Electrum

I saw Ruairi standing in the doorway as I bent down to help little Tina Anderson master fifth position. She teetered slightly on her back foot, and I sent a questioning look in the intruder's direction as I supported her gently. The six year old had been diagnosed with a muscle and balance disorder, and her family therapist insisted that activities such as swimming and ballet would increase her body's control.

Ruairi jerked his chin in my direction before rejoining his wife and daughter. The pack needed me, and this was a subtle warning in repayment for my services. But really, why did these things have to be so sudden? If I kept taking sudden and random leaves from work, I could get fired!

As the students put away the streamers that we had been using and darted off towards their parents at the end of class, I sighed and walked up the stairs. In return for my work, I was able to rent a small apartment above the studio very cheaply. I hadn't wanted to leave home, really I hadn't, but my unusual circumstances called for it.

My pink and black bag was dumped on the couch, and I made a beeline for the phone and dialled my brother's cell right off the top of my head.

"Hey Jan, it's me. Look, I kind of need a-"

"Susan! How've you been? Settled into your new home yet? We all miss you heaps." I couldn’t help but smile at this; we had been and still were the closest of siblings.

"Sorry, I can't talk for long. I'm going to be out of town for a while and I really need you to-"

"Cover for you until then? Got it, Sis. What's the cover story this time?"

"Family emergency," I said. "If they ask, be vague and say it's personal."

"Fine, fine, just so long as you're not eloping with some random or drug dealing, Mom and Dad would have a fit otherwise," Jan said.

I rolled my eyes. "Dang, you caught me," I drawled sarcastically. "Anyway, I've got to leave right now or Ru – um, someone, will be very annoyed." It really hurt not being able to tell my one true confidant what was going on, but all of this was for his and my family's safety.

"How long will you be gone?"

I couldn't lie to him. "I don't know."

"Be safe, Susan."

"I'll try my best, Jan," I concluded and hung up the phone.

I grabbed an old canvas bag and shoved some of my possessions into them. Probably shouldn't have thrown in the iPod, since there a lot of robbers around, but I just couldn't resist the temptation of bringing my lovable musical companion. All I needed really was a change of clothes so I would have something clean to wear on the way back. I'd rather not be seen walking around looking like a homeless person.

There was a knock at the door. "Just a second!" I shouted, throwing on the first clothes that came to hand over my leotard. Simultaneously I managed to open the door and free my brown locks of hair from its tight bun.

"Charms told me your classes ended at four thirty. Are you ready to go, Links?" Takis asked me. He was kind of my brother from another mother. And another father. Okay, let's just say he was an unrelated relative.

I rolled my eyes. "It's not like I have a choice in the matter, just like you didn't have a choice being sent to get me."

Takis laughed nervously. "Well, you know Ruairi, being the Alpha and all...and since you don't really hang around very often...well...yeah." Funny, he was twenty one years old and still couldn't string a sentence together properly. Ah well, as a delivery boy for FedEx he didn't really need to know his words. Just 'sign here' and 'is so-and-so here' tended to suffice.

I went downstairs with him and plopped myself on the handlebars of his rickety old bicycle. Thank god I had taken ballet or I would have fallen off the second I got on. Takis hopped onto the seat and peddled off, somehow managing to hit every single pothole in the road. I bet he was doing it on purpose, since he could easily see over my head.

"Couldn’t you have brought a better means of transport?" I accused.

Takis rolled his eyes. "Camden's motorbike got stolen last time, remember? I don't want my baby to be next."

I snorted. "Your baby? You are freaking obsessed over that car of yours, Takis!"

"I'm not obsessed with the car; I'm just in love with it! And stop complaining, I'm doing all the work here. You're just sitting there," he argued.

"Hanging on for dear life," I added dryly.

We passed out of the main town and along a dirt road. Bushes aligned the sides and the shrubbery became increasingly thick. After about half an hour, Takis stopped, managing to projectile me into the dust. I got up, and walked over behind a large tree to complete the physical change.

I concentrated, letting my hair darken and spread, giving the unpleasant feeling of centipedes crawling all over my body. Nasty. My eyes changed in hue to a brilliant green and the sense of color dulled. My jaw elongated and back arched, and I fell to all fours as standing upright became increasingly difficult.

I could smell everything, from the trails of recently visited humans, the scent markings of the Erate Pack, the local wildlife and more. There was something else, something foreign, that had been intruding into our land. I pushed that thought away and shook myself, refreshing memories of previous times where we had no need to fear. Ah well, it's not going to change anything by worrying.

"You done yet? You're making me late," Takis' voice sounded in my mind. It wasn't exactly talking, but as a thespian we all had not only connections to wolves, but other werewolves too, spiritually, mentally, and physically. So it was close enough.

"Alright, alright, just keep your fur on." I shoveled through some dry soil to make a hole, and threw in my bag and filled it up again. My clothes would be safe for my return.

"This way," he instructed, and we both bounded off.

The clearing was fairly secluded, and the perfect place to hold a meeting. Normally I just did my own thing, but if it was important enough to drag Alexandra out of school for, it was probably worth showing up.

There were nine of us in the pack, around the average number. Well, I technically wasn't a member, but I was still dragged into their activities, I just couldn't let them down when they demanded that I come along. Even Charmaine was there, and she was known for being a little on the stubborn side.

Ruairi was standing on a tree trunk, flanked by his wife Isra, the Alpha Female. From what I could tell, Isra was looking concerned, keeping an unusually protective eye over her daughter Xochil.

In front of them, staring intensely were members of the Beta group. Alex (Alexandra) and Camden were standing over to the right, and Charms (Charmaine) was coming towards me and Takis. Ifan the Omega was standing at the back looking for the entire world like he didn't want to be here. That wasn't really surprising, considering how he gets treated.
The huge brown wolf that was Ruairi stood before us and raised his head.

"Attention, all of you. I appreciate you all appearing before me at this meeting today," he said in his deep, booming, voice that practically screamed dominance. "While patrolling the perimeters it has come to our attention that the Aliath pack is on the move."

There was a collective shocked reaction from the group. Charms whimpered, Alex snarled, and the others looked around confused and fearful, lost without a leader to follow. I however, managed to keep my composure.

"They are seeking more force, through strength in numbers," the leader continued. "In wild wolf packs this would not be appropriate, due to an exceptional amount of discord. However, the Alpha is using the human component against them. By ridding a werewolf of their entire support system they undermine their entire lives, leaving them dependent on the Aliath Pack."

I couldn't contain a growl at this. All our families were in danger! Everyone else seemed just as livid as I did, except for Xochil who didn't understand what was going on. She was upset because her mother was.

Charm's ears were standing tall and lips were pulled back, and her sharp canines were revealed. "How...dare...they?" she spat bitterly, causing they reddish-furred Ifan to back away from her slightly.

"Charmaine, it's fine so long as they don’t encounter any of us." Camden tried to console
my sand colored and rather angry best friend. "They're only following orders from their Alpha, and really won't kill unnecessarily."

A fluffy white wolf with blue eyes let out a sort of strangled snorting sound and lashed out, "So why don't you just go out there and fucking kill the asshole? Rias is nothing more than a vindictive, selfish, thieving, lying, idiotic, bullying, son of a –"

"Alexandra!" Isra reached over and cuffed her over the head, "mind your language!"

"I'll talk however I goddamn like about my dear ex-family,” she muttered. Ruairi growled menacingly at her, and Alex backed down, tail between her legs. "I-I'm sorry, that was over the line...I-I don't know what came over me..." But her bristling fur told another story.

I frowned. "May I say something?" I asked Ruairi. He nodded. As much as he hated to admit it, a particular Susan Viljoen had pulled his butt out of the fire more times than I could count. I was pretty reliable as an advisor, even if I did kind of turn up at random intervals. But he didn't make a fuss of it, I am pretty strong. Put it this way: the last guy who picked a fight with me now has only one back leg.

Sitting back on my haunches, I addressed everyone present. "When we first arrived, I detected a foreign scent. It was alone. While it could have been a scout or rogue, I am guessing that they belonged, or formerly belonged, to the Aliath Pack." Charms and Takis cocked their heads, wondering where I was going with this.

"This may somehow indicate that the Aliath Pack does not have such an iron grip on its members as it would like. If in that case, we managed to confront or track the said werewolf, then it may be beneficial to us. In any case, we would manage to get information."
Charmaine shook her head. "Our priority is to avoid a confrontation, and doing that may instigate a dangerous chain of events. People could be killed!"

"Our priority, Charms, is safety. If we don't protect others by any means necessary, then no one else can! If we deal one big, final, blow to them, we won't have to run about like chickens in a pen away from the cat to protect our eggs."

Alex shook her head. "They outnumber us by more than two to one. I'd rather die before I go to that hell hole."

"Rias' comrades are not as loyal to them as you seem to think," I shot back. "They won't defend him. Wolves have ditched that pack before, and they'll do it again. You can't trust anyone these days."

Takis spoke up. "There's no evidence of a second. I'm sorry Susan, but we're just not strong enough."

They were all ganging up on me, I could tell. Takis called me by my given name, instead of 'Links'. But before I could say anything, a loud howl sounded in the distance, echoing through the air and vibrating in the ground. Everyone stiffened; we'd heard that sound one too many times than we would like.

It was the call of the approaching Aliath Pack, and its leader, Rias. Rias was a huge black and grey streaked werewolf; probably around double my size or more. Not the kind of person you wanted to meet on a battlefield. I had caught a glimpse of him once, standing stiff-legged and tall in a stance of dominance. Patches of fur were missing, along with a large chunk out of his left ear. But what was the scariest were his eyes. I had watched, horrified, as he carelessly ripped the throat out of a small Red Wolf. The blood had dripped from his mouth, leaving trails of saliva, and the crazed look in his eyes showed nothing but pure lust for battle and blood. I had been horrified that such a being could even exist.

All in all, he seemed like such a wonderful guy, no?

We were now on the move, a code word for running away. I slunk back to Ifan, not wanting to be dragged into the packs' conformity. I wasn't one of them, and never would be. I didn't like packs; they were just crowds to me. And all I ended up doing was making up for everyone else's incompetence.

"Why aren't you up there?" asked Ifan, his tone neutral. "You're more valued than I am, and I'm officially in the pack."

"Yeah, well, hang around them and you'll end up the scapegoat," I mumbled. Normally I didn't begin conversations, I just responded when people talked to me.

"We'd also be a lot faster if we didn't have to keep stopping for Ruairi's potty breaks." At this I had to laugh. As the Alpha Male it was Ruairi's responsibility to leave scent markings, which explained his frequent bathroom needs every two minutes.

"I don't know why you put up with this...being the lowest ranking," I said to him.

Ifan shrugged. "It's a family, of sorts. Better than what I'm used to."

"Up to 65% of deaths for wolves are caused by other wolves. Daughters kill mothers and sons kill fathers. It's cutthroat," I pointed out.

"Exactly." Ifan didn't elaborate any more on that, and I got the feeling he didn't want to talk about it.

A few minutes passed in silence, then he said, "Susan...you don't have to do this."

"Hm?" I turned to face him. "Do what?"

He shook his head. "Never mind, it was just a thought."

"No really, what is it?" I pressed.

"You fight so hard...for everyone else. You always try and do everything on you own. Susan, it's not wrong to ask for help once in a while...have a little faith. People won't always let you down. I may be only the Omega and yet you still talk to me. Why do you always act like this?"
I thought about it for a moment. "We're fighters, you and me. When we fight, we can handle it. Blood doesn't show up on black or red."

Ifan looked confused. "You may be one of the strongest, but the others have also fought well."

I took another moment to figure out how to explain myself. "Charms is a lover, not a fighter 'cause she's too compassionate and conflict avoiding to be one. Blood shows up on sandy brown, and she wears it with shame. Alex is a survivor, not a fighter, 'cause she never forgets and only ever hits back with equal strength. Red runs deep and never fades off snowy white."

"And the others?"

"Isra is a nurturer, 'cause she always shelters Xochil and everyone else. Camden and Takis are soldiers, 'cause they feel they have no other option than to obey Ruairi. Blood shows up on them, but they justify it with pride. As for Ruairi himself...well, I haven't got a clue."

"You've thought a lot about this, haven't you, Susan?" This was more of a statement than a question.

"I guess. I have had a lot of time to myself." I glanced up to the sky. "I'd best be off now. Later." Ifan said his own farewells and I leaped off into another part of the area, more thickly wooded than the one we had been in previously.

I lowered my nose and sniffed the ground. There it was again – that strange smell alien to my nostrils but not necessarily bad. Oh well, no matter. My need for food overrode my curiosity. There were a couple of mountain goat nearby, and they wouldn't know what hit them! And it would be all mine, no stupid rules where the Alpha eats first and Omega eats last.

So I crouched down and hid amongst the long grass. Sun was setting, and the trees cast black shadows which hid my small frame entirely. As a ballerina I had full control over my body, and each movement was calculated to perfection. Wolves normally hunted in packs, but my strength would hopefully be able to help bring down the smaller of the two. Carefully I began creeping forwards...

Snap!

I howled in pain. Hunting was supposed to be illegal in these parts because of some endangered species of bear! So why the bloody hell was there a steel trap hidden under those leaves?

My howls quickly subdued to a quiet whimper, despite the painful throbbing. I showed no weaknesses. How could a weak person protect someone? I tried to move, but the metal teeth of the trap were buried deep into my hind leg, ripping the muscle right down to the bone. Each movement I made sent a new wave of agony coursing through me.

I was alone.

I gnawed frantically at the metal chain connecting it to an iron peg, desperately trying to make it break. I twisted my head to try and rip out the chain from the ground but to no avail. My forelegs scrabbled uselessly against the cool steel, unable to force it to open. I fell back for a moment, exhausted. And to think, I'd promised Jan I'd try to be safe!

No one was there.

I could transform back, but then there would be layer of fur to protect me. The metal would just clamp down harder, forcing itself deeper. Then I'd be a naked human in the middle of a hostile environment caught in a bear trap. Oh joy. So in other words, turning back to human was out of the question.

My vision was blurring with tears and my energy was being drained rapidly. All my life Susan Viljoen was the girl who made everything better, who was always patching everything up and making things better. Now look at me. Pathetic. I thrashed around uselessly in vain.

"H-help..."

"Stop moving, Amber!" I froze, jerking my head around to the speaker that matched the scent. He called me Amber, meaning he must be an enemy. Or have heard of me from one.

"I said stop moving!" A brown and black wolf tackled me, placing both forepaws on my shoulders. My throat was exposed, a sign of passive submission. I didn't dare move for fear that if I did, this strange werewolf would rip my throat out.

"Who are you?" I asked in wonder.

"Shut up, shut up!" was the urgent retort.

"But I-"

"Do you want to die?" he snapped.

I fell silent. A breeze blew, carrying a scent from the east-northeast that almost made me scream. Blood. Sweat. Madness. Rias. It was then I realized that both me and the stranger were downwind of him, so he hopefully wouldn't notice. I also realized that if I hadn't been ordered to shut up, or been tackled, my blood would have been added to Rias' fur coat.

"Mathis?" Rias called, sniffing the air. Neither of us even dared to breathe. "Where are you?" His eyes began to rake over the high grass where the stranger I assumed was Mathis was concealed.

"Rias!" a shout came from a clearing further away. "We've had a run-in with that Erate Pack we were searching for." My eyes widened, and Mathis stiffened. A speedy grey and brown wolf approached Rias, panting for breath.

"Report," instructed Rias, his gravely tone sending shivers through my body.

"Three of us were killed by that big one, Ruairi. Two were victim to others who I don't know the names of. Three are injured, and five forsook us." Hah! So I was right about that after all!

Rias growled. "I thought as much. What about the other side?"

"The little red shrimp, the one you put in an orphanage, was killed by Cobalt who is now in critical condition." Ifan was dead. I could have been there to help him, but I just had to go stupidly off on my own! Well, at least he went down with a fight. Numbness washed over me and I suddenly felt cold.

Rias shrugged. "Ah well, I thought as much. What else?"

His subordinate continued, "The blue eyed one when totally berserker on me! I managed to get a few good hits in though," he added for his own benefit, spitting out a lump of pale fur.

"Ah well, that's also to be expected." Rias took a quick glance upwards at his mangled ear.

"Then Halifax was fighting a female, but she refused to fight back! She just stood there and let him hurt her, saying that it was pointless to do this." That sounded like the ever pacifist Charms. Then," the messenger paused dramatically, "Five of them went over to their side and tried to protect her!" Yup, that was Charms' charm all right.

Both of the Aliath Pack members turned and left. Mathis and I exhaled, and I began to notice my leg again. Mathis grabbed a stick between his paws and began to prize the trap open with his jaws. I didn't notice what he was doing; my head was no more than a haze of overwhelming pain.

"You...you're from the Aliath Pack, aren't you?"

"Yeah." He didn't attack me, so I didn't attack him. He hadn't hurt anyone, so I wouldn't hurt him.

"Why did you help me?"

"You asked me to."

"But I'm allied with the Erate Pack!"

"...your point?" He paused. "I'll be right back."

A little while later he returned. I could no longer see Mathis, it was getting dark, but from the sound and smell of him he had to be close by. Then something soft hit me in the stomach.

"You should probably go human again and put that on." I realized that the object thrown in my direction had in fact been my bag of clothes. He must have sniffed them out. And I must have accidentally been walking in a loop since I separated from the Erate Pack. How embarrassing.

Scuffling indicated that my savior had gone a little way off, probably to return to his two-legged from. I quickly yanked on the shirt and the wrap-around skirt, which was lucky I had brought 'cause it would have been very painful to get pants on with a huge pronged gashes in my leg.

The injuries to me must have not been anything compared to what Ifan would have felt. A sudden surge of guilt hit me like a ton of bricks. I could have been there! I could have saved my friend! Sure, he may have been awkward and shy, but he was always giving and patient. He's had such a hard life and endured such injustice; it didn't seem fair for it to end this way. My throat choked up and pressure built behind my eyes as my stomach lurched dangerously threatening to spew all its contents.

"Amber? Are you...crying?" Mathis's voice sounded just the same verbally as it did mentally.

"It's Susan," I choked out. Amber was history. I would never be her again.

"What's wrong, Susan? Do you want me to leave?" he asked, concerned.

"No!" I almost shouted. "There's no one else...no one would help...all I've got...I...I couldn't..."
Mathis sat down next to me. "Hey, it'll be okay..."

"No it won't!" I cried. "Ifan is DEAD! My friends are injured and I couldn't do anything about it! I tried to leave home because I didn't want any more people getting hurt! I swore I would protect them. I'm not 'only human' so that's not an excuse for me being weak!"

Mathis tipped all the contents out of my canvas bag and began tearing it into strips. "I need to bandage your leg up," he said, "and don’t worry, I took a course in first aid so I know what I'm doing."

"Will it hurt?"

Mathis picked up my music player from the ground. "You should probably distract yourself with something. Have you had your tetanus shots recently?"

I nodded and took my iPod from his hand, propping myself upright against a tree. Up close I could see that he had brown hair, naturally highlighted from spending a lot of time in the sun, and eyes that almost seemed purple and yellow flecked in the darkness. He was taller than me, around 5 foot 9 maybe, and had a fit build. I closed my eyes, shoved the earphones in, and clenched my teeth as he held the makeshift bandages over the wound, preparing to wrap them around.

Contrary to the matter
Who you are, you are not
Come with me, I'll show you Saturn
Planets don't quite align
You should try not to be so courageous

I hissed in pain, biting into my lower lip as the fabric made contact with what was left of my skin. Mathis glanced at me worriedly.

I never said you were a mistake at all
You got it all wrong, you're misunderstanding
Traveled far for a lover
Who she was she was not
But honestly it don't matter
Aliens ain't Farmers
You should try not to be so courageous

The pain in my leg was easing off now, the pressure reducing it to a dull throb. No matter how loud my music played, all I could think about was how I let everyone else down.

You should try not to be so courageous
These dismal moods have become contagious

Mathis finished bandaging me, and that was when I broke. For the first time in a long while, I allowed the tears to fall. He began to move away from me, but I grabbed a hold and clung to him like a lifeline.

I fell against him, sobbing hysterically. Mathis was all I had. I had dedicated my life to becoming strong enough to protect, but now I had finally become strong enough to let myself be protected.

Slowly, as though unsure of himself, Mathis shifted slightly, and I felt a pair of arms gently wrap around me, pulling me closer ever so slightly. He had been hesitant, as though he almost expected me to shove him away.

For how long we stayed like that is anybody's guess. I cried and cried until there was nothing left, and Mathis just stayed there patiently, rubbing my back like you would do to a child. He had seen me at my worst, and stayed. He had seen me at my most vulnerable, and not hurt me. Even though I barely knew him, my guard just fell away, falling to the tearstained soil. I've always been a good actor, able to hide my feelings, but now that mask had slipped and shattered.

The night was in full bloom, and yet I felt no fear at being in the realm of creepy-crawlies. Exhausted, I allowed myself to close my eyes and slump against Mathis, not caring about embarrassment. I knew that sometimes when I was upset before bed I would try and sleepwalk to escape my problems, but right now I didn't feel upset any more. All I felt was acceptance of what had happened and the security of Mathis' arms. I rested my head against him, and allowed myself to be drawn into dreamland.

When I awoke, I leaped up and backwards at being almost nose-to-nose with someone. It took a couple seconds for me to remember what had happened and recall the previous day's memories from my sleepy brain.

"You awake? How's your leg?" Mathis asked me rubbing his eyes, and I flushed instantly. To think, I had just shown him the shy and upset little girl that I had been that night. I had trusted and received help from a complete stranger, and yet he hadn't done anything to hurt me.

"Y-yeah, of course I'm awake, stupid!" I said, trying to cover my embarrassment, "And my leg's feeling much better, thanks."

"When you look closely, your eyes are actually brown, not black," he noted.

"Gee thanks for the newsflash, Sherlock," I responded sarcastically.

Mathis laughed a sound that was welcomed by my ears; "Oh Susan, you're not half the girl you pretend to be!" he exclaimed and stood up to face me.

I was just thinking of a sharp retort when I noticed how close he was standing. My stomach fluttered and my knees went weak, and my thoughts were blurry with my heart pounding in my ears.

A soft pressure to my lips, and my entire brain went blank. A warm tingly feeling blossomed in my chest and spread to my entire body, radiating down my legs and arms. It was light and barely there, but yet it seemed like the only thing I could feel was his lips against mine. Oh-so-gently, as if I would break at the slightest motion, Mathis pulled away. I placed my fingers to my face, unable to process what had just happened.

"You're so much more than that."