Carter Hayes

[Carter]

NAME: Carter Thomas Hayes.
NICKNAMES: Carter doesn’t really go in for nicknames, he much prefers people just call him by his given name but there are a couple of people at work who call him Car’. His mate calls him Hotshot, and truth be told she is the only person who can get away with calling him anything like that.
RACE: Werewolf; bitten.
OCCUPATION: Store clerk and general sales assistant at Virgin Megastores. It isn’t exactly glamorous but Carter has no strong feelings about the job either way; it’s a way to earn money and the crowds are never too crazy. Usually he just keeps to himself and stacks shelves or organises deliveries and that suits him just fine. He actually has something of a reputation as being “a nice guy but a little strange” but if he knows about it then he doesn’t seem to mind.
GENDER: Male.
SKIN COLOUR: Caucasian with very faint traces of European blood; tanned.
NATIONALITY: American.
AGE: 105, though he looks to be in his twenties, physically.
CLOTHING: Carter’s sense of style is simple but tasteful, there is a trace of times gone by in the clothes he chooses to wear and his colour selections are always understated as though he doesn’t want to draw too much attention to himself, which, in fact, is the truth. Blacks, white, greys, beiges and browns, dark blues with the occasional splash of dark red thrown in; there are rarely any flourishes in his clothing and really the most elaborate design he’s likely to have on his shirt at any given time is the one on his work uniform. Usually Carter can be found in a button-down shirt, sometimes with a t-shirt or wife beater underneath it, either usually white in colour, along with jeans that fit him just right -- sometimes with a belt -- and simple, tidy boots that could pass for shoes. He does own sneakers but doesn’t wear them often, and he has proper shoes, a few pairs of them in fact, for the times when he and his mate go out. What you will find a lot of in Carter’s closet are what some might call blasts from the past: he has several waistcoats in various shades of grey as well as black and to go right along with them he has suspenders that he will actually wear from time to time. On top of all of this, he actually owns trilbies and it’s clear from a glance inside his closet that he is fond of them, or that his mate, at least, has developed a fondness for seeing him wear one. Obviously Carter can sometimes be found wearing the typical Virgin Megastores uniform, black pants and sneakers -- really this is when he wears them most -- and whatever colour shirt they want their staff wearing at any given time, black or perhaps red, always with the logo and even a slogan splashed across the front or the back; he wears a lanyard with his staff I.D. around his neck when he’s at work, but when he’s off the clock it is removed and shoved either into his bag or into his pocket.
HEIGHT: 6’.
WEIGHT: 162lbs.
TATTOOS: None.
PIERCINGS: None.
JEWELLERY: The only piece of jewellery Carter wears with any sort of regularity is a simple and tasteful black-strapped watch on his left wrist. The strap is leather and the face is stainless steel. He also owns a pocket watch that was given to him by his mate, and he will wear it occasionally, usually in those times when he wears more old-fashioned attire.

BODY MODIFICATIONS: Young though he might be, Carter has more than his fair share of scars, especially for someone who tends to try and steer clear of violence and confrontation. At his right shoulder there is a collection of scar tissue that, while fairly discreet, is still obviously from teeth and therefore easily identifiable as his turning scar. His other scars are more unpleasant if only because of the obvious intent that went behind their creation; all down his chest and even his stomach are fine scars from a thin blade, it’s clear just by looking at them that someone took their time inflicting the damage and the pain that had to go along with them and when paired with the more jagged and ugly scars along his left shoulder that are also from a blade it might even be obvious that they were inflicted as a means of interrogation. At Carter’s right side and down his back there are scars from the most vicious fight he was ever involved in, but it is the ones on his chest and left shoulder that cause him discomfort and shame.

WOLF FORM.

BUILD: Carter’s wolf form is built for speed and agility and that much is clear in the trim and almost athletic build of his frame but there is clearly a lot of power in his body, there is muscle across his chest and lower abdomen as well as through his shoulders and thighs; he can most certainly take care of himself in his wolf form, whether it be in fight or flight. There is a lot of strength and manoeuvrability when it comes to combat and he has long claws on his forelimbs and thicker, tougher ones on his rear paws, as well as crushing jaws and razor-sharp teeth, but if the odds were stacked against him and it was best to retreat then he is long-limbed and lean enough to be swift and agile in his escape, scaling walls and ducking down passages and alleyways without missing a beat. He has no tail in his wolf form but he does possess a feral and protective mane, or perhaps it is better described as a ruff, along the back of his neck and just around the front; this is where his dark pelt is at its longest and thickest and it is clear its purpose is to protect his throat and the top of his spine in combat. Protruding from the top of his skull and showing above this wild mane of longer fur are his ears, which are tall and slender, and his face is very wolfen with a long and powerful muzzle. Carter’s wolf form is formidable without being cumbersome, he is perfectly proportioned and balanced and he can be just as deadly in combat as he can be elusive in a pursuit.
HEIGHT: 8’5 biped; 4’9 quadruped.
WEIGHT: 289lbs.
HAIR: Carter’s wolf form is covered in a full pelt of black fur that can carry an almost blue, glossy quality under lights. It is thickest and longest around his throat where it spikes naturally in a kind of mane that protects his throat and spine from damage in a fight.
EYES: A pale but piercing and slightly icy blue that have no visible pupils.
DEFINING MARKS: The lack of tail, long front claws, wild and feral mane and thoroughly wolfen head.

PACK.
PACK: None.
POSITION: None.
TERRITORY: None.

HAIR.
LENGTH: Carter’s hair is, at most, several inches long, trimmed down to a few centimetres at its absolute shortest. It is longest and thickest along the top and cut shorter around his ears and towards the back of his neck so as not to irritate. The length will change over the course of a year as Carter lets it grow out and then cuts it shorter again and the cycle repeats that way.
STYLE: It depends entirely on the length of Carter’s hair at any given time but usually it isn’t overly neat, he lets it fall as it will after running a comb or a brush through it in the morning and he’ll rake his fingers through it over the course of the day which usually leaves it looking almost intentionally dishevelled. Carter rarely actively styles it any one way; he doesn’t much see the need. Obviously when his hair gets on the long side, it tends to fall messily however it pleases and it is too thick and heavy to do anything else; it also has something of a natural curl when it gets longer and tends to fall in his eyes a little.
COLOUR: Brown, though in the summer it lightens naturally throughout and can look as though it carries threads or blonde, or even red.

FACIAL HAIR.
LENGTH: At most Carter has a day’s worth of growth at any given time, unless he literally doesn’t have a chance to get rid of even that; it’s a matter of millimetres if anything at any given point.
STYLE: Minimal, or preferably, non-existent. Carter prefers to be clean shaven, or at least as close to it as possible.

EYES.
COLOUR: Brown.
ODDITIES: Like the eyes of all werewolves, Carter’s can shift to the hue of his animal side for any number of reasons, whether it be conscious or reflexive at any given moment; anything from mischief to shock, from anger to desire and even pain can influence the colour of his eyes, changing them from human to wolf and back again.

PERSONALITY: Carter used to be an altogether different man, quick to smile and laughing easily and openly, confident and even a little cocky, the kind of young man you could easily picture leaning casually against a bar, drink in hand and his plans for the evening already mapped out in his mind. For all intents and purposes, that young man is dead and gone, he has been gone for a long time and Carter has long since given up on trying to find him again. His life has changed, been completely turned on its head and while there are certain aspects he would never, ever change, he has his regrets and haunting troubles just like anyone who goes through so much and is forced to live with the repercussions of so much violent change. Spend any amount of time with Carter and it’s plain to see that he carries a lot with him at all times, there is always something weighing on his mind, even if he doesn’t realise it for himself. Carter has been through the wars and been thoroughly broken down and beaten; to the best of his ability and with more than a little help from his mate, he has managed to build himself up into something resembling normal again, though it has taken a long time. Not all of the damage done years ago has been repaired, not all of it can be repaired, but Carter has learned just how to hide those cracks from the outside world, at least as much as he can.

Though he is a werewolf and by his very nature a pack animal, Carter is very distrustful and wary of packs in general, an understandable and perhaps inevitable by-product of his experiences at the hands of a ruthless pack in the past; many of those wolves are dead now, by his hand for the most part, no less, but what he endured has left its mark and there is no shifting his fear and discomfort, hence why he and his mate live outside of pack jurisdiction in a city that is so heavily populated by wolves. Carter was literally beaten and tortured by wolves he didn’t know beyond reputation and regardless of the fact that all of that happened almost eighty years ago he still bears the scars of their abuse, physical, mental and emotional alike. What they did to him will never go away and Carter’s greatest shame is that they succeeded in breaking him, even if he never did give them what they wanted. He has nightmares frequently, sometimes escalating into night terrors, jolting out of sleep shaking violently and covered in sweat, blinded by fear and panic. While they have lessened a great deal over the years, panic or anxiety attacks aren’t new to Carter and even when he feels the onset of one he still has trouble combating them and it is only very rarely that he can stop one before it takes hold completely.

It is in these times that his mate, Cassandra Linh, steps in and makes everything okay again. Whether it is a nightmare or a panic attack, Cass knows the tricks to bring Carter back to himself and get him calm and in control again. She is the only person who can bring Carter back from those proverbial edges and anchor him, whether it’s holding his face in her hands and talking to him or setting his hands on her waist so he doesn’t feel alone or vulnerable, she knows the tricks and by now is more than experienced when it comes to executing them. Cass can get Carter to smile and laugh and act more like his old self than anyone else would ever be able to manage, she knew Carter before he was broken down and she helped him to rebuild afterwards. She is also Carter’s sire, she saved his life the only way she knew how when he was close to death and she is the one who has been teaching him the ways of lycanthropy for almost eighty years. Cass is his mate, his friend, his sire, his teacher and his anchor, Carter literally wouldn’t know what to do without her and as much as he regrets all the sacrifices she has made for him over the years, he is beyond grateful for what she has done for him. Carter knows that it is because of Cass that he is alive to his day, that he can function at all, and there is no way he can repay that, but he tries his best and he will continue to do so until the end of his life, whenever that may be. There is nothing he would not do for her; he will protect and defend her fiercely and blindly, he would kill for her, has killed for her in the past, and whenever she is threatened in any way Carter tends to become that little bit more wolfen and predatory. His loyalty is complete and unwavering, it runs deep and nothing will ever break it, not after everything they have been through together.

WEAKNESSES: As a werewolf Carter is subject to the same weaknesses as the rest of his race, most of all their severe allergy to silver. Not only will it nauseate him in close proximity but it burns on contact, often scarring, and if it were to get into his body it would poison him, perhaps even fatally if it were to get close to his heart, lungs or brain. As a relatively young wolf Carter is also still subject to the pull of the lunar cycle, namely the three days of the full moon; at these times of the month Carter cannot help but transform at night and he all but loses himself completely when in his wolf form. As a result of this loss of control he must be confined in some way and it will be several decades yet before he has enough strength to overcome the power of the moon and its effects on him. Because of this weakness to the moon and what it does to him, Carter is often exhausted and distracted during the days following each night of the peak of the lunar cycle and he finds it difficult to concentrate and sometimes even has trouble doing the simplest of tasks.

Carter is a fairly fractured man and those cracks run deep, irreparable and lingering. He suffers from nightmares and anxiety attacks frequently, even if the number and intensity has decreased over the years, he has an intense and unwavering distrust of packs or groups of wolves and even strangers on his worst days when his confidence and comfort are shaken for any reason and he harbours a lot of powerful, painful guilt over what happened when he was still human; no matter how inadvertently, Carter caused the death of his closest friends even when he was trying to protect them and the moment when their deaths were revealed to him is one that replays regularly in his mind’s eye, sometimes even when he is awake. Without Cass, Carter would feel completely lost and his loyalty to her and his dependence on her are definite weaknesses that could be easily manipulated and used against him by anyone. Carter would do anything for Cass, he wouldn’t even think about it. On a more physical level, Carter still feels some discomfort when breathing at times; his ribs were brutally bruised, cracked and broken when he was human and that damage never really healed properly and even when he became a werewolf the bones had already reset themselves to the point where he can overexert himself or just feel uncomfortable in colder weather, the latter of which isn’t so much of a problem in California.

ABILITIES: Just as Carter has the textbook weaknesses of his race, he also has the same strengths as other wolves, including enhanced strength, speed, reflexes, agility, grace, senses off the charts, a heightened pain threshold and healing factor, the ability to leap to, from and across great distances, and of course he can transform into his wolf form and back again at will any time of his choosing, save for when the moon is at its fullest. Carter doesn’t trust easily and while some might simply label that as paranoia, it also means he can spot a threat in a room quicker than most; he is actively looking for them and he doesn’t underestimate anyone anymore.

Carter’s greatest skill, one he has had for most of his life, is when it comes to cards. Carter is extremely talented when it comes to playing most games but also at manipulating the deck and when he gets going and finds his rhythm, there is no denying what he is: a card sharp. Carter can control the deck or his own hand in a game of cards in order to tip the odds in his favour and it became a habit when he was younger, an unconscious slip that landed him in hot water with very dangerous people. He can also use these sleights of hand to perform tricks with a deck, fanning or shuffling them in elaborate and impressive ways, even though there is no real purpose to the flourishes. He is a highly skilled poker player and he can count cards and spot tells, all the little things that experienced and expert gamblers can do. Carter may not be as big a card player as he used to be but he still dabbles occasionally, even if it is only in the safety of his own home. Given how much trouble his skills got him into in the past, it’s no wonder that he doesn’t play as much as he used to, regardless of the fact that he is incredibly talented at it. That aside, Carter can cook well enough to get by, and he can read, write and speak fluent Spanish.

WEAPONS: Even with everything that has happened in the past, Carter still doesn’t believe in carrying or even owning weapons. He tries to avoid confrontation and violence whenever possible, and as it is he has seen enough bloodshed and death to last a lifetime. He is in no rush to see more of either.

PRIZED POSSESSIONS: Though she is by no means a possession, Cass is what Carter considers the most prized part of his life, he would do anything for her and he owes her more than he could ever give. She means more to him than anything he owns ever could. The pocket watch she got for him is considered prized, as are some of the items in his closet, namely the older pieces of clothing that have aged well and can still be worn to this day. Carter, perhaps predictably, has several decks of playing cards, one or two of which date back to the twenties, and if nothing else they are probably worth quite a bit of money now.

HOME(S): Carter lives in an apartment with his mate in the suburbs of Los Angeles, outside of pack jurisdiction.

HISTORY: Carter Hayes was born in 1901 to Valerie and Thomas Hayes. The marriage was a rocky one and early on Carter realised life at home would never be what it was supposed to be, it would never be comfortable or filled with love and laughter. His parents cared about him but not each other, and unfortunately their growing dislike for one another overshadowed their feelings for their son. So Carter learned to look elsewhere for acceptance and soon came to find it in a group of other misfits and outcasts from his neighbourhood, kids who would likely be labelled “the wrong crowd” by most respectable men and women in the city of Las Vegas where they grew up and roamed and played to their hearts’ content. Before he was even twelve Carter was playing cards with his friends, the closest of whom was Mikey Tedesco, a boy of the same age who lived on the same street, and it quickly became apparent that the young Hayes had a talent for it. They were all good at cards, they played almost every day, but Carter was one of the best and by the time he was sixteen he was able to effortlessly pull off tricks and sleights of hand that the others were struggling to even get started on.

It was no real surprise, then, that the boys realised they had a potential way to make money. They were smart boys, if a little misguided, and they were in the City of Sin. Where better to start up their own gambling venture? They had several truly gifted players in their ragtag gang, Carter among those few, and even before they were legally of age they were actively gambling in real games against strangers with the kinds of reputations that had been doing the rounds in Las Vegas for years. It was exciting, there was a sense of danger to it that many of the boys thrived upon and whenever they managed to win the high lasted for hours into the night and even the next morning. They had found their calling, it seemed like, and as time went on they started to get good at it. In turn, that made them cocky, and with any kind of arrogance comes a certain amount of threat from the outside, but that only made it all the more exciting to most of the gang.

The years passed and by the time the boys were in their twenties and had made something of a name for themselves -- not enough to really register on the radar of any of the big-time players who made thousands of dollars in one game -- they were starting to search for bigger thrills and, in turn, bigger payloads. Carter was one of the more sensible players in the gang, one of those who considered the pros and cons before diving in but in most things he was outnumbered, the team worked by vote most of the time and he often found himself in the minority when it came to voting against something. Such was the case when the team decided to take on their biggest venture to date.

Las Vegas had plenty of gangs who had formidable reputations, the kind that would become stories to tell over drinks and a friendly game of cards in years to come, but one in particular carried weight and an almost sinister edge. Sweeney’s team of guys were reported to not only have ties to the mob, but no one ever beat them, not one defeat had ever been recorded in their history, and anyone who had ever tried to cheat them simply vanished without a trace. Carter’s small team found it exciting, that kind of danger and that level of challenge, and naturally they wanted to make something of themselves. So they decided to try and become the first ones to beat Sweeney’s guys in a game. It wasn’t the kind of thing they could just rush into and Carter very rightfully pointed out that people who were that good at the game weren’t going to be beaten by a band of amateurs who hadn’t even made much of a name for themselves. Mikey and a few of the others managed to get into games where Sweeney’s guys were playing and it became apparent very quickly that they really were as good as their reputation made out. It wasn’t going to be easy.

It soon came down to Carter, through discussion and vote, and as much as he didn’t want to be the one who went up against Sweeney’s men at the tables there was no denying that he knew tricks no one else did and he could bluff better than just about anyone else on the team. Carter wasn’t easy to wear down though, he was adamant about staying out of it and time and time again he said that any money they managed to win wouldn’t even come close to paying off the buy-in they would have to put down to make it to the table, but these were his friends and they knew how to get to him. It took them a good few months to wear him down enough for him to consider the venture, and even when he finally agreed to really think about it he said he wouldn’t go through with it without doing the proper research himself. So he started visiting the casinos the big players frequented and hung out there for several hours a night to get a good idea of what he would be going up against, getting as close to the high-stakes tables as he could to watch them in action. It was during one of these reconnaissance outings that he met an interesting and beautiful young woman who introduced herself as Cass; he was standing at the bar watching the floor and she sauntered up beside him and complimented him on his hat, of all things. There was a little flirting and he introduced himself in return, but the meeting was regretfully brief; it wasn’t long before she was excusing herself and bidding him goodnight. Carter looked for her on those other outings but he didn’t see her again.

Not until the night of the game itself, at least. For weeks Carter had practised and played smaller, lower-stakes games to psyche himself up for the real thing and eventually his team told him enough was enough. He was ready. They couldn’t have been more wrong. None of them were ready for what would follow. After laying down the buy-in for the high-stakes game and assuring his seat at the table, at Sweeney’s house of all places, Carter realised he still wasn’t convinced about the game and he was nervous, more nervous than he had ever been about a game. It made sense, really, given the stakes. Thankfully Carter was good at masking those nerves and just playing the game, and that was exactly what he planned to do. What surprised him right off the bat when everyone was taking their seats was just who walked into the room on the arm of none other than Sweeney himself. It was Cass. He had known when he’d met her that she was associated with wealthy men, her clothes and jewellery had told him that much, but he never would have guessed she was with Sweeney. Putting his shock aside, Carter immersed himself in the game and concentrated on playing to win.

The game progressed naturally and smoothly, players folded and bowed out of the game and away from the table, but Carter didn’t let it faze him, he kept his head in the game and played to the best of his ability. Without even realising what he was doing, Carter started cheating, using sleights of hand and practised card sharp techniques to unconsciously try and tip the odds in his favour. Ultimately it didn’t matter that Carter didn’t realise he was cheating. What mattered was that others noticed. During a break in the game in which the remaining players refreshed themselves or got some air, Cass pulled Carter aside and out of sight and earshot to warn him to back off, she told him to stop being stupid, that it was going to get him killed. Carter played dumb at first, he hadn’t meant to cheat, but then, going on the defensive, he told Cass he knew what he was doing; the few drinks he’d had during the course of the game and the fact that he was one of only a few remaining players made him cocky and Cass didn’t appreciate that. More than anything else, Carter didn’t want to let his team down, there was a lot riding on this game. When the game picked up again, he continued to play in the exact same way, and when it came to just Carter and Sweeney that was when things took a turn for the worse. Sweeney declared the game at its end and actually complimented Carter on his technique before giving a nod to two men who had moved in to flank the young man out of nowhere.

After hauling him right out of his chair, the men proceeded to beat Carter almost to the point of unconsciousness. It was only Sweeney’s command to stop that made them pause, but it was only so he could tell them to take him downstairs. Carter tried to apologise, he swore to Sweeney that he hadn’t meant to cheat, but it was too late and it didn’t matter. Sweeney was furious, he hated being cheated, and Carter was dragged down to the basement and into a dark room where the two men bound him to a chair. Another severe beating followed after Sweeney joined them and told Carter he wanted to know the names of the others in his team. Carter refused. By all rights he should have been unconscious after the heavy blows he had already sustained but when Sweeney called for his men to stop he was somehow still awake and coherent enough to continue to deny the involvement of others. It would have been easier for him if he had given up the others, Sweeney had promised to make it quick if he did. Instead, Carter’s refusal to cooperate prompted the man to dispatch his men and instead call a woman into the room, a statuesque redhead with green eyes and a cool, collected manner who was told only to keep the young man alive. The woman -- her name was Eileen, though Carter was never able to catch it for himself -- soon revealed herself for what she was: an interrogator. She asked Carter for the names of his team but when he refused, despite the pain and terror he felt, she brought her blades into play, cutting into his chest and shoulders and even shallowly into his stomach to try and break him.

Days passed in this way with the only breaks coming when he could no longer withstand the pain and the blood loss anymore and he lost consciousness. At the end of the four days of enduring actual physical torture, Carter was brought up from his cell to the main floor of the house. Sweeney’s people were all gathered but Carter barely registered their presence, all he could see was Sweeney -- and Cass in the background -- and the man at his side, the box in that man’s hands. With little in the way of preamble the box was flipped open and its grisly contents were revealed. There, staring back at him, was Mikey Tedesco, or at least what was left of him. The horrific sight was enough to tip Carter over the edge, breaking what little resolve had been holding him together, and he was dragged back out of the room screaming in denial and pain that went far beyond the physical. When his voice finally gave out of him, he was already back in his cell and tied to the chair again and his mind did what it could to protect itself. The shutters came down and Carter, for all intents and purposes, disconnected.

The catatonia was only broken when the door opened and Cass, of all people, stepped inside, but it wasn’t until she had freed his wrists and been forced to slap him to bring him out of his unresponsive state that he realised it was her. She told him they were leaving, that she was getting him out, and even if he had wanted to fight he wouldn’t have had the strength right then. Really, it was a miracle that he could stand under his own power, but he did, following along as she pulled him behind her on the way out of the house. The body of the guard posted at the door to his cell was buckled on the floor and Carter struggled to comprehend what was really going on. His first real reaction came when Cass fired a gun on one of her own team and killed them right there in the hallway leading towards the exit; Carter promptly doubled over and vomited what little was in his stomach onto the floor. Cass was unfazed and got him back up and moving again, hurrying him out of the house and to the car waiting in the drive. Sweeney’s Rolls Royce, to be precise. She ushered him into the passenger seat and got behind the wheel, wasting no time in speeding them away from the house as fast as the car would go. It was as they raced away from Sweeney’s house and his men that Cass managed to get some kind of response out of Carter as she took his hand and squeezed it, simple though it was: her name. It was a start.

They didn’t stop driving until they were clean across the country and on the East Coast. Cass had enough money to put them up in a small place while she arranged for transport out of the country. Carter was fairly unresponsive and clearly still traumatised for most of the travelling, when he did manage to drift off to sleep he woke up agitated and terrified and panic attacks quickly asserted themselves as a -- perhaps permanent -- side-effect of the trauma he had suffered at the hands of Sweeney and his men. Cass managed to keep him from tumbling completely over the edge and she took care of him, paying for his passage out of the United States and all the way across the Atlantic and around to Spain, where she got them set up in a small but cosy apartment. As time went on, Carter settled down in little ways, he spoke more and the clouded quality of his eyes let up progressively, Cass continued to speak to him and assure him that they would be okay now. Even when they were settled in Spain, though, it was clear the damage wasn’t short-term and Carter’s nightmares had him screaming in the night and thrashing violently in his sleep, to the point where Cass was forced to pin him down to the bed and shake him back to the waking world. Carter felt ruined and broken down and his shame and guilt were constantly threatening to consume him, he had lost everything and now Cass was being forced to take care of him. He wished he could go back and refuse to play the game, he wished he could go back and talk them out of it altogether.

Though he wouldn’t understand the reasons behind it for years to come, Cass tried to leave him once. Just once. She gathered what was left of the money she had made from selling the Rolls Royce and her jewellery and offered it to Carter, told him that he was strong enough to stand on his own now and she was only holding him back. Carter promptly broke down and begged Cass to stay, pleaded with her not to leave him, told her he couldn’t do it without her. He said he was sorry for driving her away. That seemed to break Cass’ resolve and she changed her mind there and then, promising instead never to leave him and it was a promise she would go on to keep, though in that moment all Carter could feel was the wave of relief overcoming the crushing fear when faced with the prospect of losing someone he had come to need in so many ways.

A year passed and life settled down, the pair even managed to get jobs in a small, out of the way bar, run by a man named Rico. They had picked up the language by this time and Carter could even stand to be around strangers long enough to earn his keep, which was enough of a step forward to help him in his ongoing recovery. Life finally seemed to be turning in their favour but fate was not that kind. Sweeney had not forgiven Cass’ betrayal and instead of simply letting her and Carter go he instead dispatched a mercenary -- one of his own men -- to finish the job. As they walked home from work one night, quietly talking amongst themselves, Cass suddenly stilled and then told Carter to run home and not look back. Before he could even ask why, blinding pain shot through him from behind and his knees were giving out on him. Sweeney’s assassin had sprung out of nowhere and driven a blade deep into Carter’s back, driving it under his ribs and pulling it free again as he fell so the blood would flow freely. Carter, to this day, remembers very little of what followed, just a lot of blood, Cass laying him against the floor and disappearing for a time before returning and cradling him in her arms. There was a pain in his shoulder and then he blacked out.

When he awoke again, three days had passed, and Cass was sitting nearby but refused to look at him. She went on to tell him exactly what had happened, that she was not human and neither was the man who had attacked them. They were werewolves, and now so was Carter. She had bitten him to save his life but she felt guilty, she wished there had been another way and again she told Carter that she should leave, she was doing him no good and there was a pack in the city he could join, he would be safe with them. Sweeney’s men had all been werewolves, they had been a pack too, and so Carter was immediately against the idea. All over again he was terrified of being left alone, of losing Cass and he told her he didn’t want her to leave. This time it was much easier to convince Cass to stay with him and she told him she would do her best to help him adjust to being a werewolf now.

They went back to work and tried to get back to their lives, Carter now working to adjust to having an animal inside of him on top of everything else. Sweeney’s assassin could have been killed at any time during his travelling, they didn’t have to run if they didn’t want to. So they stayed. Ultimately it was the wolf inside of Cass that pushed them out of Spain. Even before Carter had become a wolf himself, Cass’ inner animal had felt responsible for him, but now that he was a werewolf as well, it was more than that. She became irritable when other women paid attention to him or tried to touch him, she lost her temper quickly when females of any kind thought to get close to Carter. It all came to a head when a patron at the bar laid her hand on Carter’s. Cass snapped and threw herself at the woman, starting a vicious fight that drew all kinds of unwelcome attention; women of Cass’ height and build shouldn’t be able to throw people across the room, after all. When she hurled the woman over the bar and the cut on her face healed in plain sight of all the humans in the bar, Carter realised they were in trouble. He jumped over the bar and brought Cass around before she could do any further damage but she didn’t react how he expected. She ran. She ran right out of the bar and all the way home and he was quick to follow her. When he reached the apartment he found her shoving things into a suitcase, something she told him to do as well, pack as quickly as possible so they could leave but Carter didn’t let it go. He asked her what was wrong, what had been wrong for months, something had been bothering her and he wanted to know what it was.

Cass told Carter that she couldn’t stand the fact that the woman in the bar wanted him. Carter didn’t understand and in her exasperation Cass grabbed him and kissed him, right there and then. It was wonderful and freeing and Carter hadn’t felt more peaceful in over eighteen months as he did in that moment but it was short-lived and Cass pulled back with an apology, telling him that it wouldn’t be fair of her to lay claim to him like that. She said he could have anyone he wanted, anyone at all, but, turning the tables, he was quick to surprise her by saying he didn’t want anyone else. Without even realising it, Carter had fallen in love with Cass, perhaps not so surprising given the amount of time they had spent together; she had saved his life not just once, but twice, and there was no one he trusted or cared about more than Cass. She was reluctant to believe him at first but finally she broke down and they embraced; she told him she loved him and he returned the sentiment without hesitation. He might not have realised it until then, but he did love her.

They left Spain after that, heading all the way to the Caribbean, of all places. Cass liked the sun and the sea and she could lounge around in the warmth all day. Carter didn’t like the sand, how it seemed to get everywhere, but so long as he was with Cass then he was happy. Life seemed more relaxed and easy now that they had been honest with each other and for Carter it even made being a werewolf easier somehow, as though there was a piece missing before he and Cass became mates.

It seemed inevitable that something happened to ruin their peace and comfort before too long, though, and this time it wasn’t some forward stranger trying to lay a claim to Carter or some assassin sent to kill them, but Sweeney himself. It was in the middle of the night when he just appeared in their small house and he was quick to overpower the both of them, knocking Cass aside effortlessly and managing to get his hands on Carter long enough to get a choking hold on him, one arm twisted behind his back. The deal was simple and offered with little in the way of flourish or preamble: Cass could go with Sweeney, back to her rightful place, or she could watch him tear Carter’s throat out right there and then. There was nothing Carter could do as Sweeney and Cass talked and the latter finally agreed to go with the former. When Sweeney threw him aside and through the glass patio doors, he was knocked unconsciousness and he didn’t regain consciousness until several hours later. By that time Sweeney and Cass were already gone. His shoulder was dislocated and his head was pounding but that wasn’t going to stop him going after his mate so after cleaning himself up and gathering up all the money he could find he left their small house and gave chase.

It took entirely too long getting to America. He knew exactly where Sweeney would take Cass; the pack had managed to lay claim to a considerable chunk of territory, after all, and they weren’t about to just give that up. That gave Carter something of an advantage but the pure, blind terror he felt when he finally got to the house itself was a serious disadvantage. If it wasn’t for the fact that he needed to save Cass, he wouldn’t have even been able to get close to the place, let alone sneak in through the same door they used to escape a few years ago. His heart was thundering and he could barely even breathe, and that was only made worse when someone came up on him from behind and knocked him down. It wasn’t just any member of the pack, but Eileen herself, and the sight of her all but paralysed Carter, he remembered all too clearly just what she had done to him and he couldn’t even raise a hand to stop her when she pulled him up and proceeded to drag him through to the main room in the house, calling for Sweeney when she got there, keeping a tight hold on the intruder she had managed to capture.

Sweeney appeared but he wasn’t alone; the whole pack seemed to have been attracted by Eileen’s call but Carter didn’t see any of them. He only saw Cass who appeared behind Sweeney, looking not at all like herself, pale and withdrawn with shadows under her eyes. Sweeney had hurt her, and not physically. Carter was immediately furious and desperate to help her, be by her side, and he managed to wrench himself out of Eileen’s grip to charge right at Sweeney in the hopes of killing him or at least doing some damage. He didn’t get very far before some of the pack fighters were wrestling him to the ground. Carter struggled but everything froze when Sweeney issued one order in particular: “Take him downstairs.”

Carter snapped.

Everything that was human withdrew and what came hurtling to the surface was all wolf, vicious and predatory, slashing and biting and howling in a pure, feral rage. Carter’s fear at being confined and tortured again combined with his blind determination to get to Cass had him in a frenzy and the fighters who had been trying to keep him pinned were the first to fall beneath his claws and teeth, literally torn apart. What followed was a brutal bloodbath, a savage and frantic massacre and few were spared. Some of the pack managed to flee, commanded to get clear by Sweeney, but Eileen was not one of those who chose to run. Instead she charged into the fray and attacked Carter in her wolf form. His fear of her was gone and he laid her open with his claws, taking her blood as she had his all that time ago, and when she was down he kept her there with a paw at her throat, choking the life right out of her and making it last. He looked up in time to see Sweeney throw Cass aside like a ragdoll and then the Alpha himself was thundering down the stairs to challenge him.

The tables were turned quickly. Even in his fully wolfen state, Carter was weaker and much younger than Sweeney and the older and stronger wolf quickly got the upper hand, savagely tearing into his opponent’s side and knocking him down to the ground. Badly wounded and knocked out of his frenzy, Carter lost his grip on his wolf form. Sweeney could have torn his throat out right there and then, but instead he changed back to his human form as well and wrapped his large hands around Carter’s throat, intending to choke him to death, kill him with his bare hands. He would have succeeded too, if it hadn’t been for Cass’ shout. The second Sweeney lifted his head to look to the female, Cass fired the gun she was holding. Her aim was perfect and Sweeney was killed instantly. It was over.

There was only one thing they could do after that. They had to leave, and quickly. Sweeney and his fighters might have been dead but there were still members of his pack in the city and it wasn’t safe. Neither of them cared to stay in Las Vegas any longer than absolutely necessary. Once the worst of the damage was cleaned up and taken care of, they set off and found themselves in Colorado. If nothing else, they could run as wolves in the wide, open spaces and mountain ranges and be by themselves for a while. It was clear that Cass was struggling after what Sweeney had done to her. Carter never needed to ask to know that the older male had done everything in his power to claim her as his own again, but instead of pushing her to do any one thing in particular to work through the aftermath he simply stuck by her side, refused to let her out of his sight. By the time Cass came back to herself and returned to normal, Carter was still right there, patient and understanding every step of the way. It was the least he could do for her after everything she had done for him in their time together, and more than that, he loved her and wanted her to be all right.

Once Cass was well again, they moved on, and this time they ended up in San Francisco. Cass had spoken of wanting to see the city and she missed the West Coast so Carter thought it as good a place as any. Unfortunately it wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Cass couldn’t find a job where she didn’t hate her employer and Carter realised very quickly he just couldn’t be comfortable anywhere Cass wasn’t comfortable, and the final nail in the coffin came during a spur-of-the-moment trip to a bar one night. Carter found himself the focus of a very forward young woman who reminded him all too much of Eileen with her red hair and green eyes. It was destined to end badly. Cass quickly cut in and warned the young woman away but the bold human followed them out of the bar and confronted them. The fight was surprisingly vicious and the young woman managed to land a few good blows on Cass. When she pulled a knife, Carter couldn’t just stand by any longer. Instead he stepped in, grabbed the woman’s wrist and, with a single twist, broke it, before telling her to leave, and none too politely. After that, it just made sense to move on. Again.

They stayed on the West Coast but this time ended up in Los Angeles, and after a little poking around to find out what was what, they found themselves a small but comfortable place in the suburbs. Los Angeles was home to not just one but two packs of wolves and both Carter and Cass preferred to stay right out of the way of all of that. They had both had their fill of packs. Cass quickly went back to her old routine of flitting from job to job, arguing with the managers and then having to find someplace new to work after she called them on their crap or got herself fired for breaking her boss’ nose. Somewhat surprisingly, Carter had better luck when it came to the job front; after a relatively short hunt he landed himself work at Virgin Megastores, of all places. It wasn’t glamorous and there were plenty of strangers to deal with every day but he realised he liked it well enough. His co-workers quickly came to understand that he didn’t really like to be touched and he didn’t appreciate pranks or surprises, and when they met Cass and realised she wasn’t just a friend or a roommate they came to terms with the fact that they might never understand him, but he’s a nice guy all the same. Carter got on with his work, stocking shelves and counting deliveries, he didn’t slack off or waste time, and he was perfectly nice to the customers, even if he wasn’t all that outgoing and forward, so his employers liked him well enough.

It has been a few years now since Carter and Cass came to Los Angeles and despite the fact that there are packs right on their doorstep, so to speak, they haven’t had the kinds of trouble they have had everywhere else they’ve tried to settle and so, for now at least, it seems like they might have found a place where they can live. That might change in the future, but Carter is happy so long as Cass is happy.