Chapter Text
The sun slowly descended when Josh arrived at the blue house. Art could hear his heartbeat racing downstairs as he sat awkwardly with Robbie and Kelly, Robbie giving vague threats and instructions as to what time to have her home by, while Kelly played host, offering him a drink.
She looked at her appearance once last time in the mirror, her green dress fitting her body like a glove and shimmering in the light every time she moved. She had her blonde hair done up, tendrils of hair falling in a way that framed her face, along with a light layer of makeup.
She took one final breath before leaving her room and slowly making her descent down the stairs. She locked eyes with Josh as she made her way down; he was wearing a tux and was dressed up; his curly, dark hair framed his face as it felt down in waves above his shoulders. He looked up at her, stunned, and Art smiled to herself, thinking that this was it—this was The Look Josslyn had mentioned before—and then she heard it. She heard his heartbeat race and how it actually skipped a beat once he saw her. She glanced at Kelly and Robbie, their eyes widening slightly, and she knew they had heard it too.
Josh smiled at her, offering her his arm as she came to the bottom of the stairs. “Hey,” he breathed.
“Hi,” she said, staring at him as his eyes traveled across her face.
“You look... nice,” he said, a faint blush sweeping across his cheeks.
“Thanks. You too.” She smiled as they stared at each other awkwardly.
“Smile, you two!” Kelly beamed as he held up his phone to take pictures, while Robbie stood behind him, scowling, his arms across his chest.
“Daad!” Art rolled her eyes as Josh smiled, obliging Kelly’s request.
“We should, uh,” Josh started, his eyes darting towards the door.
“Oh. Sure.”
“Have fun, you two,” Kelly called after them once he had taken a few more pictures, as Robbie mumbled vague threats under his breath, his eyes narrowing at Josh.
Since Green Creek was such a small town, the only place to host the prom was at the school gymnasium. Students stood around, mingling with each other as the DJ played some popular music while multicolored lights blinked in sync. Students lined the walls or were dancing, some getting their pictures taken or grabbing punch from the punch bowl, almost like something out of a regular 2000’s teen movie.
Josslyn ran up to them, her baby pink dress showing off more leg and cleavage than Art could fathom having. Josslyn pulled her into a hug and then away, looking her up and down. “You look gorge!” She squealed.
“You too,” Art said, smiling at her.
“Josh.” Josslyn stated, giving a curt nod in his direction.
“Joss.” He mimicked.
Art glanced between the two of them awkwardly.
“Do you... want to dance?” Josh asked Art, breaking the awkward silence. She flushed but nodded, glancing at Josslyn apologetically.
“We’ll catch up later,” Josslyn winked at her before making off towards the punch bowl.
Josh led her out to the dance floor, and Art was grateful that, for once, her little dance lessons from Elizabeth were finally paying off. She usually had two left feet, but she managed to avoid tripping over them as they both swayed side to side. She was acutely aware of Josh’s hands at her waist and how she could feel their warmth through the thin fabric of her dress as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“So.”
“So,” she mimicked as they swayed to the tune of their own pack music—Art humming under her breath to the sound of Peggy with her guitar, which started to play in their heads.
“Have you thought more about what you plan to do after school?”
“I’m still waiting to hear back from some colleges.”
“So. Does that mean you want to leave? Green Creek?”
She shrugged. I don’t know. Depends, I guess.”
“On what?” He twirled her around once, then brought her back into his arms.
“On where I get in.”
“Oh.”
“I mean. It’s not like I’ll never come back. Besides, I might not even get in anywhere. Then we can both be stuck here.”
“Stuck?” He frowned.
“I didn’t mean-”
“I know.” He gave a small smile. “You’ll get in.”
“You know how I said... you could come with me?”
Josh nodded, their steps slowing, then sighed. “I dunno. College isn’t for me.”
“It could be.”
“You’re the smart one in the pack, Princessa. Get it from your dads.” He winked.
“Well, you could. Get a job. And we could share a place off campus.”
He gave her a small smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Sounds nice.”
“It does.”
They danced on.
After a few beats of silence, Josh spoke again. “You really want to leave this place? I thought it was... home.”
“It is. But so is the pack. And we’ll always have that. It’s a big world.”
“It is.”
“I mean, don’t you want to see it?”
“See what?”
“What’s out there?”
He shrugged. “Why would I? I have everything I want. Need. Right here. Family. Pack.” He paused, then looked at her, his golden brown eyes boring into her emerald ones, and she could feel the beat of their hearts racing in sync as he said, “You.” She flushed, barely registering that they had come to a stop. “That’s enough for me.”
“Oh.” She breathed, looking down. “I-” she started, but then she felt a sudden tug, an urgency passing through her, the threads of the pack vibrating with panic. It was as if a sudden alarm had gone off, vibrating throughout her body. She cringed as they pulled away from each other, both of them grimacing in pain and clutching their heads. The pack members’ voices were swirling around them in alarm, anger, and hurt.
She looked back up at Josh, his eyes wide. “Did you feel-”
“Yeah,” he said, grabbing her hand.
“Something’s wrong,” she said, unable to keep the panic out of her voice.
“Let’s go,” he tugged her by the arm, and they were running, running, running home.
***
Josh drove them to the blue house, but the lights were off, as well as at the pack house. The alarming panic in the threads was getting stronger, pulling them along, and a sense of panic and urgency washed over them.
They pulled up to the blue house and exited the car, Art leaving her heels inside. Josh grabbed her hand as they ran through the woods of their territory.
They got closer to the territory’s clearing when, all of a sudden, a bright burst of purple light erupted from within the forest, so bright that they were forced to look away, shielding their eyes from it.
They heard Rico in their minds, a tug of help reverberating through them. They heard a whine coming from the direction of the clearing. “Dad!” Josh exclaimed as he let go of Art’s hand and ran ahead.
She ran after him, her dress tearing as she shifted into her wolf, the scraps of what was once her prom dress falling to the wayside. They ran and ran until they came to the edge of the clearing, stopping on the outskirts as they watched the scene before them unfold.
A pack of wolves stood in the clearing, circling the middle of it, as three people stood in the middle—people Art had never seen before. They had tattoos along their arms—two women and one man—and she could smell the overwhelming scent of magic radiating off them. Gordo stood across from them, the tattoos glowing on his arms, and a bright light of purple mixed with black was swirling around the area as if the two magics were fighting against each other.
Elizabeth, Tanner, Chris, and Rico stood off to one side, their hackles raised as they growled through their fangs. Bambi, Jessie, and Dominique stood a ways away, their weapons at the ready.
On the other side of the clearing, Carter brushed against Kelly, and Robbie was on Kelly’s other side. They all had wounds that were still healing, and their fur was stained with blood.
Art growled at the scene, her ears laying flat against her head.
A gust of dark magic hit Rico, and he went soaring, landing on top of Carter and Kelly. “Dad!” Josh yelled, starting forward, but Art shifted and pulled him back.
“Josh, don’t-”
He whirled on her, searching her face, his eyes wild with panic. “Are you kidding? Our parents—no, our pack is out there.”
“And we don’t want them to know we’re here or we won’t be able to help. Just wait for now, please.” She begged, her eyes wide and tearful as she searched his eyes; the brown pools were almost black now, and his face was twisted in rage and concern.
He looked from her and back to the clearing, witnessing the mess—their blood and their pack slowly falling to the wayside. He paused, and she swore for a moment that he was about to leave her.
Slowly, he nodded, and she pulled him back into the trees as they watched and waited.
Ox shifted back to human, with Joe still at his side as a huge white wolf.
“What is it that you want?”
“We want your magic, Alpha Matheson.”
“You have magic,” Gordo grumbled, wincing as the magic took his energy. Mark nudged up against him, his tail curling around Gordo’s waist.
“The magic of this territory.” One of the other two witches said.
“Your Alpha powers are too strong. This territory is too strong, and we want it for ourselves. One way or another, we will obtain your pack magic. And figure out who and what you are—the human turned Alpha.”
“Witches can’t have wolf magic. You’ll die.” Gordo spoke through clenched teeth, the magic still swirling around them all. The air around him felt static, with the wind picking up like the beginning of a tornado.
“It used to be like that for weak witches. But we have found a way to hone it and make it our own. And we plan to take it from you.”
“Why?” Ox asked, his power radiating off him. The pack was agitated, the threads being plucked like the strings of a violin, playing staccato music. They could feel an undercurrent of power radiating from Ox, telling them to wait and stand down. For now.
“Because, Alpha Matheson. We have a deal to uphold. And because we can.”
“A deal with who?” Joe asked, half-shifting.
“That is none of your concern, Bennett.”
“You were the reason for those feral wolves coming through, weren’t you?” Robbie said, shifting himself as he stumbled forward, clutching his arm as it dripped blood onto the grass. His wound was slowly healing, but it was slower than usual.
Art gave a low growl, but Josh turned to quiet her.
“Oh, very good, little wolf.” The witch said this, smiling. It was all teeth. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, we have a job to finish.”
The witch looked over at the other two witches who stood next to her—the other woman and the man—and they both nodded, raising their arms as their tattoos glowed and swirled with symbols of black and purple. The symbols moved along their arms, then up and into the air, swirling around their heads, creating a blackened storm cloud above them. Visible wards took shape in front of the witches; hexagonal shapes spread out around the witches in the shape of a dome, pulsating in bright yellow.
Then chaos unfolded as the wolves rushed forward, fangs bared, and lunged for the wards, crashing into them again and again. Meanwhile, Gordo was muttering under his breath, the rose tattoos on his arms moving as purple bursts of light crashed into the shield over and over until there was a crack. Magic was attacking their pack, and their pack was running, fighting, and trying to attack the witch’s own shield to weaken it, causing their claws to bleed from scratching at it.
Finally, there was a crack in the wards, and with a final flourish, Gordo’s magic rushed forth and shattered them. The witches charged forward, blasting magic at the wolves, who ran towards them, dodging and snapping their teeth as they reached their claws out towards the witches. The witches jumped further than seemed possible out of the way, as if they were flying.
Then feral wolves slowly emerged from the shadows of the trees, their eyes a bright violet as they growled, baring their teeth. They were mangy and scrawny, as if they hadn’t been able to hunt for a while, starving for anything they could sink their teeth into.
The pack turned towards the feral wolves, hackles raised as Gordo stepped forward, creating his own wards that acted as a shield for the pack against the ferals.
The other side where the witches stood was left open, and one of the witches shot out a magical gust of wind that slammed Robbie into a tree, the sound of bones breaking echoing across the clearing. Robbie whined and slumped against the tree as Kelly ran to him.
That did it for Art.
She felt rage like she had never felt before.
The thread in Art’s tether burned so hot that she felt like she was on fire.
She burst forth from the outskirts of the clearing, ignoring Josh as he tried to stop her, but then she was roaring and singing a song of war as she howled and ran towards the feral wolves, ignoring the cries of her pack around her.
“Artemis!” She barely registered Kelly’s voice, laced with panic.
She turned towards the closest wolf and bared her teeth, lunging until her teeth sank into the wolf’s neck. They howled, shaking her off until a burst of black magic shot her off, and she was flying, landing harshly on the ground.
“No,” Robbie whispered, shifting back to human, Kelly was kneeling by his side and holding his hand. Robbie flashed his eyes, and then he was shifting again.
Robbie ran towards the witch who had blasted Art with her black magic, and then he was leaping in the air, lunging for her, his teeth bared and his eyes glowing Halloween orange. He then half-shifted. "Don’t touch my daughter,” he growled before sinking his teeth into the witch’s neck, and she let out one last scream before the light left her eyes.
Art stood, shaking herself off, and Josh kneeled next to her. She flashed her eyes at him once more, letting him know she was okay.
“This isn’t safe,” he told her.
She whined in response.
“We have to get out of here.”
She growled in response. NotLeavingPack, she answered through the threads.
He sighed , and she could feel it-she could feel him. He was scared—scared of losing her. Of losing his family. His parents. His pack. Everything.
She rubbed up against him, and all she could think was FriendFamilyLovePack. He placed a hand on her head, rubbing one of her ears between his fingers. “Okay,” he nodded, resolute.
He stood up. “Okay.”
He turned to the scene in front of them.
“Let’s do this, Princessa.”
She gave a low growl.
“Don’t get hurt, or your dad will kill me.”
Then he was running forward toward the clearing, Art on his heels, as they rushed towards the feral wolves.
Gordo, Dominque, and Jessie were focused on the witches, but the purple and black magic tornados continued to dance with each other, surrounding them all. Gordo assisted the girls in manipulating tree branches so Jessie could jump from one to the other, getting a few good blows in with her crowbar as Dominque followed, her fangs digging into the witches before dropping, the tree branches breaking her fall.
The rest of the pack was focused on the feral wolves. They lunged at them, a mess of fangs and claws. Ox and Joe were at the front of their pack, attacking one wolf after another. Rico was knocked backward, and the sound of gunshots rang out as Bambi shot at the wolves from a distance.
Art and Josh both ran out into the clearing. “Mijo,” Rico’s broken voice whispered from the treeline as he stared at his son in horror. “You shouldn’t be here!”
“A little late for that, Dad.” Josh muttered.
“Joshua?!’ Bambi yelled in disbelief.
He gave her a small smile and a wave. “Hola,” he said guiltily.
Before anything else could be said one of the feral wolves was running toward Art and Josh, lunging at them.
“Mijo!” Bambi exclaimed, and Josh looked up just in time to catch one of the guns she had thrown at him—the ones Rico used to use that were filled with silver bullets.
He smiled at her. “Gracias, Mamá,” he said, and she nodded. Then Josh and Bambi both turned and fired their guns at the same time, most of them ringing true as the feral wolves fell down around them.
More feral wolves continued to reemerge from the trees, and for every feral wolf that went down, a new one seemed to appear.
There were two witches left standing, and they had replaced the wards around them once more. Gordo continued to attack it but was sweating and shaking as he fell to his knees, with Mark pressing into his back to hold him up.
The pack was battered and beaten and strewed around the clearing, blood covering their fur and fangs, their orange eyes glowing among the trees. Their wounds were slowly healing—the dark magic was making them slower than normal.
“Enough,” Joe said, half-shifting, his eyes glowing as he howled, causing the trees to shake. The pack threads throbbed among them, their emotions swirling together into one thought of hurthurthurt.
“We can’t beat them. Their magic is too strong,” Gordo said through clenched teeth.
Suddenly, there was a flash of white light throughout the clearing, blasting the witches backward, the white light shattering the black magic until there was no trace of it. Then another sudden burst of green surrounded them as if the territory and the magic within it were rising around them and protecting them.
Art could have sworn she saw a glimpse of a white wolf with black spots on its chest and back, between the trees, but she blinked and it was gone
One witch stood, regaining her footing, and stood in the center of the clearing now, a look of concern and twisted rage on her face. The feral wolves turned toward the two witches, saliva dripping from their fangs and their purple eyes glowing with hunger.
“No! No, I almost had it!” the female witch screamed. “Get back, you mangy mutts!” She yelled as the feral wolves started to advance towards her; it was as if they were turning on her.
“They’re losing control,” Jessie whispered.
“What’s going on?!” The other witch, the man, screamed.
“I don’t—I almost had it! This wasn’t supposed to happen!” She yelled, taking a few steps backward, her heart beating rapidly and her eyes darting around wildly, panicking.
“It’s their magic. This territory. It’s like protecting them,” the male witch muttered as they slowly retreated, the feral wolves starting toward them
Ox shifted back and stood tall. He looked bigger than ever, as if he were the whole world. She could hear it in his voice—the words of an Alpha. “You chose the wrong pack to mess with,” Ox stated, his eyes swirling with red and violet. The feral wolves were crowding around him, as if he had taken control over them, like with the Omegas.
The female witch narrowed her eyes at him. “Alpha of the Omegas.”
“But he’s only Alpha to the Omegas,” the other witch said in a high-pitched voice, “not the ferals.”
“The ferals still have the Omega part in them; they still have a chance to turn back. And I have a hold on them now,” Ox explained.
“For now.” The female witch sneered. “This isn’t over, Bennett Pack.”
The pack growled in response.
She raised her arms, the symbols of magic swirling above her as a gust of wind surrounded them. There was static in the air, and then there was a big explosion of light, outlined in purple and black, and they were gone; all that remained was the scorch mark where they had been standing.
***
“What the hell was that?!” Chris asked as they collected themselves at the Bennett house in the office.
“You kids shouldn’t have been there,” Rico said as he sat in a chair, his arm bandaged. They were all in distress, covered in wounds. They were healing but it was slower than usual. “You could have gotten hurt.”
“Oh, like, you all didn’t get hurt?” Josh yelled.“Where did they even come from? What happened to the wards?”
“They must have broken through them. We barely had time to register it before they all showed up.” Mark said.
“Their magic was... dark. It’s darker than I’ve ever felt before. It must be why you guys are healing so slowly. It’s attacking the wolf magic that allows you to heal,“ Gordo explained; he was frowning down, his eyebrows knit together as if lost in thought.
“We could feel you. Through the bonds. We had to do something. And you all got hurt! We should have been there!” Josh was rambling, pacing back and forth, his arms swinging wildly.
Ox put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. A slight wave of calm came over them all, but they were all too agitated for it to last very long.
“What exactly is it that they wanted?” Robbie asked, looking between Gordo and Ox.
“Power. The Bennett power. The power of our territory.” Ox said calmly as he went to look out the window of the study, his hands clasped behind his back.
“They said they made a deal with someone. Another Alpha?” Robbie asked.
“Could be. But I can’t think of any Alphas who would see us as enemies anymore. Not after everything we’ve already been through.” Joe said.
“It never ends, does it?” Kelly sighed, looking up at the ceiling, his mouth a thin line.
Robbie reached over and took Kelly’s hand in his. Then he turned to glare at Art and Josh. “Back to the two of you. That was very stupid of you to run into the middle of a fight like that.”
“You needed help.” Josh glared at Robbie.
“You could have gotten hurt! Both of you.” Robbie glanced at Art, a look of hurt and worry in his eyes that tugged at her, and she winced guiltily.
“We felt you; everyone was panicking,” Josh yelled, his hands balled into fists at his sides.
“Then you should have felt that we were in trouble and gotten my daughter to safety first! Not to mention yourself. You’re supposed to protect her.” Robbie flashed his eyes in warning.
Kelly put a placating hand on his arm. “Robbie-”
“We’re pack. The pack is supposed to be there and help each other out. I had to help protect all of you!”
“Stop it! Both of you,” Art said, coming to stand in between them. She turned to Robbie, “Josh is right. I would have come for you.” She looked around at the rest of the pack, “Any of you. Anytime. It’s what Pack does.” Art said, turning back to glare at Josh and Robbie, then flashed her eyes at them in warning.
“Enough,” Joe said, cutting in. “What’s done is done. What we need to do now is regroup and figure out a way to make sure we’re all safe for next time. I’m sure this isn’t the last we’ll see of them. They’ll be back, and when they do, we need to be ready.”
They turned to look at Ox for confirmation.
“Ox?” Kelly asked.
“Joe’s right.” Ox said without turning around from the window. “We need to be ready. For next time. Because ther will be a next time. For now, let’s see what we can find out about these people.”
The pack members eyed each other wearily, but nodded in agreement nonetheless and the room fell silent.
“Now, then, until that’s settled.” Ox turned around to face them all, his hands still clasped behind his back, and he had a small smile on his face. He looked between Art and Josh and said, “Other than that, how was the dance, you two?”