This story is fictional, I'm sorry (actually I'm jelous) if it resembles your life in any way shape or form. Constructive criticism is welcome. If gay relationships offend you, then "How did I manage to start reading this story?" is a good question to be asking yourself. However you're still welcome to read it!
This story is owned solely by Gaco and may not be copied by any means by any unlicensed individuals, groups, or organizations.
Copyright 2020 Gaco. All Rights Reserved.
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Chapter 24
The morning of the full moon started early, with Justin barging into the bedroom without knocking.
"We got him!" Justin yelled, jerking us awake violently.
"What the hell are you going on about?" I groaned, pulling the pillow over my head trying to block out the morning light.
"Seth! We know where he is!" Justin continued to speak far too loud and excitedly for the early morning hours.
"Alright Justin." Bryce said calmly, sitting up. "We'll be down shortly to discuss it and start planning."
Justin quietly backed out of the room, closing the door behind himself. Bryce poked at my shapeless form that was still hiding under the covers and pillows.
"Wake up sleepy head." I could hear Bryce's smile through his words. "We need to get up and get the day started. Unless you're having second thoughts about coming? You know I would prefer that you stay here where it's safe."
I yanked the pillow off of my face and glared at him in answer.
"You know there's not a chance in hell that I'll let you leave me behind." I growled, the deep rumbling sound vibrating the bed lightly.
My wolf pushed to the front and I could see a red glow in the reflection of Bryce's eyes. My wolf and I didn't always agree about everything, but we were in one hundred percent agreement that we would not be allowing Bryce to go into danger alone.
"Alright, alright." Bryce laid his hand on my chest, rubbing it lightly to calm both my wolf and me. "We'll stay together."
I pushed the sheets off of both of us and stood, walking towards the bathroom.
"You coming?" I asked, wagging my naked butt a little in enticement before I walked through the door.
I was leaned into the shower and turned on the water, and was straightening back up when I hit a solid mass. Suddenly arms wrapped around me and held me tight.
"You're dangerous." Bryce whispered into my ear. "Shaking that beautiful ass at me as you're walking away makes my wolf want to jump you and hold you down to have my way with you."
I smiled and turned my head enough to kiss his lips softly. A smile graced both of our faces when we pulled back.
"When we're done with all of the crazy around here, I just might let you." I grinned and stepped into the shower, pulling Bryce with me.
After our shower we headed down the stairs and walked into the kitchen. The entire pack was hanging around eating. I guessed that Justin had given everyone the same wakeup call he had given us. Justin pushed a couple plates of food to the end of the kitchen island where we were standing.
I nodded my thanks and began to eat while Bryce continued to examine every member of our pack for a moment.
"What do we know?" He asked, turning his gaze back to Justin.
"The tracker drove around for several hours after they left here. I'm not sure what they were doing. The pattern appeared completely random and when I pulled up the addresses of the few locations they stopped, there did not seem to be any sort of commonalities between them." Justin said as Bryce began to eat.
"Eventually they stopped in the warehouse district west of downtown. I searched the address for the specific location they stopped at for the night and it appears to have been an old food distribution warehouse. The company has been out of business for several years but no one has purchased it yet." He added.
"I wasn't able to find a street level view, however, this is what it looks like from above." John said, handing Bryce a few sheets of paper that had satellite images printed on them.
I looked over, analyzing the images myself. The first image was a close up of the roads, parking lot, and warehouse building. There were shipping containers scattered throughout the area around the warehouse.
"It looks like there's only one entrance." Bryce said nodding. "That means there's only one way out. That is good for us."
Bryce flipped to the second page which showed a zoomed out view, showing the nearby buildings and a neighborhood about half a mile away.
"Justin, you should be on this roof with your new toy." Bryce said pointing at a nearby rooftop that had a clear view of the area, including the entrance.
Most of the guys looked confused about this new toy, but I quickly remembered massive rifle we had returned with days ago, Justin's `special request' as it was phrased.
"Zeke and John will watch the entrance and cut off any chance of escape." Bryce added after analyzing the images for another few minutes.
"I would like to go in through the back, but we need Justin to be able to cover our backs and there are no good positions for him to cover us and the road at the same time from that angle." Bryce added. "Jackson you'll pair with Alexi to hit the main building. Tom and I will go in together as well."
"We go in tomorrow night. We'll use tomorrow to recover from the full moon tonight." Bryce finished.
"That leaves you guys four against who knows how many wolves." Justin scowled, eyeing the size of the warehouse shown in the image. "Can we not get any help from any of the other packs?"
"I don't want to involve Alpha Johnson, and he's the closest both in location and relationship with us." Bryce grimaced. "We have to do this on our own. Seth is our problem and we'll look weak if we can't handle him ourselves. We can't afford the extra attention right now. Our pack is down to seven and we need to keep a lid on the other things going on."
Everyone turned to me knowing he was referring to all of the unusual occurrences that happened with my wolf, including the interest from vampires.
"Sorry." I said meekly, looking down at my hands, suddenly feeling like a burden to our pack.
"No one blames you, pup." Bryce said, rubbing a hand around on my back.
I looked around the kitchen to everyone else and they all seemed to agree, their heads nodding.
"Thanks guys." I offered half a smile as I met a few of their eyes quickly.
"Is everything in place for tonight?" Bryce asked Justin.
Justin just gave a silent nod and it took me a minute to realize that he meant that they had gone out and kidnapped people last night, and that they were already in the basement. I imagined a shield around my mind knowing that Bryce would be able to feel my discomfort about the topic if he hadn't already.
"Justin, why don't we visit your army buddy and see if there aren't a few more things we might need for tomorrow night." Bryce said. "I don't think there's much chance of Seth coming back today."
Justin nodded and left the kitchen to prepare to head out with Bryce. Bryce leaned over and kissed me on top of my head, and took my hand in his.
"Promise me you won't leave the house while I'm gone?" Bryce asked, squeezing my hand in his.
"I don't think there's anything I need to head out for." I said while trying to think of any reason I might have to leave.
Bryce nodded, kissed the top of my head one more time, and walked towards the garage.
"See you soon." He said, looking over his shoulder with a smile.
"Be safe." I said in return.
Fifteen minutes later Bryce and Justin were on the road and I was still sitting in the kitchen considering my life, and what would happen when the moon rose later in the evening. During the previous full moon, my first, the people in the cages were a complete surprise. I had heard stories about werewolves eating people but that was just in movies and stories. My mind had nearly completely shut down before the moon ever rose that night.
Curiosity got the better of me and I walked to the door that led to the basement. I paused at the door for a moment before making up my mind. As I opened it, I noticed for the first time that it was heavier than the other doors in the house.
"Gotta muffle all the screams." I mused darkly.
My feet were loud on the steps as I walked down into the basement. The lights were off, but I could smell three scents that I didn't recognize. The smell of urine was strong as well. I found the switch on the wall and flicked it on. One of the cages on the far wall was empty, but the other three had one man each inside. As soon as the harsh fluorescent lights came on with a loud buzz all three turned to look at me.
I took in the sight, not really looking at any one individual. I stared past them, and began to panic a little. I knew that Justin had told me we only go after criminals, truly evil people, but how could you ever really be certain, I wondered.
"Let us out of here!" The man in the farthest cage shouted suddenly, fear warring with hope on his face. "The people that live here are insane. Help us get out!"
I walked over to look at him closer. He looked terrified. His clothes looked new, but were torn in a few places, likely the result of the struggle to get him here. He was nearly six feet tall, had black hair and blue eyes. My eyes glanced down at the lock, thinking about what would happen to these living, thinking, sentient people in front of me.
"I don't know the combination." I said honestly, looking back up to his face.
"Find something to cut them off then! I'll pay you! I have ten thousand dollars in my car and we can go straight there." He begged.
Logically, I knew it was me or them, or at least, me or someone else. Before I blacked out during the previous moon, I remembered the incredible hunger I had felt. I knew that the beast I had shifted into would do anything to feed. I doubt even if I tried to starve my wolf he would allow himself to be trapped in a cage. I could feel him in my mind agreeing that these cages were not sturdy enough to hold us if he truly wanted out. If he escaped unfed I had little doubt he would go on a killing spree during the moon, giving no thought to rather or not the people in his path were evil or innocent.
"That faggot isn't going to let us out." The man in the middle cage barked out gruffly.
I backed away from the cages a few steps and walked over to glare at the man.
"You're no different than the boys that grabbed us last night, are you fag?" He glared when I stopped in front of him.
The man looked to be in his mid-forties, had a huge beard, and looked to weigh nearly three hundred pounds. I estimated the was just shy of six feet tall. I shook my head and began to turn back to the entrance when he grabbed my wrist. I had not expected him to be so fast or to even be able to reach me.
"When I get out of here I'm going to kill you with my bare hands just like I did my faggot son. I bet you'll scream even better than he did." He grinned evilly at me and attempted to slam me into the bars.
While I was still in shock from being grabbed, my wolf was ready and forced me to brace myself against the sudden motion. The man looked from where he had grabbed my wrist up to my face in shock. He quickly scanned my body. I had no doubt that he was in shock that someone who only stood at 5'4" and only weighed one hundred and fifty pounds could easily resist him using his entire body weight to slam my face into the cage.
"Thank you." I said genuinely, taking his hand off of my left wrist with my right hand, crushing the bones in his hand before I released it.
"For what?" He whimpered as he backed into his cage to put some distance between us.
"For making things easier for me." I said simply, turning back towards the stairs.
Standing at the base of the stairs was Zeke, who apparently had been watching for a while.
"I wondered why the door was open." Zeke said, throwing his thumb over his shoulder.
"It still bothers me..." I said softly as we walked back up the stairs. "But that made it a bit easier."
Zeke and I played a few games on the console in the entertainment room for several hours. I checked my phone after crashing the car I had been racing against Zeke and realized I had missed several calls and text messages from Bryce.
"Whoops." I said as I began to open the texts.
"TOM!" I heard a loud yell from Bryce downstairs.
"Upstairs." I yelled back and quickly heard feet stomping quickly up the stairs.
"I was worried about you!" He said, snatching me off the couch and pulling me into his arms. "We were about half way there when I realized I couldn't feel you in my head anymore. My wolf went crazy."
Bryce squeezed me tight.
"Why didn't you answer your phone?" He asked. "I called right away but you didn't answer. When I called John he just said that you were fine and nothing was going on."
"Sorry." I apologized pulling up my phone in front of us. "I guess I accidentally bumped the mute somehow."
"Why are you blocking me out? What's wrong?" He asked, barely letting me finish speaking.
"I had some things to sort out and I didn't want to distract you." I said carefully. "It's the full moon tonight. I went downstairs. I'm a little better now, I guess."
Bryce's nostrils flared as he inhaled deeply around me.
"One of them touched you." He growled.
"It's no big deal." I said softly. "It actually made me feel a tiny bit less guilty. I still worry about it. Worry that we can't be certain that everyone we..." I paused, trying to avoid reality just a little longer. "Choose. I worry that not everyone deserves it."
He squeezed me against his chest and held me there for a few moments.
"I wish I could keep this part of our existence from you." He said. "I'm not sure I would ever be able to live knowing you were going to grow old and die human, but I wish this didn't have to be the price to spend our very long lives together."
I sighed and nodded. My wolf was biting and clawing at the part of my brain that felt guilty, disgusted, and worried that I was becoming evil myself. My wolf pushed at me that we were no longer human, and that the same rules no longer applied but I was determined to hang onto my humanity and conscience for as long as possible, no matter how much angst it caused me.
Bryce and I curled up together on the couch to watch tv. Over the next couple hours the entire pack ended up in the entertainment room with us. Zeke sat on the floor in front of the couch, his back propped up against the center cushion. I could feel the tension of everyone in the room. Everyone was anxious about the full moon, and even anxious about the confrontation with Seth the next night.
Before the sun set, everyone was bunched up around the couch. Bryce and I were both still laying down on top, but every other pack member sat on the floor in front of us, wanting to be as close as possible to the rest of us.
Shortly after dark Bryce turned off the television.
"It's time." He said softly into the suddenly dark room.
Everyone got up and headed for the basement. When we all reached the base of the stairs we silently began to strip.
"What the fuck is this?" The large man in the middle cell guffawed. "A house full of faggots then? What the hell are you homos planning? An orgy?"
"That one's mine." I said too soft for the man to hear, causing the entire pack to chuckle darkly.
"If you let us go you'll never see us again." The man who had been silent earlier in the day said, looking over the group. "You can't keep us here forever."
We headed towards the cages as a group. John and Jackson paired up on our left, Alexi and Justin were on our right. I turned and noticed that Zeke had stayed back as if unsure where he belonged. I jerked my head towards the center cell that Bryce and I were standing in front of.
"I don't know what the hell is going on here, but if any of you get near me I'm going to pound you all into the ground." The man in front of me threatened.
Bryce just laughed and unlocked the cell. The man immediately tried to push his way out, prompting Bryce to slam his fist into the man's stomach. He fell to the floor coughing, trying desperately to catch his breath. Bryce pushed him to the back of the cell with his foot before Zeke and I entered.
Staring down at the man, even knowing what he admitted to earlier in the day, I couldn't imagine wanting to kill him in cold blood. I was sickened at the thought of eating him. I heard the lock click shut behind me after Bryce closed the door. The sound could have been as loud as a hammer striking an anvil, signaling the finality of the mans life.
I could feel that we still had some time before the moon came up, but my wolf wanted out and I remembered from our time hunting in the forest that my emotions were lessened greatly when he was in charge. Without any hesitation I shifted into my were form. The man had just started to catch his breath and looked up after I finished shifting.
"What the fuck are you people?" He whimpered out and suddenly the smell of urine increased tenfold.
"Justice." Bryce said without emotion or inflection.
Knowing what would eventually happen, I retreated into my own mind. For once, my wolf seemed compassionate to my distress over the situation and helped lull my consciousness to sleep.
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