***
In the conference room the next evening, a serious meeting was taking place. The topic on board was Troy. Present were Philip, Jeremy, Joel, Stan, Paige, Ryan, and Deloris. The meeting had been called by the Alpha of Alphas.
“I’m saying he’s a ticking time bomb,” Jeremy said quietly. “He can shift at any time…which is good. We just need to keep an eye on him. I had to explain to him that he wasn’t sick.”
“That poor child,” Deloris murmured. “He must be so confused right now.”
“Not just confused.” Philip rasped. “He’s in pain.” He stood and began to pace. The werewolves in the room knew how a first shift felt like. It wasn’t a pleasant experience.
“My problem is that,” Jeremy went on, “I think mum is trying to suppress the shift because she thinks Troy is not ready.”
“What?” Philip gasped.
“What makes you say that?” Joel asked.
“You all know Philip and I had to attend an alpha’s meeting today.” Jeremy glanced at the faces around the table. “We’ve been away from the pack house the whole day. But because of what I noticed during my outing with Troy yesterday, I made it a point to call and check up on him the least chance I got. Each time I called, mum told me he was sleeping.”
“That’s because Mama Cora gave her some sleeping potion to give to him,” Joel explained. “She wouldn’t try to suppress a shift. It’s already long overdue as it is.”
“She told me this evening that she was going to suppress the shit for now if that was what she had to do to make Troy comfortable, Uncle Jo,” Jeremy said quietly. “She said she needs to prepare him no matter how long it takes. And you know how she is when she gets emotional. She wasn’t ready to listen to anything I had to say. And that’s why I called this meeting. I don’t think that’s right.”
“Oh, boy,” Joel muttered.
“Jeremy put yourself in her shoes,” Deloris said softly. “It’s only natural for her to…”
“But that doesn’t make it right, Deloris,” Jeremy said firmly. “I spent the day with him yesterday. I saw how much he hated that restlessness. How about getting it out of the way once and for all? Huh? When has any pup’s shift been postponed to spare them the pain or prepare them? Troy is not a pup. He’s twenty-one. The earlier he goes through premier, the quicker he can adjust to it. Think about it.”
Jeremy’s day with Troy had been fun. He’d given him a thorough tour. The pack was an entire community with acres of land and forestry surrounding them. Troy had been so amazed and impressed with everything he’d seen. They’d had lunch in one of the restaurants and even visited one of their recreational parks. Troy had looked like a kid on Christmas. The last place they’d visited was the woods where the pack usually went wild and free whenever their wolves took over.
Jeremy wanted to show his brother their special trail as they used to call it before Troy and their father was taken away from them. It was when they got to the trail that he’d begun to see the telltale signs. Jeremy knew the signs of a premier shift as they called a werewolf’s first shift from human to wolf form. As he watched his brother grow restless and agitated, he just knew.
*
“Dude, you okay?” Jeremy asked a furiously perspiring Troy with a frown.
“Sure,” Troy murmured as he pulled off his soaked t-shirt and began to wipe himself. “Just feeling warm. Must be the weather.”
“Troy, the weather is cold.” Jeremy calmly pointed out. They were in the woods in the evening for goodness sake. The weather was damn chilly.
“Well, I feel warm so…” Troy shrugged. “Have I been here before?” He asked.
“Yep. Why?”
“Feels familiar,” Troy answered.
“Well, I’m not surprised. You, dad, and I used to take walks here all the time.” Jeremy said.
“Walks?” Troy frowned.
“Yep. We went for walks whenever dad wasn’t busy.”
“And I was a kid, right?” Troy looked up at Jeremy.
“The tiniest kid ever.” Jeremy drawled teasingly.
“Strange. ‘Cause the feeling I have… It’s almost as if I was seeing everything from…above…” He trailed off when Jeremy burst into laughter. “What?”
“So you think you were what? A giant? Towering over everyone?” Jeremy snorted. “You were always sitting on Dad’s shoulder during those walks. And you would brag about how you could see further than dad and I because from your perch, you were the tallest.” Jeremy laughed.
“Right,” Troy said, bending over and rubbing his stomach. “And dad wasn’t a soldier or anything like that?”
“He was more than a soldier, Troy. He was an alpha.” Jeremy said with so much pride. “The Golden Alpha.”
“Was that part of his name?”
“His friends used to call him that.” Jeremy chuckled.
“But were there any soldiers…”
“We were the soldiers, kiddo,” Jeremy said quietly, knowing why his brother seemed to have a memory that had to do with soldiers. “We would usually sing on top of our voices as we walked, pretending to be soldiers marching through the woods.”
“No shit.” Troy breathed as he stood upright again and began to turn his head from left to right as if to relieve tension in his neck.
“Yeah. Hey, it’s getting late. Wanna head back?” Jeremy asked. He really didn’t want Troy shifting in the open. Apart from the fact that Troy’s screams of pain could alert whatever enemies that were loitering around, Jeremy wanted his brother to shift in a very comfortable and calming environment.
“No, let’s stay awhile.” Troy took off his shorts, leaving on only his boxers and trainers. “You don’t mind, do you?” Troy asked, gesturing at himself.
“Not at all.” Jeremy chuckled. “Because we shift all the time, we’re very comfortable with nudity.” He shrugged. “So you’re fine. Sure you don’t want to go home and get some rest?” Jeremy looked worried.
“I like it here.” Troy threw his clothes onto the ground and sat under a tree. “God, I hurt.” He whispered as he bent a leg and rested his head on his knee. Jeremy heard him perfectly.
“You’re in pain aren’t you?” Jeremy said softly. “Listen, I know you’re…”
“You know nothing,” Troy said, cutting Jeremy off.
With a sigh, Jeremy sat beside Troy and reached out to ruffle his hair. “You do know you can talk to me about anything, right?” Jeremy murmured.