Daniel felt his stomach turning knots over itself as he walked with Mina through the woods. Just the fact that he, an adult, was with a student was bad enough. IF someone saw him he could be in the kind of trouble that gave people nightmares, a sort of trouble he wanted no part of. He knew, or at least sensed Mina's affection for him, an affection he as her beta felt a modicum of. But there was also the responsible part of him, a human part that knew his place...or at least wanted to keep it, for his sake as well as hers. That mattered almost as much as meeting the alpha, his alpha now.
The fact that it was another girl, Mina's friend, was overwhelming. That he would answer to kids....and yet...somehow it was natural. Of course, she might be angry. Mina had said she'd told Shannon, and that Shannon had sounded very serious on phone and texts. Now he was out here alone, anything could happen. A howl came up, and Mina stopped and let go of his hand. Daniel froze as he saw the golden eyes staring at him through the woods. His nostrils flared to the scents. He was in human form, by Mina's request, and now he felt so much like prey surrounded by predators.
One set of eyes stepped out, a lanky, beautifully furred young female wolf, clothed only in a light bathrobe around her frame. "Hello Mister Daniel." She growled.
Daniel gulped. He knew Shannon indirectly, just seeing her face in the yearbook or halls. She was unrecognizable now. "Hello....Alpha..." he answered, trying to take as strong a tone, but hearing the quiver that happened.
"Mina, come..." The alpha ordered, and Mina came, her wolfish body padding over, ears drooped and eyes low. He could sense her fear and apprenhension of the other's judgement. And yet, Shannon nuzzled her under the chin. "Im glad you told me."
"It...it was an accident," Mina stammered, trying to explain again. "I wasn't thinking please...."
Shannon kissed her brow, "I know. Go join the others...."
Mina did vanishing from sight and Shannon turned to face him. "We made a pact not to bring anyone into our pact, especially not grown ups, Now your one of us."
He nodded, "I turned last night when I ...well...I would speak on that in private."
Shannon seemed to smile, "I smell her on you, I sense it in you."
He felt himself blush through his fur. "Mary?"
"Yes. But she changed more than you did, up here," She tapped her head.
He nodded, "yes, but our wolf forms changed too, became smaller, younger. This form, this shape...I retained."
"To help provide and protect for the pack," she nodded. "I dont know how I know, I just know. This was a judgement of the laws of the pack on you, unwilling or no. Mary wont remember it, she is one of us."
To his surprise a young wolf he recognized as Mary padded out, ears bent as she knelt beside the alpha. "I have chosen to take her in, and I choose to take you."
Daniel breathed a sigh of relief. "And Mina?"
"She will stay as my beta, but she has learned her lesson. The question is, who you will be."
Daniel breathed, "I would be her protector, her teacher still. Mina, I know your feelings for me and....I...a part of me feels them for you, the wolf part. But I'm a grown up and your a little girl. You have so much to live for, to grow for. I....to do what I did with Mary to you is wrong."
He saw Mina flinch as he said it, her lip quivering. Daniel knelt, felt himself transform and shrink, his clothes becoming huge on him. "Please..understand, please dont be sad."
Shannon looked to Mina. "What do you think?"