Returning Home

Grant nodded once at Maria's soft voice. He didn't want to get angry with her since it was no where near her fault but he knew she would be able to tell that he was furious and sadened about Nick and his imprinting all at once. His best friend had imprinted on a.... a... Grant decided he didn't even want to think about it. Maybe these thoughts would go away if he did something to distract him.

His paws took him at a fast pace to the cabins where he just looked around. I'm going to go see Russel and talk to him about this, Grant thought to Maria, maybe he'll have an idea to get Nick off of this vamp. His brown-eyed gaze went from the woods to his own cabin. He formed back human after dragging his paws to a nearby tree. The shorts that he had tied to his leg were still there. That had seemed like so long ago that Nick was part of the pack. Now a part of him was missing. Grant turned to see Russel sitting on the front porch with a new cap on. It had a unreconsizable logo that seemed to glow by itself. The cap left a strange reflection on Russel's indian face.

Slipping his shorts on, Grant jogged up, trying to keep a happy face going until he discussed the matter at hand with Russel. "Hey," Grant grinned, "Did you go to a lazer tag glow-in-the-dark party or a baseball game?" Grant's booming laugh seemed to echo in the night. Russel only shook his head, ignoring his adopted brother's question. The pair walked into the cabin, Grant smelled food being cooked for him in the dead of night. He thought about how Russel's sleeping schedule must be messed up because Grant's late night patroling. "Chicken okey with you?" Russel asked with his gruff voice. Grant nodded, resisting the urge to storm into the kitchen and eat.

"So what's up?" Russel asked with fasination. Of all the people, Russel would be the one to straight out ask someone to tell them what's on their mind rather than hinting towards it. Grant shook his head, with sadness in his eyes. He knew Russel would be okey with this news even though it was about being a werewolf.

"Nick imprinted on a red-eyed vamp today," Grant said slowly. Russel's face turned cherry red and his eyes started to pop. "Nick-k-- vamp-- imprint--" Russel couldn't get his words out which made Grant want to laugh but he knew that this was a serious matter. "I know," Grant sighed, "He's not part of our pack anymore." His last words made Russel take a relieved breath.

Completely shaken about what had just happened, Maria followed closely behind Grant, feeling his anger and sadness course through his veins. Out of habit, as Grant ran off to his own cabin to catch up with Russel, Maria headed to her own cabin. Transforming behind the wooden house, Maria untied the simple pale yellow/orange tanktop and jean shorts attached to her back leg and changed quickly. Entering her small cabin, she headed straight for her bed, where a small picture sat beside her bed on a table of her, Grant, and Nick goofing around together like they used to. A small tear welled up inside her eye at the picture, but she refused to let it escape. Nick had just been here with them... And now... Maria shook her head and turned the picture of the three of them upside down so she could no longer feel the pain. Sitting on her bed, Maria dropped her head into her hands, letting her chocolate brown hair spill out around her. "I can't believe it," she whispered to herself, the tear finding it's way out despite her refusal.

(Would have been longer but I gotta go. >.<)

Nick neared the Tribe's cabins in human form. Being in his wolf form just depressed him because there was no one to here. Just empty, thick, dark silence, suffocating and intense. Plus, he would need all his emotions on track if he was going to do this right.
The smell of his home was familiar and yet not. Safe yet too open. He saw the swing that he used to play on as a can, but he also saw his father watching with a intense stare. Only later did Nick find out that his father was waiting for when he would become a werewolf. That was probibly the only time he had ever made his father proud was when he had finally transformed.
A thing that had made his father proud had literally killed his mother. She had heard all the old stories of the dangers of being a werewolf. The worrying raked her subconscious so much that her heart hadn't been able to take it. She had a heart attack when Nick was only 12. The agony was horrible. Of course the old man blamed it on Nick. Those weeks were torture in so many ways.
Finally his father had had enough of the Tribe. He now lived in Arizona. Nick hadn't heard from him in 5 years.
The memories were overwhemling, but Nick managed to push them back under the surface. His face was a cold, hard mask of defiance as he entered the camp. Grant's cabin was near so Nick knew he would come. No reason to invovle Maria in this. This was between the aplha and him.
" Grant," He called in a even voice. He braced himself for a hard conversation.

Grant nodded his goodnight to Russel as he headed toward his bedroom with a full stomach. He felt more relaxed now and since he and Russel had talked it through it would be easy to think of an easy solution--soon. Grant knew he might of overacted but it was needed. Grant knew that Nick had to make a choice-- the pack or the vamp. He also knew that since he was alpha, it was his responcibility to make sure his pack got what they deserved. Once making it up the stairs, Grant heard a voice outside. "Grant," it said.

Grant stepped lightly into his room and locked the door. He quickly jogged past his messy bed, to his window, opening it up and looking out. Nick stood there. Grant's eyebrows pulled together, in a hard frown. "What?" he asked without sounding offensive or happy about asking it.

Nick sneered at the fact that Grant wouldn't even come down and meet him face to face. He wasn't here to fight, just to talk.
" To start off with, I'm not here to tell you that I'm coming back. Thats no longer an option for me; you guys made sure of that," Nick stated. He wanted Grant to feel guilty, for acting the way he had to Abigail.
" The only reason I'm here at all is to warn you. If you even think of putting a paw on Abigail then you'll wish you'd never had. She's with me now, you can't change that and neither can I. I've suggested she go take a leaf out of the other vamps book. Killing humans the only thing she's ever known, but I'm trying to change that," he said coldly. Looking at Grant, he no longer saw the strong leader that he had listened to for years. All he saw was a potential threat to Abby. It felt a little weird adressing Grant like he was, but he no longer belonged in that place.
Actually looking at Grant, Nicks anger subsided a little.
" Dude, I know you think I betrayed you. If it was you I'd have done the same thing. But G, you know me. I'd never let her kill humans without at least trying to show her a better way. She's actually really nice if you get to know her. She's give Maria a run for the best sarcasm," Nick said smiling. Nevertheless, he relized that Grant was never going to accept Nick's choice.
Smile fading back into a the cold mask, he backed up a little.
" Seeya, bro," He said turning to the back. Not waiting for a reply, Nick headed to his old cabin. He didn't think Grant would kill him for getting some clothes. His home was the same as he had left it. Trash littered the coffe table, T.V was still on, dirty dishes strewn about the house. Not giving them a second glance, Nick headed to his room. Taking a betan up duffel bag, he took the essentials. Which basically limited too two pairs of pants, and two shirts. If he needed more, there were always handy stores about town.
Zipping the bag up, Nick stopped at the door. On a small sidetable sat a picture of a three yearold Nick with his Mom. Swiping it up, he put it with his other things. The feeling of leaving wasn't as bad as he ahd thought it would be. Maybe it was because he knew he had something to go back to.
Outside, the cool night air was refreshing as he rushed back into the still forest. The necessity of having some where to live was already solved. Just a little ways more into the deep woods, was a small but comfortable cabin. Nick could probably live in the forest, but maybe Abby perfered something more stable. The cabin in question was a structure built long ago for stray campers who like the outdoors but preferred the solid walls of a cabin. Thankfully, no one had come this way for a little while.
As Nick neared the door, he wondered vagually if it was locked. Fortuanatly, it wasn;t and He headed right in.
The place smelled of the forest, and mothballs. Nick left the door open to get the smell out. The place had a small living room aquipped with a fire palce. A medium sized bedroom with a king sized bed sat in the back corner. A small but well stocked kitchen was next to the medium sized bathroom. Dropping his bag on the worn couch, Nick noted that for a campers cabin it was proabably one of the best. Now all he needed to do was wait for Abby. Going outside, he leaned up against a tall, sturdy, sycamore and looked into the thick forest.

Maria switched her position so that she was lying down on her small bed. Her green eyes stared at the ceiling of her cabin, and her hands rested on her stomache as she thought about what was happening. Vaguely wondering where he parents were, she sighed and turned her head to see a note left by her mother on the bedside table. Why didn't I see it before? she thought, and reached for the piece of paper. The note was weitten in her mother's familiar hand writing; gently curving lines that made up seemingly perfect letters. She'd always wondered how her mother could write like that. The note read:



Maria put the note back in it's place on the table and didn't even try to get up to fetch the food. She didn't feel like eating right now. A voice floated by ever so gently that jerked her out of her thoughts. It was so faint she didn't think she heard it. Maria sat up on her bed and held her breath, listening for another voice to sound. Right then, she heard Grant's voice. Right then she knew who the first voice was; Nick. He came back. She knew Grant wouldn't want her in this conversation, but that didn't mean she couldn't listen. She'd hear about it soon enough anyway. Swinging her legs over the side of her bed, Maria quickly crossed the room and made her way to the front door, pressing her ear against the hard, cool wood. Thankfully there was a window beside the door too, and she could clearly see Nick staring up at Grant's cabin. He must be in his window, Maria thought. She felt a twinge of sadness at the sight of Nick, but it was followed by a bit of anger as well. Why would he come here? she thought. That leech is more important to him than us, so why would he even bother? She felt her right hand clench into a loose fist. She had mixed emotions about this. She missed him, she wished he'd come back... But at the same time she didn't want him here. She shook her head quickly and peered out the window again, anxiously waiting for what Nick would say next.

Then, she heard it. His cold tone; his warning, and the loose fist tightened. He didn't care. All he cared about now was that bloodsucking leech. How could he? Anger swelled in her heart, yet sadness was pushing it back. She watched as he made his way back to his cabin, gathering his old things. Maria gave up then. She pushed her ear away from the door and rested her forehead on it, letting her hair shield her eyes from the window. "Fine," she said to no one in particular. "We don't need him." The sadness seemed to disperse, and it was immediately overtaken by anger. She felt like she needed to run. She had to get out. But she refused to. She always did this when she was upset; she always had the feeling to run. Instead, she'd turn to Grant this time. Opening her door, Maria slid out into the night air and wrapped her arms around herself. She was shaking. Sometimes she felt like she couldn't help transforming, and she was trying her best not to now. Slowly walking to the cabin that housed her alpha, she knocked on the door; sad, slow, hollow knocks that seemed to echo through the forest. Maria's haid covered most of her face, which was probably covered in tears by now; she couldn't tell. "Grant?" she called, upset that her voice came out shaky. It was strange for her to seek others for comfort; usually she simply runs away for a while or holes up in her room, taking comfort in her own thoughts.

Grant stood behind his open window, a cool breeze blowing through his short dark dirty-blond hair. Clouds had come out by now, and Grant breathed a deep sigh. It had been a long day and a gloomy one at that. Nick had already disappeared into his cabin after warning his x-alpha. Grant's expression didn't change as he watched Nick leave the cabins. He shut his window with a clang, his insides boiling with anger and sadness. He felt almost dizzy as if the world was going by too quickly right before his eyes. He could tell that Russel had fallen asleep by now because of his light snoring in the other room. A glowey mist had settled outside his window, forming into the woods. The lone moon shined down on it, beckoning him to go back to the old days when he would call his pack together and they would all howl to the moon.

Suddenly, he heard a soft voice at the door downstairs calling his name. He bounded down the steps, making sure not to wake his adopted brother. Russel would be furious if he knew Nick had stopped by. Grant took the stairs two at a time as he made it to the wooden door leading inside the cabin. He opened it, hoping it wasn't Nick. Grant felt like he would attack if he saw his x-beta again. Instead of seeing a horror movie like Nick and his leech, it was Maria. She looked like she was in hysterics. "You heard our conversation, didn't you?" he asked her, making it more of a statement than a question. His eyebrows pulled together as he took her hand and pulled her inside. He sat her down on the couch and returned with some water. Inside, Grant knew he felt just like Maria did on the outside. He was in hysterics too. This downfall shouldn't stop them though. Grant sat down softly on the couch and handed her the water, his arm stretching out on the back of the couch.

"Look, we can't think about Nick right now. He--he shouldn't be on our minds all the time," Grant spoke with a calming voice, "He's just anouther memory ment to be kept. The only way we can get through this is to act like he was never here. Trust me, I feel the same pain you do." Grant's words echoed in his mind and he couldn't believe he was actually speaking like this. Normally, it would be hard to talk so open about his feelings to someone but he guessed it was because it was Maria.

Maria felt relief when Grant answered the door instead of Russel; she didn't know if she could have an actual coherent conversation with anyone but him. She didn't even have to say anything; she just meerely nodded at Grant's questionstatement, and was brought inside and set on the couch. Maria gladly took the glass of water he came back with and drank it down quickly, realizing how thirsty she was. she felt his arm slide over the back of the couch, and she shook her head lightly at his words. "I know you do," she murmured quietly. "He was both of our friends, but he was closest to you." She knew he was in unimagineable pain at the moment, but he was hiding it from her. He felt just like she did. "I'm sorry," she whispered, and another tear found it's way out of her right eye. Maria closed her eyes and stood up abruptly, her body shaking even harder. She gripped her hands into tight fists, desperately trying not to transform suddenly. "Ugh, why am I crying?!" she yelled, though she kept it quieter so that she didn't disturb Russel. "Nick has obviously chosed her over us; I shouldn't feel like this about him. That traitor!" She wiped the tear from her face, also wiping away hair that stuck to her wet forehead, and made a beeline toward the door. She couldn't take it anymore. Onceoutside, she made quick work of removing er clothes and tying them to her leg, then almost immediately transformed into her wolf form. Maria broke into a sprint, heading straight into the woods. she could clearly smell where Nick had gone, and she steered clear of that. She pused her paws against the earth as fast as they would go. She eventually came to a clearing. Bathed in moonlight, this clearing was beautiful. Wildflowers sprouted all around, and a small stream babled close by, running silver in the night.

Grant looked wildly to the door that Maria had disappeared out of. He didn't hope she would possibley stay this upset. His face turned hard and he grabbed a pen and paper from the desk by the kitchen.

Russel-

gone to take a walk. will be back later.

-Grant

He left the note on the wooden kitchen table and then slipped out of the cabin. This shouldn't be happening. Grant couldn't understand Nick. How could he do this to them? It had been so unexpected but it sounded like Nick. Grant breathed in the cold night air as he trudged through the tall grass. He wanted to talk to Nick.. without Maria getting upset all over again. He could follow Nick's trail easily. The trail led him to a cabin which Grant could tell was his x-beta's new home. He stopped when he got to the clearing, seeing Nick leaning against a tree. Grant decided to wait and talk to Nick when the leech definatly wouldn't show up at the wrong time since he had already had a encounter with her before.

The moon was clouded over in the sky above. It gave Nick a sense of loneliness, not being able to see it. Also, the pangs of missing Abby were like electricity shooting through him. And not the fun kind. He missed her face, the way her skin felt, and most of all her scent. Floral, sharp, and sweet.
The high Nick had been riding on ever since he had met Abby was gone, replaced by the thoughts of his friends that were no longer that. It probably would be more correct to call them enemies. BAM, another hit to the emotions. Nick had always been able to make friends because of his fun personalitie. People just automatically liked him. Even when he would have days where no one seemed to talk to him, Grant and Maria would always be there. Their group was known as the Troublesome Three.
' Now what will they be, the Troublesome two, he mused agressivley. He had to admit it did sound better. And now that he was gone, the awkwardness of having a third wheel in there little I-love-you-but-I'm-too-tough-to-admit-it-thing' was gone, so they didn't have to hide there feelings. He bet they were happy to have him gone.
Of course, Nick knew that Abby hadn't been gone that long, but his paranoria was starting to get bad. He wanted her there next to him.
Suddenly, in anger, he lashed out on the scyamore tree. Punching it with all his pent of frustration, the tree jolted with a huge force. Nick looked at the place on the tree where he had punched it, and only saw a hole.
The act hadn't at all soothed his raging emotions, like he had hoped it would. Now he was even more angry at himself for taking it out on the stupid tree. And it was, at that exact moment, that he scented Grant. Grant wasn't going to get anymore patience out of Nick today.
" What the hell are you doing, eh," Nick swung around, pinning Grant's neck with his hand to the tree. The boys were both the same height so they were evenly matched.
" Why'd you follow me, Grant. I thought I made it pretty damn clear how I feel about Abby and what I'd do if I caught you trying to hurt her," Nick snarled in Grant's face.
( sorry about the launguage. It just felt like the right words to put to describe Nick's mood )

(same here.)
Grant watched Nick as he pounded into a tree. The scyamore tree shook with his blow and a hole just the size of Nick's fist was left in it. Grant didn't see why Nick would take out all of his frustration on physical things. Grant would have probley laid back, thinking about things, or go for a quick run in his wolf form. The anger that was shredding Nick up was because of this leech. That stupid bloodsucker. Why Nick had to be the one to imprint on her was a complete mystery. Grant always knew that there was a little something different about his beta but he couldn't place his finger on it.

Whenever Grant thought of the pack, a picture formed in his mind of him, Maria, and Nick, standing together and laughing. Nick would be making a funny face and Maria would be wiping tears from her eyes from laughing so hard. Grant would be rolling his eyes because the joke was most likely about him. All of a sudden, Grant's mind was brought back to reality by getting slammed into a tree. He struggled at first but then stopped and looked to see who it was. His eyes blazed with the rage that consumed him. "Because you're the one that caused Maria all this sadness, that's why," Grant said with a firey gaze,"and no one, not even you, is going to get away with that without a little repayal." He pushed Nick's hand away and then smacked Nick clear in the face. The punch didn't hurt Grant's hand. The adrenaline had gotton the better of him when he could of just continued the conversation peacefully. Well, Grant thought, getting slammed to the tree and pinned down, didn't help calming my adrinaline.

"Don't let your damn imprinted leech touch a hair on Maria or any human being. I'll be watching," Grant screeched. He stepped back and then transformed, his clothes shredding to the ground, and his paws carring him to the beach. He didn't know why but it seemed like a good place that he could cool off and relax.

(Grant RP continued in beach)

((... Awww... I couldn't help it xD))

( I know! you just want them to be real so bad! )

Nick never heard what Grant had said before the punch. His anger had gottone away when he had hit Grant but he never expected his old friend to punch back. Grant was always the one who controlled his anger the best. Am I the one whose caused him to act like this, he wondered.
As soon as Nick recovered from the physical and emotional blow, he found that Grant had already left. It was a shame, he woud have liked to explain himself some more. That was his goal in life now. Other than keeping Abby safe, he was striving for his old friends to accept the path he had chose and respect him for the hard choice.
Nick turned back to the cabin, trusting himself not to break anything. His anger was spent, and now all he felt was numb emptiness. If he'd had to chose one feeling, he'd rather of the fiery rage than this total emptiness.
Staggered into the warm living room, he found himself to tired to stand and decided to just collaspe on the sofa. There he would wait for his beloved.