What?”

“I knew the territory was claimed the second I came into the woods. The smell of your pack is overpowering, almost sickening.” 

She frowns. The utter gut wrenching frown of realising she made a colossal mistake. If he knew this was territory there was only one reason he would stay - take their territory and start his own pack. She shouldn’t have been so naive, so trusting. Her brain flies to a dodgy paraphrasing of a quote from English class, beware the serpent lying beneath the flower. 

Rye came towards the light, his jumbled eyes visible along with his scarred lip. Her finger tore into the moss and she grit her teeth, the voice in her said it was time for flight or fight. Find Walter. Find pack. Find safety. Except she stayed. If he wanted to fight her for this territory then she would put up a hell of a fight.

Her wolf bit at her fingers forcing them into claws. How dare she let herself feel sorry for him, want to help him even if it was for something in return. Well if he wanted her territory then she wanted his jugular vein pierced on one of her claws. 

Teeth grinding together she prepared for him to make the first move. You can learn a lot about your enemy from their first move. 

Except Rye didn’t move. 

He continued talking, his voice soft barely above a whisper. “I knew it was someone else’s territory,” He chuckled darkly to himself, his thumb rubbing against the scar on his lip. “I knew whoever found me would be angry. My wolf keeps screaming at me to run, to hide it knows I’m vulnerable here. Knows about the inevitable fate coming. I might not have been raised in a pack, but some things are so primal, the wolf won’t let us block it out. No matter how much control of it you think I have.”

“Then why did you stay?” The wolf is trying to tear the human in her away. Digging her fingers into the rock she forces herself to stay present, to work out this puzzle in front of her before she does something rash. If nothing else, she can justify her actions in the end, so she doesn’t become the big bad wolf from the fairy tales. There’s something different about wolves who have tasted the blood of other wolves, something different in their eyes and in their hearts and she never wants to become like that. She sees it in her mum everyday.

Her head is heavy with his problems and she leans her elbows on her knees and stares at him. 

“I have nowhere else to go.” Rye tips his head back in raucous laughter, she thinks he does it to hide the shine in his eyes. “That crazy old bat is the only family I have left who wants me and I am so sick of being the lost little orphan no one wants. It’s stupid and it’s crazy, but I wanted to stay in one place for once-” His voice cracks and he sinks backwards into the darkness a little when his eyes become bloodshot. “Auntie Clare, she’s the first person who made me feel like a… an actual person with feelings and not some birthday present no one wants. And I know it came with the risk of being mauled to death by werewolves, but I just wanted to stay here for a little longer. To live in a house and pretend to be normal for a little longer. To be human.”

Another bitter laugh echoes in the cave. 

“I don’t know why I am telling you all this. You don’t care, you only want what is best for your pack and that’s me off your territory.” Shaking his head he creeps out of the darkness. He shoulders his rucksack. “At least let me get my stuff and then I’ll leave. You’ll never see me on your territory again. I promise.” 

He heads for the edge of the cliff. 

“No.” She feels like she is a metronome the amount of times she has changed her mind in the last few minutes. The veins in her arms have bulged to a brilliant putrid yellow. The wolf blood races through her body and it’s like a cobweb trying to tether a bull within her keeping the human dominant. But dammit she needs to find a way to get this under control, none of the usual pack tactics have worked for her and if he is the key then she is going to have to make it work. “I’m not letting you leave.” 

“No. I’m not staying because you have heard my sob story and now you feel sorry for me. Don’t you get that is what I’m trying to escape? Everyone only puts up with me because they have to otherwise they can’t go to sleep at night feeling like a good person.” 

“That’s not why I want you to stay. I want to know why a lone wolf, the thing of nightmares for all packs, a blood craver, a heart ripper, can control himself on the day of the full moon when he is this riled up and on another pack’s territory. While, I have had the importance of control ingrained in me from day one and I’ve got claws and glowing veins unable to control myself.” She stares at him. “I want you to stay because I want you to teach me the secret of control. Because otherwise I know I can never be the future alpha my pack deserves. You need to stay because I am selfish.” 

A twig snaps. There’s a clicking sound barely audible over the flurry of crows evacuating the trees with squawks and squeals. Heads snapping to the right, they scan the trees. Brown, green, green turning golden leaves blend together in a slurry of colour. Tessa looks so hard to find something that her eyes hurt from all the nothingness. The noise came from the east, but the wind is blowing west and the only thing she can smell is the pine needles and the rich earthy scent of Rye. 

“Who’s there?” Tessa called out.