The Joining of the Wolven

Chapter 9

Ok, I know it has been forever since I last updated, (three years!) but all I can do is apologize and ask people to forgive me. I have been incredibly busy with getting through college, student teaching, searching for a job that it hasn't left much time for writing which I really miss doing. I also was really stuck with where I wanted to take Sophia and Luke in the story since it was getting to such a pivotal point. So I decided to watch the episodes again and am starting to get that drive back to finish my story. I decided to continue the John and Ruby aspect of the story, and hopefully will be able to tie them in with what Sophia and Luke are doing. So I hope you keep reading, reviewing and have a great day!

Ruby opened her eyes the morning after Sophia and Luke left and looked around at John's cabin. To say it was lived in would have been an understatement. The floor was covered with dirty clothes. Used dishes were piled up in the kitchen sink. Who knew what the outside of the cabin looked like. In their delight of being back together she and John had been virtual hermits only staying with each other for every second of the day moving from the bed, to the shower, to the kitchen and back again. They hadn't even gone running together in the forest even though Ruby could tell John wanted to. She was too afraid that Tyler would send one of his cronies to jump them and John would get hurt. Now though she had to admit, their food supply was getting low and they would have to go back to civilization to replenish it.

She rolled over and looked at John who was seemingly asleep on his back his chest slowly rising and falling again. Ruby kissed him gently on the lips and watched John for a second to see if he would react in any way. "John are you awake?"

"Ugh!" Was the groan that came back. "Ruby I love you but even with my new super strength I need some rest. Not now."

She giggled for a second before sitting up. "No sweetie we need to talk about something."

John's eyes snapped open immediately. "I've been waiting for this. You're leaving me for Sherman. I knew this was too good to be true." He teased.

"No." Ruby managed to get out between her laughter. "I need to talk to you about the situation regarding our food supply."

"Oh yeah right before you jumped me last night I noticed we were starting to run low."

"I think just all we have left is a box of cereal, some brown bananas, and some moldy bread."

"No bread, I threw it out for the birds last night when you were in the shower." John informed her and gave her a little smile.

Ruby sighed. "Well I guess that's that. We need to go grocery shopping."

"Yes. If I am going to keep up my strength for when we do what we did last night, and yesterday morning, and yesterday afternoon, and…"

"I get it!"

"We are going to have to go to town."

Ruby and John were silent as they imagined the things that could happen when the pack saw them together and realized what John had changed into. Tyler attacking was among Ruby's thoughts, while mass hysteria was among John's.

"Well." John took in a deep breath and let it out again. "Sherman and the sheriff know about us, maybe I will give them a call and they can run interference for us."

"I know Matt will." Ruby agreed. "He may seem like a loyal member of the pack, but I know he understands wanting to be with the person you love. Everyone thought he was crazy for giving up his place as alpha of the pack for a human, but I understand exactly what he went through. He's a good man."

"I know he is." John agreed and pulled Ruby down onto his chest. "I think maybe we should take my bike in as well."

"What?"

"I figure with most of the pack not knowing what is going on, it will cause less of a scandal if we ride in on my bike rather than transforming when we reach town."

"Your right." Ruby agreed and tried to snuggle closer. She was silent a moment longer before speaking. "All right I guess we better get up and get this over with."

"Ok you want to jump in the shower while I call Matt?"

"You don't want to join me?"

"No I know what will happen if we go in their together. We will end up not going anywhere today except back here and as much as I love that idea my stomach is starting to growl and I would like something to eat!" John announced and picked Ruby up from the bed. "Now my dear I will gladly carry you to the bathroom so that you can make yourself perfect and I will call Matt and check on my bike."

John quickly dropped Ruby to the floor of the bathroom and with a smile walked out to the kitchen where his cell phone was still sitting three days later after he originally put it there in the charger.

Deputy Molly answered after the first ring and John had to try and calm the nerves he was getting before he started talking.

"Wolf Lake police department, Deputy Springer speaking. How can I help you?"

"Hi Molly its John."

"Well well you are alive. I heard you got a pretty bad case of the flu, it's a good thing we weren't busy."

"Yeah good. Tell me does Sherman make his special soup for everyone who gets sick in this town?"

"Oh yeah. I had some when I was six, thought I was a fairy princess for three days. My parents had to keep me from jumping out the window a couple of times."

"Great, I'll have to watch for after affects. Is Matt in? I need to talk to him about something."

"Sure, just a second let me call him."

"Thanks." John said and then heard Molly yell across the room. "Hey Matt, John Kanin on the phone for you."

"Thanks Molly I'll take it in my office." Two seconds later Matt Donner picked up the phone and said in a teasing voice "Hello lover boy, you made me loose the bet."

"Bet?"

"I wasn't expecting to hear from you for another few days, I now owe Sherman 50 bucks."

"Well I am sorry I couldn't accommodate you." John laughed. "I just wanted to let you know Ruby and I are planning on coming to town today. Were running low on food and figured we would get some things before heading back out here."

"You think that's a good idea?"

"I know it will stir up some things in town, but I am hungry and I don't know about you but I am not desperate enough to go out to the woods and hunt down a deer or bunny rabbit or something."

"All right I hear you I will make sure to swing by the dinner around 11:00 today. I know Sherman will be there."

"He will?"

"Yes I swear there are things we don't know about that crazy man. He seemed to imply that I would be joining him for lunch later even though he knew I had brought something with me."

"Well with all I have seen in the past few days I don't think I could be surprised by anything anymore."

"Yeah I can imagine. I'll see you and Ruby later."

"Thanks Matt."

"The showers free." Ruby called as John hung up. "Did you talk to Matt?"

"Yes he's going to swing by the diner later."

"Good, I will feel a whole lot better if Matt is there to run interference." Ruby said and sat down to brush the tangles out of her long hair.

They were both quiet for a few seconds and then John bravely broke the stillness to say, "Well I will jump in the shower and then we can go."

"All right."

Thirty minutes later they were driving away from the cabin on the back of John's motorcycle comfortably chattering away, Ruby clinging to John as though she was afraid he would be taken from her at any second. They both grew silent as they got closer to town. Their playful banter became nonexistent as they thought of the things that could happen when people realized what had happened to John. Ruby knew the older more traditional members of the pack would have trouble accepting John for what he had become, and she was afraid of what that rejection might lead to.

John could see it as soon as they started to make their way down Main Street. Every skinwalker on the street and even those inside the different shops stopped to look. Everyone in Wolf Lake knew of John Kanin's search for Ruby Cates and his pledge to not leave town until he had her in tow, they just didn't think they would ever actually see them together like two mates in heat.

"Let's stop by the station and see if Matt is there before we go to the diner." John suggested and drove on.

"Ok." "Ruby agreed. "I can already see it happening. Gossip travels faster than you could ever imagine here. Within a half an hour everyone will know you flipped and we are together again."

"I'm not surprised it would happen that quickly with how you described the central mind link thing. I said it before and I will say it again that whole connected mind thing is creepy."

"Well at least we can choose who we want to talk to and when."

"Yeah and what you want to keep a secret to. I always knew there were secrets in this town, before a few days ago though I don't think I could have imagined what kind of secret it turned out to be." John admitted as he pulled to a stop in the parking lot of the police station. "Well here goes nothing." He sighed and pulled the door open so he could enter hand in hand with Ruby.

"Hello you two it's good to see you actually made it out door." Matt teased. "When Marie and I were first married we spent the first two weeks locked up in our house and we weren't redecorating."

"Ew Matt. As much as I respect you, I don't want to hear stories like that." Ruby exclaimed while John laughed.

"Well what do you say to some lunch?" Matt asked. "I'm pretty sure Sherman is going to meet us there, I'm sure he can't wait to make the situation more uncomfortable than it already is."

"Yeah he has a talent for that." John agreed as he walked hand in hand out of the police station. "And yet he's got some sort of weird sarcastic Indian thing going on."

"What do you mean?" Matt asked as they walked down the sidewalk.

"I don't know, the first night I arrived in town I went to the diner. He was the only one there he said some weird things about Buddhism and being an Indian, told me to watch out for Rusty and when I turned around to thank him he had disappeared."

"He's been doing crazy things like that ever since I was little." Ruby piped up. "I remember the keeper before Sherman was almost as strange. He would say all these cryptic things and scare me. Of course I was a child at the time."

"There was a keeper before Sherman?" John asked.

"Of course were not invincible." Matt said. "When one of us dies we have to pass on the secrets of the pack to the future generations. That's why it was so tense a few weeks ago when Willard died. He was our alpha and the night of the canary meeting we were really voting to see who was going to be the next alpha. Sorry Ruby." Matt expressed.

"That's all right Matt, I know he was sick." Ruby assured him. "John did you know when he was a young male everyone thought Matt would take over as alpha and marry Vivian."

"Really what happened?"

"I met Marie, Sophia's mother. When I met her everything to do with the pack seemed unimportant and all that mattered was my life with her."

"Did she know you were a skinwalker?"

"Yes. I told her right after we got engaged. She was incredible about it. She even tried to talk me into going back to the pack, but I told her I made up my mind and she was stuck with me."

"She sounds like she was an incredible woman."

"She was. She left to soon though."

"I'm sorry Matt."

"It's all right. Before she died she gave me Sophia and I think I got pretty lucky there."

"I'd agree with that, Sophia has done wonders with Luke."

Matt was silent as Ruby's words soaked in and he tried to hide the smile forming on his face.

"Wait what's this I see? You actually like my little brother!"

"You're seeing things." Matt said the smile completely spread across his face.

"Oh come on Sherriff, you can't hide this from us." John teased.

"All right I'll admit he's not as bad as he used to be. But I'm chalking it up to my daughter."

"Well well if it isn't our local lovebirds." Sherman said in a loud voice from his usual booth at the back of the diner. Of course everyone turned around and the chatter on the pack public link picked up ass gossip spread like a wildfire.

"How long do you think we will be the big news of the town?" John asked the frustration in his tone evident. He had always been a private person, hated being in the spotlight and the constant whispers and stares were quickly getting to him.

"Don't worry, I'm sure someone else will flip soon and the big question will be who will fight over that person."

"Or knowing her you two will be the news for the next week." Matt said.

"What?" Ruby asked and everyone looked to the diner entrance where Vivian Cates was watching them. The dinner grew absolutely silent at the sight of the alpha. It was an ominous sight and no one could deny feeling the tension around the restaurant. As soon as Vivian started walking John felt like he was being hunted and the female coming towards him wanted his blood.

"Good morning Vivian." Matt broke the silence. "Would you care to join us?"

"Thank you." She briefly said and sat down in the chair Matt pulled up for her. "Well I guess there's no point in chit chat so let's get right to it. I did not believe it when I heard over the public link that John Kanin, human John Kanin, had turned into a skinwalker. Why would I, he was just a simple human who was getting too close to the pack because of his obsession with my stepdaughter."

"Well as you can see things have changed." Ruby spat out keeping a glare on Vivian.

The tension between the adults at the table was radiating out and threatened to engulf the whole diner, but was suddenly cut by the sound of Sherman sucking the last bit from his empty cup. "Oh don't mind me." Sherman apologized for his interruption with a wicked grin on his face. "You know I love a good drama. Just keep going, I'll watch from here. Isn't it great living in a soap opera Matt? All the drama makes me tingly!"

"Sherman now is not the time to be a jokester, we have a serious situation going on." Vivian scolded.

"Vi Vi, there's too much stress when you are being serious. Trust me it is more beneficial to my health and yours if I live my life like a party. So let's all live it up shall we?!" Sherman suggested and held up his glass. "Oops I'm empty excuse me while I get a refill. Don't discuss anything important until I get back."

No one could deny hearing the threat in his voice. It was especially scary coming from a man who was so mysterious and cheerful all of the time.

"Yup there is definitely something different about that man." John finally spoke up.

"What?" Vivian asked even more annoyed.

"We were talking before about the fact that Sherman is annoyingly mysterious."

"Well I will agree with you on that. He has some information regarding the pack that I would like to know. He claims he needs to keep it secret."

"So what did I miss?" Sherman interrupted and sat back down in his spot.

"We were just talking about you and your secrets." Vivian spat out.

"Oh really!" Sherman exclaimed giddy like a school child on the first day of summer vacation. "Secrets are fun to have aren't they? It's like keeping a part of yourself that no one can see. You know what though, since we are all family, I will tell you one thing." Everyone sat in anticipation of what Sherman would say. "When I was 11, my secret ambition was to be a professional rodeo clown."

Matt, Ruby and John laughed out loud; grateful Sherman had helped take away the tension but Vivian turned towards him her eyes livid.

"Sherman…"

"Now Vivian," Matt quickly interrupted. "Calm down, Sherman's right. You get too stressed out being serious all the time. Now let's all calm down and discuss things like adults."

"Fine." Vivian then turned to Ruby. "We need to address the issue of your husband and the fact that you are not keeping his company."

"Vivian I am sure you are aware of the old rules of the pack. A female, especially a white female, has the right to choose who her mate is."

"I am aware of that law, but you seemed to have forgotten that in front of witnesses you legally married Tyler."

"I am aware of that but that was only a business merger that can easily be annulled. Besides John defeated Tyler in combat, so now I belong to him."

Vivian was silent as she looked back and forth between Ruby and John. "Is he dead?" She slowly asked.

"No." John answered. "The last I saw of him though he was dragging his sorry carcass off into the forest."

"How do I know you are telling the truth?"

"He is Vi." Matt interjected. "I was there for the fight and I was the only thing that kept John and Tyler from killing each other."

"I haven't heard his voice over the central link how can you be sure?"

"Vivian Tyler's probably hiding out in the forest afraid someone would find out he was beat by a newborn." Sherman spoke up. "Boy it's a good thing you guys are werewolves and not vampires. We'd be having real problems if you were."

Everyone just stared at him.

"What? I'm just saying."

"Anyway." Matt interrupted the silence. "I think it is pretty clear Ruby has chosen John, his father's blood had made him member of the pack, and the bigger issue now is how will two white wolves effect the future of Wolf Lake."

"In the ancient logs handed down from keeper to keeper there is a prophecy concerning this issue." Sherman spoke all laughter gone from his voice.

"What is it?" Vivian asked as she leaned forward in anticipation.

In the night when the light disappears and the stars start to fall,

One shall become two and unite the broken.

"Unite the broken?" John asked what does that mean.

"Hundreds of years ago when the pack decided their way of life was being threatened in Austria, they decided to come to the new land which was said to be full of lush hills and wide spread forests for you all to run in. They jammed the whole pack, which was rather large at the time, into two ships and set sail for America." Sherman explained, quickly telling the story that had been passed down from keeper to keeper for generations. "They had almost made the west coast when a squall picked up, records say it was the worst of the year, and the ships got separated. The ship carrying the Wolf Lake pack landed in modern day Washington and when no ship showed up after waiting one month went in land to found Wolf Lake."

"Wait a minute," Ruby interjected, "Are you telling me there is another pack out their somewhere?"

"Yes. The story of the other pack members was passed down for a few generations but then the elders decided for whatever reason not to pass it on and the story has only been kept alive by the records of the keepers before me. I have been doing some research though, and believe I have found the location of the other pack."

"Incredible." John said as Sherman finished.

"What do you mean by research?" Ruby asked.

"Jonas Winn, the keeper who was two before me, started collecting newspaper articles when it started to be distributed widely. In a little town in Vermont called New Glarus, there is a large amount of wolf activity and even though it is not the same elevation as Alaska the moon seems to stay full for the whole year. When Sophia flipped, I put the pieces together and took a chance that that is where the other pack members are."

"And that is where Sophia and Luke are right now." Matt interjected looking at Vivian.

"Yes, I received a call from Luke shortly before the news about Mr. Kanin was passed on. I was going to come and tell you Matt as soon as I figured things out here." Vivian told Matt. "They arrived yesterday and were going to look more around town to see if they could figure anything out."

"Did he say anything else?" Matt asked.

"Only that besides being jostled around by pot holes and sick of being in the car they were fine and would call again soon."

"They didn't say anything else?" Ruby jumped in before Matt could ask another question.

"No we will just have to wait for their next call and any news they may have."

"I wonder what that call will bring."

No one knew, but they were sure the call would bring change not only to their lives but to all of Wolf Lake.

Oh my gosh! I can't believe I finally finished the next chapter in my story. Sorry it took so long. As always please read and review, I love to get your feedback, it gives me the drive to keep writing. Thanks and Have a Great Day!