I am absolutely not catching up on the horror that is Twilight which I missed out on when it came out. So this is obviously not inspired by it at all...honest.
Moving to Detroit was Hank’s attempt at establishing his own territory and pack
He’d never liked not being in charge and found even being a beta grating. So he struck out to make his own luck
He gets to Detroit, a strip of turf that’s unclaimed become his and word spreads that a new alpha is looking to build a pack
Various wolves turn up, some he accepts, others he chases off his territory without hesitation
Life settles, he’s still open to new pack members but the core of the little family has settled
Cole arrives, Hank’s never been happier in his life. His pack howl with him the night Cole is born
They strike up a pact with the vampires who had been living in Detroit.
Kamski and his coven don’t hunt humans on Hank’s territory and they can all get along just fine
Nobody mentions how offended Kamski and Chloe were at the idea of consuming human blood, they don’t want to tempt fate
The fateful night of the accident does more than tear Cole from Hank’s life
The pack starts to fall apart without his leadership, one by one, the wolves slip away until Hank is left by himself, numb to the loss
At least work is forgiving, other detectives picking up the slack while he grieves and crawls into the bottle
One of the newer transfers, Gavin, seems decent enough. Quietly, Hank hopes he’ll be the one to succeed him as Lieutenant when he’s kicked off the force
A few new recruits are added to the roster. Connor and Nines, both new to the area but have a bit of detective experience behind them
For reasons unknown, Connor is assigned to Hank while Gavin ends up with Nines
When Hank’s drunk on his floor one night, Connor breaks in
The fright of someone crashing through his windows is enough to rouse Hank and in a defensive stupor, he shifts into his wolf form and snarls
It doesn’t seem to put Connor off, he simply sets about tidying up the kitchen and talking to Hank like nothing’s out of the ordinary
When Hank wakes up, he’s still a wolf but he’s been coaxed onto his bed
That morning, he and Connor have a lot to talk about, now that Hank can speak freely
Turns out, Kamski had been sniffing around the brothers. He’s always liked to collect things of beauty. Nines and Connor ticked all his boxes
There’s a series of homicides that smack of vampire activity
It’s not Kamski or his coven, Hank and Connor had paid them a visit
However, they did say that there was a travelling trio or rogue vampires that may well be responsible
Whenever Nines or Connor had to visit Kamski, Gavin always seemed to bristle but he refused to go anywhere near the mansion on the edge of the city
They’re closing in on the vampires, their victims are leading them hot on their trail
It leads them to an old abandoned ship and it’s not 3 but 4 vampires
Hank’s had the feeling that they were being followed but put it down to his senses being sharper than usual and feeling vampire eyes on them
In the belly of the ship, they’re defenceless and the female vampire threatens Connor, teasing how nice he and Nines would look with glowing eyes and inhuman strength
As 3 humans, they don’t stand a chance against 4 well fed vampires
Hank shifts, it doesn’t take their opponents off guard. They knew who he was already
It had been so long since Hank had fought, he was rusty
In the end, he’s pinned to the ground by the 3 men while the woman flits between Connor and Nines, teasing them
Hank tries to snap and shake off his opponents but it’s useless
They’re going to make him watch as Connor and Nines are bitten, stripped of their humanity and turned into something Hank never could love
There’s the sound of claws on the metal floor, a growl and a blurry shape sails through the air, knocking the female over, her body slumping while the head is dropped from the mouth of another wolf
He’s mangy, covered in scars and obviously had a long history as a lone chased from territory to territory
Green speckled eyes take in the brothers behind him, a scar across his nose caught in a wrinkle as he turns and snarls at the remaining vampires
The fight is short and brutal, lots of shouting, screaming that echoes in the empty halls of Jericho
In the end, there’s 4 bodies on the floor and the sound of someone panting in pain
The two wolves turn as one, eyes zeroing in on Nines crouched on the floor over Connor, hands covered in blood
“He got me, the one with mismatched eyes,” Connor cried, hand clamped over a bite on his wrist
There’s nothing they can do. Hank and Gavin shift back to their human forms and Hank cradles Connor
They have to go to Kamski, get guidance
Connor is turned, it’s irreversible by the time they get there
Gavin bristles in the room and Kamski makes a snide comment about bringing in strays
There’s an argument between Connor and Nines when they have a moment together
Nines doesn’t want to leave Connor, doesn’t want this to come between them, he demand to be turned
There’s also the unspoken thought of life expectancy and how it differs, humans living for a much shorted span than wolves and vampires
In the end, Hank agrees to break their treaty just for Nines
The brothers take to their new life as if nothing had changed
It takes Gavin a little longer to adjust to Nines, the smell making him bristle for weeks on end
But he powers through because Hank seems to be dealing with Connor’s change much better
Their romance brings out old traits, Hank is starting to become a proper alpha again
He lives up to the expectations Gavin had first harboured when he heard of the Anderson pack
It was what had brought him to the area to begin with, hoping that a newly built pack might have room for him in their midst
He’d only seen the pack fall apart though, never approached them when he realised it was a sinking ship
Still, he liked the job he’d picked up, the area seemed decent enough for his needs so he stuck around and watched Hank languish
Now, it looked that an unconventional group was in the making
It was unheard of, for a wolf to be mated to a vampire. Let alone for an alpha wolf to do that
The Anderson pack soon got a reputation for throwing out tradition
Especially when word got out that not only was the alpha mated to a vampire, the beta was too, to the brother of the alpha’s mate at that
