Alexander West considered himself quite...unimportant.
He was average. Average in school, average in life.
Really, he wasn't exaggerating, the only thing special about him was his height, a gift from his absentee father. He stood well above over his peers in that department.
At 6'6 he cut a really imposing figure, or he would have if he wasn't so...soft around the middle.
He was, like previously stated, average, no special talents, nothing to distinguish him from the rest of his peers at school. Sure he had decent grades but really that wasn't special.
That all changed one dark afternoon as he was walking home from school. He had been held back for a detention, apparently wearing a shirt that said 'Suck it' was grounds for it. Who knew Ms. Garcia didn't like Professional Wrestling.
He had just cut across a backyard when a dark shape slammed into him and knocked him to the ground next to some bushes. From the sharp pain in his chest he was certain he had some broken ribs.
He also had a really nasty bump on his head.
"What happened?" groaned Alex as he opened his eyes and looked around. The force of the blow was so strong he was knocked into the backyard of someone's house, he was laying at the foot of a swing set.
"Did a car hit me." thought Alex as he grabbed his side and tried to stand up, keyword tried.
The second he sat up he fell back to the ground with a hiss of pain and a few tears.
"Here little piggy piggy." taunted a voice from the alley he was just standing in, it sounded hoarse and hungry. It made Alex freeze in terror.
"What...who, who's there?" stammered Alex as he used the swing set to stand up. It worked if just barely. While he was a tad curious about who or what had hit him, he wasn't planning on sticking around to find out.
It must have been the adrenaline or the sheer terror he was feeling but walking was substantially easier than standing up had been. He quickly made his way over to the back fence and found a door that led to a different alley.
"Are you OK young man?" the voice in the alley, a new one, was different from the one from before. It also scared the living shit out of him. He would've jumped back in terror if the pain in his ribs wasn't slowing consuming his every breathing thoughts.
The voice belong to an old man that was grabbing some groceries from his car. Alex had time to breath in relief when the old man gasped in pain and blood started to come out of his mouth.
"Sir, are you ok? what's wrong?" asked Alex concerned when the old man dropped the bag of food to the floor and fell himself seconds after it. Behind the man was a monster.
Monster. That's the only word Alex could use to describe the man in front of him. He was a few inches shorter than him but twice as broad. The man looked to be made of pure muscle but that wasn't the scary part.
What scared Alex the most were the deadly sharp claws that extended from the man's fingertips, the long sharp fangs in the mans mouth and the pair of glowing red eyes that looked at him like he was a piece of meat.
"Boo." said the monster and that was all it took for Alex to turn around and, ignoring the incredible pain in his chest, take off running to the other side of the alley.
"Come back here piggy, don't make me run after you." snarled the monster behind Alex. From the way the voice got closer to him Alex could tell the man was running after him.
"Wake up Alex, this must be some crazy ass dream your having in detention, wake up Alex." gasped Alex as he reached the end of the alley and ran towards the nearest house. He didn't even make it half way.
Another powerful blow hit him from the back slamming him into a parked jeep face first. Now he was really hurt, the little head bump from earlier was now a full blown concussion and his head was bleeding from somewhere if the wet feeling on the left side of his face was any clue.
"I told you not to run from me little piggy." said the monster as he grabbed Alex by the throat and lifted him up from the ground using only one hand.
The small part of Alex that wasn't scared beyond belief was amazing at the strength the man possessed.
"Come on little piggy, show me something." said the man before he threw Alex to the street. Alex hit the pavement face first and he was now seeing black spots in his vision. His head hurt, his chest felt like it was on fire and he couldn't move his let shoulder at all.
Yep, he was going to die.
"Damn it." thought Alex as tears streamed down his face. So much stuff he didn't get to do and experience, he would never get to kiss a girl, go to a concert, get married, hell he wouldn't ever get to find out who Jon Snow's mother was.
"I must have a concussion if I'm thinking about a damn TV show seconds before a red eye freak murders me." thought Alex as he used the last of his strength to turn around and face his attacker.
"Might as well die with some dignity." thought Alex before he spat some blood to the side and sat up. The man/monster was just standing there smirking at him. For some reason his eyes had stopped glowing red, they were now an unremarkable brown.
"Sort of like fresh mud." thought Alex as he tried his hardest to keep his eyes opened.
"What{cough}, what are you?" asked Alex as he crawled backwards till his back hit the parked jeep.
"Fucking thing's alarm should have sounded, fucking junk piece of trash." thought Alex and luckily for him his assailant was the talking type.
"Me, I'm something far superior to you fatty." taunted the monster as he put his boot clad feet in Alex's leg and started applying pressure, not enough to hurt but enough for it to be uncomfortable.
"I'm the apex of Predators, the thing that goes bump in the night...I. Am. A. Werewolf." the last five words were said with a yell and at the end he let off a roar so loud half the cars in the street had their alarms go off. The roar was so loud Alex felt his broken chest vibrating.
"A werewolf?" Alex croaked totally terrified.
"A werewolf." said the man before he picked Alex up from the ground and gave him a grin, his mouth full of sharp flesh tearing fangs.
"An Alpha werewolf at that." said the man his eyes once again glowing red.
"And that's where you come in." said the man, his monster-like features softening till he looked once again as just a man. The only thing that stayed this time were the red eyes.
"You see I just became an Alpha and I am in need of a pack." Alex had no idea what the man was talking about but his ability to speak was completely impaired by the hand holding him by the throat.
"You see, we Alphas get our strength from our pack, the larger it is the stronger we get." said the man as he put Alex over his shoulder and started walking away.
"I have been watching you for a while, and you my overweight friend are...a loser." said the man and if Alex wasn't in so much pain from his injuries and the position he was currently in he would have felt insulted.
"A mother that's way to busy to spend any time on you, no girlfriend, hell no actual friends..." as the man talked a police siren could be heard in the distance.
Alex was too busy being in pain to tell how close they actually were but it must have been close since his captor started sprinting through the neighborhood they were in.
"Like I was saying, you really have nothing going for you, not that smart, not popular, kid you're basically a ghost, the only time people notice you is when they're asking themselves 'who's the fat giant blocking the way into class.'." said the man as he jumped over a fence an into a dark decrepit house, which apparently was their destination.
"OK, that last comment stung a bit." thought Alex as the man, and by extension him, entered through the back door on the house. Instantly the man dropped him to the floor and moved towards what Alex thought to be the kitchen.
"But that's exactly why you're perfect for this my chubby friend." said the man before he came back, just this time with a beer in hand. By that point Alex had had enough.
"OK asshole, stop with the fat jokes{cough}, I get it, I'm fat..." said Alex as he started coughing blood.
"...you're fucking ugly but you don't see me calling you Quasimodo." snarled Alex as he manage to sit up against the wall. His words seemed to amuse the man as he only laughed.
"You got spunk kid I like that...that's why I'm going to offer you something special." said the man as he put his beer down and crouched down to be at the same eyesight as Alex.
"How would you like to be like me?" asked the man his red eyes glowing even brighter as he stared at Alex.
"...what?" was the only thing the stupefied Alex could get out.
"Did I hit you too hard kid? What's so hard to understand, would you like to be like me? A super tough, super cool werewolf?" ask the man talking slowly as if to a simpleton.
"I understood...what you said asshole." grunted Alex as he glared at the man in front of him.
"What I meant is...why, why me?" asked Alex dumbfounded.
"Why not kid?" said the man grinning like that explained everything.
"It comes with great perks, stronger, faster, better reflexes, an awesome healing factor and between you and me, the eye thing is cool as hell." the last part the man said in a stage whisper.
Alex didn't know if the man was crazy or if he was making fun of him.
"If you were planning of making me this offer...why did you almost kill me." grunted Alex as he used his arm, the right one, to hold his aching ribs. His right eye was by this point swollen shut and he was having real trouble breathing.
"Its like a safety measure, you say yes and I give you the bite which heals you, you say no and I leave you here to die a long painful death. Its really a win win for me...you, not so much." said the man with a smile.
"Yeah this asshole is crazy." Thought Alex resigned to his fate. Either death or become a monster.
"I kinda wish I was strong enough to say no." thought Alex before he nodded at the man. Said man wasted no time in wolfing out and taking a huge bite of Alex's shoulder. By that point Alex was in so much pain he barely felt the bite.
"Now I'll see you in the morning, if you survive that is." before Alex could ask what the man meant he got punched in the face hard enough to lose consciousness.
"My first beta...I"m such a grown up." said the man before he picked up his beer and left whistling a happy tune as he walked up the stairs into his room.
Next Morning.
When Alex woke up the next morning it was to a lot of liquid being poured on his face.
"Wha..what the fuck?" screamed Alex as he jumped to his feet and looked around for the source of the liquid. He found the man from yesterday holding a empty bucket in his hand while he laughed his ass off.
"What the hell man." screamed Alex as he looked around for something to dry himself with. As he moved around the room looking for a towel that's when he noticed the ease in which he was moving with.
"I don't feel any pain." said Alex as he used his hands to touch his ribs through his blood caked shirt.
"The power of the bite huh?" said the man as he sat in dirty chair to watch Alex. Alex for his part just ignored the man as he was too busy feeling his body wondering at how he had healed.
"Although I guess I won't get to make anymore fat jokes." said the man and that caught Alex's attention.
"What?" asked Alex as he moved his hands from his ribs to his belly and when he did he almost whooped in joy. He was no longer fat!
In seconds he had taken his shirt off and was looking at his reflection in a broken mirror he found on the living room. What the man said had been true, his multiple rolls of fat had been replaced by hard rippling muscle, his stomach was now flat and he even had a six pack.
"How is this even possible?" asked Alex as he stared at his face in the mirror, he was actually handsome now that he didn't have a fat face. He had a sharp jaw and high cheekbones, hell he even had dimples.
"Its the healing factor I think, the fat made you unhealthy ergo the healing factor burned up all the fat as for the muscle, well man you been carrying around hundreds of pounds of weight every day for all your life, it was always there just...buried under layers and layers of fat." said the man as a matter of fact and Alex was so ecstatic he barely paid any attention to the man.
"And I got to say, now that you lost all the weight you're actually a bit intimidating. When I knocked you on your ass yesterday I didn't realized how tall you were." said the man as he stood next to Alex and compared their height. He barely made it to Alex's chin.
"Just how tall are you?" asked the man as he moved back towards the chair and sat back down. The wonder of staring at himself in the mirror seemed to have left Alex because he put his shirt back on and moved to lean against the wall.
"Six foot six." said Alex as he stared at the man.
"What's your name?" asked Alex all of the sudden.
"I can't keep referring to you as 'the man' in my head." clarified Alex as he saw the questioning look on the mans face.
"Clark." was the only thing the man, Clark, said. He seemed to grown serious knowing it was time to get to the heart of the matter.
"Alex." said Alex introducing himself as he leaned down to sit against the floor.
"And while I love the fact that I'm not fat anymore I would be willing to bet my last dollar that there's more to this whole werewolf thing." said Alex. Clark just gave him a nod before he stood up and motioned for Alex to follow him.
"Where are we going?" asked Alex as both of them left the house and started running down the street. Alex amazed he could not only keep up with the man but that he was doing it easily.
"The woods, it's time to start your wolf training." said Clark only to laugh out loud when he noticed that Alex had to hold his pants to keep them from falling to the floor.
"I guess we need to find you some clothes before huh?" said Clark, still laughing, as Alex just grumbled and they changed direction towards Alex's house so he could get some old clothes that fit.
"My mom is a bit of a hoarder, she has bags of old clothes in the attic." said Alex as they ran all the way towards his house.
Six Months Later
There were a couple of things Clark forgot to mention during his pitch for becoming a werewolf, one was going feral during the full moon till you learned control over your wolf side. Things actually got so bad for Alex that he and Clark had to pack a duffel bag and leave his home town.
"I wonder how mom is doing." thought Alex as he ducked under a flying arrow and kept running through the woods.
Another thing that Clark forgot mention were the hunters. They were the reason Alex was running for his life through some forest in Canada.
Apparently there were hunters that made it their mission to police the supernatural world.
"If we get out of this alive I'm going to hurt you, you stupid motherfucker." shouted Alex as he jumped over a fallen tree, beside him a wounded Clark laughed at him.
"Come on man, I thought I told you about the hunters." yelled Clark as he ran beside him, a bullet hole in his right shoulder.
They had been in the town for less than a week before the hunters showed up. Clark, the idiot that he was had tried to bite a young woman, probably tried to do to her what he had done to Alex, but unlike that time this time Clark fucked up. He been peppered sprayed and kicked in the balls by the girl before she had run off screaming bloody murder.
No one believed the girl's story but less then a day later eight men in a huge hummer and with assault rifles had show up and started hunting them.
"I hope that gets infected and you lose the arm." screamed Alex as an arrow flew by his head close enough for the air from it to hit him.
Clark had tried recruiting a few more people into his pack but it hadn't gone well, apparently the eight men that were trying to kill them had been following Clark for close to a year.
The idiot had killed one of their own and it turned into a personal vendetta for them. So every time he had approach, read attacked, anyone to offer them the bite the hunters had interrupted him.
"Come on this is kinda fun." screamed Clark as he grew his claws and used them climb a tree, Alex was just slightly ahead of him. That way they could use the trees to get away from their pursuers.
"You must be the worst Alpha ever." screamed Alex as he jumped from tree branch to tree branch. Clark following close behind.
"HEY, I'M NOT THAT BAD." Screamed Clark as he had to tap into some of his Alpha power to keep up with Alex. That was another thing they had discovered about Alex, while a shit human being he was an exceptional werewolf. He had some trouble learning control at first but once he did everything else had come naturally for him.
During his first full moon he had even manage to shift into a full wolf, he hadn't had any luck recreating the act but the fact that he had done it meant he had the potential, and from what Clark had said the ability to fully shift into a wolf was rare.
"I swear next time you go bite someone I'm going with you." screamed Alex as he landed on a branch and stopped to take a breath, he could still hear the hunters down below on the forest floor but he and Clark were high enough that the arrows couldn't reach them.
"I just hope they don't pull out the assault rifles." thought Alex as he sat down on the branch and waited for Clark to catch up.
"You're getting slow old man." said Alex as Clark landed in the branch next to him.
"Shut up idiot." said Clark as he sat next to Alex and waited for the Hunters to pass them by. It took a while but after an hour or so they could hear the hunters leave the area.
"You know we can't go back into town right?" asked Alex as both of them started climbing down the tree.
"So you want us to leave all our stuff in the motel room?, fuck that, my laptop is back there." said Clark as they landed in the forest floor.
"You're telling me that you're willing to risk your life for a stupid laptop? Come on man, I'll get you a new one." said Alex as he started walking the opposite way from town.
"No, I need my laptop, there's contacts there we could use." said Clark as he grabbed Alex around the shoulder and started dragging him into town.
"Fine." screamed Alex before she shrugged off Clark's hand and walked on his own.
"I'm only going along because if you get killed you power gets passed down to your Beta, ergo me. I'll make a great Alpha." grumbled Alex as he kicked a stone. Clark just guffawed as he slapped Alex in the back.
"Are you kidding me kid, you can barely tie your shoes without me, if I die I don't see you lasting more than a week before you end up in some asshole hunter's mantle." laughed Clark as they got closer and closer to town.
"I'd make a better Alpha then you." muttered Alex as they made it into town.
"Keep your senses sharp kid, we don't know where those bastards could be hiding." said Clark and instantly the mood changed to serious.
"Yeah, we should split up, less of a risk that we might we get caught." suggested Alex already planning his route towards the motel.
"OK, but be careful, roar if you get into trouble, we meet back here in thirty." said Clark before both separated and left the edge of the forest.
Alex walked calmly through the sidewalk, the hunters had not seen him up close and he would blend in with the rest of the teens walking through the streets.
" I wonder how they found us? It couldn't be because of yesterday's fuck up. They got here this morning." thought Alex as he ducked inside a Diner when he saw the hunter's hummer slowly driving through the street ahead of him.
He could hear four heartbeats inside the hummer so that meant four of the hunters where unaccounted for. They were probably still in the forest or on the other side of the town.
"He's never going recruiting by himself again, that crazy bastard." thought Alex as he exited the diner and walked the remaining blocks towards the motel.
Thankfully the parking lot to the motel was empty, so that meant he could just walk right in without having to worry about hidden dangers, there were no heartbeats in the room and he couldn't smell anyone else aside from him and Clark.
"Lets do this shit fast." thought Alex as he quickly entered the room and started packing up their stuff.
It went quickly since they didn't have too much stuff, just a few changes of clothes, their laptops, his iPod, a communal iPad and a few thousand dollars in cash. All of fit into two duffel bags.
Just as Alex was exiting the room he ran into Clark, he looked a lot better than before he had found a new shirt to change from the bloody one he had before and Alex could smell no fresh blood on him. So that meant the bullet wound had already healed.
"Come on lets get out of here, there's a town a few miles away from here that's a bit more rural." said Clark as he showed Alex a map he had probably stolen from somewhere.
"Yes finally, that's the only smart thing you said all day." said Alex as he threw Clark his duffel and they both got the hell out of town.
Devil's Kettle
Canadian Wilderness.
The new town they had arrived to was much smaller than the last one, it had less people so the streets weren't as crowded, it should have felt nice and homey, but there was something in the air that made Alex's hair stand on end.
He wanted to leave, the second they had stepped foot in the town he wanted to leave but Clark ignored him, he actually liked the town. He had said it wast he perfect place to establish a pack.
Unfortunately for them they weren't the first werewolves to have that thought
They didn't pick up the scents till they were already in the middle of town, somehow over two dozen werewolves had manage to get the drop on them.
Their fist inclination that something was wrong was when they turned a corner trying to find a motel and found themselves face two face with ten angry people.
"You're trespassing." growled a woman as she walked to stand at the head of the mob. She was beautiful, with dark red hair and emerald eyes, or at least she would've been if it wasn't for the ugly sneer on their face as she stared at them.
Both Alex and Clark were a little confuse till her eyes glowed red as she glared at them.
"Shit." thought Alex when the other people in the group flashed their eyes. All a steely blue.
"They're all Killers." thought Alex as he took a step back, ready to bolt at the first sign of hostility. Clark had apparently noticed it as well since he immediately tensed up.
"Shit Clark, please don't make this worse."
"We apologize, we didn't know there was an pack in this area." said Clark as he took a step forward and stood in front of Alex, say what you want about the man, he was dumb, quick to anger and a bit violent but he was damn protective of people he considered family.
"That's a given otherwise you and your 'pack' wouldn't have dare step foot in here." said a man to the right of the female Alpha, obviously her first Beta. They way he said 'pack' and the mocking look he gave them told them all he needed to know about how they were being viewed.
"Mighty big talk there for a lowly Beta." grunted Clark as he glared at the Beta, his eyes glowing a crimson color that made the other man take a step back in fear. That lasted for all of two seconds before the female Alpha growled and all her wolves seemed to get a second wind.
"Do not threaten members of my pack." growled the woman at Clark. Alex was almost shacking in his boots as his eyes moved from Alpha to Alpha to see what would happen.
"Then you best keep them on a shorter leash." growled Clark back and Alex wanted nothing more than to slap his Alpha silly.
"This idiot is going to get us killed because of his pride." thought Alex as he watched all the other wolves start moving, closing in around them and closing any escape routes.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit, shit." were the only words that came to Alex's mind, but even as he was freaking out on the inside, on the outside he was as calm as a cucumber, his claws grew sharp, his teeth grew into fangs and hair appeared on the sides of his face.
He was ready to fight for his life.
"He's going to fight all of us by himself with only that little green wolf as his back up." another woman on the opposite pack joked causing the other wolves in the pack to break out in laughter, even their Alpha.
"Alex." said Clark catching his Beta's attention, he didn't whisper since with the others being wolves they would hear it no matter how low he talk.
"Get ready, the second the fight starts I want you to head into the woods, don't stop till your lose all of them, got it." said Clark and when Alex started to protest Clark's eyes glowed a red so bright it almost hurt to look at.
"That's my final order as your Alpha, do not disappoint me." ordered Clark and he stared at Alex until he agreed.
"OK Clark, you got it." said Alex as a small tear slipped out, their relationship might have started a big rocky but Clark had become the big brother he always wanted.
"You hear that boys and girls, he thinks his little Beta can get away from us." said their Alpha with a smug tone of voice.
In that second Alex decided he would one day come back to this town and kill every single werewolf here.
"The first person to bring me the little kids eyes gets to kill the Alpha and take his power." said the woman and instantly the other wolves attacked.
It all became a blur for Alex, all he knew was that one second he was standing behind his Alpha and the next he was running through the woods, his claws bloodied from tearing some bastards throat out and his side hurting from a slash from the female Alpha.
The last he had seen of Clark the Alpha was taking on four wolves at the same time opening up a space for Alex to get through. Now he was running as fast as he could away from the town, behind him were at least five other werewolves running after him.
"Damn they're fast." thought Alex as he jumped over a fallen tree and used the momentum to bounce off a another tree and keep running. He was probably a mile away from town when he heard Clark's death roar.
He sounded like he was in pain and it broke Alex's heart that he had left his friend and Alpha to die there alone. The fact that the Alpha spark had not passed down to him meant that it had been another wolf that had taken Clark's life.
As that realization hit him something inside of him snapped and he could feel as his body started growing hair and shrinking. In seconds where before a young man was running a pitch black wolf with golden yellow eyes could be seen. He grew so fast that in seconds he had left all his pursuers behind.
Even through all the sad and grief he couldn't help but be amazed at the way he felt. Alex felt free as he ran through the woods in his wolf form. He loved the way the dirt felt on his paws and the way the wind hit his face.
"I'll come back and avenge you Clark...I swear." thought Alex as he howled sadly at the night sky.
As he ran he started heading south, something was telling him he needed to head in that direction. Something was calling the wolf inside him that way.
It would take him two weeks of nonstop running to get to his destination, a small town called Beacon Hills.
He would arrive just when the local pack was done dealing with an evil Nogitsune and just in time to join them in fighting a werejaguar, a couple of Berserkers and a whole bunch of contract killers following some kind of Deadpool.
But there he would not only find a new pack but a family and even love.