Chapter Text
Wind rushes through Smittys snowy white fur as he runs through the forest in long strides. He loves his roommates but he needs time away from them sometimes, he needs to run freely through the forest away from his pack. They'd been huffy about him leaving the house recently, other werewolves have been going missing and there's talk of hunters looking for a nice trophy to take home. But that doesn't stop the instinct to run, to feel the ground beneath his paws and the sun on his fur, so he snuck out. He has a feeling that John knows, he'd given him a glance before he left, but hadn't said anything so he's not worried about being ratted out.
Smittys run slows to a stop as his ears perk up at a distant clang. He crouches down, slowly slinking through the brush. He lifts his snout to scent the air, fur raising in alarm at the nearby metallic scent of blood mixed with distressed pup. He quickly but quietly races through the woods, only slightly sparing a thought to his packmates who he should be alerting before potentially putting himself in danger. He gets to the source of the sound quickly, spotting two young pups trapped in a metal, likely silver, cage. Smitty curses internally at the sight of the larger blackish-brown furred pup laying limp on the floor of the cage with the smaller blond-cream furred pup shaking in fear and bleeding but standing defensively over them with their teeth barred.
His attention shifts to the man watching the pups with a blade in his hand, sneering at the pups with blood dripping from his hand. Smitty can hazard a guess to what happened, judging by the blood in the mouth of the still standing pup and the blood on the knife, and his hackles raise as he watches the man scoff and grab the pup by the scruff. The pup whimpers and squirms in the mans grasp, but is too small to get out of the hold. Smitty crouches as low to the ground as he can, rage fueling him as his careful steps barely even disturb the grass. His eyes widen when the man raises the knife towards the pup, making the poor thing start thrashing even harder. He takes off at a sprint, the sound making the man drop the pup, who's then caught by Smitty. The man scrambles back, pointing the blade at him with shaking hands, like a measly knife of that size would do more than give him a paper cut. If Smitty didn't care more about getting the pups out and to safety he'd shift just to laugh at the mans foolishness.
He shifts his stance, snarling as he protects the pups, daring the man to take even one step closer. The man makes a fatal mistake and lunges towards him and the pups. Smittys jaws clasp around his throat, making the knife drop to the ground and the man barely gets out a gurgled shout before he falls to the ground, dead. He pants for a moment, cringing at the taste of human blood on his tongue. His attention shifts to the pups, and he slowly lays down to seem less intimidating. He'd saved them from the man sure, but they had no way of knowing if he was just trying to get him out of the way, it isn't unheard of for werewolves to kill rival or orphaned pups. It takes a long moment of waiting, but eventually the golden furred pup slinks over and sniffs at him, freezing when Smitty moves his snout towards the small pup. he gauges that both pups are male, and not yet old enough to be away from their parents and pack. He chuffs softly, gently nudging the pup to get him to shift, it would be easier to heal any injuries they have if they shift, though he's not sure if the larger pup is going to be conscious enough for that.
The pup shifts, revealing a small boy who couldn't be older than 8, and that was being generous. His tail is curled tightly around himself and his ears are pinned to his head. Smitty shifts so he can scoop the boy into his arms, wolf instincts making him want to comfort the pup even if he isn't his own. The boy tenses for a moment before melting into his hold, and Smitty coos as tears soak into his shirt. He gives the boy a moment to cry, before walking over to the unconscious pup and picking him up in his other arm, careful not to aggravate his injuries. It would take less time to get home if he shifts and runs the way there, but he doesn't want to worsen any injuries or stress the boys out. Plus, he can see if he can get any answers out of the smaller boy on the walk back.
Smitty starts walking, part of his attention on the boys, and the other part on the lookout for any other threats. It's likely that the man was alone since he was going after pups instead of a full grown werewolf and wasn't expecting one to show up, but he wasn't about to take any chances. He clears his throat, turning his gaze to the quiet boy in his arms. "So, you got a name buddy?" He asks, smiling when the boy looks up at him with wide eyes. He doesn't seem scared of him anymore, which is good. "Aidan, he's Austen." The boy says, pointing to himself and then the pup in Smittys other arm. "Nice to meet you two, wish it had been under better circumstances." He sighs. They lapse into silence, Smitty is pretty sure Aidan fell asleep, and as much as he'd like to check the two over it would be better to wait until he got home. He wasn't far anyway, he recognized this part off the forest.
Smitty doesn't know how his packmates will respond to him bringing a couple of pups to the house, but even with the complaints he knows they'll have, he also knows they wouldn't be able to turn away pups in need, especially ones who are injured. Not long later he finally sees the house and breathes a sigh of relief. He speeds up slightly, knocking at the door with his foot when he reaches it since his hands are full. John opens the door and before Smitty can begin to explain himself he takes a good long look at the situation before shrugging and ushering him into the house. He quickly walks in and gently places the boys on the couch before turning to John who's looking at him with a questioning expression. "Did you call the others? They're both injured and need to be looked at." Smitty says. He knows John has questions, and so will the rest of his packmates, but he's getting more and more antsy the longer the pups go without being looked at. He supposes there's some truth to the mother hen act people think he has.
John sighs, resigning himself to forcing any answers on why Smitty brought home two small and injured pups, but nods. "I did, they're confused but they'll be here soon, they were at the store when I called so they're grabbing more medical supplies. Smitty what the hell is going on?" He asks, looking between Smitty and the pups with concern. Smitty sits on the couch with a sigh, dropping his head into his hands. "Look, there was a hunter and they were hurt and scared, was I supposed to just leave them there to die? They're my pups now anyway." He says looking to the side at the two pups. John frowns, that makes things more complicated. Knowing how protective Smitty gets, it would be a struggle to get him to even just leave the pups alone for a while, especially since his instincts have already decided the two are his pups.
John already knows what will happen. The pack will get home and try and convince Smitty to send the pups somewhere with people who have experience raising pups and it'll become an argument and just make everything worse. He'd say he's on the fence about it, they've never raised pups before but judging by the way even the unconscious pup curls close to Smitty it would do more harm than good to separate them. He also knows that though Smitty won't admit it while sober, he's always wanted pups of his own, so this is something he wouldn't want to let go of. John rubs a hand down his face with a sigh, things can never be easy in this pack, he just hopes that everything turns out alright.
He's broken from his thoughts by a small terrified whimper, and his head snaps over to check on the pups, who are already being fussed over by Smitty and the other pup. The source of the distress was the wolf, and before John can even process the situation fully he's shifting and nuzzling the pup, licking at his fur and cringing at the blood and grime he gets in his mouth. "We need to give them a bath John, can't be comfortable to sit here covered in filth. You take Austen, I'll get Aidan." Smitty says, scooping the boy into his arms and letting John take the other boy. John grabs the pup by the scruff, carefully carrying him as he follows Smitty to the bathroom, not bothered by the fact that sharing the pups names hadn't crossed his packmates mind, he always has had a one track mind when it comes to things like this.
When they reach the bathroom, Smitty sets the boy down on the toilet seat lid, trusting John with Austen as he starts setting up a warm bath. John sets the pup down on the cold tiled floor, plopping into a laying position and trying to pretend he's unaffected when the small pup flops over onto his paws and curls into his fur for warmth. Judging by the knowing look on Smittys face, he doesn't do a very good job of hiding the softness he feels for the little wolf. He huffs, averting his eyes as Smitty laughs at him, turning his gaze to the wide look of what might be jealousy or yearning on Aidans face. He rolls his eyes lightly, motioning for the boy to come lay with him with a soft chuff. The boys eyes light up, and he almost trips in his excitement as he jumps down from his seat, saved by Smitty catching him and gently chiding him for not being careful. He wiggles out of Smittys hold, shifting and burrowing into his side, tail wagging hard enough for John to be able to hear it thump on the ground.
The pups are nodding off when the bath is ready, and John carefully stands and shifts so that Smitty can have another set of hands to help him. He picks up Austen and Aidan, holding them gently to his chest, glad that both pups seem more calm now. He sets them down in the tub, chuckling when they start tumbling around with each other in the shallow tub water. Smitty shakes his head fondly, before gently scrubbing at Aidans fur when he barrels into his hands. He leaves Austen to John, who diligently ensures the pup is clean of dirt and blood, while Smitty does the same with Aidan. Once the water runs clear, they towel off the pups with warm towels, leaving them both with soft, clean fur. The warm bath leaves the two slumped over each other, having already been tired from the stress of the day, likely even longer. John shifts back into his wolf form, gently picking up Aidan and carrying him to the couch, letting the pup lounge over his legs and resting his head over his small body. It doesn't take long for Smitty, also in his wolf form, to join them with Austen held in his jaws, setting the wolf pup beside Aidan and flopping down beside John. It's a squeeze to fit two large wolves and two pups on one couch, but they make it work. They drift off like that, all thoughts of werewolf hunters and worried packmates are no longer a concern.
— — —
When the rest of the pack finally gets home, it's to a sight that they wouldn't have been able to guess even with John telling them what happened. Smitty and John curled up on the couch in their wolf forms with two pups, one with blond-white fur and the other a wolf with blackish brown fur. They look between each other for a moment, before Matt pushes ahead before anything can be said. He crouches down beside John, shaking him and Smitty awake lightly, "Smit, John, we're home. We got medical supplies for the pups, can we see them so we can help them?" John doesn't even lift his head from the couch, but begrudgingly Smitty hops down off the couch, chuffing at John to get him to follow. John rolls his eyes but jumps down to the floor too, glaring as he settles down on the rug in front of the couch. Smitty settles beside him, watching every move his packmate make as Matt sits down on the couch with the, now awake, pups. The two are spooked to see new people that they've never seen in the house, but Smitty and Johns lack of alarm keeps them from panicking.
"Hey there, you guys are the pups John told me about, why don't you two shift so we can patch you up?" Mat says, holding up a roll of gauze to show that he's not trying to trick them. The pups share a silent conversation and decide to shift, two young boys now sat on the couch with their knees pulled to their chest and untrusting eyes. Matt smiles, offering out a hand towards the two, while motioning the rest of the pack closer. To not overwhelm the two pups, Matt has them hand the medical supplies to him as he needs them. Thankfully, the boys seem to believe them when they say they want to help, and they let Matt properly clean and wrap their wounds. When they're finally cleaned up and no longer giving untrusting glances at the pack, Matt stands from the couch to give them some space, leaving feeding the likely starving pups to Smitty and John, they shouldn't test the limits of their two protective packmates.
Smitty stands and shifts, leading the two boys into the kitchen by the hand, letting them climb into whatever seat they want as he starts making a quick and easy on the stomach meal. He doesn't know how long they've been alone or if they've been without food, so it's better safe than have sick pups on their hands. He settles on a broth soup as John comes into the kitchen and lays down beside the chair the boys had decided to share. The soup is ready to serve soon after, and Smitty dishes out a decent portion for both boys, antsy the longer they are without having eaten anything. While they eat, his eyes drift up to Grizzy leaned up against the doorway, and he prepares himself for the conversation he's about to have. He leaves John to watch the boys, and follows Grizzy when the other werewolf gives him a look. When they get back to the living room it's only Puffer in there, meaning Smitty is left to convince the two more in charge members of the pack to let the pups stay, which would be difficult.
While the pack doesn't have a leader like a traditional pack does, Grizzy tends to be more of the leader and protector despite being the youngest, and Puffer is just a hardass. He knows logically that they've never had kids in the house and keeping the pups puts them in more danger if that hunter had friends, but more than that he knows that they're mostly upset that he threw himself into danger and brought back pups without involving the pack at all, and he snuck out too. Grizzy and Puffer are both sitting on the couch, Grizzy with his arms cross and a disappointed look on his face. Smittys tail tucks and his ears droop, averting his eyes in shame. Grizzy sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose before leveling Smitty with a serious look. "Smitty, I'm sure you know why we're upset, why the whole pack isn't happy. What you did was stupid and reckless, you should have at least gotten John to go with you." Smitty nods, thoroughly cowed, before raising his head to ask about what's going to happen with the pups, being stopped by Grizzy raising his hand to stop him. "I'm also sure you're wondering what we're going to do with the pups you brought back and…" Grizzy sighs, sharing a tired look with Puffer. "We figured they might as well stay, they seem attached to you and John and you two seem pretty attached to them, it would be cruel to separate you." Puffer interjects, rolling his eyes fondly when Smitty brightens considerably.
"But!" Grizzy says, stopping him before he can run off and share the good news. "Once the pups heal they need to be properly pack bonded if they want to stay. It won't prevent all our problems but it'll keep most packs away if they're a part of the pack." Smitty nods, eyes bright and tail wagging as he bolts back to the kitchen to tell John and the pups, hesitating in the doorway before he leaves. He turns back around, "Thank you, both of you." He says, before he's gone in a whirl of chaos and soft white fur before they can respond. It's more sincere than he usually is, so it's clear that these pups are important to him, they just had to hope that things turn out alright.