Chapter Text
“Daddy, can we eat pizza for dinner?“
“Yes, Daddy! Please!“
Steve huffed. „You know what I think about pizza for dinner.“
“But Daaaaaddy!“ His oldest daughter whined and he looked into the rear-view mirror in time to see her pout. „You said if he get good grades on the math test, we can pick what we’re eating for dinner! I’ve got an A+ and George has an A!“
Sarah’s twin brother nodded eagerly. „Please, Daddy, we studied really hard like you said!“
He looked back at the street ahead of them with a smile. „Fine. We’ll order pizza when we’re home, okay?“
“Yay!“ The twins shouted in excitement and gave each other high five.
Steve observed them with light amusement. He wasn’t too fond of pizza as a meal but the twins really deserved a treat. He told them to study hard for the test and they did. The alpha couldn’t be more proud of them. They were very responsible for their age and listened well most of the time. Steve had always worried if he was able to raise three kids on his own but things had worked out. The twins were only 5 when their mother died and it had been hard on all of them, but Sarah and George had to grow up fast. They helped Steve a lot when it came to taking care of their baby sister Marie, who was just a newborn baby when Peggy left this world.
“Daddy!“ George suddenly shouted.
The alpha jumped in his seat and looked back at the street, hitting the break and clutch at the same time. He couldn’t get the car to a complete stop in time and it collided with the shadow on the street. When the car stood still, Steve quickly checked on the twins. „Are you okay?“
They nodded. Their faces were pale and worried but no one seemed injured. Sarah looked past him. „Did you hit something?“
Steve glanced outside as well but couldn’t see anything immediately. He loosened his seatbelt. „Stay in the car.“
They watched him anxiously as he got out of the car. Steve closed the door and went around to check in front of the car. He didn’t have time to think about what exactly was on the street before his son had shouted and he had hit the breaks. Now Steve saw what their car had collided with - a big wolf. Too big to be a normal wolf, that much he knew immediately.
Quickly, he knelt down to check on the wolf. Its black fur was tainted with blood. Steve was sure the hit hadn’t been that hard, so why was there so much blood? Maybe a normal animal would’ve taken a lot of damage but a were like himself? The left front leg seemed to be in a bad condition too. Judging from the way the wound looked infected, it was safe to say it wasn’t the result of the car hitting the wolf.
“Are you okay? Can you hear me?“ Steve asked. He carefully touched the wolf. Were those bullet wounds?
He was about to inspect the wound when suddenly the wolf moved. Steve could retract his hand just in time before jaws full of teeth snapped down on it. He stumbled to his feet quickly as the wolf got up and growled viciously. Its eyes were glowing bright yellow and saliva was dripping from his mouth.
“H-Hey, I’m sorry about that. I didn’t see you on the road. If you want I can get you to a hospital. Of course I’ll pay for-“ The were jumped to attack him and Steve jumped to the side.
It landed on the hood and prepared for another jump as it growled. He wondered how it could stand, never the less even move so quickly, with its left front leg in that condition. Steve realized the wolf wasn’t listening. There was no sign of anything human in his eyes. No sanity. He didn’t understand Steve. He was-
“Leave my daddy alone!“
Steve paled and the wolf turned its head towards the little girl. He wasn’t sure where she got it from but she had a the little broom in her hands that he sometimes used to get the snow off his car. She had it clenched in her little hands like a dangerous weapon. „Sarah! Get back into the car immediately!“
The wolf snarled and Steve moved to get between the feral animal and his daughter. He wasn’t quick enough. In a blur of black the wolf jumped down from the hood and tackled the girl to the ground. She screamed in fear and Steve’s heart stopped. „SARAH!“
Blindly, he grabbed the wolf with his arms to pull it away. He knew it was a hopeless fight but he couldn’t bear to let it tear his daughter apart without a fight. „Daddy, wait!“
Steve froze, his arms still around the wolf. He couldn’t hear the horrible sound of flesh getting torn or bones breaking. Instead it sounded like someone sniffing. The alpha looked around the mess of fur and saw the wolf sniffing his daughter’s face and hair. Then the animal turned to sniff Steve as well. It looked at him and then at Sarah, back and forth like it was contemplating about something. Like it noticed their scents were similar. They were pack, a family, father and daughter.
The wolf whined suddenly and then climbed out of Steve’s hold. The alpha quickly grabbed his daughter and held her tightly. „You stupid girl! Oh my god... Why aren’t you listening to me?“
She sniffled. „I’m sorry, Daddy. I was worried you were in danger! I wanted to protect you!“
Steve glanced at the wolf and saw that the were was limping away from them. It was limping down the street and back into the woods, a trail of blood behind it. His heart was still beating like crazy from the shock and fear but somehow seeing the wounded animal walked away also made him worry. It was clearly a dangerous feral but also injured very badly. The wolf suddenly crumbled and fell over to the side, unmoving once again.
Sarah followed his eyes. „Daddy, he’s injured.“
“I know, honey, but we- We can’t help him.“
“Why?“
He sighed. Steve picked her up and opened the car door for her. „Sit down again. We’ll drive back home and everything will be alright.“
George looked at them curiously. „Daddy, is everything alright? I-I stayed in the car like you said but Sarah- She screamed.“
“I’m not hurt, Daddy.“ His daughter insisted.
“I know. I know, sweetheart, but-“ How was Steve going to explain it to her? He didn’t want his 10-year-old kids to know about ferals just yet. They were way too young for horror stories in his eyes.
Sarah grabbed his hand when he had fastened her seatbelt. She looked at him with wide eyes. „I think you scared it, Daddy. That’s why it jumped at me. But the wolf didn’t hurt me and it smelled really scared. Couldn’t you smell it?“
Steve glanced over to where the animal was lying on the ground. The wolf was going to die if he didn’t get help. Their kind could survive a lot but with the blood loss and possible fractures from the collision, things looked bleak for the wolf. It was a person once - someone like Steve or his kids. It probably had a name and a home once, before it became a feral. Every adult at least knew about them, although stories of them were never shared out in the open. But the fear was always there that someday someone you once knew would suddenly turn into one. Ferals were people who lost control to their wolf. They were wild and deadly, unable to tell between friends and fresh meat. Their government had strict laws when it came to ferals. If you saw one, you had to report it and the animal would be put down immediately. They couldn’t be saved or reasoned with.
Death was a blessing for a creature like that.
With a heavy heart, he stroked his daughter’s hair and then closed the car door. Steve got into the driver’s seat and fastened his seatbelt. „Daddy?“, Sarah asked in the back.
“It’s okay, honey.“
Steve turned on the ignition again and glanced at the side mirror. The wolf was still in the same spot as before. Maybe he had been shot because the authorities found out about him. Ferals had to be killed for their own good. Steve tore his gaze away and started driving away. It was the right thing to do, even if he didn’t have two kids in the car with him. But the wolf hadn’t hurt Sarah. He had jumped at her but there wasn’t even a scratch from its claws on the little girl. The feral had only moved when Steve did. He had looked from him to Sarah like he was thinking about them. Ferals didn’t contemplate. They were mindless, wild creatures out to kill.
’It smelled really scared’, his daughter had said. Steve had to admit he hadn’t really checked. The aggressive behavior towards him at thrown the alpha off. It had attacked him immediately but hadn’t hurt him. As fast as it was, it could’ve easily overpowered Steve. He had no clue how to shift. Their society had long since forgotten how to shift but randomly sometimes people turned and became feral afterwards. No one really tried to even shift out of fear to become like them. The wounded whine from the wolf rang in his ears.
“Damn it.“ Steve cursed and hit the wheel. He stopped the car at the side and the twins looked at him.
“What’s wrong, Daddy?“ George asked worriedly.
Sarah sat up straight. “Are we going to help it?“
“Help what?“ Her brother was confused.
“Daddy hit a wolf with his car and it’s hurt!“
George looked at his sister in shock. „I-Is it dead? Daddy, did you kill it?“
Steve muttered another curse and turned the car around. He drove back to the spot and was surprised to find the wolf still at the side of the road. It seemed like the feral might’ve crawled a few centimeters towards the bushes. Maybe it was still alive after all. „Stay in your seats this time, both of you.“
He drove as close as possible and got out again. From up close he could tell the wolf was shaking and it barely had the strength to lift its head. It looked at Steve from the corner of its eyes and growled. It was a menacing and threatening sound but it lost its touch when Steve really looked at the feral. His heart broke when the injured creature’s limbs twitched as it tried to crawl away from him. It was too weak though. Steve could smell it now that his own fear and shock weren’t blocking his senses anymore - the feral was scared. It smelled terrified. It was shaking in fear.
“I’m not going to hurt you. Don’t attack me again, okay?“ Steve spoke slowly.
The feral didn’t show a sign of understanding him but it seemed too weak to do anything but growl. Steve didn’t know what came over him but he reached out to stroke its fur. The wolf trembled under his fingertips. He could feel how thin it really was under all that untamed, dirty fur that screamed for a proper brushing and a bath. Steve glanced at the car to make sure his children were waiting inside, then he continue to stroke the wounded animal.
After a moment, the growls died down and the wolf closed its eyes, whimpering softly. Steve lifted his hand and grimaced when it came back bloody. The feral really needed help or it would die. It would be the right thing to leave it there to die or to maybe give it the merciful quick death instead of this slowly bleeding to death. The wolf opened an eye again to look at him and their eyes met. In that moment Steve could see something more than a feral beast. In this gaze there were so many emotions.
And most of all, it was asking for help.
The eye fell shut again and the feral slumped from exhaustion. Steve went to the car to open the trunk. Thankfully they had an old blanket lying around in there because sometimes their uncle’s dog would ride in the car with them. He grabbed it and used it to carefully wrap up the bleeding wolf.
“I’ll help you but if you threaten my family again, I won’t hesitate to kill you. One wrong move and I’m dropping you off at the next best spot. Are we clear?“ Steve said but the feral didn’t make a sound. Its breathing was shallow now, almost too weak to notice.
The alpha picked up the wolf and put it into the back of the car. He was a bit worried about having it so close to his children but the feral was clearly too weak to move. Steve closed the car door again and got into the driver’s seat once more.
“Thank you, Daddy.“ Sarah said.
Steve sighed. „Don’t thank me yet“, he muttered to himself.