The Protective Wolf

Lukas's Point of View

I stood hidden in the thicket on the outskirts of the forest, a bag full of clothes nestled at my feet. We were extremely lucky to have found a campus with a forest near by. Each day so far, we've made an attempt to come here just to run for a bit. Before we entered campus, we made the decision to stick with food provided on campus. We would no longer need to hunt, which we did back home only because we lived in a big house in the middle of nowhere. That was a perk of being our kind in modern day: no hunting unless we absolutely wanted to. Though, we tend not to due to Hudson's disgust of doing the actual act of hunting. I shot my head up, looking around for the three guys whom I'd strictly commanded to meet me here.

"Mark? Hud? Jack?" I called out upon seeing nothing. Why I'd agreed to stay out on this run was beyond me now. I can't even possibly try to fathom what I was thinking at the time. I sighed, actually I could remember what I'd been thinking and it had everything to do with Reagan. I felt a whimper pass through my throat at the thought of not knowing where she was or if she was safe. Though, the campus was one of the safest in the state.

"Lou," Markus shouted. I quickly stood straight up and felt my body react to the sound like it knew exactly where to find my brother even if my brain didn't. I adjusted the backpack over my shoulder, controlling the annoyance bubbling in my stomach at the fact that they had not obeyed my order to meet me at the edge of the woods. "Lou, over here," I heard again and sure enough, steps away stood the three boys, hiding within the thick low hanging branches of near standing trees.

"Here," I grumbled, tossing the backpack their direction before crossing my arms against my chest. I kept an eye on our surroundings while the three scrambled and panicked to change into some suitable clothes. That was the major downside of shifting back: you lose your clothes when they tear to make room for your new wolf form. "You guys didn't meet me where I said to," I noted, narrowing my eyes at my surroundings. Nothing was there but a few squirrels.

"Sorry Lou," Markus spoke up, now clothed and walking my way, "that was my fault. I miscalculated where you were and made the guys shift back too soon. Sorry about that."

I sighed, "It's fine, just annoying."

"Did you check up on Reagan while we were off?" Markus asked, lifting his eyebrows at me suggestively. I rolled my eyes, before reverting back to narrowing them off to the distance. My body sensed some movement not far away, but by then all the guys had been clothed and coming near. The four of us continued to stand in our place, listening to the sound of movement.

"I tried to," I answered, carefully keeping my voice low, "but Molly said she was out with Shelby doing last minute before school things." I decided against admitting out loud how pissed I was that she was out doing something without my knowing, but I was still in denial over how possessive I'd come in such a short amount of time. "I think something else is going on though," I added, shifting my gaze to lock with my twin's.

"Such as?" Hudson piped up, standing beside Markus with his arms against his chest like I had mine.

"I think she's avoiding me," I said.

"Makes sense," Jackson added in, shifting on his feet so he stood between me and Hudson. All four of our bodies now faced each other in a circular shape. My eyes snapped over to Jackson, giving him a look that dripped with demand. I wanted to know how it could possibly make sense for her to be avoiding me. He shrugged, "Well, she doesn't know why you have such a thing for her. She's only human and you carried her back to your room. Her room is one floor down, she could have easily have just slept in her own room."

Markus nodded, "Because of your wolf senses," he began with hesitation, "you always need to touch her in some way and she doesn't know why, Lou. She's probably creeped out by you. Probably thinks you're some freak who has space issues." I frowned, feeling like a deflated pup. It was all very much true, but it was also something I could never explain myself for. Reagan couldn't know what we were, and even if we did tell her, she would think even more that we were freaks and just avoid me more.

"I'd say you could just not touch her as much," Jackson commented, "but we all know you won't do that any time soon." I grunted, shifting my feet a little, suddenly extremely uncomfortable that these three had something over me. Something that made me weaker than them. I hated the feeling, absolutely hated it. My stomach bubbled over with anger, but by now I'd learned how to keep it inside without a fight. "Is it really that strong, Lukas?"

I rubbed my nose, avoiding eye contact with any of the three staring back at me, "Yes."

"It's only been three days," Hudson scoffed, "it can't possibly be that strong already." I snapped my eyes over to him with a growl. He raised his eyebrows at me as if it was challenge, but I knew my anger was only clouding my judgment. He was only surprised. Normally, I can handle my anger so well. "Okay, maybe I'm wrong. I've been known to be wrong before," Hudson lifted his hands to show his surrender. "The way I see it, we can do this two ways. You could go about this the human way and get to know her, then see if the feeling runs its course. If it doesn't leave, then you know it's real, and she's your mate," I felt my stomach drop at the sound of that word, I hated that word, "and we tell her about us."

"And the other option?" My voice sounded pained, enough so that Markus flinched when the sound came his way.

"We go head on and traumatize her with the truth about us," Jackson shrugged, his voice completely calm despite his crazy words. I scoffed, knowing every well we couldn't possibly do the second. We couldn't risk doing something that stupid and dangerous. Especially something that could put Reagan at risk. "So you're going to get to know her then? Not touch her, not creep her out. Be normal?"

"Fine," I choked out, "but you guys need to help me."