The Beast Within

Luca

"I hate this place sometimes," I mumble to my clownfish, Tiny. Who just swims around, not a care in the world.

"Wow, aren't we just feeling the love. Right Ty," my big brother's baritone voice teases.

"Yeah, man. It's really thick in the air," Tyler's voice replied.

Jumping up so fast, my chair gets knocked over. But it's not important, I just hug my brother tightly. "BRANDON!"

"Hey, baby bro. I missed you," Brandon says in a longing voice. I just embrace him even tighter for a few more seconds.

Brandon has been away on alpha training for three full years now, he'll be taking over our pack very soon. He'll definitely surpass dad as alpha. His combat and tactical skill, along with his brute strength make him the perfect replacement for our pack. Add his rugged good looks, and that's just a bonus. Standing lean, yet very muscular at 6'2. Black silky hair, that brings out his light blue eyes---the only identical thing we share. In all honesty, it's his perfect chiseled face that gives off the bad-boy vibe, which he sorta is that drives persons crazy.

"Hey, Ty. I missed you too,” I greet his best friend, Tyler, equally in glee.

Grabbing me in a headlock. "Me too kid. I see you're still a cutie," Tyler says, pinching my cheeks making me pout and Brandon snickers. Some brother he is. I scoff.

Just then, my phone pings. Taking it out of my side, jeans pocket, I see it's a text message from Destiny.

Destiny: Hey Luca, so listen. You, me and Demon are gonna have a fun night come Saturday. Not sure what the hell we'll be doing, but I know we can make it epic. Okay? I'll be off the phone grid for a while. Let's just say my Grandma Sara and Aunt Martha aren't' happy about me punching that tramp. Uncle Blue, however, is freaking awesome. So shit, I gotta go. See you tomorrow, dork.

I chuckle. Jesus. This girl is something else, I swear.

"I've never seen you smile so brightly before. What's up?" Brandon asks while Tyler tilts his head in curiosity, waiting for my reply as well.

"I've got a friend!” I beamed. “She's pretty new here, but she's awesome. Her name is Destiny and she has a big ass dog named Demon," I add. They both chuckled saying she's my ‘crush’. Shaking my head, I sit down on the edge of my bed.

"No guys, it's not like that,” I argued. “She gives off this friendly, yet ruthless vibe. Her aura is nothing I've ever experienced before. When I'm with her, I feel protected and a sense of protectiveness towards her. I don't know how to really explain it."

They look at me in awe, but I didn't get to say more since both Tyler and Brandon phones went off. Giving their device a quick glance, they both frown extremely annoyed. "The hell! Can't a man get a break before shit starts to go down,” Brandon grumbles. “Come on Luca, that was dad. He says a meeting is called by Jonas,” he informs me.

"Same here. I wonder why the Hunter's called this meeting," a confused Tyler mumbles.

“I don't know bro, but it better be good,” Brandon replied.

****

“Jonas. Why the hell are we all here? And who do you think you are, summoning us?" my dad snaps both angry and annoyed. It takes a lot for my dad to be angry. So he really hates Jonas Hunter. But don't we all.

The Hunter's are a set of sadist people, including every single high-ranking member of their pack. They treat the weaker members like crap and let's not start on how they treat witches. All except for the Michelson family of course.

"Why don't you ask your freak of a son," he says with a huge smirk looking in my direction.

"Watch your mouth," an angry Tyler warns before anyone could jump to conclusions.

"What do you mean? Ask my brother," Brandon retorts with a glare.

Jonas smirks even bigger, yet evilly. "Hawthorne," is all he says, and the room suddenly becomes quiet, and equally tense.

What's that all about? Who's Hawthorne? And why does that name sound so familiar?

"What the bloody hell Hunter! You call this meeting to play fucking mind games!" a livid, Alpha DeLuca bellows.

Damn, he's one scary guy when angry. He's been so quiet I almost forgot about his presence.

"Oh sorry. I mean Destiny Hawthorne," Jonas states with a smug grin plastering on his face. Man. The dude's ego is really boosting him some luck.

Immediately, my brother and Tyler along with everyone else look at me, questioningly. Oh no. Dammit, Hunter!

"What does that have to do with my son? The Hawthorne's have been dead for years," stated my mom.

"Oh, my son says differently. After all, your son is friends with her." Jonas replied, making everyone look wide-eyed at me and I honestly don't get what's the big deal about Destiny.

"Yeah. He was all buddy-buddy with her. She even knocked Bianca out cold and threatened Watkins that she'll do much worse than breaking his fingers." That piece of shit, Steven, decides to finally speak up.

“You're testing my patience boy!” Alpha DeLuca snaps.

"No, impossible! That can't be. The Hawthorne's were destroyed and the last of them was wiped out from the phase of the earth, eighteen years ago." Tyler's dad says shock.

"What are you playing at, Hunter," Dante demands.

Revealing a remote, Jonas clicked on a button, turning off the lights in the room. A picture illuminates on the huge TV screen and sure enough, it's a picture of Destiny and Demon in the park.

Alpha DeLuca gets up in total shock, moving towards the screen. It's like he's in a trance of some kind. Touching the face of Destiny, his eyes begin to water.

What the hell is going on?

"Looks awfully familiar, doesn't it," Jonas taunts. "We need to get rid of her," he counters. That statement took Alpha DeLuca out of whatever trance he was in because his natural stormy-silver eyes are now pitch black.

Somehow his comment made both my wolf and I very angry, and a wave of unknown rage surfaced. Leaping up from where I'm sitting, banging my fist on the table, startling everyone.

"You touch her and I'll kill you. You fucking asshole," I growl, my canines baring. I've never felt such an intense feeling of anger and the desire to protect someone before. "You do not want to wake the beast within me, Hunter!" I declared rather coldly as my own voice sounds different.

Everyone stares wide-eyed and shocked at my outburst. I've never really talked unless spoken to so I can understand their surprise. While Tyler and Brandon look at me in awe, my dad stares at me in pride. After all, I'm also the son of an alpha.

"Calm down baby and tell us about this Destiny," my mom says sweetly, effectively calming me down. My anger quickly vanishes and I beam like a lunatic. My mom tends to do that a lot.

"She's kind, but stern, and also very feisty,” I informed them, Alpha DeLuca has his full attention on me.

“She's an even better friend," I state with pride and my mom smiles brightly. "We met a couple of blocks away from school, she gave me a ride. Before that, Destiny helped clean my bloody nose and claimed I was her guide since she's new to the school. And since she's new, we sat at Martin's table during lunch. He came over and the only reason why Destiny even threatened Watkins was the fact that he was going to hit me like before. She defended me then knocked out Bianca because she was talking shit," I finished explaining in one go.

My parents along with Brandon and the Greyson's growls.

"They touched you," my mom mutters calmly, yet deadly. Oh shit. That's not just the motherly instincts inside of her, that's also the Luna within, wanting to protect her pack member.

The air is so tense, you'd need to cut it with a knife as its thickness gets overbearing. My phone instantly rings throughout the tense air and I've never been more grateful, answering the call quickly and blindly, not looking at the caller ID.

"Luca Fucking Parker! Do you know how long I've been waiting here, waiting for your scrawny ass to show up!? Ugh, if I have to stand here a minute longer, your ass will be walking to school for the rest of this month." Destiny's very annoyed voice rings throughout the room, my parents looking at me in amusement. As if this is funny.

"I... I..." I stutter a bit.

"Shit. Luca, are you okay? You know I'm only kidding, right?" Destiny states, worriedly. My dad gives an okay nod and I smile.

"I'm sorry, Destiny. I have to go. I got caught up in something rather important," I apologize totally forgetting about our study date.

"It's not that blond prick, is it? Did he touch you? I swear. I will make him dickless if it's the last thing I do," she growls and I snicker.

"No. My big brother, Brandon, is home and I'm catching up with him. I'll see you tomorrow?” I ask, hesitantly.

"Oh okay. I know how big brothers are. German is a whiny prick for my attention when he's home too. Okay, baby boy. I'll see you tomorrow," she coos.

I huff and she laughs, hanging up before I can reply. We're the same age, woman. I wanted to say out loud.

"I so want to meet this girl," my mom says, all giggly.

"Yeah. Sounds like a handful," Tyler chuckles.

If only he knew.

"If I remember correctly, this has nothing to do with us, nor Tyler's family," my dad states the obvious.

"I agree. Whatever you're up to Jonas, the Greyson's and the Parker's will not back you," Tyler's dad declares. And with that said, we walk out.

******

"Dad, what happened years ago with Destiny's family?" I ask as soon as we're back home. I'm just too curious.

He sighs before answering.

"They were mostly extinct up until eighteen years ago. Bridgette DeLuca along with Leona Hunter had Edith Hawthorne beaten and burned alive. We thought her daughter, Maureen was in that fire too, but obviously, that's not true. They were the only two living Hawthorne we knew back then, and they were nice.” He says with a fond smile as if remembering something.

“Destiny is a copy of her mother in the looks department. Her hair, height, and body built. It's just that I can't tell her natural eye color,” he mumbles.

“What do you mean?”

“She's wearing contact lenses in that photo. There's a small glimmer in the picture, it's caused whenever the camera lens comes in contact with fake eye contacts.” he finishes.

A lump begins to form in my throat. Destiny's family was almost extinct. She has no relatives.

"But she has a Grandmother named Sara, and what about Blue and Martha." I suddenly remember.

"Oh yeah? I'm not familiar with her. As for Blue and Martha, they were always accepting of the family. The Hawthorns was once a powerful witches son. It is said their bloodline comes from one of the pure sister witches of time, but over the years, their power watered down and they were branded slaves by order of the werewolf council. So to say, and their own kind shunned them after some time after that."

Not wanting to talk about it anymore, I bid goodnight to my dad and head upstairs to shower and sleep.

******

No matter how I tried, I couldn't sleep. Rolling around endlessly in my bed, back and forth. I just couldn't fall asleep. Destiny's family history keeps playing on my mind, and for some reason, I feel guilty. Getting out of bed, I walk towards my window and open it. Shrugging off my pajamas, I jump outside naked, shifting mid-air.

Landing on all fours, I shake out my brown fur and take off into the nearby woods.

My destination was unknown, and I'm actually surprised I ran this far from home because I'm on Demon Warriors territory. However, I'm not worried that I crossed over into another alpha's land, we're allies after all.

Slowly, I followed the familiar aura, and soon enough I was standing outside of Blue's Cafe. Trudging around to the side, a bedroom window is opened, and that's when Destiny’s aura surrounds me like a comforting blanket. It seemed that her presence was what I needed because my eyelids felt as if they were tied down with strings.

What my dad said is still fresh in my mind, but no matter what, I'll kill before anyone hurts my best and first true friend. With that in mind, I more than welcome the beautiful darkness.

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