Silas stalked through the edge of the forest at the border of his territory as a light drizzle dampened his coat. His massive paws made easy work of the distance as he began his third lap of his patrol. Of course, he had plenty of other wolves whose job it was to do exactly what he was doing right then, but it was the only thing that calmed his mind after stressful situations... besides fighting. 

Kandza doesn't like it when I fight without good reason, though, so walking it is.

The man truly frustrated him to no end. Werewolves were made to fight. They had fangs and claws, speed and intelligence. They were made to hunt and kill... and fight. 

Grunting out a sigh, Silas continued on his way, taking in the relaxing scents and sounds of the forest right before a heavy rain. Birds chirped calmly but loudly from the bits of shelter they found beneath the different trees' canopies. A few still dared to zip from branch to branch, but as the light mist of water began to grow into a comfortable shower, they settled down. 

Shaking the tiny droplets from his outer coat, Silas began remarking some of the trees that they used as border indicators. Of course, they never seemed to stop a certain wolf from crossing, and honestly, he had a feeling that refreshing the scent or scratch marks along the edge of their territory only enticed the insane wolf to harass them further. 

Once done remarking a decent length of forest, Silas easily hopped up onto a stretch of large boulders as thunder began to roar in the distance. Instead of finding better shelter for himself, his wolf gave out a content sigh and settled down at the top of the highest rock. The rain was on the warmer side, though he knew that he'd need to dry off later or still risk feeling unwell for a time. 

Now that he was finally calming down a little, his mind wandered back to what had happened earlier. His heart began to pound the moment the images returned to his thoughts, though. He did still have the utmost respect for the vampire who had created the werewolf resettlement program with alpha Marquise and allowed his pack to come to London safely, but... he'd been trying to win Kandza's favor for nearly a year. 

He'd loved him for far longer, but pack matters had always gotten in their way. Lifting his head, Silas began licking at his large left paw to try and ease some of the stress the memories were bringing him. 

Ever since that odd smaller wolf had joined his pack five years ago, he'd had trouble keeping his eyes from straying to him. After nearly a year of trying to ignore him, he'd given up. Besides, what harm could come from simply observing another wolf? A wolf that wouldn't even shift to its human form very often, for that matter. There should have been no harm at all... 

Silas bit down on his paw a little too hard, but he ignored the pain and growing metallic taste as he continued to lick at it. He would likely lick it raw, but since he was a werewolf, it would heal again. If he'd actually been completely honest with Pretennon earlier, part of the damage to his hand had really just been his wolf's habit of dealing with stress. It chewed at its paws until they were bleeding, then waited for them to heal before going at it again. 

It had always been a bad habit of his ever since he were young, but after Kandza had found his way into his life, it had gotten so much worse. Especially since they hadn't quite found their footing as far as their relationship went. They had gotten closer after he'd promoted Kandza to pack beta, but that had been completely dependent on the werewolf's ability to handle pack matters and troublesome situations. He'd earned his position. 

Even without shifting to a human form much, Kandza had earned respect throughout the pack over the years, eventually becoming almost as respected as himself. Some alphas might have taken such reverence for a lower pack member as a challenge, but Silas only ever thought of it as an honor. Kandza was an incredible wolf.

His own wolf whined as it bit its paw again, not appreciating the resurfaced memories. Unfortunately, the worst were yet to come. 

He'd slowly but surely gotten closer to Kandza over the years that he'd acted as his beta, but the night that he'd accidentally wandered upon him bathing in a cool, crystal clear pond in the middle of summer? 

His human form was absolutely alluring. He was well-built, but lean. Tall, but not more-so than himself. His hair was shaggy and unkempt, but worked perfectly with his image as a whole. 

And those ears...

It had taken him quite a few moments to wrap his mind around what he had seen that day. A young human male... with beautiful black wolf ears. Ears he had kept hidden during the few brief times he'd shown his human side previously. Of course, he soon reasoned with himself that it was likely a genetic flaw, but within only moments, his mind turned away from his previous conclusion. There was not a single flaw on the man. His eyes, ears, nose... hands, feet, face. Every single part of him was exactly as it should be. Silas would never see any part of Kandza as imperfect. 

His wolf abruptly snapped him out of his thoughts with a painful bite to his foot, actually making him wince as he forced his poor paw from between its jaws. 

I should head back before I bite my whole foot off. 

Forcing himself up, Silas was about to shake his coat out to rid it of the excess water that had soaked into it, but something stole his attention right before he could. Swinging his head around, his eyes narrowed as he noticed something tugging at the tip of his tail. 

It didn't take him long to realize exactly what it was... 

Why is there a tiny Ghost pup out here in the middle of a storm? 

Silas looked past the little pup gnawing at his tail, trying to figure out what was going on. When nothing else seemed out of the ordinary, he glanced back down at the little wolf. 

Enough of that, little one. 

He carefully maneuvered until he could reach the pup's scruff, but right before he could bite down and remove it from his tail, the little wolf swung his tail around to the other side of his body with a determined growl. 

What? 

Feeling the slightest bit annoyed, Silas slowly turned in the other direction... only to feel the pup counter his movement with another opposite one of its own. 

This is not funny.

He knew that he could easily swing around and catch the frustrating pup in his mouth if he wanted to, but that would definitely cause some damage. Forcing himself to calm down again, he slowly began to dismount the rock formation, honestly surprised that the little nippy creature had managed to climb it in the first place... and in the pouring rain. 

Let's get you out of this rain, little one. 

The pup seemed to hear his words, since alphas could easily communicate into other lower wolves' minds. It tilted its head as they finished descending one of the larger boulders, sending a jumble of curious signals back into Silas's mind. 

You'll figure it out as you get older, he replied with a hint of laughter to his thought as he carefully descended another large boulder. 

He would normally just hop down the steeper ones, but he knew that doing such a thing would likely hurt the pup, so he took the longer way down. It took them about fifteen minutes to finally get back to the ground.

Looking back at the pup still nibbling at his tail, Silas licked his lips and grunted, but didn't move one way or the other. It was obvious that the pup was from the Ghost pack, since he could faintly smell Verander's scent on it, even in the pouring rain. 

He must be around it often... but I know that he's not mated. No one would have him, honestly. 

However, the pup was not his to take, even if it meant returning it to the one person he never wished to deal with again. Tamping down his wolf's frustration at their situation, Silas slowly tilted his head back and gave out a cautious, haunting howl. Unfortunately, the sound was immediately swallowed by a roar of thunder, its vibration shaking the ground beneath his paws as lightning struck a tree some twenty yards away, its top disintegrating into charred, splintered wood. 

Perhaps I should just bring him back... waiting out here might be more dangerous. 

He knew exactly how Verander would react if he set paw on the wolf's territory, but perhaps he would be more lenient since he would be returning one of his pack's pups...

After a second, closer lightning strike, Silas made his decision and turned to try and pick up the little wolf again. 

Shit. 

A tiny, sniffling human baby sat with his tail between the stubby fingers of its tiny right hand. It's wide, soft brown eyes watched him intently, refusing to look away even as another bolt of lightning took out another tree nearby. 

To hell and back with my blasted luck. 

Silas slowly began allowing his own body to retake the form of a human. He knew that he shouldn't have, and that he should have immediately began howling as loudly as he could so that he could somehow be heard over the roaring storm, but he knew that it would be useless. 

Lifting his head from where he had shifted into a kneeling position, Silas met the little boy's eyes. He could feel the imprint settle within his bones as he stared at the child in the pouring rain, his heart pumping hard against his chest as his beast accepted the baby as its own. 

A fourth zap of lightning hitting a closer tree abruptly broke the trance he'd been under, snapping him back to reality as the little boy began to wail. Silas immediately scooped the child up into his arms and hurried into the Ghost pack's territory. He had no idea how he was going to explain to Verander that his pack's pup had suddenly shifted for the first time and imprinted onto him by mistake. His body already began to ache at the idea of being attacked again as he did his best to navigate the thick forest as a naked human. 

Thankfully, the boy wasn't trying to move around too much, and as they got farther and farther into Ghost territory, he actually began to quiet and look around. When they paused beneath a low, wide-branched tree, Silas actually noticed that the boy was looking off to the right of the trail they'd been following. He just kept staring that way and glancing up at him every so often, almost as if he was asking him why they weren't going that way. 

"That's not the right way to the pack house, little one. We can't afford to stay out here much longer or we'll get sick," he said, drawing the boy's attention up to him again before it immediately returned to the forest to their right. 

What is there that has your attention so strongly? 

He really didn't want to risk staying out in the rain much longer, but at the same time, the bond he now had with the child was telling him to do whatever it wanted... even if it made no sense. 

Grumbling beneath his breath, Silas sighed and headed in the direction the boy was staring. He began running not long after diverting away from their original path, feeling something in his chest spurring him on to move faster. 

He was so distracted by the instincts flooding his system that when they suddenly vanished, he nearly slid into a tree trying to stop himself. When he straightened again and looked around, Silas's brow furrowed. 

"Why did you want me to come here?" he asked as he looked out at a raging river that was beginning to breech its banks. It was common for the area during large storms... and it was definitely not somewhere he wanted to be right then. Even where they were currently standing could see a foot or two of water if the storm continued to rage into the night. 

He was just about to head back toward the original path and get themselves to the Ghost pack house and out of the cooling rain when he noticed something near a large bush next to the rising water. It was partially hidden beneath it, but...

Gently setting the little baby in his arms against a curve in the tree roots next to them, Silas knelt down in front of it and met its eyes. 

"You need to stay here so that I can go help him. Behave, little one." 

Of course, he knew that babies so young couldn't do much by themselves, but werewolves could sometimes be surprising. They learned much faster than humans. 

Straightening back up, Silas carefully made his way through the tall grass and thickening mud until he was close to the lone bush by the water's edge. The water was already past his ankles and rising steadily as rain battered his bare skin, taking advantage of the lack of branches above their heads. 

"Verander!" he yelled, needing to know how conscious the wolf trapped beneath the bush was. 

When he got a tiny, quiet whine in response, but no movement whatsoever, he carefully inched closer, eventually kneeling down in the thick mud. He tried the easiest course of action first, which was to simply lift Verander's body up into his arms. He managed to lift most of the exhausted wolf before he noticed something stopping him from finishing his task. 

Even in the darkness surrounding them, he could see, and now smell, the dark lines of blood running from the metal bear trap around his back foot. Just seeing the hunting device brought back terrible memories of when he'd lost his own packmates to humans using such devices... he would only ever find empty traps covered in their blood. 

Snarling, Silas carefully settled Verander's limp form over his shoulder so that he could access his leg without having to work with it in the water. It took quite a bit of effort, especially as his own limbs began to shake from the growing cold of the pouring rain and rising water. 

It took a few tries, and he cut himself up on the sharp teeth of the metal trap quite a bit, but after about five minutes, he managed to free Verander's damaged leg. He carefully tangled the trap within the upper portion of the bush so that they could retrieve it another time as evidence, then hurried out of the rising water. 

Thankfully, the little boy he'd left within the tree roots had remained there, and when he saw who he was carrying back towards him, he squealed with delight. Without risking kneeling down again, because he honestly wasn't sure if he'd be able to get back up if he did, Silas carefully leaned over and picked up the boy, then adjusted Verander's wolf a little more on his opposite shoulder before setting back off toward the pack house. 

He could tell that the man was still conscious, to a point, but he was completely out of energy and wouldn't be any kind of threat for a good while. Judging from how badly his own injuries were burning on his hands, he knew that the teeth of the trap had been made with silver, too. It had been intentionally set to catch a werewolf. 

"Looks like I'm not the only one who wants you gone... I'm just the nicest with my methods," he said as he forced his body to continue walking. 

It took nearly thirty minutes before the pack house came into view, and thankfully, there were a few guards on the large, wrap-around porch that noticed them right away. Silas tried to shift back to his own wolf form in order to at least appear like he wasn't about to pass out, but his exhausted body refused to even try. 

Instead, he fell into the arms of the first werewolf that got close enough to catch him. It was a female of moderate height, but as for the rest of her description, it was lost on him. He did growl when someone took the little baby he'd had tucked in his left arm, but there was nothing he could physically do about it. 

Another moment later and the weight of Verander's small wolf was removed from his other side, finally allowing him to fully drop his own weight. The female wolf held him up easily, then, after moving him around a bit, managed to carry him inside. He wasn't sure what they intended to do with him, considering how poorly he got along with their alpha, but his mind didn't let him worry about such things right then. Before they even got him to wherever they were taking him, he was out cold. 

(Edited)