InsaneJournal

Becoming
Date: August 4, 2013
Time: 7:01 PM
Location: Faoladh Compound, Burnt Wood
Characters: Lincoln Carrick, Parker Woodward, Hunter Sallinger, Faoladh NPCs.
Description: More than blood, more than family.
Status: Private, complete (one-shot).

It had been building towards this for a while, Lincoln realized, as he gazed over the edge of the cliff.

The cliff, in this instance, being the door that would lead him into the largest room of the Sallinger residence, itself the largest building in the Faoladh compound. Lincoln had become intimately familiar with the place over the past few weeks, being both in touch with Parker's slow recovery from the wounds she'd sustained while "on mission", as it had been referred to several times, or "on a job" in more euphemistic terms, and while he and the rest of the pack had been feeling each other out.

Even he and Graham had agreed, in an unspoken way, to cease their bizarre hostilities while Parker recovered and while Hunter did whatever it was that he was doing. Both of them could see the writing on the wall, and although Lincoln knew that the two of them would have to deal with this enmity, sooner rather than later, it wasn't for now.

He'd been asked the question by Pascale last night. It had wrong-footed him at first, despite his expectancy of it for a while now - he'd just assumed that Hunter would have been the one to present the formal offer. Apparently not. He'd made a bit of an awkward scene in truth, having had the answer worked out in his head, but suddenly struggling with it once it was right in front of him.

Because, and everyone knew this as well as he did, it was not an easy choice. He had been solitary for a long, long time. Most lone wolves didn't integrate into pack environments once they'd reached their mid teens, let alone adulthood. And Lincoln, if they were all being honest, was hardly the most submissive of wolves to begin with in the first place.

Ever since he'd first met Hunter on that terrible day - before that really, given his growing bond with Parker - he'd rolled the question in his head. Now it had a position too, one of Sentinel, something that even his most ardent critics admitted he was well-suited for. He knew the role, having had pack dynamics explained to him from an early age. But he also knew that there was something he didn't yet know about what went on inside the pack, a secret that he needed to be within the sanctum, so to speak, to learn about.

He had a pretty good idea, or at least he thought he did. Bullet wounds didn't come from a freelance PR agency, after all.

Still, even at this stage, even as he was about to commit fully, for life, to a unit greater than one, he found himself hesitating on the precipice.

He marshalled his courage, and turned the handle, opening the door with authority and confidence, and walked with purpose into the room. Which, if anyone has ever done so as naked as he was at that point, was hardly an easy thing to do.

The room was big, with raised pews on either side, enough to accommodate at least a dozen wolves, although there were significantly more than that in the room. He spied Parker at the front, still bandaged, still not quite her usual self, and he winked at her, before turning his attention forwards. He marched with military precision to the centre of the room, in front of the dais, where Hunter and Pascale stood side by side.

"Lincoln Carrick," he said, his voice filling the room despite its lack of volume. There was command in the voice of the Alpha fulfilling his role, support from the Luna, and reinforced by the assembled Pack. "Last night, your Luna asked you a question. Is your answer still yes?"

Lincoln paused for a moment, arms folded behind his back, as he took the room in again. His eyes landed on Parker, before he replied.

"Yes," he said, before refocusing on Hunter, who took several steps forward until he stood seven feet away.

"This is a choice you make for life, not for any one person," he glanced at Parker. "When you become Faoladh, you belong to us all, as we all belong to you."

"I understand," Lincoln replied.

"Then swear your obedience to your Alpha, and your Luna, given of your own free will, without coercion or manipulation in your heart, without treachery and without misdirection. Bare your soul, and become one with us. Become pack."

Lincoln's eyes drifted to meet Hunter's, and instantly, the wolf responded. Lincoln felt his knees dip as he sank to the floor, accepting submission in the Alpha's gaze. As was his role, he looked away, and focused on Pascale's gaze next. He held it for long moments, before dropping it again, and bowing his head.

"I am pack," he said, and the words seemed automatic, the bonds beginning to strengthen between him and every other wolf in the room almost materially, such was the intensity of the wolf magic between them. None more so that between Lincoln, Parker, Hunter and Pascale, though. The latter moved to him, and placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Pack," she said, softly, and cupped his cheek with her hand, as the unmistakeable sound of the Change came from in front of him.

"Pack," growled Hunter, just as his vocal chords and jaw structure changed beyond the ability to form human words, the sound itself being more an approximation of human speech in a rumbling growl than anything else.

"Pack," he heard Parker whisper from the side, his enhanced hearing more than capable of picking up the noise. A small thumping began from her side of the room, picking up in intensity as it was continued by more and more wolves in the room. The sound of feet stamping on the floor beat out a steady, tribal tattoo as throats began joining in, shouting the mantra over and over again.

"PACK! PACK! PACK! PACK!"

He felt Hunter complete the Change, and the bond between them solidified, forming the final connections needed to induct him properly, to make him Faoladh.

And then, with a rustle of fur, and the scratch of claws on marble, a pain white-hot in its intensity flashed through his shoulder as Hunter's lupine jaws clamped down with a snarl, slicing through his skin and holding in place.

It was like an electric current that jolted through him, electrifying his nerve endings, setting his synapses on fire as the bond set into something harder than diamond, more permanent than rock. The emotions, the charge, the fire of the pack bond rolled through him and he stiffened under Hunter's bite, blood flowing freely from the wound as the wolf held on, but it wasn't painful any longer. It was supportive, like a brace against what he knew Lincoln was feeling. It was paternal, and in that moment, it was right, as if Lincoln couldn't imagine why it would be any other way.

The cheers, whoops and applause rang out through the hall as he felt Pascale's lips brush his sweat-soaked forehead.

"Pack," she whispered again, and smiled as he looked up at her. He felt Hunter's jaws withdraw from his flesh, and the pain returned again, but it was a good kind of pain this time, a warmth rather than sharpness. The initial shock of the bond receded, but left a subtle buzz in his blood, registering its now-permanent presence.

He became aware that he was breathing heavily when he felt Parker approach, their bond now more evident than ever before, the nascent connection seeming like a mere hand hold to what it was now. She approached and knelt unsteadily by him, rolling a bandage up and over the wound, and he met her eyes for just a moment, both of them grinning.

"Pack!" He shouted in a hoarse voice, raising the fist of his good arm, and the roar in response was deafening.