Drawn To You (boyxboy)

Chapter 21

Chapter 21

Peter

Alpha behind. Alpha the one. Human in front. Human have silver. Human kill alpha? No. Growling now, teeth bared, ready to jump. Must protect the one. Must kill human.

Yelling. Ears up, looking around. Human running. Familiar human. No, not human. Only look like human. Wolf. How? Wolf-human stop running, stop yelling. Quiet now, kneeling. Human talking. No, human singing. Nice song.

No, it wasn't a song. It was a nursery rhyme.

"Two little Dickie birds sitting on a wall,

One named Peter and one named Paul,

Fly away Peter, fly away Paul,

Come back Peter, come back Paul."

The words of the rhyme calmed me, and the pounding ache at the back of my head quickly fizzled out. It was as if I was being thrown back into my body, into my mind, and everything had become clear. I looked up at the man who knelt before me, and even though I was a wolf, I could feel my heart jump into my throat.

I launched myself at him and pawed at his shoulder, suddenly compelled to lick his face. He laughed and wrapped his arms around me, rubbing the fur on my back. "Alright, alright, no need to make a scene."

"It's about time," someone behind me scoffed. I didn't recognize his voice. "A minute later and we would've had a dead hunter, and a full out war on our hands."

"How about you try getting out of five-o-clock traffic, and navigate the highway? Boston is at least three hours away, you know." The man held my head up, and smiled at me. "Hey Pete, as great as it is to have you lick my face right now, I'd like to actually be able to talk to my little brother after six years."

Paul Cornelius Mahealani, my eldest brother. My family never spoke of him after he'd left – at least, my father made sure we didn't. But I hadn't forgotten him, or the games we played when I was just a kid. The nursery rhyme he would sing to me when I couldn't sleep. The times we talked about leaving this place and, unlike the Dickie birds in the rhyme, never coming back.

I stepped off of Paul and placed my forepaws on the ground. I couldn't remember turning into a wolf to begin with; I'd barely realized it, let alone felt it. I hoped that the reverse would bear no pain, either. I pictured myself – my human self – and slowly, I felt myself changing back. My white fur began to recede, and my tail sucked itself into my lower back.

My claws retracted and my front paws became hands, my back legs rotating into their normal position, with very little pain. My face shrunk back, canine teeth losing their broadness and sharpness, and my ears rounded and pulled down to the sides of my head. My nose returned to its shape, my eyes hazel again and I kneeled on the ground, human and naked.

Paul wrapped a jacket around me, pulling me closer to himself. The woman who had come with him handed me a pair of pants, and I accepted it with a small smile. I quickly tried to put it on while my brother held the jacket behind me. Once I'd buckled the pants on, I slipped my arms through the sleeves of the jacket and zipped it up, before he helped me up to my feet.

"Can someone tell me what the hell is going on?" Mitch exclaimed. I'd almost forgotten that he was here. That he'd wanted me dead.

"That would be me, I believe." It was the man who had spoken to Paul. I looked behind me and saw that it was one of the council members. From his dark skin, I guessed that he was Vincent. "That young man – who just saved your life, by the way – is Paul Mahealani."

Mitch frowned, and looked at me. "As in..."

"See, the problem is that everyone here has been so worried with the what, and not enough with the why," Vincent declared. He gestured to Christian. "The Youngs may have been headstrong, but they didn't raise an idiot. He wouldn't willfully turn someone, jeopardizing both his and their lives, for no good reason."