"Little pig, little pig...let me in." Cyrus grinned wickedly as he stepped out in front of the others. No hesitation. No fear. No protection needed from the rest of the pack. It was obvious that he knew that. "You are way out of line here...baby pup."

I was frozen in my position, my sensitive ears picking up the sounds of my brethren's approaching footsteps. I could now smell their scent being carried on the soft nightly wind, but it was my deep connection to them through the calling that I felt first. There was no mistaking its presence. We had become bonded as one in ways that words could never be sophisticated enough to convey. A family...even closer than the one that I had built with blood relatives since birth. It was such a familiar sensation that I had almost forgotten how much I missed its total and unrelenting embrace of me, inside and out, when I first tried to detach myself from it. There's a comfort in it. A total release of self control that makes you feel free...as insane as that may seem, now that I know what it is for sure.

But the all encompassing fear remained regardless, and it began to intensify as I saw them emerge from the woods and step further onto the road in front of Jack's truck...with only the moonlight and the pickup's headlights to illuminate them with dark silhouettes and shadows.

With my voice trying its best not to tremble, I said, "This is between you and me, Father. Please...just let them go."

His smile widened. "You're in no position to negotiate what happens from this moment forward, Wesley. I'm pretty sure that you're aware of that. Aren't you?"

"Father..." I said. "...They didn't do anything wrong..."

"Does any animal in the wild that gets slaughtered and fed upon ever `do anything wrong'?" He replied. He stepped closer to me, and I remained completely still as he did so. Partially because I was way too scared to run or even back away from him...but also because there was something so...soothing about being close to him again. Hypnotic. It was almost like I couldn't help myself. There was this undeniably magnetic pull on my emotions and my inner being that I couldn't detach myself from. Even when my safety was at stake.

Despite their intense fear over what I was talking to him about or how I planned to get us all out of this...I watched Kyla and Dallas help Isaac over to Jack's truck and put him inside to keep themselves safe. Not that anything would do them much good if I didn't find a way to maybe calm Cyrus down enough to keep him from ripping all of us to shreds without warning.

"What are we doing here, Wesley? Huh?" Cyrus asked, and I looked around to see the rest of our pack closing in around me. No way for me to escape. And they were more than ready to slash my throat at the very hint of Father's command. I could feel it. Deep down inside...I was almost ready to tear my own throat out if he asked me too. The only question was how long I'd be able to hesitate before doing so, and if it would be long enough for Kyla and the others to get away without meeting up with the same fate.

"I want to go home..." I whimpered softly, tears welling up in my eyes. "...I am so sorry."

"What's waiting for you at home, Wesley?" Cyrus asked, with me shaking from the effort it took to keep from being too weak to stand. Too frightened to look him in the eye.

"I just...I want..."

"You don't even know what you want anymore...do you, boy?" His menacing gaze was practically burning a hole right through me. "We took you in. We gave you purpose, and meaning...we made you a part of our family. By choice, you allowed yourself to run free and wild...just as you were meant to. This is how you repay us? This is how you treat your family?" He stepped even closer, reaching out to lightly brush my blond hair back a bit as he gently caressed the side of my cheek. "You know...it's pretty much unheard of to have two alphas in the same pack. Even Evren, with all of his arrogant ways and his bullshit rules and regulations...said that it couldn't be done. Most of our kind are quick to believe him, too. You know?" Cyrus leaned in to briefly deliver the most innocent kiss on my lips...even with the others watching us through the windshield of Jack's truck. But he never felt the tiniest hint of shame. No need to hide it. No need to conceal it. I have to admit to missing that feeling now that I had been exposed to it for the first time in my life. It was so comforting to be loved the way I wanted to be loved without apologies. Everything about them lulled me into a trance that was so alluring that it hurt to resist its seductive charm. "I took a chance on you, Wesley...because I believed that you could be the one brother capable of shattering that myth to pieces. I saw something special in you that you couldn't seem to see in yourself. And for a while, you were everything that I hoped you would be. Even more, to be honest. A prodigy worthy of being set free from his self imposed limitations." He said, and I closed my eyes as a single tear involuntarily slid down my cheek. "Are you willing to sacrifice all of that...just to return to a life of secrets and servitude? Am I to believe that I was wrong about your potential?"

"Father...I..."

"Shhhhh. Hush, my child. My faith in you remains the same as it always has. You simply need to accept it, and have the same faith in yourself as your brethren do." He said. "Come back with us, Wesley. Join us by taking your rightful place at my side, be your better self, and let us become a force to be reckoned with as a family. All you have to do is leave this lesser life behind you, and elevate towards your higher purpose."

Fighting the temptation to fall back in line, as well as wanting to avoid the frightening consequences that might follow my refusal to give in, proved to be a monumental task in my heart and mind. You can't imagine how unfathomably tantalizing it was to have him dangle that option in front of me the way that he did. Even with the danger involved. The rest of my pack were all ready to savagely dismember me and butcher my body into bloody shreds of meat and bone. I knew it. Shank and Razor were standing on either side of him, looking for me to make any sudden movements so they could jump into action, with Kriegar being on the very EDGE of a monstrously quick wolf transformation, and Scout making sure to step between me and Cyrus in case I had the audacity to strike out at him first. An unshakably loyal protector if ever I saw one, despite his small stature. Dexter was a total wildcard in every sense of the word, and I noticed a long string of saliva sliding down from the right side of his mouth as he rocked back and forth slightly, almost begging for the opportunity to sink his teeth and claws into my warm flesh and chew me to pieces while I screamed in agony for him to stop. He almost couldn't WAIT to tear into me, and that look in his eyes was enough nightmare fuel to keep me shivering for years to come.

"I'm pretty sure that you hurt Dex's feelings, Wesley." He said. "He was looking to cuddle up to you every night when he went to bed. It damn near broke his heart to have to chase you down when you left us." I looked over at Dex, who was still staring me down like some sort of an unhinged demon, anxious to be unhooked from his leash. Kristin walked over to give him a loving kiss on his short mass of little blond curls and put an arm over his shoulder to keep him from losing control. At least for now. "And that thing you did with the ammonia back at the cabin? Fucking up Jon Boy's senses like that...? Well, that just wasn't playing fair, was it? A very ugly tactic on your part." Both John Boy and Sebastian were standing side by side as well...also waiting for Father to give the order. "What do you have to say for yourself, piglet?"

Attempting to stand up straight and assert myself, I replied, "I don't want to be a part of this anymore. I'm done. DONE, Cyrus."

"You will refer to me as `Father', boy."

"You're not my father..." I said.

"Is that so?" He smirked. "Is that what you believe? Because those burning scratch marks on your bare back say different."

"I want to go home."

"Home is with us, Wesley. Nowhere else."

"Please...just....just let us go." I said, hoping not to anger him any further and turn this confrontation into something that I simply wasn't prepared to handle.

"'Us'..." He said, and he looked over at the panicked passengers in that truck. "Is that what you want? To go back to being one of `them'? Afraid? Alone? At the mercy of people like us?" Cyrus said, stepping even closer to me but stopping when he saw me take a step backward from him this time. Finally getting a part of my soul back in line with my true heart, and not just surrendering it over to his will without question. "You realize that the moment I decide they don't deserve to live anymore, the second that I believe that I'd be more entertained by their gruesome demise than I would be by having them cower in front of me like the helpless sheep that they are...they die. Every last one of them. You understand that, right?"

Don't let him intimidate you, Wesley. Stand your ground.

"I'm going back to my family. That's all it is."

"You don't have a family. Not outside of the one that I gave you." He snapped back.

"Yes. Yes, I do. I know that now." I told him. "I may have doubted that before, but not now. You don't really need me, Cyrus. You don't need anybody." I said, still hoping to bargain. "If I have to, I'll tell all of your soldiers here to back down and let us leave. And they'll listen to me...won't they? They pretty much have to." I stared into his eyes as though my so-called `threat' would have any effect on him. Or on anyone. He seemed highly amused by the mere suggestion of such a thing. Alpha rank or not. "Let us go." I demanded, hoping that my words would carry some level of weight with the others.

"Do you understand why we have to bond as a pack? Have you forgotten?" He asked. "The calling...it needs to be balanced, Wesley. We all have to take an equal share and moderate our most primal instincts to keep ourselves from going wild. It's the only way to maintain some level of self control." He stepped closer again, and despite my willingness to keep my distance from him by stepping back again, my feet refused to move. "You know those old monster movies where the werewolf wakes up in some weird place that he doesn't recognize...naked...dirty...covered in dried blood and gore without having any memory of what he had done or where it came from?" He smiled. "That'll be you once you're outside of our union. Maybe in a few weeks, possibly a bit longer...but it will happen. Your carnal desires will swiftly begin to spin out of control and devour you from the inside out. Your passions, your lust, your anger, your thirst for blood and raw meat...you won't be able to keep them at bay for very long. And once you've been fully consumed by your animalistic, predatory, nature...it will be a looooooooong long way back to anything even resembling who you are now. And that's going to bring you right back here...to your family in the shadows. The longer you try to resist, the worse it will get. And by the time you return to me on your knees, weak and begging for help...who knows what awful, sadistic, acts you might have committed by then? Or who you've committed them against. A random stranger? Your enemies? Your friends? That pretend `family' that you think you feel so bonded to? Who will you tear to shreds first? I suppose one is just as good a victim as another, right?"

"You can't manipulate me anymore..." I whimpered.

"Manipulating you? I'm merely offering you a choice, Wesley. Freedom and power and strength with us? Or a long walk of shame back to a life where the lies you tell the people around you are your only protection from the swelling agony and distortion of identity that you've been living with for your entire existence." Cyrus looked back in through the windshield of Jack's truck as they all trembled with a sense of terror that I could smell the scent of, even from this distance. "Will they stand by you when the time comes to do so? Defend you? Is this going to be the family that you choose when it comes to being your true self?"

Scout sneered in front of him. "I told you, Father. I told you he would fail us all."

Cyrus draped his arms over Scout's shoulders and bent down to kiss him on his cheek. "Shhhh...it's ok." The he smirked wickedly at me and said, "Maybe you're just one of those stubborn people who has to find things out for themselves. I tell you what...I'm gonna give you your shot. Go. And take these other squirming little piglets with you. See if I'm lying, if you so badly need some solid proof."

I didn't move from my spot, my muscles tightening up as I prepared for this to be another one of his malicious tricks. Worried that he'd practically cut me in HALF if I dared to look away from his mesmerizing eyes. "Wha-what...?"

"Go. Have at it." I heard a muffled popping noise and saw Dexter's fangs begin to slide down from his gums as he angrily glared at me and his bones began to take on a new posture for his transformation. "Dex..." Cyrus said calmly. "...Mind your manners." He snarled at me, but when Cyrus turned his head to give him a commanding look, he immediately turned away and lowered his head. Obeying Father's command.

"You're...just going to let me go?" I asked.

"You're as free as you want to be. You always have been, whether you want to admit that to yourself or not."

"My friends too...right?"

He smiled. "Of course. The rest of the pack is just going to relax and give you free passage. You have my word."

"I don't believe you."

"Hey, if you want to go back to the lie now that you've experienced what life can be without it...then far be it from me to deprive you of your further suffering. Go back. See what's waiting for you in a world without us." He moved forward to drape his arms over my shoulders and gently press his forehead to mine, closing his eyes as I closed mine. He sighed deeply, and all at once I felt embraced by the whole group all over again. The emotion was overpowering...and I didn't realize how much it had affected me until I felt a single tear roll down my cheek. Instinctively, almost involuntarily, I felt my arms raise up and my hands hold on to his shoulders as well. I can't possibly explain how someone so deeply terrifying could soothe me in such a sweet and humane way. "Wesley...just know that this is as calm and as patient as I can possibly be with you right now. I love you. And that's why I'm giving you this chance to discover what I've been trying to show you from the very beginning." He said, giving me a light kiss on my cheek. "Don't let us down. Don't make the same mistake as Jonah and Simone. That would truly break my heart, you understand?"

"Yes, Fa..." I almost said it, but I held myself back. "Yes, Cyrus."

He leaned back to look me in the eye, and he said, "When you return...me and the rest of your brethren will be here waiting for you."

"I'm not coming back. I can't."

"So you say..." He whispered, and he let me go, nodding his head towards the truck. "When you're ready...we'll find you. Believe me." I began backing away towards the truck, and the rest of the pack stood aside as Jack let me in and got ready to take us away from that place. "Remember...a cage a million miles wide is still a cage, Wesley. And I am the way."

Isaac and Kyla were both trembling as we passed him on that road, the whole pack staring at us with a sinister intensity. But, true to his word...they just let us go. And I wasn't quite sure if I should be deeply relieved...or extremely troubled at how simple our escape was. I mean, was the calling that strong...where he didn't even doubt that I'd come back to him?

Just what kind of evil lesson was he planning to teach me here?

"That was it?" Kyla asked. "He was willing to just...turn you loose like that, without a fight?"

"I can't fight him. He knew that the moment he saw me." I said. "I just need to get out of here. Out of that cabin, out of this Bible camp...I don't want to be anywhere close enough for him to track me down..."

"Track you down? What are you talking about?"

"Look! I JUST wanna go home! Ok???" I said, tearing up again as Jack drove us down the dark road to get me back where I needed to be. My hands were shaking violently, and I happened to notice how quickly the entire truck fell silent after my sudden outburst. "I'm sorry, you guys. I've just...I've been through a lot the past few weeks. I'm anxious to put it all behind me."

They didn't say anything in response, they just stayed quiet and finally drove me to cabin that I had once stormed out of so angrily...expecting not to ever look back. And when Jack slowed the truck down to a complete stop, I was almost too scared to move. My legs were made of wet clay, and my heart was pumping at a nervous pace that I couldn't control. It wasn't until I saw a small, boyish, shadow out front by the porch that I found the courage to open the door.

Isaac opened his shortly after, and limped out on his sore ankle as I took a few steps closer to the cabin. I saw Nick sitting there on the steps with his head down until his new pet, `Prince', suddenly perked up and ran over to greet me by jumping up on my leg while I playfully rubbed him behind the ears. "How you doin', huh? Good?" I said softly...and that's when my little brother Nick looked up, first in complete and total shock, and then starting to cry as he hopped up on his feet and ran over to me at top speed, practically kicking up a cloud of dust behind him.

"WESLEY!!!" He shrieked, his little voice cracking and squeaking until my sensitive ears felt as though they were going to bleed from the trauma. "We didn't know where you were! We looked everywhere! We had the police looking, and they put you on the TV news and everything!" He said, with me just holding his jittery little frame in my arms. I looked back at Isaac and nodded silently to give him the signal to wait for a minute. "MOM!!!! MOM, COME HERE!!!" He shouted as I walked up the steps to the front porch.

My mother rushed to the door with a dish towel in hand to dry her hands, and then froze solid when she me standing there in front of her. Pretty much without a scar on me. "Hey..." I mumbled softly, tears of shame welling up in my eyes.

"Oh my God! Oh blessed be!" She gasped, and ran over to tightly wrap her arms around my shoulders as she held me close and began to weep openly on my shoulder, petting my blond hair as if she was trying to make sure that I was real. "HENRY!!!" She called back into the house...and it was at that moment that I saw my father come around the corner, so stunned that he had to lean against the wall for balance.

Suddenly sniffling and sobbing, unable to hold it in for a moment longer...I said, "I'm sorry, Dad. I'm so so sorry..."

I felt so weak that I was about to collapse. But he was quick enough to rush over and get down on his knees to hold me up. He began to cry, my mother and Nick moved in to surround me with all the love that they could give...and they began to cry too. We just held each other, slowly rocking back and forth, with Prince trying to find a space between us. This was my family.

This...was home...