The Woodland Packs

I gave my words a threatening growl, and there was a weak laugh in the back seat from my dad.

Jay slid onto the floor behind my seat, at my father’s feet, the perfect Omega. Lucky, we had trucks or he would never have fit.

My pack was in and my father wasn’t getting any better just sitting here.

“Let’s go.”

I planted my foot on the accelerator and we took off towards the nearest town. I drove the roads as safely as possible, my heart thundering in my chest the closer we got to Little River.

“Let’s hope the human stories have been exaggerated, huh?” Taylor joked, trying to ease some of the tension in the truck.

The silence had become overwhelming.

I managed to smile. “Yeah, I think as long as none of us go shifting in the middle of the city, we’ll be fine.”

All of us of mating age ventured into the cities for clandestine sexual encounters with random strangers occasionally, but we never went anywhere near the heart of the city.

Nor the hospitals or doctors when we were injured, in fear of the possibility of having our blood tested and finding a difference that they could not explain.

We’d been told since we were kids how much humans hated us. That they feared anything different and we’d be locked up in a zoo, or dissected on a scientist’s table if they discovered what we were.

Taylor grinned. “Yeah, I hope so.”

We drove the rest of the hour in silence, broken only by the creepy rasp of my father’s breathing.

Taylor pulled out his cell phone and directed me to the hospital using the maps feature.

“Turn left here. And it should be on our right.”

The hair on my arms stood on end as we passed through the human city. So much light, so many people. A thousand shops and cars. Noise everywhere. Too much of everything. Chaos and cacophony that we weren’t accustomed to.

I pulled up outside the emergency department next to a hospital that stood a hundred feet tall.

“I’ll take Dad in. Taylor, park the truck and meet me inside. Jay, help me if you can.”

Jay nodded and slid out the door easily, his agile, lithe body making everything easier for him.

I jumped out, opened the rear door and reached into the back seat for my father’s form. The wheezing was getting worse. He was really struggling to breathe now, and his lips were blue.

I pulled my dad along the seat, hard. Adrenaline pumped through my bloodstream, making my muscles bulge and tingle with strength.

My instincts were telling me that time was almost up.

Jay got under my father’s other arm and we carried him towards the sliding doors.

They whooshed open and two men rushed out.

“Do you need help?” they asked, the foreign human scent rolling off their bodies making my hackles rise.

I grabbed for my father’s huge bulk, a growl ripping through my throat as they attempted to take him from me.

Taylor pushed at me. “Dexter, they want to help. Let him go.”

Fighting back the red shifting haze was harder than I thought.

I had to calm down, and fast.

Focus on Dad. Why you’re here.