A Funny Thing Happened On My Way To...

Xeph had the TV on but he wasn't paying much attention to it. His mind kept going around and around the situation with his two murdered Packmates. He knew deep down that there was no way he could have prevented what happened; at least, nothing short of locking them all inside the Den and that just wouldn't work. He'd already asked the Pipers to continue patrolling both the Park and the Den and increase the security around their home. He'd sent warnings out to everyone to travel in groups, hunt in groups, of three or more. Still he felt those two losses keenly, and it was reflected in his ever-present nightmares, where he saw their faces twist in agony as something - someone - tore them apart.

At the knock on the door he looked up. Drew had poked his head in and was looking at him with a question in his eyes.

Xeph lowered his bare feet and sat up a little. "Yeah of course, come on in Drew."

He stood, indicating that Drew should seat himself whever he liked, and went to the kitchen. "You want a drink?"

Letting himself the rest of the way in Drew found what looked like a comfy chair and sat down. He thought he had an OK idea of what was going through Xeph's head right now. After all he'd grown up in an Alpha's house and had seen his father tackle some nasty issues; nothing quite this bad, but bad enough.

He absently chewed at his lower lip, he was a bit hesitant to bring up what had happened. At first it seemed like something strange and one off and not important. Now it seemed more significant. But what if he was wrong? He didn't want to add to the confusion, but he didn't want to keep possibly useful information to himself either.

Not exactly good at preliminaries he just launched into his story.

"A few days before the full moon my truck broke down between Meridian and here, I couldn't get it started so I decided to run home through the preserve. It's faster."Â?

He took for granted Xeph would understand he'd been his four footed self as well.

"Any way I had a run-in with... something. I never did get a good look at it about the best I could say is it was canine shaped and it didn't smell familiar either. It was smaller than me but it sure as hell wasn't afraid of me and it was fast."Â?

Drew didn't like to admit being bested, especially by something that small. Lord knew he'd spent enough time training with his uncles, who doubled as his father's betas, to hold his own more times than not. But this thing, he didn't understand it or how it fought.

"I suppose it could have been a crazed fox or a feral dog, I don't even know if it means anything but I thought you'd want to know."Â?

He did consider himself somewhat lucky, after all his own run in was just a day or two before the murders. Maybe they weren't tied together, maybe they were; Drew didn't know but he did think he'd been lucky.

Drew, obviously preoccupied, didn't answer, so Xeph opened his refrigerator and fetched two cokes. Delivering one to Drew, Xeph returned to his seat on the couch and listened to the young were's story.

At first he didn't recognize the significance of what Drew was trying to tell him. Wolves had run-ins with wildlife all the time. Most of them went to the Park for that purpose. There probably was some brazen little dog out there, unafraid of a bigger animal. In his line of work Xeph ran into plenty of little dogs who thought they weighed two hundred pounds more than they really did.

He considered Drew's words again, and finally asked, "What kind of run-in are we talking about here?"

It was interesting, if Drew meant what Xeph thought he meant.

Absently Drew accepted the coke, opened it and had a swallow. He was trying to come up with the best way to explain it without glossing over anything, but with out sounding like an alarmist either. He took another bit of a gnaw on his lip.

"It was... different. Usually if you cross a dog, coyote or even another wolf they respond and deal with you a certain way even if they want to take a piece out of you. I know it sounds strange but this thing, it felt a little like he was laughing at me and he wouldn't let me get a good look at him either. He kept running back up into the tall grass no matter how hard I tried to flush him to the beach. He'd run in, he'd hit me and then he'd take off. At least once he thought it would be a good idea to run under me."Â?

That was an experience Drew hadn't had. Most would be attackers didn't have that kind of guts.

"Then it was like he got bored with the game and he just took off. He wasn't guarding a kill or even territory he was... picking a fight I guess."Â?

He really hated trying to guess the other's intentions, emotions and motivation but it was the closest he could get to explaining what had gone down. It was hard trying to classify just why this encounter had been different.

"He didn't really do anything to hurt me, not really he just wanted me off balance. At least that's how it seemed. Just to be fair this is me trying to figure out what was going through his head. I reserve the right to be wrong about all this. Heck I'm not even sure he is a he; but he has to be one or the other."Â?

Drew shrugged an apology, he really hated not being able to articulate this better.

Xeph listened carefully while Drew elaborated on his encounter. Why the young man hadn't mentioned it before was apparent; if whatever it was appeared to just be screwing with him and no harm was done, why would he have seen a need to bring he matter to his Alpha?

"I'm glad you told me," he finally said. "That's a lot to think about, and it might be relevant to what happened a few nights ago."

He'd have to go back over the county coroners' reports and see if he could find any additional clues. In the meantime - he looked at Drew.

"I know you've seen the messages, and that this happened before the incident. But stay in a group. And make sure you keep your cell phone on you - or nearby. Let's not take any chances. The next run-in you have might not leave anyone laughing."

His tone was friendly, but firm. He wasn't chastising Drew, not even remotely. It was a warning, like he'd give to any of his Pack. Caution was important right now and in the future. He knew they'd run into opposition on Nachton, but he didn't know enough yet to know who this was from, and if it was an isolated incident or not.

Drew shrugged, half in apology. He still didn't think he was wrong to have let it slide when it first happened but he couldn't help but feel a little bad. He also felt bad he didn't have more for Xeph to go on, just random details and hunches. It wasn't much, hell it might not be anything.

"Honestly I don't know if it does or doesn't help. I figured better to have too much information than not enough though."Â?

Drew nodded at the warning.

"Some times the phone is a little hard to hold on to but I get your drift. I'll be careful."Â?

He might be a little reckless like any young man his age but Drew wasn't stupid they lived in a pack for a reason. Nor did he take offense at Xeph's little caveat. That was his job, to take care of the pack.

Not wanting to intrude any further he quickly gulped down the last of the coke and stood to leave, pausing at the door.

"I'll tell you more if I can think of anything and ummmm... Chief... let me know if I can help."Â?

Drew wasn't exactly experienced in matters like this, but thanks to life on the reservation he wasn't exactly green either.

((OOC... out pending response))

Well, Drew had said he needed a second and he wasn't too far off. Xeph appreciated the report though. The more information, the more leads, he could get - the better their chance of figuring this out.

"Thanks Drew. I'll keep that in mind."

He smiled at the young man as he left, already tuning back in to the TV, staring at it once more without comprehending, processing this new bit of information. After a few minutes he jumped up, grabbed his wallet and phone, and left the room. Heading to the security office, he figured he'd best let Hammer and the Pipers in on Drew's newest possible lead.

((ooc: Xeph out))