When the smells of all the dinners being prepared reached their noses, Tyler decided it was time to take Mandy back home.  And he needed to give his dad a run down of all he could come up with.  His mom and dad had already said that they would take a look as his notes after the pack meeting to see if he missed anything.

All the way back home he felt uncomfortable, but did not pay much attention to it, his mind was too busy thinking ahead; so when he reached the kitchen, Cassy’s gasp shocked him.

“Good heavens!”  Throwing the dishcloth on the sink, Cassy walked up to him, her eyes traveling all over him.  “How can you grow so much in the space of one day?  None of your clothes will fit at this rate!”

Tyler looked down; pulling at the material of his tee shirt.  No wonder he was so uncomfortable!  The shirt was practically skin tight!  A good thing he was wearing sweat pants, it at least was not sitting as snug as one of his denims would have!

“I suppose I will have to get some new stuff.”  He said absentmindedly as he pulled at the material again.

“Humph!”  Cassy snorted as she moved back to the stove.  “I think you should give yourself a few more days of frequent shifting.”  Looking up at him disapprovingly she emptied the pot into a bowl and smacked it down on the table as she spoke.  “I think you might be setting out this much because you held back on shifting in the first place.  Look at Sean; he started getting bigger about a month ago.  Your dad recons he might have two weeks left before changing, maybe less.  You never went through that, now did you?”

Tyler only heard part of what his mother was saying; did his unwillingness to shift have such a big influence on his life?  His body?  Then her words sunk in.

“Frequent shifting?

“What?!”  Cassy asked lifting her head from the salad she was chopping.  “Oh, yeah.  I thought that perhaps if you shifted a lot, it might help your body adjust to its real size?”

Pulling at the shirt he was still thinking about what Cassy had said when she interrupted his thoughts.  “And maybe it will help if you spend some time in the sauna.  Now that you don’t have a reason to avoid going there anymore.”

Grimacing Tyler conceded as he started getting out the cutlery to set the table.

At dinner Alex told the rest of the family that Tyler would be leaving shortly and that they had all agreed that Sean be the one to take over as alpha.  For obvious reasons they were all quite upset; but after Tyler tried to explain it to them; they said that they understood.  And although they might be saying that they understood, it was clear that they were still not happy.

The pack meeting had been scheduled for seven, so the Grey family left their home and made their way over to the large clearing that was used for all sorts of gatherings.  By the time they got there, most of the pack was already there.  During the day, most of them had already heard about the rabid wolf that had come into their territory and they were all anxious to hear what would be happening now.

When everybody that should be there was present and seated on the grass, Alex stood in front of them, his family at his side and he started the meeting off by reassuring everybody that they were all safe.  Plans had been put together to increase the number of patrols as well as the number of wolves on patrol.

As soon as Alex stopped talking, one of the males stood up and asked to speak.  Alex nodded his permission and the man swallowed loudly.

“Is it true that Tyler got bitten by the rabid wolf?”

“Yes.”  That was all Alex was going to say; he kept his expression unreadable.

Nervous eyes fluttered to Tyler and the whole crowd shifted.

“Then why isn’t he sick yet?”  The man asked with a gulp.  “Normally if someone is bitten by a rabid wolf they are … They are far gone within twenty four hours.  And Tyler seems fine?”

“Because Tyler is deferent.”  Alex arched his eyebrows at the people in front of him.  “Surely you have noticed this before?”

Again the nervous shuffling as everybody avoided looking anyone in the eye while they glanced at Tyler fleetingly.

“And before anybody asks the obvious; yes, Tyler has also shifted.”

The furtive glances became speculative as they kept on looking at Tyler as if he was going to turn rabid in front of them.

Sighing, Alex grimaced as he braced himself.  “Perhaps I could continue with the meeting without further interruptions?  You can ask any questions when I am done.”

“Due to the fact that Tyler has not become infected; what ever the reason for that may be; he has come to the conclusion that he is the best candidate to help the rest of the shifter communities out there that have also been plagued by rabid wolves.  I am sure you have all realized that we have never had this many wolves go bad before; and all at the same time too.  We believe that it is no coincidence; and regardless of how much I dislike my son’s proposal; I must agree that he is the best equipped to deal with this situation.  After we have researched everything we can come up with about rabid wolves; Tyler will be leaving to see how he can assist the other packs out there.”

Alex let that sink in before he continued.  “However, as we have no idea how long this will take him and because Tyler realizes this as well; and because he knows that this pack needs continuity in its leadership, he has asked Sean to take over his position as my successor.”

A shocked silence hung in the air until pandemonium broke loose.  Alex allowed them to vent and when the rest of his family felt he had left it long enough, he could feel them waiting for him to end their arguing.

Alex didn’t though; and even if he did not say a word or give any indication, Sean knew that his father expected him to do something about it.  He allowed himself one brief moment of worry to wonder if he would ever be able to be as good as his father or Tyler, but his family immediately inched closer to him, letting him know that he had their support.

“Silence!”  Sean’s command rang out across the crowd.  He hadn’t yelled it out; he had only spoken loud enough for everybody to hear him.

And hear him they did.  He might not have been the first born son, and he might not have shifted yet; but he still had plenty strong alpha blood flowing in his veins.  And that fact stood out without a doubt!

The restlessness of the crowd lessened as soon as they saw that they would be in good hands.  Sean had grown up with their kids; he had not kept to himself like Tyler had.  He had gone to school with them and he had already made his mark as a solid leader.  They were satisfied that Sean had demonstrated now and in the past that he would be able to care for them and lead them.

Then some smart ass from the crowd had to go and spoil it all.  “But if Tyler leaves, who will protect us from the rabid wolves?”  Naturally that started the pack arguing all over again.

Tyler nearly burst out laughing.  Some of these people honestly did not know what they wanted.

“What did you say?”

A deathly quietness fell after Alex spoke.  Even the small kids could see that he was livid.  Tyler snorted, and then shot a glance at where he knew Dinah was sitting with her children.  He saw Mandy roll her eyes at him and he had to fight back a smile.  He silently touched Alex on his arm and shook his head slowly as his father looked at him.

Alex had to fight back the urge to shake off Tyler’s hand.  First these idiots did not think that Tyler was right for them, and now that he was leaving; they wanted him to stay?  To protect them?

[Dad!]  Tyler eventually managed to get his father’s attention.  [They are only afraid of what might happen to their families; that is very natural for them.  Don’t be mad at them.]

Alex huffed as he folded his arms over his chest.  [And when did you gain all this sudden insight?]

[I had a rather interesting conversation this morning.]  When his father shot him an inquisitive look, he shrugged his shoulders.  [Rudi.]  His father huffed again, but accepted and his shoulders relaxed.

When Sean saw that his father had calmed down, he started speaking.  “This family … My family, has a long history of service to the larger shifter community.  When the rogues threatened our way of live, and our existence; my father and uncles stepped in to do their share.  They did not spare one thought about what could happen to the ‘pack’ that had to stay behind.”  His words were a reminder of their careless behavior in the past and the people became quiet.  “They knew where their duty was.  Now my brother has the opportunity to go out and do the same, the only difference here is that there is nobody else who can do this!  He is giving up on what is rightfully his; to ensure that all of us are better off in the long run.  And because none of us know how long this is going to take, Tyler made the difficult choice not to leave you hanging.  He knows how important it is for a pack to be secure in its leadership and was not willing to compromise this packs security in the process.  If he was able to make this sacrifice; we should honor it by accepting it and doing our best to carry on as we normally would.”

Sean lifted his chin in determination as he looked at those around him.  “Actually, if you think about all of this logically; you will realize that by going out and engaging the enemy away from home is the smartest thing to do.  He is taking the fight away from us.”

Soft murmurings of agreement sounded up as the pack members started talking amongst themselves.  Sean had a point.  If the fight was going away from them, it would be a lot safer for them in the long run.

Still feeling slightly angry, Alex ended the meeting as soon as he could after giving only a few people the opportunity to ask questions.  He dismissed the pack, turned and went to his house.  When the rest of the family got home, he had already put the kettle on and taken the mugs down.  In silence they sat and drank their coffee.  With his empty mug on the table in front of him, Alex sighed.

“I am sorry about that.”  He apologized eventually.

“Don’t worry daddy, they are just being stupid.”  Ellie said as she stood up and went to sit in his lap.

“I know; but I shouldn’t have allowed myself to get angry like that.”

This time it was Audrey that snorted.  “They deserved a lot more.  Tyler should not have stopped you.”

“No, Tyler was right.  It is good that he stopped me when he did.”

Soon after that the rest of the children went to bed; and Alex, Cassy, Tyler and Sean went to the conference room where Tyler had set up all his notes.  Together they added more bits and pieces and discussed everything they knew at length.  Alex said that he would contact Stan the following morning and see if he could come over for a while.

Although Stan was no longer on the council, he was still privy to most of what happened around and he would be the best source of additional information.  If the council knew more about rabid wolves, Stan would most certainly share it with them.

The next month was a very hectic time.  Stan came over as soon as he was told what Tyler would be attempting.  He arrived in time to share in Tyler’s birthday celebrations and he was more than pleased when all the Grey brothers turned up for the event.  Understandably the rest of the extended family did not quite agree with Tyler’s decision, but because it was out of concern for him, he did not take any offense.

Stan was able to add a lot more to the lists Tyler had up against the wall, and by the time they were done, the whole room was covered in paper.  Rebeccah and Audrey made it their responsibility to put all the notes on the wall down in note books so that Tyler would be able to take it with him and add as much as he could as he went along.

Too soon they heard that one of their closer neighbors had a rabid wolf cross through their territory and Tyler saw that as a chance, he and Stan left immediately.  A small tracking team was put together and they set off after the rabid wolf.  When they reached the wolf, he attacked the team without thought; leaving Tyler with no choice but to kill the wolf.

Later that night he was sitting outside under a tree, unable to sleep when Stan joined him.  For a long time Stan did nothing else but sit with him.

“Not quite what you had in mind; is it?”

Tyler laughed bitterly.  The pack they were at was treating him like a hero while he felt more like an executioner.  “No, it’s not.”

“I am glad to hear that.”

Furiously Tyler glared at Stan.  “How can you say something like that?  Do you think I enjoyed killing that poor man?  He most likely has … had a family out there somewhere.  And now they will never know what happened to him!”

Stan was completely unfazed by Tyler’s outburst.  He had seen and experienced way too many things to get excited over something like this.  “What I was referring to was that you expected to be able to do more about the rabid wolf than just eliminate the threat he posed.  Tyler, you are going to have to think wider than that if you are going to hope to achieve anything.”

“What should I do Stan?  How can I make something good out of what happened here today?”

“See if you can trace back on his movements.  Find out where he came from.  This is the only way to try and solve this.  There are too many incidents of rabid wolves for it to be chance.”

“So you also think that there is something, or rather someone behind all of this?”

Stan stood up, groaning as he did.  “I hope you will prove me wrong young man.”

Tyler did not waste any more time.  He got the alpha of that pack to send the patrol that had first come across the rabid wolf’s scent to take him to where they picked it up.  He ran all the way as he followed the trail left by the wolf, hoping to find some clue to help end all of this.

For almost two years Tyler hardly did anything more than hunt down rabid wolves and end them, only to run in the opposite direction to see how far back he could trace them.  More often than not, the scent originated out of nowhere.  He wasn’t getting anywhere at all except more and more frustrated by the day.

During the two years Tyler spent traveling all over the country, he always made sure to take enough time to visit his home and family.  Most of all; he made sure he spent a large amount of that time with Mandy.  She was the one person who knew how much he hated going out and because she did not try to sugar coat it, or make him feel better about himself, he learnt to appreciate her even more.

Strangely, that made him feel even worse.  Mandy was being as honest with him as she could be in her own way and it made him feel like a louse.  Surely if she was being honest with him, he should do the same and tell her that she was his mate?

He wondered about that the morning after he came home late at night as he left his room to go to the kitchen.  His father had told him to get enough sleep but he could not stay away from Mandy.

He had almost made up his mind to come clean, and to be honest with himself, he had to admit that it scared the living daylight out of him to think that she might be mad at him for not telling her.  So he decided to wait and see before going out on a limb and telling her the truth.

“Good morning.”  Tyler greeted as he walked into the kitchen.  Rebeccah had moved over to her mate’s pack and Audrey was visiting with her at the moment.  That left Ellie, Sean and his mate and his parents.  It felt funny being home without his sisters, but at least he had seen them three weeks ago when he had traveled through that pack’s territory.

“You should still be sleeping.”  Cassy accused him with a slight frown.

Tyler kissed her cheek and stole some of her orange juice.  “After I have seen Mandy off to school, I will come back and see if I can sleep some more.”

“You had better.”  Alex said with only half a smile.  “If you don’t, I will come and get you and tie you to your bed.”

Tyler laughed as he left to go to Mandy.  He could not wait to see her; it had been almost three whole months since the last time he had come home.

As usual, he did not even knock as he walked into the back door by the kitchen.  And as usual, Mandy was busy feeding her face with the same enthusiasm that always managed to captivate him.  When the rest of her family snickered at her, Mandy turned around and saw him.

With a loud cry, she jumped up; sending her chair flying back.  Tyler willingly caught her as she jumped up into his arms and he held her tight while she ranted at him.

“What on earth made you wait so long before coming back home?”

Mandy was observant enough to see a quick flash of something in his eyes before he tried to smile at her.  “A lot had been happening lately, and I got a little tied up.”

With her sharp eyes she searched his face, and then turned to her father.  “I am skipping school today.”

“No!”  Tyler protested before her father could open his mouth.  He smiled down at her frown and lifted a finger as he smoothed the frown off of her face.  “I am under strict orders from the alpha to get back to bed after seeing you off.”

When Mandy opened her mouth to protest, he put his finger on her mouth.  “Go to school.  When you get back, we will spend the afternoon at out tree, OK?”  He ruffled her hair and chuckled when she scowled at him.  “I need to get more sleep, and you must go to school.  I will feel a lot better this afternoon if I can get some more sleep.”

“Promise?”

“Yep.  I will be waiting.”

“Will you have some food waiting?”

“I always do.”  He said dryly as he grinned at her cheeky face.

He sat with them at their breakfast table and even managed to snag a few pieces of bacon and toast off of Mandy’s plate when she was not looking.  Keeping up with their usual routine, he carried her bag; still a Power Puff Girl bag, but at least it was not as frayed as the old one was.  Yet.

Half way there Mandy insisted he carry her on his back.  Walking like for the rest of the way, Mandy talked about the kids at school and told him of some of the funnier incidents.  When she laughed with him, the sound echoed through him, warming up his body that had been stuck feeling icy cold for too long.  Reluctantly he let her go and waved until the car was out of sight before he turned around and walked back home to see if he would be able to get some kind of sleep.

Amazingly enough, he fell asleep almost immediately and he woke feeling more relaxed than he had in a long time.  His mother was busy making lunch when he went through the kitchen to spend some time in the sauna to relax even more and he gave her a one-armed hug as he passed her.

After an hour he went back upstairs and had a quick shower before he came down to find food for his picnic with Mandy.  He found a note addressed to him on the counter in the kitchen and when he read it, he knew he had the best mother in the world.  She had made lasagna for lunch, and had made a smaller dish for him to take along.  He grabbed a basket and put everything he knew Mandy would like in it.

Tyler set everything up and sat down on the blanket as he rested against the tree before he reached out and ‘looked’ for Mandy.  The one thing that had kept him from going crazy all this time, was her.  The warmth he associated with her wrapping around him like a warm breeze.  He had once told Rudi that he saw the other people as stars; and if they were stars, Mandy was a blazing sun; dimming everything else all around him.

She was on her way home and he could hear that she was excited.  He kept his ear on her the whole time as she ran home and dumped her bag before running to him.  It humbled him to know that she valued this time he spent with her and he made a silent promise that he would not wait so long between visits again.  He missed her way too much for that.

“Hey there squirt.”  He greeted her when she stopped at the edge of the blanket, toeing off her shoes before falling down next to him.

“Hey Tyler.”  Immediately she started scrounging in the basket, looking for something to eat.  When she found the lasagna, she moaned after inhaling the delicious aroma.  “Nothing beats your mom’s lasagna.”  Mandy forked a mouthful straight from the dish.  She did not bother to dish up on plates.

“I know.”  Tyler said as he took the bite she offered him before grabbing his own fork.  If he did not feed himself, he would not get to eat much if it depended on Mandy.

After they were both too full to move, they made themselves comfortable on the blanket and lay in silence as the stared up at the branches as they moved in the wind.  Slowly Mandy began telling Tyler about everything he missed while he was away and when she was finished; he hesitantly began telling her about his life since he had last been home.

The longer he talked, the more upset and frustrated he became that he was not getting anywhere.  As he spoke, Mandy listened to him.  She heard not only what he was saying, but also what he was not saying.

She snuggled up to his side and slipped her arms around him.  “Ty, if this is bothering you so much, stop doing it.”

“I can’t!”  He groaned as he clutched her to him tightly.  “If I don’t do this, the rabid wolves will infect more and more people and soon we will end up with an epidemic that cannot be controlled.  As it is, it is hard enough keeping this all away from the humans.  I just never thought that I would become nothing more than a killing machine!  Those people had lives too.”

“I know, I know.”  Mandy muttered as she held onto him.  She understood that in his own way, he was mourning them, because there was no one else to do it.  And as he mourned them, she mourned with him and for him; crying silently as he told her about the people he had killed to keep the rest of them safe.  When he was done talking he held on to her as he cried into her hair.

Mandy let him be as she thought about what he had said and she remembered the way it had started, with the rabid wolf biting him.  And suddenly, she recalled something they had done at school a short while ago and the more she thought about it, the more it made sense to her.  Well, sort of.

Tyler felt her stiffen in his arms and he looked up her.  “What?”

“I was just thinking about something we did in health class a while ago.”

“What was it?”  Tyler asked her as he shifted himself up against the tree.

“We were learning about how anti-venom is made.”

“Anti-venom?”

“Yes, for snake bites, you know?”

“No.”  Tyler shook his head.  “I mean I know about anti-venom, but I don’t understand.”

“Well, they inject just enough venom into a horse so that it is not dangerous for him, and then the horse’s body makes anti-venom.  Then humans draw the blood and use it to make the anti-venom we use for people who get bitten by snakes.”

Tyler frowned at her, not sure where she was going with this.  “I know that.”

Mandy shifted around until she was facing him.  “Well, the wolf bit you, and it was not dangerous for you.”

Mandy waited for him work through what she had said.  She knew what she was thinking might not be logical, but if it was going to help Tyler, she would be so glad.

“OK, hold on.  I think I see where you are going with this.  If I did not get infected from that bite, I might have created anti-venom for rabid wolves in my body?”

Mandy nodded her head eagerly at him.  She was grateful that he did not tell her she was crazy for thinking something like that.

“So, maybe if we inject an infected wolf with my blood, he might get better?”  Tyler was almost bouncing up and down he was so excited.  This was the closest to a breakthrough they had ever come.  If this worked … Then he saw the expression on Mandy’s face.

She was looking at him as if he had suddenly lost all his marbles!

“What!?”

She shook her head at him in pity.  “Really?  If it took a bite from an infected wolf to get your body to make anti-venom, why don’t you just try to bite them back to un-infect them?”