[SRuiz]

He probably did not have to answer Leo's former question about who he exactly was as Dennis just revealed his name from outside the room. He watched as the other flinched away as the light came on. Was it that bright? He found no problem with it, but maybe that was just him. He still had a few things to think about. He listened as Leo began to explain his previous engagement. The thought of being on a computer bored him, so he lulled that bit of information out.

"Breed with a male?" Now that had him perplexed about the entire situation. "I kind of hate to break it to you, but you have the wrong parts for breeding..." He shook his head as he realized what he just said. "You said breeding? How do you know about that?" He thought to put two and two together as he mostly had seen the male around a posse of the hunters, especially with that brown haired bastard of a man. "You're not one of those hunters are you!?" He shook his head. "Nevermind that. Who are you?" He walked around the bed to see if Leo had any clothes lying on the floor. The second he got him out of his room, the condo itself, possibly even his life, the sooner he could blur out what just happened. "We didn't do anything did we?" They were both naked in the bed for a while, but he could not rule out it was just a drunk night gone wrong.

[star478]

"M-my name's Leo," Leo said in reply. "Those hunters are my family, but I was never really into the whole hunting thing."

Leo then remembered about the night he shot the deer, or so his Uncle told him. Leo didn't believe his Uncle anyhow.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to kill anyone," Leo said tears beginning to form somehow knowing he probably did something wrong. "My Uncle told my to shot at this brown lump of fur, and I did as he said because I didn't want to make him angry. I didn't want to, but I did anyhow. My Uncle went to get the carcass and when he came back, he had a deer carcass, which didn't look anything like the brown lump of fur that I saw through the scope of the gun. I'm sorry. So, so very sorry. I didn't mean to.

"As far as doing anything, I don't think we did anything in here. But it's so fuzzy that I can't remember all that well."

[SRuiz]

"Leo huh?" The name was nice, but what he said afterwards was what had intrigued him with annoyance. "So you're with them then?"

The thought of wanting to get even on prey like him at that moment crossed his mind, but he ignored it as the male began to make some kind of plea of sorts. He talked of how his uncle made him pull a trigger, found a dead deer. "Wait..." His mind recalled the nights back to what he had saw. He remembered setting his gaze on Brad hefting away a large deer while his mate's carcass rested on the ground almost nearby. "You killed her?" Tears almost formed at his eyes as he neared the Leo, intent on slashing his throat clear across the room until his nose picked up a scent. Instead, he yanked Leo closer to him for him to get a better whiff of the male. He smelled really good, except the fact that he did not smell like he was in heat anymore, but more so like he was past the stage. That had to mean he was either pregnant or something else. Instead, his once hostile stance changed. "Don't worry about it..."

He turned him around without his consent to examine his body fully. "Maybe not in here, but we certainly got busy. I can smell me all over you plus that there's a dark imprint on your back...." He stopped as he did not seriously think he would mate with a male. A human at that, though that was becoming debatable as he smelled different. "I got to get you back home before they worry and start a mass murder..." He wasted no time, opening his closet. "Take a shower and find something to wear. We need to go in a few..." He had to find Damian because everything was becoming a little bizarre for his own liking.

[star478]

"I'm sorry!" Leo squeaked as Brayden angrily closed in on him and put his hands over his head defensively. When Brayden suddenly said to not worry about it, Leo removed his hand and looked at Brayden puzzled. "Huh?"

Leo then didn't move as Brayden turned him around and began examining his body, his cheeks beginning to turn red.

"I don't know what you are looking for," Leo said as his blush got darker, "but my body isn't that interesting to look at."

Leo then became even more puzzled at Brayden's next statement.

"You can smell you on me?" Leo asked confused as he watched Brayden open the closet. "What do you mean by that? Why would my family start a mass murder? It's not like I'm that important anyhow. I'm just a failure in my Uncle's eyes."

[SRuiz]

"Don't worry about it. Get you out of my hair soon enough and you can get on with life..." He had no idea what happened, but he was certain the mark and whatever happened would wear off eventually. There was no need to share any form of information with a stranger at that. "Oh your family and a few others think you are very important. Very important to the point they would kill to make sure you or anyone else of theirs were back and safe."

He walked off, being very discrete about everything that was going on. "Are you going to keep asking questions or are you going to get dressed or something?" It was brash, but his nerves were already working, making him agitated than he already was. "No one went out with you did they?" He turned his television on, turning to the news channel. With no kind of report of anyone missing so far, the male sighed in relief. Throughout the entire predicament, he had to wonder what would force him to have sex with another male. Usually he would tear into the other person if they were not of the opposite sex.

"Why do you think you're a failure?"

[star478]

Not wanting Brayden to become more agitated than what he already was, Leo slowly climbed out of bed and, with the comforter wrapped around him, slowly made his way to the closet. He only moved slowly so as to not...well, he wasn't exactly sure why but he did anyhow.

"Not that I'm aware of, no," Leo said as he dropped the comforter on the floor once he reached the closet and began searching through Brayden's clothing, eventually picking out underwear, socks, a shirt, pants and a pair of shoes and put on.As he exited the closet with the clothes on, he picked up the comforter and placed back on the bed. "I'm a failure because....because....well, because I don't like to shoot animals that are the ancestors of the animals we call our pets: wolves and big, wild cats. Reminds me too much of their domesticated cousins."

Leo sat down on the floor at the foot of the bed cross legged.

"I think my Uncle was lying when he said I only shot a deer," Leo said quietly. "I think I shot a wolf."

[SRuiz]

Brayden watched as Leo began to roam around the room. He thought hard about what he could say to the other male. "Killing a wolf is a bit of an understatement...." he could understand Leo's thought of not wanting to harm animals. He would do the same if it was in his nature, but for something like him, that was impossible. He confirmed to Leo that he killed something, but he did not want the male to think he was a murderer if he told him he killed someone instead.

"When I said I smelled me on you, I meant you smell like sex..." it confirmed that they did have sex last night, but why was it all a blur to him. He saw Leo sitting on the floor, prompting him to rise off the bed. "Well time to head out" he grabbed the keys and began to head towards the door. He had to get him back as fast as possible as he was unsure of what would happen if they dawdled around any longer. On his way out towards the back road where his truck was parked, the smell of blood hit his nose. It was not fresh, but it was certainly there. He began to sniff around until he noticed a large pile of tattered clothes hidden under various garbage. Easing his way over slowly, the male noticed an arm rolling out covered in various cuts.

[star478]

Leo sighed. Yet another person beating around the bush, not wanting to explain everything to him. He then blushed when Brayden practically confirmed that they had sex last night, but, like Brayden, Leo couldn't remember anything either.

Leo sighed and stood up to follow Brayden. When Brayden began going a different direction, Leo followed. He then gagged and turned away when he saw the arm covered in various cuts. It may just be an arm, but Leo knew those hands anywhere. It was Trevor. Well, what's left of him anyway.

"Nononononono," Leo said tears beginning to form in his eyes. "That's my friend! What happened to him?"

Suddenly, bits of memories from last night returned to Leo: running out of the cabin aand into the snow, stumbling into the forest, Trevor grabbing Leo's arm...Leo collapsed to the ground sobbing. "He followed me. He folowed me into the forest and was killed. It's my fault that he's dead. All my fault."

[SRuiz]

Brayden crouched down hearing the sound of Leo crying as he recognized the face himself. The same face of the other male that was usually with Leo. "He's not dead..." He began to move all the junk away from the male's body as he stared at the almost pale figure fully. He was covered in large cuts and wounds with a broken arm from the looks of it, but for some reason none of them were truly deep enough to have caused him to bleed out. The small bruise to his head was probably what had him out cold. He knelt closer towards the other male, a faint breath hitting his ears. He began to pick up the male's body carefully. "Help me get the door."

The male was against telling Leo -The Stranger as he now dubbed him- anything, but if that was his friend, he had to say something. "Whoever did this must have been a rookie. Judging from the looks of it, I'd say whoever found him finished the deed, realized he was not what they were looking for and left him to whatever else was out there...I'd say that fire in that can over there kept him warm a little" He pointed at the can the usual hobos gathered around at night. Why was his body there was his own question to ask. It was as if someone was trying to frame him. Because the male's body had too many scents on him, especially his (Trevor's) own, which reeked of sweat and sex as well, he could not tell who was responsible for it. "We'll get him some help. We should keep him warm for now though."

Brayden did not want to tell him that the only source of warmth that was coming off the male -which helped to keep him barely alive through the harsh weather in the following night- was actually because of the assailant's large amount of semen inside him. "Let's tend to these things and hope he has a better chance." He placed the bloody male on his bed, knocking on two of the other doors in the room. After explaining the situation, Cassandra walked into his room but not before asking Dennis to bring various items. The door was closed shut as Brayden looked at Leo. "So...the cafe sounds good right about now..."

He grabbed Leo's hand and began to jerk him away from the building, leading him to the bottom floor where the cafe resided. To him, it was no big deal of seeing a corpse or an almost dead one for that matter. He had a lot of things to explain to Leo and he could not do that without having his favorite mix. Robust Coffee mixed with Brandy. At the rate he was going, he was going to have more of a headache than he realized.

[star478]

"He will be soon," Leo said sniffing but did as Brayden told him to do. Leo followed Brayden, who was carrying Trevor's nearly dead body up to the room they just came from.

Brayden laid Trevor's body on the bed and Leo immediately held Trevor's one hand as he silently cried not noticing the two new people entering the room.

"Yeah, sure," Leo said hollowy at Brayden's statement about the cafe being good. Either way, Leo didn't have a choice as Brayden grabbed his hand and began to lead him to the cafe.

"He's going to die, isn't he?" Leo said more of a statement than a question as they entered the cafe. Seeing Trevor's body like that and knowing that it was most likely his--Leo's--fault hurt Leo to the core.

[SRuiz]

"I wouldn't be too sure...Cassandra has a way of pulling people back from the dead..." it was him beating around the bush again. Truthfully, he had no idea of if the boy was going to be alright or not. What he did know was that some lines were already drawn. Lines that involved the hunters and everything else. It seemed they had one predicament after another so far. His girlfriend was dead, there was the boy he apparently mated with, something he was not going to tell him and something he himself had no idea could happen, and that one of the human's bodies was possibly on the verge of death. Brayden was not aware that the male was pregnant until he was sobbing. He pulled out his phone, sending off a text for Damian to get with urgency.

"Don't beat yourself up..." He began to prepare various coffee machines while pulling out a book from the counter labled only as Moon Myths. "I have a lot to say to you at the moment, but why don't we get with what apparently happens once every..." He shook his head. There was no way to explain when a moon like that hit. It just came and went. "Basically put, you killed a wolf and took it's place...you killed my girlfriend..." he whistled lightly while looking away, scratching his neck slightly after placing the book down.

[star478]

Leo wasn't sure if Cassandra--whoever she is--or anyone would be able to bring Trevor back from the edge of death.

He looked curiously at the book Brayden slid over his direction. He began to open it when Brayden said that he had killed a wolf, she was his girlfriend, and he, Leo, took her place. Either Brayden was comitting bestiality or.....

"Fuck, you're a werewolf!?" Leo exclaimed in surprise and shock. Then realization hit him. "Fuck, I killed a person. Shit."

Leo placed his head in his hands miserable with himself. How could he have been so stupid and listened to his Uncle?

"Look, I'm really, really sorry man," Leo said and lifted his head up to look at Brayden. "So...lemme guess. Your girlfriend was getting ready to go into heat when I killed her, I kill her, go into heat like she was supposed to, and end up mating with you."

[SRuiz]

Brayden nodded quickly. "Yes, which makes this more complicated than it needs to be..." He rose Leo's head back up after he had placed it in his hands. "I could tell you not to worry about it, but that would be bullshit. Instead, I will just get to the next point. Yes, you went into heat, which probably explains why the other males tried to have the hots for your friend up there. Last night we mated like I was supposed to do with Lynn and now we are at the next phase of the cycle...you're pregnant" the last words came out in a low mumble as not for Leo to hear. As his mate, he could hear the formation of life forming in his body.

Turning to the machines to see that the coffee was done, he made his way over to it. "How do you like your coffee?" Brayden was set dead on sending the boy back to the cabins, but with his wounded friend and the fact that he was now carrying his children -something him and Lynette planned before all of that happened- he had to do the only humane thing: protect his mate and future children.

[star478]

"The next phase of the cycle? As in....I'm....pregnant?" Leo asked dumbfounded. How could he, a male, become pregnant even when taking the place of a female werewolf? "Fuck. I'm not cut out to be a parent yet let alone to werewolf...pups."

Leo sighed as he watched Brayden go to the coffee machines.

"I really don't drink a whole lot of coffee," Leo began and sighed as he thought about what he just learned, "but I'll have a cup anyhow. I like it with a lot of cream and sugar thank you."

[SRuiz]

Brayden chuckled. "I may be new at some things, but a person doesn't become the Beta of a pack without learning for years." By years, he really meant that. He may have looked young, but he had been around for a while. "I'm certain under the moon they would be pups, but as it stands now, just babies would do" He grabbed two coffee mugs. He started on Leo's first, loading it with as much cream and sugar as he could find. It was not a lot or else he would have some real syurpy beverage to deal with. He handed his mate the cup.

"Frankly, I'm not cut out for sleeping around with anothee male while trying to teach him the ropes, but apparently shit happens..." he smirked as he fixed his own coffee in the vague fashion of an Irish Coffee Bomb. He sat back down beside Leo. "Well you certainly caught on quick. What else do you read or know?"

[star478]

"The Beta?" Leo said in a whisper and put his head in his hands again. "Great."

When Brayden came back over and set Leo's mug of coffee in front of him, he gratefully accepted it and took a sip. The cream and sugar masked the taste of the coffee that Leo doesn't much care for.

"Well, a lot of the stuff I know about werewolves paints werewolves in a bad light and is probably wrong anyhow," Leo said and took another sip of his coffee. "What I do know about werewolves that I do know is right and doesn't paint you in a bad light is that werewolf packs are much the same as a regular wolf pack. There's an Alpha, a Beta, and the other members of the pack along with their mates. The Alpha is the leader of the group while the Beta is the Alpha's second in command basically. Both demand immediate obedience and submissiveness from their mates...I think. They are extremely dominate is basically what I'm trying to say.

"Other than that is basically stuff from Hollywood, books, and TV shows, which aren't necessarily correct. A lot of the myths about werewolves basically play on people's fear of the night, which is probably why my family....hunts....werewolves."

Leo looked into his coffee sadly thinking of the female werewolf's life he had taken.

"I shouldn't have come," Leo muttered. "I should have forced my family to leave me behind as well as Trevor. That or holed myself up in my room back at home so I could remain there. Granted someone else would have shot your girlfriend and taken her place, but it wouldn't be me. I don't think I can handle becoming a parent at such a young age."

As he said the last sentence, tears began to stream from his eyes and rolled down his cheeks, clearly upset over the events that have transpired.

[SRuiz]

A small form of a smile came across his face as he heard Leo mouth the words about him being the Beta.

"Honestly, certain things you read have a truth to us, well a vast majority of us. Long as you don't take Stephanie Meyer sex deprived life written into books she calls a love life, then we're good" If he had the chance, he probably would kill the woman. His focus turned back to Leo as he thought to give a possible reason of why his family hunted them. "Oh no. These particular hunters go way back. Like I said some of the myths are true. Half of us feel that humans are inferior and give into the bad light as you put it. Others just try to act normal." He left no kind of clue for Leo to indicate that he was either good or bad. He was just in the middle of things.

"It was bound to have happened...If your family did not show, another would have and the same thing would probably happen. I don't think they know what kind of a cycle this year is." Brayden himself did not know until he examined Leo. "Humans are basically the most common trait anything supernatural has. When religion gets involved, you know where that all goes."

He set his eyes back on Leo after rolling them around. This was too awkward for him to try and deal with and his little nonchalant attitude probably was helping none. "I guess telling you that they're going to be born in a month's time is not going to make it any.better?" He thought for a few, unsure of what to say or di at that point. "Why don't we just go somewhere secluded? Usually something like the wilderness helps me clear my head. You have anything you like doing?" The male was ready to be a parent when he was with Lynette. Now he was not so sure. That desire was still there, but he felt there was too much tension, which was understandable given with recent events. If he took him back, he was basically casting him and his future children to wolves. That was truly an ironic situation.

"As it stands, they don't know anything yet" Brayden really hoped Damian would respond soon while also hoping the male upstairs would pull through.

[star478]

Leo listened to what Brayden was saying as he dried his eyes and tried to be tough for his mate. When Brayden said that the babies will be born in only a month's time, Leo looked at him with a deer in the headlights look.

"A month's time?!" Leo said, his voice going up an octave. He placed a hand on his still relatively flat stomach. "Yeah, a secluded spot would be nice for some time to think. Though classical music or even soundtracks from movies and tv shows also help me think as well. As for doing, I don't really have anything I like to do other than, well, write, play on the computer, and watch tv. Nothing like what you like to do obviously."

Leo sighed and finished off his coffee, which had cooled during their conversation.

"Hopefully they never find out about this," Leo muttered. "They'd probably kill me as well or disown me."

[SRuiz]

Brayden chuckled at Leo's reaction. "Oh, no worries. I'll be there all the way to guide you through it" He would not tell Leo that he had no idea how to handle a pregnancy within a month as he was now deemed strong enough to handle any if possible hazards their children may run on once they were born.

"Classical Music huh?" He scanned over at the collection of CD's that were present. He could play some of the songs there, but with his friend upstairs, he had to think of something else. "Yea...Hopefully not" He was really hoping the boy would live as he could not bear to see what would happen. There were already going to be consequences for him being injured by one of them. "So what kind of games do you play on the computer?" He was a bit of a gamer himself, but not mainly on the computer. The condo and cafe was just a place for them to earn money, but there was another place he could take him to. It was secluded almost near the mountains. Driving to and from there to the cafe would be too much of a hassle.

[star478]

"Nothing too spectacular," Leo said with a shrug. "Primarily a lot of games that don't cost anything to play."

Leo sighed and tapped his heels against the chair.

"So, what am I supposed to do now?" Leo asked uncertainly. "Am I, like, an honorary member of the pack until the babies are born or something? I don't know how your pack works, so I don't know if it works like that.

"Speaking of the babies, how many will I be giving birth to?"