MJF's Stories

Tumbling around on the floor, Dylan desperately tried to shake Freddie off. They were rolling around, ruining any hope Dylan had of a clean bedroom. That was far from his main priority though, when an untrained beta was trying to sink its huge teeth into him. He knew exactly how Freddie was feeling, and that was why Dylan was so panicked. However, he wanted to do as much as he could to help.

Thinking fast, Dylan used all of his strength to throw Freddie off him. He succeeded, but Freddie simply lunged for him again. He slammed Dylan back down to the floor, only just avoiding whacking his head against a cabinet.

With Freddie directly on top of him, looking him eye-to-eye, Dylan knew this was his moment. He glared at him through his wolf eyes, his yellow rings glowing orders to his fellow beta. Freddie immediately backed off, moving backwards until his back smacked against the edge of the bed. He blinked a few times, and his eyes restored themselves. Dylan breathed a huge sigh of relief that his punt had worked.

The commotion had shaken Jono up. He felt so happy before, but to see two of the people closest to him fighting so aggressively was an upsetting sight. He knew Dylan would only hurt Freddie if there was no alternative, but Freddie was a loose cannon. The Freddie he knew and loved would never have hurt a fly, but he saw from Dylan that the wolf threw up the rule book.

On the bright side, Freddie was still alive. That mattered more than anything. He had gone downstairs to fetch a glass of water for Freddie, to help calm him down, checking carefully on the way that Caroline hadn’t heard the commotion. Thankfully, there was not a peep from her bedroom.

He made his way back upstairs after filling a glass up and could hear Freddie sobbing. He was upset at himself, and understandably so.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t know what I was doing,” Freddie apologised.

“You weren’t in control, I understand,” Dylan sympathised. Jono stood at the door listening, not wanting to interrupt.

“If I can’t control myself, what can I do?” Freddie considered, disheartened.

“You can learn,” Dylan reassured, “I was bitten last week, and I’m still learning, but if I can make progress, then you can too.” That warmed Jono’s heart. He knew Dylan and Freddie barely spoke until they started hanging out together in the past week. Jono was effectively the glue holding them together. It meant a lot that Dylan got on with his best friend. Jono opened the door and re-entered the room now the conversation was over.

“Here you go,” he said, giving Freddie the glass of water, “Feeling better?”

“A little, I guess,” Freddie unconvincingly replied.

“You can have my bed tonight, we’ll sleep on the sofa,” Dylan offered, “We’ll need to think about our next step in the morning.”

Freddie nodded, and Dylan escorted Jono out of the room. Jono didn’t want to leave Freddie alone for a second. He couldn’t risk losing him as well. However, he knew Dylan had the right idea. Freddie needed space to process everything. The morning would be a better time to talk things through. If he could even manage a few minutes’ sleep.

Glancing at her hand while lying wide awake in bed, Yasmin was about to unravel her band aid. She had intended to keep regular checks on it and record anything significant, but after seeing the black blood earlier, she didn’t fancy another peep. She knew she had to, though.

“Be brave, Yasmin,” she told herself quietly, not wanting her dad to hear her and think she was going crazy. Even if it wasn’t far from the truth.

Slowly and cautiously, Yasmin peeled away at the top layer and began unravelling. She braced herself for what she was going to see. She liked to think that very little frightened her, but she knew this did. Denying it was pointless.

She kept going, removing the final layer with her eyes closed. Wincing one eye open, she glanced at her skin. The wound was still there and beginning to scab. Nothing out of the ordinary. Yasmin thought she should feel relieved, but she didn’t. Maybe she should have healed by now. This could be bad news. It was all too much to consider. She wanted to turn her worries off with an imaginary switch, but it seemed to be broken.

She tossed over in bed and tried to get her head down, catching a glimpse of herself in the bedside table mirror as she did so. Yasmin did a double take. Surely, she hadn’t seen what she thought she saw? A horrid glow in her eyes – a sea blue, different to Dylan’s eyes but it glowed in the same way. That must have been her imagination.

She glanced back, scared of what she may or may not have seen. Nothing unusual this time. Her usual soft hazel eyes were intact. Must have been her tired mind playing tricks on her. She tried to sleep once again. Even ten minutes would be nice. It was hard to shut down when her mind was on full speed.

Adjusting himself, Dylan was trying to get comfortable. Despite the fact that his living room had two sofas, he and Jono insisted on sleeping together. Forever awkward. It was worth it though, and as clichéd as it sounded, there was no place he would rather be than by Jono’s side.

To combat the lack of space for them both on an individual sofa, Dylan had set up a makeshift bed on the carpet – a couple of cushions each and a blanket his mum kept on the arm of the sofa. It was far from the most comfortable place he had slept in but being next to Jono made it all worthwhile.

“Do you think he will be alright?” Jono pondered.

“He’ll be just fine. Don’t you worry,” Dylan reassured.

“Josh won’t be happy if both his betas desert him though. I dread to think what he would do,” Jono considered. It was food for thought. Dylan wanted to continue that train of thought, because he wasn’t at all tired. The Freddie debacle had woken him up, and his worries about Monday were taking over. However, if there were any chance of Jono getting some sleep, he didn’t want to disrupt that.

Jono put his arm around Dylan, spooning him once again. He felt safe and sound now, and he had to make the most of it while he could.

Jolting awake, Drew’s eyes bolted open as the unforgiving spotlights beamed back on. It was unpleasant, especially considering Drew was already exceptionally uncomfortable. He had been stood in the same restricted position all night; any chance of comfort was ruined by the chains around his wrists, torso and ankles. This was inhumane. Although he wasn’t human. The hunters used that to their advantage. Reporting it to Sheriff Taylor only risked outing the existence of werewolves to not just Crystalshaw, but the world. Drew could not let that happen. Even if it meant his own death.

“It’s time,” Mrs. Johnson’s voice filled his ears. He couldn’t see her, his eyes were still adjusting to the spotlights, but he could smell her scent right in front of him. She uncuffed him, and he felt a huge rush of relief as he stretched his arms out at last. However, he knew he had made a deal with the devil, and it made him uneasy that he could be putting Dylan in danger.

Much to his relief, Dylan actually managed a decent night’s sleep. Being in Jono’s arms must have relaxed him nicely – he didn’t remember much from afterwards. He guessed that his body was just so exhausted that it forced itself to sleep.

He woke up before anyone else and managed to get Freddie out of the house before his mum woke up and asked questions. He, Jono and Freddie had spent much of Sunday up in the treehouse, out of the way of any potential hunters. Lily joined them too, but Yasmin wasn’t answering her phone. It was alarming Dylan that it was now the early evening and she hadn’t shown her face. Even his WhatsApp messages didn’t have two blue ticks to confirm they had been read yet. As if he didn’t have enough on his plate.

“Maybe she actually has plans?” Lily suggested, with a hint of sass.

“She didn’t mention anything to me,” Dylan thought. Surely, she would have mentioned any plans? It wasn’t like this was any old normal boring weekend, “Besides, we normally hang out on Sundays for homework catch-up. She checks with me by midday to be totally sure without fail.”

“I mean, it has been quite a while now. Maybe we should be concerned,” Jono offered. Dylan was pleased to have reassurance that his worries weren’t unfounded.

Dylan glanced at Freddie, who was slouched against the wall in the corner. He still seemed to be in shock by the entire situation. Dylan couldn’t blame him either – he was only thrown into the world of werewolves a week ago. He’d still barely had a moment to process everything.

“Look, the least we can do is pay her a visit, right?” Dylan suggested, “We could ask her dad if she’s not around.”

Dylan had only met Yasmin’s dad a handful of times, and the reception was always frosty. Yasmin told him it was because he thought they were an item. If only he knew.

“I guess. I’ll come with you, Dylan,” Lily agreed.
“Hey, what?” Jono piped up, “You’re not leaving me to babysit.”

“I don’t need babysitting,” Freddie defended himself.

“Wolf-sitting, whatever,” Jono ignored his complaint. Whether he was bantering or not was beyond Dylan, despite their usual light-hearted friendship. Times had changed.

“We won’t be long, he’ll only slow us down,” Lily commanded. Dylan tried to hide his laughter as a speechless Jono failed to think of a comeback. It was adorable.

He followed Lily down the treehouse steps, praying that his worries were a silly overreaction that he would laugh about with Yasmin in ten minutes’ time. His gut, however, told him otherwise.

The car journey felt much longer than five minutes to Dylan. The worry he felt seemed to slow time down, and it was excruciating. What didn’t help was that Lily seemed to think this was the time for a personal chat.

“I hear you and Jono have patched everything up,” Lily began.

“Yeah, we’re all good now,” Dylan replied vacantly, before adding, “Thanks for your help. I don’t deserve everything you’ve done for me.”

“You didn’t ask for any of this,” Lily thought, “You’d have done the same for me. Besides, you’re basically family. An honorary Chadwick.”

“I like that,” Dylan smiled. Despite his reservations, this chat was proving to be cathartic.

“You’re good for him. I’ve never seen him smile as much as when he’s with you,” Lily complimented. It warmed Dylan’s heart to hear that. Jono really did mean the world to him.

Finally, the car pulled up onto Yasmin’s driveway. The car had not even stopped before Dylan raced out and slammed his hand repeatedly against the doorbell. A tall man in his forties with closely cut hair answered, with a miserable scowl adorning his already harsh-looking face.

“Dylan, what’s the hurry?” he questioned.

“Is Yasmin home, Mr. Forsyth?” Dylan hurriedly asked. Unlike his mum, who always insisted that Dylan’s friends call her Caroline, Mr. Forsyth had never offered the same to Dylan. It spoke volumes about what he thought of him.

“Didn’t she go out with you? She’s not been in all day,” Mr. Forsyth told him. Oh no. Dylan’s worries were confirmed. Yasmin was missing.

Pacing back and forth across the treehouse, Jono was bored out of his mind. While Freddie was his best friend, he wasn’t sure what to say to him. A discussion about the weather hardly felt appropriate.

“You’re scared of me, aren’t you?” Freddie assumed.

“Of course not,” Jono instantly replied, insulted that Freddie would suggest such a thing.

“I wouldn’t blame you if you were,” Freddie continued, “I’m a…you know.”

“Freddie, my boyfriend is a werewolf. I’m not scared of him, or you,” Jono reassured, sitting next to him on the floor, “It’s just hard to know what to say. This is new to me too.”

“I still can’t believe Josh kept this from us,” Freddie pondered.

“You’ve known him longer than I have, think Freddie, is there a moment that offered any clues?” Jono queried.

“I don’t know. I guess he was good at acting,” Freddie reasoned, “Although…no.”

“What?” Jono was intrigued.

“A few years ago, in junior high, he went missing for like, two months,” Freddie recalled, “Everyone was panicked like hell. Even his parents were stumped.”

“I never knew this,” Jono was taken aback. It only honed in on the fact that he hadn’t known Josh or Freddie for very long in the grand scheme of things.

“I guess it’s ancient history now so I didn’t consider it,” Freddie thought, “Do you think it’s significant?”

“I think there’s a possibility that it could be,” Jono wondered, “Did he ever say anything about it? Any reasons?”

“No, he just showed up out of the blue like nothing had happened and never said a word, not to me or his parents anyway,” Freddie replied.

“Come on, I have an idea,” Jono leapt into action, leaving Freddie with no option but to follow.

Rushing through the Crystalshaw forest, Dylan and Lily were on the lookout for Yasmin on foot. Mr. Forsyth had taken the car, but Dylan knew they had to find her before he did. Anything could have happened to her as a result of the scratch, and Mr. Forsyth simply could not find out. Dylan prayed that Yasmin would be found safe and sound, but with each passing second, that seemed increasingly unlikely.

“Yasmin!” Dylan called out. No response. He looked behind every tree, under every log, and through every pile of autumnal brown leaves on the ground.

“Can you smell her scent?” Lily questioned.

“No, but if she’s not herself, she might have a different scent,” Dylan recalled what Drew told him. He could have done with a little help from him.

“She can’t have gone far surely? She wouldn’t have left Crystalshaw,” Lily noted. She was right. Wherever Yasmin was, she wouldn’t have left the town.

Dylan went to peep over another log, but before he could get there, he felt his body flop upside down as his ankle got caught in a trap of some sort.

“Lily, hide yourself,” Dylan ordered immediately. Lily ran behind a thick tree trunk, just as Dylan could make out three figures approaching them.

“This is him? This is the alpha?” he heard a familiar female voice say. He knew her tone but couldn’t place where he had heard it before.

“No, this is the second beta. He’s new, though not the newest,” he heard another familiar voice say. This was male, and he could identify it a mile off. It was Drew. What the hell was he doing? Who was he with? Too many questions.

“Get him down,” the unidentified female commanded. Dylan collapsed to the floor as the third person, a big burly man, cut the rope that was holding him up. Dylan composed himself as quickly as he could and looked up. He was horrified to see Mrs. Johnson in front of him.

“Dylan Drummond, what a pleasant surprise,” she smiled devilishly.

Horrified, Lily could hardly believe what she was seeing. Drew had made a pact with the enemy. Why? She always thought he seemed shifty, but this was a step too far.

Lily ensured she was out of view from everyone, but she wanted to watch. The tree trunk was just out of their line of vision, so she could peek round slightly and not be noticed.

“What are you doing here?” she heard Dylan ask.

“I could ask you the same,” Mrs. Johnson replied, “Two of my students being werewolves, and another two still out there. Wow.”

“You’re the hunter?” Dylan was mortified, then he glanced to Drew, “And you’re in on it?”

“They want the alpha, not us,” Drew replied, “We want the alpha too. A shared interest.”

“Difference being that I don’t want to kill him,” Dylan argued passionately, “And I didn’t think you did either.”

Lily knew he was expecting more from Drew. He trusted him more than she, Jono or Yasmin did.

“He’s a danger to us all, Drummond. The sooner you realise that, the better,” Drew continued.

“Come and join us, Dylan. It’s the only way to can protect your friends,” Mrs. Johnson tried her best to entice him. Lily watched on as Dylan stood up, faced with an impossible predicament. She could almost hear the cogs in his brain doing overtime.

“On three conditions,” Dylan demanded, “One, you don’t harm my friends; two, you only kill the alpha as a last resort; and three, you help me track down Yasmin.”

“We can protect your friends, including Yasmin,” Mrs. Johnson agreed, “Welcome to the team.” Lily’s heart sunk as Mrs. Johnson shook Dylan’s hand. She knew Dylan was using her for his own benefit, but the risks were so high.

Approaching the reception desk of the sheriff station, Jono felt quite nervous. He had no idea why but being around policemen always made him feel very guilty, despite doing nothing wrong. Freddie was next to him, for moral support.

“How can I help you?” the deputy on the front desk politely smiled.

“I need to speak to Sheriff Taylor. It’s important,” Jono requested. It was getting late on a Sunday, but it was worth a punt.

“Boys,” the Sheriff greeted from his office door to their right, “You’re just in time, I was about to leave. Come inside.” Jono glanced to Freddie, sharing a relieved facial expression that their visit wasn’t a total waste of time. They followed him into the office, taking a seat in front of his desk.

“What can I do you for?” the Sheriff questioned.

“We’ve got some questions to ask, about our friend,” Jono led the discussion, “His name is Josh Rayner.”

“Ah, Josh, I know him well. Is he alright?” Sheriff Taylor smiled.

“Not really, he’s not…,” Jono struggled to find the words to say without revealing the secret.

“He’s not been himself,” Freddie handily added.

“You think I can help?” the Sheriff seemed surprised.

“When he disappeared years ago, did he say anything to you about why?” Freddie continued.

“Sorry boys, I can’t discuss confidential matters like that with you,” the Sheriff played by the rules.

Darn, Jono thought, time to think fast.

“It’s important, Sheriff. We wouldn’t ask you unless we had to,” Jono pleaded.

“I suppose he spoke to me off the record. He was very incoherent, I couldn’t make sense of what he said, but he mentioned a pack arriving in Crystalshaw in the future. I asked him what he meant by pack, and he didn’t tell me. Nothing seemed to come of it,” Sheriff Taylor recalled.

Jono’s heart began beating irregularly fast at the mention of the word “pack,”. Perhaps this was their key?

“Thank you, Sheriff, that’s helpful,” Freddie replied.

“No problem, good on you if you can make any sense of it,” the Sheriff responded, standing up to escort the boys out. Jono’s eyes widened gleefully at Freddie. Result.

Feeling disgusted in what he had just done, Dylan could hardly look at Lily. He had made a pact with the enemy, all for the sake of finding Yasmin. There was still no sign of her, but her safety was paramount to him. He would not be giving up without a fight. Now he just had to hope Mrs. Johnson kept to her word.

“I’m sorry,” Dylan whispered to Lily as the group of them continued to trawl the woods for Yasmin.

“It’s alright. I would have done the same. Now we just have to hope they will be ready to fight Josh tomorrow,” Lily explained.

“We still don’t even know what he wants from us,” Dylan pondered, “That scares me more than anything.”

“Yasmin?” Drew cried out from a few metres away, “Dylan, come here.” Dylan immediately went to join Drew, who was stood next to a ditch in the leaf-filled ground. He saw Yasmin crouched into a ball, her head hidden by her hands. Dylan went to crouch next to her.

“Yasmin, it’s me, it’s Dylan,” he spoke very softly and gently, “It’s alright. You’re safe now.”

“I’m not alright,” Yasmin spoke through tears, as she looked up to face Dylan. He was terrified to see her eyes – they glowed in the same way as his, although in a deep sea blue colour. The rest of her face looked normal and not wolf-like, but it was still more than worrying. Dylan felt so guilty.

Mrs. Johnson insisted on driving Yasmin back to their base, for reasons Dylan didn’t understand. This wasn’t part of the plan. She had waffled on about her being “something new,”, which was even less reassuring. She was bound to be intrigued by what Yasmin was. Dylan was too, but it was clear their approaches were very different.

On the bright side, Mrs. Johnson had asked Dylan and Lily to follow them in the car. If it were anything to worry about, she would have ditched them at the earliest opportunity. Maybe she was keeping her promises after all.

The car in front stopped outside the J.R. Thompson warehouse, just as Jono and Lily had figured out. Lily parked her car adjacent to the large Land Rover the others had arrived in. Drew assisted Yasmin out, while the burly bodyguard opened Mrs. Johnson’s car door, as if he were her chauffeur. Dylan and Lily rushed inside behind them and down stone-cold stairs to an operating room. It was big and full of all sorts of medical equipment scattered about.

Drew helped Yasmin onto the operating table as Mrs. Johnson grabbed a torch and shone it into Yasmin’s still-glowing eyes.

“I can hear them. Those voices,” Yasmin spoke softly but vacantly.

“Talk to her,” Mrs. Johnson commanded.

“What voices? Who is it?” Dylan asked her.

“I don’t know, but they are so loud,” Yasmin had never sounded so fragile.

“Her mind is adjusting, she needs rest,” Mrs. Johnson deduced.

“She can hear voices, how are you so calm?” Lily hit out, “If that doesn’t ring alarm bells, I don’t know what will.”

“Look young lady, I’ve been doing this a hell of a lot longer than you, so button it unless you have something to contribute,” Mrs. Johnson scolded. Lily was speechless. Dylan would have laughed in any other circumstance, but he didn’t feel like laughing in that moment.

“Anaesthetic is ready,” Burly Man announced. Dylan still had no idea what his name was, so ‘Burly Man’ was his nickname. Not that he would dare call him that aloud.

“Administer it,” Mrs. Johnson commanded. Dylan watched as the drug was injected into Yasmin’s arm. Within seconds, she drifted off to sleep, finally resting.

Exasperated, Dylan was sat on a chair next to the operating table. Yasmin had been sleeping for roughly twenty minutes, and he was intent on staying with her until she woke up. Lily had gone to sit in her car and grab some fresh air, and it was beginning to get late. He knew he had to get home, as he had school in the morning. However, Josh looming made him want to run away and never stop. That wasn’t Dylan though. He was good at admitting his own flaws, but he was determined as hell. When he wanted something, he always got it. Josh would have to do a lot more to scare him off.

His phone buzzed. A text from Jono. “Been to Sheriff, Josh bringing pack to Crystalshaw.” Now it made sense. Josh, although being the alpha, didn’t seem to have as much power as he had hoped. He was recruiting new wolves. The problem was that both his new recruits had failed him. Who knew how far he would go to prove himself to his existing pack?

“She looks so peaceful,” Mrs. Johnson interrupted his train of thought as she approached him.

“Are you sure? Don’t you want anything contaminated by a werewolf dead?” Dylan retorted.

“I don’t want to kill you, or your friends,” Mrs. Johnson admitted, sounding much more vulnerable than before, “I’ve been tracking werewolves for years. I don’t want them dead, but I’m a scientist. The study of different species intrigues me. That’s why I’m so fascinated by Yasmin. She’s something new.”

“You’re not a hunter? Why did you kidnap Drew?” Dylan was confused.

“It’s the alpha I want. Drew had information that was useful to us. You may not like our methods, but they are effective,” Mrs. Johnson explained, “You had better go home and prepare for tomorrow. She’ll be safe here, I promise.”

“Nothing will prepare me for tomorrow,” Dylan confessed.

“I meant for double biology. You’ve got an exam to prepare for,” Mrs. Johnson laughed. Dylan had to laugh too. If anything, he had learnt that his least favourite teacher secretly had a sense of humour.

Worried by how long they had been gone, Jono had immediately assumed the worst. There had been no communication all evening between he and Dylan, and this only happened when he was in trouble. Jono decided to make the first move, sending Dylan a text to update him, but that was ten minutes ago now.

He was up in the treehouse, recalling Dylan’s tips from the night before about how to make a makeshift bed. He thought it would be a nice gesture to offer for Dylan to stay the night, so he wasn’t alone in case of Josh. Freddie had taken Jono’s bed so he had a good excuse to use the more romantic setting of the treehouse.

Jono threw a few beanbags down for padding, and another two for pillows. Finally, he laid a blanket down for the duvet. If it all went to plan, he would have one final quiet night with Dylan in the calm before the storm.

He picked up his phone again, ready to send another text, but he saw the front gates open and the headlights of a car zoom in on the garage door. He sprang up and peered down from above. Sure enough, it was Lily and Dylan arriving back. Finally.

Jono waved frantically, hoping to attract their attention. Lily caught his eye and pointed to direct Dylan in the right direction. He bounced his way up the ladder and into the treehouse.

“What’s going on here?” Dylan asked, immediately noticing the makeshift bed.

“I wondered if you fancied staying the night. You know, our last night before shit hits the fan,” Jono offered. He saw Dylan’s eyes light up with excitement.

“Heck yeah,” he grinned.

“Where’s Yasmin?” Jono wondered. He needed answers at last.

“Long story, she’s with Mrs. Johnson, things aren’t great but she’s safer there than she is here,” Dylan quickly said. That didn’t sound promising to Jono’s ears.

“Wait, Mrs. Johnson?” Jono processed the information.

“She was a hunter, or not a hunter. It gets confusing. She is looking after Yasmin though,” Dylan confusingly explained.

“Huh? You know what, never mind. Will she be alright?” Jono had to ask.

“Yeah, but she’s hearing voices. I don’t know what to do,” Dylan looked defeated. Jono put his arm around him.

“Like you said, she’s safe. Now let’s ensure we’re safe and ready for tomorrow,” Jono encouraged. He could see Dylan appreciated the motivation. He led Dylan to bed and they both crept under the rug. One final night of bliss.