Luke was aware his decision would be met with outrage and disapproval. Outrage on Joe’s end and disapproval amongst the majority of elders. However, killing the young man didn’t sit well with Luke. He wasn’t entirely convinced of the boy’s guilt and was fairly certain he wasn’t acting alone now that he’d learned of his connection with Greg Bronson. Luke himself had tangled with the elder Bronson and he knew just how ruthless the father could be.

Like father, like son… in Luke’s opinion, as least as far as the Bronson’s were concerned.

But neither could he let the boy go. Joe wanted revenge and he’d get it without Luke’s help, one way or another. It was best Luke interfere and make certain he could maintain control of the situation. This boy would just be collateral damage in an unfortunate situation. Luke didn’t like involving an outsider, but he had to protect the pack and ensure this situation blew over with a minimum of complications. People went missing in the cold forests, never to be heard from again.

Dana Mitchell would just have to become one of those unfortunate people.

In truth, Luke doubted the kid would even survive what came next. He’d seen stronger men succumb.

Faced with the young man’s furious glare, Luke tilted his head, studying the younger male with an almost puppy-like curiosity. Pushing away from the desk, he knelt before the man. Luke could feel the elders’ gazes on them, watching the exchange uneasily as their leader bowed to one knee before the captive. Luke ignored them, his attention focused solely on the young man glaring at him.

Luke rose to his feet. His attention still focused on the captive, he began to pull the gray sweater he was wearing over his head.

“Hold him.” He ordered as he tossed the sweater onto his desk.

“Wha?” The kid looked about frantically. His eyes were wide, betraying the fear he tried to suppress, but they still held a certain rebelliousness in them. A rebellion that would eventually be quelled.

“No! Damn you!” Dana was fighting his captors, kicking and yelling. He even went so far as to try and bite one of them, but his frantic struggles were put to a halt when one of the men pulled his arm around to his back and held it as if to say he’d break it if Dana continued his struggles. The fight in him ceased then and the kid remained still after that. He trembled and his back bowed in an effort to relieve some of the pain in his arm, but he obeyed the silent threat.

He didn’t remain quiet, however.

He pinned Luke with a withering glare and snarled. “You crazy bastard! My father’s a cop and he’ll arrest your sorry ass!”

“Luke.” His uncle said, approaching him. “Are you certain this is the best recourse? How could you think to waste the gift of your first bite on him.”

His uncle uttered the last word as if it left a bitter taste in his mouth. The older man eyed the captive as if he could not stomach the sight of him. Even though the bite could kill if the human was not worthy of it, it was still regarded as a gift amongst the Rugaru.

“As alpha, who I choose to first bestow the bite upon is exactly that, uncle. My choice.” Luke’s tone brooked no argument and he dismissed his uncle in favor of shucking his boots. Defeated, his uncle retreated to his position beside Luke’s desk.

Normally, humans who dared to risk the bite did so while receiving comforting words in a soothing tone from would-be pack-mates, but the captive would receive nothing but hated glares and venomous whispers of what would happen to him once he became a slave. Dana remained stoic, even as his clothing was ripped away from his pale skinny body and he was left wearing nothing but a white t-shirt and boxer shorts. Either fear or the cold had him trembling so violently that the kid’s teeth chattered. One of Dana’s captors seized his hair and roughly pulled his head to the side, baring his neck for Luke’s bite.

“You’ll regret this!” Dana snarled, his lips curling to bare his teeth aggressively. The gesture was a challenging one, and one that would not do if the young man was to become a member of Luke’s pack. Even more so if he was to become a slave. It was imperative he learn his place. To be submissive.

Luke bared his own teeth in return as he allowed the beast that lay just beneath the surface to take over. Muscles rearranged to accommodate his change from human form to canine. His teeth began to elongate, ripping through his gums and staining his teeth and lips with crimson blood. His fingernails broke through the flesh of his cuticles, sharpened and turned claw-like in appearance. Bones audibly cracked underneath his skin, a sickening sound usually accompanied by screaming from the one undergoing the transformation. Luke, however, remained silent throughout it all. He’d transformed many times, and though it was just as painful this time as it had been the first, he could get through it without screaming.

A few painful moments later, the transformation was complete, and a black wolf with predatory golden-yellow eyes shook himself free of the dark wash jeans Luke was wearing only moments before. Golden eyes locked onto the boy, who stared at him with a mixture of disbelief and horror.

At least he hadn’t fainted. Yet.

Luke took a step forward, his claws clicking on the hardwood floor. He halted, lowered his head, and peered at the young man in an observing manner. Shifting his weight from one paw to the other, the wolf’s fur bristled as he snarled and growled, demanding Dana’s submission.

But the kid wasn’t aware of their customs and rituals when it came to the curse. Instead of submission, he reacted just as Luke thought he would.

“Stay away from me!” Dana screamed as his struggles begin anew. The boy fought for everything he was worth, his fingers turning into talons that scraped against the hands of one of the guards holding him in place, drawing fresh blood.

“Fuck!” The guard snarled, before correcting his hold and gripping the kid by his wrist instead.

With his arms effectively immobilized, the boy resorted to lashing out with his feet. The wolf shied away when Dana aimed his flailing feet at his head. The young man’s heel barely missed connecting with the Luke’s head, grazing soft fur. Luke snarled at the movement, letting out a threatening series of snaps and growls.

The wolf suddenly dove forward, and for a brief second Dana’s defiance melted away to reveal true fear. At the last second, the young man twisted, desperately trying to free himself from his captor’s grasp and instead of biting the boy in the juncture between his neck and shoulder – as was the custom – sharp white fangs sunk into the boy’s pale thigh just below the hem of his boxers.

Almost as soon as fang suck into flesh, Luke reared back and snarled, the taste of blood alighting his nerve endings on fire and making him crave more. Crimson blood painting his muzzle and fangs bright red. He sat back on his haunches, preparing to spring toward the terrified boy again, his teeth bared and ready to inflict further damage.

Before those blood-tainted fangs could maim again, a hand seized Luke by the scruff of his neck, and with an inhuman strength, sent him flying against the large, mahogany desk he’d been seated at only moments before. Luke yelped in pain, and scrambled to his feet, snarling and snapping at his attacker.

A slim man with long midnight black hair crouched at eye level with the wolf, having placed himself between Luke and Dana.

“Transform back, Lukas.” The man ordered harshly, calling him by his given name… the one only his mother and a handful of trusted individuals called him.

The wolf continued to snarl for a few moments. His ears lay flat against his head and his fur bristled, but he finally relented. With a whine, he settled onto his haunches, and then slowly lay down. Bones again cracked and shifted as Luke underwent the transformation once more, this time in reverse. It was just as painful to cage the beast as it was to let him out, possibly even more so. By the time Luke was again himself, he was lying on the study floor, naked and shivering with a cold sweat.

“What the hell was that?” Luke muttered hoarsely as he struggled to rise. The black-haired man stood and offered Luke his hand. Luke took it, and when he was back on his feet, someone rushed forward with a blanket to place upon his shoulders.

“First bite and mate imprinting in one?” The dark-haired man said with a quirked brow. He turned from Luke to look down at the traumatized human. The kid was obviously more than a little shaken by the experience. “I suppose it could have gone much worse.”

“Mate imprinting?” Luke rasped. “What the fuck, River? Then why the Hell did I try to take another bite out of him?”

River shrugged and they both watched as Dana writhed on the floor as if in agony. His face was flushed, his pale skin blushed with the heat that was no doubt bringing his temperature to a boiling point. The boy was rapidly entering the most critical part of the change. It was happening so fast…

River crouched and placed his palm on the young man’s forehead. Luke could tell just from looking at him that the kid was already burning up with fever, so he saw no reason for his cousin to touch him.

“The curse is taking hold fast.” River said. He turned to look up at Luke. The alpha wolf glared down at him with golden-yellow eyes, his upper lip lifted in a snarl as he stared with searing intent at River’s hand where it lay against the kid’s forehead.

“Down boy.” River chuckled at the alpha’s instinctual possessiveness.

Ignoring the answering growl, River gestured that the wolves surrounding them leave the room. When the three of them were alone, he rose to his feet and turned to face Luke, only to find the wolf’s golden gaze locked on his newly acquired mate.

“This isn’t good, Lukas.” River said carefully. “For reasons I’m sure you’re aware.”

River’s words penetrated slowly through the fog clouding Luke’s mind, but when they did, he looked at his cousin with furrowed brows.

“Way to fucking state the obvious!” Luke rubbed his jaw aggressively as he tried – unsuccessfully- to tear his gaze away from the shivering form lying on his study floor. “I’m mated to a murderer!”

River’s gaze was accessing as he studied the huddled form at their feet. “According to Joe.”

Luke eyes narrowed dangerously. “You insinuating Joe was wrong? That my decree was wrong?”

“I’m not insinuating anything.” River shrugged noncommittally.

“Then make your point.” Luke gritted the words through his teeth. He was rapidly losing patience with this whole damnable situation.

“I’m merely stating that Joe may not be aware of the whole story. If the kid was telling the truth, then he didn’t mean to kill Danny.”

“Yet, Danny’s dead.” Luke saw the futility in his anger, though. It wouldn’t help to take his frustrations out on River. With a sigh, he deflated.

“I know.” He admitted. “I thought the same thing myself. That was the whole reason I chose to go this route… cause I didn’t like the idea of killing someone who might not necessarily need killing.”

Luke was silent for a moment and River remained quiet as well, no doubt giving Luke time for it all to sink it. “Fuck! I didn’t expect this to happen.”

River chuckled. “Can’t imagine you would… Let’s refrain from arguing, yeah? Go put your little problem on that cot in the basement and we’ll have a couple of beers while we try to keep him alive through this. Focus on one problem at a time, yeah? What’ll you say?”

“Sounds productive.” Luke relented. He could really use a beer right now.