Lucky Sevens

[Greggory Lennox]

He made a small grunt in the back of his throat as his hand was taken. At least one of them knew where they were because hell if Gregg knew. All he did know was that he felt the uncomfortable heat, the itching under his skin, and when he looked it up, he realized it was the night of a full moon.

Instinct told him to get as far from humans as he could. Not just for his own self preservation but because he was still something of a hunter and he didn't want to contribute to the rise of the monsters in Evermore.

Plus, other hunters could easily find him and kill him since he was such a newbie.

"I'm new new," he said, using Aldon's ridiculous term for it.

[Aldon Huang]

"Ah." A knowing noise, half-sympathetic. "That explains it." But Aldon didn't say what he thought that explained because he was already distracted. He thought he saw the flash of an umber-colored, white-tipped tail whipping through the underbrush. Could it be...?

Nah. He's not that stupid.

These woods were strictly OFF-LIMITS to everyone who knew better than to stumble in during a full moon. Aldon swung their clasped hands lightly as he walked, almost like a child who fidgeted too much and couldn't quite keep still.

"So that was you? The wolf from last night? I didn't kill and eat you..." There was wonder in his voice, and a little bit of disbelief. Aldon studied him again. "Wonder why."

[Greggory Lennox]

Yes, he was the wolf from last night, much to his chagrin. He nodded, slightly distracted by the rustle of a bush nearby. He thought he sensed somebody else nearby but when he looked, there was nobody there. Frowning, he turned his green eyes back toward Aldon.

He noticed that Aldon was looking at him, too. Gregg looked the other man over, forgetting for an instant that he was completely nude. He quickly swung his gaze back upward.

That was a strange thing to ponder.

"Do you normally eat other wolves?"

[Aldon Huang]

"Uhhh... Ye--kinda."

Aldon was, yes, still naked. So was Gregg. They were both extremely naked and this would have made for a good raunchy porno opening had they not both just recovered from a terrible ordeal the previous night. Also, Aldon was sore in several places that made being raunchy highly unappealing.

That didn't mean he couldn't look, though. Or ogle. Or openly ogle. A little grin colored his amused expression as Gregg suddenly found the surrounding woodland interesting. (Aldon just kept on checking him out.)

"I don't know too much about why it happens but there are... special werewolves." He finally did get around to explaining, since it was sorta important. "Some of us--including me--change into something different on the full moon. And usually what's on the menu are other werewolves, or even shifters sometimes. That's why... unless you're one of us... but I don't really think you are."

From what Aldon remembered of Gregg's wolf form, he seemed like just an ordinary werewolf--if a werewolf could be considered 'ordinary.'

[Greggory Lennox]

Hm. Interesting. Hunters weren't aware of these special wolves. If they were, they never clued Gregg in on the fact. But what Aldon said only served to further puzzle him because what did it mean that Aldon hadn't eaten him? If he typically did, if he was one of those special types of wolves... what did that say about Gregg?

"How does it happen?" he asked. Maybe the wolf that got him was one like Aldon. A special one. Would it pass on to a human or a hunter? This all seemed like something he could definitely take notes on. Werewolves that attacked and ate other wolves...

If he was one of those, was it a blessing hidden behind the curse? If he killed other wolves the way Aldon did, it would be a way of retaining his hunting ability even when he lost his grip on humanity during a full moon.

It was definitely a lot to ponder.

[Aldon Huang]

"I dunno," Aldon replied carelessly to the question of how it happened, since he didn't exactly know. He was born with his affliction. The others didn't like to talk about how they came by their illness.

It was pretty obvious to his parents during his first full moon that something was off when he launched himself at his twin and attempted to tear his throat out with little baby werewolf teeth. All of that snarling and growling towards Roe kinda clued them in to the fact that Aldon was different from the other babies, who were mostly well-behaved.

"Just thought you should know, though, since you're..." He trailed off again, distracted. Aldon looked over his shoulder. Seriously, was his mind playing tricks on him or did he see a fox darting through the shadows? And was it any old fox or was it a fox?

Mentally shaking himself--and jarred back to reality by the stinging pain of stepping on a pine needle--he focused his attention back onto Gregg. Probably just a random forest animal. All around them, he could hear them scurrying; squirrels and rabbits and birds. A coyote or two, even. Probably a bear, deeper into the woods, and some crazy wolf that stories had it was cast out of his pack and took to living like a wild animal out here.

"Um. Where was I? Oh yeah, these are things you should know if you're gonna live out here, you know?" Just being a Good Guy, Aldon. He could see the trees thinning, though, just up ahead, which meant that they were almost out. Slowing his steps, he began to look around for the box of clothes that his pack left behind, for those unlucky enough to be caught out without anything to change into.

[Greggory Lennox]

You're...? He followed Aldon's gaze but whatever he saw there, Gregg missed out on. Whatever. He scratched idly at his shoulder and hoped that he didn't end up rolling in poison ivy or some shit.

"Live out here?" Gregg asked, letting out a short, sharp laugh. "I wasn't planning to live out here."

Did Aldon live out here? Was that what he was saying? Maybe there was a whole den of werewolves out here. Gregg took a look around at where they were, drinking in the sights and making notes. When he was changing, he hardly knew what he was doing or where he was going but now that he was human again, he felt as if he had a clearer head.

"Is there a whole... clan of werewolves like... you?" He almost said us. Already lumping himself with the enemy.

[Aldon Huang]

Aldon shot Gregg a Look that doubted his sanity in all aspects. "Uhh. No." He lifted his free hand, wagged an admonishing finger. "Nobody lives out here in the woods, we're not cavemen Gregg, c'mon." OBVIOUSLY he meant live 'out here' as in 'the city.' Evermore wasn't the boonies but... it wasn't exactly a huge metropolitan city, by any stretch of the imagination.

"There are lots of packs," he said, moving on from the weirdness. Aldon lived in a nice apartment; others of his pack lived in similar places. Like, you know. People. They were supernatural beings but they were still--for the most part--also human.

"But around these parts there are sorta three major packs who own most of the territory. One of them's ours, of course. The best," he added quite unnecessarily, but with excessive pride. "We used to be the largest but hunters kept coming around and picking us off. A couple of them almost got me last month!"

He turned to show Gregg the long scar that ran down the back of his shoulder. "See? This is why you need the protection of a pack when you go out."

[Greggory Lennox]

Right, they were referred to as packs. How did he forget something like that? Clans, packs, each group seemed to have some special name for it.

He listened keenly to what Aldon had to say about the largest packs. So, Aldon was a part of the one they'd taken on. That meant the wolves they'd fought a couple months back were from his pack. Of course, Gregg didn't voice that--he knew how fiercely loyal the werewolves could be to their packs and for all he knew, they'd taken out Aldon's family members or friends.

So he kept quiet about that bit.

Gregg reached out and traced the long scar on Aldon's shoulder. Silver knife?

"Hunters did this."

[Aldon Huang]

"Yeah," Aldon said quietly, gaze on Gregg's hand as it traced the jagged silvery line. One side of his mouth lifted in a crooked, but soft, smile. Gregg had a surprisingly deft touch for such a rough-looking guy. Then again, he was a surprisingly playful wolf for a man who didn't look like he'd ever learned the definition of a smile. Even his laugh earlier was more of a bark than an amused noise.

"Hunters. They don't even know us and they're all out here trying to kill us." There was no bitterness in Aldon's tone, but his smile had turned a shade wry. He shrugged the shoulder that bore the scar; sometimes it ached, but with time the feeling had diminished. Nothing like how it was just a month ago, when it was inflamed and the whole area was red and swollen.

"I mean. Do I look like a killer?" He squinted his eyes, made a show of baring his teeth, which were even and white. "Wait--killers are usually normal-looking people, right? Damn." Well, there went that theory.

Aldon moved for some bushes and soon was kicking a box out from behind them. He knelt by them--would have squatted but in his current naked state that left some sensitive parts dangling--and rooted around until he found the small bundle of clothes that he'd left for himself. Then he rummaged around until he found some jeans that looked like they'd fit Gregg. The label on the waistband said "Joshua" and, with almost an evil smile, Aldon handed the jeans to Gregg.

Josh wouldn't miss them. Much.

[Greggory Lennox]

"No," he said, because the smile was disarming and no, it didn't look like it belonged on the face of a killer. But he was a werewolf--he had to remember that. Yet... nothing about Gregg's thoughts towards humans had changed. He didn't feel a need to kill any people... just...

"Thank you," he said, pushing his thoughts away as he took the jeans offered to him. There was no time to be thinking about werewolves and his life as a Hunter. He would have to do that later, when he was alone and he could properly give it some thought.

"Is there an induction to join a pack?"

[Aldon Huang]

"What? Like getting hazed?" Aldon grinned while pulling on his clothes. "Nah, nothing like that. We don't do the weird rituals that some others do." Like witches, or even some shifters. No, their pack was normal, full of normal people just trying to survive, like everyone else.

"I mean, you're probably gonna have to talk to Andrew, like interview style, but he's a pretty good guy. He'll let you join if you're not a weirdo or anything. I think the last guy he turned away was kinda messed up but that was years ago."

That guy was Weird--capital W and everything. They found him, in his human form, trying to eat dead animals that he'd trapped and hunted and that kind of behavior was just... Well. Weird. It was unacceptable, as a human, to carry on that way. As a wolf, some things could be forgiven but they all tried to live like ordinary people and eating roadkill was not ordinary, no way, no how!

Once dressed--it didn't take long to pull on pants and a hoodie--Aldon leaned in closer. He inspected Gregg with a playful smile. "You look pretty normal to me! Are there any deep dark secrets I should know about before I take you to my pack leader?"

[Greggory Lennox]

Kinda messed up? While Gregg ruminated on what that could mean, he scanned the forest yet again. Nothing out of the ordinary, he thought. How would he know what was out of the ordinary, though?

As Aldon leaned in closer, Gregg fought the urge to lean back or give him a hearty shove away. Instead, he remained as he was, staring back with hard green eyes. Indeed, he had secrets but he wasn't going to share them.

"No."

Now he did step past Aldon.

"Where is this Andrew?"

[Aldon Huang]

WHOA! What was with that stern look? Aldon leaned back slightly, taken by surprise. Well, geez. It wasn't like he was asking for Gregg's social security number, he was just playing! Even if Gregg did have deep, dark secrets, Aldon didn't really want to know. They had only met for less than a day--way too soon to be exchanging life stories!

Nevertheless, he turned after Gregg and shrugged it off. Maybe it was a trick of the light that made Gregg's eyes harden that way. Could be. (Maybe.) "I dunno if he's around right now. He's a pretty busy guy, but maybe Rae knows when he'll be free." He paused to pick his way around a damp patch of mud. "Rae's his son. And my best friend."

One of his best friends, anyway, and luckily not the one whose pants Gregg was wearing. Aldon glanced left and right and then nudged Gregg down a narrow path that had been trodden many times; it was a groove carved into the packed earth.

"In the meantime, we can go to my place and cle--" Aldon didn't get to finish his sentence as a shadowy figure crossed the path in front of them, darting out from behind a tree to hide behind another. "Ey! Josh?"

"Somebody stole my pants!" An irritated voice hissed. "I left them in the box and now they're gone!"

[Greggory Lennox]

The heat of his stare must have said more than Gregg needed to, because Aldon backed off and didn't seem keen on finding out more about his past. Good, because Gregg had nothing to tell. Nothing that wouldn't immediately get him in trouble and he already had enough of that from the other side of the fence.

He stopped this time when he saw a shadowy figure and this time when he breathed in, he scented something familiar. Like them. Another werewolf...? Gregg looked over at Aldon, expecting an explanation as the person growled about their stolen pants.

Somehow, he had a feeling about the person that stole them...