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Logically, Louis knows tripping around the woods at midnight on a full moon isn't the smartest decision he's ever made. Though to be fair, it isn't even in his top ten...no top twenty dumbest decisions. So...here he is. Surprise! To absolutely no one.
He'd managed to avoid Twat-Wolf and his puppies all day, knowing he would've wound up locked in or handcuffed to something. Again. It's like they think he's helpless, or a complete idiot...or something, it doesn't really matter. He's willful, alright? And totally unconcerned with their opinions. He's here for Zayn, not White Fang and his pack of misfit wolves. Okay, maybe they're tolerable. All of them except for Harry 'My eyebrows get really pointy when I'm angry' Styles. Oh! Let's not forget his little fucktoy Dylan. Louis hates Dylan.
He's recognized that this is a problem, and he's working on it. So don't judge him.
Louis is quietly humming Seether's cover of 'Careless Whisper' to himself because he'd heard it on the radio this afternoon (and damn if it isn't one of those songs that torment someone until they're ready to dig their own brain out with a spoon) when a twig snaps behind him and ohhh isn't that just his luck? He grips the silver knife in his hand tightly and turns, praying he won't have to stab anyone because he knows Harry will kick him out of Wolf Club and then who will stop Zayn from going bananas and chomping on grandma? Not Liam.
Squinting into the dark, Louis makes out the shape of a grey wolf...Dylan? Louis blinks twice. Not his imagination then. What is he...
Dylan growls and steps out from behind the tree, prowling forward like Louis is some tasty little bunny. Louis is not a bunny. His meat is too bitter. He laughs out loud at that, startling the stalking wolf.
“Oi.” Louis says, “If you're looking for something to chew on I saw a stag about a mile that way.” He points in a random direction behind Dylan. Louis does not need this shit in his life right now. He has a History paper due on Wednesday and he'll be damned if he's going to get eaten and fail. He supposes he wouldn't be entirely at fault if he's dead, but that's beside the point, isn't it?
Snapping his jaws with an audible click, Dylan moves closer. Only then does Louis take in the determination in the wolf's eyes. Dylan knows exactly what he's doing. Shit.
Louis' mind races, thinking back over the months he'd known the wolf, wondering if he'd done something to anger Dylan. “I-I-Look. I don't....know what I did-” The wolf growls and licks its chops. Shit. “But...whatever it was...I'm sorry. It wasn't on purpose!!! I have a tendency to run my mouth. Ask Zay-!!!” He breaks off with a scream as the wolf lunges.
Louis ducks to the ground on instinct, and the wolf flies over his head. He doesn't wait to see what it will do next; he takes off like a shot. Oh God. Oh God. He's going to die.
Death by werewolf in the woods while wearing a red hoodie.
An ironic death for an ironic boy who runs with wolves...or, away from wolves at this particular moment, because he can't use his bloody knife on Harry's psycho-wolf boyfriend. Pushing himself harder, Louis silently prays to anyone who'll listen that he doesn't trip and fall on his face. If he can just make it to the bluff he can jump. Sure, it's a long drop and the water is loaded with rocks...but he'll take his chances thank you very fucking much.
The sound of rushing water grows louder as he nears and a sick feeling settles in his belly. He won't survive the drop. Gut instinct tells him this. However, it's preferable to being ripped apart so he'll take it gratefully. Bracing himself for whatever pain that will surely greet him within seconds, Louis runs harder than he ever has in his life, determined to reach the cliff's edge before Dylan reaches him. The wolf is so close now that Louis can almost feel breath on the back of his neck.
Before he realizes what's happening, Louis is colliding with something soft and unmovable. He bounces off like a rubber ball and hits the ground, winded. The wall moves then, until it's between Louis and Dylan. Over the sound of the nearby water, his own pounding heart and wheezing breaths, he finally registers the vicious snarling coming from the fluffy, moving wall. It takes his brain a moment to comprehend what he's seeing. He hadn't run into a wall at all. He'd run into Harry. Who is now snarling in Dylan's face, forcing the smaller wolf to its belly.
It's then that Louis realizes his vision is pulsing around the edges, and the way his chest is constricting despite the large lungfuls of air he's pulling in. He almost died. He's having a panic attack.
Gasping for air, Louis puts his head between his knees, trying to bring himself out of it before he passes out. A loud yelp startles him, and he looks up in time to see the large black wolf sink its teeth into the smaller ones neck and shake. Dylan doesn't fight back; he knows better. The smaller wolf stays down until Harry snarls, sending him running off into the night.
Louis is attempting to gather his wits enough to thank Harry when a human-shaped shadow falls over him. “What were you thinking running around the woods on a full moon? Do you have a death wish?” The Alpha's tone is harsh and angry.
Looking up at Harry, Louis can't find his words. Usually he has no problem with that...often stuttering as they all pour out in a rush at once. “What did I do?” He asks, though he means to offer his gratitude. “I've...I've never done anything to him. I mean...people are always telling me my mouth is going to get me killed one day but...hah.”
Harry's face is blank as usual. “Our blood lust is at its peak during the full moon, that's all.”
Louis doesn't buy it, in fact he puts it back the moment it's handed to him. “I was with Rosie earlier. She didn't try to eat me. I'm not an idiot, that excuse only works for newly bitten wolves.”
Harry just stares at him. Louis sighs, he's used to that. Sometimes Harry will just glare at him for minutes on end, like he wishes he could make Louis disappear through force of will alone. Louis is starting to get that he isn't wanted in the pack, well, he's known that since the beginning if he's being totally honest. If it weren't for Zayn, he would leave. But he'd made a promise and no amount of moon crazy Betas or bossy Alphas who hated his guts were going to make him break it.
“Thank you.” Louis offers quietly.
“Go home.”
~:~
“I don't get it!” Louis kicks off his converse and flops back on his bed. “What did I do? It's not enough that Harry clearly wishes I weren't in his pack, now his boyfriend wants to kill me? Am I that annoying?”
The bed moves and Louis sees a green blouse and ginger hair out of the corner of his eye as Rosie sits next to him. “No, Lou.” She pats his leg and sighs. “You're not. Harry's... Harry has issues that he's working through, that's all.”
“Everyone has their problems, Rosie.” Louis sits up and brings his knees to his chest, resting his chin on them as he chews the sleeve of his favorite purple jumper. “Hell, I've got a thousand and werewolves are all of them. But I don't hate everything with a pulse.”
Rosie looks at him as though she wants to say something, and if Louis didn't know any better, he'd say she's choking on it. “Harry's a good man....a good Alpha, but it's not my place to explain his behavior.”
“I'm not a total idiot, Rosie.” Louis bites his sleeve again and side-eyes her. “I know something is going on.”
Rosie gives him a considering look, her clever azure eyes darting across his face, clearly trying to assess how much he knew. He doesn't know much, but he's astute enough to realize something's up with Harry, and whatever it is, the Alpha clearly doesn't want Louis to know. He feels silly for thinking he's important enough to hide anything from, but still, he can't shake the feeling. It keeps him up at night. No, really. He literally stays awake all night...on school nights no less, wondering what Harry's problem is. At first he'd told himself it wasn't his business, though it's not like that's ever stopped him before, and he knows curiosity killed that cat and all that, and that in this case he's the cat. Although he's not particularly fond of being said cat, and he isn't quite sure what he'll do if he figures it out, it's not enough to deter him. One thing he knows for sure though, he'd get his throat ripped out if he ever brought it up to Harry.
Either way, Louis isn't a fan of being in the dark about things, whether it's his business or not. “When I figure it out, and I will figure it out, I swear on my honor that I won't harass Harry about it, I like my life...despite what my brain tells me every morning after two hours of sleep.”
Rosie lets out a long sigh of relief; it only makes Louis more suspicious.
They drop the subject of Harry and watch Twilight, because Rosie finds it endlessly amusing for reasons that will forever baffle him no matter how many angles he analyzes it from.
~:~
“Dylan's been kicked out of the pack.”
Louis' head snaps up and he looks at Zayn in disbelief. “Wha-why”
“Dunno,” Zayn shrugs. “Harry almost killed him. Rosie had to get between them or he probably would have.”
Staring at the biology homework in front of him, Louis tries to process this information. This...can't be about him. It just can't. Something else had to have happened...the incident in the woods was just a coincidence. It had to be. Right? There's no way Harry would react so strongly to him almost getting hurt. Harry looks at him like he wishes he would just die on the spot eighty percent of the time, and the other twenty percent is spent ignoring him unless Louis goes out of his way to attract his attention. No... there has to be another reason. A bad break up or the like.
“Wow. Um...I guess you wolves don't take lover's quarrels lightly.” Louis jokes, chewing the tip of his pencil and hoping to seem distracted so Zayn won't pick up on the strange feelings running through him. He tells himself it's relief that the wolf who tried to kill him is gone, but there's something else scratching away under the surface that he refuses to examine too closely. Even if he did, it wouldn't matter, would it? Harry would still hate him, and if Louis didn't hate him back...Harry's dislike would hurt more than anything.
“Louis...” Zayn leans against the desk. “I might not be the most perceptive wolf in the woods-”
Louis snorts. “You wouldn't notice if your car had square tires.”
Zayn rolls his eyes. “I know something happened.”
Louis takes a few sips from his Coke and pushes his glasses up his nose.
“Lou-” Zayn sighs.
“It...it's nothing alright? I followed you into the woods last night in case something happened, and before I could climb a tree, Dylan...” He shrugs. “Tried to eat my face.”
When Zayn doesn't reply, he chances a look at his friend and finds him staring the same way Rosie had earlier. Louis turns fully in his chair and stares back. It hits him then that Zayn knows more than he's been letting on, Rosie too. He's just about to open his mouth when Zayn speaks. “Good thing he got rid of him then!”
Louis narrows his eyes. “What's going on, Zayn?.”
“Nothing!” Zayn heads for the door. “Just remembered! I have a thing to do...that's...not here.”
“Zayn!” Louis hisses. “Zayn!”
By the time he reaches the door, his friend is gone.
Fucking werewolves.
~:~
Two hours later, Louis is staring at his car keys on the desk next to his now flat Coke, contemplating driving out to Harry's house. There isn't much point to it. It's not like Harry will tell him anything, or even answer the door for that matter.
Sighing, he shakes his head and stands up, ignoring the keys. A hot shower, a good cuppa and a film would help him unwind. He walks over to the shelf in the corner of his room and scans the film titles before his eyes land on The Goonies. Always a good choice. He throws the DVD on his bed and grabs his sweats from the top drawer of his dresser and goes into bathroom.
A few moments later he's snatching his keys off the desk with a muttered curse and heading out the door.
~:~
During the forty minute drive, Louis focuses on the music playing and refuses to think about what he'll say to Harry. If he thinks too much he'll end up turning around and he needs answers.
'Who cares when it feels like crack?
Boy you know that you always do it right
Man, fuck your pride ...'
Louis glares at the radio for a second before reaching over to turn up the volume, letting the steady rhythm soothe him.
~:~
As the red Jeep comes to a stop, Louis cuts the engine and stares at the large house, unable to move. He hasn't been alone with the Alpha since the first time he'd climbed through Louis' bedroom window, but this seems different somehow. It's not fear, because deep down, he knows he isn't afraid of Harry, maybe he would be, if he were smart. But then, if he were smart, Zayn wouldn't be a werewolf in the first place.
“What are you doing here, Louis.”
Louis barely stifles a scream at the sudden sound of Harry's voice in his right ear. Squeezing the wheel, he glares out the open window at the Alpha as he waits for his startled heart to stop trying to pound a hole in his ribs. “Stop doing that!” He huffs, closing his eyes.
“It's not my fault you're unobservant.” Harry says flatly, leaning against the car door.
Louis glares. “I'm not nearly as obtuse as you seem to think, Harry.”
The muscles in Harry's jaw tick, but he doesn't answer.
“I know you're hiding something.” He adds. Harry pushes away from the Jeep and begins walking back to the house.
“Go home, Louis.”
Grinding his teeth, Louis unbuckles and hops out of the car. He trips on a stick and stumbles but he is not letting this go. “I might be part of this pack, but I'm human and your Alpha crap doesn't work on me. I'll figure it out eventually, I know you know that.”
The Alpha whirls around so fast that Louis nearly crashes into him. “I won't ask twice.”
Louis ignores the warning tone despite shudder that zips up his spine. He's treading on thin ice and he knows it. He can't stop now. “I wouldn't pry if it didn't seem like everyone else knows but me!”
“It's none of your business.” Harry growls.
Louis lets out a laugh that sounds bitter even to his ears. “So I'm supposed to accept that bullshit answer without question? Fuck that, Harry.” He points at the Alpha. “Fuck that. You may be able to lead me to the water for my best friend's sake, but I'll be damned if you'll make me drink. The others put up with this because they have no bloody choice but I refuse! I can feel it, Harry, I can feel that you...that everyone is hiding something from me. Normally I would never assume that I'm important enough to hide anything from, but when I can clearly see that the others know...whatever it is, and are going out of their way to keep me in the dark... well, I don't like it, Harry!” Louis takes a deep breath then, but holds his ground despite the look of utter rage in Harry's eyes.
For a moment, he's expecting to be ripped apart or at the very least shouted at again. The very last thing in the world he expects, is for Harry to shove him back against his Jeep and crush their lips together.
Louis' eyes widen in shock as the Alpha's hand grips his face, thumb against his chin, tugging his mouth open so he can slide his tongue inside. It takes a moment for Louis' brain to catch up with what's happening, and when it does he can't stop himself from wrapping his fingers in Harry's long hair and holding on for dear life as the Alpha continues to lick into his mouth, his free hand slipping under Louis' shirt and stroking the skin of his belly. A whimper spills from his throat and he can't do anything except press closer as every unknown and suppressed feeling he's ever had for the Alpha bubbles to the surface in a firestorm of need that he's never experienced before.
Harry reacts by growling against Louis' lips, the sound more animal than any he's ever heard from the Alpha before. Harry reaches down to tug Louis' thigh up over his hip as he grinds them together. Louis cries out, not realizing until that moment how hard he is. “Harry, please.”
The Alpha growls again, nipping at Louis' lips and pushing even closer, until he has no choice but to lift his other leg. Louis moans quietly, allowing his thighs to be spread, unable and unwilling to fight it, wanting everything and anything Harry has to give because when he isn't screaming himself awake from the nightmares that have taken over his nights, he's dreaming about this.
“Jesus fuck,” Harry pants against his forehead, fingers digging into his hips. “You have no idea.”
Louis tugs at Harry's hair and pulls back to make eye contact, rolling his hips. “I do.”
He hits the ground before he can take his next breath and Harry's twenty feet away, panting like he's just run a marathon.
Blinking in shock, Louis can feel an awful, icy embarrassment rising. “What-”
Harry backs away towards the forest. “Go home.”
Louis scrambles to his feet and takes a few steps forward, trying to claw his way through the thick cloud of confusion as his eyes sting with tears. “Harry,” He whispers, breath catching in his throat.
The Alpha's gone seconds later, disappearing into the woods and leaving Louis reeling from shock, and above all, humiliation. Ripping the door of his Jeep open, Louis climbs inside. He sobs the moment the door slams shut.
What the Hell was that?