I walked up to the large, dark wood double door with Isaiah hanging his arm around my shoulders. The bronze, curved handle of the door shone in the light as I looked down at it. I remember when Ashina ripped it off in excitement and sprinted through it before jumping on me. I had fallen to the ground while she sat on top of me and she shoved her face into my neck. She took a deep breath and shouted out, 'you are my mate!' She went to caress my cheek but realized she had the handle in her hand still and threw it away. The rest is… history.
As I stared at the handle, I realized it was the same one from that day. It still had the scratches. I reached my hand out to graze my fingers on it's rough surface as I felt my eyes prickle.
"We never replaced it." Isaiah squeezed my shoulder. "It was too precious of a memory. I thought it would be sad if we were to get rid of something that brought you two together."
I gripped the door handle. "Thanks." I said in a tight voice as I opened it.
It didn't have the smell of a place that was used for business. It had the smell of a place that was frequently dirty. One that had children run inside while covered with mud while dinner was being made. It smelled like… home.
It had a single staircase going from left to right, going upstairs. At the top, there was a railing. Everything was exactly as I remembered, aside from everything being repainted.
The entire pack was built using only naturally made items. There weren't any metal nails, but wooden pegs that held everything together. It was one of the many things I came to love about werewolves. They had a subconscious love for nature. They used man made items with moderation. If it could be natural, they would use it. I wonder if they upgraded the kitchen?
As I looked around in a daze I heard someone walking upstairs. I looked up and saw a young woman. She was toned with arms that were larger than mine. Her tight fitting tank top and shorts hugged her body, showing that she took her training seriously. She leaned against the railing and looked down at me in confusion, as her long brown hair cascaded around her face. I couldn't recognize her until I saw her ocean-blue eyes.
"Brit?" I asked softly.
Her smile slowly faded as her eyes widened. She leaned further down into the railing as if to get a closer look at me. She suddenly tensed up and backed away from the railing before disappearing behind it. I heard loud thumps as she reappeared at the stairs. She ran down them and stopped ten feet away from me while leaning forward and smelling the air.
She froze again after taking a deep breath. "I- you- Uncle Birger?"
"Hey, darlin'." I replied softly.
She walked forward slowly and I held my arms out to hug her. What I didn't expect was a right hook to my chin! I fell down and grabbed jaw. When I looked up in shock she was holding her hand out to me.
"That's for leaving!" I took her hand and she pulled me into a hug. "Dumb bastard."
I choked out a laugh as I hugged her back. "Yeah, I missed you too."
Isaiah sighed and I looked over at him. He was glaring at me.
"She gets that from you." He said in a tight voice.
I looked at him in confusion. "What?"
Brit laughed and let go of me. "Leave my dumbass dad alone. He's fucking useless sometimes. C'mon." She grabbed my hand and started leading me to the training area. "We haven't sparred in a long time!"
"W-wait, what- I'm not gonna- Isaiah, a little help here?" I sputtered and looked to Isaiah for help.
"You're the one who made her like that!" Isaiah shouted at me. "She could have been a lovely, delicate daughter! But you made her into some kind of battle-maniac!"
He turned to Donna. "Come on, Donna. I'll show you around while Birger gets his ass kicked."
I saw Donna turn to me with a gleam in her eye before I was thrown into the training grounds by my arm. I slid across the ground for a long moment before stopping in the middle. I stayed there for a moment and looked around only to see that the training ground was completely full!
"Alright, everyone get out! Get on the bleachers or something!" Brit shouted at the crowd.
They all immediately started moving to the outskirts of the gymnasium-like room. I stood up slowly and smacked the dirt out of my clothes.
"Christ, Brit. You're fucking violent now, huh?" I said while I cracked my neck back and forth.
There were murmurs among the crowd. Some were trying to figure out who I was while others rightfully kept their mouths shut. I guess the people who remembered me, remembered that I didn't like people talking about me.
"I had a good teacher." She grinned back at me and cracked her neck in the same fashion.
I leaned down and stretched my leg out. "Oh, yeah? Seems like an amazing guy!"
She copied my actions. "Mhmm. He always told me to stretch properly before a spar."
I grunted as my knee popped. "Alright. Let's do this."
I was stretching my arm as she ran to my left, about twenty feet away, before turning suddenly and throwing out her fist. I leaned back and avoided the punch and switched to stretch out my other arm. I heard her coming up behind me and bowed my head forward, narrowly avoid a kick to the back of my head.
"I'm sure there was something else, though…" I stopped stretching my arms and tapped my finger on my chin. "Didn't he say something about the master always being better than the pupil?"
I jumped and avoided another kick that was aimed at my legs. "True! But I think I've surpassed my teacher, already!"
Someone in the crowd shouted. "Get him, Brit!" And it caused everyone to start hollering. And to think nobody was cheering me on… it's a sad day.
"C'mon, little girl. You're having this much trouble against a human?" I taunted Brit.
She tried to kick my side and I fell down, holding my weight on just my toes, before standing back up. I heard some jaws drop at that! She backed up and spoke.
"You just gonna dodge all day, old man?"
I grunted. "Fuckin' kids calling me old man all the time."
I rushed at her, significantly slower than she rushed at me, but still quick. I threw a punch to her stomach and as she dodged, stopped it before kicking out with my right leg. It struck her in the side and she slid a few inches.
"Fucker still kicks like a truck!" She groaned.
"Says the little girl who barely flinched! That was full force, dammit!" I shouted in a grumpy voice.
Her grin widened at my words. "If you're going all in already, then I should too, huh?"
She disappeared as my vision blurred. I instinctively threw my hand behind me to absorb my fall before flipping on it.
"Good to see those muscles ain't for nothing!" I shouted at her with a frown as I landed in a crouch.
Her voice came directly from my left ear. "Been practicing!"
Her fist clipped the side of my head and I saw stars. My vision blurred and I reached up to grab my head for a moment while ducking.
*okay… she wants to be serious? I'll be serious.*
Time is a fickle thing, See? I've fought in a lot of battles and yet for some reason, I've always won in the end. Sure I've lost here and there, but how did I end up winning? Against creatures that were faster than my brain could even process? If they're fast and you can't slow them down, you don't have much of a choice but to come up with something new.
I've never been a creature that's limited by something as fickle as time, after all. I've been around before it was even a thing! Chronos? Yeah, he fucking stole my idea! Then again, he didn't even know who I was, so that makes him a plain old genius, I guess.
As I slipped into the realm of not being limited by time, I felt a sense of freedom and awe. All constraints of the past and future seemed to disappear, as I am left in a world of endless possibilities. I can travel anywhere, explore any idea, and experience any moment of time. For a while, I am unbound by the chains of linear time, free to explore and create in a world of endless potential.
I held on to my time just enough so that I wouldn't get lost. New people and old walked around and through me. I was experiencing infinity in a finite way. I saw the past, future, and most importantly, the present, at a slowed rate.
I didn't use this often. It was dangerous, after all. I also didn't want to get a spoiler for the future. I'm always looking for something new, being older than time.
As her fist extended towards my face, I simply bowed under it and tapped her cheek. Then I swept her legs out from under her.
I released my grip on time and spun rapidly before landing on her stomach. Oh, yeah. That shit hurt. The crowd of werewolves went dead silent and she groaned heavily as she rolled into her back.
"Damn… what the hell did you do?" She panted.
"Secret!" I grinned at her. "I always told you! The pupil will never be able to defeat the master, because at that moment, they are no longer master and pupil."
She stuck her hand up and I grabbed it to pull her up. "Yeah, whatever."
The crowd roared in approval at my complete victory! They were a war-bred pack and loved to fight more than anything. That's probably why I got along with them so well. The first people I had met when I became human had been the Norse Vikings, after all. I learned amongst the best fighters in the world. They were the people who literally fought just to bleed more! I kind of… retreated from that kind of life after the V/W war to live in peace, with the humans.
"You alright?" I ask her with the same grin.
"Hah! You just wait, Uncle B! I'll get you back sooner or later!" She says with a smile that's sharp as a knife.
The door to the training room shot open and a thin woman ran in. The sweat on her face made her red hair stick to her cheeks. She was holding the hem of her floral-print dress and stopped as she saw me and Brit holding hands and her eyebrows raised.
She grinned at Brit. "Oooh~ I thought you were going to hurt another one of our warriors so I came rushing in! And yet here you are holding hands with another man for the first time! Did you finally find you mate, Brit? Introduce me!"
We both looked at each other and started to gag. I pushed her away from me and she dry heaved. It was all jokes, of course.
The woman reared back in shock. "W-what? Was I wrong? Oh dear…"
Brit stood up straight and faced the woman. "Rosalind, this is Birger."
The woman paled. "Oh… oh dear… um… hello, Birger. Wonderful to meet you. Isaiah has said a lot about you."
I smiled at Isaiah's mate. "Hah! I guess you're the reason he became like that!"
The woman recoiled. "Is that… supposed to be a compliment?"
I tilted my head and looked at Brit in the corner of my eye. She shrugged silently.
"Hmm… more of an observation."
"O…kay." The woman tilted her head at me in confusion. "This is very awkward. Hello, Birger. My name is Rosalind."
I stuck my hand out. "Nice to meet you, Rosalind."
She shook my hand as Isaiah walked into the training grounds with Donna on his left. Her eyes were sparkling as she took in the pack house. She saw me and Rosalind shaking hands and opened her mouth.
"Not a word, Donna." I glared at her before looking at Isaiah. "She's wonderful, by the way."
Isaiah laughed and pulled Rosalind into a hug. "I know she is! I'm lucky to have her!"
Just then, the door was thrown open. Another werewolf ran inside in a panic and looked at Isaiah.
"Alpha? The packs are here!"