Hitchhikers (Wolf Point #1)

-42-

Our families form one of the oldest packs in Montana, Kayla tells me. They emigrated from Europe in the early 1800s, coming to America to escape the eradication of wolves. Long before the Westward Expansion, our families disappeared into the forest and headed west.

"You're saying we were the first families to live in Montana?"

"No," Kayla says. There were others who lived in Montana. Mostly the Crow Indians and some other tribes, and some missionaries. Our families formed a secluded settlement, first in caves in the hills and later in houses. Eventually other settlers came and our families became less antisocial, began to mingle with both the natives and the other folk that arrived.

"Wait, so that's how it happened, right? We got some Indian blood wendigo thing–"

"Don't be racist, Daniel. This has nothing to do with Indians. Wendigos aren't even close to what we are."

"They aren't werewolves?"

"No, that's just popular culture. Wendigo are cannibalistic spirits–"

"And that's different from me how?"

"Just shut up, okay? The wolf is in our blood. Our blood, not Indian blood. Got it?"

Some of the other families interbred with the natives and with the pioneers. The bloodline spread. The werewolf gene got weaker, but it spread, so now there are three packs in Montana. Us, and two others.

"The others aren't as strong as us. We keep to our own. Our blood is pure."

"But?"

"They have numbers on their side. It's down to you and me."

There were two families left in our pack: the Connors and the Roulfs. My father, my mother, myself, and Uncle Red were the Connors; Uncle Buck, Kayla, and her mother were the Roulfs, her mother being my mother's sister. A third family, the Loupes, had died off decades ago, after the patriarch went crazy and killed his mate and most of his offspring. Those who survived disappeared into the forest and never came back, except for one: my grandmother.

"How many surviving offspring are we talking?"

"Back then it was normal to have ten or more children. Most people had that many because of high infant mortality, but not us. Our babies were very resilient. There were at least four survivors, if you include your gramma."

"So three kids disappeared? What happened? Did they join one of the other packs?"

"No one knows. Mom told me they tried for weeks to track them down, but eventually the pack decided to give up. It wasn't completely unexpected. Incest leads to a lot of birth defects... including insanity."

"Oh yeah?"

"Don't even say it, Daniel. You're not crazy. Trust me."

The Connors and the Roulfs had done their best to avoid the fate of the Loupe family. The pack decreed that no one closer than a second cousin would marry. That was okay for one generation, since my grandmother was around. After that, it was harder. My father and Uncle Buck had gone out and sniffed out women with the wolf blood. My mother and her sister went to a high school in a neighboring town. They were descended from one of the original five families, the Randells, but the process is different for a woman than for a man.

"For males, they change on their thirteenth birthday. Girls only change when they get their first blood."

"Wait, so that's what they were doing when they dragged me up to that mountain? They knew I was going to change? Why didn't anyone tell me?"

"It's complicated."

Sometimes, for reasons unknown, the change doesn't happen. The pack decided a long time ago to not tell the children until they came of age. That kept the children safe in the case of outsiders asking questions, and if the change never happened, the children grew up not knowing. It was better this way.

"How is that better? Don't you think it would have helped me out a little to know what I was in for?"

"Would you have believed it?"

It is tradition for the male to change in the company of the other males in the pack, a sort of initiation ceremony. The other males are there to subdue the new wolf and teach it the ways of the pack.

"It wasn't quite like that."

"No?"

"I thought they were going to attack me."

Part of the initiation ceremony is also a dominance test: if the new wolf can overtake the pack leader, he becomes the Alpha.

"Okay, that sounds more like it."

Again, for girls, it's different. The female may get her first blood during the day, but she won't change until that night. The other females of the pack are usually able to tell when a girl is about to change for the first time by her scent. Their initiation ceremony is a bit different. The girl is dressed in a loose gown and led into the forest. The other females talk her through the change, telling her the lore of the pack and explaining everything that is happening to her. Sometimes they are able to share these experiences through a kind of telepathy.

"Is that how you got into my dreams? Can all wolves do that?"

"Yes... although you won't be able to do it until you're in control of your wolf."

The females remain in human form except for the new wolf's mother, who also changes. They bathe the new wolf in a kind of baptism, while the mother licks her cub clean.

"It was like being born into a new person. A stronger person."

"Wish my experience had been like that."

For years the males and females had been at odds about different traditions of the pack. The men were becoming more violent. The females usually found it easier to ignore the violence, especially after Fallon Loupe killed his wife.

"How do you know all this, if our mothers didn't grow up with the pack?"

"Your grandmother passed it down to our mothers on her deathbed. She told them..."

"What? What did she tell them?"

"She said you were special. You were the one who could save us all."

My grandmother died when I was three.

"I know this is a lot to take in, Daniel. You should have been told this all a long time ago."

"I still don't understand what I can do about anything. All of this sounds like our pack was in trouble even before I killed our fathers and Uncle Red. If there's really only you and me left, what can I really do against an enemy pack?"

Kayla rests her head on my shoulder. "We'll figure it out."