The Howl was so alive that night I could feel it running through my entire body, infecting me. The traders were loud and brash; the people at the bar were so excited to be here, everyone gathering with friends from other packs. It was always nice. It was the one time that we really got to come together as a community, and when there was tension rising between the humans and the werewolves, it seemed like a pretty good thing for us to be doing. Solidarity with our brothers and sisters was important, especially when there were dark times on the horizon.

I shook the thoughts from my head. There I went again, thinking about our world when we were here to have fun. I allowed my face to brighten, allowed myself to become more approachable. Everyone always said that a Howl was a great place to meet someone. A special someone. That’s what I wanted more than most.

But no one approached over the course of the evening. I spoke to a few people here and there, people I knew from other packs who had come up for the Howl but no one really stuck around. The Lakeshore Pack didn’t really interact with anyone for a lot of the evening. They’d had a lot happen recently but this was the sort of event they should be using to take their minds off it. I wondered if they were upset that we didn’t all immediately spring to their aid. Were they unaware of how much everyone else was going through with the lack of fertile mates and the killings that had been happening? I thought of the pups … and found myself having to shake it out of my head once again and turn my face into a friendly one rather than a thoughtful one. But still no one approached. And I was a little bit lonely at the bar when the auction started.

It was a lot of shouting, and I found it funny how different packs were looking for different things, whether that be in terms of warriors for their pack or people who had a specific set of skills. It was interesting to see how we could help each other when we needed to … for a price, of course.

And then I saw that boy over by the stage.

He was from Lakeshore, of that much I was certain, and I’d seen him at a few Howls before this. The Lakeshore Pack kept to themselves most of the time, so it was quite a surprise to see a couple of them on their own. They were in conversation, a woman with gray fur suddenly hugging the boy tightly, the boy not really making too much of an effort to hug her back. I wondered if they’d had bad news.

But that’s not why I noticed him. I noticed him because he looked a bit different to the other men at the Howls. Sure, he looked like a Lakeshore by the way he acting, how he was slightly cagey around people and a lot aloof, but his face was … what other way could I put it than different? While so many of the others opted for beards and looking rugged and masculine most of the time, he seemed content with his boyish looks and soft eyes. I was sure he’d seen me at some point. I wondered if one of my angrier thinking faces had scared him off. I sincerely hoped not.

Before every Howl I told myself I was going to pluck up the courage and walk over to those standoffish Lakeshore wolves and speak with him like an actual person. But when it actually came to it, I always backed off. He was too pretty. And it was intimidating.

I took a deep breath. Maybe now was my chance. I tried to convince my legs to take a step forward.

Then he started towards the stage and my heart sank.

Then the auctioneer said the magic words: “fertile omega” and everyone lost their minds.

I did my best to keep track of it, knowing that they were all hungry for someone who could provide pups for them, nothing more. And I looked at him up there, looking a little thin, a little alone and a lot scared by everything that was happening and I started doing the math in my head.

My stupid nerves had stopped me from talking to him every time I saw him and now I was going to lose him to another pack. I cursed myself. My lack of confidence struck again and was about to leave me all alone if I didn’t act soon.

When there was a lull, I spoke up and blew everyone else out of the water.

No one said a damn word and I watched the boy I now knew to be Owen watching me with careful eyes, a bit of a hunger there that I certainly shared. God he was so cute.

When I stood on the stage with him, he couldn’t take his eyes off me, and I couldn’t take my eyes off him. I could see I was the envy of the rest of the Howl and that made me feel pretty good. In that moment, I’d asserted my dominance as an alpha, as the leader of the Eastwind pack. It had been for selfish reasons, and I’d spent a hell of a lot of money, a large portion of the money Dad had left me when he passed away, but I couldn’t stop myself.

I smiled at Owen. Owen smiled back. When the smile reached his eyes, it somehow erased everyone else around us, leaving us standing alone on that stage. I was struggling to catch my breath, to keep hold of my senses.

“Dante!” The voice of Raymond Klein, the Alpha of Lakeshore, pulled my focus away from Owen. He was standing a little way from the stairs, dollar signs in his eyes, the woman who had hugged Owen stood next to him. She shifted back to her human form and she looked weaker for it, withered by the world. Raymond stood awfully close to her. I wondered if Owen noticed.

“Raymond,” I said, allowing the grin to spread across my face. I hurried down, and shook his hand. “How have you been?”

Raymond pulled his hand back quickly, shaking it a little before placing it in his pocket. I’d obviously been too eager.

“Well, if you listen to any of the rumors, you’ll know that we are struggling,” he said solemnly. “Many of our pack are unwell and still healing after being attacked.”

“By humans?”

“We believe so.”

I’d heard this of course, but I wondered what proof he had of it being human. It may have sounded a little naïve but I wanted to see the best in all people, even humans. I wanted us to be able to live in harmony and, to accuse them outright, only really left us room to segregate ourselves from them further. I nodded my head, not wanting to offer too much to him.

Owen appeared at my side, a little rigid, a lot uncomfortable in his own skin. I thought it had been the pressure of the auction, but perhaps this was just how he was, always a little bit on edge, like he was waiting for the worst.

“It’s a pleasure doing business with you, Dante,” Raymond said quietly. “None of us wanted it to come to this of course. Owen has been so good with the few pups our clan has but he offered himself to this and how could we not agree. Thank you very much, your offer was quite generous.”

“I paid what I thought was required to win,” I said, not completely believing the words myself. I turned to Owen. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to speak of you like you aren’t here. We’ve not really been introduced.” I held out my hand to him, and Owen blinked like I’d said something strange. “Dante Reynolds.”

He placed his hand in mine, a little warm and clammy. Bless him, he was so nervous. “Owen Smith,” he managed with a slight smile twitching at the corners of his mouth.

He opened his mouth to speak again but quickly closed it again, offering nothing else, and the silence descended on us all too quickly.

“Um,” I stammered. “We can… we can talk more later.”

“Okay,” he said, letting out a breath, that slight smile twitching at the corners of his mouth again. “Works for me.”

“We should probably return to our camp,” I said, not sure if I was speaking to Raymond and Owen’s Mom or Owen himself, no one seemed to be all that forthcoming. “It’s getting a little late and I can imagine the day has been quite exhausting.”

“Uh, of course, yes,” Owen offered. He turned to his mom and walked forward as if to hug her. She held out her hand for a handshake and my heart twanged. I couldn’t imagine saying goodbye to my mom like that. I’d be heartbroken at having to leave her behind.

He shook his mom’s hand, then shook Raymond’s, then turned his back on them and started to walk away and towards the rest of the Howl.

“It was lovely meeting you…” I trailed off, waiting for his mom to fill in her name, but she didn’t, she simply shook my hand. “And Raymond,” I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out my checkbook. I wrote it neatly, tore it out and handed it over to him. “This is for you. A pleasure doing business.” I suddenly noticed Owen didn’t have any bags with him. “Could you send Owen’s things? Would that be alright?”

“Of course. You have no idea how much of a help this will be,” he said with a sly smile. “Thank you for your generosity, Dante.”

I waved it away. “Please, don’t mention it. It was wonderful to see you, I hope your fortunes improve.”

“As do I.”

I turned and walked, quickly catching up with Owen who was looking at a small stall that was selling handmade trinkets. Necklaces, bracelets, rings, all sorts of sparkly pieces of jewelry. I sidled up next to him, looking over his shoulder at the necklace he was holding, a small crescent moon pendant hung on a piece of leather. There was the echo of a smile on his face as he stared at it.

“That’s gorgeous,” I said softly.

He jumped and almost dropped it. He cleared his throat. “Yeah. It’s really quite beautiful. Handmade, all of it.” He looked up at me, thawing a little, maybe at my closeness, it was hard to tell.

“Wow,” I said. “I could…I could get it for you if you want?”

He visibly tensed, now nearly dropping the pendant for a different reason. He turned his face away, back to the stall, putting it back down.

“You really don’t need to buy me anything,” he said, shaking his head. “You’ve already spent enough on me this evening.”

“What if I want to?” I asked.

He shrugged, returning his gaze to me. “I can’t stop you.”

He stared at me, not letting himself blink. His eyes were the most magnificent blue, swirls of light and dark intermingling and running on endlessly. A blush crept up to the apples of his cheeks.

“I think it would look very nice on you,” I said softly.

“Then by all means…” he said, holding my gaze for perhaps a moment too long. Something passed between us, an understanding, a feeling, it was hard to say. Somehow, once again, he’d made it so there was no one else here but us. I wondered if he felt it too.

When I couldn’t take it anymore, I broke his gaze and picked up the one he had been holding and paid the woman who was behind the counter.

“Did you want it wrapped?” she asked.

“No, we’ll be just fine,” I said, turning back to Owen. “Turn around,” I added.

He did as he was told, facing away from me and pulling the back of his shirt away from his neck. I reached around, draped the necklace and tied it. My fingers were so close to the back of his neck I felt him shiver. It made me laugh and I could have sworn I heard him laugh too, even just a little.

“There,” I said, letting the leather fall from my grip.

He turned and looked down at it, dangling a little way down his chest. He gripped it in his hand and started caressing the edges of it nervously.

“Th-thank you,” he said, almost smiling again. “You honestly didn’t have to–“

“I wanted to,” I said, maybe a little too quickly. “Come on,” I carried on, “I’ll show you the camp, it’s not too far from here.”

We walked away from the Howl, bumping into a few people on the way out, a couple who congratulated me on winning Owen, a few more who looked on scornfully, like I was flaunting my prize. It wasn’t my intention to flaunt Owen around the Howl at all, but it was certainly an added benefit. The trees quickly muffled the noise as we got out of the clearing, the sounds of the merriment that had been so deafening a few moments ago suddenly vanished like they hadn’t existed in the first place. It was just another way for us to hide from the humans. Anyone passing by here (if anyone ever did) would think it was just some kids having a party, not a gathering of werewolves.

We took a forest path up through the trees and soon I could see a few pinpricks of light guiding our way. We passed a lantern that we had stuck there upon arrival and soon found ourselves in another clearing.

“Welcome to the Eastwind Pack,” I said to Owen as we stepped into it. He looked so nervous it was all I could do not to reach out and at least try and hug him. But I worried the slightest bit of movement from me would scare him off. Instead, I put my hand on his lower back and guided him in.

There were large white tents pitched around the little patch of forest, orange lights glowing inside them and lighting the dark. A few of the pack were laying out where the light of the moon could hit them, a couple snuggled up on blankets, one of them reading by the light of a lantern, a few others draped across each other and talking in hushed voices about goodness knows what.

They acknowledged me as I walked in, some of them unsubtly whispering to each other about the man I was bringing with me. I’d be whispering too if someone had walked in from the Howl with him. I looked at him walking a few paces behind me. He looked confused, utterly unsure where to look. I would say he looked borderline disgusted if I wasn’t forcing myself to believe that he wasn’t.

“Owen?” I said softly. “Owen, are you alright?”

“Me?” he said, looking at me sharply. “Oh, sure, fine, yes.” His gaze returned to Alejandro and Kristoff who were making out on the blanket outside their tent. He looked utterly dumbstruck.

I took a few steps over to him and lowered my voice. “What’s the matter?” I nudged him. “You never seen two wolves kissing before?”

“It’s not that,” he whispered, lowering his gaze to the ground. He shuffled about where he stood. “This is just…this is not like Lakeshore at all.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re not … um … We don’t …” He trailed off and shook his head, trying to dislodge the words from somewhere in there. “This is a lot friendlier than I’m used to.”

“I’m still not sure I follow,” I said, feeling like I was missing something somewhere.

“We’re a little closed off,” he said flatly. “A lot less touchy, a lot more private about our feelings … It’s a bit strange.”

I didn’t know many people from Lakeshore Pack but it explained so much about Owen suddenly. I smiled and reached out, placing my hand softly on his shoulder.

“You’ll get used to it.” I tried to make it sound welcoming but, the way his face twisted, it must have come out like more of a demand. “Really, Owen, I think you’ll learn to like it.”

“I’m not sure I’m quite who you think I am,” he said, cuddling his arms around himself and taking his eyes away from me, which felt utterly cruel. “I don’t...I don’t want you to be disappointed.”

I stepped towards him quickly, wrapping my arms around his sides. He tensed up, just for a second, but then relaxed into it and looked into my face. I smiled at him. “We’ve not even started, yet,” I said, with a light laugh. “Breathe, Owen,” I added. “It will help, I promise.”

He breathed in deeply with me, in, then out. “Better?” I asked.

He nodded. “Better.”

I kissed his forehead. “Let me show you inside.”