Raised By a Werewolf (Sinful and MurderVictim)

[MurderVictim]

The evening was cold, the light quickly fading as the sun continued to set. A slight wind picked up, storm clouds lingering above all day, finally seeming to make their threat of rain a reality. The leaves in the tree rattled, several falling to the ground. Shades of yellow and brown littered the forest floor, the most obvious sign of autumn. An owl hooted from a high branch, ignoring how it swayed. Its wide eyes glowed in the dim light of the half-full moon, watching the ground for any signs of a rodent to pray on. It chirped again, flapping its wings in the slight wind, stretching and preparing to catch a meal.

Everything seemed peaceful, quiet. Normal. Until a truck drove into the woods, stopping when the trees became too thick to drive around. The owl tilted its head, hooting again before flying away, disturbed by the presence of humans. A man got out of the vehicle, a woman soon following with a pink bundle in her arms. She held no concern for the sneezing infant who was not warm enough in the chilly weather. The blanket it was wrapped in was too thin, not appropriate for the poor weather conditions. The couple walked further and further into the woods, eventually coming to a small clearing. The man nodded to the woman, and she nodded back.

Unceremoniously, she set the baby girl, who could be no more than a month old, on the ground. She reached for her mother, who simply scoffed at the infant and turned her back to her. Hand in hand, the couple left, abandoning their young daughter. It took the poor girl several minutes to realize she was alone, and she began to whimper, crying as she felt raindrops on her face. She shivered, wailing louder and louder in the hopes that it would draw her parents back. However, the young couple didn't return, their truck long gone.

[Sinful]

Autumn was close, not because of the cooling evenings and the leaves changing colors, but because he could smell it in the wind. The wolf prowled through the dense forest, flanked by two other wolves; one was a she-wolf and of average size for a female, with a pale russet coat, while the other wolf was smaller and still walked with a pup's easy lope. His fur was an ash-gray and his ears were tipped with black. The lead wolf was rather large and was completely black, his eyes a glittering yellow. With the half-moon shining down the forest was dimly lit, darkness threaded with slips of silver. Their paw steps made no sound on the forest floor and their shapes were ghostly shadows in the night, silent and wicked and beautiful.

Suddenly the alpha came to a stop and pricked his ears forward, his nose twitching at a faint scent that was familiar but not common in these parts. Behind him his two companions smelled it too, growled low in their throats, and exchanged uneasy glances with each other. Unfazed but cautious, the alpha raised his tail warningly and crept forward. The scent grew stronger the closer he got to it, and his hackles rose suspiciously. Peering through the thick trees he saw it, a small bundle, making a ruckus with its pitiful howling. Grunting the black wolf stepped forward after checking for other scents, but the human bundle was the only thing present aside from the wolves.

Now looming over it he saw that it was a child, a baby, and not very old. Her skin looked palely blue and wet streaks stained her puffy cheeks. Ignoring the raindrops that began to fall the wolf suddenly shifted from animal to man, a four-legged beast to a two-legged human. Cocking his head to the side, the boy, no older than eighteen or nineteen (in appearance at least) stooped and gently picked up the baby girl in his arms. He held her against his chest and began to rock her, hoping to hush her crying, when there was a snarl behind him.

Turning around he saw the she-wolf glaring at him, her blue eyes chips of frost. She shifted to her human form and curled her lips back in disgust. "What do you think you're doing, Kael?" she snapped, her eyes darting to the baby and gleaming with unabashed revulsion. She loathed humans, of any size and any age. Her past explained why but she wasn't delving into that now.

"What do you think?" the boy, Kael, returned calmly. "She can't stay out here, Ginger. She'll die. She's shivering already."

Ginger, named after her hair, snorted. "So? She's not our problem. She was obviously left out here for a reason, so why interfere?" She waved her hand and placed a fist on a slim hip.

Kael's eyes narrowed. "I'm not leaving her here." His voice held an undertone of authority, and he saw Ginger flinch visibly. "I can't let her die now that I have interfered. I'll be taking her and that's final. You aren't in charge here, Ginger. You don't have to like my decisions but you must respect them and follow them." It was an abrupt choice, but Kael was being honest with himself. Now that he'd seen her and touched her, he couldn't put her back down and leave without a second thought. He'd interfered, whether it was by fate or accident.

"Does that mean she'll be part of the pack then, too?" a new voice spoke up. The two older teenagers turned around and their eyes landed on a thirteen-year-old boy, the one who'd previously been the ashy wolf. He was staring at them and the baby girl curiously.

The alpha shook his head. "No, Jaden. She's not wolf; she wouldn't belong in the pack. I will, however, keep her under my surveillance and make sure the pack doesn't harm her or, when she gets older, claim her." His eyes flashed. "She's not meant to be theirs. I want her to live her life as normally as possible, and she can't do that if she's running around with a pack of wild wolves and claimed to be one's mate at the same time. I can't Change her now and alter her life course when she's this young. That would be unfair. She's human, and we're going to have to remember that when we are all around her." Despite his age, Kael spoke with wisdom and clarity. Jaden nodded in understanding and, after a moment, Ginger grunted. She didn't like it, but what could she say to change Kael's mind? He was the alpha. And what the alpha says, goes. That was the way of the pack.

[MurderVictim]

The infant's cries grew more and more faint as she was held and rocked, the voices around her helping, as well. She wasn't alone, despite the fact that not all who surrounded her wanted her around. She let her head rest against the man who was holding her, sneezing as she curled against him. Everything about him was so strange...Her sensitive senses could pick up that he wasn't normal, but she didn't care as long as he didn't set her down and leave.

The baby was clearly malnourished, skinny and weak. Her teenage parents hadn't known how to properly care for her, and instead of seeking help and proper guidance they chose to cruelly leave her in the rain to die. Her body and mind would need time to heal, especially since she was bound to miss her biological family. Her tiny whimpers only proved that, but she'd forget them in due time. For the moment she closed her eyes and began to sleep, feeling secure in the male's arms.

After that fateful night had passed, days and days followed. The infant, named Sable, had grown into a curious toddler, then a playful child. Before anyone had truly realized she was sixteen, and a couple years after that she was celebrating her eighteenth birthday. She had grown into a beautiful, responsible young woman. Her dark brown hair had always been kept short, her hazel-green eyes shining bright as she was currently sitting on the couch in her childhood home, reading. Her fingers gently turned the page of the worn book that she had read so many times, the chaper she was on coming to a close.

She leaned back, waiting for the man she had always thought of as a father to come greet her. Of course, she didn't know of his true identity. Hell, she didn't even know he was adopted. All she knew was that he had a lot of "friends" and was a complete night person.

[Sinful]

Stepping through the front door of his home, Kaelan Dorian Grey, looking as fresh and lively as the day he'd brought his "daughter" home with him, ran a hand through his damp obsidian hair. Well, okay, maybe not as young as that particular day; he now looked like he was in his mid-twenties, but werewolves' aging process was a whole different matter than a human's. Kael walked into the living room and spotted his "daughter" sitting on the couch reading, a favorite hobby of hers. When he'd neared his home he'd already known she'd been there; her scent was as distinct to him as his own. "Finished with another book again, Sable?" noted Kael conversationally, sitting down on the arm of the sofa. His eyes flickered from her to her book. "How many times have you read that, now? Ten? Twenty? Fifty?" He leaned over and ruffled her hair affectionately. After it had been made clear she was coming back with them, Jaden had asked him a very important question. His mind teleported back in time as he recalled the memory.

The rain was picking up and soon they were all drenched. They had to head back, and soon, or else saving the baby girl would have been for nothing. Holding her tightly against his chest and shielding her frail body from the downpour he started into the wood when Jaden's voice called after him. "Wait, Kael!" He jogged up to the alpha while Ginger kept her distance. "What are you going to name her?" the thirteen-year-old asked excitedly.

Up until then he hadn't thought about it. Kael glanced down at her face, her dark hair and wide hazel eyes. The name came to him instantly and he gently threaded a small lock of fine hair around his finger. "Sable."

Jaden blinked and cocked his head. "Sable?" he echoed. "Why Sable?"

Kael shrugged and ignored Ginger's incomprehensible mutter behind him. "Because. She looks like a Sable. Her hair, especially. See the color?"

The young werewolf frowned. "Yeah, but still. It's a little odd."

Ginger was now by his side. "Well, it's definitely better than Ginger," she scoffed, glancing over at the newly-named Sable with distaste.

Blinking, Kael came back to the present. "Don't you have any other books to read?" he added a little teasingly.

[MurderVictim]

Sable looked up at him, rolling her eyes with a small smile on her face. "Yeah, but this is my favorite book, Dad. You know that." Her smile grew as she stuck her finger on the page she was on, closing it around the digit so she wouldn't lose her place. The spine creaked in protest, the cracked front cover engraved with a simple drawing of a wolf. It wasn't hard to faintly figure out what the book was about. The teen sat up, swinging her legs off the couch to make room for the man in case he wanted to sit by her.

"The wolves were howling again last night," she said, voice holding excitement. She had known about the pack of wolves that resided in the same woods their home did for a very long time. Their nightly songs were hard to hide, after all. And to her, they were just normal wolves. Especially since she had never seen one of them, no matter how deep in the woods she went. Her father had always seemed so weary of her going out at night, even if it was just to go out to the car to drive to the city. But that was just how things were, and she accepted it, thinking he didn't want her and the wolves bothering each other.

"They never come around the house...Even when food is scarce. It's strange." She shrugged, turning her attention back to her book.

[Sinful]

"I do," he agreed. "It sort of became obvious the third time around." Kael punched her shoulder lightly and moved in to sit by her. She mentioned the howling wolves and his body tensed a little on reaction; it hadn't been the first time she'd brought it up, or the topic of the wolves in general, and Kael always had to steer the topic elsewhere. Today, however, he didn't do that. He allowed her to speak about them, detecting her excitement, the bright eyes, the wistfulness as her mind turned like clockwork with her own thoughts about them.

After a couple minutes he leaned back and casually draped an arm over the back of the old couch. It was a soft beige color, large enough to hold about three people, and smelled of home and Sable and wolf. To his senses, at least. He didn't know if her poor sense of smell could trace the musky odor of pine, soil, and water mixed with the individual scents that clung to his pack. "Most wolves don't. They tend to avoid humans," he said. "It's natural." Moving his arm back he set his hand on his knee. "So, do you have any plans for the weekend?" he asked, now scrambling for a different subject of conversation.

[MurderVictim]

Sable sighed and nodded at his reasoning for the wolves never coming around, realizing it made sense. Still, she wished she could see them, since all she ever saw where the possums and raccoons that stole trash off their back porch nearly every other night. At his question, she shrugged. "Not really." However, in reality, she had plans to meet her boyfriend Saturday night, perhaps earlier if he grew impatient. She had been seeing Chase for nearly two months, the boy being her first relationship, and she hadn't known how to break the new to her father. So, for now, Chase was a secret...Along with the bruises he gave her.

In Sable's mind, it was her fault. She was stubborn by nature, and that often conflicted with Chase's dominate personality. It wasn't like it was a big deal...They were just bruises with a few hurtful words mixed in. Nothing to worry about. She shook the thought off and looked at her dad, setting her book down on the coffee table. "What about you?"

[Sinful]

His gaze went toward the window nearest them. "I've got some plans to meet up with a few friends. I'll be gone most of Saturday and won't be back until Sunday evening, at the latest." Saturday was the full moon, and already Kael's wolf was clawing at the surface of his body to run free and wild with the pack. He could Shift whenever he wanted to, but the night of the full moon was different. A cord of energy connected the pack together, mixing up their emotions and thoughts, their bodies twitching with the urge to Shift and let their wolf out. The closer Saturday crept toward them, the more powerful the urge became. He scratched the back of his neck and said, "Make sure you stay out of the woods this weekend, okay? Just because I won't be here doesn't mean you have free will over the entire place." This wasn't the first time he had reminded her; Kael always said those exact same words each month, before the time of the full moon, giving Sable a hard stare. When the full moon was out their wolves took over, meaning they really were wolf. They weren't in control of their thoughts and actions anymore. If Sable happened to creep out and his pack saw her . . . he wasn't sure what would happen, and he didn't want to find out.

[MurderVictim]

Sable rolled her eyes and nodded. "Yes, Dad. I know. You don't need to remind me of that everytime you leave for a day or two." She was starting to grow suspicious of him leaving every month, and always during a full moon. Still, she supposed it was just a coincidence. When she was younger, she thought he was leaving her for another person, perhaps another child, and would beg him not to leave. Even take her with him. She had been such a clingy child, and for good reason, what with what he biological parents had done to her. However, she had grown out of that years ago, with only a small moments of insecurity every now and then.

"Have fun," she said, still curious as to what he was doing when he left. She knew he was with friends, but...Why for so long? She shook the question off, yawning as she leaned against him. The night before she had been up all night texting Chase, and the guy wouldn't let her sleep. She closed her eyes, relaxing against Kael.

[Sinful]

Kael's lips quirked at the corners. "Right. Sorry. Out of habit, I guess." He stroked her hair affectionately, staring at the short, dark locks as they slipped through his fingers. The male was about to say something else when there was a cheerful rap at his door, and he looked over in that direction in confusion before rising to his feet and striding over. Peering through the peephole he saw Jaden, his hands in the pockets of his gray skinny jeans and wearing a dark sweatshirt with the hood thrown over his head. Jaden was one of the few werewolves Kael allowed to have interaction with Sable; from the time he'd brought her home as an infant Jaden had been right there and helped raise her, along with a few of the other younger werewolves and one or two older ones. The rest of the pack, however, kept their distance, both out of respecting Kael's orders and on their own terms. Ginger was one of those wolves.

The redhead female's view toward Sable bordered on loathing, and Kael honestly had no idea why except that she despised humans. Still, Sable had hardly been any trouble, yet Ginger refused to accept her into the pack or even get over that he had personally taken her in as his own. The alpha wasn't sure if it was because of Ginger's past and how she felt at ease around the wolves and the presence of Sable unnerved her, or if it was something more than that.

Opening the door, Kael stepped side to let Jaden in. Immediately the young man's eyes went over to Sable and he lit up like a Christmas tree as if he hadn't expected to see her here, and was glad she was. (Although he would have known anyway when he neared his alpha's home by picking up her scent.) Sauntering over he slid in beside her and kissed her on the cheek, not out of anything resembling romance but a deep, teasing friendship he shared with her. Jaden also liked to consider himself as her big brother, which Kael found to be a little odd. Much like their relationship.

"Hey there, sis," said Jaden, propping his feet up onto the coffee table, ignoring the fact that he was still wearing his sneakers that were covered in mud, pine and leaves from the woods. "Kael giving you trouble?" he gave them a cheeky grin, his blue eyes sparkling mischievously.