sample of every single one of them.

Speaking of the grocery store though, he was still feeling a bit guilty for that one, mostly because she had been feeling guilty. None of that had been her fault, despite what she thought, she actually had closed the trunk tight enough to keep a dog inside. He hadn’t gone out the trunk, he’d simply hidden himself and shifted back just enough to open the door with his hands, then close it and open the trunk to give himself an alibi. The reason he’d done it, was of course because of that bastard butler.

He’d been pretty okay with staying in the car while she went in to get food for the two of them. Guiltily he’d thought he should probably use that moment to escape before he caused her any problems or things got more awkward. After all even if she wasn’t feeling suspicious yet a part of her did probably know what he was.

Whether that was because she’d actually woken sometime during the night and seen his human form and dismissed it as a dream, or because she had a strange sort of intuition it didn’t really matter. What did matter is there was no way she should be dreaming about him turning into a man, even if he’d been embarrassed but also extremely interested to know what exactly she’d been dreaming about him that had led her to think she needed to get laid, after he’d gotten past his shock that is.

However as much as he’d contemplated it, he just couldn’t bring himself to leave her just yet. After all if he disappeared right now she would’ve spent all that money on food for nothing, and would likely spend hours looking for him thinking he would be nearby. He didn’t want the guilt of that on his conscious, instead promising himself he’d leave tomorrow when she went to work.

That way she probably wouldn’t actually go looking as it would be clear he was long gone. The thought still made him ache with guilt, but it was the best he could do in his situation. He wanted to curse his brothers for putting him in it, in the first place, but honestly they couldn’t have known. Couldn’t have known a beautiful, sweet, fascinating woman with the Voice of an alpha would come right in and adopt him. They’d just been hoping to prank him. He hoped they got a good laugh out of it while it lasted, because he certainly wasn’t laughing.

He was far too attached for that, which was why he’d snuck out of the car. He’d actually settled into a nap, and had only woken when she’d come back and loaded up the food. While she was returning the cart he’d settled himself in the passenger seat to be ready to go when she came back, only to be in prime position to see as a strange man stepped right into (name’s) path purposefully knocking into her.

That had really pissed him off, however he could mostly hear their conversation, the perks of open windows and werewolf senses, so he was pretty sure she knew him and wasn’t in danger. He may just want to hit on her, and while the thought was extremely upsetting for reasons he didn’t want to think about he knew it wasn’t really his right to interfere.

However as it became increasingly clear that she was uncomfortable in that interaction it had been harder and harder for him to stay put, especially as he finally picked up the man was insulting her. He’d finally had enough when it became obvious she was getting upset no one was allowed to upset his (name)!

Luckily he’d been in the right state of mind to give himself an alibi, before going over to her with the intent of maybe prancing around and giving her an excuse to get out of there claiming she needed to corral him. Instead the wind had shifted and he’d finally caught scent of the man. It was the same scent that had made him so wary of Kaya until it became clear it wasn’t hers, thick, cloying, and a bit like dead fish. It made his hackles rise and a low snarl emerge from his throat involuntarily.

His instincts had told him the man was absolutely no good and a clear danger to his (name), he wanted her as far away from him as possible. He would’ve been more than content with getting her away in order to protect her from the strange man. Not knowing why the scent put him on edge made him extremely wary, but then he’d gone and tried to insult her.

He could see how the comments affected her, and he wasn’t about to let him get away with that. He hadn’t even thought of the consequences as he’d lunged for the man, only to hear the alphas Voice emerge from his tiny human (name) once more.

It was a voice he simply couldn’t disobey, and he’d been forced to back away. However he’d kept his eyes on the man called Klahadore and had been shocked to see a knowing gleam in them. He knew what Ace was, he knew! How he knew Ace didn’t know but it made him anxious and even more determined to get her away.

Once they’d gotten in the car he’d been more than a bit worried that she hadn’t immediately left. He’d understood the need to text Kaya about the shithead butler, but after that she’d just been sitting there with her eyes closed. It wasn’t until she was latched on to him that he realized she was shaking.

He’d felt terrible then, like an absolute beast as she admitted he’d scared her. He didn’t want her to be frightened of him. He would never ever hurt her, but then the whole story had come tumbling out, and she’d said she wasn’t afraid so much of him, as she was for him.

This of course actually made him feel even worse, because here she was thinking she was an awful pet owner when in reality she’d done nothing wrong. It had also reinforced his dislike of the pompous bastard he’d tried to attack, and while a part of him did wish he’d gotten a couple of scratches in, the bigger part was glad nothing had happened.

Still for him to lose control over himself like that was not just unusual but practically unheard of. When he was younger he’d lost control a lot, so much so that his gramps had kept him secluded from the human population in order to keep the secret, but after Luffy and Sabo came into his life he’d gotten a lot better. After he’d joined up with Whitebeard it had become pretty much flawless, second only to Whitebeard and his beta Marco.

Which was why it was shocking for him to have lost it, even for a moment. He knew why though. It was her, everything was about her. He was obsessed and possessive and he knew it. If she had been a Were, he probably would’ve been scent marking all over her, trying to claim her as his and begging for her to rub her own delicious scent all over him in return.

As it was the way she rubbed her cheeks on his, nuzzling and cuddling meant he didn’t have to actually do too much to ensure she was covered in his scent. It was a heady and arousing thought, and he couldn’t bring himself to protest not matter how much she did it. No matter how much it meant that leaving would be just that much harder.

Because she wasn’t a Were, she was a human, and so he had to leave. He never even considered turning her. He knew it was an option, especially for an intriguing human like her who had the alpha’s voice, but he couldn’t bear the thought of it, not when not all humans survived the transformation with minds intact.

A great many of them lost themselves to the wolf within during their first transformation and had to be put down for the safety of the pack. They called it moon madness, and those humans struck by it couldn’t be reasoned with, they went full on aggressive animal and attacked everyone, even those who had been their closest friends.

His mother had been killed by a newborn moon mad wolf, shortly after he was born, and his father had followed a few weeks after, just managing to put the newborn down before succumbing to grief and illness.

He couldn’t bear the thought of his (name) lost like that, her fierce intelligent gaze flat and empty the way those with moon madness often were, rampaging around like a mad animal. Of having to put her down, and never see her again, knowing it was all his fault.

No, she would stay safe and human, he would see to it one way or another, which meant leaving tomorrow once she was safely gone. However he meant to cherish every last second he still had with her, and so he didn’t take his eyes off her as she moved around the kitchen, memorizing the way she looked, the way she moved, the sway of her hips and the sparkle in those fierce eyes, and that oh so enticing scent.

He would hold on to it for as long as he could, trying to stave off the knowledge that tomorrow he would be gone, and he wouldn’t ever get to see this again. No matter how much it might hurt to leave her behind it was for the best, and she would be safe even from him, he would make sure of it.

Chapter Text

(Name) wasn’t looking forward to going to work today. It wasn’t that she didn’t enjoy her job, being a bartender could be pretty fun, and usually paid fairly well since the place she worked at was fairly popular. The reason she didn’t want to go today was actually twofold, first she didn’t want to leave her new pet behind.

She hadn’t actually been separated from him for longer than it took her to shower since he’d come home from the animal shelter. Honestly she was worried he might have separation anxiety, especially since she was more than a bit anxious herself.

The second reason was a lot more unpleasant. It was Monday, which meant that one of their regulars would be in tonight. She hadn’t actually bothered to learn his name over the time she’d worked there, instead referring to him as sir to his face, and “Grabby hands McGee” in the privacy of her own mind.

The name was fairly self-explanatory, the self-entitled ass was a sloppy drunk who liked to grope the waitresses and spent most of the time at the bar trying to look down her shirt.

“What do you think Freckles?” she asked turning to her pet who was lazing on the bed, “You think this is sexy enough to get good tips, but conservative enough to keep off Grabby-Hands McGee?”

The dog didn’t answer just looked at her steadily and she sighed, “You’re probably right. I could probably be wearing a nun’s habit and the jerk would still try to cop a feel, stupid asshole.”

“It’s too bad I can’t take you with me, huh baby?” she asked going to the bed and nuzzling against his face, giving him a thorough petting, “I’m sure you’d scare the hell out of the stupid, old, pervert wouldn’t you?”

He licked her face reply, nuzzling back against her affectionately. She giggled and tenderly pressed kisses to the top of his head and both cheeks, “Alright Freckles, time for dinner I think, since I know it’s going to be a long night I’m gonna treat myself, and if you’re good I’ll give you some too okay?”

The sound of nails clicking on hardwood was her answer as the dog followed her to the kitchen, right on her heels. He was being a bit clingy tonight, and it was almost like he knew she’d be leaving, which made her even more anxious about leaving him alone. Still it was inevitable, she had to work after all to pay her bills and put food on the table. Freckles would just have to get used to it.

Ace knew he was being a bit creepy, but he couldn’t quite bear to take his eyes off her for even a second knowing this would be his last day with her. It was also why he’d agreed to sleep on the bed again last night despite his fear of waking in his human body as opposed to his wolf one again.

While it had happened, he’d managed to control himself, not freak out and shift back before she woke up. He’d spent the several long moments before that enjoying her hold on him. It turned out she was a cuddler, and had latched on the moment he was back on the bed. He hadn’t even bothered to try wiggling out of her hold a second time, figuring if he was going to be damned and guilty he might as well do it thoroughly.

The day had been a pleasant one, and he’d actually gotten more time with her than he’d expected. It turned out she essentially had more of an evening shift than the daytime job he’d been expecting. He’d spent every minute of it glued to her side, listening to her voice, and enjoying the affection she offered him so freely.

It stung to know he wasn’t going to get something like it ever again, but he held fast in his belief that what he was doing was in her best interests. He would just take as much as he could before leaving.

Now though she was getting ready to leave. He didn’t want her to go, and he was not at all happy to hear of this “Grabby hands McGee” whoever he was, he’d damn well better keep his hands off of (name)! The thought made him want to snarl in rage and rip the stupid drunk’s hands off so he could never put his filthy mitts on her ever again. Still there was really nothing he could do about it, especially since he was leaving. His only comfort was that (name) seemed like a tough girl and it was pretty obvious she could take care of herself.

As the clock ticked down though he was more and more desperate to stay as close to her as possible. Which was why for the first time in his life he completely ignored the extremely appetizing food she put in his dish, and instead stood by her at the stove, leaning as much of his bulk on her legs as he dared without knocking her over, enjoying that she would stop every few seconds to ruffle his ears.

“What’s wrong baby?” she asked him concernedly when whatever she was cooking was finally done, “Aren’t you hungry?”

A soft involuntary whine left his throat, as she looked at him with such deep, loving concern, knowing it was going to hurt her when she came home to find him gone.

“Oh love, sometimes I think you’re too smart for a dog you know? I’ll only be gone for a few hours,” she cooed, kneeling down on the floor and running her hands all over him, as his heart lurched painfully in his chest, realizing she thought he was suffering anxiety. Well, she was right in a way, just not for the reasons she thought. It wasn’t her who was going to be doing the leaving, it was him.

“Just a few hours, and I’ll be back,” she reiterated reassuringly, “I don’t want to go you know, especially not with that pervert coming tonight, but I’ve got to feed us you know?”

“Speaking of food,” she stood for a second, and crossed back over to the stove, moving what she’d been working on and stepping between the counter and the island to grab a cutting board, and knife, slicing what looked to be steak into much smaller strips. Normally the sight and scent would have his mouth watering, but not tonight.

He just wanted to be close to her, at least for a little while longer, and to that end attempted to move to her side only to find himself unable to move forward. He wriggled and let out a surprised whine as he realized the gap between island and the counter was too small for his massive body in wolf form to fit through.

He then attempted to back out only to find he couldn’t do that either, he’d wriggled himself too far forward in his attempts to reach her and now couldn’t get back out. He was well and truly stuck.

A strange sound forced his attention back on to (name) who was looking at him her hands pressed tightly to her mouth, and her blue-green eyes sparkling. He looked up at her miserably and apparently it was just too much because she burst into laughter.

“I’m sorry baby,” she choked out between giggles, “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t laugh, but you’re just so cute!”

As always when she called him those endearing names, he could feel his face flushing in embarrassment. He was not cute damnit! He was an alpha and he was fierce and if she had to use an adjective to describe his looks he much preferred sexy, or handsome, or hot, anything but the cute and adorable she insisted on using.

More than once he’d wondered if her definition of cute might be more than a little messed up. After all, all the humans he’d met in wolf form found his large stature and aggressive build intimidating or downright frightening. Even her friend Kaya had been a little anxious around him, when she saw him for the first time. Hell other Weres had been intimidated by him before, for her to think he was cute like this was more than a little strange.

It was also kind of nice, not that he’d ever admit that to anyone, that she could like him despite his frightening appearance like this. However he wasn’t actually appreciating it at the moment considering all it was doing was making her laugh at him.

He whimpered again in embarrassment, trying to wriggle free once more, only to yelp in surprise when something pinched. Immediately her laughter cut off, and she was down on the floor in front of him, hands gentle, and an extremely concerned look on her face.

“Oh, my poor love, are you alright?” she asked anxiously tenderly running her fingers along his cheeks and ruffling his ears reassuringly, “Don’t worry baby I’ll get you out of there. My big, strong, tough love.”

With her help he managed to finally wriggle backwards enough for his shoulders to pop free, and she followed behind him, tender hands running over his shoulders, chest and front legs searching for any kind of injury or tenderness. Luckily, despite getting stuck, werewolves healed really quickly, especially from minor injuries. He might have some minor bruising, but that was it, and they’d be gone by tomorrow morning pretty much without a trace.

“Guess there won’t be any going behind the island for you huh my love?” she asked gently, “That’s alright, nothing you would’ve wanted back there anyway.”

Giving him one last pet she made her way back over to the counter and removed the food she’d been preparing there. He expected her to take it to the table the same way she usually did, but instead she knelt back down in front of him, plucking a piece of the succulent looking steak and offering to him.

Ace’s heart lurched painfully in his chest, and he reminded himself over and over that there was no way she could know what such a gesture meant, that she didn’t mean it the way he wanted to take it, that she was just feeding treats to her dog.

In Werewolf society the act of eating was generally considered a social thing, and it was a pack bonding activity, something they all did together. Hence the reason he generally only felt comfortable eating while she was in the room. Close friends and pack members also tended to share food, and so her getting his food for him every day was considered an affectionate gesture, especially since she prepared the food herself.

This stemmed from some of the ancient and more formal Werewolf courting rituals that hardly anyone used anymore, when it was traditional for the omega or beta to be able to cook elaborate meals for their alpha, as a sign of love, reverence and respect. These days that didn’t happen as much but it was still considered something you only did for close friends and family.

However her offering to feed him by hand was something else entirely. That was an extremely intimate gesture, generally only seen between parents and their pups, and potential mates. It was in fact something of a gesture that would be akin to offering a promise ring.

It could still be backed away from without shame, if at a later date you found yourselves incompatible but it was considered a deep and meaningful gesture. It was something no one had ever offered, and that he in turn had never offered before.

And yet, even knowing this, even as his heart clenched so painfully he could barely breathe, even though she knew nothing of it, he accepted anyway, taking the small bits of steak she offered carefully from her delicate fingers, savoring the taste, savoring the moment. It was a moment he would cherish, even if she’d never know what it meant to him, because even if she had known, he still would’ve accepted.

Before he knew it the steak is gone, and he felt warm, full of affection for this sweet woman. He licked her cheek, a gesture he’d become accustomed to when pretending to be her dog. It’s actually something his wolf instincts don’t mind at all, because in the pack licking showed affection to the people you loved.

He’d actually never done it before outside of the extremely rare times he’d done it for Luffy when they’d both been pups, it had seemed a bit too intimate and affectionate, like a kiss on the cheek. Funny how only two days with this woman saw him doing it with a frequency that would have all his family members and everyone who knew him gaping in shock.

She stood and wiped her hands free of the residue from the steak, and then glanced at the clock. From the cursing he was going to guess she was running late. He watched as she scarfed down the steak and ran around the house quickly collecting a light spring jacket and her purse.

This was it, she was leaving, and then he would have to be leaving too. She was already nearly halfway out the door, when the most pitiable sound he’d ever made in his life accidently slipped from his mouth. It made her pause and turn back, and for a brief wild moment he hoped she would stay because if she stayed that meant he couldn’t leave.

Instead she wrapped arms around him, peppering his face with kisses and whispering reassurances, and soft orders for him to be good before standing with one last smile, “Be good love, and don’t worry I’ll be back later, I’ll always come back to you and you won’t be alone for long promise! Love you!”

With that she was out the door, the sound of the lock sliding into place behind her as she set off for work, completely unaware of the guilt she’d unleashed on him without even trying.

The agonizing feeling of shame was eating away at his insides, because she’d just promised to always come back to him, but he couldn’t promise to be here. He didn’t know how long he sat, just staring at the door where she disappeared wondering why the hell this was so hard to accept, wondering why he was so attached.

He was Portgas D. Ace, he didn’t get attached to people like this, not within so short a time period. Hell it had taken both his brothers and the entirety of Whitebeard’s pack including the alpha himself months for him to allow them into close proximity without growling or snapping at them.

It hadn’t even been three whole days since she’d brought him home, for her to have enough sway over him that he had allowed her to cuddle him, had eaten from her hands? It was unthinkable.

He wanted to be angry, anger was a familiar emotion to him, one that had kept him strong all through childhood as he lashed out at anyone and everyone he could.

Back then he’d wanted to tear open anyone who looked at him cross-eyed, it wasn’t his fault his father had been an extremely powerful alpha who was the mortal enemy of the Pack whose lands he’d been taken to live on after his parents had been killed. It wasn’t his fault none of his father’s previous pack had been willing or able to take in their alpha’s orphaned pup, and it certainly wasn’t his fault he’d somehow ended up dumped on Garp who’d then proceeded to dump him off again, but they had certainly tried to make it that way.

The tiny roving pack who’d raised him had only done it because Garp had threatened to have them killed for trespassing on the Marine pack’s territory. Needless to say they had resented the hell out of him, and he in turn had resented back. It didn’t help that his only other interactions were in a nearby Were settlement where everyone hated his father, and had thought any spawn of his should die, not that they knew he was that spawn, that at least Garp had managed to keep quiet. Not that they were anymore welcoming to the Dadan Roving Pack’s bastard offspring, but at least they hadn’t tried to kill him on sight.

He’d only begun letting go of some of that anger when he’d met Sabo, another young alpha pup who had refused to conform to his parents ideals and been kicked from the pack. Then Garp had dropped off Luffy, hoping to keep him out of the hands of his son’s rival pack, and he’d become even less angry, though he hadn’t really started to completely let go of his resentment until he’d challenged and then been subsequently defeated by his father’s old rival Whitebeard.

Still the emotion that should’ve come easily to him remained out of reach because who was there to be angry at? Not his pack brothers, who had meant nothing malicious with their little prank. Hell if she hadn’t turned up that day and he’d escaped the way he planned he probably would’ve had a good laugh over it with them. And definitely not her, because she knew nothing of Werewolves, knew nothing of Ace, thought she was just taking in a stray to love and call her own.

Without the familiar anger to help shield him all he was left with was the sickening self-loathing and guilt, more emotions that he was intimately familiar with. He tried not to think about the innocent woman who’d melted him so easily, who’d opened up her home, her wallet, and her heart thinking she was getting a loving faithful companion only to get him instead.

He didn’t want to imagine the fearful crushed expression on her face as she realized he was gone, knowing that like the incident with Kuro she would lay the entire blame on her own shoulders, thinking she must’ve somehow allowed him to escape.

What’s done was done now, and there was no going back, just getting out before the situation became even worse. He just had to pray she wouldn’t go looking for him when she came home, late at night and in the bad part of town. The thought had him whining in misery until he remembered the alternative, which was to admit to everything.

He wouldn’t do that though, because the sheer amount of betrayal was hard to fathom. He’d come into her home, eaten her food, hell he’d even slept in her bed, she would be horrified if she knew, horrified and furious, and there was no doubt in her mind she would hate him. There were some extenuating circumstances of course, but even he was more than a little disgusted at his own behavior.

Even if by some miracle she accepted it, if she forgave him, she would still have to be changed. Were laws said if a human discovered them that was the only option, and he couldn’t do it, not with the risk of moon madness hanging over him and her.

Obviously he couldn’t spend the rest of his life with her pretending to be a dog. Firstly his family would never stand for that, and secondly it would only be so long before she discovered what he truly was. She already had suspicions in the back of her mind, even if the conscious part of her hadn’t realized it yet. It was only a matter of time before she figured it out.

That meant leaving was his only option. Slowly he forced himself to shift back so he could open the door without issues. Taking a last glance around the room he hesitated, breathing in deeply trying to memorize the scent, her scent, which lurked in every corner of this house.

The wolf in him was keening in protest as he slowly unlocked the door, every instinct screaming, for reasons he could barely understand, to stay here, with her. He took hold of those instincts and with all the expertise of years of practice shoved them down into the deepest vaults of his mind.

Pulling the door open he stepped outside, grateful for the dark shadows around the door, which hid his figure from anyone passing by. Apparently he’d been brooding long enough for the sun to set, and night to fall. He hesitated technically speaking he should leave the door open, break the lock or something to give himself an alibi like he’d done with the car, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it.

Not when it meant that others would try to take advantage, especially in this part of town, not when it had the potential to hurt her, not when it might allow someone to sneak in when there was no one around to protect her, not anymore. So instead he gently closed the door behind himself, deciding to say screw it to that last bit of precaution on the part of keeping his Werewolf secret, this was the only thing he could do for her now, he wouldn’t be able to bear the guilt if something happened to her or her things because of him.

Glancing around to check that the streets were empty he allowed himself to fall back into his wolf form. Padding down the driveway he paused to take one last glance at the house, and felt his heart leap into his mouth, because her SUV was still in the driveway.

She was supposed to have gone to work! What the hell was her car still doing at her house? Had she not left after all? Had something happened to her while he’d been too caught up in his self-flagellating thoughts to notice? Anxiously he scurried back up the drive and sniffed around the car, but as he suspected her scent around it, while strong from consistent use, was at least a day old.

Where the hell was she? Worriedly he retraced his footsteps to the front porch, and found her scent fresh there, and quickly followed it, down the lawn and on to the sidewalk. There were no other scents intermixed with hers, no indication of any sort of struggle, which meant she’d likely gone of her own free will.

A low unhappy whine escaped him as he realized just what that meant. She had walked to work, walked to work and would have to walk home, in the dark, with no protection, in the bad part of town. He was nearly having heart palpitations. Was she nuts?! It was like she was asking to be attacked!

The thought of her being mugged on the way back from work had his already over protective instincts soaring to new heights, and before he knew it he found himself following along the trail intent on finding her. Luckily his dark fur blended in well at night, and since this was the bad part of town they were used to seeing strays, admittedly not strays as big and scary looking as he was, but he was pretty sure even if he was spotted they wouldn’t pay much attention.

Following on her trail he found her place of work actually wasn’t too far away, only about six blocks or so from her house, but that didn’t make him feel any better. The place was fairly busy for a Monday night, so he knew it must be pretty popular despite its somewhat shabby appearance.

He couldn’t get any closer than he was, not without being spotted, but now he was here he couldn’t bring himself to leave, not with the image of her getting mugged, or worse on her way home was playing over and over in his mind. There was nothing for it, he was going to have to stay until she got off work and make sure she got home safely.

It was the least he could do for her, he reasoned with himself, considering all she had done for him. A few extra hours wouldn’t make anything worse with pops and the Pack, so it wouldn’t hurt to stay and do this one last thing for her.

That decided he quickly found a deserted alley where he was relatively hidden from view, and settled in to wait.

Just as she’d suspected it had been a fairly busy night at the bar, made even more hectic than usual because one of the waitresses had called off with food poisoning. That meant that along with mixing up drinks at the bar she also had to regularly step out on the floor and help out a bit.

Any other night she would’ve been more than happy to help out with this, but not Monday night, and especially not when “Grabby Hands McGee” was having an especially “grabby” night. She’d slapped his hands away from her body several times now, getting more and more fed up each time.

The only reasons she hadn’t given him a nice kick in the nuts to teach him a lesson were one, he was sitting down, and two he was a regular and the boss wouldn’t be happy with her if she unmanned one of the regular customers. Unfortunately she really needed this job too, so there wasn’t much she could do.

Wading her way through the throng of people, after delivering another round of drinks to a bachelorette party in the corner, she nearly jumped out of her skin, as a hand sneaked out and gave her rear a firm squeeze, an undignified squeak left her mouth and she turned, only to see Grabby Hands McGee standing there a pleased grin on his face.

She was more than a little ticked off, especially since she’d made it a point to not walk by the table he was sitting at, which meant he must’ve gone out of his way to get up and harass her.

“For the last time, keep your hands to yourself sir,” she practically growled at him.

“Ah come on woman you know you like it,” he leered at her.

“Let me make things very clear, I do not enjoy being harassed by men old enough to be my father, don’t touch me again,” she ordered angrily and stalked off before he had a chance to respond.

Apparently he wasn’t listening though because the next time she was out from behind the bar again, he did the exact same thing. At this point she had absolutely had it, she was done putting up with this. She whirled on her heel and decked the man, sending him reeling back in shock.

Around them the patrons who’d seen fell quiet as they noticed what had happened. She didn’t consider herself a violent person by nature but he’d more than had it coming for a good long while now, and she had some serious frustrations to vent.

“For the last time, keep your disgusting, filthy old man hands off me and the other girls! You’re nothing but a creep! No one likes your attention here and if you don’t back the hell off I’m gonna make your regret it!” she shouted angrily.

“You tell him (name)!” one of the other waitresses shouted eagerly, into the silence of the bar.

“You hit me!” Grabby stated in shocked surprise, more than a little slow on the uptake, though whether it was from the alcohol or if it was a natural state of being for him she didn’t know.

“And I’ll damn well do it again if you keep trying to cop a feel asshole,” she growled right back.

“You stupid bitch!” he sneered at her, apparently recovering at least some form of wit, “I’m going to make you regret this!”

“Yeah, right, you keep telling yourself that,” she told him flatly, “My suggestion? Go home, sober up, and don’t come back.”

“Get out, get out, get out!” she didn’t know where the chant started from, probably one of the waitresses but the rest of the bar quickly picked it up, and suddenly it’s being shouted from all sides.

Apparently Grabby saw he was outnumbered, sneered at her one last time, and threw a glare around the room at the other patrons, before storming out the door. His exit is greeted by a cheer, and she heaved a sigh of relief before heading back to the bar, at not having to deal with him anymore tonight.

For the rest of the shift she was treated as a hero by the rest of the other waitresses, and though the boss does try to lecture, both waitresses and patrons who are happy to stand up for her quickly shoot him down. She’s pretty popular here with the nicer regulars, and so in the end she gets off with a light warning, much to her relief.

Luckily she didn’t have to stay much longer after that, and so after getting one last round of celebratory hugs from the other girls, she grabbed her coat and purse and headed out into the night.

Ace breathed a sigh of relief when she finally emerged from the bar, and climbed to his feet, shaking his fur to rid his limbs of the numbness that comes from sitting in one place for too long.

He waited a few seconds before going to follow her, not wanting her to spot him, and it’s a good thing he did, because as she’s walking past the alley on the other side of the street, a dark shadow peels away from it and starts trailing her. His hackles rose, and he felt a low growl starting in his throat as he realized it was a man.

Moving quickly he made it to their side of the street, and its very clear that the man is following his (name). All his instincts encouraged him to jump in immediately, but reason held him place, silently dogging their footsteps.

He couldn’t just attack the man out of the blue, because then (name) would see him, which would completely ruin every effort he’d put in at this point to leave without her noticing. He was hoping against hope that the man would give it up and walk away, or that (name) would notice and take off running, so he could intercept the man without her noticing.

Unfortunately he was a bit too far away when the man finally did decide to attack. From his spot he saw the man swiftly run forward and knock (name) to the ground. His superior eyesight caught the silver glint of a weapon in the moonlight, as the two went down in a tangle of limbs.

He didn’t even think about it, his body, which had been coiled tight like a spring shot forward, a furious snarling howl escaped from his lips as he lunged at the man on top of (name). The force knocked him completely off and sent the two of them tumbling away from her.

The scent of blood was in the air, the man’s blood, but also the coppery scent of her blood, and it sent every instinct screaming at him to destroy this man, to rip his throat out and tear him to shreds, but somehow he managed to hold back. Partly because the man was unconscious having knocked his head hard when Ace tackled him off (name), but more importantly because (name) is wounded, bleeding, and might need him.

He turned to look at her and found her utterly shell-shocked, but sitting up, and seeming mostly fine except for a decent sized gash across her cheek. He knew this was the moment, the moment he should turn and run away, before she had time to gather herself, and start doing things like asking questions.

“F-Freckles?” she asked hesitantly, her voice trembling slightly, “What-What are you doing here love?”

He let out a small whine of unhappiness at how shaky she sounded, her normally fierce eyes blown wide with shock, and he wanted to comfort her, he did, but he has to go, has to go right now.

“A-are you okay baby? Are you okay? He didn’t hurt you did he?” the first question was shaky but she quickly got her wits back, crawling over to him. Her shirt and the skirt she wore were torn, and covered in dirt, and she was still bleeding from the slice to the cheek, and apparently all she could think about was his safety.

Trembling hands checked him over, and upon seeing he was fine, that none of the blood was his, all the man’s she threw her arms around his neck, burying her face in his fur and shaking hard.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” the words were a wobbly litany in his ear as she clutched on to him as hard as she possibly could, and he couldn’t leave, he just couldn’t because she needed him. She needed him to comfort her to protect her because what would’ve happened?

What would’ve happened to her if he hadn’t been here tonight? Would she have been raped? Beaten? murdered? The answer apparently was all three.

He listened intently from his spot by (name) as the police officer, who she’d gathered the wits to call, told her how lucky she was. Apparently “Grabby Hands McGee” was actually an on the run serial rapist and murderer, who liked to beat and rape the women beforehand.

By all rights she probably should’ve died tonight, would’ve died tonight if he hadn’t been there, and the officer tell her so as she’s getting her cheek sewn up by the paramedic. He told her how fortunate she was to have a dog to protect her, to get him away from her, and her answer is clear as day, and it cements what he’d already known.

He couldn’t leave, not anymore. He was too tied to her, and so until she made him go, she would always have him, because all she said as the policeman tried to impress upon her again how lucky she was all she said was…

“I know. I know, but it’s all going to be okay because I have my Freckles to protect me.”

Chapter Text

“So let me get this straight ~yoi,” Marco began trying not to reach over and strangle the two pack members standing in front of him, “The last time anyone saw Ace, which mind you was two weeks ago, was on the full moon when you two idiots decide to prank him and drop him off at a local animal shelter, and you’re just telling us about it now why?!”

“We thought it was going to be like normal,” Thatch told him miserably, “Where Ace lays low for a bit in preparation for a payback prank, when a few days turned into a week we thought he might’ve gotten upset for some reason and went to visit his brother without telling us again, and decided to give him his privacy, until he cooled down, but Sabo called today to ask why Ace had missed their monthly phone call.”

“After that we tried everyone we could think of that Ace might be hiding out with, Luffy, the Spades, Oars Junior, everyone, but no one has seen hide nor hair of him,” Haruta admitted equally miserably.

Marco wanted to snap at them, to reach out and just shake them until they realized the severity of this situation, but he couldn’t not when both looked like they’d been crying for a good long while now, their eyes red rimmed and puffy.

Frankly at this point best-case scenario was that Ace was well and truly pissed at them and never wanted to return to the pack, worst-case scenario was one of two things, that for some reason the shelter they’d dropped him in decided to euthanize their brother, or they’d somehow discovered the Werewolf secret and had reported him to the government.

Sure there were plenty of Weres in the government, including several in their pack but that didn’t mean they could know everything that happened. Even now Ace could be in some secret government facility being tested and held in captivity and none of them would ever know it. Grinding his teeth in frustration he glanced back at his Alpha, his pops, who was looking more grave than Marco had ever seen.

“We need to find out what happened to Ace, immediately,” Whitebeard ordered glancing over the assembled pack who had been brought together when Thatch and Haruta had declared the need for an emergency meeting. The weight of his Voice settled over the extremely large gathering and had every Were sitting up and paying attention.

“Those of you with Government positions, start asking around as discreetly as you can, the rest of you who can be spared from regular duties, hit the streets, go to Haruta or the Spades for a list of Ace’s favorite haunts, we need to find my son, one way or another he will be brought back safely, good hunting,” Whitebeard ordered firmly, initiating the Pack hunt song, and then turning to Marco.

“Marco, take Thatch and find out what happened at that animal shelter, be discreet, call me with any news,” Pops ordered firmly.

He nodded and gestured to Thatch, setting off at a jog for his car with his fellow Beta at his heels. The two of them climbed into the car together, and Marco quickly navigated them off of Pack grounds, with Thatch giving him instructions on how to get to the animal shelter they’d dropped Ace at. Luckily it wasn’t too far away.

“Well?” Thatch asked miserably sitting in the passenger seat his face in his hands after several long minutes of unhappy silence.

“Well what?” Marco asked levelly knowing exactly what Thatch was asking but determined to make him work for it.

“My lecture?” Thatch asked with a slightly hysterical laugh, “The one about how I’m a reckless, careless idiot who’s probably gotten my brother killed or worse.”

“I thought about it,” Marco informed him tersely, “But it seems to me you’re doing a good enough job at beating yourself up without me adding in my two cents, and I figure once we get back Izo will be the one to flay strips from your hide.”

“Besides you can’t think like that, not yet, we have to think positive, and focus on getting Ace back, probably pissed as hell but alive, so work on that,” Marco ordered firmly. He may be a Beta and unable to use the Voice of Alphas but generally when he gave an order the rest of the Pack hopped to it and Thatch was no different.

He quickly pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and dabbed his eyes, then blew his nose. Doing his best to look presentable as Marco turned into the drive for the animal shelter, and both men stepped out of the car steeling themselves for the worst, as they walked together into the building.

However neither expected what they found there. The receptionist, a friendly lady who judging from how aroused she smelled was quite interested in Marco was more than happy to tell them about the big black brute of a dog who’d come through the shelter a couple weeks ago.

It turned out Ace had been up to all sorts of mischief, terrorizing the staff during his stay, and apparently being quite grumpy. Not that Marco could blame him, he’d be pretty grumpy too if he came off a nice evening drinking with his brothers to find himself locked in the cages of an animal shelter with what was probably a really nasty hangover.

He’d had his heart in his throat when she admitted they’d planned on using tranquilizers on Ace so they could put him down. It was his nightmare scenario, but luckily he maintained his composure and the woman went on to tell him about the strange woman they’d had come through the shelter.

Apparently the secretary was convinced she was some kind of dog whisperer, because she’d seemingly calmed Ace right down, and he’d followed on her heels docile as a lamb when they left the shelter. Marco barely fought a snort at the thought of Ace anywhere near docile, but contained himself, trying not to sag in relief the way he saw Thatch doing in the corner of his eye.

Ace had gotten out, the question was, if he’d escaped the animal shelter where the hell was he? He shouldn’t have had a problem escaping the woman and coming home, unless she’d done something to him?

He felt a little bad at using the secretary’s attraction to him to get the woman who’d adopted Ace’s address out of her, but it was necessary. It was the only lead they had after all. Luckily she’d bought his story about Ace being one of his escaped guard dogs and his need to get him back, and had been more than happy to turn over the woman’s address.

A quick call to Pops and they were back in the car heading for the street she’d listed on the adoption form, with Pops’ blessing. It was a bit of a drive and Marco was surprised to find himself in the shadier side of town, checking the address several times before deciding it had to be right.

Glancing at Thatch he received a nod in return and the two of them parked the car and approached the house. Discreetly he scented the air and was surprised to find Ace’s scent, relatively fresh and strong coming from the SUV parked in the driveway.

Trading looks with Thatch Marco decided the best way for now at least was also the most straightforward, calmly making his way up the drive he stopped on the front stoop and rang the bell.

The last two weeks had been a measure of masochism Ace wasn’t even aware he could stand. Being around her everyday, waking in her arms, eating the food she offered, and enjoying her touch as she kissed his face and ran her hands all over him, calling him sweet pet names and basking in her love and attention was the most amazing thing he’d ever experienced, but also the most gut wrenching.

The guilt of her not knowing what he was, while still basking in the warmth she offered him so freely was tearing him up. He shouldn’t be staying but he couldn’t bring himself to go either, and the more time he spent with her, the more he came to enjoy every little thing about her, from the way she talked to him like a person, to her open, giving personality, to the way she sang and danced around the room when she thought no one but he could see, and her scent, god her scent was the most amazing thing he’d ever smelled. He soaked it all up, waiting, balanced on the knife’s edge for when it would all be taken away from him. Surprisingly it didn’t come in the way he’d been expecting.

The sound of the doorbell ringing jerked him out of his daily debate about how long to wait after his (name) had left until he could safely go after her, following her from the shadows sometimes in his wolf form and sometimes as a man to make sure she got to and from work safely.

Curiously he padded over to the door, and sniffed, wondering what sort of person would be on the other side. The familiar scent nearly made his brain short circuit for a moment before he took another deep breath to confirm that yes, two of his pack brothers were waiting outside the door.

Without any hesitation he shifted back and undid the latch opening the door for them eagerly. He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed them in the past two weeks.

“Marco! Thatch!” he greeted enthusiastically, his voice slightly hoarse from two weeks of only making noise in his wolf form, “What are you guys doing here?”

He was nearly knocked over as both his brothers rushed him hugging him tightly and pressing chaste familial kisses to his cheeks rubbing their scent on him and checking him for injuries. Finding none they pulled back, though Thatch refused to let go of his arm looking surprisingly teary eyed.

“What are we doing here? What the hell Ace?! What are you doing here? Do you even know how worried we’ve been?!” Marco demanded incredulously, after a few moments silence.

“Worried?” Ace asked confused.

“Yes worried!” Marco snapped flashing his teeth in clear frustration, “You literally vanished off the face of the Earth with no contact for nearly two weeks! Everybody’s literally out searching for you as we speak! What the hell is going on! You’re obviously not captive here so why haven’t you come home yet or at least contacted us to let us know you were okay?!”

“I forgot,” Ace told him guiltily, lowering his eyes in submission away from the angry Beta’s despite knowing his designation outranked Marco’s because he knew he was in the wrong.

“Forgot?!” Marco practically vibrated in outrage, “You forgot about us? About your family? Your pack?”

“No!” Ace snapped immediately, “No of course not. I just forget sometimes that you’ll worry. Me and Sabo and Lu never had to contact anyone before not even each other really, we always just sort of knew the other two were okay, an it’s not like anyone else cared really.”

He could see Marco visibly softening, as he always did whenever Ace’s less than stellar upbringing was brought up. Marco could act as tough as he wanted, but Ace had realized, slowly but surely that Marco cared deeply for the pack and everyone in it, and was a bit of a mother hen at heart despite his tough exterior.

“So what made you forget?” Thatch asked speaking up for the first time.

“I, well not here okay? Come in for a sec,” he told them, gesturing for them to move further inside the house and shutting the door behind them before dropping on to the couch and watching as the other two made themselves comfortable.

He watched them look around and glanced around himself, smiling at the familiar sight of the homey room. He knew the outside of the building looked fairly run down, but the inside was warm and inviting (name) had worked really hard to make it that way.

He knew some wouldn’t like it, none of the furniture matched, and some of the things had nicks or dents in them, but to him it made the place feel lived in. The warm touches like blankets over the back of the couch, fun mismatched coasters on the coffee table, fluffy pillows and random artwork, including a wolf howling at a moon that she’d found at the flea market she’d taken him to last week, and the smell of her lingering in every surface made the place feel like home.

“Well?” Marco prompted concern clear on his features, “let’s hear it.”

Ace told them everything. About his antics at the kennel, the tranquilizers and this crazy, fierce woman who acted more like a wolf than a human with the Voice of an Alpha, despite being one hundred percent human. How he’d allowed her to bring him home, how she fed, and touched and loved him. How her scent was like crack to him, an addiction he couldn’t kick. How he felt the fierce need to protect her from anyone and everyone.

He told them about how he’d tried to leave, fought so hard to get up and go home, but couldn’t bear to break her heart and chose to break his own instead. How he’d agonized over his decision every day. How he’d wondered every moment if she could be safely changed, if she’d even want to be. About the attack that made up his mind that he would never leave her, not until she asked him to go.

When he finished he felt extremely relieved, pleased to have someone to share his burdens with at last, someone who could understand his dilemma and his fears.

“Sounds like you’re in love,” Thatch remarked carefully, looking more than a little awed.

“Love?” Ace repeated surprised. He’d never actually thought of it in those terms, not when it came to himself. He knew she loved him, or well loved Freckles, but he’d never thought he returned those feelings.

“You want to give up everything for her, sounds like love to me,” Thatch told him gently.

“Do you want to mate with her?” Marco asked him seriously, “It sounds like you’ve already started the process.”

He’d never thought about it quite like that, but Marco was right, technically he had started. He’d more than allowed her courtship rights, and was dangerously overprotective of her, just the same way his Alpha brothers were of their mates.

The thought of (name) as his mate, a thought he hadn’t allowed himself to have if he was honest, filled his mind. He could see her by his side, looking at him with those loving eyes for the rest of his life, it was almost too easy to picture it, and as if he’d opened the floodgates more thoughts and ideas flashed through his mind.

(Name) with his mark on her neck, (name) going through heats with him, having her over, under and beside him, and (name) round with their pups. The thoughts caught him off guard, along with the sheer amount of want that came with them. A soft keening whine left his mouth before he could stop it, and he could see his Pack brothers exchanging looks.

“We could manage it Ace,” Marco told him firmly, “You know there’ve been Pack who’ve fallen for humans before, and if you were worried about it Pops could do the change. He’d love to do that for you, to give you a mate. We’d just need to talk to her and…”

Ace was shaking his head already and staring at his brothers with pleading eyes, “I can’t Marco, I can’t. I’ve lied to her, she doesn’t know what I am, she thinks I’m a dog! Her dog! I tricked her and she’d never forgive or accept that, she certainly wouldn’t want me around as her mate, and even if she did by some miracle, there’s always the Moon Madness to worry about and I can’t risk it. I can’t risk her, I just can’t.”

“What are you going to do then?” Marco asked reasonably, as both his brothers eyed him sympathetically, “You can’t stay here like this Ace. She’s bound to figure you out eventually and then what?”

As if to punctuate his statement, the doorknob rattled and all three men jerked towards the door. Ace could feel the blood draining out of his face as a familiar voice called out, “Frecks? Freckles I’m home! Where are you baby?”

She wasn’t supposed to home, not now, not for several hours. This couldn’t be happening. There was no time to move, no time to shift, no time to do anything other than stare in horror as the door swung open and (name) came through only to stop short at the sight of three strange men all seated in her living room.

Ace waited for something, as her eyes darted around from face to face, screaming, panicking, anger, something. What he wasn’t expecting was for her fierce green blue gaze to settle on him and go wide with recognition and shock.

“You? Frecks?” she babbled staring at him, “I dreamed… Wolf and then man… you… ouch!”

The last was yelped in shock as she pinched herself and Ace winced in sympathy frozen in his seat and unable to move. He wanted to do something, anything to calm down the panic that was beginning to rise in her face, but he couldn’t seem to bring his body to move.

(Name) stared at the oh so familiar face on her couch, the one that had swum in and out of her dreams since she’d first brought Freckles home from the shelter. It was stupid, illogical, and completely impossible, but he had the same eyes as the dog who’d been living in her home for the last two weeks.

She’d already tried pinching herself, to make sure she wasn’t dreaming, but she wasn’t sure even she could dream up something this crazy.

“Miss,” a blond man called pulling her attention away from the handsome silver eyed male sitting in Freckles’ favorite seat on the couch, “I’m sorry to intrude in your house without permission. I promise we mean you no harm. We were just looking for our friend.”

“My dog, or man? Mandog?” she tried to clarify gesturing vaguely at the man on the couch.

“Werewolf actually,” the third man, a redhead with a ridiculous hairstyle informed her with a smile.

“Thatch!” the blond hissed glaring fiercely at his friend.

“What? The cat was already out of the bag, and it certainly wasn’t going back in by not letting her in on the proper terminology,” the redhead, Thatch protested.

“Werewolf?” she repeated in a squeak that had everyone looking at her again as she tried to get that information to compute. She felt a little dizzy and lightheaded.

“Miss, are you alright?” the blond asked concerned.

She couldn’t help it, she laughed, and she knew it sounded more than a bit hysterical by the alarmed glances the three men shot each other as she tried to calm herself, but couldn’t. The blond rose from his seat and moved toward her, and she flinched away at the same time a voice snarled, “Don’t touch her Marco.”

The blond, Marco immediately froze and slowly backed away his eyes going to the guy who’d been her dog, and then skittering away, as he carefully sat back down where he’d been before. There was something about those words, the way they were said, there was a weight to them she didn’t quite understand as they hung heavy in the air. She turned to look at him, taking in the tense body posture, the fierce silver-eyed glare and the way his lips were curling in a snarl, baring his teeth. It was an expression she recognized, though a bit jarring on a human face.

“You really are Freckles aren’t you?” she blurted slightly awed but also extremely wary. His gaze immediately snapped to hers and the snarl fell from his face, as his eyes met hers searching for something as a distressed and extremely familiar whine left his lips.

“You… what the hell are you doing here? Why were you pretending to be my dog?” she was surprised at the amount of anger she’d managed to muster into that statement despite still trying to digest that all this was even possible. He whined again looking worried, and unsure.

“It was my fault,” Thatch admitted coming to his friends rescue apparently and successfully redirecting her attention.

The whole story came spilling from his lips, how he and his other brother Haruta had been pranking Ace when they left him at the shelter, and how Werewolves weren’t supposed to reveal themselves to humans, and a bit more about werewolves that frankly she didn’t even hear as one piece of information in particular stuck out to her.

“A prank?” she repeated in a flat, low voice that made all three males turn worried gazes on her, and Thatch to immediately clam up again, “You took him there as a prank?!”

“Do you even realize what could have happened to him? Did you think it through for even a second?” she demanded of Thatch, in that same flat, icy voice, her eyes locked with his. He seemed to be frozen, unable to look away from her, his face very pale.

“They were talking about euthanizing him as I came in,” she informed him her eyes boring into his, “The only reason he’s still alive is because I took him with me. Fun fact, as I was filling out my adoption paperwork one of the shelter workers was trying to convince me not to take him, not because he was dangerous, no because he was different. He’d never seen a dog or wolf like that before and he was sure he could make a thousand bucks selling him to his zoologist friend. He didn’t even have to be alive, after all the friend was hoping to dissect him, so dead was actually preferable.”

“He kept trying to buy me off, offering me a cut of the money to get me to choose another dog, offering every single one in the shelter and even his own. Lucky for you I refused, and when he got pushy I shouted out about harassment and broke his nose as several of his coworkers came running in. He was fired on the spot, but that’s not the moral of the story,” she told him icily.

“No the moral of the story is, you and your idiot friend almost got someone you claim to care about killed and dissected, and might have even blown the secret of your existence wide open for a prank,” the last bit was hissed out as Thatch shrank back and away a pitiful whimper leaving his mouth as his eyes dropped away and his neck arched in submission, the guilt on his face and in his eyes easy to read she turned back to her dog, “And you.”

“What were you doing then? A continuation of your friend’s prank?” she demanded, her icy composure breaking and a snarl on her face as she took an aggressive step toward him, “Was this funny to you? Well?”

“No!” he yelped immediately, his silver eyes widening, “No (name) I swear. I never… I didn’t want to hurt you.”

The pitiful whine at the end of that sentence tugged her heartstrings, but she hardened herself and gave him the fiercest glare she could manage, “Too late for that now.”

He stared up at her and slowly got to his feet reaching for her, and she could see pain in his face and eyes, and recognized the gesture, even in human form as her Freckles wanting to be pet, to be touched and reassured, but he wasn’t her dog, and she refused. She was angry, hurt and confused.

“NO!” the word cut through the room like a knife and her heart clenched as he flinched away from her, agony dancing through those expressive silver eyes of his, but she couldn’t give in, she was hurting too and she deserved an explanation, “Explain, now!”

He stumbled back down on to the couch, as if her words had, had physical force behind them, nearly falling into his seat, his large body, over six foot tall, broad shouldered and heavily muscled curling in on itself, as he huddled into a ball his face dropping into his hands.

“I didn’t know how to leave,” he told her, his voice clear despite hiding his face, and filled with agony, “I tried, I tried so many times, but every time something held me back, I didn’t want you to get in trouble, didn’t want you to come looking for me in this neighborhood where someone might hurt you.”

“I almost left, that first night you went to work. I could have, but I got worried about you walking home at night so I followed, just, just to make sure you were safe. It was, it felt like the only thing I could do to repay you for your kindness, but then, then that man attacked you and you said you felt safe when I was with you and I couldn’t,” he choked on the whine that seemed to force its way past his lips.

“I couldn’t leave you unprotected, but I didn’t really want to leave either,” he admitted hunching further in on himself as if it would protect him from the words he was about to say, “I didn’t want to leave, because it was the first time someone loved me like that, without preconceptions or expectations, and I wanted it, I wanted you to love me like that so bad, but it was killing me, because you loved me, but you didn’t love me. You loved Freckles the dog, not Ace the man and I, I just wanted…”

Her head swirled in a wash of confusion, anger, hurt and betrayal and she wasn’t sure what to do, or where to turn as her former dog sat huddled on the couch, with two strangers looking on. A part of her wanted to go to him, to hold him, to soothe him because this was obviously hurting him, but the other part wanted to scream at him, to rant and rage and rail at him.

Only one thing was clear at the moment, one thought, and that was that she needed space, space and time to sort out how she felt about all this. It was only fair. After all one minute she was coming home from work, having been allowed to leave early as it was shaping into a slow night looking forward to curling up with her dog on the couch to watch a movie, and the next she was discovering her dog wasn’t a dog and werewolves were real, and one had been living in her house, under her nose for the past two weeks.

“I think you need to leave,” she was surprised at how level her voice came out.

His head popped up immediately in surprise, his face filled with anguish as distressed whimpers fell from his lips in a torrent.

“I need to think,” she said firmly refusing to give in to the lethal puppy dog eyes he was leveling at her, “And you need to go.”

“Come on,” Marco cajoled when Ace made no move to go anywhere getting to his feet, and dragging Thatch with him, “She’s right, the Pack is worried about you Ace and waiting for an update on if we found you or not. Besides I think the lady deserves her space for now.”

His face softened as he looked at her former pet who hadn’t moved from the couch, “I’ll go grab some spare clothes for you from the car Ace, give you some time to say your goodbyes.”

That said he pulled a compliant Thatch out of the house, closing the door behind him, leaving her alone with her former pet. He looked completely wrecked and absolutely miserable, and in his dejected posture she could see the dog she’d come to love with everything she had, which prompted her to speak.

“You saved my life,” she told him quietly, prompting his head to lift and for him to stare at her with wide eyes, “Thank you.”

“I didn’t,” he told her, his voice raspy with emotion, “I’ve ruined your life. I’m sorry, so, so, so sorry.”

“I don’t see how you could have ruined it, sure you lied to me, but I’ll in all likelihood get over it,” she assured him with a brittle smile.

“You don’t understand, there are laws governing our society,” he told her his tone low and suddenly very urgent, as his gaze darted toward the door his friends had exited, “Humans aren’t allowed to know about us.”

“So you’re saying what exactly?” she asked incredulously and suddenly very wary, “That they’ll try to kill me? I’m not going to tell anyone. Who the hell would believe me anyway?”

“Some Packs might’ve tried to kill you yes,” he admitted anxiously, “But ours isn’t like that. We don’t kill humans unless they attack us first. No our Pack is much more likely to try to turn you.”

“Turn me?” she demanded both nervous and a bit afraid, “What into a Werewolf like you?”

He nodded solemnly and she gaped at him, then demanded, “So what? In turn for saving your life I get mine taken away?”

He flinched as if she’d slapped him, but slowly nodded.

“And I don’t get any say at all,” she stated flatly her ire rising once more, “What if I don’t want to be a Werewolf?”

“You don’t then?” he asked carefully, “Want to be turned?”

“No!” she snapped angrily, not even pausing to think about it.

She was surprised then, to see him straighten himself out, and when he looked at her again his face was filled with determination, a strange glint in his eyes as he looked at her, then nodded to himself, “Alright then. I’ll make sure you aren’t turned.”

“Excuse me?” she asked incredulously, “Didn’t you just say it was against the law not to have me turned?”

“It is, but, just like you said you saved my life, this is the very least I could do for you, and it looks like the only thing I can do for you,” he told her with a sad smile.

“I… thank you?” she said hesitantly, not exactly sure what to say. Watching, baffled, as he bent down and scribbled something on to the pad sitting on her coffee table.

“I should be the one thanking you,” he told her, that same sad but determined smile on his face, “For taking good care of me.”

The words ‘for loving me’ hung in the air between them unspoken but understood nonetheless.

“I’m sorry,” he said quietly but sincerely, “Sorry for the trouble I caused you, sorry for hurting you, sorry for lying to you, just, just sorry. Except I can’t bring myself to be sorry it happened, because meeting you, meeting you was something special, something that I’ll treasure.”

“That’s my cell phone number, on the pad there, if, if you ever need me, or, or just want to call,” he told her softly.

A sharp knock on the door interrupted whatever she might’ve said in return, and Marco came back in, handing off a shirt and shorts to Ace. Realizing for the first time that he was completely buck naked she whirled away from him cheeks burning in shock.

She could see the slight amusement on Marco’s face out of the corner of her eye, but didn’t turn back around until the cloth stopped rustling. He was looking at her again, with those sad silver eyes, and made an aborted movement to reach for her but stopped short apparently unable to find words as he just stared at her unhappily.

“Thank you for taking care of him,” Marco told her apparently taking control of the conversation, gently taking hold of Ace’s arm and guiding him towards the door, “The Whitebeard Pack owes you a great debt.”

She nodded at him politely and followed them a few steps behind and waited until they were out of her house.

“We’ll be in touch,” Marco informed her, giving her a final nod of recognition as she closed the door behind them, shutting them out.

Out of habit she flicked the lock shut, and then slowly let her legs give out from under her, as she attempted to process everything that had just happened.

Chapter Text

Marco had thought Ace had maybe gotten himself together until the sound of the lock in the door behind them clicked shut. The devastation on his brother’s face was something he’d never wanted to see. He could practically feel Ace’s anguish and his heart twisted in sympathy, as he supported him back to his car, helping him climb into the backseat.

Ace looked like his entire world had been torn out from under him as he twisted in his seat, getting up on his hands and knees to peer out the back window, watching the house they’d left until they turned the corner and were out of sight. Then he slumped back down, curling into a defeated ball.

Marco exchanged anxious glances with Thatch. Neither of them had ever seen Ace act like this, so defeated and hurt and vulnerable, not even when he’d gotten his baby Alpha butt kicked by their Pops every other day for almost six months. He knew it was because of the human girl, and he wanted to be angry, furious on behalf of his brother, but he couldn’t.

He couldn’t dredge up a single ounce of anger because it wasn’t her fault, not even close, and he’d seen the lost look on her face as she’d closed the door behind them and locked them out. He had a feeling she was hurting just as much as Ace was right now.

Thatch wasn’t any better, his face a myriad of guilt and anguish as he kept constant watch on Ace in the back seat, probably to reassure himself he was still there. He couldn’t blame him, he kept checking back on his brother too. They had come so close to losing him, too close. If it hadn’t been for her…

Neither of them so much as twitched as he placed a quick call to Pops to let him know he could call of the search for Ace, he was safe with them and on the way home. However when Pops had asked about Ace’s condition he hadn’t known what to say, physically Ace was fine, better than fine even, but mentally and emotionally? Luckily as always Pops seemed to understand and told him they’d talk about it when they got home.

They’d had quite an audience when they arrived, everyone anxious to see and scent their missing brother, just to assure themselves he was alive and unhurt, but it quickly became apparent that Ace wasn’t okay, and he didn’t want to talk to anyone. He didn’t even acknowledge Haruta who come to apologize, who wouldn’t stop apologizing to no avail.

Fortunately Pops quickly cleared the room of all but those closest to Ace and his division commanders, and then demanded a report from Marco, as Ace stood, tight lipped and blank faced by his side.

Marco told him everything, every little detail he could remember, including everything they’d learned at the animal shelter both from (name), from the secretary, and from Ace himself. Then he told him all about (name) about her interesting scent and the fact that she could use the Voice of an Alpha despite being human and force even Ace, an Alpha and a powerful one, to obey her.

A lot of them were curious about her scent, that still clung to Ace, but he refused to allow anyone to get close to him, not wanting to let them scent mark him and take that last piece of her away. Marco did his best to describe it, but it wasn’t something that lent itself to words very well.

Ace had said the smell was like a drug to him, and while Marco hadn’t found it that addictive he had found it extremely pleasant, one of the best he’d ever gotten whiff of. Interestingly enough when asked Thatch told them he thought the scent was nice enough, but nothing special.

Marco had a feeling he knew what that meant, and from the understanding looks on the faces of the others around, his fellow wolves, so did they. While Werewolves were both wolf and man, they tended to rely a lot more on their other senses, hearing and smell than normal humans did. Even in human form these senses were several times better than the human average, and some Werewolves were even more gifted than the norm.

Scent, and scent marking in a Werewolf pack was an integral part of Pack life. Scent marking generally meant sharing scent, by rubbing glands against one another, which was generally considered an affectionate move that solidified bonds between pack members. It was considered strange to not share scent when meeting up with pack members on the day to day.

Thus every pack had an underlying scent outside of their own unique scent, that helped others identify which pack they belonged to. That Ace was refusing to accept the others’ scent marks after being separated from (name) was an extremely telling sign.

The other sign was of course how good she smelled to him. Every single living being had its own unique scent. In a pack of Werewolves this meant that every member could be identified without sight or sound. No one was entirely sure why, though some theorized about pheromones, but either way certain Werewolves tended to smell more appealing based on the person. In other words someone who might smell just okay or even disgusting to one Were could smell amazing to another.

Studies in their communities had found that with Werewolves who mated with another whose scent appealed greatly to them tended to be overall happier and to have healthier pups. Basically the better they smelled the better the mate. That (name) had smelled so good to Ace that he couldn’t really bear to leave her, meant that she was an extraordinarily good match for him.

This was more than a bit surprising, because for whatever reason humans tended to have weaker and less appealing scents than fellow Werewolves. That (name) was human and smelled that good to Ace should’ve been impossible, that she also appealed to Marco was even more unlikely still, though admittedly the appeal for him wasn’t nearly as strong as it was for Ace.

“So she knows about us then?” Jozu asked breaking Marco out of his thoughts.

“Depends about what you mean by us,” Thatch hedged carefully, not wanting to upset Ace further or get him into trouble, “Does she know Ace is a Werewolf? Yes absolutely, could she guess about me and Marco? Probably. Could she find out about the Pack in general? No I don’t think so, she doesn’t have last names for any of us, or the name of our Pack, and I don’t think she paid any sort of attention to Marco’s car. Honestly I think she was in shock for most of it, she didn’t ask any questions about Werewolves just about Ace.”

“The question is what are we going to do about her now that she knows,” Izo pointed out rationally.

That certainly got Ace’s attention for the first time since returning home. His head jerked up and he looked at everyone suspicious and angry. Standing so close to him Marco could smell the anxiety and the anger on him, and hastened to assure his brother.

“No one is going to hurt her,” he told Ace carefully, “She saved your life, and treated you very well, we owe her a debt for that.”

“The best option is of course to turn her,” his Pops mused aloud, only to be cut off by a ferocious snarl, and everyone turned to look at Ace in shock.

“You won’t touch her!” the force of his Alpha Voice rang through the pack gathering, the force in it sending even Marco reeling, the same way it had before back in (Name’s) home, “I’ll kill you first.”

Everyone flat out gaped at Ace, caught completely off guard. Partially because he’d used his Alpha Voice, something that, because of his father, he absolutely despised using and tried to avoid at all costs, and partially because Ace had threatened all of them, including Pops, who was their Alpha.

It was a direct challenge, one that some Alphas would fight him to the death over, but Pops wasn’t like other Alphas and Ace had challenged him before, back when Pops was trying to convince him to join their family. However Marco had thought they were past that point. Ace hadn’t actually challenged Pops in over a year now, and he’d thought Ace had settled into their family, but perhaps not.

His Pops leaned forward in the chair he used during their Pack meetings, more of a throne than anything else so he could look Ace dead in the eye, and asked gently, “Does she mean that much to you son?”

“She saved me,” Ace told him, holding his gaze and refusing to back down, “And she doesn’t want to be turned. I asked, she said no. I won’t let anyone force her. I won’t let anyone touch her. I-I care about her and I won’t let anything happen to her.”

From Ace, who even now had a hard time talking about his feelings or expressing his affections to anyone except his little brother Luffy, it was like shouting from the rooftops for all to hear how much he cared about this human girl. Glancing at his Pops he saw their Alpha had come to the same conclusion he had. Ace had fallen, hard and fast and it was even more glaringly obvious than it had been before. It wasn’t just the scent, that kept Ace from leaving. His brother was in love.

The ironclad realization was more than a bit shocking. He’d never thought it would happen. Ace’s childhood had been pretty much abysmal, full of neglect and abuse, with the only bright lights coming in the form of his two brothers Sabo and Luffy. If it hadn’t been for them Marco dreaded to think that what would’ve become of his beloved brother.

Even with their influence Ace didn’t trust easily or often. It was only through six months of gentle love and persistence that Pops had gotten even the beginnings of trust from Ace, longer still for Marco and Ace’s other close friends to earn more than wary looks and suspicious glares.

It wasn’t that he didn’t think Ace capable of love, it was just he never thought he’d be open enough to trusting someone that he’d be able to even consider the idea. His theory had only gained more credence when talks with Ace’s former pack the Spades, and both his brothers showed that Ace had never, ever been interested in anyone in that way.

Now here he was head over heels in love with a human girl after only two weeks and Marco felt like the world had tipped a bit on its axis. Despite feeling more than a bit unbalanced though, Marco knew one thing for certain. They had to somehow convince (name) to agree to be changed.

Ace deserved to have a mate, he deserved to have someone he could love and trust and share those intimate special moments that only occurred between mates with. He deserved to be shown he could be loved.

If Ace had ever shown an interest in any of the other Weres around Marco would’ve pounced on the opportunity to make him happy. He wasn’t about to do any less even though the mate Ace had chosen for himself was human, and carefully ignored the part of himself that had always wanted to see if maybe he could make Ace happy.

His gut told him that this might be his brother’s one and only chance for a mate, and he wasn’t going to waste it. The key here was going to be (name). They were going to have to gain her trust and her agreement to be turned for Ace’s sake, but it would have to be done slowly, slowly and carefully so that when she agreed no one would have any doubts that she’d done it of her own free will, free of any tricks or coercion. Otherwise he was sure Ace would never forgive them.

Meeting his Pop’s eyes he could see his Alpha having the exact same thoughts as he was, and he gave him the tiniest of nods in acknowledgment, that said they’d be speaking more on this later, for now though Ace had to be appeased.

“Very well,” Whitebeard told Ace firmly, his tone gentle and kind before gazing out at the assembled pack members, “No one is to attempt to turn Ace’s (name).”

Glancing around he could see that a good majority of the listeners including Thatch who was looking directly at Marco for confirmation had heard the unspoken “yet” at the end of Pops’ sentence. He nodded once to Thatch in verification and saw him nod in return a rare serious look on his face, that meant his brother would be going about this new task very seriously. As the only other Were who’d met (name) it was good to have him onboard with the plan to make her Ace’s mate.

For now though the use of Pops’ Alpha voice meant that none of those listening would go against the order, either because they physically couldn’t now or because of their respect for their Alpha. He could see Ace’s shoulders relax slightly, and was close enough to hear the mumbled, “Thanks Pops.”

Whitebeard gently pet Ace’s head, careful not to cover the scent marks left over from (name) so as to not distress Ace further, and then dismissed the group to go back to whatever they were doing before the meeting had been called.

Ace left quietly refusing to look or speak to anyone, probably wanting to get some time to himself, as he’d headed in the direction of his rooms. Marco just hoped he would be able to pull his brother out of his funk sooner than later. It hurt to see him looking so torn up over this.

That left just Pops, Thatch, and Izo in the room. He wanted to say he was surprised Izo was there, but really he wasn’t. Izo could smell plotting a mile away, he kind of had to be able to with Thatch as his mate. Frankly his rather effeminate Beta brother would probably be very useful in helping them figure out how to sway (name) around to their way of thinking.

Pops let out a groan and leaned back in his chair, taking a deep swig of the sake he kept in a bottle near the base for moments like these before glancing at all three of them as he set the bottle down again and swiped the back of his hand over his mouth, his eyes boring into each of them in turn before settling on Marco.

“Alright son,” he said seriously, “Tell me everything you remember about this (name) our Ace is in love with.”

It was…quiet without Freckles, Ace, Freckles, whatever around. Quiet and strange, she kept calling out to him, asking him questions or encouraging him to come see her only to realize he wasn’t there. She felt more than a bit lost honestly.

Coming to terms with Werewolves had taken her quite a bit of time, and while technically she hadn’t seen him shift into his other form with her own eyes, she had seen more than enough proof. After all his eyes were extremely unique, along with the sound of his voice, as he made animal noises, which had been unmistakable even in human form.

Plus, she was fairly sure she’d seen him before, that first morning she’d had him, hiding under her bed. His transformation must have worn off in the night or something, which was enough to make her face heat in embarrassment.

She knew she was a cuddler when she slept. Kaya had teased her about it a lot back when they used to have sleepovers, which meant she had undoubtedly cuddled him, and if the state of him when she got home was any indication it’d been done with him completely in the nude.

She wanted to be furious at that. It was strange, wrong, and creepy for a naked man to sleep in bed with an ignorant woman unaware of his presence. However some part of her didn’t feel like he meant any harm by it, he wasn’t trying to hurt her or force his presence on her he had just wanted to be close to her. It was nearly platonic.

The fact of the matter was Ace, Freckles, whatever his name was! Had made her feel safe. His mere presence had brought her a lot of comfort, which made it hard muster the energy to be angry at him, especially if he was being truthful about staying to protect her.

That he had saved her life from the man who’d meant to rape and kill her was undeniable, and lent credence to his claim of protecting her. Without him there, there was no doubt in her mind she would’ve died. He was also correct in saying that if he had left at any point she would’ve gone looking for him.

She couldn’t imagine the pain she would’ve felt wandering around searching for her lost pet as she blamed herself for his absence. It would’ve been terrible to lose her beloved dog, and likely dangerous for her to be roaming this particular neighborhood at night to be looking for him, which was when he would’ve had to leave in order to avoid giving himself away.

The more she thought about it the more she could see it from his point of view, the problem was that it still hurt. She’d trusted him, and loved him unconditionally, and it had apparently all been a lie. She didn’t know him, couldn’t know him, not the way he’d probably gotten to know her, because he was pretending to be a dog at the time.

Despite that though she couldn’t help missing him. His number was programmed into her cell phone and several times she’d almost picked up the phone to call him, to ask how he was doing, to question him about Werewolves, to learn more about him, but each time she’d talked herself out of it. Her feelings were still too confused for her to be able to talk to him.

It didn’t help that she found his human form extremely attractive. He been just like he’d appeared in her dreams, with broad shoulders, sculpted muscles, and a swoon worthy face. She just hoped against hope he didn’t know about those dreams, because some of them had been more than a little inappropriate to be having about someone she didn’t know.

She hadn’t had any of those raunchier dreams since he’d left, but she had dreamed of him a couple of times. Mostly it had been of him staring at her with hurt silver eyes, reaching desperately for her even as she remained stone cold and unmoving. Several times she’d woken in the middle of the night her arms reaching for something that wasn’t there.

It certainly hadn’t helped her sleep cycle any, especially not when those dreams came mixed in with nightmares of the nights she was attacked. It was strange, she actually hadn’t had nightmares about it until after he left. She figured it was probably because she’d felt so safe with him.

She certainly didn’t feel nearly as safe with him gone. She’d formed several paranoid habits in his absence, often double and triple checking the locks on the doors and windows, and carrying pepper spray with her in a death grip on her way to and from work. She tended to jump at small noises and startle when people came up behind her without warning.

All of this meant she was pretty skittish during the day, and her coworkers and the others she interacted with regularly had definitely noticed and been concerned. She brushed them off with a forcedly cheerful smile and missed him more than ever. She had the feeling if she just picked up the phone he’d come running, but she couldn’t do that, not to herself and not to him either, and promised herself it wasn’t just her pride speaking.

Normally she would probably have talked to Kaya about everything, but she couldn’t. He’d said the existence of Werewolves was supposed to be a secret and hinted that people had in fact been killed for it. There was no way she’d endanger her friend like that.

Kaya did her best to comfort her with what little she knew, but that only made (name) feel worse because she’d had to lie to her about it. She’d told her friend that Freckle’s owners had tracked her down and had taken the dog back, which was why she no longer had him.

Her friend had been outraged on her behalf and had promised if she wanted she would do everything in her considerable power to get the dog back for her because obviously these previous owners couldn’t be nearly as good as she was. She’d felt even worse as she dug herself deeper into the lie, assuring Kaya that they were extremely loving owners and had only lost her Freckles due to an extremely unfortunate accident.

She tried to justify it a bit, by giving as many true details as she could, citing Thatch and Marco as Freckles’ owners, and saying they’d even left contact information for her just in case she ever wanted to come visit and see him again. Kaya had been appeased, but it still made her feel sick to her stomach to lie to her like that.

Luckily she didn’t have to hide the details of her attack from Kaya, who she hadn’t told about it yet because her friend had been out of the country for a while on business. Kaya had, unsurprisingly, been furious with her for not telling her sooner.

The minute she had though Kaya had put down everything and came rushing over, to see for herself that (name) was uninjured, which was the reason she hadn’t told Kaya in the first place. She didn’t want her friend putting her life on hold for her. She was a busy woman with more important things to do.

Needless to say Kaya had not been impressed with that line of reasoning, and had insisted on staying the night with her. The two of them had taken the chance to get caught up with each other, and Kaya had apologized once again for Klahadore’s behavior at the Grocery Store. Luckily her friend was firmly on her side in this, and had managed to talk her parents around to her view as well.

Klahadore hadn’t been fired, but it had been a close thing, and she had felt rather vindicated about it. Honestly she felt it couldn’t happen to a better person. Surprisingly Kaya was much more willing to hear her speak poorly about the butler now. Apparently lately she’d felt like something was off with him, since the Grocery Store Incident, but she couldn’t out her finger on what.

(Name) warned her friend to be careful. She hadn’t ever liked Klahadore and never would. She got the feeling he could be extremely dangerous and something about him made her hackles rise. She urged her friend to be cautious about investigating him and Kaya agreed that she would be.

In turn for Kaya’s honesty about Kuro (name) had shared her sleep troubles with her friend. The first tactic she’d tried was of course to get another dog, but (name) didn’t have the heart to do it. While technically Freckles had never really been her dog it had still felt that way, and in a way she had lost him, she didn’t feel up to replacing him and wasn’t sure she ever would.

Luckily Kaya had been sympathetic and understanding, instead offering her teas and meditation techniques that she’d found helped her over the years. Their talk eventually devolved into normal girly chatter and that night she’d slept better than she had since he’d left.

Unfortunately Kaya had, had to head out again the next day to a business meeting but had promised to keep in touch better, and made her promise to do the same. She hadn’t gotten much sleep since.

She really wished she could stop missing him.

Thatch hummed to himself as he worked on making the dough that would need to rise overnight in order to be ready for breakfast tomorrow, his mind on (name) and in turn on Ace. He was worried about his brother, who didn’t seem nearly as energetic or hungry of late.

He was spending a lot of time on his own, running around the territory, doing patrols, and sparring with anyone who cared to take him on. Thatch knew he was probably dealing with his grief at being forced to leave (name), kicked out of her house and essentially rejected, as best he could, but it wasn’t enough for him.

He wanted to see his brother smile again, and to do that they needed to get (name) on board with becoming a Werewolf and mating with Ace. He, Marco, Pops and Izo had a plan, but unfortunately step one of that plan was to give her space to digest everything she’d inadvertently learned.

Thatch liked to believe that he had many virtues but patience had never been one of them. They weren’t planning on having anyone approach her again for another couple of days at least, and it wasn’t even him they were intending to send, but Marco.

He got that, that made sense. After all Pops couldn’t exactly go himself and Marco was his right hand. Plus he’d be a familiar face for (name). He understood all that, but it didn’t mean he had to like it. He wanted to do something to help his brother damnit! And apparently he wasn’t the only one.

“So she really was something special huh?” his brother asked interested, “I mean I suppose she’d have to be to catch the Commander’s attention.”

Thatch nodded in agreement, offering the man a grin, “She certainly seemed interesting, not that I got to talk to her a whole lot.”

Teach offered him a grin in return, showing off his gap toothed smile, “She’ll make one hell of a werewolf! That’s for sure.”

Teach had actually come in about an hour ago to talk to Thatch, surprising him. It was pretty late after all, and not many people were awake. Hell Thatch was only awake because he had volunteered to finish the dough for tomorrow’s breakfast in exchange for not having to get up early and actually cook it.

His brother had explained how he was worried about Ace, all of them were, but the second division, which was technically under Ace’s command, especially. After all he was their Commander and the first Alpha they were supposed to go to with their problems.

Thatch honestly shouldn’t have been surprised that one of them had approached with questions about the human girl who’d captured Ace’s heart. He’d done his best to reassure the man, on what little information he had, that she was definitely worthy of the commander.

Teach had, had all sorts of questions about her, the kinds of questions a concerned brother would ask. Was she nice? Was she pretty? Those kinds of things, but he was also really curious about her Alpha Voice.

He hadn’t actually been there for the debriefing, as he’d still been out looking for Ace and hadn’t returned in time, but he’d heard about it from the others who had been there. He’d apparently wanted to confirm the rumors for himself, which Thatch was happy to do for him.

The second division member had been suitably impressed by the power of her Voice. After all it wasn’t just anyone who could stop Ace in his tracks, Thatch could only think of a handful, and all of them were male Alpha Werewolves, and not small human females.

The two of them had joked that she’d need that voice to keep a leash on Ace when they got together. Laughing about Ace’s wild ideas and pranks that they’d borne witness to since he’d joined them. Thatch had taken comfort in the fact that his brother thought that winning over (name) for Ace was a done deal.

If he was honest with himself he was more than a little worried about it, especially since this whole thing had started off on the entirely wrong foot, and frankly he felt more than a bit responsible for it. After all it was his fault, his prank, that had resulted in Ace pretending to be her dog and her hurt feelings over it.

However he was determined to make it up to them. He’d spent a lot of time bouncing thoughts off his mate Izo on how to do just that, and felt a lot better for having some ideas ready to go when Pops and Marco gave the go ahead for others to approach her.

He was so caught up in his thoughts about how to get the two of them together, and so comfortable in his brother’s presence he didn’t think twice about showing the man his back as he bent to put the dough in the warming drawer so it would rise.

His first and only indication that something wasn’t right was the explosion of pain as teeth ripped into his neck, and he went down in a pile of flailing limbs, as he desperately tried to shift into his wolf form for some protection. He only managed to get a half shift done though, unable to focus through the pain.

He stared up at the man he’d thought of as Pack, as brother as he smirked down at him, already feeling the taint of an Alpha’s bite burning through his veins, which was supposed to be impossible because as far as he knew Teach was supposed to be a Beta. A low whine escaping his throat as he tried to find the words to ask why, to try to understand why he’d been attacked by someone he’d loved and trusted.

Teach seemed to understand though despite his inability to form words and shrugged at him, “Sorry bout this Thatchy, but I can’t let them come after me right away, and like this you’ll be a good distraction as they try to save you. It should give me just enough time for a date with Ace’s little Alpha girlfriend.”

So saying he took a few steps back and sent up a howl that would bring others running. He heard clattering all around him, and he could faintly hear Teach tell those that had entered the room that a strange Alpha had appeared and attacked him, and that he’d gotten bitten. That he (Teach) would go after the Alpha, before leaving the room at a sprint.

All the while Thatch lay unmoving on the floor, unable to vocalize except for pained whines as he tried to warn them, tried to tell them what had happened, order them to go get Ace and tell him to protect his girl, but he couldn’t.

The best he could manage was a pained garble, that only vaguely sounded like Ace’s name, then (Name’s) thanks to his inhuman lips, teeth and tongue before succumbing to the pain.

Chapter Text

(Name) lay awake in her bed, clad only in a tank top and shorts in an attempt to keep cool. Summer had apparently decided to come early, and the last few days had been unseasonably warm. Still she had been reluctant to turn her air conditioning on, it was only late April, so it might still get cold again.

Between the heat and her racing thoughts she couldn’t seem to fall asleep despite the late hour. Her thoughts, as per usual of late, were on Ace/Freckles. She wondered how he was doing, if he was missing her, the way she was missing him. Once more she’d almost given in and called today.

She’d been standing at the stove, making dinner, and had needed something from the freezer, which she didn’t use often because she preferred to make her food fresh. Upon opening it she’d immediately spotted the huge frozen bags of homemade dog food she’d made, all neatly labeled with the contents and how much she thought he’d liked them.

For a moment all of her had ached, and her eyes had begun to water as she stared at the food. It was completely and utterly stupid how much she was missing him, he wasn’t a dog, he was a human, werewolf, whatever, and she hadn’t even had him that long, hadn’t known him, not really, and yet she missed him. He’d wriggled his way into her life and carved out a place for himself that felt empty now.

Her hand had reached for her phone, and she’d slipped through her contacts until she found his number, his name had been highlighted and her finger hovering over the call button for a second before she’d gotten hold of herself again. She was being ridiculous.

She didn’t need to call him. She didn’t need him. She was strong, independent, and capable. They were practically strangers anyway, and he was a werewolf with a pack who didn’t need her. Hell now that he was home he probably hadn’t even thought of her since he’d left nearly a week and a half ago.

A part of her knew that wasn’t true, tried to remind her of the devastated expression on his face as he’d left, the way he’d reached for her, still seemed to reach for her in her nightmares. She shoved that part ruthlessly down, repeating to herself that he didn’t need or want her, and she didn’t need or want him either until she’d had the willpower to put her phone away.

It didn’t make things any easier though as she deliberately made herself throw all the food away, and take it out to the garbage outside. Still she had done it, reassuring herself that it was the right thing to do. She needed to move on from this and forget her strange bout with the supernatural ever happened, forget him and everything associated with him for her own safety and peace of mind.

After all she’d told him she didn’t want to be turned, and she stood by that decision. She had no proof that they wouldn’t still come after her, but despite everything she trusted him to at least keep her safe from his pack, no matter what.

Heaving a sigh she turned over in her bed, praying to get some sleep. She was exhausted, and it was beginning to affect her work, her boss had actually sent her home early tonight because she’d nearly fallen asleep on the job. Luckily it had only been a moment of compassion rather than her getting in trouble. He’d been very empathetic since her attack, and she got the feeling he felt partially responsible for it, as he’d never tried to curb Grabby-hands’ behavior.

The house creaked around her and she stiffened, heart racing in fright even as she tried to convince herself she was being stupid again. She was still jumpy, especially at night, It was completely idiotic and paranoid, but she couldn’t help herself.

Sitting up slowly in her bed, she reached for the two items she’d taken to keeping on her nightstand, her cell phone and a can of pepper spray. The pepper spray had been Kaya’s idea to help make her feel safer, and it had been a good one. Still it was times like these she really, really missed her Freckles. He would’ve known and warned her in an instant if there was someone in the house.

Anxiously she clutched both items to her chest, straining her ears. She could hear what sounded like faint shuffling noises, and it might’ve been the wind, it might’ve been nothing, but it still sent fear and adrenalin spiking through her as she got up out of the bed, and moved to a corner of the room where she wouldn’t be as visible.

Unfortunately she couldn’t exactly go into the bathroom as it had no windows through which she could escape if there really was someone in her house. Another sound had her reaching for her phone, flicking through the contacts and dialing without a thought as she brought the phone to her ear and waited for an answer.

Marco sat in nervous silence with his Pops and the other Division Commanders as they waited for word on what was happening with Thatch. No one was sure what was going on.

From what he had managed to gather, those closest had been called to the scene of the attack by Teach, a beta from the Second Division. The responders were a bit uncertain, but from what they remembered Teach had said Thatch had been under attack by some strange Alpha, not one of their pack, who had taken off running when Teach arrived.

Unfortunately Teach had then taken off himself in pursuit before anyone could advise him against it, and no one could go with because they were too busy tending to Thatch and calling for more help. Those first responders had confirmed that Thatch had indeed been bitten by a strange Alpha, which was why he was in so much danger right now.

Biting in a werewolf pack was very different from what one might think, in part because there was more than one kind of bite. The first and most frequent was play biting, little nips and nibbles that occurred when playing or during a spar. These kinds of bites were done completely clean, with no intention to do anything.

The second kind of biting was meant to be between mates and lovers. This was much more sensual, and it was done with a bite to the neck with the intention to mark that person forever as your mate. The bite was filled with enzymes that would initiate a bond between the two of them that could never be broken. It brought the pair extremely close, and they tended to be able to do things like sense the other’s location, and sometimes if the bond was close enough, share their emotions and thoughts without the need to speak aloud. This bite had to be consensual and mutual or it wouldn’t work.

The third kind of biting was a turning bite. This did exactly as the name suggested, it turned a human into a werewolf. It also generally took place on the neck, though anywhere would do. It also initiated a bit of a bond between the biter and the bitten. It allowed the biter some control over the newly turned werewolf, which was thought to be a precautionary thing, just in case the moon madness took them and they needed to be brought down. Which of course is why born werewolves had no need for that bond and thus didn’t have one.

The last and final bite was an Alpha bite, which also had to be placed on the neck in order to work, this was the kind of bite used to make unruly pack members submit. As the name implied it could only be performed by Alphas. Usually what happened with the Alpha bite was the wolf being bitten submitted to the Alpha, and the Alpha let go and soothed the bite with their tongue to get the effects to stop.

However sometimes, like when a turned wolf came down with moon madness, the wolf wouldn’t submit. In that case the bite continued to get more and more painful until it completely debilitated or killed the bitten wolf. Thatch’s case was different, cases like his were exceptionally rare, in this case the Alpha in question had used the Alpha bite with the intention of causing him pain, and so there would be no soothing it.

Unfortunately the bite of an Alpha had to be soothed by the Alpha who gave it to stop its effects completely. This in itself would’ve been bad enough in Thatch’s case, but when help had arrived not only had he had an Alpha bite, but his neck had practically been ripped open, blood spattered everywhere.

The only reason he wasn’t dead already was because the bonds between a Were and his mate, and a Were and his chosen Alpha allowed their saliva to have healing properties. Izo had been one of the first on the scene, and Pops had been close on his heels. Between the two of them they’d managed to keep Thatch from bleeding out, the problem was now dealing with the bite.

The best way to deal with this under normal circumstances would actually be to kill the Alpha who caused the bite. For reasons still unknown to them, when the Alpha who initiated a hostile bite like this was killed all the enzymes, which were what was actually causing the pain, from the bite died along with the Alpha, curing its effects.

Unfortunately when they’d gone to track Teach who was tracking the Alpha the trail had gone cold. There was nothing they could do now except pray for a miracle and hope another one of their brothers wouldn’t be killed tonight for his recklessness.

Marco’s hands clenched in helpless frustration, if only Teach had been able to leave behind a trail for them to follow! They could be out there hunting down the bastard who did this together, and not be sitting here at the Pack medical waiting anxiously for some kind of word either from Thatch or Teach.

The sound of a cell phone going off was so loud in the silence of the room that he jumped, and he wasn’t the only one, a distinct crunching noise told him at least one of his brothers had broken the chair they were sitting on in their surprise. Glancing around he saw Ace, hurriedly fumbling with his phone.

Hope rose in his chest. Ace was Teach’s Division Commander, admittedly one would think he’d call Pops or Marco first, but Ace was still a logical choice.

“Hello?” Ace asked anxiously.

“Frecks, Ace, it’s me,” thanks to the quiet of the room, and enhanced Werewolf senses despite the fact that the voice was extremely soft they could all hear it.

Under normal circumstances, where Thatch’s life wasn’t on the line along with another of their brothers he would’ve been thrilled to hear that specific voice from that particular phone. He was still glad for his brother, but he had hoped it had been someone else. Still it would be nice if this were an indication of things working out without their intervention. He sure as hell could use some good news right now.

“(Name?)” Ace questioned, a slight wobble in his voice, that would’ve gone undetected through the phone, but that Marco could hear loud and clear. He could also see understanding dawn on the faces of the rest of the Commanders, and even Pops and Izo looked interested, though their eyes didn’t waiver from the door that Thatch was behind with the best doctors the Pack had.

“I’m sorry, this is stupid, I don’t even know why I’m calling you,” she told Ace, her voice loud and clear to the whole room, and Marco couldn’t help flinching for his brother at the words, that certainly wasn’t as promising as he could’ve hoped. However Ace must’ve heard something different than he had because something in his face went hard.

“(Name), (Name), tell me what’s wrong,” Ace ordered gently cutting through the babble.

“I think, I think someone might be in my house,” she said so quietly Marco had to strain to hear it, “It might be that I’m paranoid, but I just… Look I know it can’t be that guy okay that you saved me from because he’s in prison and they would’ve told me or it would’ve been on the news or something if he got out but…”

“I just, I think I hear things, but then maybe it’s just the wind, and it’s stupid and I’m scared and you’re not here and I can’t…” she trailed off her voice quiet and frightened and nothing like he’d have expected to hear from her after how strong she’d been when he’d last seen her.

Ace looked up helplessly at Pops, and Marco could see him practically vibrating with need. He needed to go to her, to see her, to make sure she was okay, but at the same time he didn’t want to leave Thatch. Pops opened his mouth, likely to tell Ace to go as there was nothing he could really do here, when a sharp gasp of fright, followed by a different voice filtered though the phone, even clearer than her hushed whisper had been.

“Well girlie, now what are you doin’ up so late?” shock flooded his system and turned him still as a statue as he realized he recognized that voice, “And just who are you talkin’ to?”

“None of your goddamn business, who the hell are you and what are you doing in my house?!” her voice was strong now, with none of the fear it had held moments before, and he had to admire her bravado.

“Name’s Teach girlie, Marshall D. Teach,” the other voice announced confirming Marco’s suspicions, even as dread curdled in his stomach, as a terrible theory began to form in his mind, “I’m part of your pal Ace’s pack, and as for what I’m doing here, well I’m here to turn ya ain’t I? After all no humans are allowed to know bout Weres unless they get turned.”

“Ace promised me I didn’t have to,” she informed Teach icily.

“Yes well, Ace isn’t really going to have a say in this, besides he’s a little busy at the moment,” Teach announced, and Marco could practically hear the smugness in his voice.

“Busy with what?” she asked suspiciously.

“Oh he’s probably looking for me, that or trying to hunt down the mysterious Alpha who attacked Thatch,” he told her casually.

“Attacked Thatch? The redhead? What the hell did you do to him?” she demanded, apparently angry on his brother’s behalf.

“Eh, just a little bite, was sorry to do it, but I needed the distraction. I had to find you after all,” he said confirming all of Marco’s worst fears in a single sentence. Anger, betrayal and shocked disbelief flooded his system, because this couldn’t be happening right? Had one of their brothers, someone they’d taken into their pack and loved like family, deliberately set out to kill another brother? A family member? Normally he wouldn’t have dreamed it could get any worse than that, only it was still going, Teach was still talking.

“Me? What do you want from me?” she asked sounding completely and utterly confused, but Marco was pretty sure he knew, he felt ill just thinking about it.

“I was told you had a very unique gift,” Teach informed him with a laugh, “I’m just here to appropriate its’ use.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she told him honestly.

“You wouldn’t, and it doesn’t really matter, all that matters is that you’ll soon be using it for my benefit.”

“I won’t,” she spat defiantly, and once more Marco had to admire her guts. He’d seen her before, she wasn’t exactly an Amazon in stature to start with and Teach was a huge guy and a werewolf to boot, more than capable of overpowering her. Yet there she was holding her ground and mouthing off to him, “Get the hell out of my house!”

“No, I don’t think I will, and as for what you’ll do, well, you won’t have a choice,” Teach informed her with a relish that made Marco want to vomit, because how would they have not seen this? How could he have betrayed them like this? How could they not notice someone amongst them who was sick enough to be hinting at committing the biggest taboo Werewolf society had?

“You see there’s this thing, when a new werewolf gets turned by another, that creates a bond, and it’s a fairly tight one, that will allow the werewolf who turned the new one a degree of control, but when that bite is combined with what we call the Alpha’s bite, a bite that forces members of the Pack to submit, it creates an even greater degree of control, so much so that orders given can’t be disobeyed,” Teach explained, confirming Marco’s greatest fears. In the background he could hear his brothers and his Pops all snarling and growling in anger at what they were hearing.

Ace was dead silent though, completely white beneath his freckles and the most terrified Marco had ever seen him. He couldn’t blame him, the only person Ace had ever considered mating with was going to be turned against her will and trained into a weapon probably to wield specifically against Ace.

In a sick sort of sense Marco had to admire his strategy, because it was pretty much flawless. This wasn’t going to end well, not for her, not for Ace, not for any of them.

“Ace is going to kill you, when your pack finds out about this they’ll rip you to shreds,” she hissed, though he could hear just a tremor of fear in her voice.

“But that’s the thing! They won’t be able to! With you on my side Ace won’t be able to touch me, because you’ll be there to protect me, and with that gift of yours together with a few people I’ve been meaning to sway to our side or turn, the Whitebeard Pack won’t be able to fight us. Don’t think poor Ace would be able to lift a finger against his love, and I don’t think he’d take it well if any of the others did either,” Teach explained tauntingly, but apparently he’d pushed just a little too far.

“You will not touch Ace,” she snarled, her voice more animal than human, and the force of her Alpha command rocked through the room despite being filtered through the phone.

Several of the Commanders reeled in shock, and Haruta actually yipped in surprise. He couldn’t imagine what that had been like up close and personal, probably something like Pops when he went full command, and wasn’t that a terrifying thought, because his Pops was an experienced older Alpha werewolf, and she was still just a human girl.

Would her gift get stronger with her turning? He couldn’t imagine that kind of power leveled against them. Only Pops and maybe a handful of others would even be able to fight it off.

Over the phone breathless laughter, that grew louder by the second reached their ears, “Amazin! Never seen anything like you girlie, but I think that’s enough chattin, best to get this show on the road, just in case.”

There was a shocked gasp, and a low snarl and it became clear Teach had shifted, the sound of the phone hitting the floor, and a growling bark was the last thing they heard, as the connection was broken.

Ace was shifting and out the door before any of them could recover from their shock, his own phone hitting the floor, shattering on impact.

“Go with him,” their Pops spat out quickly, “Back him up, save her if you can, kill Teach.”

Marco nodded and raced out the door, with more than half the commanders at his heels. Unfortunately neither Pops nor Izo could come incase Thatch’s situation got worse and he needed them to help heal again. However if they could just kill Teach, everything would be fine, at least he hoped so, for all their sakes.

Instinct kicked in, and as the large black wolf who looked nothing like her sweet Freckles lunged at her she brought the can of Mace up and sprayed. She’d bought the best stuff available on the market, and it had a spray radius of up to twenty feet, so she didn’t actually need to hit him, but as it was she got him square in the face.

Unfortunately his momentum couldn’t be stopped at that point and his jaws closed on her neck. She screamed in pain, going down under the weight of the wolf, but it didn’t last very long as the wolf that called itself Teach tore his mouth away from her to howl in pain and rage. Struggling she managed to get herself out from underneath him, and hurriedly crawled away, pulling her tank up over her nose and mouth and keeping low to the ground to avoid the fine mist of the Mace spray still in the air.

Once she made it to the door she stumbled to her feet and took off down the hallway, hand pressed to her bleeding neck, that was slippery with blood, trying not to focus on the pain and instead focus on getting out of there. She stumbled, unable to keep her feet as her vision swam, pain was lancing out from the wound on her neck, and it felt as if molten lava had been poured into her veins.

A howl of rage behind her, made her force herself to keep moving. She needed to get away, to somewhere where someone could help her. She could hear loud thumps behind her, as the Werewolf made his own way down the hallway, running into the walls, unfortunately she knew while the pepper spray could impair his sight and sense of smell it wouldn’t do anything to his hearing.

Frantically she glanced around hoping for somewhere to hide, when her hazy eyes lit on the island and the counter behind it. Momentarily she was distracted by the memory of Freckles, his bulky body stuck between the two, unable to push through. It wasn’t much, but it was better than anything else she could think of.

Stumbling forward she fell to her hands and knees, unable to keep her balance with the pain spreading to her limbs. Blearily she crawled forward, determined to make it. She was almost there when a furious snarl wrent the air and teeth latched on to her left calf, the one part of her that hadn’t been behind the counter yet.

He’d found her. She screamed in pain as he tried to pull her out by her leg, and she grabbed hold of the handles of the cabinets, which gave way beneath the force, the door pulling completely off its hinges. Improvising she threw it as hard as she could at the Werewolf’s face. He yelped in surprise and let go, as it clocked him right in the nose.

Hurriedly she crawled forward into the space, pressing her back against the wall, and curling up into a ball desperately trying to make herself small, as pain from her shoulder and leg throbbed and her nerves were alight with fire. Her vision was hazy but through her bleary eyes she could see him through the gap.

He was lunging at her, over and over, trying to fit, but just like Freckles he couldn’t squeeze through the countertops seemed to splinter a bit, but they held firm underneath his onslaught.

She nearly sobbed in relief. However she could still see him, see the rage in his bloodshot eyes, hear his panting, snarling growls, and the fury in his face. Maybe he had started out wanting to turn her, but it was clear now, at this moment he wanted nothing more than to kill her. Fortunately it seemed they were at a stalemate, she just had to hope and pray Freckles would be here soon, and that he was bringing back-up with him.

From inside her safe zone she could see him pacing back and forth, snarling furiously, his eyes locked on her huddled form. She thought, prayed, he might give up, but then something shifted in his eyes and he leaped, up on to the countertop, sending the array of things she had up there raining down on her head.

She screamed in fear, bringing her arms up to shield her face. She only barely had time to drop down on her back to avoid the snapping jaws from above closing down on her head. Laying below him she could see the madness in his face, and smell his putrid breath as flecks of drool spattered her face and he flattened himself, trying to get low enough to bite her, one paw slipped down and raked sharp nails over her arms that were shielding her face, and she could see him contemplating just allowing himself to fall between the cracks.

That couldn’t be allowed to happen, because as soon as that happened she was dead. Glancing around frantically her eyes fell on to the things that had fallen near her when he’d leapt on to the counter, as if in answer to her prayers, right beside her the large butcher knife she’d been using to cut vegetables for her dinner earlier had fallen close to her head.

Her hand wrapped around it, just as the Werewolf decided to go for broke and lunge downwards to hell with the consequences. She let out a fierce cry and stabbed upwards, embedding the knife deep into the Werewolf’s throat and yanking back harshly. Blood gushed, spattering all over her face and body, and she choked, coughed and screamed in horror, the knife falling from her limp fingers with a clatter, as the lifeless body fell forward on to her, forcing her down, driving the breath from her lungs.

The pain from the bites was becoming too much, she couldn’t think, couldn’t see, couldn’t focus, couldn’t breathe. The world felt strangely silent without the snarling from the Werewolf filling her ears. Somewhere in the distance she heard a loud bang, but it was like she was underwater.

She didn’t know how much time had passed, but suddenly the wolf on top of her was moving. She wanted to be horrified, she’d thought for certain it was dead, that maybe she would live, but she didn’t have the energy to care. If she died now, she died and there was nothing she could do about it.

A voice was saying something, she could hear something that sounded vaguely like her name. Trying to focus her swimming vision as she felt her body being shifted, she finally managed to see a pair of familiar silver eyes staring down at her in what looked like shock and horror. She couldn’t even imagine the kind of mess she looked like right now, covered in blood, scraped and bruised.

She meant to say ‘Freckles! You came!’ but it came out more like, “Frecks, oo cay.”

She felt more than saw him press his forehead to hers, she could hear him saying things, but she couldn’t understand a word of it. Everything hurt, and despite his presence, despite how much she’d been wanting to see him, no matter what she’d told herself, she couldn’t keep her heavy eyelids from falling shut, succumbing to unconsciousness in his hold, knowing he’d keep her safe.

Ace had never run so fast in his life. Everything around him was a blur as he focused everything he could on getting to her. Unfortunately he knew in his heart of hearts that he wouldn’t be fast enough, that Teach would bite her, that only a miracle would stop him from biting her, but he prayed, he prayed like he had never prayed before to whatever deity might be listening, that even if he bit her, he wouldn’t have enough time to get away with her.

If Ace could just kill him, then while his (Name) may still change she wouldn’t be under Teach’s control. He was too much of a realist to pray she wouldn’t get bitten at all, he knew life would never be that kind to him.

He just had to hope he could get Teach away from her before he caused her too much pain. He knew there would be a fight at the very least, his (name) was a fighter, but she was no match for a Werewolf. If she sparked Teach’s infamous temper well…

He pushed himself even faster, and didn’t bother to stop, ramming himself straight through the door, which splintered into pieces under his heavy frame. Landing in the living room he had to pause as shock and horror overtook him. (Name’s) beautiful scent was tinged heavy with fear and pain so thick it blanketed the room, but it wasn’t nearly enough to cover the heavy copper stench of blood.

He could see it everywhere, splashed on the walls and floors, heavy streaks and small pools. Furniture was overturned, knick-knacks shattered on the floor, the wolf painting he’d bought with her, lay face down, its glass glinting in the moonlight. It looked like a scene right out of a horror film.

The house was deadly silent, and his heart sank as he realized that must mean it was over. He’d thought Teach had meant to turn her, but something must have happened, because if there was this much blood, then he’d been trying to do something more, he’d been trying to hurt her, maybe even kill her.

A whine of anguish forced its way past his lips at the thought of his (name) dead in this house, dead because of him. It hurt, it hurt more than anything he’d ever experienced in his life, and a part of him wanted to allow his legs to buckle under him, give in to weakness and never move again, but another part of him, that was becoming more and more insistent was slowly coming to life, as a single thought sparked an inferno of rage in his mind, if she was dead, he was going to make Teach pay.

He would hunt the bastard to the ends of the earth if he had to, but one way or another his (name) would be avenged.

His vengeful thoughts were interrupted by a pained whimper, and he forced his locked limbs forward, stumbling through the quiet house and worked his way into the kitchen. What he saw made his blood boil. The menacing dark shape of Teach was lodged between the counter and the island, the same way he’d once been, though it looked like he’d gone at it from above and had fallen down between.

He nearly lunged forward, intent on ripping his traitorous former brother limb from limb, but then he realized that Teach wasn’t moving at all, not even the slightest twitch. Another low, pained groan filled the room, one that wasn’t a Werewolf, but a human.

Hope flared and, not caring for the consequences he shifted back into his human form, stumbling forward. He desperately tried to see past Teach, but his body was blocking the way, it was then he realized that, that’s all it was, a body. Teach was dead.

He didn’t allow himself to ponder that though, as he grabbed him by the fur, digging his fingers in and ripping him away from the space, throwing the body out of the way in an impressive show of strength, and there she was.

She was covered head to toe in blood, some of her own, and some likely Teach’s, but her eyes were open. She was alive.

“(Name), (Name!)” he called frantically, falling to his knees not caring at all that fallen cutlery stabbed into his unprotected legs. Carefully reaching for her, afraid to touch her, not knowing where she was injured. She was completely unresponsive though, even as he carefully shifted her, putting an arm behind her back and lifting her upwards, bracing her upper body into a sitting position.

Her eyes rolled in her skull and he thought she would faint, but they finally focused on him. He was surprised to see the softening in her face and the slight smile, as she slurred something that he managed to translate to, “Freckles you came!”

His breath hitched in his throat, making it hard for him to breathe, as he pressed his forehead to hers, desperately trying to take in her scent, wishing he could pull her safely into his arms, not sure what to do to help her and aching with guilt and fear, “Course I came, I would always come for you, you’re gonna be okay I promise. I promise, I’m gonna make you okay.”

Her breathing hitched, and he’d thought maybe she’d heard, but when he pulled back to look at her, he saw with horror that her eyes were shut. Frantically his hands searched for a pulse at her neck, and he breathed a sigh of relief as he found one, thready and weak though it was. However he also found the gaping ugly wound on her neck.

Instinctively he lowered his face to it, gently pressing his teeth in lightly, hoping against hope that somehow his bite could override what Teach had done to her, and initiate some kind of bond that would allow her to heal. The taste of her blood mixed with Teach’s nearly made him gag, but he refused to let go, beginning to lap at the wound with his tongue.

He felt tears coursing down his cheeks in relief but didn’t dare stop as he felt the flesh knitting closed under his tongue. When that was done he carefully lowered her, his hands tenderly checking her body for any other wounds. There were small scrapes and bruises, along with a nasty set of gashes in her right arm, and another huge bite on her left calf.

Carefully he laved those shut as best he could, knowing that Werewolf saliva wasn’t the be all end all cure for injuries, but praying it would be enough to save her life. There was just so much blood. When his job was complete. He allowed himself to sob, and gathered her still body up in his arms. Burying his face in the crook of her neck and just breathing, listening to the soft beat of her heart and feeling the slow shallow breaths she was taking.

She was in the process of changing now. Nothing he could’ve done would’ve stopped it. He just had to hope she survived the process with mind intact. He clutched her tight and rocked back and forth, as the guilt ate at him.

He’d promised her she wouldn’t have to turn, he’d promised her she’d be safe, and he’d failed, he’d failed so badly it was unthinkable. She’d nearly died, could still die, and she was changing because one of the people he considered pack, considered brother, had attacked her in her home, because of him.

Teach never would’ve known about her if not for him. She would’ve been safe, free to live a nice, normal, happy life. A small part of him tried to whisper, to remind him that she would’ve died that one time without him, but he refused to listen. This was all his fault, and he refused to believe otherwise.

A mournful howl left his lips, as he was unable to hold it back anymore. There was no guarantee that she would survive the change with the condition she was in, and even if she did the moon madness might still take her. If she died tonight or succumbed to the madness upon wakening and had to be put down Ace would never forgive himself, not ever.

Chapter Text

Honestly when they’d arrived on the scene and saw Ace clutching the limp form of (name) to his chest both of them covered in blood, Marco was sure she was dead. The way Ace was sobbing, something Marco had never once seen him do, and rocking back and forth, clutching her limp form hadn’t done anything to disabuse him of that notion.

He’d tried approaching Ace, tried to coax him into letting her go, into leaving this bloodstained, grisly scene and taking a breather but Ace had refused. He’d growled ferociously at anyone except Marco himself who tried to approach. Marco’s heart had nearly broken as he’d thought they’d lost him, lost Ace to madness and grief.

Luckily that hadn’t been the case. Jozu had managed to keep his phone on him through the shift and had called Pops, who’d arrived on the double now that Thatch was out of danger. It was the one good thing to come of this scene, the assurance that Thatch would live, well, that and Teach’s cooling corpse hurled into a corner of the room.

Pops had managed to convince Ace to pass her over, only after swearing over and over to be careful and respectful with her. All of them, including Pops had been shocked when a soft whine had left her lips at being handed over. Ace had immediately snatched her back, but some of their worry had been assuaged.

Ace hadn’t gone mad over seeing her dead, he was just protecting her as best he could. She was alive, by some kind of miracle she was alive, even as blood soaked and beaten as she looked she had survived.

He’d been shocked and more than a little awed. He never would’ve thought a small human girl would’ve survived the brutality of the kind of attack that destroyed her home, but she had. His respect for her, already fairly high for being so good to Ace while he’d been staying with her, raised several notches for her fighting spirit.

Pops managed to coax Ace into carrying her in his arms bridal style assuring him it wouldn’t hurt her, asking him questions so they could get her packed and out of this house. They would have to cover this all up somehow, the attack and Teach’s death could never be traced back to them or her, not when she was about to become a Werewolf herself. It would endanger all of them including her.

There was a good chance she would lose her home, since the best option in cases like this was to burn the entire thing to the ground. Luckily they’d had some practice at cover-ups over the years, and could pull the right strings to see this buried.

Hopefully she wouldn’t mind too much, after all it didn’t seem like she’d lived here long enough to form too much of an attachment, and they’d get everything they could out before setting the fire. She’d also be compensated for the house, the Whitebeard pack was a wealthy one, and more than able to make-up for having to burn it down.

Unfortunately they had a hell of a lot more to make up to her than just what they were about to do to her house. This whole thing, the fact that she had been attacked in the first place, was entirely their fault. It had been one of their pack members who’d done it, even if he hadn’t done it with any sort of permissions or blessings or even knowledge it was still unforgivable.

He just had to hope, for Ace’s sake that she would forgive both him and them because her turning was now inevitable thanks to Teach. His thoughts stalled at the thought of the traitor and he bit back a growl. He still couldn’t seem to fathom the depths of Teach’s betrayal, to him, to Ace, to his Alpha, to their pack. He just didn’t understand, they’d laughed, cried and fought together, all of them with him, they were a pack, how could you turn your back on your pack? It was against a werewolf’s nature! Then again Teach had been acting against his nature to start with, because he wasn’t the beta he’d always claimed to be, but an Alpha, which he hadn’t honestly believed was even possible until now.

He didn’t even want to think about what this betrayal was going to do to Pack dynamics. Would people start looking at each other with distrust now? Worried about being attacked while their back was turned? Such a thing happening in Whitebeard’s pack seemed completely unfathomable to him, and yet here they were, with undisputable evidence that it did happen, that it had happened, and that it could happen again.

Marco was distracted from his thoughts by Haruta, who’d made a strange strangled noise of shock. The Commanders who’d stayed behind after Whitebeard, and Ace had left to get (name) to the same hospital as Thatch, had been busy packing up the things Ace told them to bring in a duffle and preparing the rest as quickly as they could to be moved and stored. They hoped to get the place burnt to the ground before dawn to get rid of any of the evidence.

He’d been packing up the kitchen, while Jozu retrieved the personal things Ace had mentioned, and the others began packing, knowing the kitchen and living room were going to be the hardest spaces to stay in, saturated as they were with the scent of (Name’s) fear and blood, and Teach’s fury. His body was cooling in the corner they hadn’t bothered to move it from where it lay, figuring they’d burn it along with the house.

Haruta had insisted on joining him with his self-appointed task, and no amount of argument could change his mind. Marco could tell from the look on his face that guilt was eating at his brother, even more so than any of his other brothers except maybe Ace, because Haruta and Thatch had been the ones to inadvertently introduce (name) to Ace and thus bring her to the attention of the pack.

Unfortunately Marco couldn’t bring himself to comfort his brother effectively, because he was feeling his own measure of guilt. Even now he was questioning his decision to tell his Alpha about her ability with the Voice. Oh he still would’ve told Whitebeard, but he wouldn’t have done it with an audience if he’d had any idea he’d be painting a target on her back in doing so.

Still he wasn’t about to ignore the distressed noise of his brother, not with his instincts, which had been on edge since first learning of Thatch’s attack, still thrumming wildly under his skin. He was more than a little surprised, when he whirled around anxiously to check on his brother, to find him carefully prodding Teach’s body with the handle of a broom.

While he couldn’t fault him for not wanting to even touch the traitor, he did wonder just what the hell he thought he was doing. Why would he be touching the disgusting thing anyway?

The body shifted, and he watched as Haruta’s eyes widened in shock, his eyes glancing up to meet Marco’s before staring down at his discovery again, actually crouching down to get a better look, a mix of shock, awe, and utter disgust on his face.

“Haruta, what the hell are you doing ~yoi?” Marco half asked half demanded, stalking over to him, his curiosity.

“Look!” Haruta told him gesturing to Teach’s neck, which had been exposed by his prodding.

Marco grimaced in disgust and repulsion, it was easy to see what Haruta wanted him to look at, there was a huge bloody gash, obviously the cause of death in the traitor, obvious even through his dark matted fur. What wasn’t so obvious was why he wanted him to look, and he leveled a glare at his younger brother, clearly demanding an explanation.

“When I was packing the kitchen, I happened to notice some things, the patterns of the…” Haruta paused and grimaced but soldiered on grimly, “The blood over there, and I got to thinking, and then I saw the knife and… well just look at it! Does that look like teeth or claws to you?”

Marco glanced at the wound again with a frown, he wouldn’t say he was any sort of forensics expert or anything but he was extremely familiar with wolf inflicted injuries, and this definitely wasn’t one. But why would that…?

His thoughts stalled out as he realized that Ace, who had been first on the scene, would never have stopped to pick up a weapon of any sort if he managed to get here while Teach was attacking (name). There was no way in hell he would’ve shifted out of Werewolf form either, because on the whole it was much more sturdy and dangerous than the human one.

That meant that someone else had killed Teach, and given there were only two living people when the rest of them had arrived and ruling out Ace, who they’d all assumed had been the one to do it, that left one person.

The resulting curses brought his brothers running into the room, concern etched on all their faces. Haruta quickly explained what was going on, and Marco was caught between two states of mind, one, (Name) was even more impressive than he’d thought, and two they owed her one hell of an apology.

Whitebeard stared down at the small figure on the bed, waiting, more anxious than he’d been in a long time about the awakening of a new werewolf. The Whitebeard Pack hadn’t actually turned anyone for five years, and didn’t tend to turn people in general unless they’d been chosen as mates by a member of the pack, or had accidentally discovered them.

Those turnings he had done had been under extremely controlled circumstances, and the person had been well educated in advance on what was going to happen to them to prevent any sort of panic. They also had all been willing. This situation couldn’t be more opposite from his past turnings, which was one of the many reasons why he had decided to oversee this last piece of it personally.

In addition Ace wouldn’t have allowed anyone else to do it. His Second Division Commander would’ve been here himself, but between the Pack Healthcare providers and Marco they’d managed to trick him into drinking some tea that had knocked him right out, which was a relief considering he’d been keeping vigil without food or rest for the past sixty some hours, and was on the verge of collapse.

They’d all agreed that it would be far better to force Ace to rest, and to keep him away from (name) when she finally woke just in case. There was no way in hell Ace would be okay with putting down (name) even if she woke with Moon Madness. None of them thought he’d be able to do it, and even if he could’ve they never would’ve allowed him to break himself like that.

Also, many of them worried that if she did wake Moon Mad, they wouldn’t be able to take her down, not if she still had the ability to use her Alpha Voice, one that had made even Marco obey before. They’d be like lambs to the slaughter if she used it on them, and if Marco couldn’t stand up to it, than Whitebeard himself was the only one strong enough to do so.

Finally and most importantly Newgate felt as if he owed the woman quite the debt. First she had taken in Ace and loved him fiercely if what Ace’s loyalty was any indication, had even saved his life, the life of his precious son, then she’d killed the traitor Teach, all by herself, and inadvertently saved Thatch as well, Thatch who was already up on his feet again alive and as well as he could be under the circumstances, when by all rights what Teach had done should’ve killed him and lastly because the responsibility for her brutal attack lay squarely at his feet.

Oh he knew several of his sons felt the same, and that Teach should in fact shoulder the majority of the blame, but Teach was dead and wouldn’t have cared either way, and he had been Teach’s Alpha, or so he had thought anyway. At the very least he had considered Teach part of his pack, and that he had not seen such darkness in a man he’d considered a son was galling to say the least.

The soft hitch in her breathing indicated her return to consciousness and he immediately focused all his attention on her. She stirred slightly, and her eyes flew open. She was up and out of the bed faster than he would’ve expected for someone so newly turned, and immediately she pressed her back into a corner of the room, her eyes darting around frantically before finally coming to rest on him, then widening in shock.

(Name) was confused, one minute she’d been sure she was dying after being attacked by that mad Werewolf, and the next she had been waking up here in this strange room. She thought her Freckles might’ve been with her at some point, though she wasn’t all to clear about why she thought that.

The smell of antiseptics stung her nose and her eyes watered slightly, a part of her, a part she didn’t recognize was screaming at her to fight back, to protect herself, to do something, anything, and then her eyes locked on the man in the room with her. He was huge, well over six foot tall, with shoulders broad enough she could fit three of her across, with an extremely impressive white mustache. He looked older, though it was hard to get a good grasp on what his age might be considering how in shape he was.

Surprisingly despite his rather intimidating figure, she relaxed when she saw him, because frankly he couldn’t be further in appearance from the one who’d attacked her. While both had been rather tall, the one who’d called himself Teach had been more rotund than muscular, his eyes crazed and wild, with more beard than face, while this man had kinder eyes and was clean shaven but for the mustache. Hell his hair was even opposite, stark white as opposed to black. However he was still a stranger, which meant she wouldn’t be letting her guard down, not until she got some answers at the very least.

“Who the hell are you?!” she demanded, the question coming out half snarl, surprising her, she didn’t honestly remember growling like that before, “And where’s my Frecks?”

The last part had come automatically, she hadn’t meant to ask about her dog turned werewolf, it had slipped past her tongue unbidden, even if she had thought it, a small part in the back of her mind restless in concern for him.

“My name is Edward Newgate,” he told her slowly, his voice gravelly and deep, but calm and surprisingly soothing, “I’m the alpha of the Whitebeard Pack, you were brought here when one of our former members Teach, attacked you unbidden. If by Frecks you mean Ace, he is perfectly safe I assure you, as are you.”

“I want to see him,” she half asked half demanded, feeling surprisingly anxious. She wasn’t at all sure what was going on or why she suddenly had the extremely strong inclination to find and stick close to Ace, when she hadn’t seen him until her attack, especially since she’d made him leave in the first place, but it was as if her instincts were screaming at her, telling her she couldn’t really settle until she saw him.

“I’m not too sure that’s a good idea,” he told her carefully, and despite the calm way the words were said, something in her prickled angrily, and suddenly her mind was blank, as the instincts she’d been holding back roared to the surface.

She wasn’t entirely aware of what was happening, only that one minute she’d been staring down the one called Whitebeard and the next she was dashing down the halls on four paws. All around her she could hear shouting, and she could vaguely see people diving out of her way as she ran, but she didn’t care, all she wanted was to get to her Freckles.

The problem of course was going to be finding him. Anxiously she sniffed the air, but since she only vaguely knew what he smelled like, something spicy and masculine, it would’ve been a struggle to recognize it, let alone pick it up with the thousands of other scents assaulting her nose at the moment. She choked on the dizzying array of smells and whined before taking off again, her instincts screaming at her that if she just kept running she’d find him eventually.

Barreling through a doorway she found herself face to face with someone who refused to get out of her way. She crashed straight into him unable to stop once she realized he wasn’t moving, skidding on the slippery wooden flooring and sending the two of them toppling end over end until they hit a wall.

She whined unhappily, dizzy and confused, and extremely unhappy, growling angrily at the man who’d managed to untangle himself from their pile and was watching her worriedly. However his face sparked a memory in her hazy mind…

“Oh he’s probably looking for me, that or trying to hunt down the mysterious Alpha who attacked Thatch,” the bearded man told her casually a smirk on his face and a crazed look in his eyes.

It was enough to snap her out of her feral mindset and back into rationality. She immediately stopped growling and looked at the man, the bastard who’d attacked her had told her about. He looked okay for the most part, but there were huge bags under his eyes, as if he hadn’t had a decent night’s rest in ages, and his posture was wary and tired.

As she glanced up at him she finally realized that something was wrong. Sure the man was taller than her, but she shouldn’t have to be looking this far up to meet his gaze. Slowly taking stock of her body with growing dread she realized that it didn’t feel the same, not at all.

She realized that despite the brutal attack her body felt completely healed, which it definitely shouldn’t have been, she knew she had likely been passed out, but it couldn’t have been for that long surely. In addition her eyesight was a bit strange, sharper but also duller in a sense, and it took her a second to realize that while she could see things better, make out details and shadows she never would’ve noticed their colors simply weren’t as vibrant.

Taking a breath she winced again as the many, many smells assaulted her nose, still testing it, she could smell in close proximity to her, a cadre of spices, cooking meat, and frying oils, tinged with just a hint of something sour that seemed to be coming from Thatch, who was eyeing her anxiously still, though he seemed to have relaxed a smidgen when she stopped growling.

Around her things were loud, nearly too loud and she wanted to put her hands over her ears to block some of the sound, but she belatedly realized she didn’t feel like she had hands anymore. Slowly, she looked down to see the place where her hands should be, only to be met by the sight of two furry paws, tipped in sharp looking claws.

A distressed whimper escaped her lips as she carefully lifted her ‘hand’ and instead saw the paw lift. She glanced up at Thatch again, and the blatant disbelief and horror she felt, must’ve been clear on her face, because the wary look on his face had changed to concern.

“(Name?)” he asked his voice low and gentle.

She tried to say ‘yes’ in response, and was completely mortified as a strange affirmative bark left her mouth, which she suddenly realized was shaped all wrong. Those weren’t her teeth! That wasn’t her tongue! What the?

“You’re alright (name),” Thatch assured her his voice still calm and careful, “You’re in a safe place, no one is going to hurt you. You’ve just finished your transformation, and I’ve heard it’s a bit unnerving but you’re fine I promise.”

Transformation? What the hell did he mean transformation? Mulling the words over realization hit with the force of a freight train. He was talking about the Werewolf transformation, the one her Freckles had mentioned to her, the one the man who’d attacked her Teach, had said he was going to force her to have.

She remembered the attack, she remembered the biting, the pain, and longing for her Freckles, where was he? Forcefully she shoved that last irrational thought down, as it seemed to have been the one to make her run wild in the first place, instead focusing on what had happened.

Teach, a Werewolf, had bitten her, and now she was a werewolf too. A part of her wanted to scream and cry and deny even the possibility of such a thing, because werewolves weren’t supposed to exist let alone go around biting innocent people, but she had always been a practical person and it was hard to deny the evidence right in front of her.

That this could be a dream or the result of drugs briefly passed through her thoughts but left just as quickly because even she wouldn’t have dreamed up something this strange or terrible, and despite those strange instincts clamoring in the back of her mind she was feeling clear headed and mostly rational. Plus she’d never touched drugs a day in her life, and in her last memories there was no one around to trick or force her into taking them, so that was obviously out. Because even if she had taken them, or had them forced on her and they’d ruined pieces of her memory, she should at least remember something about it. As it was all she remembered was being attacked by the Werewolf, which only made her theory about being a Werewolf now herself that much more likely.

She whined, low and unhappy because she didn’t want this damnit! Hadn’t ever wanted it, she didn’t want to be a Werewolf! She wanted to be human, human!

Her body shifted, and something strange happened, her bones and muscles felt like they were rearranging themselves under her skin. It wasn’t painful but it was extremely discomforting, and she whined again in distress as her vision went blurry for a second, and she stumbled before straightening again.

Only to find that she was tall again, and the whine from her throat had been substantially more human in tone than before. Glancing down at her paws, she was surprised to see her much more familiar human hands at the end of the appendages, and nearly sobbed in relief, that is until her gaze went lower, taking stock of her body to make sure nothing else was out of place, only to realize something.

“Why aren’t I wearing any clothes?!” the words came out half hysterical sob half howl as she immediately covered herself, suddenly very aware of the many people in the hallway, all watching her with variations of shock, and concern on their faces, even as Thatch howled with laughter.

Thatch had been in an awful place since he’d woken with his mate Izo hovering anxiously over him. He’d immediately tried to tell his lover everything, about Teach, trying to force his body out of the bed to go get Ace and rescue (Name) before it was too late, only to be told everything was already all over.

(Name) had already been attacked, and was changing into a Werewolf as they spoke but on the bright side Teach was dead. Izo said this with a mixture of satisfaction and discontent and Thatch knew it was likely because while his mate was glad the traitor was dead, he also kind of wished he’d been the one to do it.

However he was anxious for details, and pressed his mate to know what had happened. Luckily as a Division Commander Izo was up-to-date with everything that had happened despite not leaving Thatch’s bedside, and had been more than willing to fill in the details. Both were more than a little awed at (Name’s) resilience and fighting spirit, and worried for both her and Ace.

Thatch however was also feeling guilty, and to top it off every time he closed his eyes he saw Teach attacking, either him, or a defenseless (Name). He couldn’t sleep for the life of him, and was having a hard time thinking of anything but the consequences of Teach’s attacks on their family. He knew he was worrying Izo, with his less than stellar mood as of late, and while he tried he hadn’t been able to muster any of his usual cheer, not when things were hanging so delicately in the balance for their pack.

He’d been taking a walk, in an attempt to get out of his rooms for a while and maybe take solace in his pack brothers and sisters when the shouting reached his ears. He’d quickly realized that (name) had woken from her transformation, and from what he could make out, obviously wasn’t acting very rationally.

Prepared for the worst, he’d stepped into the path of the unfamiliar Were as she bolted down the corridors, knowing that if she was Moon Mad, as the distressed shouting indicated, that she had to be stopped, and that as both Division Commander and one greatly responsible for her condition it was his responsibility to ensure she didn’t damage any of their pack.

However when he’d recovered from the collision and been preparing to take her out if he could, he’d noticed something in her eyes. It certainly hadn’t looked like Moon Madness, in fact it looked like recognition. He’d immediately stayed his hand, and gone with his instincts, hoping, praying that his hunch was correct, because if he was wrong not only would Ace be devastated, but a lot of people including himself stood to be injured.

Laughter on her revelation about not wearing anything had probably not been the right reaction, judging by the fact that she was now glaring at him, those fierce eyes of her making her appear even more intimidating than normal despite the fact that she was blushing so badly her entire face was red. However he’d been too relieved to do anything else, because as appalled as she’d been at her nakedness, it was a definitive sign that she was not, in any way Moon Mad. Moon Mad wolves didn’t give a damn about such trivial matters.

Izo, who had apparently been close behind him, didn’t seem to appreciate his laughter either, though whether that was for his inappropriate reaction, or the fact that he’d stepped into the path of what could have been a deadly encounter without any hesitation whatsoever so soon after his brush with death at the hands of the traitor he didn’t know.

Either way his mate carefully shrugged out of the outer layer of his kimono and passed it to the relieved looking (name) who accepted it with a thankful smile, and then smirked as Izo promptly cuffed him over the head, cutting off his laughter.

“Ah sorry,” he apologized sheepishly, “That wasn’t very nice of me, but (name) what are you doing? Shouldn’t you be in your rooms talking to Oyaji?”

“I was looking for Frecks,” she answered anxiously, “Or at least I think I was? Do you know where he is?”

“And I told you I didn’t think that was a good idea,” Oyaji had apparently arrived, and between him, Thatch and Izo had managed to maneuver things effectively blocking her into the hallway, away from the rest of the pack.

“Why?!” she half demanded half growled, and Thatch could almost see her metaphorical hackles rising. He shared a concerned glance with Izo not at all sure what was going on.

“Because we’re not sure how you’ll react to him,” Whitebeard told her, his voice calm and steady, hands raised in a placating manner.

“You think I’d hurt my Frecks?” she asked a distressed whine slipping past her lips apparently unbidden, not nearly as on guard, “Why?”

“Because he bit you,” their Alpha explained calmly.

“No!” she protested immediately the angry distrustful look back on her face, “No! The Black One bit me, hurt Thatch, bit me here, and here.”

She indicated her neck and her calf, her hand pausing as it found the scar tissue at the juncture of her neck and shoulder. It was pretty obvious that despite not being Moon Mad, she was very instinct driven at the moment. Still he was surprised she even knew that Teach had attacked him as well. Izo and Oyaji looked just as surprised.

“That’s true, the traitor did bite you, I know he told you he meant to turn you, but after everything Ace bit you too,” their Alpha explained carefully, “He wasn’t trying to hurt or turn you, he was desperate and trying to heal you, and it worked. What he did saved your life, however biting of this kind is generally reserved for between mates, and an Alpha and the subordinate pack members. We’re not sure what it’s done to you or how that would make you react to his presence.”

“Oh,” she looked more than a little lost and Thatch’s heart went out to her, she looked like her whole world was shifting around her and she wasn’t sure where to put her feet to keep her balance. He knew the feeling. After all with Teach’s attack nothing in their pack would ever be the same.

“We have some tests we’d like to try first,” Whitebeard assured her, apparently seeing her distress just as clearly as Thatch was, “But after, so long as nothing is wrong we’ll get Ace for you alright?”

She nodded, and allowed herself to be led back in the direction she’d come from, and without thought Thatch followed on her heels. He wanted to be some sort of support, for her or Ace or even for his Alpha he wasn’t sure. He just wanted to be there, just in case. He had a feeling these next few hours could shape the entire future of the Whitebeard pack, and he was going to make sure he saw it.

Chapter Text

“You want me to what?” (Name) asked flatly.

She’d spent the last hour or so letting them perform tests on her, a doctor and Were by the name of Whitey Bay, giving her the most thorough check-up she’d ever had in her life and asking all sorts of health questions, some of which she knew the answers to and others she didn’t.

When she asked about it to the Doctor who was brusque but kind, she’d been told it was standard for all new Weres who came into the Whitebeard Pack. Admittedly they usually did it before the transformation, just in case anything came up during the process, but since her circumstances were anything but usual they were doing it after.

She was poked, prodded, and pinched, and while she tried to be good-natured about it, knowing it was standard by the end of it she was more than a little cranky despite the fact that her new Werewolf healing meant she wouldn’t even bruise from the blood draw.

Honestly she felt fine, more than fine and all she really wanted was to get this over with so she could see Fre-Ace, Ace damn, it was going to be hard to remember to call him by his actual name.

A part of her recognized that the insistent desire to see him was more than a bit strange, but that part was a small footnote and growing smaller by the second as each one passed without seeing him. Still she was doing her best to hold to it, that feeling that her instincts, which felt like they were driving her body at the moment, shouldn’t be allowed to rule her reactions.

Which was why she was objecting so strongly to what they were asking her to do. She didn’t want to act anymore animalistic than she already was thank you very much.

“I know it seems strange, but we want to see how you react to another male you’ve met before. You’ve already seen Thatch and that seemed to go well,” Bay explained patiently, indicating the redhead who grinned at her cheerfully. He’d accompanied her back to the room she’d woken up in before her mad dash through the halls and stayed through the exam for ‘moral support.’

“In addition Marco may be a Beta but he’s also the strongest one in the pack outside of our Alpha,” Bay continued to explain tapping her pen against the clipboard she’d been using to take notes, “Which means if something does happen when you and Ace meet up he’s the best option outside of Pops to help both you and Ace. We want him here, and we want to ensure you don’t view him as a threat and that you’re comfortable in his presence.”

“I don’t view him as a threat,” she pointed out annoyed gesturing at Whitebeard, who was sitting casually in a plastic chair that seemed to be doing admirably well holding his large frame, though she was pretty sure it was going to snap at any moment and send the large Alpha tumbling on his ass, “So why should I view Marco as one?”

“As a human that might make sense, but you’re a Werewolf now,” Bay informed her bluntly, “We do things primarily with our senses, and instincts and sometimes even when we know someone isn’t a threat, even if they’re perfectly friendly and kind, we’ll still view them as a threat, or simply be unable to completely relax in their presence. It’s an instinct, no one is quite sure why, but sometimes we just won’t like someone. Which is commonly how packs form as people within those groups generally instinctively like one another.”

“However our pack is a bit different,” she continued obviously seeing she had (name’s) interest, “We’re extremely large to start with, one of the biggest packs around, and while no one within the pack actively dislikes one another, we definitely have preferred groups. That you like Thatch bodes well, not only for Marco but also for Ace as theirs is a closer knit group, which is another reason we want to test you with Marco first.”

“Okay fine,” she agreed, explained like that she could see the sense in it, “But why exactly do I have to smell him of all things?”

“As a Werewolf you’ll have noticed by now that your senses are enhanced correct?” Whitebeard asked, evidently deciding to field this one himself, his low voice a rumble that filled the room.

She nodded in agreement. She had noticed. Honestly it had been more than a little distracting as the new sights, scents and smells flowed in from all around her. Luckily the tests had given her something to focus on outside of trying to filter all the new information, and she was slowly adapting to them.

“The one that is most enhanced is scent,” he explained, “And it’s also the one we tend to rely on most when it comes to meeting others, as scent and pheromones carry much more information about the other wolf than say appearance or the sound of their voice. It’s also unconscious, we can’t control the scents we give off which means it can’t be used to deceive others like words or actions could be.”

“Through scent we can generally recognize things like overall health and emotional state, along with other small things like if the other is pregnant, has a mate, or pups, that kind of thing,” Whitebeard explained seriously, “Thus it isn’t surprising that we rely on it the most.”

“You realize that humans consider sniffing people rude right?” she asked with a sigh. The enormous man let out a rumble of laughter as Thatch snickered in the corner.

“Going up and just smelling people without a by-your-leave, getting as close as we’re asking you to get is generally considered rude by us as well,” Bay explained rolling her eyes at the two men though she had a fond smile on her lips, “Still this is a bit different, and Marco has already agreed, so don’t worry about it.”

“Alright,” she agreed figuring there was nothing for it but to do it and get it over with, “Bring it on then.”

Bay nodded and walked over to the door where she had a quick conversation with someone right outside. It was hushed, quiet enough that from across the room she couldn’t hear it even with her new enhanced hearing, but she did get the impression there was more than one person out there, and that they were guarding the door. Still it didn’t take long for Bay to come back in with Marco at her heels, shutting the door firmly behind them, with Marco pausing several steps away from her, while Bay edged around them and over to Whitebeard watching carefully on.

He looked the same as she remembered. His golden blonde hair was sticking up all over the place and his cerulean blue eyes were studying her carefully, his face unreadable. However just like all the other Werewolves she’d met today he too had dark bags under his eyes indicating he hadn’t been sleeping well lately.

Remembering what they’d said she huffed and then took a breath in through her nose, wincing again at the sting of antiseptic. She knew it was a hospital room of some sort, so the need for antiseptic was understandable, it certainly didn’t do her poor nose any favors though.

Wading through the scents she underneath, she could still smell Thatch who honestly smelled like a walking kitchen, Bay, who smelled a bit like lemongrass, and Whitebeard who was a mix of peppermint and alcohol, though all of them shared a little bit of underlying scent and were tinged with something that felt sour on her tongue that made her a bit nervous in turn.

However after their scents there was something new. Interested she breathed again pushing as best she could past the scent of hospital. Involuntarily she took a step towards Marco who didn’t move, obviously waiting for her. Again she caught it, it was a warm earthy scent, like rosewood and citrus and something else, though it too was tinged with something sour.

Instinct drove her forward, wanting to know just what the scent smelled like without that sour edge.

Marco had been waiting outside the door with the other Division Commanders just in case (Name) made a run for it again, though he didn’t think she would. He was pretty sure she’d just been disoriented waking up in a strange place, though she’d given everyone quite a scare.

When he’d heard the new Were was running wild through the halls, on his way back from checking on Ace he’d been terrified she’d succumbed to Moon Madness. His heart had been in his throat as he hurriedly pushed his brothers and sisters out of the way and to safety, trying to get to his Alpha and his brothers.

He hadn’t arrived in time to see anything other than Thatch gently showing (Name) back to the hospital room, with Izo leading the way and Oyaji bringing up the rear assuring everyone that everything was fine. Despite his assurances though he and the other Division Commanders had decided to stick around just in case.

Bay hadn’t been at all impressed with them when she opened the door to find them waiting, informing them snappily that (name) was just fine and no she wasn’t Moon Mad just showing some very strong instincts. Apparently she was feeling a bit protective of the other woman, which wasn’t surprising.

After all it had been Bay who’d seen and treated the injuries that Ace hadn’t been able to heal and had also been the Doctor to oversee her transformation. She had barely gotten any more rest than Ace had, though it wasn’t to the point where they’d decided to take matters into their own hands the way they’d done with him. That was mostly because as a Doctor she knew better than to allow herself to fall into such a state.

When asked what she was doing, she’d informed them that they’d begun the tests they’d discussed while (name) was unconscious, that Marco was needed, and that someone needed to fetch the objects they’d discussed for scent testing. Jozu had gone to fetch what she wanted while Marco entered the room.

Following the instructions he’d been given he’d stepped into her line of sight and waited for her to come to him. He hadn’t been surprised by the wince, most new Weres needed a while to get used to their enhanced senses, though he did have to wonder what he smelled like to her.

Discreetly he took his own breath. Her scent was covered quite a bit by the hospital smells that clung like a second skin, and he noted she had the faintest traces of Ace clinging to her as well. Luckily she didn’t smell like Teach at all, which was a bit surprising considering turned humans generally took on a little bit of the scent of the Were who turned them, but it wasn’t an unwelcome surprise. In fact he thought it was probably a blessing considering how traumatic her turning had been for both her and Ace.

Picking through those scents he finally got to hers, and carefully held himself very still in order to keep from reacting. She’d smelled good to him before as a human, better than most, but what he’d forgotten was that when humans were turned their scent was enhanced. It had been good before, one of the best he’d ever come across, but now it was amazing. He suddenly understood why, in a fit of melancholy during the time where she wasn’t calling Ace had told him there were moments when he’d wanted to take her scent and roll in it.

Briefly he worried about what that might mean when Ace finally caught scent of her, but it was pushed out of his mind almost immediately after as she crossed over to him getting far closer than he’d expected.

She was leaning toward him, and her eyes were closed an intense look of concentration on her face. He held completely still as she circled him, aware it was a bit of a predatory move, but not willing to move as it didn’t feel aggressive just curious.

He nearly jumped out of his skin as he felt a gentle hand on his back, but relaxed when it did nothing but rest on his shoulder, light pressure indicated she was using it to brace herself. She was close enough he could feel her body heat through their clothes and he shivered in response.

Her other hand came up to rest on his waist as if holding him still, and he could feel light puffs of air against the sensitive juncture of his neck, raising goose bumps over his skin. Breathing in he could practically taste her scent she was so close, and he breathed again, taking in as much as he could, eyes fluttering shut unconsciously as heat began to pool in his belly.

“You smell good,” her voice was a throaty rumble in his ear, close, low and nearly feral sounding, and he couldn’t help the small whine that left his lips in response as he tilted his head to the side, bearing his neck in a show of submission, instinct and heat clouding his mind.

She nosed lightly at his exposed throat and made the soft growling purr of comfort that only Alphas and Betas could manage, pressing her cheek to his nuzzling him gently, scent marking him. He automatically rubbed back, savoring the idea of marking her with his scent wondering what it would be like to have her distinct perfume all over…

The sound of a throat clearing had him jerking upwards in surprise, his eyes locking on his Alpha, Thatch and Bay who were staring at the two of them with wide eyes, making him suddenly and acutely aware of the position he was in with (name) and how painfully aroused he was.

He could practically feel the blood rushing to his face as he realized, for the first time ever he’d lost control of himself to an Alpha, because there was no doubt in his mind that (name) was an Alpha through and through. He also realized that he was now standing alone, she was still behind him somewhere but had taken several steps back.

“So I didn’t attack him,” she announced calmly into the silence, “does that mean I pass?”

Reality crashed back in with a vengeance as he remembered that they were performing a test right now, a test to see if she was capable of meeting with Ace, and nothing more. Yes she’d scent marked him, but that could just be an Alpha scent marking someone new in their pack, it didn’t necessarily mean anything.

She hadn’t seen it the way he had, as an intimate, affectionate gesture and why would she? She’d only been awake and aware as a Were for less than five hours. He was the idiot who got too caught up in her scent to remember what was going on. She didn’t have a clue what was going on.

Unfortunately Thatch, Bay and Pops all did and the former two were both eyeing him with a combination of sympathy and worry. They knew exactly what had just happened, knew what it meant that he’d so easily bared his neck to her. It had never happened before, not ever. Some Betas got extremely heated, loosing themselves to instinct when they came into close contact with Alphas who were extremely compatible with them, but it was a behavior more prominent in Omegas, and it had never happened to him.

Anger with himself for getting caught up in a moment that had been all in his head, and shame that it had happened with the woman he knew, knew that his brother Ace was more than half in love with, quickly killed any lingering arousal.

He tried to keep his face neutral as his Pops studied her and then him in turn, but knew he’d failed when he saw the gentle understanding on the face of his Alpha. There would be no judgment from him.

“Yes, it seems you aren’t aggressive towards Marco,” Pops noted calmly, his entire attention on her once more, leaving Marco to slink with his metaphorical tail between his legs over to Thatch and lean against the wall refusing to look anybody in the eye.

He nearly pushed Thatch away when his brother leaned close to him, pressing their sides together and offering physical comfort, but then he remembered that Thatch had been having a hard couple of days too, and could probably use some comfort himself. That in mind he simply slumped closer to his brother taking what he offered and offering in return.

“That’s good, just two more tests and we’ll send someone for Ace,” he assured her.

Glancing at her out of the corner of his eye he could see the building frustration on her face, and for a brief moment he thought she might try to insist, but in the end she deflated and nodded, gesturing at them to get it over with. Even with his dignity smarting, and filled with self-loathing as he was at the moment he still felt a bit bad for her. She’d been forced to jump through a lot of metaphorical hoops, and this next one was probably going to be the hardest one.

Reminded of that he straightened, remembering that he’d been brought in for a purpose, to help her if she needed it. Determined he turned his attention toward her and waited, as Bay walked to the door, grabbed the item Jozu offered and walked back in carefully holding the t-shirt out to (name).

Chapter Text

READ THE BEGINNING NOTES!!!!

Edward Newgate huffed a sigh of regret for the way things had played out as he watched several emotions flicker across (Name’s) face. He’d honestly been more than a bit worried when the girl had launched herself at his Second Division Commander, and Thatch’s startled shout had brought all the rest of the Division Commanders tumbling into the room.

Unfortunately by then (Name) and Ace had been too entangled to try to come between them, and by the time he’d thought to use his Alpha voice it had been all over (Name) had her teeth in his neck. It took him a second to process Ace’s cry not as one of pain but as one of joy, and he was only just able to command everyone to hold before they attacked.

Luckily it seemed his Voice was strong enough to work on (Name) if only just. At the very least it had knocked her free of her instincts long enough for her to realize what was going on and let go. However by then it was already too late, their bond, one he hadn’t realized existed but probably should have, had been sealed, permanently.

The symptoms she displayed in hindsight suddenly made a lot of sense if put into the perspective that Ace’s bite, in an attempt to override Teach had been a mating bite rather than a turning one or an Alpha one. Her single minded focus on Ace should’ve been a dead giveaway that her instincts were clamoring at her to complete what all indications said would be a very strong and compatible mating bond.

In his defense he knew his worry for potential Moon Madness, and the unusual circumstances and trauma of her turning had distracted him from thinking too hard on what it might mean. Additionally if Ace hadn’t burst in the way he had, they would’ve been able to figure it out pretty quickly with their last test, which was a sample of Ace’s scent.

Regrettably it was too late for that now, and once more Newgate felt as if he and his pack had done the woman a great disservice. If only they’d been able to identify the source of her obsession sooner, and kept a more careful eye on Ace then within another couple of days the mating bite would’ve faded away and the bond wouldn’t have occurred.

Which wasn’t to say he didn’t want a bond between her and his son. In fact looked at one way it was everything he and his sons who were in the know about the situation had been hoping for, (Name) a turned Were, free of Moon Madness, and mate bonded to Ace. However this was the exact opposite of the way he would’ve wanted to obtain such a thing. He was a great believer in freedom of choice, and in this (Name’s) choices had all been taken from her.

He could only hope that both she and Ace could learn to make the best of the situation. His son’s previous attraction to her and their mutual scent compatibility hinted at an extremely compatible match. He just had to pray whatever bond they’d forged when Ace was pretending to be her dog would be strong enough to hold them through this.

Werewolves never rejected mating bonds as they had to be mutual. He’d never heard of a bond being created like this one though, and he didn’t want to see what would happen if (Name) tried. He wasn’t sure what would happen to her or Ace, especially since being a powerful Alpha herself she was more than capable of making an attempt.

Marco and Ace had both testified that the girl was resilient, as her defeat of Teach and survival after such a brutal attack had proved. He just hoped his newest daughter, and she was his daughter, just as surely as Ace was his son, even if she didn’t know or want to acknowledge that right now, would be able to hold steady through this newest bump in the road.

“So basically what you’re saying is because Ace bit me to save my life after that other guy attacked me, and because I bit him just now we’re now bonded together for life?” she summed up her voice carefully neutral.

“That’s correct,” he told her as gently as he could. She was sitting on the ground of the hospital room where they’d been doing tests, with a protective Bay sitting on one side and Thatch on the other. Ace was also sitting, but was separated from her, with Marco and Jozu on either side, with his other sons arrayed behind them.

“What does being bonded entail exactly?” she asked practically.

“Well,” he began slowly stroking his mustache, “The mating bite generally brings two individuals very close. From now on the two of you will always be able to find one another no matter how far away you are, given time you might be able to sense one another’s emotions.”

“It also means that if you ever want children it will have to be Ace who sires them, unless you take on another mate you will no longer be compatible with anyone else,” he admitted speaking as frankly and clinically as he could to avoid the unnecessary embarrassment of himself and of his Son and new daughter.

“Werewolves are also highly social and highly physical, which is to say young adult Werewolves have a relatively high sex drive compared to normal humans. Now that you and Ace are mated the chances of you desiring anyone but him as your partner for such things are very low,” despite his best efforts she was flushing her eyes huge in her face, and Ace was redder than a tomato. Luckily his other sons sensed the solemnity of the talk they were having and any commentary or good natured teasing, which would’ve happened under normal circumstances was kept contained.

“And what if one or both of us doesn’t want to be bonded?” she asked after a moment to collect herself.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ace flinch and Marco put a comforting hand on his young Son’s shoulder. Ace wouldn’t be a problem here. He did want her, despite what she may or may not believe. She was the first and only person he’d ever heard of his Son taking any sort of mating interest in whatsoever. He was tail over snout for her, but whether that interest could be returned…

“We’re not entirely sure,” he admitted finally, unable to be anything but truthful with her, “Like I said before mating bonds are always supposed to be consensual and mutual, therefore a situation like this one has never before arisen in any pack that I know of. You yourself, as an extremely strong alpha are a bit of an anomaly as well, so I can’t be sure what would happen if you tried to fight the bond.”

“However I can tell you that partners who are separated for long periods of time unwilling and willing alike tend to get despondent and sometimes very ill. Weres have died before from forced splits. We call it the Separation Sickness and my instinct is to say that is what would happen should you attempt to force it,” he warned with a frown.

“So we’re stuck,” she stated flatly.

“In essence I think yes,” he told her gently, “However things aren’t all bad.”

“I was attacked in my own brand new home, which then had to be burned to the ground for reasons I’m still not entirely clear on, and nearly died, was bitten by a Werewolf not once but twice and turned into a furry animal without my consent, and then accidentally married myself off with no chance for divorce, excuse me if I’m having trouble seeing the good,” she snarled, her frustration clear.

He was grateful that all of his Sons in the room kept themselves from snarling back at her clear disrespect to him as Alpha. Some of his other Sons might not have been so disciplined, luckily these were, and he got the feeling more than one of them thought she had a good point, he certainly did, and wasn’t at all offended by her seeming insubordination.

The loss of her house had come as a big blow to her when he’d been forced to explain it earlier, and for a second he thought she might even lash out at him or give into the clear grief he could see on her face. However she’d held together, admirably well in his opinion, that she was starting to fall apart a bit now wasn’t a surprise at all. He’d been expecting it much sooner than this actually.

Still for her sake as well as Ace’s he couldn’t let her go on thinking that way, especially with the guilt and hurt sitting so clearly on his normally guarded son’s face.

“It could be worse,” he pointed out gently, “As you say you nearly died and without your own quick thinking and bravery and Ace’s actions when you were found you would certainly have died, as far as your home we will replace it for you, and my sons were able to collect all the important things before it was burned and what wasn’t brought will be replaced.”

“Being a werewolf isn’t all bad. It certainly takes some getting used to but there are benefits,” he told her carefully, wise enough to not point out that some would cheerfully kill for the opportunity to become one of them, “Other benefits outside your new senses you’ll find you’re stronger, and faster than before. Any injuries you obtain will heal incredibly swiftly and your life expectancy will have doubled.”

“And as for being married, yes you’re stuck, but I can certainly think of a lot of people that would be worse to be stuck with. My son’s a good man and will treat you well,” he pointed out reasonably.

He was pleased to see her face soften slightly as she glanced at Ace for a moment, not that Ace saw, too busy studying the floor, unwilling to look anybody in the eye. Still he saw and it gave him at least a little bit of hope that things would work out for the best between the two of them. From the surprised looks on some of his other son’s faces he knew they had seen it too and were just as pleased about it.

“I suppose that’s true enough,” she admitted shifting around so that she could pull her knees to her chest, “But what exactly happens to me now? I mean I had a job and a home and a life and now…?”

Sitting like that he could tell she’d moved past lashing out, everything was starting to sink in, which while a good thing, still meant that the girl was hurting. His heart went out to her. It was a lot for anyone to have to try to deal with, and no doubt she felt very alone.

He and his sons were willing to do just about anything to help her adjust to this new life both out of a sense of duty and because many, including him, liked and admired what little they knew of her. She was more than welcome in his pack and they would happily make her part of the family, but she didn’t know that yet, and he had no real way of proving it to her.

A soft whine broke his thoughts and he glanced over and was surprised to see Ace had shifted into his wolf form and slipped out from between Marco and Jozu to approach his mate who was staring at him with wide eyes. He watched as his son carefully nudged her with his nose and licked her cheek affectionately, nuzzling his face against hers, scent marking her.

The girl took in a deep breath and something in her seemed to relax a bit as her arms snaked out to wrap around Ace’s neck, her face and hands buried in his fur. He knew some of his other sons were staring, and he couldn’t blame them. Ace wasn’t the type to let others come that close to him without trying to take their heads off. Even Thatch and Haruta got nipped at, though that was more playful than anything. The only other ones he could think of that Ace allowed that close, especially in wolf form were Marco, the two brothers he’d been raised with, and he himself.

“We will find a new home for you,” he promised as he watched them, an idea slowly forming in his mind, “And my pack is very large and well connected so finding you a job you love is more than possible. As for your life, no one said you had to stop living it, you’ll just have to reshape it a bit to fit with your new abilities.”

“Those sorts of things take time though, and you’ve a lot to learn about being a Werewolf and about Werewolf culture, so for now it’s probably best you stay with us. Ace as one of my Division Commanders has a suite of rooms that I’m sure he would gladly share with you while you take some time to get things figured out,” he told her, doing his best to persuade her to stay close by and close to Ace.

“I couldn’t impose like that,” she murmured into Ace’s fur quietly enough that if he wasn’t a Were he might’ve missed it. Ace whined in clear protest and he nodded agreement.

“Ace is right, it isn’t the slightest imposition, especially considering it’s our fault you no longer have a home,” he pointed out reasonably, “Besides as I understand it, turnabout it fair play, and Ace stayed with you for some weeks correct?”

She snorted in clear amusement, and he mentally patted himself on the back as she lifted her face from Ace’s fur and looked at the wolf form of his son, “Do you mind if I stay with you for a bit then?”

Ace huffed and he saw her roll her eyes rubbing her hands through his fur familiarly. It was interesting to see how easily they interacted when Ace was like this, it was very different than what they’d been like before when both were human shaped.

“Alright, I suppose as long as you don’t mind,” she told him heaving a sigh, “I’m going to have to think of something to tell Kaya though, and an excuse to give my boss at work, though my house burning down is a good enough excuse for the boss, Kaya isn’t going to be happy.”

“Which reminds me, what did you have against her anyway?” she asked clearly caught up in her thoughts enough now to not notice their audience. He didn’t mind though, it actually happened fairly often with mates that they got caught up in each other and lost sight of their surroundings, especially ones newly mated. It gave him hope.

“Actually, I think I might have quite a few questions for you now that I know what you are, and some things I think we need to talk about,” she said thoughtfully then frowned, “a lot of things.”

Ace whined unhappily and she sighed, “I’m not angry, not really, not anymore. I don’t think I have enough left in me to be angry, but we do need to talk.”

“It’s a good idea son,” Newgate interrupted, gently reminding them of his presence, “And best to do right away, so lets get things settled here and the two of you can go off to your rooms to talk privately.”

Seeing that he had their attention he continued, “Your arrival into our pack was unusual, but we’ll still follow procedure as best we can for new which means we need to assign you a mentor, someone to answer your questions.”

“Wouldn’t Ace be my mentor? I mean you said he was my mate right?” she asked with a frown.

“We’ve discovered it’s best to give new Weres a Beta for a mentor, Ace is an Alpha and therefore doesn’t qualify,” he explained carefully. He decided not to mention that in some cases exceptions were made, but in this one he wanted to foster relationships between his newest daughter and other pack members. He hoped these relations would help ease her into pack life.

“Alpha? Beta?” she repeated obviously confused.

Newgate glanced at Marco who as his right hand easily saw the question on his face and nodded in acceptance of his role, clearing his throat to catch her attention, “Alpha and Beta are designations for the types of Werewolves there are ~yoi.”

“There are three types, Alpha, Beta and Omega, each type has certain characteristics that help classify them,” he told her with the ease of long practice. Marco was his go to mentor for all new Weres who discovered them independently and weren’t brought in as someone’s mate, especially if he thought they would be difficult, and he got the feeling (Name) might end up being their most difficult pack member yet.

“An Alpha always has the Alpha Voice and the Alpha bite, the Voice allows the Alpha to command their pack and those weaker than they are, and the bite which is a form of discipline for unruly pack members who do things like fight with one another or endanger the pups. They’re the leaders of the pack and are stereotypically strong, dominant males,” he continued confidently, “Despite being female you are almost certainly an Alpha, because you possess the voice, rare but not unheard of.”

“The second type, my type is a Beta, Betas have two kinds of hormones they can secrete, one that helps calm Alphas and one that calms Omegas, which makes them the Pack mediators and nurturers among other things. Stereotypically they’re fairly laid back and happy to follow an Alpha’s lead so long as the lead is good. They also have a strong ability to resist the Alpha Voice if they believe an order is wrongly given.”

“The third and last type is an Omega, Omegas only have the hormones to calm Alphas. However they’re also the ones who can carry and nurse children regardless of gender. Female Betas and Alphas can have children of course, it’s just much more difficult for them than for Omegas. They tend to be the homemakers of the pack, the ones who watch the children and make sure everyone gets taken care of.”

“Are you sure I’m an Alpha?” she asked still frowning, “I’m not exactly the leader type.”

“Like I said, those are stereotypes ~yoi,” Marco explained with a shrug, “And while they’re typical of most they don’t necessarily apply to all, the only real set characteristics are the Alpha abilities, Beta and Omega hormones and Omega fertility that I mentioned.”

“And yes I’m absolutely sure you’re an Alpha, you’ve used the Voice on me before so there is no mistake ~yoi,” he explained wryly.

She nodded slowly apparently digesting that, though Newgate had to wonder how much she was actually taking in. They’d thrown an awful lot at her in the last few hours, and he wouldn’t be surprised if it took a good long while to really sink in.

“I would like for you to accept Marco as your mentor,” he explained feeling it was a good moment for it, “He’s got experience at it, and is my right hand, so I trust him implicitly to tell you everything you might need to know.”

“And you’ll tell me the truth? You won’t sugar coat things?” she asked Marco clearly skeptical.

“I will,” he said solemnly, “I give you my word ~yoi. I can even have Oyaji Alpha Order me if you like?”

“No,” she said immediately frowning, “I’ll take your word for now. I’m not sure I like the idea of taking away anyone’s ability to chose for themselves how to behave.”

“That’s very wise,” Newgate remarked, taking the opportunity for what it was, “And I recommend you keep it in mind when it comes to your own abilities. Each Alpha holds the responsibility to use their gift wisely and fairly.”

“Unfortunately it doesn’t always happen that way,” he admitted solemnly, “And when it doesn’t steps are taken to eliminate the Alpha in question.”

“Eliminate?” she repeated looking alarmed.

He nodded, “We try to make sure the punishment fits the crime in our society. However we are very strict with the use of the Alpha Voice, and if someone is caught abusing their power they are put to death. It’s a harsh punishment to be sure, but we’ve found it’s a good preventative. There are exceptions of course, and we try each case before a council to ensure fairness, but generally when someone is abusing the voice it’s to rape Omegas and that is absolutely not tolerated.”

“I see,” her voice was level but the look on her face was fiercely pleased. It was only then he remembered that she herself had almost been raped and killed, and would’ve been if not for his son. It was no wonder she was approving, “I take no issue with that.”

He nodded solemnly and continued, “Luckily Alphas are the rarest of the three types of wolves, with only one in every couple hundred, and of those only one or two will try to abuse their power, once every other generation or so, and they’re usually caught quickly and punished and that puts an end to it.”

“Truly if you hold to the rule, ‘do no harm’ then you’ll be just fine,” he assured her.

“Alright,” she agreed calmly, “That seems easy enough.”

“Good, now, I assume you want to have that talk with Ace, go ahead,” Newgate told her with a smile, “Marco will meet you tomorrow early to give you a proper tour and let you ask any questions you might have.”

She glanced at his second, who nodded in agreement, then nodded herself. Ace carefully worked his way out of her hold and trotted forward, waiting for her to follow, keeping to his wolf shape.

“(Name?)” Newgate asked as she turned to follow, and she glanced back brows furrowed in confusion, “I know the circumstances weren’t the best, but I want you to know you’re more than welcome here.”

She studied his face intently for a moment, before nodding in acknowledgement and trotting after Ace. He watched her go, wondering what the future would hold for his newest daughter and his most troublesome son.

(Name) waited, sat on one of the chairs in the living room that was apparently part of her former pet’s suite. He’d carefully nudged her into it, then run off into one of the other rooms. She’d been confused at first, until she’d remembered that he’d need to get some clothing if he was going to change back into a human so they could talk. Under normal circumstances the thought would be an embarrassing one, but it had been a long day, and she was too wrung out to feel much of anything.

As she waited she glanced around the room. It was fairly sparse with only a couple of well worn chairs and a coffee table, plus a stand with games and a large TV. The kitchen and dining area, which were connected to this one, were equally empty, with nothing at all in the dining room and bare counters in the kitchen. She was fairly sure there was a stack of dirty dishes sat in the sink as well. All in all it was a typical bachelor’s pad.

“It’s not much,” he said quietly arriving back in the room, wearing what looked to be a hastily thrown on pair of shorts, rubbing the back of his head anxiously, “But it’s home.”

Hesitantly he took the seat opposite her, his hands folded in his lap, elbows braced on his knees. She studied him closely for the first time in human form, and a distant part of her mind noted he was just as attractive as her strange dreams had always imagined him to be, back when she still thought he was just a dog.

His thick black hair hung in waves around his face, and he had exotically shaped eyes, tinted that strange stormy silver color, strong cheekbones, a thin, straight nose, and stubborn chin, it was a face that would’ve been fierce and incredibly intimidating if not for the plush lips on his slightly wide mouth and the cute dusting of freckles across his nose and cheekbones.

His lack of shirt meant his broad shoulders, narrow waist and sculpted muscles were on full display, along with strong looking biceps and forearms, accented by what looked like some kind of tattoo on his left bicep. His hands, clasped in his lap were large and calloused. All in all he was extremely attractive, not that she could muster up the willpower to care too much at the somewhat distant thought. It was far overshadowed by everything else that had happened to her today.

“I’m sorry,” he blurted suddenly, startling her out of her examination, “I’m so sorry, for everything, for lying to you, for deceiving you, for taking advantage of you. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you from Teach and that I ended up mating myself to you against your will. I didn’t mean to, but I did it anyway and I…”

“Look,” she interrupted quickly, heartstrings tugging painfully at the pitiful anguished expression on his face, “Fre… sorry… it’s Ace right?”

“It is,” he confirmed miserably then offered a half-hearted smile, “Portgas D. Ace actually, but you can still call me Freckles if you want, it’s not like it isn’t an apt description, and I’ve gotten used to responding to it.”

She was surprised at the snort of laughter that escaped her, not having realized she was capable of feeling a whole lot of anything after the emotional roller coaster of a day she’d just had, still, “You’re a man though, not a dog, so I’ll do my best to stick to Ace, and anyway you’ve distracted me.”

“What I was saying, was that the attack wasn’t your fault and neither was what happened in the aftermath,” she told him firmly, “I’m new at the whole werewolf thing, and my emotions are a little wonky right now because of my instincts, but the two things I know for absolute certain are that the only one at fault for attacking me, is the one who actually attacked me and that you saved my life, again, even after what happened the last time we saw each other, after I hurt you so badly, you still came.”

“But, it was my fault,” he protested his eyes anguished, “If I hadn’t tricked you, if I had just left the way I meant to…”

“I would be dead,” she interrupted flatly.

“No,” she said firmly as she saw him try to protest again, “That first night if you hadn’t followed me to work and left like you meant to I would’ve been raped and killed by Grabby. And if you’d left any time after, without letting me know you were a man you wouldn’t have left me your phone number and I wouldn’t have, had any way to call for help, and even less of an idea of what was happening when that man turned up in my room.”

“But I was supposed to protect you,” he told her miserably, “It was the only thing I was meant to do, in order to repay you for your kindness, to try to make amends for deceiving you.”

“And you did, you saved my life, and while I would’ve preferred it hadn’t come with the consequences it did, I would prefer to be an alive Werewolf than a dead human,” she stated bluntly.

“But the mating,” he tried again still looking unsure.

“Was an accident on several people’s parts, and one whose consequences you’ll end up having to face just the same as I will,” she replied hoping to shoot down any ideas of fault, blame or guilt early.

“But you don’t want this and I…” he trailed off staring at his hands for a second before slowly lifting his face, “I did. I wanted to be your mate. I wanted to stay with you, to have you know me as a man, not only because of the way you smelled to me, which was and is nearly irresistible, but also because of the person I was coming to know. I… I liked you a lot and….”

He shrugged helplessly, his eyes pleading with her, and it took her a moment to really process what he was saying and when she did she wasn’t sure how to respond. Sure she’d had some raunchy dreams about him, the human picture she’d had of him anyway, but she didn’t know him not really, and she hated having her choice taken away from her, and she said so.

“I understand,” he told her earnestly, “And… well… I’m not sure if the others will tell you or not, but it’s still possible for you to take another mate.”

“I thought your Alpha said our bond was permanent?” she asked with a frown, suspicion rising.

“It is,” he hastily reassured her, “But that doesn’t stop you from forming another one. Several Weres have triadic relationships and sometimes if a mate dies the one left will mate again. Circumstances might be a little odd and different for us, but we could make it work.”

“So we’d what? Share a third person? I don’t like women sexually,” she questioned confused.

“No, it would probably just be you and them,” he told her his face carefully blank.

“But that doesn’t seem fair,” she pointed out baffled, “If that was the way we were going to work things then we should share the third person or each have a separate partner.”

Ace flushed and refused to meet her eyes, as he crossed his arms across his chest defensively and admitted, “You could take a mate, but I’m twenty-five years old and you’re the only person I’ve ever met that I’ve wanted to mate with, or even been attracted to. I… there’s probably something wrong with me. I honestly thought I was never going to want anyone until I wanted you.”

She looked at him, trying to process never being attracted to anyone before, and that she’d somehow become the object of his affections. It was more than a bit flattering honestly. She just wasn’t sure what to do with it.

Thinking about it she realized that he had admitted he wanted her, but had been working on the assumption that she either wouldn’t or couldn’t want him back. Looking at him again she realized that physically wanting him wouldn’t be a problem, but because of the bond they had, having just a sexual relationship wouldn’t work. They’d need to be friends at least if they were going to be stuck with one another for the rest of their lives.

“I don’t know you,” she said again slowly, “Not the way you know me. We never really interacted properly because I was treating you like my pet rather than a person, but we’re stuck together now, and I think I wouldn’t mind getting to know you. We have to at least try right? And if things go well, then they do, and if we decide to just be friends then I guess that’s what we do. It would be just like any other relationship really, only with the added pressure to be good to one another knowing whatever happens we have to remain on good terms.”

“You would do that?” Ace asked surprised, “Try being my actual mate? After everything? Even discarding the incident with Teach and accidentally mating myself to you, I lied to you, and I took advantage of your kindness and your love.”

“I thought about that a lot after you left,” she admitted hugging her arms around herself, figuring honesty now was best and feeling more than a bit wrung out, “And it hurt, it hurt to think that everything was a lie, and I wanted to be angry I really did, but then you looked so devastated when you left, and I knew you had to be hurting too.”

“I just…” she sighed, peering at him through her bangs as he studied his hands, which were clenching and unclenching in his lap, “I’m not sure how I feel anymore, it’s too much right now, but I do know that I missed you.”

She saw his head shoot up and continued, knowing she would feel better for purging it all from her system and that if she didn’t say it now she might not ever say it once the numbness of the day faded and her pride kicked in again, “I missed you, and I was so relieved that you came to save me despite everything, and even now I still feel safe with you.”

He stood and moved closer, crouching down so he could kneel at her feet submissively even as he peered up at her with a fierce expression on his face, “I will protect you.”

The words were a solemn promise and she felt he meant them to the depths of his soul, “You’re someone precious to me and I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you happy and safe.”

“I can protect myself too you know,” she told him feeling she had to put up at least a token protest despite the warm feelings his words gave her.

“I know,” he admitted making a motion as if he was going to reach for her face, but decided against it at last minute, “But even still I promise.”

She nodded and as if his words were some kind of trigger felt her body begin to slump. The excitement of the day was catching up to her, and she was completely and utterly exhausted.

“You’re tired,” he observed gently, “It’s late and you should sleep.”

So saying he scooped her up, before she could protest, and carried her into a hallway. She wanted to say something, but she was too tired to do much more than fight to keep her eyes open.

She barely registered being brought to a bed and set down carefully. The sheets and pillow smelled like Ace and she inhaled her whole body relaxing at the scent as a blanket was draped over her shoulders. Instinct made her nuzzle her face against his affectionately, when he brought it close to hers too tired to fight it before allowing her eyes to droop closed.

“Sleep, you’re safe now, and I’ll be here when you wake,” his words echoed as if at a distance and they were the last thing she registered before allowing sleep to claim her.

Chapter Text

(Name) woke slowly for the first time in what seemed like ever and took a deep breath. For some reason her sheets and pillows smelled amazing. Heaving a slow sigh she rolled on to her belly and pressed her face into the pillow inhaling the spicy, smoky masculine scent. It took her a minute for the thought to fully form but when it did she sat up surprised, because there was absolutely no reason for anything in her room to smell so masculine.

She realized fairly quickly that the room she was in wasn’t hers. For one thing the sheets were bright orange and the bedspread was black. Her walls at home had been painted a nice pale green whereas these were off-white, and to top it off the bed and a small nightstand were the only pieces of furniture in the room.

As she looked around it all came rushing back in, everything that had happened yesterday, realizing she’d been attacked and had become a werewolf and accidentally mated herself with Ace. She could hear the sound of low male voices nearby, both of which she recognized, as she remembered that Marco, who was going to be her mentor in this whole Werewolf thing, was supposed to be dropping by.

Sliding to the floor she padded out of the room and towards the voices, finding herself in the living space she vaguely recognized from yesterday. As she suspected the speakers were Marco and Ace, both of whom stopped talking when they saw she’d entered the room.

“(Name!) good morning, did you sleep well?” Ace asked with a hesitant smile.

“I did,” she admitted, realizing that despite everything it was the first night she’d slept without nightmares since he’d left, but brushing the thought away for a moment to be thought about later, preferably when she wasn’t feeling so gross, “Thank you, and sorry for passing out on you.”

“Hey don’t worry about it,” he assured her immediately, “You were and are still recovering, and yesterday must’ve been pretty stressful for you.”

“Yeah,” she admitted feeling a little tense and out of place despite the talk they’d had yesterday, “Um is there anywhere I can get clean clothes and maybe get washed up.”

“That’s why I’m here ~yoi,” Marco piped up, “We were going to let you sleep a bit longer, but I’ve brought your things by.”

“My things?” she repeated confused.

“We threw a lot of information at you yesterday, including that we had to burn down your home in order to get rid of the evidence of Teach and his attack. What I’m not sure we remembered to tell you was that we saved your stuff,” he hefted the bag he was carrying to show her, a duffle that on closer inspection she did recognize, “These are just what we thought would probably be necessities, the rest is waiting in an empty room that we use for storage sometimes until we find a new house for you.”

“Really? You saved my things?” she asked surprised, “My pictures, my books, my laptop?”

“We couldn’t save everything ~yoi,” he admitted with a grimace, “Teach did a number on your room and on the living room, hallway and kitchen and a lot of things were broken, but we saved what we could. Ace directed us to the most important things, but a lot of the furniture and knick-knacks will have to be replaced.

It was a blow to have lost so much, but still she was too grateful to have anything at all to be too devastated and carefully accepted the bag from Marco, holding it close.

“Thank you,” she told them hugging the bag to her chest, “I mean I know that they’re material things and I should just be grateful for my life after everything, but some of those things I just wouldn’t have been able to replace.”

“Don’t worry about it ~yoi,” Marco assured her, “It was the least we could do since we were going to burn your house down to keep our secret.”

“You said you wanted to take a shower?” Ace asked pulling her attention back to him.

“Yes, if I could,” she told him relieved at the idea of finally getting clean.

“The first door on the right as you go into the hallway is the bathroom, your bath stuff should all be in the bag, but if it isn’t feel free to use anything you find in there, soap, towels, whatever,” he offered sincerely.

“Thanks,” she replied offering him a shy smile.

“Of course,” he said, “It’s only fair after all.”

At his words she suddenly remembered that when he’d been a dog she’d given him a bath herself. She felt her eyes widen and her mouth drop open in shock as she realized just what that translated too since he was a man.

A soft whine attracted her attention and she turned to see Ace’s face was as red as hers felt, clear horror and embarrassment on his face. Seeing that made her feel a bit better honestly. At least he hadn’t been enjoying it, that would’ve felt too much like a violation. Still…

“I’m just going to uh-go um, and shower, yes shower uh, I’ll be back,” she stammered before turning and running from the room.

Ace dropped his face into his hands in horror. He’d completely forgotten about the ‘bath incident’ when he’d been pretending to be her dog. That was up there as one of the most humiliating moments of his life, and he’d never ever wanted to think about it ever again, or have anyone find out about it.

“I take it there was an incident ~yoi,” Marco stated dryly, and Ace lifted his face from his hands to glare at his friend who was looking entirely too amused at his expense.

“You might as well tell me what it was now, or I’ll just end up imagining the worst,” he pointed out reasonably. Ace grimaced but relented, provoking a strange look from his friend.

“What?!” he snapped annoyed.

“You know there are a lot of men out there, including some of our own brothers who would love to have been given a bath by a beautiful alpha woman, even if she was human at the time ~yoi,” Marco pointed out an amused smirk on his face.

“It wasn’t like that damnit!” Ace shouted feeling his face flush again in horrified embarrassment for a completely new reason. He hadn’t even thought of it like that at the time, only that she thought he smelled terrible and he had mud in his fur, though he could see why his brothers might take it the wrong way if they found out.

The idea of her giving him a bath now, running her small hands all over him… If he hadn’t been red already he certainly would’ve been at the arousing imagery that thought had provoked, and he had quite a lot to work with considering she’d had little to no modesty around him before, and why should she when she’d thought he was a dog?

That thought produced enough shame to quickly kill whatever arousal he’d felt and he realized, “You can’t tell anyone.”

Marco raised an eye brow in surprise to he elaborated, “Things are going to be hard enough without our brothers trying to tease my mate and I, especially when she’s just agreed to give me a chance.”

“Give you a chance?” Marco echoed with a frown, “Ace, you’re already mated ~yoi.”

“I know that,” he snapped annoyed, “But I offered to let her choose another mate.”

“You’d want a third?” Marco questioned clearly surprised.

“No!” he protested immediately, “No I only want her, she’s more than enough for me. I just wasn’t sure if she’d want me back is all.”

“So what you offered her a third just for herself?” his brother asked skeptically.

“Yes,” Ace replied bluntly.

“It doesn’t work that way and you know it,” Marco told him still frowning, crossing his arms over his chest in clear disapproval.

“I’d make it work,” Ace bit out, annoyed with his brother’s clear disapproval. He didn’t understand.

“I just want her to be happy,” he admitted glancing down the hallway where the sounds of running water indicated she was still in the shower, “I don’t want her to feel stuck with me because she accidentally mated with me.”

“About that ~yoi,” Ace glanced over at his brother and was surprised to see him looking more than a bit ashamed, “Last night after you left with her, well, Oyaji said it and I agree, we should’ve noticed.”

“The signs were all there,” he explained, “Especially since we knew that the two of you were extremely compatible based on how much you liked the way she smelled.”

“Her overly obsessive behavior to find you, was another clue, and one we wrote off thinking she only wanted to be with you because you were familiar and someone she trusted instead of realizing her instincts were demanding she complete the bond with you,” Marco sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

“Hell, even your behavior, the sacrifice of your health and refusal to eat even when food was brought to you at her bedside should’ve been a clue, but we wrote that off as your unnecessary guilt, worry for her condition and your anxiety about Moon Madness rather than what it was ~yoi.”

“I didn’t know it either, so how would you know?” Ace pointed out reasonably, not liking the idea that his family had been feeling guilty about this, “Everyone was still pretty out of synch too, what with, with that bastard from my Division.”

“Don’t even start ~yoi,” Marco warned him evidently seeing the guilt arise on his face, because he should’ve known about Teach. He was a member of his own Division, and it was supposed to be impossible to hide your designation, especially an Alpha hiding from another Alpha, it just shouldn’t have been possible.

“You haven’t been a Division Commander for long, and Teach was here nearly from the beginning,” Marco informed him sternly, “Far longer than you have at any rate, and you weren’t the one who should’ve noticed nor are you responsible for his behavior.”

“That said I won’t let us get off topic or let your brush off my apology Ace,” Marco told him, “Yes we all kind of wanted to see (Name) as your mate. It was obvious to everyone you were and are head over heels for the woman, but we wouldn’t have wanted it to happen this way, where things would be difficult for both of you.”

“You were running tests though,” Ace objected guiltily, “If I hadn’t come barging in, if I’d listened to our brothers at the door, or the Division member in my room.”

“If we’d restrained you better, or left someone better able to fight back in your rooms,” Marco countered sternly, “If I’d been in the hallway or Jozu had been closer to the door to stop you after you gave your orders.”

“Ace we can play the what if game all day,” Marco told him with a sigh, “But the fact of the matter is, if we tried hard enough we could find a little bit of fault with everyone including your (name), but in the end the fault of most of it goes straight to Teach for his betrayal.”

“I just… I feel like I should’ve protected her better,” Ace admitted miserably.

“And I told you that it wasn’t your fault,” a woman’s voice countered, and he jumped. He’d been so caught up in his talk with Marco that he hadn’t heard the shower stop or (Name’s) arrival in the room, looking refreshed after her shower and much better than she’d been at any time he’d seen her since before she’d asked him to leave her home that day.

(Name) was feeling a lot better after she got cleaned and into new clothes. Whoever had packed her bag for her had done an excellent job of it, and she wasn’t sure whether to be pleased or appalled that they’d thought to include everything, including women’s necessities, like shaving cream, razors, pads, tampons, bras and underwear.

In the end, when she’d been able to put on fresh underthings and condition her hair she decided on grateful. She didn’t feel like a new woman exactly, but she was feeling much more capable of facing the multitude of issues that had arisen in the last twenty-four hours, and the situation she now found herself in.

Stepping out of the shower in order to find Ace and Marco and hopefully get that tour she was just in time to hear his guilt about protecting her better. Now that she was less numb and more prepared she was ready to really nip this in the bud, as she quickly cut him off again.

“Not only is it not your fault,” she continued vehemently, “But you saved my life, not once but twice, and I’m not sure, last night is pretty blurry, but I don’t think I ever expressed how grateful I was.”

She crossed the room and placed her hands on his shoulders so she could look him in the eye, “Thank you for saving my life Portgas D. Ace.”

He ducked his head, a move that her new instincts recognized as submissive, and had her leaning forward to press her cheek against his, breathing in his scent happily and pressing her lips to the rosy skin before pulling back a smile on her lips at his embarrassment. He really was cute, especially like this.

“You smell like me,” he blurted as she studied his red face, amused, “I mean you used my stuff?”

“Some of it,” she admitted releasing his shoulders and letting her hands fall to her sides, “My stuff, I tried to use it… but the smell.”

She grimaced unhappily. The minute she’d opened the bottle she’d nearly gagged at the overpowering stench. She might’ve thought someone had tampered with it, except it didn’t smell different just strong, like when someone sprayed way too much perfume, it stung her nose and eyes. She hadn’t been able to use it, and had thrown it away figuring it was probably useless now, and she’d really liked that stuff too!

“Yeah that can happen with stuff made for humans ~yoi,” Marco remarked clearly amused at her plight, “You’ll find it hard to be around people who wear too much fragrance too, though you’ll get used to some of it after a while.”

“I don’t think I could ever get used to that,” she grimaced, “Admittedly it wasn’t as bad as the antiseptic smell in that room I woke up in, though it was much stronger, and it wasn’t at all like that disgusting thing you made me smell during those tests, but it was still pretty bad.”

“Don’t worry there are products made specifically for Werewolves that don’t have as much scent but still smell nice,” Ace assured her, apparently recovered from his earlier embarrassment.

“I’ll take your word for it,” she smiled at him, “I liked the stuff you had, but you didn’t have any conditioner and I’ll need it.”

“We’ll take you shopping soon ~yoi,” Marco promised her, “To replace some of the stuff you’ve lost, probably tomorrow. Can you hold out until then?”

“Not a problem,” she assured him, “I can wait, you don’t need to put anyone out of their way for me.”

“It won’t put anyone out of their way, you’re Ace’s mate, and my pack, especially myself and some of the other Division Commanders are in your debt. I very much doubt Ace would mind taking you shopping tomorrow once you’re a bit more settled, and even if he did, any of us would be happy to take you, as a matter of fact as your mentor it’s actually one of my duties anyway to help you get used to the world as a Were.” He informed her.

“Firstly, nobody owes me anything except maybe a house and some things to replace whatever was lost in the fire,” she informed him sternly, “Secondly what do you mean get used to the world as a Were?”

“We do owe you,” he countered just as firmly, “For taking such good care of Ace and for killing Teach to say nothing of the guilt some of us feel that you were needlessly put in harms way.”

“And as for getting used to the world you’ll have noticed that your senses are better now, and there are certain instincts you’ll be feeling to act a certain way. Normal humans can be overwhelming because of it, especially because they don’t follow the same set of instincts as we do,” he explained, “For example for humans eye contact when speaking can be very important and it is for Weres too, but some kinds of eye contact, especially if you’re not blinking, just like wolves or dogs can seem aggressive or challenging.”

“What happened before I was attacked with Ace is between him and me, ” she argued glancing at Ace out of the corner of her eye before resettling her gaze on Marco, “And we’re working through it. It’ll take a while but I don’t see how any of that should affect you or anyone else. Any care I gave him while I thought he was a dog is our business and has nothing to do with you.”

“Killing the man who attacked me was self-defense and nothing more,” she continued swallowing down the unhappiness she felt at remembering the incident, “I certainly didn’t do it for anyone’s benefit but my own so there’s no debt to be had there either. Also I think I can handle a little eye contact.”

Marco looked at her, holding her gaze with his own strangely turquoise blue eyes. She was surprised to feel something rise up in her, the urge to pin the strange male down and dominate him rising in her, to make him submit, but the minute she realized what it was she quickly stomped it down. She may have been forced to be a Werewolf but damn her if she was going to act like anything but the human she was.

“You’re surprisingly good at holding down your instincts for a new Were,” Marco acknowledged after a few tense seconds, finally blinking and relaxing his stance a bit, “You might be fine, but I’d like to go with anyway. I’ve got shopping of my own to do, and it doesn’t change the fact that humans will be loud and smelly to you now.”

“And you’re right, some of that is between you and Ace, but he’s our brother and we were worried for him, is it really so strange we’d be grateful to find him in caring hands ~yoi?” he asked reasonably.

“I suppose not,” she admitted. It was hard to argue when he was being reasonable about it, “Though I didn’t do it because I was expecting something in return. I thought he was a stray for pete’s sake!”

“I understand that, but those are our feelings and we can’t change them,” he told her mildly, “And as for the attack…”

“We’re going to have to agree to disagree I think,” he told her fists clenching at his sides, “Teach was one of us, and we should’ve been the ones to deal with him, he never should’ve been able to hurt you or Thatch like that, or turn you against your will, not when our Alpha had promised you wouldn’t be.”

“And, for me personally. I was the one who told everyone you had the Alpha’s Voice even though you were human, maybe it wasn’t clear last night, but we were able to hear your conversation with Ace over the phone both sides of it. The only reason he was after you in the first place was because I told Oyaji about your ability in front of witnesses,” he admitted unhappily.

“You Werewolves are very set in your guilt aren’t you?” she asked rhetorically, “Look it sounds to me like he was someone you trusted, so it wasn’t only me who suffered. Maybe I suffered the worst physically, but it’s over now. I’m already healed and I’m going to be okay. Unless you deliberately let him know about me, knowing he was going to try to hurt me then I can’t see how any of it was your fault, just like none of it was Ace’s fault.”

“Maybe that’s true but we can’t help how we feel,” Marco countered carefully, “So please let us do things for you to make ourselves feel a bit better.”

“Stubborn,” she huffed, though she knew it was a bit hypocritical of her to say so when she was known to be just as bad, “You said Betas are mediators, I think I see why now. Fine, I can no more dictate how you should feel than I can command the sun to rise, so feel away, just know that I don’t blame you for anything and I doubt your friend, Thatch blames you either, though you’d have to ask him.”

“I don’t,” piped the man himself from where he’d been standing behind Marco, neither the blond Were nor Ace had been in a position to see him come in, as they were facing her, so he startled them both, “Blame anyone that is, except for myself for not being more careful and for giving away information to him.”

Both of the men turned to face him, clearly surprised to see him there, where he was leaning against the doorway a somewhat forced smile on his face, “I came to check on Ace and (Name) and see if you’d started your tour yet, if not I’d like to join you if that’s alright.”

…~oO*Oo~…

Marco glanced at his friend surprised. That was the second time someone had managed to sneak up on him today, something that was practically unheard of. Still he didn’t usually have such intense discussions in places where he could be snuck up on so that wasn’t too surprising.

He glanced at (Name) to see what she thought, it was her tour after all, and she shrugged, “I certainly don’t mind.”

“How are you by the way?” she asked a concerned frown on her face.

“Me?” Thatch asked clearly surprised, though Marco could see why she asked, Thatch didn’t seem his normally vibrant self, and to his trained eyes he could see his brother was thinner, pale and had dark bags under his eyes, “I’m fine, why do you ask?”

“Right before that bastard attacked me, he said something about hurting you. I just wanted to make sure you were alright,” she told him, her tone easy and reasonable in the face of Thatch’s slightly defensive tone. He was impressed, most Alphas didn’t take being challenged well, especially new ones like her and Thatch’s tone could definitely be construed that way. He hadn’t even had to use any of his hormones on her to keep her calm yet. Then again he didn’t have much experience with female Alphas so maybe they were different? It was hard to say considering how rare they were.

“Oh,” Thatch said visibly deflating, “I’m recovered, but what about you? How are you doing?”

“Well the nightmares haven’t had a chance to start yet, but considering how bad they were after Ace had to save my life the first time I suppose they’ll be even worse now,” she mused bluntly honest, “It’s funny, sometimes the nightmares are worse than the event itself, because your mind doesn’t care what actually happened, whether you’re safe or not, it prefers the ‘what if’ scenarios.”

Marco jerked in surprise at how easily she’d just come out and said it, but he could also see visible relief on Thatch’s face, so he held his tongue, watching them interact with interest. He got the feeling this would be good for both of them.

“Sometimes warm milk or hot chocolate helps,” Thatch offered immediately, sympathy and clear understanding on his face, “I’ll make sure the kitchen knows to get you the ingredients. Ace does have a stove in here, though he barely uses it.”

“I’ve found that taking steps to ensure something like it never happens again makes a good deal of difference too,” she advised easily, “As long as you change something, as long as when you wake you can remind yourself that things are different now, it helps. I started keeping a can of Mace on me at all times. I’ve no doubt the fact that I was able to hit that bastard in the face with it, is the only reason I was able to protect myself from him. If I hadn’t had it, I’d be dead or worse.”

Thatch nodded slowly, a thoughtful look on his face. It was sound advice, and Marco was grateful she’d taken the time to give it. He got the feeling the two of them would be good for each other and was glad Thatch was coming with them.

“You had nightmares?” Ace asked concerned, “I never noticed.”

“You sleep like the dead,” (Name) informed him flatly, and it was true enough, but he’d seen her eyes flicker before she said it. She was lying.

“You could’ve woken me up. I would’ve tried to help,” Ace told her guiltily.

“I didn’t have them last night,” she assured him with a soft smile, “And what good would it have been to wake a dog? It’s fine you were an excellent nightmare deterrent even asleep.”

“You’re sure?” Ace asked concerned.

“Positive,” and that time she wasn’t lying. It only took him a second to put the pieces together. She hadn’t had nightmares at all until he wasn’t there anymore. He had deterred her nightmares because she’d felt safe, but once he was gone she’d started having them and she hadn’t wanted to tell him, which was why she’d lied about why he hadn’t noticed. He couldn’t help but approve of that, and like her just that little bit more. After all Ace didn’t need any additional guilt.

“Enough of this stuff, we should get this show on the road,” Thatch told them carefully changing the subject, and Marco wondered if he’d noticed the same thing he had. Judging by the soft look on his face the other Beta definitely had.

“He’s right you have a lot to see,” Marco told her, “Come on.”

He led the way out of Ace’s rooms and showed them around the complex. It wasn’t their only one, their pack had gotten too big over the years to have only one building, even if that building was huge. This was just the main building, where the main kitchens, game rooms, and unmated Were rooms were. There were other buildings, they’d bought the surrounding ones, and had an additional acreage out back of woods to run in when they felt the need, but he wouldn’t be showing her that today.

Those other buildings held more extensive suites of rooms for those of the pack who had mates and pups, along with the daycare and nursery for the pups. Another of the buildings had the main triage area for when Pack members were injured. The only reason (Name) hadn’t been in those rooms when she woke was because she’d been moved once her injuries had healed, to the main building where more of them could be closer at hand and none of the weaker members of the pack would be in the line of fire if she woke Moon Mad. This was standard procedure for all new wolves, which he explained as they walked.

Most of the pack knew better than to approach a new Were, especially when Ace was hovering so protectively around her and glaring at anyone he caught looking at them. Word had been passed that their Second Division Commander was newly mated, so these actions were met with amused fondness and secret smiles from most of the pack, as it was typical mated behavior for those newly mated.

They finished up their tour in the kitchen where he’d let Thatch take over for a bit seeing as it was his domain, and he’d ended up cooking lunch for all of them when he realized the poor woman hadn’t eaten since before her attack outside of being fed from a tube.

“These are really good, thank you,” (Name) complimented as she quickly but carefully ate her fajitas. Thatch beamed at her and Marco grinned to himself, he was right, being around (Name) was doing his brother a world of good, he hadn’t been this exuberant in a long time.

“Not as good as yours,” Ace told her loyally even as he shoved even more food into his mouth.

“Ah, I’d forgotten you stole those off the counter,” she stated flatly even as Thatch choked in shock behind her.

“You cook?” Marco asked surprised even as Ace sheepishly asked, “Can you blame me?”

“Yes I cook,” she replied a bit defensively, “I find it very soothing, and yes I can blame you, you ate like a dozen eggs first!”

“I was starving,” Ace told her with a pout, “Werewolves, especially Alpha werewolves and especially me, need to eat a lot more than normal humans, our metabolism is much higher.”

“It’s true,” Thatch told her, apparently having recovered from his choking at Ace’s insinuation that someone might be a better cook than he was, “Werewolves eat a lot, and Ace especially. We’re not sure why, probably something genetic that has to do with the D. Family but he eats a lot because he needs it.”

“Alright,” she said with a sigh, “I suppose I can’t fault you for eating it then, especially since your only other option was dog food, which I guess that explains why you wouldn’t eat it like a normal dog.”

This time Marco choked along with Thatch.

“Hey! Now that you’re a Were too you take a whiff of that stuff and see if it smells appetizing,” Ace protested, making a face, “I’m not exactly picky but even I have to draw the line.”

“You tried to make him eat dog food?” Thatch asked incredulously, looking like he wasn’t sure whether to laugh or be outraged. It was funny, but at the same time Thatch took food very seriously.

“In my defense I did think he was a dog, and it wasn’t just any dog food, it was premium brand, organic, all natural food,” she protested indignantly, “And it was expensive! I was just lucky they let me take it back!”

“So you just what? Fed him eggs?” Marco asked trying not to laugh as Thatch sputtered.

“Of course not! What kind of pet owner do you take me for?” she demanded truly offended, “I made him homemade dog food.”

“Home made dog food,” Marco repeated weakly, trying hard not to give in to laughter.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” she informed him annoyed, “We tried several things, but they had stuff like braised salmon and squash or I think his favorite had beef, carrots, potatoes, celery and brown rice.”

“Seriously? You went to that much effort for someone you thought was a dog?” Thatch asked surprised.

“Of course!” she said defensively, “What was I going to do? Let him starve? He was mine and he was going to eat well!”

“That can’t have come cheap,” Thatch murmured with a frown, “And you were a bartender right? Not a big salary.”

“It was fine,” she dismissed with a shrug, “I’m a good bargain shopper and an expert with coupons, and I didn’t need a whole lot or have a whole lot in the way of bills thank goodness. Besides he was my responsibility and that meant feeding him.”

“I really did appreciate you went to all the trouble,” Ace piped up sheepishly, “And I didn’t get to say it then, but thank you.”

“I think I like you,” Thatch announced interrupting before she could say anything as he slung an arm around (Name’s) shoulders earning a glare from Ace, “You’re welcome in my kitchen any time.”

“I just might take you up on that,” she countered with a smile, “Thanks.”

“And Ace, you’re welcome,” she told him with an affectionate smile that lifted Marco’s heart immensely. He’d been a bit worried about what Ace had said earlier about her potentially wanting to find another mate. He wasn’t sure he’d be able to tolerate that, but he couldn’t go against Ace’s wishes, and he did sincerely want them both to be happy. Seeing them like this made him think things might just work out, despite all the obstacles they’d had to overcome and were still trying to surmount.

Chapter Text

“So, do you have any questions for me?” Marco asked her as they settled down in a quiet place out on the lawn, away from the others who’d been wandering around.

Honestly she was bursting with questions, but (Name) took a second to just breathe trying to get her thoughts in order. It was still pretty overwhelming, and she was glad to get a bit of a reprieve, and even more glad that the people she’d seen earlier had known to keep their distance. Marco had been right earlier when he’d said crowds might become uncomfortable for her.

Luckily since they’d left Thatch a few minutes ago in the kitchens, starting prep work for the large dinners they served in the halls for anyone unable or unwilling to cook for themselves or their families, no one had approached, and Marco had led them to a secluded area a distance away from anyone else.

“And I can ask you anything?” she affirmed, delaying a bit more to figure out what all she wanted to ask.

“Anything ~yoi,” he affirmed gently.

“Is that normal?” she blurted before she could help herself. Then grimaced, that was actually the last thing she wanted to ask, but seeing as it was already out there she refused to back down, meeting Marco’s eyes squarely.

“Is what normal?” Marco asked with a puzzled frown.

“A lot of the Werewolves I saw walking around seemed to have an aversion to clothing,” she told him bluntly her eyes dropping pointedly to his bare chest and then back up again, “Thatch was the only real exception to that, that I saw, him and the other chefs in the Dining Hall, though I suppose that’s for sanitation reasons among other things.”

“It is actually normal,” he told her his lips quirked in clear amusement, “And it’s not like anyone was running around nude. Plus we do cover up in the winter because it’s cold, just like normal humans, right now though it’s fairly warm so we’re taking advantage while we can.”

“Is there a reason for it?” she asked flatly, “Outside of showing off?”

“Actually yes ~yoi,” he told her still amused, “You’ll have noticed by now our clothes don’t shift when we change. Thus they either fall off or tear to shreds if we shift while wearing them, which is why we always tend to strip off if we know we’re going to shift, and wear as little clothing as we can get away with at all other times. As a society we don’t generally have the body modesty humans do.”

“I see,” she said slowly, and she did, she just wished it wasn’t so distracting, watching the way Ace’s muscles flexed under his tanned skin out of the corner of her eye.

“Any other questions?” Marco prompted clearly seeing what she’d been doing and also clearly entertained.

“How does the shift work?” she asked immediately, “I know I kind of did it before, and I know since Ace spent time with me as a dog it isn’t remotely tied to the full moon, but I don’t know how to do it.”

“It’s mostly a will thing ~yoi,” Marco told her thoughtfully, “You either will yourself into your human or your wolf form. Some of the more advanced wolves can even manage a hybrid form, which is where human myths about werewolves came from I imagine.”

“For me when I want to change into a wolf I imagine things I can only do as a wolf, like run through the forest on all fours,” Ace put in, redirecting her attention, “And when I want to be human I imagine things I can only do in that form, like balance on two legs or open doors, though sometimes we revert accidentally to one form or another if we go to sleep or are knocked unconscious.”

“The mindset is slightly different as well,” Marco added nodding in agreement with what Ace had said, “Our wolf sides are more dictated by instinct than our human sides, which is probably how you managed to shift in the first place, you let your instincts take over when you were trying to track Ace down, though our senses, including smell also tend to be stronger in that form, which is another reason.”

“Would you like to try ~yoi?” Marco asked courteously.

“No, I’ll pass for now,” she told him, thinking she’d rather practice in private, especially since she’d have to strip, which she wasn’t prepared to do in front of Ace, who was her mate, let alone Marco who she didn’t really know at all.

Marco nodded in understanding, so she figured the subject was done and continued, “Earlier, on the tour, I saw some wolves and it looked like they were fighting, but no one seemed too worried about it?”

“That was play fighting, sparring,” Marco explained, “We’re a lot like a wolf pack in that we like to roughhouse and spar with one another some times. Also like wolves, combat strength also tends to determine your place in the hierarchy.”

“Hierarchy?” she repeated a bit nervously. That didn’t sound good at all.

“It’s more like chain of command, so if someone has questions, or something happens that requires directions we know who to defer to,” Marco assured her, apparently hearing the hesitation in her voice.

“And that would make Mr. Edward the best fighter then?” she confirmed.

“That’s right, though it’s a bit different for Alphas as it has to do both with physical strength and the strength of their Voice,” Ace explained earnestly.

“So if he’s first...?” she trailed off leadingly.

“I’m second,” Marco confirmed, “And Ace is third, followed by a line of others down to the sixteenth, one for every twenty adults in the Pack.”

“We also train because like wolves we hold territories, and while no one really fights like that anymore because it would draw too much attention, namely human attention, there are skirmishes with other Packs once in a while, or the occasional Moon Mad wolf or loner who attacks,” Ace told her frowning.

“So you’re saying it would probably be a good idea to learn, given my recent luck,” she stated dryly.

“It wouldn’t be a bad idea ~yoi,” Marco affirmed, “Especially since everyone knows a little bit about how, since born Weres tend to wrestle and rough house when they’re pups.”

“So are you going to be the one to teach me then or…?” she trailed off glancing at Ace who shifted uncomfortably.

“We don’t let mates train with one another, not when they’re seriously trying to learn ~yoi,” Marco told her, seeing her questioning look he continued amused, “They tend to not be able to seriously go at one another, or they get… distracted. I’ll teach you.”

“Distracted…? Oh!” she felt like an idiot as she watched Ace blush again. He seemed to end up doing that fairly often. It was cute and she studied him, letting her eyes rake over his shirtless chest, “Yeah I suppose I can see why that would be distracting.”

Ace choked, and she giggled, turning back to Marco, she got the feeling that teasing her mate was going to be extremely entertaining. Marco raised a brow at her, though he was also clearly amused.

“So if Werewolves exist does that mean other kinds of supernatural creatures, the ones from stories, exist as well?” she asked taking a moment to ask another question that had been bothering her.

“If you mean are there any blood sucking vampires running around then no ~yoi,” Marco informed her wryly, not that we’ve ever heard of anyway, “I’ve been told that there may be Werecats out there somewhere, Oyaji has met a few, but they aren’t as numerous as Werewolves because they tend to be more solitary in nature.”

“Were cats” she repeated a bit disturbed at the idea, “so they turn into like lions or something?”

“From what I understand it varies from person to person,” Marco told her with a shrug, though I don’t know a whole lot about them.

“Is there anything else you think I need to know about being a Werewolf in general?” she asked a little boggled at the idea of Werecats, but figuring if Werewolves could exist Werecats might as well too, at least there weren’t any vampires, which she’d been a little worried about to be honest.

“No, it’s a fairly simple life once you get used to the cultural nuances and the new form and instincts, not too different from a normal human,” Marco told her easily, “The only big rule we have that differs from humans is to not let others find out about us, which means no telling anyone, not friends, not family, no one.”

“It’s a bit harder for you, because you didn’t agree to come into this life willingly the way most do,” he told her gently seeing her frown, “But it’s for everyone’s safety that no one finds out, lest we be hunted down or persecuted, so it’s pretty severe.”

“Ace mentioned when he left the first time that people had been killed before for learning the secret,” she remembered with a disturbed frown glancing over at the man in question who seemed to have calmed down a bit and was watching her, silver eyes warm and protective.

“I never would’ve let that happen to you,” he told her fiercely, “But our pack isn’t like that. We don’t kill people.”

“That’s right ~yoi,” Marco confirmed resolutely, “When Oyaji created this pack it was with the idea that everyone in it would be like family, that we would protect and love each other the way families are supposed to do. And so, when incidents like yours come up it’s usually because of an accident, or because someone fell in love. It wouldn’t be right or fair to kill someone for something completely out of their control, and no matter how much we might sometimes want to strangle our in-laws killing a family member’s loved one is generally not a good idea.”

“So what do you do when people find out then?” she asked concerned.

“We turn them ~yoi,” Marco told her with a shrug.

“And what if they don’t want to be turned?” she questioned sharply.

“Most want to be turned,” he replied carefully, evidently seeing where she’d been going with this, “The ones who are loved generally love in turn, and becoming a Werewolf offers all kinds of enhancements that some would give up life and limb to have, what with the expanded lifespan, incredibly fast healing, and the fact that we almost never get sick. Not to mention being stronger, faster and more durable than normal humans.”

“For those that don’t find that kind of thing appealing, and there aren’t many,” he assured her with a frown, “Our family is very well connected, with people in places high and low in the government, in the military, running businesses, celebrities, all sorts. As such we can generally offer someone their dream job, and hefty monetary bribes. A life free of injury, sickness, and poverty with whatever your heart desires in terms of job or material item doesn’t exactly sound unappealing to people. We’ve never had someone refuse, even with the risk of Moon Madness.”

“I would have,” she told him flatly, “Refused that is, so what then? Ace promised me I wouldn’t be turned against my will.”

“He did,” Marco acknowledged with a nod, “And we wouldn’t have gone against that, especially when he felt so vehemently about it that he told us he would fight Oyaji to the death if we tried to force the issue without your consent.”

“Oh! Oh Freckles, honey you didn’t have to do that for me. I never would’ve asked you to go against your family like that,” she told him shocked crawling over to him instinctually, deeply concerned.

“I did,” he insisted firmly, “I hurt you so much, and you were so good to me. Since you didn’t want to have me around anymore it was the only thing I could do for you.”

She softened and pulled him into a hug, pressing his face to her collarbone. He immediately wrapped his arms around her waist and nuzzled his face into her neck, tension she hadn’t even realized was there draining out of his body as he held her close.

It felt strangely right to be her, encircled by his strong arms, her own around his neck, with one hand buried in his thick, soft hair. She lay her cheek on the top of his head and breathed in his scent, the heady smell steadying her nerves. It was so comfortable that she was extremely reluctant to let go, but Marco’s presence was jangling against her senses, making her hyperaware that he was still in the proximity meant she couldn’t just relax into it and stay there until she felt like moving again.

Grudgingly she pulled back, releasing her hold on him as she took one last lung full of scent, and was pleased to note that he seemed just as reluctant if the very slow loosening of his hold on her waist meant anything.

Marco was watching them with a surprisingly soft expression on his face. It wasn’t a look she expected but she did find herself relaxing a bit because of it.

“To answer your question,” he told her as she settled in again, though this time she stayed close to Ace as opposed to moving back to her spot, “We had hoped given time we could change your mind. If not with the things I mentioned before, then because you and Ace are so compatible.”

“Compatible?” she repeated glancing at Ace out of the corner of her eye.

“You’ve noticed by now that Ace smells pretty good to you?” he prompted.

“Mmhmm,” she confirmed the sound coming out more dreamy then she’d meant it too as she automatically leaned closer to Ace to breath him in. She flushed and straightened up again.

“You smell just as good to him, which tells us that the two of you are compatible, both genetically and personality wise. We’re not sure exactly why but studies have shown that wolves who mate with those who smell appealing to them have happier relationships and healthier pups,” Marco explained.

“From what we could tell from Ace, you smelled extremely good to him even as a human, which is strange because humans scents tend to not appeal nearly as much as other Weres and you were the first that we knew of that Ace had liked so much or at all really ~yoi,” he continued, “Now that you’re a Were like us you probably smell just as good to him, if not better than before.”

“Between what I saw when we left your home, and the fact that you were so compatible even before changing we’d hoped given time that you might change your mind about being changed in order to have a relationship with Ace,” he admitted.

“What exactly did you see when you left that you thought I would be open to that?” she asked with a frown.

“You were hurting and confused but you were still very protective of him, and even though you said you wanted him to leave I could tell you weren’t sure about it,” Marco relayed bluntly, “I was honestly a bit surprised you didn’t call sooner than you did.”

(Name’s) hands clenched slightly in annoyance remembering all the times she’d reached for her phone and only just held back. She’d come so close, so many times, and only pride had kept her from it. It had finally taken fear for her life though to break through the pride. She wasn’t sure if given time she wouldn’t have called anyway, and if he’d ended up coming to her…

She couldn’t lie to herself. She never would’ve been able to turn him away, not if he was looking at her with those pleading silver eyes. She glanced over at Ace to seem him studying the ground intently, unwilling or unable to look back at her and sighed.

“Alright it might’ve worked,” she admitted with a sigh.

Marco nodded as if she’d only confirmed his suspicions, which she supposed she had.

“So you mentioned other Packs?” she asked changing the subject to less embarrassing topics, even as she shifted slightly so that she was closer to Ace, sitting back to that one of her arms was braced behind his back and their shoulders brushed slightly when either of them moved.

“There are a lot of them out there ~yoi,” Marco told her, accepting her subject change with grace, “including some we’re allied with and some that we have long standing feuds with.”

“For future reference, we’re the Whitebeard Pack, and our best known allies are the Revolutionary Pack, led by Monkey D. Dragon, and the Redhair Pack led by Akagami Shanks,” he explained.

“You’re not talking about the same Akagami Shanks who owns Akagami Alcohol and Imports are you?” she asked surprised.

“The very same,” he confirmed with a slight grimace, “Oyaji and Dragon own several businesses you might recognize as well.”

He listed them for her and her eyes nearly popped out of her skull. He hadn’t been kidding when he said the Pack was wealthy and well connected. The amount of money involved in just one of those companies was enough to make her head spin. Thanks to her friendship with Kaya she knew exactly what their net worths were and how respectable and well run they were. Her friend had even used one of Dragon’s companies as a blueprint for a business model of her own that she was crafting.

“Well I guess I don’t have to worry about putting you out when we go to replace my stuff,” she remarked a bit weakly. Marco chuckled and Ace looked fairly amused as well.

“You said you also had feuds with some Packs?” she asked still trying to wrap her head around the vast amount of wealth owned collectively by the Pack she’d been taken in by.

“That’s right, we tend to come into conflict with two in particular,” Marco told her with a slight frown, “Though sometimes Oyaji’s leadership is challenged by smaller, younger Packs as well, because of his reputation as the strongest Alpha in the World.”

“The first is the Pack that calls itself the Marine Pack, and is led by some of the oldest and most powerful Wolves alive, and the second is their close ally the Celestial Dragon Pack,” he spat, clear animosity on his face.

“The Celestial Dragon Pack is deeply intertwined with the Marine Pack in that if they say jump the Marine Pack won’t even bother to ask ‘how high?’ they’ll just jump,” Ace growled equally hostile.

“They’re the Packs who would’ve eliminated you without question if they’d found out that you knew about us,” Marco continued deeply disapproving, “No matter that it wasn’t your fault.”

“That or made you into a human slave or concubine,” Ace spat bitterly, his hands clenching and unclenching in his lap.

“They think they’re better than everyone else, that our race, the Werewolf one, is superior and that humans are below us ~yoi,” Marco explained, “And they think that born Weres are superior to turned ones, and thus refuse to mate with them, calling themselves ‘Pure’ Weres.”

“Oyaji doesn’t believe in any of that bullshit,” Ace assured her seriously, “Which is why we tend to butt heads with them so badly, and why we have to be careful and know how to fight.”

“That’s right, we have our territory, and Shanks to the South and Dragon to the North, with the Ocean to the West, but to the East, that’s their territory,” Marco explained, “And there are regular border patrols between the two to keep them from coming here or trying to impose their ideals in our territory.”

“So do all Packs have territory like wolves do?” she asked curiously.

“No, only the bigger more established ones, because to have territory, just like normal wolves you have to be able to hold and fight for it,” Marco explained, “Those who have territory are called the Home Packs, while the ones that don’t are called Roving Packs, which are generally allowed to come and go so long as they abide by the rules of the territory and let the Alpha who rules it know they’re there.”

“Another reason to be able to fight is that sometimes those Roving Packs are hostile,” Ace told her knowledgably, “They’ll sometimes attack because, since they’re unable to hold down territory they’re generally unable to hold down jobs and they can get desperate.”

“But that’s terrible!” she protested immediately.

“It would be, except generally all a Roving Pack has to do is appeal to join a Home Pack, or be allowed to stay within their borders,” Marco assured her, “We’re not heartless, and Oyaji accepts everyone so long as they abide by his rules and hurt none of his Pack members while in his territory, and I know other Packs do the same.”

“What are the rules?” she questioned suspiciously.

“For Oyaji they are, no turning anyone without permission, no purposely letting humans into the secret of our existence, no attacking humans unless attacked first, no causing trouble with humans or local law enforcement, and no coming into the compound here without calling ahead and being given formal permissions,” Marco recited, clearly having given them several times before.

“Well that’s not so bad,” she admitted reassured.

“It’s not, though Oyaji is one of the more lenient Alphas, others have much stricter rules,” Ace admitted.

“Most of the Roving Packs are only Roving, because they either, don’t want to listen to authority of any kind, or haven’t found an Alpha they’d be alright submitting to. That’s how most of our Pack ended up with Oyaji ~yoi,” Marco confessed.

“I was the Alpha of a Roving Pack for a while,” Ace divulged, surprising her, “We ran wild together for a good couple of years until Oyaji found me and brought me under his wing.”

“Kicking and screaming the whole way ~yoi,” Marco remarked fondly.

“I was a bit of a rebel and a hell raiser,” Ace told her sheepishly looking at her out of the corner of his eye, “I didn’t want to be told what to do by anyone, and I wanted to make my mark on the world, I settled down eventually though, and Oyaji and my brothers taught me what it meant to be a family.”

“He says that as if he’s completely settled, don’t let him fool you, he’s still a hell raiser ~yoi,” Marco informed her after an incredulous snort had both of them looking in his direction. She laughed, for what felt like the first time in forever and both of them turned to look at her surprised.

“I haven’t seen that side of you at all you know, you’ve been so shy and sweet with me,” she told Ace who flushed again, “But I think I’m looking forward to it. Kaya would tell you I have a bit of a weakness for reformed bad boys.”

The thought startled her and she jolted in surprise, “Kaya! Has anyone talked to Kaya? She’ll be worried! I can’t believe I forgot about her!”

“Hey, calm down ~yoi,” Marco ordered looking a bit alarmed, “Kaya’s the name of your friend right? The one Ace said you were close to? Don’t worry, Oyaji contacted her first thing, the night of.”

“Really?” she asked disbelieving.

“Ace told us that she would likely be your emergency contact, so we had Bay talk to her as your doctor,” he explained gently, “We told her your house had burned down, that you were alive but injured.”

“From what Bay told us she was extremely alarmed and nearly managed to bully her way into coming to see you,” Marco told her his face completely incredulous, “Which is surprising because Bay’s as stubborn as they come.”

“Kaya’s pretty stubborn herself, and that does sound like her,” she admitted amused and fond, “Between her family money, connections and stubborn personality there’s not a whole lot anyone can do to keep her from what she wants. What did you tell her?”

“We told her you had to be kept in isolation for a while, burn wounds tend to get infected really easily, so no one but doctors were going in to see you for a while, but that we’d have you call when you were conscious and feeling up to it ~yoi,” he assured her, “We figured that would give us time to come up with something plausible to tell her.”

“That makes sense,” she said slowly, feeling extremely reluctant, “I just don’t like lying to her.”

“What did you tell her about me having to leave?” Ace asked hesitantly, apparently morbidly curious, “Did you tell her I died?”

“No!” she protested vehemently, “No that would’ve felt too much like ill-wishing. No, I told her Marco and Thatch were your owners and they came to take you back, that you were only in the Shelter in the first place because you got lost.”

“That’s true enough in a way,” Marco remarked amused, “He was lost anyway and we did come and take him back ~yoi.”

“I suppose I could tell her that one of you came back with him to visit, and brought your friend with you, it would make sense enough I suppose, and tell them you saved my life, and you’re paying for my treatment as repayment for taking care of your dog,” she said slowly.

“All true enough if looked at in the right way,” Marco told her approvingly, “You should mention Oyaji too, he’s well known for his generosity to people who’ve done favors for him.”

She nodded. She’d actually known that, because of Kaya talking business with her, and she knew her friend would believe it. Still it didn’t make her feel better about keeping things from her. It was for her own safety though, the last thing she wanted was her friend caught up in this mess too.

“Alright, that’s settled then ~yoi,” Marco remarked with finality, “Is there anything else you want to ask? It’s getting kind of late, so we should probably go grab something to eat, and I was under orders by Bay to not do too much with you today since you’re still recovering.”

“I think that’s it,” she replied hesitantly.

“Well when you think of more let me know ~yoi,” he assured her, “But for now let’s go eat.”

She nodded and let Ace pull her to her feet, following the two men back to the Dining Hall where Thatch was, her mind swirling over everything that she’d learned today.

Ace watched his mate with concern as they headed back to his rooms after dinner. She’d done really well today, especially for a new Were, but he knew things had to be overwhelming, and he could tell she was starting to fade a bit.

Dinner had gone smoothly enough, with everyone but Thatch tactful enough to stay away from them, giving them space for now, and Thatch being welcomed by his mate easily enough as they ate. She’d asked a lot of questions about the food, and he got the feeling she’d end up taking Thatch’s offer to join him in the kitchens fairly frequently once she got a bit more settled.

That was fine. It would be good for her to make more friends among the Weres and he knew Thatch would look after her in the kitchens. Plus he knew she’d loved cooking and he hadn’t been exaggerating when he told her, her food was just as good as the stuff produced in the Dining Hall, and maybe even better.

Still despite her energy and enthusiasm at dinner he could see her struggling and was fighting the urge to just scoop her into his arms and carry her the rest of the way. The only reason he resisted was because they were almost there, that and he didn’t think she’d care for it much. He knew from his time as her dog that his mate was extremely independent.

“I think I need to call it a day,” she admitted once they were back in his rooms.

He nodded in agreement, “Do whatever you need to do, the bedroom is the second door on the left.”

“Isn’t that your room though?” she protested with a frown.

“It’s the only one with a bed,” he admitted sheepishly, “The apartments in this building are generally meant for single unmated Weres and the other room is a study, so it doesn’t really get used for anything but storage. When I have guests they sleep on the floor or the couch.”

Those guests were usually one or both of his brothers, and neither of them minded the arrangement, but he wasn’t about to let his mate do the same, not when there was a perfectly good bed.

“I can take the couch,” she insisted still frowning.

“I’m the one taking the couch,” he told her firmly, “You’re my guest and you’re recovering still, you get the bed.”

That and she was his mate, but he didn’t think that argument would work well on her just yet.

She was still frowning and he could see the offer to share on the tip of her tongue. However, while he appreciated the sentiment he didn’t think she was actually going to be comfortable doing that just yet, and as much as he wanted to be close to his mate he didn’t want to push her. She was giving him a chance, it was more than he’d hoped for, the last thing he wanted was to somehow screw it up.

“It’s alright,” he assured her, “The couch is very comfy, and we’re going shopping tomorrow right? So we’ll just buy a new bed then, and then I’ll have mine back and you’ll have one you like and it’ll only be one night.”

“Are you sure?” she asked still hesitant.

“Positive,” he affirmed stoutly.

“Alright, well, goodnight then Ace,” she told him looking a bit awkward, but determined all the same.

“Goodnight,” he offered with a smile, “Sweet dreams.”

Chapter Text

As if his wishes the night before had been ordained by some higher power, (Name) did in fact have sweet dreams instead of the nightmares she’d been more or less expecting. She didn’t remember exactly what they were about, but she did know she woke feeling content and well rested, surrounded by Ace’s scent.

Climbing out of bed, she made her way into the living room and couldn’t help the fond and amused smile on her face. Ace was passed out on his stomach on the couch. His face was pressed into the cushions, and he was just a little too tall for the couch so one of his legs was bent, and the other propped up on the arm rest at what looked like an uncomfortable angle. One of his hands was underneath his head, which the cushion that had probably been his pillow was on top of, and the other arm was dangling off the couch to the ground. He was snoring slightly as he slept and every so often his bent leg would twitch like a dog’s.

She pressed a hand to her mouth to stifle her giggles and turned back to grab her phone, which had been with her things, so she could take a picture of him. That done she carefully rearranged him into a more comfortable position, draped a blanket over his shoulders and made her way to the shower, though not before gently pressing her nose to his cheek to inhale his scent.

He really was cute. As she showered she took some time to sort her thoughts about him, and found so far that she wouldn’t mind having a relationship with him. She’d need to find out more of course, and spend some more time with him, but that was true for just about any relationship.

Feeling better, when she finished with her shower she took some time to practice trying to shift back and forth. It was frustrating at first, because she didn’t really know what being a dog felt like in order to call up the feelings the men had told her she should try for, but eventually she was able to shift into her canine form and back again.

Pleased with herself and rather curious about what things would look like from a canine perspective she opened the bathroom door, shifted back into a wolf and nosed her way out. She was just in time as she entered the living room to see Ace roll over and sit up, yawning then rubbing his eyes like a sleepy toddler, scrubbing his mouth with the back of his hand to get rid of the drool on his cheek.

She was surprised to note she could see him much better and from further away but color wise he’d lost some vibrancy, his skin, normally a nice healthy tan was more yellow without the red hints in it, and the room around seemed oddly muted color wise.

Curiously she watched and waited as he got his bearings. When his eyes finally turned to her, she realized she could still see the vibrant silver-grey irises.

“(Name?) he asked his face a combination of curiosity and awe.

She nodded carefully to let him know it was her, and he carefully got down from the couch and approached her. She waited, patient and still until he crouched down in front of her. It was hard to tell, but despite the fact that the wolves she’d met so far were rather large in general she thought she was fairly petite. In any case her nose only seemed to come up to just about his mid-thigh.

Cautiously he offered his hands to her and she breathed in deeply, appreciating the scent, which was even more vivid and appealing in this form. A part of her she didn’t quite understand curled with possessive pleasure as it hit her nose, and she let out a happy whuffing noise, her body moving forward of its own volition to rub against him.

He let her into the circle of his arms his eyes wide with surprise as she rubbed her cheeks against his marking him thoroughly with her scent, and licking a long stripe up his neck. He jumped in surprise, but didn’t move letting her continue to sniff at him, as his hands came cautiously upwards to touch her.

Gently he ran his hands through her fur on her back and sides before carefully coming up to rub at her ears, scratching gently with his blunt nails. She automatically let out a pleased rumble, almost like a purr, and he chuckled softly clearly amused.

A knock on the door interrupted the moment and she jumped and whirled, a low snarl building in her throat, as a voice hesitantly called out, “Ace?”

It was a voice she recognized, and she immediately stopped growling and padded over to the door curiously. Breathing in she put it together that it was Marco outside the door, along with someone whose scent she didn’t recognize.

She wasn’t sure she liked that, and glanced back at Ace who was still crouched on the floor, watching her carefully.

“Give us a second Marco, (Name) is doing her first voluntary shift I think,” Ace called through the door.

“You know she’s not supposed to do that without me there right?” Marco asked clearly annoyed, his tone of voice raised her hackles and she let out another low rumbling growl, not liking the way he was speaking to her Ace.

“You’re upsetting her,” Ace warned, clearly unhappy himself, “I know what I’m doing so just give us a minute.”

She could hear Marco grumble a bit outside the door but he quickly seemed to subside. Curious she sniffed again at the door, finding she liked Marco’s scent. He smelled good, really good. Not as good as her Ace of course but still good. The smell of the person with him wasn’t bad either, not as good as Marco but not terrible either.

Satisfied she turned and padded back over to Ace, who was still crouched on the floor, watching her patiently.

“Are you done then?” he asked gently, reaching out to gently rub his hands over her again, “do you want to change back?”

She huffed in agreement and trotted towards the bathroom where her things were. Inside she closed the door and shifted back, In her human form again she was suddenly hit by what exactly she’d done. Marco hadn’t been kidding when he said the mindsets were different.

She flushed and sank down against the door, burying her face in her hands, as she realized that she hadn’t even questioned rubbing herself all over Ace, or the voice that still insisted he belonged to her at the back of her mind, louder now than it had been since she’d acknowledged it.

A soft knock at the door interrupted her mortified thoughts, “(Name) ~yoi?”

“Marco,” she acknowledged though her cheeks were still flaming her voice was surprisingly steady.

“Can I come it?” he asked levelly.

“No!” she yelped immediately hands automatically flying to her body, “I’m not wearing anything!”

“You know wolves don’t really care about modesty right?” he pointed out his voice still gentle.

“Well I care!” she protested indignantly.

Scrambling to her feet she immediately began to pull on her clothes knowing from her experience with the bastard who attacked her that a flimsy door would do absolutely nothing if he actually wanted to get in.

Finished she yanked the door open defiantly to see Marco standing there a patient, gentle look on his face that instantly made her feel guilty for comparing him to the bastard, and even worse for growling at him without real cause.

“Sorry for growling,” she apologized sheepishly, not quite able to meet his eyes.

“It’s alright,” he soothed calmly, “It’s to be expected of a new Were, especially one that’s only just transformed for the first time. Which is why Ace shouldn’t have let you transform like that without me here and without prepping you first.”

“Firstly, Ace didn’t let me do anything he’s my mate not my keeper and he didn’t know either, he was sleeping and I was practicing,” she informed him, keeping the annoyed snarl out of her voice by sheer willpower alone, “Secondly if you were going to prep me you should’ve done it yesterday when I asked you about transforming.”

“She sure told you,” a deep voice pointed out from the living room clearly amused. Waiting there was someone who she had to double take at. If she hadn’t heard his voice she would’ve thought he was a woman for sure, but the lack of breasts and the scent in her nose clearly indicated male, “And she makes a good point.”

Instinct had her eyes darting around for Ace, who wasn’t in sight. She frowned, anxiety rising a bit at not seeing him close by, before she tamped down on it hard, this time recognizing it as her instincts acting up against her will, though not before blurting, “Who are you and where’s my Ace?”

“My name is Izo,” the new Were told her, his voice gentle and even, “I’m a Beta like Marco, and Thatch’s mate. Your Ace went to get dressed for the day and will be right back, though he’ll also be deeply disappointed to have missed you claiming him so readily.”

She decided to ignore the embarrassing part of that sentence and focus on the more interesting bit, “You’re Thatch’s mate?”

Instinctively breathing deeply to catch scent again she realized his scent was tinged with something vaguely familiar, and now that she knew it she quickly identified them as the kitchen smells that clung to Thatch. Without realizing it consciously her shoulders relaxed a touch.

“That’s right,” he affirmed a pleased smile on his lips, “I just wanted to thank you, for whatever you said yesterday. He actually slept through the night for once and he seemed to be doing better than he has since before Teach’s attack.”

“I’m glad I could help,” she told him pleased herself, “I like Thatch he seems like a nice guy and he sent me the stuff for hot chocolate, which was nice.”

“He’s a bit of a fusser and a nurturer at heart, even if he has a childish side, thanks for letting him fuss,” Izo replied with fond exasperation.

“I don’t mind being fussed at or over,” she told him with a shrug and a smile, “I’m used to it, my best friend Kaya’s a worrier of the worst sort. If she’d had her way she would’ve kept me living rent free with her in her parent’s mansion and would send bodyguards with me to work.”

“Sounds like a good friend,” Izo told her amused.

“The best,” she affirmed.

“(Name)!” Ace exclaimed coming out of his bedroom fully dressed, including a t-shirt, “How are you doing? That was the first transformation right? You did really well!”

“You’re wearing a shirt,” she remarked in surprise then looked at Marco again and realized, “And so are you!”

Izo laughed long and hard while she stared at him baffled. The beautiful man was nearly doubled over and wheezing for breath as she glanced between Marco and Ace completely confused at what she’d said that would’ve been so funny. Marco looked faintly annoyed while Ace was a combination of sheepish and worried.

He body checked Marco out of the way so he could look her over where she stood, still in the doorway to the bathroom while Izo was still laughing. His eyes swept over her body quickly and then lingered on her face his eyes locked with hers. She was struck again by the urge to bury her face into the junction between his neck and shoulder and just breathe, but tamped that down quickly hyperaware of the audience.

“I needed that,” Izo remarked stlll huffing slightly with laughter, carefully dabbing at the corner of his eyes with a handkerchief he’d somehow produced from the sleeves of his kimono.

“It wasn’t that funny ~yoi,” Marco grumbled though he didn’t look too annoyed, more relieved than anything else.

“I’m alright,” she assured Ace in an undertone, “A little embarrassed but otherwise okay.”

“You’ve got nothing to be embarrassed about ~yoi,” Marco told her, and she cursed to herself. She’d forgotten how sensitive Werewolf hearing was.

“You did a heck of a lot better than most new Weres do in keeping your impulses under control,” he continued tactfully ignoring her embarrassment.

“He’s right you know,” Izo told her with a smile, “A lot of Were’s run crazy the first time they transform because their instincts get the better of them. It makes it a little difficult to tell who’s Moon Mad at first to be honest. I’ve seen newly turned Weres who agreed to it for a mate turn and pin said mate down to have sex right then and there, or pick fights with everyone they come across, especially if they’re Alphas like you.”

“I think I did run wild though, at least the first time I transformed. I ran out of the room and went looking for Ace,” she blurted out surprised, “And considering the way I went after him when I saw him again public sex might not have been off the table.”

Izo cracked up again and she slapped a hand to her mouth completely mortified. She usually had much better control at what came out of it, but apparently, she was still disoriented enough from the change that her brain to mouth filter was completely off.

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Marco looking like he might laugh at her too whereas Ace was blushing all the way down into the collar of the v-neck t-shirt he was wearing, bright enough red that it looked like steam might come out of his ears at any second.

She closed her eyes and leaned her head against the doorframe mortified, fighting the urge to bash her head against it and wondering if she could lay down and go to bed again and pretend none of this had happened.

“I’m afraid not,” Marco told her with an amused twinkle in his cerulean blue gaze and she realized with horror that she was speaking without thinking again.

“Can I just duct tape my mouth shut then?” she whined unhappily, “And also why are you here again?”

“We’re going shopping today remember?” he prompted patiently, “Which incidentally is also why Ace and I are wearing shirts, as most establishments don’t appreciate us wandering around without them. Izo volunteered to come with us today since Thatch was going to be too busy doing prep work for Summer Camp.”

“Summer Camp?” she repeated dumbfounded.

“That’s right you wouldn’t know about that yet!” Izo remarked enthusiastically.

“Summer camp is a tradition where every summer for four weeks we gather at Everclear Lake along with the Redhair pack and the Revolutionary Pack. The official reason is to renew positive ties with our allies, but it’s nothing formal. Mostly we just play in the water, run around in wolf form without worry of discovery and eat good food around campfires,” Izo told her, “Just like a camp.”

“There are activities, both competitive and not arranged everyday,” Ace picked up just as enthusiastic as Izo, “And we get to see our friends from the other Packs and hang out. Everyone loves camp.”

“That seems like a lot of work, it’s got to be over a thousand people right?” she asked with a confused frown.

“Closer to two or maybe even three with all the pups,” Marco told her with a proud smile, “And it takes a lot of organization and the like, but the Packs split responsibility up by week, this year we have the first week, with Shanks then Dragon following after that then us again. Next year Shanks will have the first week and the year after that Dragon then us again, we rotate so no one pack has to do two weeks or responsibility two years in a row.”

“Things can get a little competitive with so many Weres in close proximity,” Ace admitted, “But generally everyone’s on their best behavior because they know they’re representing their Pack, and the competitions are all in good fun.”

“Camp’s also the time when single Weres look for mates,” Izo told her with a wink, “The three Alphas encourage mated couples to happen between Packs as it fosters ties and helps prevent any inbreeding.”

“I already have a mate,” she pointed out reasonably.

“I know that,” Izo waved her off amused, “I just kind of wanted to see the look on Ace’s face, but I think it might have been too soon, sorry,”

The apology was meant sincerely both to her and to Ace, and she could see he was looking a little anxious, his enthusiasm for this camp of theirs having melted away.

“Hey don’t worry about it. I meant what I said and Izo’s right it’s a good place to look for a mate,” he told her offering a smile that was more than a bit weak.

“Look,” she told him her heart hurting for him, “The first thing I thought when I walked up to you this morning was that you were mine. I’m a fairly possessive person by nature and what little I’ve been able to see of you like this I like okay? I know you said I could take another mate if I wanted to, but right now I don’t want to. This werewolf stuff is overwhelming enough without adding another person to the mix and I like you. I’m not planning to look at anyone else until we’ve decided whether we’re going to work or not.”

“Under normal circumstances this is about when I’d be telling Kaya I was dating a guy exclusively, does that work for you?” she asked just to be sure.

He was staring at her, a myriad of emotions on his face, surprise, awe, affection, and a bit of anxiety all mixed together in his stormy silver eyes, “Yeah, I mean, that’s fine, that’s more than fine, that’s perfect I can… I wasn’t going to look at anyone else either. I never do anyway but…”

“Alright,” she agreed interrupting, leaning forward to press her lips to his cheek, “Then we’re good.”

“Now, you were saying something about shopping?”

“What about this?” Izo asked waving a pretty blue top at her, “I think it’ll bring out some of the blue in your eyes.”

They’d been shopping for about an hour yet, and she’d yet to find anything really, a couple pairs of jeans and that was about it, mostly because Izo insisted on the most expensive stores he could find, with designer labels and price tags with enough zeros to send her into sticker shock.

She glanced over pleadingly at Ace and Marco for help, but Ace was apparently passed out, his head leaning back against the wall as he sat in one of the chairs outside the dressing room, and Marco was slouched in his chair staring longingly at the exit. Neither was going to be any help.

“Actually, Izo maybe we should take a break from clothes shopping for now and pick up some other things,” she suggested carefully, “I really need some soaps that don’t make my eyes water. Oh! And a bed.”

“A bed?” Izo repeated puzzled, “What’s wrong with Ace’s bed?”

“Nothing, we’re getting one for me,” she told him with a shrug.

“You’re not sharing?” Izo asked clearly surprised.

“Look,” she told Izo carefully, “I don’t know much of anything about the way relationships between Werewolves work, if they’re instantaneous or what, but I’m human, or I was, and if you think about it, without counting the time he spent as my dog I’ve known Ace for a couple of days at most. Even counting that time it hasn’t been all that long and we did spend a good chunk of it not speaking to each other so I’m pretty sure it doesn’t count.”

“My point is, even though I’m living with him right now, it’s too soon for any of that kind of intimacy. You were there this morning I only just managed to convince him we were exclusive, and even that’s a big step right now considering how much I’ve been through recently,” she told him, “I feel like I got thrown into the ocean without ever knowing how to swim and I’m not sure my head’s even above water yet and all I can do is keep moving forward.”

“Ace and I, that relationship is for life, and neither of us actually know the other that well despite our seeming compatibility,” she ranted, though she kept her voice quiet enough that no one else would overhear, “We’re going slowly because neither of us are sure of our footing and I for one don’t want it to get screwed up because we jumped in too fast.”

“This isn’t like a one night stand where you can walk away the next morning, it’s commitment, and I’m taking it seriously,” she lectured hands on hips, “So yes I think Ace’s is absolutely gorgeous and yes sex with him is incredibly tempting especially since I’m pretty sure being a Werewolf hiked up my hormones, but I’m not going to do it until we have a better foundation, which is why we’re buying a bed.”

Izo held his hands up in surrender, though there was a thoughtful look on his face, “I’m sorry. You’re right. Werewolves sometimes court for years, just like humans do before giving one another mating marks. You’ve both been thrust into this too fast, and you’re right to be cautious.”

“I’m sorry for ranting at you,” she apologized with a sigh, “I didn’t mean to go off, but I’m stressed and I tend to get snappy when I’m stressed.”

“It’s alright,” he assured her, “It sounded like you needed to get if off your chest, and I actually like you more for it.”

She raised an eyebrow in surprise wondering what the hell that was supposed to mean, and he smiled at her, “It soothes an older brother’s heart to know the woman your baby brother is mooning after is going to be careful with his feelings.”

“We worry about all our siblings when they take human lovers and turn them into Weres, but your case was very different and extremely violent coupled with a betrayal by one of our own, is it any surprise we would worry?” Izo asked reasonably.

“Plus, Ace is one of our newest brothers, practically the family baby outside the pups, and he’s never been in love before, not like this, which means he’s never had his heart broken before either,” Izo told her seriously, “Physically Ace is very tough, one of the best fighters in our Pack, but emotionally he doesn’t make himself vulnerable often or at all really not if he can help it. Right now you’re his biggest weakness, the one most capable of hurting him, and a relative unknown to all of us.”

“You may not see it this way because you haven’t known him long but already you’ve had an impact on him. Because of his past it’s hard for him to open up to anyone, and yet here you are firmly lodged behind his defenses, so yes I’m worried, and I’m sorry to burden you with the expectations that might come with being Ace’s first love along with his mate, but you had to know, and seeing you be so careful with him helps ease the worries I had,” Izo finished solemnly.

She hadn’t really thought about that yet. How being Ace’s first love might impact things. He’d told her she was the first person in his entire existence that he’d ever desired. Did that mean he’d never been kissed? He’d almost certainly never slept with anyone, which meant she was going to have to be even more careful than before. First loves were always intense, and since it was very likely she’d end up his only love she had to do things the right way.

Izo was right, it was a huge burden, but at the same time she was glad to know that it existed. It would’ve been much worse to have not known only to realize to late that it was there.

“I will be careful with him,” she promised seriously, “I do care about him and I’m going to do my best to make sure neither of us gets hurt too badly. I’m glad to have eased your worries, if only a bit. With Thatch being attacked too I know things must’ve been stressful for you as well. Let me know if there’s something I can do for you too.”

Izo looked her over apparently gauging her sincerity before pulling her into his arms and giving her a quick affectionate hug, along with pressing two smacking kisses to her cheeks, “You’re a good person (Name), and thank you for the offer I’ll keep it in mind.”

“Now, let’s go find you a bed,” he announced taking her hand and pulling her toward the exit, not giving her time to answer as she was caught up in his wake her cheeks glowing in embarrassment.

“Well?” Marco asked Ace from where they were sitting as he slowly rose to his feet to follow after Izo and (name), “Anything to say ~yoi?”

Once more (Name) had underestimated Werewolf hearing, though Izo definitely hadn’t and had staged the conversation where they could all hear it, for all their sakes, and Ace wasn’t nearly as asleep as his closed eyes and relaxed posture would’ve let others believe.

“I hadn’t realized everyone was so worried for me,” he admitted, cheeks flushed reaching for his beloved orange cowboy hat and pulling it down a bit to hide his face.

“Of course, we’re worried, we’re your family,” Marco told him patiently, for what felt like the thousandth time. Despite everything sometimes he still wasn’t sure if Ace realized they adored him just as much as he adored them. Probably not, he was fairly sure Ace didn’t think that was possible mostly because he didn’t think he deserved to be loved that much.

However, Ace’s self-esteem issues and his acceptance of their family’s love was a topic for another time, and their worry wasn’t what he’d meant and the other man knew it.

“That’s not what I was talking about,” he said still patient, knowing from experience that this was the best approach for his brother, as he slowly began to amble after their shopping partners Ace at his side, unwilling to be out of eye sight of his mate in the crowded shopping area.

“I’m relieved I think,” Ace admitted after a few minutes silence, “She didn’t seem to mind my feelings or that I… that I can’t… that I’m not the most experienced man in the world not with relationships or with sex.”

“No, but I expect you’ll be moving even slower now than before, it might be weeks before she does anything more than kiss you, are you alright with that? And that it does seem like she does have some experience?” Marco asked gently.

“I’ve waited this long, and I can wait longer. She’s right, being careful with our relationship is important, we’re kind of stuck together at this point,” Ace said slowly, “And as for her experience…”

“I think I’m a little jealous,” he admitted hands clenching at his sides, “That someone else got to touch her before me, that someone else loved her first, but it doesn’t make me desire her any less it just makes me nervous that I won’t be able to compare.”

“You’ll be fine ~yoi,” Marco assured him firmly his heart going out to the other man, “You’re a quick learner and for Weres at least there’s a lot of instinct involved. Plus if she’s the kind of woman I think she is, then she won’t mind, might even take pleasure in teaching you. I think that it has to be a pretty heady feeling to know you’re the first, but I also think that she’ll treasure it if that makes sense.”

Ace didn’t get a chance to respond as Izo called back impatiently at them to hurry it up. They picked up the pace to find the other two of their party in a natural scents shop.

“What’s the hurry?” Marco asked amused at the impatient look on Izo’s face.

“(Name) is having trouble choosing between a couple of scents for her soaps and wanted a third opinion, or well Ace’s opinion,” Izo huffed amused.

“Ace is the one stuck smelling me all the time since we’re sharing living space,” (name) explained patiently with a tone that said she’d probably said it several times now, “It wouldn’t be good of me to pick a scent that makes him sneeze or gives him headaches or something now would it?”

Izo sighed and grabbed (Name’s) wrists holding them out to Ace impatiently, “Which one?”

Ace glanced carefully at his mate to see if she was objecting, but she was clearly a bit amused and completely willing, gently tugging herself free of Izo’s grasp to offer her wrists one at a time.

His brother accepted them carefully, bringing them to his nose one by one. He could tell from the look on Ace’s face that both were good, his eyes closed with pleasure and a soft near inaudible whine leaving his lips.

“I-I like both,” he offered hesitantly glancing at his mate apologetically.

“I do too,” she admitted consolingly.

“Ugh the two of you,” Izo protested theatrically, “Marco, you smell!”

Marco glanced at him surprised and then at (Name) who shrugged and stepped forward, offering her wrists. He tossed a quick look at Ace who shrugged unbothered, before lifting the offered wrists one after another.

He’d forgotten how intoxicating her scent in close proximity could be, as heat rushed through his body, tinged with arousal that he did his best to tamp down on, quickly releasing her wrists and turning to Izo, “Sorry, I like both too ~yoi.”

His voice came out level and laidback and he thanked every deity he could think of that he wasn’t the type to lose control, as he cursed himself again for the want he felt for Ace’s mate, especially since she was well and truly mated to him now.

The rest of the trip passed in a blur of Izo’s babble as he did his best to block out and shove down his feelings for his brother’s mate as far down as he could make them go, determined they would never see the light of day, into the same place he’d once shoved the feelings he’d had for that self-same brother.

Chapter Text

(Name) woke with a start gasping for breath and struggling uselessly with the sheets that had become entangled around her body. She was shaking, so hard she couldn’t get her limbs free of the cloth, and she whimpered in distress, trying to force herself to take deep calming breaths and to think rationally.

The nightmares of what had happened the night she’d been attacked had finally come just as she’d suspected they would. She supposed she should be grateful she’d had a reprieve at all, but with panic still thrumming through her veins and cold sweat making her shiver all she could feel was a helpless fear and an anger that the two men who had attacked her continued to haunt her in her dreams despite one being firmly behind bars and the other dead at her own hand.

Rationality returned and she allowed herself to fall into the mindset of her wolf form, focusing on paws and tails and heightened senses, and feeling her body shift and the sheets falling away. She quickly jumped off the bed relishing in the freedom of her limbs.

In this form she felt much more assured than she had in her human one, which while enhanced, couldn’t see nearly as well in the dark as this one, nor could it take a single breath and affirm that only she and Ace were anywhere within the rooms. Heaving a still jittery sigh she glanced up at the clock and saw it was only three in the morning.

Not ready to go back to bed yet, she paced around the room, reveling in the reassurance of this form. It was a nice room, with a big comfortable Queen sized bed, with new fawn colored sheets and chocolate colored bedding, two nightstands, and a small armoire and a pretty standing mirror. All were pieces she and Izo had found during their shopping trip and brought to Ace’s rooms.

The four of them had spent a pleasant few hours cleaning out what turned out to be Ace’s junk room and turning it into a proper guest room complete with a nice coat of paint, new drapes, and all new furniture. She’d been hesitant about it, but Ace had told her seriously to make herself at home, and Izo had told her the furniture could all go to her new house once they found one for her so she was free to pick what she’d liked.

Deciding she could go for a glass of water, she carefully shifted back and grabbed a new pair of shorts and a tank top grateful she’d bought several cheap ones on Izo’s advice, and dropped the shreds that remained of her old ones into the trash before heading out the door.

The minute it was open she was inundated with Ace’s scent, and she breathed it in deeply, feeling her nerves settling even more. Her room despite their best efforts and lots of fans and an open window still smelled like paint, but out here Ace’s scent, along with a little bit of Marco, Thatch and Izo lingered comfortingly, reminding her that she was among friends and that help was only a shout away.

Reminded of Thatch she walked to the fridge and popped it open, smiling at the ingredients inside, but shaking her head a bit at its bareness. Thatch hadn’t been kidding when he said Ace didn’t cook much. Gathering the things she needed she set about making herself some hot cocoa, carefully shredding fresh chocolate, and melting it with milk and a few other ingredients including a dash of cinnamon on the stove.

With her senses still on high alert she heard him coming down the hall easily, feeling safe she didn’t bother to turn away from the warming chocolate, stirring it carefully with a wooden spoon, “I’m sorry did I wake you?”

“No I woke on my own and smelled the chocolate,” he assured her his voice slightly husky from sleep, “nightmare?”

“Mmm,” she hummed in agreement, pulling the drink off the stove, “Do you want some?”

“Yes if you don’t mind sharing,” he told her honestly, and she carefully poured the hot drink into two mugs before taking the pan to the sink, and rinsing it quickly, “Do you want to talk about it?”

“Not really,” she admitted quietly, pulling some whipped topping out of the fridge and sticking a dollop of it on both drinks before going to the couch where Ace was sitting watching her. She set the drinks on the table and was going to move to the chair opposite him, when gentle hands tugged her backwards and she landed in Ace’s lap with a surprised ‘oomph’.

She stiffened in shock, but he gently ran his hands up and down her arms comfortingly and explained, “I’m not the best with emotions, but when my little brother, Luffy, had nightmares, sometimes this would help.”

She glanced up at his face, and saw him looking down at her clear concern and helplessness in his silver grey eyes visible even in the dim light of the rooms and let her whole body relax, falling into his bare chest, placing her nose into the crook of his neck and curling up in his lap.

She didn’t know if it was exhaustion or her recent time in her other form, either way she wasn’t up for fighting her instincts, and being held like this did help. After only a moment’s hesitation his arms came up around her, holding her close his cheek pressed to her hair as he gently rocked her from side to side.

She didn’t know how long they sat like that but she could feel herself relaxing again, as he carefully passed her the cup of cocoa and she sipped it slowly, comforted by the warmth it brought to her belly along with his warmth at her back, his scent mixing with the chocolate as he sipped his own drink in the quiet room.

Eventually she could feel her eyes drift shut, her head slowly sinking on to his broad shoulder and she felt Ace gently take the cup from her fingers and set it down away from her on the table with a soft distant clinking noise. His arms came up around her again and he hummed softly, gently rocking from side to side as she gave herself up to sleep feeling safer than she had in a long time.

The second time she woke was much more peaceful and it took her a second to remember that she’d fallen back to sleep in the first place. Glancing around she realized Ace must’ve carried her to bed after she’d passed out on him. His scent still lingered in her clothing and was stronger in the room than it had been before, and she realized that he’d left her door open, padding towards it she found Ace asleep in the hallway, curled up in his wolf form, guarding the door.

Feeling a surge of affection for the man she knelt down gently rubbing her hands over his ears. His tail wagged in his sleep and she bent down and nuzzled her face against his for a moment before plodding off to get ready for the day.

Thanks to Izo she had a lot to choose from as she walked to her closet and held it open staring at the abundance of clothing. In the end she decided on comfy, going with yoga pants and a form fitting t-shirt. She had plans today after all and they’d require clothes that were easy to get in and out of.

A quick trip to the bathroom showed her Ace must’ve woken as well, because she could hear the sounds of him moving around in his own room now. Glancing around she saw the two hot chocolate cups sitting on the table and walked them over to the sink and washed them to keep busy while she waited.

“Good morning,” Ace greeted with a yawn as he plodded out from the hallway back to wearing nothing but shorts, “You sleep okay?”

“Good morning,” she returned setting her things in the dishwasher and turning so she could face him, “And I did thank you, and thank you for last night too.”

“You don’t need to thank me,” he told her seriously, “I was glad I could do something.”

She smiled at him feeling more than a bit fond of him. He really was turning out to be a good guy. Instead of offering another thanks she offered, “Want to go grab some food?”

He grinned and led the way towards the dining hall, pointing out little things they missed on their earlier tour, or things he’d thought were important that Marco hadn’t covered. She just listened for the most part, one in a while interjecting a comment or question, glad to finally just be talking normally with him.

Grabbing some pancakes and eggs from a smiling Thatch she took a seat next to Ace who let her sit on the corner of one of the tables, placing himself between her and the others, most of whom she didn’t recognize, except Izo who offered her a grin and a wave.

Midway through breakfast she suddenly remembered, “Hey Ace?”

“Mmhmmf?” he asked glancing up from his food mouth full of bacon.

“You mentioned your little brother Luffy last night, is he here? I think I’d like to meet him,” she told him seriously. After all it sounded like Ace might’ve known this Luffy for far longer than he’d known any of his brothers here, that or the kid was a lot younger than Ace.

To her surprise Ace’s entire face lit up with joy as the people at the table, who’d overheard her question simultaneously groaned. Baffled she glanced around at them, to see fond if slight annoyed exasperation on all the faces around her.

“Now you’ve done it,” Izo warned her, clear amusement in his face, “Ace has a huge older brother complex about Luffy and he will go on and on and on if you let him.”

“I don’t have a complex,” Ace snapped at Izo his response so automatic she wasn’t sure he’d even registered that he’d said it before turning back to her.

“Luffy is my baby brother, we grew up together,” he explained brightly, “He’s actually about four years younger than I am and still a handful. He’s not here though, he’s actually part of Shanks’ Pack, the Redhair Pack, so you’ll get to meet him at Camp.”

“Honestly he’s such a troublemaker, when we were kids he was always getting into things, and he was clumsy to boot, tripping all over his paws,” Ace told her with a soft fond smile that did funny things to her heart, “He’s also kind of an idiot, but a lovable one. You’ll like him, I’m sure.”

From there he went on to tell her all kinds of stories about the trouble Luffy had gotten into as a pup, from trying to play games with bear cubs in the woods they’d grown up in, to sticking his nose into beehives, or almost getting carried off by large birds of prey. Falling down ravines and getting lost or wandering off after whatever caught his attention no matter how many times he was told to stay close.

She listened attentively, happy to learn more about Ace, and laughing at Luffy’s antics. It helped that she’d never seen Ace so bright and animated, the shadows that seemed to be a constant in his eyes, completely gone away at the mere mention of his brother’s name. For that alone she was pretty sure she was going to like this Luffy character, and was looking forward to meeting him for herself.

“You’re so cute,” she murmured during a break when Ace paused to breathe. To her surprise he immediately turned bright red and went silent.

“Wow, you actually got him to stop,” one of the others at the table muttered in surprise, “I thought we were in for another hour or so.”

“I think it’s sweet,” she admitted with a shrug speaking directly to Ace, “And it’s good to know that you have experience with children.”

“You planning on having some pups of your own?” Izo asked curiously.

“Before everything I’d always planned on a large family, at least three,” she admitted with a rueful smile, “Maybe not for a while though.”

“Pups?” Ace repeated in a squeak.

“Do you not like them?” she asked with a frown.

“No, I mean yes, I mean I do, like them but… you want pups with me?” he asked looking positively baffled at the idea.

“Well you’re my mate aren’t you?” she pointed out carefully, “And I think your Alpha said I’d only be able to have kids with my mate. As long as things work out with us, yes I’d like to have them with you. I mean we’d have to sit down and discuss it a little more, and it definitely wouldn’t be anytime soon, but yes is that alright?”

“Yes,” he blurted hastily then backtracked, “I mean yes I’d like to have pups with you down the line when we’re more settled.”

“Wow I don’t think I’ve ever seen Ace blush so much,” remarked another member of the table, an amused smile on his lips.

“What are you talking about?” she asked confused, head tilting to the side, “Ace blushes all the time.”

“Only around you (name),” Izo told her sympathetically, gently patting her hands, “Only around you.”

“Has anyone seen Marco today?” Ace asked blatantly changing the subject and shooting glares at the occupants of the table who were making no attempt to hide their amusement at his expense.

“That’s right,” she remembered surprised, “We actually came here without an escort today.”

“Marco’s going to busy all day, along with most of the rest of us, we leave for Camp tomorrow remember?” one of the men pointed out.

“That’s right I forgot!” Ace exclaimed surprised, “We have to go down early this year since we’re in charge of the first week to get everything cleaned up again at the lake.”

“You were supposed to be packing up equipment today with your Division,” Izo reminded him gently, “Though I suppose with everything that’s happened with you recently it’s no surprise you forgot. We probably should’ve reminded you yesterday.”

“They’d understand if you didn’t Ace,” one of the other men at the table told him with a shrug, “You’re still newly mated and circumstances being what they were…”

“I should still go. I mean I’m their Division leader it’s not right to shirk responsibility and I haven’t had a chance yet to ask how everyone’s doing with the whole Teach thing,” Ace admitted, “But…”

He was looking at her, looking completely and utterly torn. She sighed, “Since Marco is going to be busy all day my plans are shot anyway, you might as well go. I’ll go see if Thatch will let me help out in the kitchens or something.”

“Did you need to talk to Marco?” one of the men asked her concerned, “He is your mentor, so we could definitely pull him away for you if need be.”

“That’s not necessary…?” she trailed off leaving him a moment to introduce himself.

“Oh! I’m Haruta! I just realized we all know you, but you don’t know who any of the rest of us are!” he exclaimed sheepishly.

The others hurriedly introduced themselves as well, along with giving several apologies for not having done so. She did her best to match faces with names, but it was going to take her a while there were an awful lot of them.

“Don’t worry about remembering them,” Izo assured her with a kind smile evidently seeing or sensing her overwhelmed feelings, “They won’t mind if you struggle a bit at first, “More importantly, are you sure you don’t want us to go get Marco?”

“I’m sure,” she assured him with a smile, “I was just going to ask him if he’d start teaching me to fight today. I figured it might make me feel better after the night I had, but I can go without no big deal.”

“Was it bad?” Izo asked sympathetically.

“Well it wasn’t fun,” she admitted with a grimace, “But I had Ace and hot chocolate, so it’s all good, remind me to thank your mate for getting the stuff for me.”

“Thatch will be glad to know it helped,” Izo told her with a fond smile, “He likes being helpful the sap, and Ace helped too huh?”

“Mm,” she hummed in agreement, “You know thinking on it, it’s probably a good thing in the end that you had to burn my house down.”

Seeing the incredulous expressions she continued, “Waking up it takes long enough to realize that I’m safe despite the fact that I’m in a completely different place. If I were in that room again it would be hard for me to differentiate between nightmare and reality, and honestly I don’t think I’d ever feel safe there ever again.”

“Here at least the scents, the sounds the sight is all different when I wake up then they were that night,” she admitted, “And because I couldn’t go back I’m staying with Ace. It helps, being able to tell myself that if I scream this time someone will hear and come to help me. My old house was in kind of a bad neighborhood so even if someone did hear what was going on they probably just ignored it. It wouldn’t surprise me if no one even bothered to call the cops.”

“It’s why I admire Thatch so much,” she continued into the slightly awkward silence, “I mean it can’t be easy to go back to where you were attacked everyday, but from what I understand that’s where he is right now, and he’s working through it not letting it stop him from doing what he loves.”

“Also you’re too easy to talk to Izo,” she informed him with a sigh, into the silence, “I don’t know if it’s because you’re Thatch’s mate and I think you’ll understand better than most or what but something about talking to you always makes me spill my guts all over the place. I’ve gone and dumped on you again. Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Izo told her fiercely, “Thank you for confiding in me! And I’ll make sure these idiots won’t say anything.”

“Heh, sorry,” she apologized to the table at large, “I don’t usually go blurting out my feelings like that. It’s been a strange few days.”

The men at the table hastened to reassure her that it was fine, but only Ace’s warm, soft eyes really helped ease her embarrassment as he gently nudged her side, clear affection and concern on his face.

“If it’s training you want I could help you with that,” one of the men, one she was pretty sure was named Jozu offered after a moment when the assurances tapered off.

“Really?” she asked surprised, “Aren’t you busy?”

“Unlike the rest of these dopes I got my part done yesterday, so I’m not doing much today,” he admitted with a smirk at his brothers around the table.

“Are you sure?” she asked unable to fight down the rising hope, “I don’t want to be a bother when everyone’s getting ready.”

“Positive,” he assured her, “I wasn’t going to be doing a whole lot other than a little more packing and generally harassing my Division members to do the same. They’ll be grateful to you for getting me out of their hair.”

“Alright, thanks!” she said gratefully.

“Not a problem,” he rumbled solemnly, “You’re one of us now, and we look out for our own.”

The rest of breakfast passed quickly and she found herself led by the man, who was indeed Jozu and apparently the Third Division Commander, down to the gym area of the main building. It was mostly unoccupied today, which he assured her was an anomaly as it was generally packed with people. Apparently it was a popular hangout for the Pack, along with some of the game rooms, some of the spots outside, and the Dining Hall.

It was an enormous room. Looking around she was pretty sure she would’ve been able to fit her old house in here several times over. There were doors that he said led to rooms with human exercise equipment, but for the most part the room they were in was basically open floor, sectioned off into mat covered arenas all meant for practicing in.

Jozu led her to one of the rings in the corner of the room, away from the handful of people who were in the room practicing, and sat down on the mats indicating for her to sit opposite him.

“So what exactly do you know about fighting?” Jozu asked patiently.

“Um, if you’re attacked hit the guy in the junk and run?” she asked with a shrug, “It’s not really something I’ve ever thought too much about. I mean I did take a couple self-defense lessons on campus at school, but they were things like how to remove yourself from the situation, where to buy Mace or pepper spray or rape whistles, that kind of thing, with the occasional ‘this is how you make someone let go’ lesson.”

Jozu nodded slowly, “That’s all useful information for when you’re in human form, and you’ll find that being attacked by humans isn’t too much of an issue anymore. I don’t know if you’ve noticed yet, but even the weakest wolf is generally stronger than the average human male. Plus you now have the ability to shift into wolf form, which is actually much stronger than the human one, so up close you’re very safe from other humans.”

“Fighting as a wolf is much different than fighting as a human, especially since you’re an Alpha wolf. You’ll have to be careful about biting people, even if that is the wolf’s first instinct sometimes it can be very dangerous, especially since you’re a new wolf,” he lectured solemnly.

“You mean because I could turn someone,” she stated with a grimace.

“That might also be a risk if you were fighting humans, but it’s not what I meant,” he then proceeded to tell her about the different types of biting, play biting, mate marking, turning bites and Alpha bites.

“You’re not really experienced enough as a wolf yet to know the difference,” he told her, “And I’m not worried about the turning bite because I’m already a wolf it wouldn’t do anything, or the mating bite, as you already have a mate and you have to be trying to mate someone. Play biting is something everyone does, but the Alpha bite could be extremely painful, which is why I’d prefer if you did your best to avoid it period.”

She nodded in solemn agreement. The last thing she wanted was to cause anyone unnecessary pain.

“Now, the best way I know of to do this is to just shift and have you start coming at me as best you can, and I’ll bat you away the way we do with pups when they’re first learning. This will keep your wolf in the right mindset, so you’ll know you aren’t actually in danger, which should also help prevent any accidents,” he told her seriously.

“I’m also told that turned Weres have some issues at first with modesty, since that’s the case, right through the door there is the women’s locker rooms, the door swings so you should be able to get in and out in wolf form if you want to go change in private,” he told her pointing to the door right off the ring he’d chosen, obviously for this exact purpose.

“Thanks,” she told him gratefully. She’d been wondering how that was going to work, and if she was going to have to strip right here, “I’ll be back in a second.”

“Take your time,” he assured her, waving a big hand at her.

She darted into the room, and quickly stripped, shoving her things into the locker closest to the door and initiating the change. It was becoming easier every time she did it, though she still took a second to get accustomed to her new wolf form.

On careful padded feet she made her way out of the locker room and back to the ring. Jozu was waiting for her, and she noted that he, like Ace, was a large black wolf, though he was a bit bigger than her mate. He eyed her carefully and made a welcoming whuffing noise, his tail wagging in a friendly manner.

She chuffed back, feeling better and made her way into the ring. Jozu had said to just come at him, so she figured that was what she should do, and she started to dart forward only to go tail over snout as she tripped over her own feet.

She shook her head, clearing it from the shock of the fall and realized that despite some of the natural instincts in this body it was going to take her a bit to get used to it. Jozu was making amused whuffing sounds, his dark eyes dancing with laughter and his mouth stretched in a grin.

She couldn’t blame him, she’d probably looked like an idiot falling all over her feet like that. Indignant, she got to her feet, though this time she took some time to get used to them, and to really move in something other than a straight line, taking into account the texture of the mats which, while comfortable in human shoes were a bit slick under her paws.

Satisfied that she was a bit more in control of her body, she tried darting at Jozu again where he was waiting patiently for her. This time she actually made it to him, when one large paw carefully darted out and pushed at her, sending her tail over snout again.

Several runs later she figured this would probably take a good long while to get used to, and Jozu really was batting her around like a dog with pups, or gently pinning her to the ground, always very mindful of his superior size and strength.

Despite that though she knew she was learning something at least, even if it was only how to keep her feet. She could tell she was getting exponentially faster as she figured out how to keep herself upright using her tail to help keep her balance and keeping all four limbs separate but working together.

Deciding to try something new she darted in again, and instead of trying to circle around or go straight in she jumped. However instead of where she’d intended, she’d underestimated the power of her limbs and went straight on to the startled Jozu’s back.

Her sparring partner let out a startled yip of surprise as she scrabbled for purchase on his large back, her claws accidentally digging in. He reared back like a startled horse and because of her much smaller size she went flying, straight into the wall, her shoulder cracking against it with an audible ‘crunch’ and her head smacking shortly thereafter leaving her to slide down the wall in a painful slump.

She yelped in shock and pain, unintentional whines escaping her mouth as she tried to see in a world that had suddenly gone blurry, pain lancing up her right front leg. An enormous black blur approached out in front of her bearing down, and suddenly all she could smell was blood and pain and fear.

She cried out, in terror, mind flashing back to the night where the Werewolf was above her, all slavering jaws and wild eyes, and all she wanted was Ace. Ace, Ace Ace! help, help me!

Ace hadn’t been sure about letting (Name) go off by herself to spar with Jozu. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust his brother, he did, but he’d wanted to at least be there, just in case. Unfortunately, between her hopeful face and the need to see his Division to ensure everything was going alright he hadn’t been able to bring himself to say anything.

His Division had been surprised but pleased to see him, ribbing him good naturedly about tearing himself away from his mate. He’d given as good as he got though, and was happy to have some time to talk with them as they loaded up the big trucks they used for supplies.

He was glad to see that everyone seemed to be holding up well despite Teach’s betrayal. Surprisingly or not no one had been especially close to the Were. Sure they’d all considered him friend and Pack, but no one was especially close. Which made sense as anyone close would’ve been more likely to realize his true designation.

Happy that at least something was alright in the aftermath of the attack, he was surprised when an uneasy feeling crept over his spine. Pausing in his chat with one of his Division members he glanced around with a frown.

“Ace? Commander are you alright?”

“I think so?” Ace told him, “I just have this feeling…”

‘Ace, Ace help, help me!’ he froze as the familiar voice spoke from… somewhere. A strange feeling, the impression of a threatening, looming black shadow, and pain, so much pain.

He was in wolf form and out the door before he’d even comprehended his Division shouting in alarm. He didn’t notice them running after him down the halls, focused only on getting to his mate. He didn’t know how, but he did know she was hurting, in pain and afraid, and he had to get to her.

Anyone between him and his mate was forced to scramble out of the way. He didn’t even stop for his Alpha, who called after him, then took off behind him trying to figure out what the hell was wrong.

He tore through the doors to the gym and across the room, lunging through the group of his Pack between him and his mate and throwing himself at the thing that dared to frighten her so badly.

Newgate tore after his son Marco at his heels, wondering grimly what had gone wrong this time, the entirety of the pack who’d seen Ace running was right behind them, all of them flooding into the gym just in time to see Ace launch himself at Jozu with a ferocious snarl.

Not sure what the hell was going on and not wanting to risk any carnage or collateral damage if the two of them really got into it, he roared, ”hold!”

Everyone in the room froze and got very quiet as he tried to determine just what the hell was happening. A wheezing, pained whine interrupted his thoughts, and his eyes quickly found the source. Braced against the wall, trying and failing to stand was an unfamiliar female wolf. She was small compared to most and was a pretty chestnut brown color, with striking blue green eyes that stood out starkly against her fur.

She let out another yip of pain as she tried to put weight on her leg and it collapsed under her. The smell of blood hit his nose, and he didn’t need the familiar scent, or Marco’s worried exclamation of ‘(Name!) to know exactly who the injured wolf was. No wonder Ace had been so upset.

Speaking of his son, who shouldn’t have been able to move under the order he’d given, broke free of Jozu and belly crawled over to his mate, whining at her pitifully. She whined back and flinched when he touched her, and as Newgate got closer, pushing through the crowd he realized her eyes weren’t focusing the way they should be.

Ace was whining and nuzzling at his mate, his tongue darting out to lick at her face and head obviously trying to find the source of the wound and stop the bleeding.

“Someone get a doctor,” he ordered, “Ace, see if you can coax her into changing back. Jozu what the hell happened.”

His son changed back as some of the others scrabbled to obey. Ace cast a glance at him, and for a second he wasn’t sure if his son would listen, but then he shifted back as well, and began to mutter soothing assurances into his mate’s ear, trying to coax her into human form.

Turning to Jozu he saw that Ace had gotten him pretty good, deep scratches over his sides and torso. It wasn’t surprising, Ace was one of the best for a reason and extremely vicious when he thought the people he cared about were in danger.

“What happened?” he repeated worriedly.

“I was teaching her to fight,” Jozu explained, wincing slightly and pressing a hand to one of the cuts, “Since I had experience doing it and Marco was busy. Everything was going fine, and she was finding her feet pretty well, but then she surprised me, and jumped on my back.”

“I accidentally threw her off,” his son admitted his face twisted with guilt, “She’s so little I didn’t even think about what would happen or realize how far she’d go. It would’ve been fine if we’d been on one of the other mats out in the open with the bungee cording, but here she hit the wall. I think I heard something break and I know she hit her head. I was moving to help her but she panicked. I was trying to figure out what to do and I’d sent someone to get Bay when Ace arrived and attacked.”

“Ace,” the whimpered name turned everyone’s attention to (Name) who Ace had apparently managed to coax back into human form, “Ace I can’t see!”

“Shh, shh you’re alright, you’ll be alright,” Ace soothed his voice rough and his face panicked as he stared up at Newgate desperately, his mate clutching frantically at him.

“He’s here,” she whimpered into his neck eyes still unfocused and terrified, “He’s here, help me.”

“You’re okay, you’re okay, you’re safe,” Ace told her anxiously, as Newgate frowned baffled. Who was here? Who was she so afraid of?

“He’ll hurt me, he’ll hurt you, I have to, have to…” she struggled a bit in Ace’s arms, but his son kept a firm but gentle grasp on her, “Have to protect you, protect Thatch, stop him!”

“Shh he’s dead, he’s dead,” Ace assured her anxiously, “He’s dead, he’s dead, you killed him. You’re safe. I’m safe. Thatch is safe. We’re all safe it’s okay.”

And just like that the horrible pieces came together with a snap. She couldn’t see, or couldn’t see well, and Jozu was a huge black wolf, just like Teach, he’d also handled the item with Teach’s scent on it when they’d been testing her and so some part of her associated him with the traitor. She’d hit her head and was delirious and afraid someone was going to hurt her, or Ace, or apparently Thatch.

“Where’s the doctor?” he demanded his heart aching for the poor girl terrified out of her wits and trapped in a nightmare.

Looking around the room he could see his heartbreak echoed on the faces of his Pack. Jozu in particular looked devastated as he realized why she was so afraid.

“I’m here!” Bay announced punching through the doors and skidding to a stop, a doctors bag over her shoulder as she glanced around her eyes finally finding her patient.

He watched as his head doctor carefully made her way over to his newest daughter and knelt carefully. She jerked in surprise and he was worried for a minute she’d be attacked, but was surprised when she took a deep breath instead.

“Bay?” her voice still carried a pained whine in it, but it sounded much more rational than before.

“That’s right,” the woman soothed gently, “How are you feeling?”

“My head hurts, and I think my shoulder’s dislocated,” his daughter admitted still clutching tightly to Ace.

“Well it sounds like you’re coming back to yourself at least, do you remember where you are?” Bay prompted gentle hands carefully checking over her head and grimacing when she flinched, “You took quite the knock to the head, though it looks like it’s healing up a bit thanks to Ace, you might still be dizzy for a while, and I recommend you take it easy for today and tomorrow.”

“I was in the gym learning to fight from Jozu,” his daughter told the doctor slowly, trying hard to remember, “I did something, and then I hit the wall really hard, and then I don’t remember a whole lot. For a second I thought I saw… but that’s not possible he’s dead right?”

“He’s very dead,” Bay assured her firmly, “It sounds like when you hit your head the loss of your sight and Jozu’s appearance triggered some PTSD.”

“Is Jozu alright?” she asked anxiously, “I didn’t hurt anyone did I?”

“No, everyone’s fine,” Bay told her, glaring fiercely at the room daring anyone to contradict her, not that anyone would. The poor girl didn’t need any guilt for this incident on top of everything else that had happened to her.

“You panicked a bit and triggered your mate bond to Ace who came running, gave everyone a little bit of a scare, but nothing that anyone won’t get over easily enough, which reminds me,” Bay turned another fierce scowl on the room, “Show’s over lunk heads and I don’t think I need to tell you to keep your fat mouths shut and leave poor (name) alone about this right?”

His children all glanced at him and he nodded his solemn agreement. He didn’t think that anyone would’ve said anything anyway, especially since most of the crowd consisted of the Second Division, who looked as guilty as he felt about Teach’s attack on Ace’s innocent mate.

They filed out, lips tightly shut determined not to say anything and get back to their tasks, though he wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if they tried to baby their Commander’s mate in the future or go out of their way for her.

“I’m sorry for the trouble,” (name) whispered tiredly into Ace’s neck, “Tell Jozu I’m sorry okay?”

“You’re not trouble,” Bay assured her briskly, “Unless you disobey me by not following my orders about rest. Now, we’re going to have to fix that shoulder of yours.”

“Do I have to move?” she asked wearily from where she was leaning against Ace, good arm wrapped around his shoulder.

“Nope, just let me…” Bay gently poked and prodded for a second before suddenly lunging, grabbing and twisting. There was an audible sickening ‘pop’ and a choked yowl of pain from (Name), and it was done.

His poor daughter was panting as she clutched Ace with both arms now. Ace holding her firmly and giving Bay a baleful glare.

“Better?” Bay prompted not at all phased.

“Yes,” (name) admitted, “Still sore though, and I’m tired.”

“Let me just check your eyes and then Ace can take you off to his rooms,” Bay told her gently.

(Name) turned toward her without fuss, and he could see her eyes were focusing better already, and he thanked whoever might be listening for Werewolf healing. She’d be right as rain within twenty-four hours he was sure of it.

“Good, you’re doing better already,” Bay told her approvingly, “Off to bed with you, and make sure to rest tomorrow. Ace keep an eye on her and if anything changes come find me.”

“Okay. Thanks Bay,” she surprised everyone by leaning forward to nuzzle her face against the Doctor’s affectionately before allowing herself to be scooped up and carried out of the room.

“That girl!” Bay huffed affectionately, looking pleased despite herself. After all that was a gesture only exchanged by close friends and loved ones, that she would instinctively reach out to Bay like that, so soon after meeting her and joining the Pack was a good sign.

“Is there anything else we can do for her Bay?” Izo asked worriedly. He’d come along with the rest of the Commanders when they’d heard the commotion, “You didn’t get to hear it, but what she was saying was just heartbreaking.”

“Give her time,” Bay said gently, “She’s a bit traumatized, and she probably does need to start talking to someone about her experiences, but we can’t push her. I also wouldn’t recommend sparring with her like that again, at least not for a while, or if she insists, not with Jozu, Atmos, Vista, Fossa, Blenheim, Curiel or Namur.”

The ones she’d listed all nodded, as they were all a shade of Black, dark gray, or black with different markings.

“Actually I think it best it be either Marco or I,” Newgate told them firmly, “Just in case something happens and Ace looses his head again.”

Everyone nodded grimly. Nobody wanted to be forced to fight their brother, especially an enraged not thinking straight brother determined to defend his mate.

“Now, let’s everyone get back to what we were doing, we’re still leaving for Camp tomorrow, hopefully a nice restful vacation will be what everyone, including (name) and Ace, needs,” he told them.

They nodded, and everyone filed out of the room leaving him with Marco, Jozu and Bay, deciding now was as good a time as any to figure out what they could do to help his newest daughter, and the rest of his family recover from Teach’s betrayal.

Chapter Text

“I’m glad to see them getting some rest,” Izo remarked glancing into the back of the car where three of their siblings were sleeping, “It’s been a long week and they definitely need it.”

“I think this trip will be good for them, though I worry about uprooting (Name) again so quickly, before she’s had a chance to settle in ~yoi,” Marco agreed, casting his own glance into the rearview mirror.

“She’s strong, she’ll be fine,” Izo said confidently an affectionate smile on his face.

“You like her,” Marco stated surprised. Of all his siblings it usually took Izo the longest to warm up to turned Weres. Pups he didn’t have an issue with, and loved immensely but grown humans turned Werewolves made him nervous. Not that Marco could blame him. Izo had, had a couple of close calls with Moon Mad newly turned over the years.

“She’s so good for Thatch,” Izo said with a pleased sigh, “And she’s being so careful with Ace, and respectful to everyone else. It’s hard not to like and admire her, especially knowing everything she’s been through in the last couple of months.”

Marco nodded in agreement. Their newest Pack member had suffered a lot lately, and the incident yesterday hadn’t helped anything. He knew both she and Jozu felt terribly guilty about the incident, but it couldn’t be helped. They’d done everything right, it was just a terrible accident and bad luck.

Actually, he’d been worried about Ace feeling guilty about it on top of everything else, but Ace was surprisingly unapologetic. According to his brother he’d promised his mate he’d do anything to protect her and he had. He would’ve felt bad if there had been permanent damage to Jozu from his attacking him, but he’d healed right up within an hour and within three there wasn’t even a mark left.

As it was he said he actually felt a bit better that he’d done something this time and managed to avenge his mate’s injuries even if they were unintentional. Marco had sighed about the explanation, but figured it was probably for the best. He’d been surprised to be allowed to talk to Ace at all yesterday considering the way he’d been hovering over his sleeping mate.

“I just hope camp won’t be too overwhelming for her, and that none of the other Pack members do anything to trigger her or Ace. Our Pack knows to be careful for sure, but they don’t, and I’d think maybe we should say something except…” Marco trailed off.

“It’s our business,” Izo finished resolutely, “Pack business and it should be up to her, Ace and Thatch and maybe Oyaji who gets told, and the rest better keep their mouths shut.”

Marco nodded in agreement but added, “I figure some of the other Packs will get told either way, especially with Ace’s two brothers.”

Izo nodded in agreement. He didn’t doubt Ace would spill everything to the blond brother at least, though what he’d say to the younger one was anyone’s guess considering how protective he was of him. Which honestly was completely unnecessary considering the somewhat dimwitted boy was one of the strongest Alphas out there, strong enough that Shanks was even training him up to take over someday when he wanted to retire.

“I’m a little more worried about someone trying to interfere in their mate bond,” Izo admitted with a sigh, “It’s strong enough I suppose, and I can see glimmers of extreme potential, but it just isn’t there yet.”

“I know what you mean ~yoi,” Marco agreed with a sigh, “Ace has always been popular as a potential mate, even though he’s never had any interest, and her? A young, beautiful, female alpha? Especially with the way she smells… It could be trouble, especially since she’s a newcomer and she and Ace aren’t sleeping together or having sex yet. They’re going to assume she’s unmated because she isn’t carrying a whole lot of his scent yet.”

“She smells good to you Marco?” Izo asked shrewdly, “Even though she’s mated to Ace?”

Marco cursed himself for the slip of the tongue, but kept his face and voice calm, “She does, though like I said I’m fairly sure it’s because they aren’t scent marking each other very often ~yoi.”

Izo nodded though he had a suspicious glint in his eyes he apparently decided he was going to let it go for now, “We’re going to have to try to keep an eye on them, make sure no one gets the wrong idea.”

“I just wish Ace could be a little more aggressive about pursuing her,” Marco said with a sigh, “I get the feeling she’d be receptive to him if he just tried a bit more.”

“He’s afraid to push,” Izo analyzed critically, “It’s his first love and he doesn’t know enough to know when he can push and when he should back off. It doesn’t help that they’re already mated and he’s afraid of ruining the relationship. It wouldn’t surprise me if even before the accidental mating Ace thought she might be his one and only shot at having a mate who loved him for who he was, rather than who he’s related to. Not to mention being the only one as far as we know that he’s ever been physically attracted to. I think we all thought he might be as ace as his name. Nothing wrong with that of course, it just made this whole thing even more surprising.”

“You’re right ~yoi,” Marco confirmed, “He told me that he told her she could have another mate if she wanted, and he had every intention of holding himself away from that relationship and not interfering in her happiness that way if that’s what it took.”

“He can’t just do that!” Izo said aghast, “He loves her, anyone with eyes can see it. He can’t just step back and give up!”

“Shh, you’ll wake them,” Marco warned glancing back, pleased to see none of the three had stirred, “And you know Ace. He’s a masochistic, altruistic, lovable idiot.”

“It’s true,” Izo admitted with a groan, “But that just makes me more determined to try to keep others away from them, so they can develop their relationship in peace.”

“I agree, of anyone the two of them, who’ve suffered so much, deserve a chance to be happy together,” Marco said slowly.

“Why do I sense a ‘but’ in there?” Izo sighed unhappily.

“Because there is. We can’t force them Izo they have to do this on their own ~yoi,” Marco told him firmly.

“But we can help, or at least guide them a little, push them together right?” Izo pointed out hopefully.

“I hope so,” Marco replied quietly, “But we can’t push too hard or they’ll both dig their heels in. Ace is a stubborn brat when he wants to be, and she seems like she might just match him in that.”

Izo nodded in agreement, “We’ll just have to be careful and subtle about it then.”

“Agreed,” Marco told him with a sigh. It was going to be a long trip. He just hoped the peacefully sleeping pair in the back didn’t give him too much trouble.

…~oO*Oo~…

(Name) kept her eyes closed as she processed everything she’d just heard. She was resting comfortably between Ace and Thatch in the backseat of Marco’s car on the way to the Camp site. Everyone was apparently driving up separately in their own cars, along with the people who were driving the trucks with supplies. It had been quite the caravan leaving the compound as everyone rushed around getting ready to leave.

Luckily, she’d already been mostly packed thanks to never unpacking the bag of her original things from it, though there had been some things she’d needed to add. Unfortunately, Ace had refused to let her do anything herself, worried about her head. In revenge she’d made him pick which swimsuits of the many Izo had insisted on buying for her, she would be bringing.

He’d been bright red as he handled the scanty pieces of fabric, and she’d been amused to see he was torn between the ones that revealed tons of skin and the ones that covered as much as possible. In the end he’d somehow decided on the ones in the middle, though she’d made him throw in a couple of the skimpier ones just to see him blush.

The reason she had so many, was because it was apparently standard apparel for pretty much every day at Camp, considering it was warm enough to wear minimal clothing the way werewolves liked to, and they were right by the waterfront.

She’d had mercy on him, and hadn’t made him pack any of her bras or underwear, worried her poor mate would pass right out. Instead sneaking around when he’d been called out grabbing dinner to pack it and some of the other feminine essentials by herself.

She’d also made sure that Ace packed for himself, supervising from her position on the couch, with Ace unable to really resist her directives since he wouldn’t let her move. He’d seemed pretty pleased to have it done this morning though when his brothers were running around like chickens without heads gathering their things he’d been leaning against Marco’s car laughing in amusement.

Izo had congratulated her on wrangling him so successfully as normally Ace was just as bad if not worse than those running around knocking into each other in their haste. Ace hadn’t been amused, something she almost would’ve called a pout on his handsome face at Izo’s blatant teasing.

Finding out that she, Ace, Thatch, Izo and Marco would all be riding up together in Marco’s car had been a relief. After her embarrassing incident yesterday, she wasn’t sure she was up to facing the rest of the Pack.

However, she had taken a moment to slip away and find Jozu apologizing profusely for what had happened. He’d assured her very firmly that it wasn’t her fault and offered some apologies himself. Ace had eventually come to haul her away again, scolding her for leaving his supervision, but she hoped she’d been able to alleviate some of his guilt the way he had for her.

As the smallest of the passengers it had been unanimously decided that she would sit in the middle in the back, which meant Ace would also be sitting in the back. It was Marco’s car so obviously he was driving, which left Thatch and Izo to duke it out over the shotgun seat. In the end Thatch had bowed out easily to his mate, which put him on her other side.

They’d left early in the morning in order to get there midafternoon, and at first the excitement of the trip had kept the two men on either side of her awake and chattering happily, telling her all about the lake and the amazing activities planned. But then partway through the trip just like sleepy toddlers they’d conked out both landing their heads firmly on her shoulders despite her being much shorter than the two of them.

Ace had curled himself into her side and had his face pressed to her neck as he slept, cuddling close, and while Thatch wasn’t as cuddly he was still extremely close. She thought she would’ve been uncomfortable, but in the end she’d felt the opposite. She’d felt safe.

Thus, she’d allowed her own head to tilt to the side, resting her cheek on the top of Ace’s head and shifting her arms so they were around the two men’s shoulders and not crammed at her sides, figuring since they were invading her personal bubble she’d just have to invade back.

She’d stayed there feeling comfortable and warm and safe, not quite sleeping but not quite awake as Izo and Marco chatted in the front, which is how she’d overheard their conversation.

It had given her a lot to think about, more specifically her relationship with Ace. She had wondered if her mate had some self-esteem issues, but had brushed those thoughts off thinking it ridiculous that someone as good looking and sweet as Ace would have such negative thoughts about himself.

Stupid. She should’ve known better, just because someone looks and acts confident and reassured doesn’t mean they are. Plus, Izo had flat out told her about Ace’s almost guaranteed virgin status, so of course he wasn’t sure what to do. It wouldn’t surprise her if he was flat out terrified of making a move, worried to scare her off especially if what they said was true and he really was already in love with her.

However, that left her with the question of what to do about it, which meant she had to think about her own feelings. She liked Ace, a lot. She liked how sweet he was, the way he spoke about his brother and his family, the way he was always willing to watch out for her. She wasn’t the damsel in distress type, but the fact that if she needed him he’d be there was a comforting one, one that filled her with warmth.

She was also very attracted to him she’d known that from the beginning, but could she love him? The more she thought about it, the more she thought she could. So far, he’d proven he’d be very easy to love, and while she was sure there were flaws she hadn’t seen yet outside his enormous appetite and self-esteem issues but, well everyone had their flaws. She definitely had hers, and he’d definitely seen them during his time as her dog, and he seemed to love her anyway.

She knew trying to love someone because they were in love with you wasn’t the right thing to do if you truly could never love them the way they did in return, but she really thought she could, so what to do about it?

If Ace wasn’t going to make a move, and it sounded like Izo and Marco were sure he wouldn’t, then she would either have to sit down and talk to him, or just make a move herself. Both were appealing options, so she would keep them both open, and just wait for an opportunity.

The only reasons she hadn’t done much yet were because they hadn’t had a whole lot of time together and because she was still trying to figure out this Werewolf thing. She knew there were subtle nuances she had yet to encounter, or really understand. She just hoped this time at camp would help her with that.

Decided on her course, she let herself drift again nuzzling her face into Ace’s hair full of affection. Really, she didn’t think falling in love with him would be hard at all.

Ace woke as the car pulled to a stop, but held very still as he realized he was surrounded in his mate’s scent. Taking stock, he realized she had her arm around him and her cheek was resting on his head, which was on her shoulder. His arm was behind her around the back of her as well, and his other arm was crossed over her body as he lay almost sideways in his seat hand resting gently on her hip.

Honestly, he wasn’t sure he wanted to move. On the one hand this was one of the few times in the last few days his mate had allowed him to cuddle up like this when she wasn’t distressed, and it was nice to lay here and breath in her scent, when it wasn’t tinged with fear. On the other hand, he wasn’t sure if she was a willing participant in this arrangement or not and he didn’t want her upset if she wasn’t.

In the end the decision was made for him, as Thatch called, “Rise and shine kiddos we’re here, and it’s time to get moving. We’ve got a lot to do before dark.”

He felt her jerk in surprise at the wake-up call and knew she was awake. Gently he extracted himself from her not waiting to see what her reaction had been to waking up like that with him, climbing out of the car and stretching. All around them others were climbing stiffly out of their vehicles and stretching like he was.

The noise level was beginning to pick up as pups perked up at the sight of their destination, and people began chattering happily. He smiled, breathing in the fresh air of the forest. The one back home was nice too, but there was something special about this one.

“That was really quick,” his mate noted as she climbed out of the car stretching herself and humming pleased. Ace watched his eyes admiring the flex of her muscles and the curves and dips of her body as she twisted and arched.

“Easy for you to say,” Izo teased gently as he cracked his back, “You and sleepyheads one and two passed out like an hour in and slept the rest of the day.”

“I was comfy,” she replied with an easy smile and a shrug.

“Alright everyone!” Oyaji’s familiar voice bellowed out over the crowd causing everyone to come to attention.

“First Division and Seventh Division with Marco and Rakuyo, start cleaning up the cabins where the pups and elderly will be staying, Second and Sixth Division with Ace and Blamenco start grabbing the camping gear and get some of the tents for those who asked for them set up, Blamenco has it mapped out, follow it,” he began doling out directions firmly.

“Third and Fifth Division with Jozu and Vista start clearing the paths around the campsites so they’re safe for everyone including the pups, Fourth Division with Thatch start cleaning out the Dining Hall then get the food stocked away properly.”

“Eighth Division, with Namur sweep the beaches and get the buoys out to mark the safe swimming areas, and Ninth Division with Blenheim clear the picnic areas and tidy them up. Tenth and Twelfth Division Curiel and Haruta start prepping the bonfire pits and windbreaks and gathering firewood.”

“Eleventh and Thirteenth Division, Kingdew and Atmos, run the perimeter and make sure there are no animals dangerous to the pups in the area, if there are, herd them out, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Divisions with Jiru and Fossa you’re to help Bay and the others set up the medical building and transport all the necessary equipment. Sixteenth Division with Izo you’re our babysitters for the day! Help keep the pups out of trouble! Everyone has their orders, we meet at the Dining Hall at seven for dinner, break!” Oyaji thundered with a grin, earning a loud cheer of agreement from everyone who’d been listening.

The pups were yipping happily, some of them in their wolf form and some human, and were prancing everywhere. He didn’t envy Izo and the parents whose pups were still nursing the job of looking after them. They were a handful on a good day, and today they were all riled up.

“So what exactly am I meant to do?” his mate asked her voice breaking into his thoughts, “I suppose I could help you, or Thatch maybe?”

“Oh no you don’t!” Bay ordered, apparently having heard her question, “You are taking it easy today remember? Doctor’s orders.”

“But Bay!” and Ace was surprised to note a slight whine in her voice.

“Don’t ‘but Bay!’ me!” the stern doctor ordered hands on hips, “You can go down and sit and watch but that’s it young lady! Head injuries are a serious business, and they’ll still be plenty left for you to do tomorrow.”

“You!” she ordered whirling on Ace and pointing firmly, “Don’t let her do anything, and it’s best if you carry her down to the site to make sure she doesn’t get dizzy or trip on the trails, you know how bad they can be when we just get here.”

His mate protested to no avail. Bay wasn’t someone who could be moved, not when it came to the safety of her patients.

“Ugh fine, sorry Ace,” she told him unhappily.

“It’s alright I don’t mind carrying you,” he told her sincerely, and it was true, he rather enjoyed it actually. He liked the idea of coddling and spoiling his mate.

“Are you sure?” she asked doubtfully, “I’m not too heavy?”

Ace looked at her surprised then realized she was serious and carefully stepped up to her, placing his hands on her waist he gently lifted her above his head with no strain. She squeaked in surprise and reached out steadying herself on his shoulders, “See not a problem.”

“Alright, alright I get it Mr. Muscles put me down,” she told him with a laugh that warmed him all the way through, “You can’t carry me like this all the way down there.”

“I could,” he told her smiling, “But you’re right it would be easier to piggyback, that way you can grab a backpack or two alright?”

“Sounds good,” she told him with a pleased smile, as he gently set her down.

Glancing around he saw his entire Division plus some, watching the with amused smiles on their faces and he made a face in annoyed embarrassment, “Don’t just stand there gawping, we’ve got a job to do ladies and gents, load up and head out.”

His Division members hopped to it as Izo remarked, “That was surprisingly smooth Ace, maybe there’s hope for you yet!”

Rolling his eyes and deciding to ignore Izo he followed behind his mate and helped her load up a couple of packs then knelt down so she could climb on to his back. He tried not to think about the way her thighs felt under his hands or her breasts pressed against his back, but it was a fairly fruitless endeavor.

He was just glad that she couldn’t see his burning face, and that it was hidden from a lot of his Division by the cowboy hat he’d pulled up and on to his head. Hiking down the familiar trails he was very careful with his footing, not wanting to trip and jar his mate, but they still made good time, and as they broke out of the forest and on to the beach her heard her gasp in awe.

It really was beautiful. The beach stretched for miles in either direction, and the lake was sparkling in the sunlight. To their right was the large clearing that housed the enormous kitchen, Dining Hall and Dining Pavilion and further in that direction was the large clearing of nice grass where he, and the rest of the Wolves who’d opted to sleep in the open, would be staying.

To the left were several large clearings in a row each lined with enormous cabins, one clearing per Pack, and each cabin had a number of rooms for families and the elderly. Further down that direction was where they were heading to pitch the tents for those who’d noted that they would want them. They’d only be pitching the ones for their Pack, as the Redhair and Revolutionary Packs would be bringing their own tents, but it would still be quite a few.

Between every sleeping area there were large bathroom and shower areas. However, the largest and best one was actually a little bit of a hike into the woods, where there were several natural hot springs.

On the lake there were a couple of boat houses, along with several piers for fishing and playing on, along with launching boats for water skiing and the like, and there were also several rivers around that fed into the lake that were used for canoeing and kayaking.

It was a beautiful place, and he had a lot of happy memories here, despite only having come the last few years with the Whitebeard pirates. Looking at it he realized he was looking forward to making more memories here with his mate.

“It’s amazing,” she told him awed.

“It is,” he agreed with a grin, “and for the next month it’s home.”

Carefully he pointed out the different sights to her as they trudged toward the clearing they would need to pitch the tents in, enjoying her awe and joy. He knew from his time staying with her, that despite appearances she was an outdoorsy girl, so he knew she’d enjoy this.

Reaching the campsite he gently set her down and accepted the backpacks from her, beginning the pile of things where men would be stashing their stuff before giving out orders, about where to place the things, working with Blamenco to make sure they’d have plenty of space to get things set up the way they’d need to be.

“I’m going to go help the guys carry things down from the vehicles,” he told her with a grin, “Will you be alright here?”

“Yeah I’ll be fine,” she told him offering a half-hearted smile, and he knew she wasn’t happy just sitting around while everyone else was working, but there was nothing for it, Bay said she had to take it easy. He felt bad for her, but there was nothing he could do, he wouldn’t risk her health or safety.

“Can you read a map kid?” Blamenco piped up.

“Me?” she asked surprised, “Of course I can!”

“Good here,” he shoved papers into her hands, “Ace has to supervise the people running back and forth to the vehicles and I have to help set up the tents to make sure no one accidentally stakes their hand this year. You make sure we’re setting up the tents according to the map, and label them when they’re up with the correct sticker from those sheets.”

“O-Okay, sure I can do that,” she told him clearly startled by Blamenco’s abrupt manner but more than willing to do as he asked.

Ace offered his brother a thankful smile, glad she could do something that wasn’t strenuous but obviously important. With one last grin for his surprised mate he took off with the group who was unloading the vehicles. During his trips he kept a careful eye on his mate whenever he could.

He could tell she started off rather hesitantly, unsure in her new surroundings with new people in a new place, but his Division and Blamenco’s were good people, and she quickly relaxed, barking out firm orders and tossing easy jokes at the group.

He couldn’t help the smile of pride as he saw the group warming up to her. He knew they hadn’t been sure what to make of her before, outside of feeling terrible and maybe somewhat responsible for what happened her, and offering a little bit of respect for her as his mate, but now they were coming to see her for who she was and liking her for her easy nature and good humor.

“That’s quite the sappy look,” Blamenco teased gently in an undertone, “You’ve got it bad kid.”

Ace made a face at him, “Can you blame me? She’s kind of wonderful.”

“She’s something alright, an Alpha for sure despite what she said to Oyaji and Marco she wears leadership well,” Blamenco told him clearly amused, watching as she gently redirected a group into orienting a tent the correct direction earning laughs and smiles at the joke about facing the sun.

“Mmhmm,” Ace agreed his heart lifting at the sight of her so happy.

She’d really worried him yesterday, not just when she’d called for him through the mate bond, and her episode after, but the somewhat melancholy mood she’d been in for the rest of the day. He was just glad her spirits seemed higher today, and that she was getting on so well with the Pack, and with his Division in particular.

As he watched she spotted him, and grinned gesturing for him to come see her. He went without a thought, throwing Blamenco a rude gesture behind his back for his brother’s amused ‘whipped.’

“What’s up?” he asked concerned, “You feeling all right?”

“I’m fine, though you might want to check and make sure everyone’s stopping for water breaks. I assume Werewolves can still get dehydrated, and it’s warm out here,” she assured him with a happy smile, tossing him one of the water bottles she had in her hands. Obligingly he downed most of it before dumping the rest on his head to cool off a bit.

“I will, and I’ll let Blamenco know too,” he assured her, “You’re doing really well here.”

“Thanks, though anyone who could read a map could manage I think, and your friends have been good to me,” she told him modestly.

“Anything for the Commander’s sweet little mate,” one of his Division jeered playfully, clearly overhearing her.

“Little and sweet my ass!” she shouted back sticking out her tongue and making a rude gesture, “It’s not my fault I wasn’t born a giant!”

The man, who was well over six foot, like Ace himself laughed along with several others nearby and went back to work as Ace beamed at her, feeling pleased enough to burst.

“So before I forget the reason I called you over was to ask where we’re staying. I didn’t see your name on any of the tents?” she prompted curiously, “We’re not staying in the cabins are we?”

“We’ll be sleeping under the stars,” he told her hesitantly, “Obviously everyone signs up for tent and cabin space ahead of time, and I didn’t know you’d be with us at the time or I would’ve asked what you wanted to do.”

“Or I mean, if you don’t want to stay with me I think we could find room for you in one of the tents or cabins if you want,” he assured her worried at the startled expression on her face.

“No, no I’m happy to stay with you,” she assured him, and he could feel some of the nerves he’d felt at being separated, of her wanting to be away from him, settle, “But what do we do if it rains?”

“Stay under one of the pavilions,” he reassured her, “The floors of those are all raised cement and we have waterproof tarps that can go up if the rain is coming down sideways. It’s also where we stash our bags with our clothes and stuff to ensure they don’t get wet.”

“Alright, sounds perfect,” she told him with a smile, “Does everyone who chooses that option sleep together?”

“For the most part,” he said a little awkwardly, scratching the back of his head, “Sometimes mates will pick a more isolated spot for privacy and stuff, but most everyone stays in one of the big clearings.”

“Good to know,” she mused, then turned her gaze on him a mischievous smile on her face, “I don’t suppose you know any good spots to get privacy?”

“N-No, I mean it wasn’t something I was interested in knowing,” he told her feeling a flush creeping over his cheeks and not quite able to meet her gaze as unbidden his mind flashed over the possibilities of why she’d want to know.

“Too bad. I’ll have to ask Thatch and Izo for a recommendation then,” she murmured her eyes alight as she smiled at him, “Something to look forward to in any case.”

With that she turned and went back to cheerfully directing Pack members, leaving Ace gaping after her in surprise.

Chapter Text

Dinner that night was simple due to the fact that the kitchens weren’t stocked and ready yet, consisting of fresh fruit, chips and make-your-own sub sandwiches. (Name) took hers, more than happy with just about anything at that point. Despite not doing anything particularly strenuous she was absolutely starving.

She paused at the cooler with drinks and grabbed a lemonade and a water, hesitated for a second then grabbed another and went in search of Ace, who’d raced off ahead of their group when he realized dinner was ready. Luckily despite the crowd finding her mate was fairly easy.

Just as Whitebeard had told her, she knew exactly where he was at all times. She wasn’t exactly sure how, just that he was something of a quiet, steady and admittedly reassuring presence at the corner of her mind. The connection might have bothered her, because honestly the idea of having someone else in her head was more than a bit terrifying. However, it was very unobtrusive, and she really only noticed it when she was focusing on it, like now.

Weaving through the crowd she found Ace sitting with Thatch, Marco and a couple of other men she recognized as Commanders. He looked up as she approached, obviously sensing her out just as she was him, and grinned at her, offering her a wave and gesturing to the seat between him and Marco.

She shook her head fondly, glad that even though he’d taken off without her he’d remembered to save her a spot. It was a bit of a squeeze in between the two but she didn’t mind, leaning on Ace to get herself into the picnic bench, and allowing him to brace her.

“Thirsty ~yoi?” Marco asked gesturing to her water bottles clearly amused.

“Fussing,” she countered, grabbing one of the bottles and shoving it at Ace who accepted it, surprised, “You ran off before I told the others to make sure to have a whole bottle of water with dinner and two if they were getting beers or face my wrath.”

“Good advice,” one of the Commanders, that she was pretty sure was called Namur said approvingly, “Bay will be much happier with us if we keep people out of her infirmary, and the Pack does tend to get dehydrated. At least a handful pass out these first few days every year.”

“Well it better not be anyone in the Second or Sixth Divisions. I reminded them all at least five times today to stop and get drinks, and it had better not be you either,” she warned Ace poking him in the shoulder.

“Yes (Name),” he told her, clearly amused, but compliant as he popped open the bottle and drained it.

“Aw man Ace your mate has you whipped already,” one of the other Commanders, Haru, or Hota or something, moaned.

“Whatever Haruta,” Ace told him flicking him a rude gesture, obviously not at all bothered by the insinuation, which made her smile, “If I am then I’m not the only one, my Division and the Sixth were falling over themselves to obey her.”

“Only because Blamenco told them to listen to me or else,” she dismissed with a wave of her hand, “That and everyone was babying me because of my injury yesterday. Every single time I went to so much as hold a peg so someone else could hammer it I was waved off with a ‘don’t overwork yourself!’”

“Don’t take it personally ~yoi,” Marco advised with a grin, “They’re just terrified of Bay is all.”

“Of Bay? Really?” she asked skeptically, “She seems really sweet to me.”

“Only because she likes you,” Haruta warned with a shudder, “Don’t ever get on her bad side.”

“Aw Haruta you say the sweetest things about me,” Bay piped up from behind her, causing Haruta to gasp and nearly choke on a strawberry, saved only by Namur’s swift slap on the back.

“Bay! What are you doing here?” Haruta squeaked after he finished coughing and dislodging the fruit.

“I’m here to check on my favorite patient,” Bay told him with a sharp nearly feral smile, “Now (name) arm please.”

She obeyed without fussing, passing over any requested limbs and allowing Bay to check her over as she pleased until the Doctor nodded in satisfaction, “Good, looks like you’re back one hundred percent, and no lingering issues. You can do as you like now, but try not to get injured again.”

“Really?” she asked relieved throwing her arms around the other woman, “Thanks Bay!”

“See this is why she’s my favorite,” Bay informed the table at large, “She listens to my instructions and doesn’t fuss, the rest of you are such babies really!”

The other woman hugged her back, pressed her cheek against hers for a moment and then walked off again as (Name) turned back to her food, only to find the whole table gaping at her.

“Wow,” Haruta remarked surprised, “She really does like you.”

“I like her too,” (name) said with a shrug, “She’s nice.”

The rest of the table just shook their heads, apparently having nothing to say to that as she turned back to her meal.

After dinner everyone grabbed their sleeping bags and headed for where they were supposed to stay for the evening. Those whose tents weren’t up yet would still be sleeping in that clearing until they got the rest up. Luckily it didn’t seem like it was going to be an issue tonight as the skies were clear and the weather was absolutely beautiful.

She accepted the sleeping bag Ace handed her, and went to grab her bag of things only to find Ace had already got to it and was carrying it along with his own and his bag. She huffed at the fact that he was still babying her, but let him. She followed him and Marco, who would also be camping out under the stars, toward the clearing they would be staying in.

No one had worked on it today, mostly because it wouldn’t take too much effort to clean up. Everyone sleeping there simply cleaned enough spaces for their tarps and they were good to go for the night. She helped Ace stretch the tarp, which was more than big enough for both of them, and lay out the rolls next to one another.

This time she beat him to her bag and carried it easily over one shoulder, marveling at being able to do so. Before the transformation she would’ve struggled a bit with two hands, it was a fairly big bag after all, and held stuff for the entire month. Now though she could easily sling it over a shoulder without too much struggle.

Ace pouted at her, but led her to the large open gazebo at the back of the clearing. They deposited their bags close to the center where they’d be able to find them easily. Not that it would’ve been too difficult considering Ace’s bag was an eye searing shade of orange.

“You really like that color huh?” she asked amused, gently flicking the brim of his orange cowboy hat.

“It’s a good color,” he defended, his hand protectively on his hat.

“It’s eye watering ~yoi,” Marco countered, apparently having heard.

“Well I like it,” Ace told them stubbornly.

She laughed, “I like it too, the hat suits you somehow. Besides I like cowboy hats in a ‘Save a Horse Ride a Cowboy’ kinda way.”

Marco choked and sputtered in clear surprise and it took Ace a second later before he blushed all the way to the roots of his hair, and down his bare chest. She laughed again, and led the way to their bags, grabbing her things, and quickly ducking into the nearby restrooms to change and get ready for bed before popping back out again.

Ready, she settled easily into the bag next to Ace’s and lay down, ready to get some rest in preparation for the next day.

Ace woke with a gasp and sat bolt upright, breathing in deeply, taking a breath and trying to clear the thick copper scent from his nose. Glancing around the dark clearing he let out a relieved breath. It had just been a dream, another nightmare. Still he thought it would be a long time before he could close his eyes and not see his hands covered with (Name’s) blood the way they had been the night Teach attacked her.

Automatically he glanced at the bag a little way away where his mate was sleeping and stiffened in surprise. It was empty. Frantic he shimmied his way out of the bag and stood, glancing around in the direction his innate sense of her was telling him she was.

He found her easily. She was actually in his line of sight, though fairly far off in the distance. Carefully picking his way out of the forest of sleeping bags, so as to not disturb his brothers and sisters he made his way down to the beach and to the shore of the lake.

She was sitting there, her legs curled up to her chest, and her toes just touching the edge of the water where it lapped against the shore. Her chin was on her knees and she looked to be staring out over the lake. It was a beautiful sight, the half moon casting a strange silvery light over the water and making it gleam in an ethereal way.

“(Name?)” he asked cautiously, quietly, trying not to wake his siblings, “Are, Are you alright?”

She hummed in agreement, still staring out over the lake, not really acknowledging his presence. Hesitant, unsure what to do he eventually settled himself carefully down next to her on the sand of the beach.

“Nightmare?” he coaxed as gently as he could, trying to get her to talk without upsetting her.

“No,” she denied, her voice just as quiet as his, “Just couldn’t sleep.”

Finally, she turned her head towards him and he breathed a sigh of relief at seeing the green blue eyes, that nearly glowed in the darkness, the last clinging remnants of his nightmare beginning to fall away with the clear life in those beautiful eyes.

“Too much on your mind?” he asked sympathetically. He certainly knew what that was like. It had been like that for him every night since she took him in as a dog, and had only abated after she settled in his rooms that first night with only his narcoleptic attacks managing to give him any sort of decent sleep, and he knew that wasn’t healthy at all.

“That,” she acknowledged with a wry smile, “And I think I slept too much on the ride up here.”

He nodded in understanding. It had been a long drive, and while she might’ve lost some energy helping out today because of her injury she’d slept quite a bit yesterday as well. It was completely understandable that she’d be a little restless now.

“Why come down here?” he asked curiously, wondering what had caused her to wander away and wondering with a pang why she hadn’t woken him to keep her company.

“I wanted to be nearer the water I guess,” she admitted with a shrug, “The sound is nice, peaceful even.”

He nodded in agreement and watched as she turned her face away again to look out over the lake.

“The whole place is calm and quiet. It’s nice.”

“It won’t stay that way,” he warned gently, “Once we get everything set up and the other Packs arrive it’ll be a bit of a zoo.”

“And that’s fine too,” she said with a shrug, “I don’t mind activity, but being still like this is nice too.”

A cold breeze brushed over his bare torso and he watched as she shivered a bit hugging herself closer, and wished he was brave enough to offer to share his heat. He didn’t get cold very often and he wouldn’t have minded getting to cuddle his mate. However, he wasn’t brave enough, too afraid of her saying that she didn’t want his touch. Such a thing would be devastating, and he felt it better to live in ignorance than risk rejection. Still it didn’t stop him from wishing.

They sat there in silence for a long time, before eventually she started to droop. He waited for a while, just listening to her soft even breathing, before standing and carefully lifting his mate into his arms and bringing her back to her sleeping bag.

Maneuvering her into it was a bit tricky, but he managed, tucking her in securely before heading for his own. He stared at it morosely for a minute, casting a wistful glance at his mate before settling down into it, wishing he could be sleeping beside her. Still he didn’t dare push, and so he settled down and willed himself to sleep, dreaming of his mate and being able to hold her securely in his arms and being held in return.

“Alright spit it out ~yoi,” Marco ordered with a sigh.

He’d finally managed to corral Ace into a private conversation, though it had taken him until their lunch break to do so. His brother had been acting strange all morning, and hadn’t been his usual fairly exuberant self, even more telling, he hadn’t had more than two plates at breakfast that morning. That more than anything let him know something was really wrong.

The fact that he’d been casting sad eyes towards his mate let Marco know the root of the problem was something to do with (Name) though what it could be he could only guess.

“What are you talking about Marco?” Ace asked with a frown.

“I’m talking about the fact that you’ve been staring at your mate like a kicked puppy every time her back is turned,” Marco informed him flatly.

“I have not!” Ace protested hotly.

Marco just stared at him, having learned from experience the best way to get past Ace’s often times prickly nature was to just wait him out. As he expected after a couple minutes tense silence and intense eye contact Ace deflated.

“Is it really obvious?” He asked forlornly.

“Obvious enough that the only ones who aren’t observant and (Name) herself haven’t noticed ~yoi. Did you fight?” Marco asked worriedly. He wouldn’t be surprised if they had. (Name) really hadn’t had a chance yet to settle into being a Werewolf, being part of their Pack or being Ace’s mate. Honestly considering the violent frightening way it had come about he’d been expecting more outbursts. However instead she was being extremely gracious about the whole thing, almost too gracious.

He appreciated that she was trying so hard, but he got the feeling sooner or later all those leashed emotions of hers were going to snap, and the results weren’t going to be pretty. Honestly, he was more than a bit worried, both about her and about what might happen to her and Ace’s relationship in the backlash of such an outburst.

“It’s stupid,” Ace told him snapping him out of his thoughts and focusing him back on the present.

He waited patiently for his brother to expound and was rewarded, “I just. I want her to touch me.”

Marco raised a brow in surprise, “Touch you?”

“The only times she’ll initiate physical contact with me are when she’s tired or upset,” Ace admitted quietly, “And sometimes not even then.”

“Do you want her to touch you the way Werewolves normally touch one another or do you want her to touch you the way mates touch one another?” he clarified.

“Both,” he confessed looking ashamed of himself, “But just the normal contact and maybe some cuddling would be more than enough if she doesn’t want…”

‘Me’ Marco was able to fill in that blank easily enough, ‘if she doesn’t want me. It took years of experience to not grab hold of Ace and shake him, and to keep the sympathy, which would only rile his brother up, off his face. Ace’s self-esteem issues were crippling at times, and he had a hard time viewing himself as acceptable, want-able, lovable, and it was clearly translating over into his relationship with (Name) and probably crippling it.

“Have you tried initiating contact first ~yoi?” Marco asked gently, though he thought he already knew the answer.

“I can’t!” Ace protested immediately, just as he’d expected. “I mean I don’t want to push anything she doesn’t want on her.”

“Ace you can’t do that,” Marco chided carefully, “You can’t just decide that she doesn’t want something from you. It’ll only hurt your relationship if you end up holding yourself back, assuming you know what she wants or needs, especially if it comes out eventually that you were holding back and what you were was what she wanted. What if she wants you to touch her? What if she wants you to initiate it?”

“She doesn’t seem to have any troubles initiating contact. She touched Bay didn’t she? Hugged her even. I don’t think she’s held me like that while fully conscious since I was pretending to be her dog,” there was all sorts of bitterness and jealousy wrapped up into that, and while he could understand why he also wanted to shake his brother again.

“Bay is a woman, and a doctor and not her mate ~yoi,” Marco informed him firmly, “You can’t just assume she likes or wants to be with Bay more than you based on one hug.”

“She nuzzled her too, she’s never done that for me as a human,” Ace pointed out petulantly.

“You mean when she’d smacked her head so hard she couldn’t see and was clinging to you for dear life?” Marco asked unable to help the sarcastic edge to his voice.

“Well I can’t just start randomly touching her without permission!” Ace bit out defensively, “I don’t want her to be uncomfortable.”

“Then you’ve got to talk to her!” Marco informed him sternly, barely keeping his exasperation out of his voice, “She’s a human turned Were, she likely doesn’t understand Werewolf etiquette when it comes to touching one another, and in relationships, some of these things might come naturally but the best way of finding out what each party is comfortable doing or having done to them is to talk and ask ~yoi.”

“What if she doesn’t want me?” Ace asked quietly.

“Then we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, though I highly doubt it. You haven’t really seen the way she looks at you, and just last night she was talking about riding you, you don’t flirt like that with people you don’t want to touch you,” Marco said gently.

“Okay,” Ace told him letting out a breath, and visibly working up the nerve, “Okay I’ll talk to her.”

“Good,” Marco told him, clapping him firmly on the shoulder, “Come to me if you need anything.”

“I will, and Marco?” Ace offered him a smile, the soft sincere kind that despite his best efforts still made his heart flip, “Thanks.”

“No problem ~yoi,” he murmured quietly, as Ace darted off to find his mate, his hand pressed to his chest trying to stifle the emotion as best he could, “good luck.”

…~oO*Oo~…

“Hey (Name)? Can I talk to you for a second?” a familiar voice asked. She turned surprised to see Ace standing behind her. He’d disappeared about twenty minutes ago to go do something, and she’d been starting to wonder where he was.

Glancing around she saw the last of the tents were going up, and figured she wouldn’t be needed for much to finish up, so she nodded, “Sure Ace, what’s up?”

“Um, not here,” he told her casting a wary glance over at the other Pack members, several of whom were clearly watching them with interest.

Curious she followed as he led her away from the working people and down toward the lake where they could have more privacy, and took a seat when he did, well out of earshot of the others. She waited patiently staring at Ace, wondering what this was about as he shifted nervously in front of her.

“I want to touch you!” he blurted suddenly then blanched, “That came out wrong!”

“I want you to want to touch me?” he tried again clearly nervous.

“No, I mean, Werewolves touch each other and it’s normal and I want normal touching, but also mate touching but only if you want it too,” he said anxiously.

“Ace I’m not sure I understand,” she said gently, sensing anything else might just upset the poor guy even further, “You want me touch you? You mean sexually?”

“No! I mean yes! But No!” he told her miserably, knocking his hat off his head and running his hands nervously through his hair, “I mean only if you want to? I’m not explaining this well at all.”

“Ace breathe,” she ordered firmly, “Take a deep breath, calm down, try again.”

“Okay, okay trying again,” he told her after following her advice and taking several deep breaths.

“In Werewolf society we like to touch one another to show affection and to share scent, more than humans do. It’s part of our culture,” he said more carefully, “And I want to be able to do that with you, to share those normal day to day touches, and I also want to be able to touch you as your mate, to hold you sometimes at least, but I don’t want you to feel pressured and if you don’t want any of that, then that’s okay too. I’ll get used to it.”

There was a lot to unpack in that and she wasn’t sure where exactly to begin, feeling a bit overwhelmed, “I have some questions.”

“I can try to answer,” he told her earnestly, “I’ll do my best anyway, but I’m not the best at explaining things.”

“Um would Marco be able to help?” she asked taking him at his word about not being the best. Considering the amount of effort, it had taken him to convey this much she couldn’t do anything else.

“Yeah, yeah I can get him,” Ace assured her looking as relieved as she felt, “Hold on just a minute.”

With that he dashed off leaving her with her thoughts. She knew Werewolves probably had differences from normal humans, the ability to turn into a Wolf, her enhanced senses, and her own new set of instincts told her that much at least. However, what these differences were, still wasn’t entirely clear to her. She supposed it was a bit like being dumped in a foreign land with absolutely no preparation and being told you had to fit in.

She felt lost and a bit out of her depth. Every time she thought maybe she was getting a handle on things something new popped up. It was a bit like being thrown into the ocean and treading water trying to stay afloat, thinking you have it, only for a wave to crash down on your head.

“Ace said you have some questions for me ~yoi?” a familiar voice asked and she glanced up surprised. That had certainly been quick, Ace was already back with Marco an anxious look in his grey eyes.

“I do,” she admitted, “Do you have time for me?”

“I’m your mentor,” he chided gently, taking a seat in the sand opposite her as Ace sat down between them so they formed a loose circle, “I always have time. What are your questions?”

“I’m not sure where to start,” she confessed, “But, Ace mentioned something about Werewolves touching more than humans and something about scent?”

Marco gave Ace a slightly exasperated look, and he shrugged helplessly before heaving a sigh, “Alright, since I’m not sure what you understand and what you don’t I’ll start from the beginning.”

“So, Werewolves are a very social people and don’t generally care for things like modesty or personal space. You know how in some cultures it’s more acceptable to do things like hug people you don’t know very well, or greet others by kissing their cheeks?” he asked, and she nodded.

“Well it’s a lot like that for Werewolves, only it runs much deeper and has a lot to do with scent. You see scent is very important for us, because it’s our best sense, and thus the one we rely on most,” he explained carefully, “Scent can tell us a lot about a person, where they’ve been, things they like to do, who they spend time with, what Pack they belong to and even how they’re feeling.”

“How they’re feeling?” she repeated incredulously.

“That’s right ~yoi,” he confirmed seriously, “Have you ever noticed someone’s scent take on a slightly bitter or tangy scent, one that isn’t there normally? That’s a fear scent, caused by a change in pheromones which our noses are able to detect easily. Actually, the two easiest things to scent are fear and arousal as both cause drastic hormone changes, and sometimes even humans can smell such things, so it’s not really surprising Werewolves can.”

“I’m not sure how I feel about that,” she admitted aloud, and it was true, for everyone around her to know how she was feeling? She was a fairly private person, so that kind of thing made her more than a bit nervous. Still… “But I guess it doesn’t really matter anyway since there’s nothing I can do about it. I’m glad you told me about it at least but what does that have to do with what Ace said?”

“I’m getting there ~yoi,” he assured her firmly, “So the way our noses work mean that Packs have to be very close, and to help reaffirm that closeness we share scent, which gives us an overall scent that others identify as our Pack scent.”

“In order to share this scent we touch each other regularly and rub scent glands together, the scent glands we use for this are on our wrists and cheeks, so when exchanging scent we generally clasp forearms, or rub cheeks together a little like nuzzling one another,” he explained, “And it isn’t uncommon for us to mark things that we consider ours, not just our things, but our Pack Members by touching them, being in close contact with them, that sort of thing, it’s a bonding thing that helps us feel close to one another, and it’s especially prominent between close friends and mates.”

“I’m actually surprised ~yoi,” he told her frowning a bit as she took all that in, “Newly turned wolves tend to want to share scent, especially if they have a mate. It’s their instinct, which is always stronger at the beginning. For you to barely have any desire to do it outside the times when you’re tired or injured is more than a little shocking. Sure, there are some Weres who are a little standoffish and selective about it, but nothing like you and definitely not with their mates.”

“So, you’re saying I’ve been rude to people?” she asked concerned then frowned, “And I thought I wasn’t supposed to be listening to my instincts.”

“Not really, most just think you’re a little standoffish, not surprising considering the way your turning went,” Marco explained, “And who said not to listen to your instincts ~yoi?”

“You did!” she countered annoyed, “You told me before we went shopping that I needed to control myself and not attack humans who challenged me by looking me in the eyes too long.”

“Ah I should’ve explained better. I’m sorry, things have been so chaotic, that it never even occurred to me you might take that the wrong way, usually I’m better at mentoring new wolves, but things have been hectic and your case is especially unique,” he apologized with a frown, “I actually probably should’ve already explained all this to you.”

“You mean because I was attacked in order to be turned?” she asked the question coming out more bitter than she meant it too.

“No,” he informed her eyeing her sharply a glint of concern in his heavy lidded gaze, “We’ve had humans turned in attacks before, by Moon Mad wolves, that we’ve taken in. No, you’re unique because you’re a female Alpha, an extremely strong one, which is almost unheard of to start with, and to be a turned female Alpha? I’ve never even heard of such a thing, so things are different and even we aren’t sure entirely how much.”

“Alright,” she told him heaving a sigh, “So basically you’re telling me I do need to listen to my instincts.”

“Around fellow Werewolves absolutely yes ~yoi,” he told her resolutely, “Listening to them will help you understand interactions better and your own feelings in regard to your Pack, your friends, and your mate.”

“So that’s what you wanted from me then?” she asked turning to Ace, “I was hurting your feelings wasn’t I? Because I didn’t scent mark you, but then, you didn’t try to do it to me either.”

“I didn’t want to push you into something you might now want to do,” Ace told her, dropping his gaze to his lap.

“Speaking of that, there’s more to it right? Because you said you wanted me to touch you the way mates touch each other, at least some of the time,” she asked.

“For Werewolf mates when they’re together in the same space, it’s really rare for them to not be touching one another, cuddling or just sitting closely pressed together, at night they always tend to sleep together, touching one another to reassure the other of their presence,” Marco explained gently cutting in before Ace could answer her.

“So that’s normal then?” she asked unable to keep the slight edge of relief out of her voice, which Marco undoubtedly heard as he smiled at her reassuringly.

“Very normal,” he affirmed.

“But you don’t have to if you don’t want to,” Ace assured her hastily breaking in, “I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable or to only do it because you feel obligated to.”

(Name) looked at him surprised, then her heart twisted a little. Her poor mate was still so unsure about all of this. She was going to have to fix that but first.

She leaned across their little circle, bracing her hands on Marco’s strong thighs and nuzzled her face against his. He stiffened in surprise, staring at her wide-eyed as she pulled back, “Thank you, for answering my questions, for helping us.”

“It’s my job as your mentor, and my pleasure as part of the Pack,” he told her quickly coming back to his senses, though there was a slight flush on his cheeks, “And just so you know that kind of thing is generally reserved for close friends and your mate.”

“And you told me to listen to my instincts and I am,” she countered with a smile, a little proud of herself for seemingly flustering the normally laidback man, “Now, do you mind if I talk with my mate on my own for a bit. I think we might need to chat.”

“Of course ~yoi,” he assured her. He hesitated for a second then leaned in, carefully nuzzling her back, her whole body thrummed with pleasure at the contact and something in her settled that she hadn’t realized to that point had been on edge, before he got up, brushed off his pants and left.”

She turned back to her mate to find him watching her, his face as close to unreadable as she’d ever seen it, but she thought there was more than a little bit of hurt lingering behind those silver-grey eyes. Hurt she was determined to wipe away as best she could.

Slowly to make sure he didn’t object she crawled closer to him, and set her hands on his thighs the way she had with Marco, bringing her face to his. Unlike Marco he didn’t stiffen or freeze, instead his whole body leaned in toward her a soft nearly inaudible pleading whine leaving his lips as she pulled back a bit.

However she wasn’t intending to go anywhere, simply rebalancing herself by bracing her hands on his shoulders instead, getting up on her knees so she could carefully clamber into his lap, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, running her hands down his strong back and through his thick hair keeping her face pressed to his.

“I’m sorry,” she told him quietly holding him to her as best she could while his arms slowly, carefully came up to wrap around her back, “I didn’t understand what was going on and I hurt you.”

“S’okay,” he murmured into her hair, “It doesn’t matter.”

“It’s not okay,” she countered, “And it does matter, and I’m so glad you said something about it. Ace…”

She pulled back so she could look him in the eye, “Ace you’re allowed to do this, you’re allowed to reach out for me, to touch me like this, to hold me and cuddle me. I don’t mind. I like being held by you, and I like holding you too.”

“You sure?” he asked hesitantly his arms tightening unconsciously on her waist.

“Very sure,” she told him firmly, “You make me feel safe.”

“I’ll protect you,” he assured her equally firm.

“I know,” she admitted with a smile at the absolute resolution on his face.

“But Ace? I have to ask, is this all you want from me?” she asked interestedly.

“It’s more than enough,” he hastily reassured her.

“That’s not what I asked,” she pointed out reasonably.

“I’m asking,” she began her voice inadvertently taking on a low husky tone, as her eyes dropped to his full lips and then went back to his eyes, “If you’ll allow more, because I think I would very much like to kiss you.”

A whimper left his lips as his face flushed, his eyes were huge in his face as he stared at her for a second full of confusion before his eyes dropped to her own lips and remained there. She allowed her eyes to fall to half mast, and tilted her face upwards, a clear invitation.

One of his hands came up to cup her face, and she could feel it shaking slightly, his face full of nervous anticipation as he licked his lips and lowered them to hers.

Chapter Text

“Well now,” Izo remarked to Marco in an undertone, “I know we said we wouldn’t push too much, but damn you do good work Marco.”

He was watching as Ace and (Name) sat next to each other at the dinner table. Ace had an arm around his mate’s waist and was eating one handed, not that it seemed to slow him down all that much, meanwhile (Name) would pause every once in a while from eating to lay her head down on Ace’s shoulder or press a kiss to his cheek.

Whenever she did Ace looked at her with such undisguised wonder, awe and happiness that it made Izo feel a little choked up. He looked a bit like he didn’t understand what was happening at all, that he couldn’t believe someone like him had been fortunate enough to deserve such affection from someone like her. It was wonderful to see him so happy, and yet Izo was still hoping against hope that his relationship with his mate would blossom into such that he understood that he deserved her, and that she understood just how lucky she was to have him too.

That could come in the future, for now though this was a huge step forward. He’d been worried this morning when Ace had been so downhearted that he couldn’t eat properly. Even Thatch had noticed and commented, though that shouldn’t have been as surprising as it was, Thatch noticed everything when it came to food.

They’d agreed that if Ace didn’t get better by lunch they’d try to corner him, but it looked like Marco had gotten to him first. After their brother had eaten so much he’d more than made up for breakfast, casting nervous glances at his mate all the while. After though he’d taken her off to talk privately, and Izo had hoped they’d get whatever was bothering Ace resolved.

When Ace had come running to retrieve Marco he’d gotten worried again, but it seemed it was all for not as, not too long after Marco had come back. Surprisingly his laidback brother had looked a little dazed, but he was smiling so Izo was fairly sure it was good news.

Unfortunately lunch had ended then and everyone had to go back to their assigned tasks and he hadn’t had a chance to see Ace or (Name). However seeing them now was beyond his wildest hopes.

They’d come in together, and he’d been surprised to see them holding hands, as they made their way up to go get food. Around them the people of the Second Division were laughing and joking with the couple, gentle teasing, and happy laughter that even some of the Sixth Division was participating in, as she ordered them again to get their waters and generally fussed at them and Ace a bit as she got her own stuff.

The two of them had gone from being the center of worried, anxious looks to being the life of the party. Glancing up he saw Oyaji was smiling fondly at the two, and watching them he could see the two of them could become a truly strong and well bonded couple, that not only worked well together but worked well with the Pack as a whole.

“I didn’t do a whole lot ~yoi,” Marco admitted throwing his own fond look at the couple, “Ace just needed the push to say what he wanted and she just needed a couple questions answered.”

Izo frowned slightly as he realized something sounded a little off in Marco’s voice. It took him a second to realize his brother sounded more than a bit wistful, and maybe just the tad bit jealous as well.

He carefully kept his sympathy off his face and out of his voice knowing seeing or hearing it would just make Marco unhappy. Still his heart hurt for his brother. Not many knew it but Marco had come close to mating a handful of times, but always had something seemingly go wrong last minute.

One mate, an Omega female had found another wolf, an Alpha male who smelled nearly irresistible to her, another, an Alpha male backed out saying he didn’t like how in command Marco could be especially since he was the Alpha and Marco was only a Beta, and a handful of others that just hadn’t worked out in one way or another.

The ones who had gotten closest had been a mated couple looking for a third, and he and the Alpha actually seemed to have gotten along really well. Izo had been nearly sure that was the one until the Omega in that relationship freaked out, going into a jealous rage over how well the other two were getting along worried Marco was stealing the Alpha partner away. The fallout of that had been pretty horrific and Marco had been devastated.

After that he didn’t think his brother had ever even looked at any other potential mates. He was starting to wonder if his fellow Beta had given up on ever having one. The thought made his heart ache for his brother, who he knew wanted a mate and pups of his own badly. It just wasn’t fair. Marco was a good man, a fantastic second to Oyaji, and a wonderful brother. He deserved to experience the happiness and the closeness that came of being a bonded mate.

He himself wouldn’t know what he’d do without his own mate. They may have their ups and downs sometimes, but he wouldn’t give up the special moments he’d shared with Thatch for anything in the world, and he wanted Marco to be able to experience that feeling too.

Glancing at said mate, he couldn’t help his fond smile as Thatch laughed and joked with Ace and (Name) looking livelier than he had since the attack, practically bursting with joy for the two of them. Seeing him like that gave Izo hope that everything was going to work out okay.

Casting a surreptitious glance at Marco he dared to hope that everything would work out somehow, and that Marco would eventually find his own happiness with a mate or mates of his own. For now though he was just going to lean back and enjoy the atmosphere, before the other Packs arrived and things got even more crazy. It was good to be among Pack.

Ace touched his lips lightly with his fingers, he still couldn’t believe (Name) had let him kiss her. It had been his first real kiss, sure he and Sabo had kissed each other once way back when they were ten out of sheer curiosity, and Luffy had kissed him on the mouth from time to time while trying to nuzzle or kiss his cheeks because he had terrible aim, but that had all been brotherly.

There hadn’t been a spark, not like with (Name), and he knew why they called it a spark now. It felt like something had been lit inside him, and he was looking forward to trying it again soon. Just the thought made him feel a bit giddy, he was starting to understand why people went crazy over such things.

He was pretty sure he’d been smiling like a loon all day, but he didn’t care. Even if his brothers and his Division members teased him for it, he was too happy not to smile. (Name) had kissed him and she’d agreed, even been happy, to touch and cuddle him.

Barely a second had gone by that afternoon where she wasn’t in his general vicinity, a hand on his shoulder, a brush of her fingers against his back or face, her hand interlinking with his, holding on to his arm or lacing her fingers through his. It had been blissful, and he was glad he’d taken Marco’s advice and talked it out with her.

Now with the sun set it was time to get into bed. Yet again everyone was pretty exhausted from a long day of intense labor, so there was only a little bit of chit chat before finding their beds. In the weeks following people would be staying up a lot later, to talk and bond and have fun, but for now, with a little more work to do tomorrow and a set time everyone had to be awake by no one was willing to stay up late.

He found his mate already changed and at the place where their sleeping bags were. Watching her for a second he paused as he realized she was wrestling with the slippery sleeping bags, amused by the slightly annoyed expression on her face.

“What are you doing?” he asked curiously watching as she fumbled with the zipper of her own bag, which appeared to be jamming pretty badly.

“Ace, thank goodness, help me with this stupid thing will you?” She asked holding it out to him.

“You want it zipped or unzipped?” he questioned as he accepted the bag with an amused smile.

“Unzipped,” she clarified before reaching out for his sleeping bag and beginning to unzip it as well.

“What exactly are you doing anyway?”

She looked up at him surprised, “I thought we agreed I’d sleep with you?”

“We did,” he affirmed hastily, not wanting her to think otherwise, “But I thought you were just going to share yours or mine?”

“Have you seen yourself?” she questioned flatly, “Ace I hate to break it to you, but you’re over six foot, broad shouldered and extremely muscular, and while it makes you very pretty to look at, it also means you take up a lot of space. If we tried to fit in one bag or the other we’d be mushed together like sardines, if we could even fit in the first place without ripping the stupid things.”

Ace flushed a bit at being called pretty. He knew of course that his physical appearance appealed to people, but had never really cared about it before. It was surprisingly gratifying to hear that his mate found him good looking though even if he might’ve preferred more masculine terminology.

“So we’re using one as a mattress and the other as a blanket?” he guessed quickly unzipping the bag.

“Well we could,” she said with a smile, “But for one that just doesn’t feel as cozy as this will and for two it would be kind of annoying if one of us turned out to be a cover hog. I don’t know if you noticed but I don’t like to be cold.”

He had in fact noticed. When he was her dog she’d always cuddle him for warmth, and for the most part always slept under some form of blanket no matter how warm the house was.

“So what then?” he asked curiously handing over the bag when she held out her hand for it.

“So we combine them of course,” she told him looking up at him surprised, “Don’t tell me you’ve never done this before?”

He watched surprised as she lined the bags up and zipped them together, by matching up the zipper pull to the tab on the opposite one. He hadn’t known they could do that, though in retrospect it made sense. It would’ve made sharing the sleeping bags at Dadan’s, when he and his brothers had, had to huddle together for warmth in the dead of winter a lot easier, plus it would’ve meant no one had to sleep at the bottom, that had been the worst, he’d always felt like he was suffocating when it was his turn. Luckily though he’d never been the one trapped in the bottom on taco or bean nights, those nights he and Sabo had asserted older brother privileges and made Luffy do it.

“I haven’t,” he admitted shaking away thoughts about his less than stellar childhood, “Where did you learn to do that?”

“Kaya’s dad taught us, back when we were little and had sleepovers at her house,” she confessed with a fond smile, “Because Kaya got nightmares pretty badly when we were young and would always be crawling into the bag with me, but she kicked really badly, so we kind of needed the space.”

He couldn’t help his own smile at the sight of the soft, sweet look on her face when she talked about her best friend. It was a bit strange with her fierce looks, but all the prettier for it.

“Help me lay it out again?” she asked pulling him from his sappy thoughts.

He nodded and helped her spread it out, and watched as she crawled in, settling into one side. Once she was settled she glanced up at him, holding the covers up for him to join her. He didn’t need any further invitation, and carefully slid in next to her, zipping the bag behind him.

She was right, they would’ve been too squished in one of the single rolls, the amount of space they had in this one was just about perfect, where they could lay side by side and just be touching.

He was unsure what exactly she would want, so he lay still determined to enjoy the fact that she was so near, only to be surprised when she shifted around. He turned his head to watch her as she carefully maneuvered herself up on her side so she could look down at him.

He froze as she leaned over and placed her hands over him so she was braced above him, wondering what she was going to do. His heart hammed in his chest as she dipped, and her lips found his, and he barely had time to allow his eyes to flutter shut before she pulled away again, a soft smile on her face, “Goodnight Ace.”

“Goodnight,” he whispered dazedly.

She offered him one last smile before settling back down again, though she was much closer this time, her side pressed firmly against his, and he relished in the warmth and comfort as he allowed himself to drift to sleep, a ridiculous smile on his face.

(Name) had slept with men before, both in the literal sleeping sense and in the figurative sex sense, but sleeping with Ace was very different. For one her mate was a furnace. He practically radiated heat, and it kept her nice and warm as she lay cuddled up next to him. For two Ace was a cuddler, the minute he fell into a deep sleep he was shifting around his face finding the crook of her neck and his arms wrapping around her, holding her close, legs twining with hers.

In sleep her mate was absolutely boneless and nearly impossible to wake. He didn’t even move when she shifted around to make herself more comfortable, not even when she’d accidentally elbowed him. Instead the minute she settled for a few minutes he shifted around her to accommodate where she’d moved to.

It could have been stifling, but instead she found she liked it. She liked being pressed so close to him she could feel every breath he took, hear the light snores and the sound of his heartbeat, and breathe in his comforting scent. With his arms around her she’d fallen asleep far faster than she’d expected to.

When she woke she was surprised to see it was morning. She’d actually slept through the night without nightmares. Taking stock she realized that sometime during the night she’d shifted so that she was laying curled up on her side face pressed into Ace’s chest. She was laying with her head tucked up under his chin as he lay flat on his back. One of her arms was trapped between their bodies but the other was wrapped firmly around his waist.

One of his arms was around her back holding her to him, his hand running gently along her side in a soothing motion. He was awake then.

“Good morning,” his voice was a soft soothing rumble in his chest, still slightly hoarse from sleep.

“Mmm,” she agreed, it was a good morning. She wasn’t much of a morning person but she could certainly get used to waking like this. She could hear the others stirring awake and the quiet greetings of various Pack members. They were at a respectful murmur at the moment, but she knew from the previous morning that they wouldn’t stay that way for long.

With an unhappy sigh she carefully extracted herself from Ace’s hold, unzipped and crawled out of the sleeping bag to begin the day. Ace followed afterwards joining her as she stretched and made her way to go get ready in silence. Still a bit sleepy she leaned on him as she ate that morning, nursing a cup of coffee in the hand that wasn’t attached to the arm around Ace’s waist.

He was stuffing himself as per usual, and she was kind of surprised at how well he managed given he was down an arm, which was wrapped around her shoulders. Its loss didn’t seem to be slowing him down at all.

“Did the two of you sleep well then?” Thatch prompted a slightly teasing note in his voice.

Not up to speaking yet she simply hummed in agreement taking another sip of the caffeinated beverage before laying her head back down on Ace’s shoulder again.

“I heard the two of you shared a sleeping bag last night,” he tried again obviously looking for a reaction, “Soon you’ll be sneaking off into the night with it like big boys and girls. Our little Ace is finally growing up.”

Ace shot him a glare, pausing in his decimation of a stack of pancakes though the light flush on his cheeks decidedly ruined any intimidation factor it might have otherwise had.

“That’s right,” she spoke deciding to come to the defense of her mate, “I meant to ask you and Izo where the best spots were to get some privacy around here would be, especially for when the other guests arrive tomorrow.”

Thatch choked on his toast, served him right, though Ace was spluttering a bit as well. Izo just looked amused though as did Marco.

“Serves you right for teasing ~yoi,” Marco told Thatch unsympathetically echoing her own thoughts.

“As for spots, there are a few, but most everyone has their own special place they like to go. I like the top of some of the cliffs nearby, but not everyone can get up there, you should explore for yourself today. Oyaji and I thought it might be a good idea to take you for a run to make sure you knew the area anyway,” he told her clearly amused.

“You mean as a wolf right?” she asked just to be sure.

He nodded, “I’ll be going with you and Ace would probably like to come as well. Running around here in the woods around the lake will let you get a better feel for that form than sparring or walking around the complex at home. We should be able to go right after lunch. Blamenco says your group should be long finished with your part of set up by then ~yoi.”

She acknowledged that point, and glanced at Ace who’d paused in his eating to check on her. He looked a little worried, but she’d come to expect that whenever she was trying something new in this werewolf life, so she bumped against his side reassuringly. His eyes found hers and whatever he saw in them must’ve convinced him things would be okay, because his arm around her shoulders tightened for a fraction of a second and he turned back to eating without a word.

For her part she was a little worried. Her last experience with that form hadn’t exactly been what she’d call pleasant, but Ace would be there this time, and so would Marco. Glancing at the blonde man through her lashes as she sipped her coffee, she found herself surprisingly sure that he wouldn’t allow anything to happen to her.

The rest of the morning passed in a blur of work, as she helped the Second and Sixth Divisions finish their job, enjoying the atmosphere around the two groups and how kindly and easily they allowed her to integrate with them. It was honestly a bit strange.

Before all this she would’ve described herself as a bit of a lone wolf. She wasn’t necessarily antisocial by any means, but the only person she counted as a close friend was Kaya, the others being more acquaintances and work friends. Now however she found herself at the center of a group of people, never feeling uncomfortable, harried or crowded the way she sometimes had been before. Plus she seemed to be forming more close relationships.

Ace was a given of course, already closer to her in most ways than any of the others she would’ve termed ‘boyfriend’ in the past, the term itself almost seemed too shallow for what he truly was, which was why she hesitated to call him such. But then there were also Thatch, Izo, Bay and Marco, especially Marco, and she would even include Blamenco and Jozu too though she hadn’t spent quite as much time with them.

She had to wonder if being a Werewolf had changed that part of her, or if it was simply because the group around her was an exception to the rule. Honestly she thought it might be a bit of both, but wasn’t about to look a gift horse in the mouth, simply enjoying the atmosphere and the ease she felt among them.

Lunch was a cheerful affair, and Thatch assured her that from now on it would be far more extravagant faire than what they’d been eating lately. Apparently he was a little put out with what he called ‘meager rations’ which was apparently anything under five star cuisine, but had been forced to endure because of the press for time.

From now on though they’d have more time than usual, and because it was their week to cook meals for everyone who’d be coming to camp it would be the best of what they could produce. Apparently there was a stiff and fierce if silent competition between the cooking members of all three Packs to produce the most and best food, and this year Thatch was determined they be the ‘winners’ though technically there was no official ruling he was pretty sure Redhair had won the year before and was determined it not happen again.

He’d made many elaborate schemes, recipes, techniques and menus to ensure they wouldn’t, and she was reluctantly impressed by his dedication. He invited her to join in, as Ace hadn’t stopped praising her cooking abilities and she agreed she might pop in a couple days, if only to soothe the fiercely competitive cook.

During the entire discussion, where she sat watching Thatch rant and rave, limbs flying everywhere and pompadour nearly smacking nearby people in the face, Izo had watched with a tolerant amused and affectionate smile on his face. She hadn’t really taken the time to notice before, but the two of them were well matched, and watching Izo watch Thatch made her smile as well, her body automatically shifting closer to Ace and she found herself hoping the two of them would be equally in tune with one another someday.

Ace was apparently equally excited about the cooking competition between Packs, not that he really cared who won or lost outside of the fierce Pack pride he had. No what Ace cared about was the food itself, which honestly shouldn’t have surprised her as much as it did. Admittedly though she hadn’t been sure he could even taste the food he was given, given the rate he inhaled it.

When she’d voiced such thoughts to Marco, who happened to be sitting across from her she’d been surprised to see the man laugh, loud and long. It wasn’t that Marco was solemn or broody or anything, but he was quiet and serious, and while it wasn’t unusual to see him smiling she realized she didn’t think she’d ever heard him laugh before. She liked the sound of it, and resolved to see if she could make it happen more often. He seemed like a man who could use it, and she felt she owed him a great deal.

Ace pouted at her, though she could tell he was glad to hear Marco laughing too. Still she indulged him and kissed his pouting lips, lingering for a second to rub her nose against his affectionately, leaving him flushed but visibly pleased.

Lunch finished quickly after that and she was led to the forest, so they could go on their run. Both men had courteously provided privacy for her to strip out of her clothes and change into her wolf form without her having to ask, for which she was infinitely grateful.

Being in the forest in this form was markedly different than anything she’d experienced before. Breathing in she could smell the fresh earth, wet leaves and the lake wafting in through the air, along with the scent of Pack and several individuals who’d passed through the clearing she stood in.

She could hear distantly the happy babble of voices back in the direction of camp, along with several animal and insect sounds including several different types of birds and the sounds of water splashing in the distance.

Following her nose she found Marco first and had to do a double take. She’d figured out by now that for the most part Werewolves had coats that matched their hair colors, but she’d never seen a wolf like Marco before.

He was big, a lot bigger than her, and about the same size as her mate, maybe a bit bigger even, but that wasn’t surprising. What was surprising was the pretty golden color of his fur. Not the same as his surprisingly bright blonde hair, but soft gold that reminded her of ripened wheat.

Curious and more than a bit awed she approached him, carefully. He watched her and kept his posture nonaggressive as she approached. More confident she went right up to him, breathing in his scent. It didn’t bring her as much comfort as Ace’s did but that didn’t mean it wasn’t appealing.

He lowered his head and gently butted her affectionately, rubbing his side along hers in greeting. Surprised but willing she greeted him back, following her instincts as best she could as she inspected him realizing as she did so that he smelled of his own scent but also of some underlying scent that she immediately identified as Pack, her Pack. It pleased her, and distracted her for a second until a soft whine caught her attention.

Glancing around she saw her mate standing nearby watching her, waiting to be acknowledged. She immediately turned away from Marco to go greet her mate, walking up to him without any of the caution she’d shown approaching Marco, instinctively knowing it wasn’t necessary.

He greeted her by dipping his head and licking her face affectionately, which surprised her for a second because in human form Ace never seemed to initiate contact between them, waiting for her to do it and then responding. Pleased she rubbed herself against him like a cat, twining herself beneath his chin, rubbing her face against his sides and chest as he nuzzled her in return, occasionally licking her face and jaw.

The soft sounds of contentment weren’t quite like a cat’s purr but something fairly similar and she was deeply soothed by them. A gentle whuffing caught her attention, the wolf equivalent of a discreet cough for attention. Marco was watching them, reminding them of his presence and what they were actually out here to do.

She nodded carefully at him and he got to his feet, shaking himself a bit before beginning to slowly trot into the woods with the obvious intention for her to follow. She did so.

It took her a while to get used to moving through the woods, and moving in synch with Ace and Marco. She was constantly aware of their presence close by and a couple of times nearly tripped over foliage or her companions, which seemed to amuse both of them to her annoyance.

Still they were patient and just like when she’d begun sparring Jozu she got her feet under her eventually. Marco evidently sensed it because he began to lead in a clear direction rather than the aimless running they’d been doing before. It took her a bit, but she finally realized that they were following a trail of sorts, one marked distinctly, not physically but with the scent of their Pack, and she realized this must be the border the others had been patrolling.

Once she understood their direction for herself she didn’t follow so closely on Marco’s heels, spreading a bit further from him assured she wouldn’t get lost as she followed the scent trail at a mild jog. As much as she was enjoying the run, and taking in the scenery, getting used to her wolf form, something itched at her.

She wasn’t exactly sure what it was but it was slowly but surely beginning to make her crazy. Agitated she picked up the pace a bit, pulling even with Marco who she saw glance at her out of the corner of his eye, but continue along with her, voicing no protest. Ace was slightly behind her to her right about half a length behind her.

Her feet almost without thought began to move faster, faster, and faster, and she suddenly found herself flying through the woods racing on all fours, leaping over trees and crashing through the foliage. She’d never moved this fast in her life, and it was probably the most amazing thing she’d ever experienced as she began to really push her body. It was almost like flying.

She let out an unintentional yip of happiness as she kept herself steady on the scent trail, feet flying beneath her, and heard it echoed behind her. She could feel Ace and Marco close on her heels, but she didn’t feel hunted the way prey might, instead she felt powerful, powerful and wild and free and for the first time she thought maybe being a Werewolf wasn’t so bad after all.