Carter Brothers: Dane

Prologue

Prologue

Summer of 2008

"Hi mom."

He completely accepts it's normal for his mother to be checking up on him. Especially when he's only almost 17 and is travelling the country with his friends. Well, not really 'travelling' per say, not the kind Dane imagines doing. This was just a trip to the coast to go do some surfing. A few days max. And now on the way back, they're stopping off at his friend's uncle's pack to have one final day of freedom before they have to return home, end the summer and start school again.
But still, he gets why his mom would be checking up on him. Except this is the second call only 4 hours apart. It's a little excessive. 

"No mom, I told you we're going to be back tomorrow afternoon," he pauses as she asks why the delay. He's explained it to her this morning and the day before too.
"Emmett's Uncle's pack lives nearby and they're having a party. We'll just drop by, crash at his Uncle's place and then head back tomorrow. Cool?"
He suppresses his smile at his mom's grumbled 'fine' and listens patiently as she keeps listing her concerns.
"Okay, thanks mom. You know I really appreciate you guys letting me do this. It's been really fun."
After the whole incident that started the summer before and only finally concluded last summer he wasn't sure even proposing this to his parents, how they'd be. It had taken some convincing but in the end they'd realised they couldn't coddle him forever and they'd have to learn to let him live his own life again.
"See you tomorrow. Love you."

 

Ending the call, he glances up from the back seat to the mirror in front, catching the eyes of his two buddies who simply smirk at him. With an eye roll back he grins at them mutters a, "shut up."





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

They reach the Emmett's Uncle's place by mid-afternoon, just in time to get settled in and then get over to the cookout at the pack Alpha's house. Like many werewolf packs, this one is small. Only 10 or so families comprise of the pack and while they do maintain the ancient pack traditions, they are very integrated into human society. Meetings like this are rare occurrences and while there is an Alpha title it is a loose interpretation of it, kept primarily as a necessity.

As they drive over to the house, Emmett's Uncle informs them the gathering today is for the birth of a new pack member. It's not only to allow the Alpha to bite and thus welcome the baby into the pack but it's also a celebration. It's difficult for werewolves to conceive. The female werewolf's are not as fertile and while the males are fertile they cannot procreate with those outside of their own race. Such couplings often result in deadly mutations to the foetus which even if a baby was to be born rarely makes it out of the first few weeks. It's one of the reason's Dane's family is envied in their circles. As a Carter, he is part of a subset of the species. Essentially they are more genetically evolved than the werewolves, able to exist without a pack and have soulmates that can be humans who can therefore bear werewolf children. Some packs and members of their community resent him and his family for it, others have hero worship and there's the rare kind that treat him like any other person. His buddies Emmett and Gray are two of them.

 

Emmett's Uncle's pack though is more on the hero-worship end of the spectrum. From the few moments Dane spends speaking to the Alpha he can tell the man is a disappointed to only be meeting the youngest Carter and not one of more influence such as his father or eldest brother. Still they're welcomed with open arms.

 

Emmett introduces them to his cousins and with there not being a lot of other teens their age, they all gather together easily.
"So your parents just let you go by yourself for days to the coast and come back for the start of school?" asks one of the guys, Jake, rightfully incredulous.
Dane and Emmett exchanges glances and shrugs.
"Yeah it was not easy. But we convinced them."