The following weekend, Alec and Elio head to the campsite where Blade, Zeke, Ona and a couple other friends are setting a tent up. Blade notices Alec and Elio getting out of Elio's Jeep and runs over to hug Alec.
"It's so great to see you, Alec!" Blade excitedly tells him while hugging with his tail wagging.
Alec smiles a bit, "It's great to see you too, Blade. It's been too long."
Blade lets go of Alec, "Well you shouldn't have left and we'd see each other more often."
"You know I wanted to see the world outside the pack. Plus, I wouldn't have met Elio if I hadn't left."
Blade then turns towards Elio, smiling a bit, "So, this is the boyfriend you've been hiding from us. Elio, right?"
"Yes I am," Elio responds nervously.
"Well it's nice to have you." Blade pats Elio on the back, "C'mon, let's get back to camp." Blade leads them back to camp, everyone still sets up the camp and introduces Elio to the group.
"Hey guys, I'd like you all to meet Elio, my brother's boyfriend," Blade introduces him. Everyone turns around and Elio notices Alec's friends, except one woman in the background.
"Nice to see you again, Elio," Ona tells him. She walks up and gives him a hug.
Elio returns the hug and lets her go, "It's nice to see you again too, Ona."
"You've met before?" Blade asks curiously.
Elio starts explaining, "Yeah, I met the group a couple months ago with Alec."
Casey chimes in, "How's it going, El?"
"Pretty good. It's been a minute," he responds.
Blade chuckles while putting his hand on his neck, "Well this makes introductions a whole lot easier." He calls over to a woman in the background who is still making her tent, "Hey, Raven. Want to meet Elio?"
Raven looks over and quietly walks over, gives Elio a firm handshake, "Nice to meet you. Want a beer?"
"Um, no thanks. I'm good," Elio politely refuses.
Raven nods and walks off back to continue finishing the tent.
Blade nervously laughs, "She's… shy around new people."
The group finishes making their tents and starts the party. Raven turns on the grill to make some burgers and hotdogs and Raven offers Elio a burger. He accepts it and starts eating it. Later when the sun is setting and everyone is eating some smores in a circle, Elio chimes in, now wearing a jacket to keep himself warm.
"So, um what are we doing with the rest of tonight?"
Blade turns to Elio "Oh, um. Alec didn't tell you what we usually do?"
"Um, no. I actually wanted to surprise him with some of our traditions," Alec responds.
Blade hesitates when looking at Alec, "Um, okay…"
He looks back to Elio, "Well normally we normally tell some stories over the fire, and later on, we like to transform into our wolf forms and explore the forest."
"That sounds fun actually," Elio responds, blushing.
Blade looks at him happily, placing his hand under his cheek, "Not many Elves take an interest in our culture."
Raven nods, "Yes. It is nice to have you here."
Zeke adds, "Yes it is."
"What kind of stories do you guys normally share?" Elio asks curiously.
Alec starts explaining, "Usually we discuss funny stories or hunting trips any of us went on recently."
"That sounds fun. Who usually starts?"
"I'll start tonight," Zeke comments, "Let's see… a couple of weeks ago. Ona and I went hunting at her uncle's property. In the early hours of the morning, I noticed a deer in the distance and not wanting to miss it, I shot it. What I didn't realize was that her uncle had placed a decoy the night before to trick us into thinking it was real."
"Oh my gods, it was horrible. I was so disappointed, I thought we actually got something," Ona adds, annoyed.
Alec slightly laughs, "He did that?"
Ona sighs, "Yes. He even made it smell like one to trick our noses. He is… very much a joker. I don't know what to do with him anymore."
The group laughs and everyone else continues trading stories with Blade telling them about how he and Raven's cat randomly opened the bathroom door while he was showering and he, thinking it was Raven, flirted with the cat. He jumped when the cat entered the shower with him.
After they finish sharing stories, Casey clears his throat, "Well with that out of the way, let's move to our next activity for the night."
Elio readjusts himself in his seat, "What are we going to do now?"
"Now, we usually will shift into our wolf forms and take a run, but I don't know how you want to participate," Casey explains.
Alec leans forward, "He can just sit on my back while we run." He suggests, Elio blushing at the idea.
His friends look at him weirdly with Blade being especially uncomfortable about it.
"Isn't that, like, illegal?" Blade asks him, very concerned. He looks around to everyone else to see if anyone else is looking with concern. He notices only Casey looking at them with concern.
"I don't mind," Alec insists, unworried.
Blade sighs, "Let's hope the police aren't conveniently here."
The group gets up and everyone except Elio starts changing out of their clothes with only their shorts remaining while Elio looks away trying to take a peek at Alec.
"You guys ready?" Alec asks them. The group nods and they shapeshift into their wolf forms.
"Okay, you can turn around, El," Alec tells him. Elio turns around and sees that everyone is in their wolf forms.
Elio looks around at everyone carefully and looks at the brown wolf, Elio squints looking, "Alec? Is that you?"
The wolf opens its mouth, "It's me. Are you ready?"
"S-Sure. You said to get on your back?" He hesitantly asks him.
"Yeah. Get on." He insists to him. Elio gets on Alec's back hesitantly.
"Hold on tight," Alec tells Elio. Elio hugs his neck tightly. Alec turns to everyone else, "Let's go, everyone." Alec signals everyone and they all nod in agreement and start racing through the forest with Elio struggling to hold onto Alec. The group starts running up a hill, as they run up, Alec starts talking.
"Are you enjoying this, Elio?" Alec glances back while Elio still holds on for dear life. He grips onto Alec's neck for dear life.
"I… I'm trying not to fall off."
"What did you say?" Alec asks, not hearing him.
"You're so fast!" Elio blurts out.
"You think so?" Alec turns around asking.
"N… Now you hear me?" Elio asks. He keeps holding onto Alec's neck, hoping not to fall off of Alec's back.
The group reaches the top of a hill and Elio quickly gets off Alec's back ready to puke. Alec signals to the others and they all start howling at the moon in unison as Elio pukes. As Alec and the group finish howling, Alec notices Elio hunched over in a puking position and walks over to him, still in his wolf form.
"Are you okay-?" Alec tries to say, but is cut off by Elio finishing his puking. When Elio finishes puking, he stands up, still holding his legs, he gives Alec a thumbs up. Alec signals to the rest of the group that they can leave and they nod in agreement and start running down the mountain. Once they are alone, Alec rubs his head onto Elio's side.
Elio starts the conversation, "I… I'm good. Just not used to riding on your back."
"Want to walk back instead of riding me?" Alec asks him, placing his head onto Elio's side.
"Sure." Elio places his arm over Alec's back and they start walking back, Elio notices Alec's coat of fur is thick and starts rubbing his hand through it.
Alec takes notice of Elio rubbing him and turns around, "What's going on? You like what you feel?"
Elio snaps himself out of rubbing Alec's fur, "Yeah, I do. I'm just not used to seeing you in your wolf form."
Alec laughs a bit, "Well I don't have much of a reason to bring it outside of events like this."
Elio laughs in agreement, "Yeah, I guess you don't."
Alec flops down on the ground, surprising Elio.
"You okay?" Elio asks him curiously, looking down at Alec laying on his side, still in his wolf form.
"Yeah, just tired from the running. I just need a couple moments to rest." Alec tells him. Elio joins Alec by sitting next to him, Alec places his head onto Elio's lap. Elio starts petting him, causing Alec to fall asleep with Elio falling asleep as well. Later, Alec wakes up, looks around and notices Elio asleep right above him.
He gets up and rubs his head onto Elio, waking him. Elio wonders what happened and notices the drool on his face.
Alec stands up, "Looks like we fell asleep."
Elio laughs a bit, "Yeah, I guess we did."
"Was wondering when you guys would wake up," Someone calls towards them. Alec and Elio look over and spot Blade right next to Raven, Raven in her wolf form with Blade next to her in his normal form. He gets off, rubbing Raven's fur off of his hoodie and walks towards them.
Alec and Elio get a bit embarrassed at being caught in a vulnerable position.
Elio looks at them, embarrassed, "H-How long we were out for?"
"Probably an hour or so. We came over since you guys hadn't come back. Looks like you two got comfortable." Blade tells them, snickering. Elio blushes at Blade's comment.
"Well, see you two later. Just don't fall asleep on us again," Blade gets on Raven's back and they walk off with Blade laughing as a way to taunt the two of them.
Alec nervously laughs, "That was embarrassing. Blade is never going to let me live this down."
"Want to start heading back?" Elio asks him, patting Alec's head.
They slowly start walking back to camp, Elio walks right beside him, not wanting to get more sick than he already was. They observe the forest, watching the bats fly around him. They talk and laugh about varying subjects. They stop to observe the moon shining bright in the sky. Alec suddenly howls at it, scaring Elio. Alec jokingly bumps his head into Elio's side. Elio starts getting tired from the trek and his legs getting sore from the jerking around earlier. Alec offers to let Elio ride him, but to walk slowly this time. Elio accepts and gets on him, he slowly falls asleep on his back. Alec accepts his fate as a taxi for the rest of the way back.
They return to their campsite and Alec lightly wakes Elio up and Elio gets up and off Alec's back, rubbing his eyes. They walk down and notice Casey still outside, changed into a tank top and shorts, drinking a can of pop.
"Hey, Casey. Where is everyone?" Alec asks.
"They all went to bed. I stayed up to make sure you two got back safe."
"Thanks for waiting, but you didn't have to do that."
"I didn't have to, I wanted to. See you in the morning. Night." Casey walks into his tent to go to bed for the night.
"How about we join them? Not much to do now," Alec offers. Elio nods and Alec leads him back to their tent. They head to sleep.
The next morning, Alec and Elio wake up, sprawled all over each other. Alec rubs his eyes and walks out of the tent and notices everyone except Casey eating breakfast.
Blade notices them walking out of their tent, "Well, looks like the lovebirds made it back safely. Did you two fall asleep a few more times before making it back to camp?"
Elio blushes a bit, looking away.
Alec jumps in, smirking. He places his hands on his shorts, "Well, beauty does take longer when we're setting the standard. Now if you excuse me, I'm going to change."
Zeke and Ona snicker a bit at Blade's embarrassment, with Blade blushing a bit.
"Well, I-I, um…" Blade stammers. Casey walks out and joins in on Zeke and Ona's snickering.
"S-Shut up you guys," He blurts out, embarrassing himself further.
"That's enough, guys," Raven jumps in, "Blade, you'll combust if you keep this up."
Blade sighs and looks at her, smiling "You're right."
"So, what are our plans for today?" Elio asks them, curiously. He sits down and Alec returns, sitting next to Elio. Elio places his hand onto Alec's, crossing his fingers through Alec's.
Casey gets up, grabbing a stick and draws a few rough lines into the dirt, "We were going to go east, right?" He asks the rest of the pack.
"Yep. But the terrain is tough, so we'll have to be careful when going through it."
Casey looks to Elio, "You gonna be okay on Alec's back? After… last night?"
"Um, I'm probably going to stay back so I don't get sick again," Elio hesitantly tells them.
"Are you sure?" Alec asks him, his grip tightening on Elio's hand.
"Yeah. I don't want to keep you guys from having fun." Elio insists, he smiles a bit.
Ona starts talking, "Well if you want, I can stay with you to keep you company." She gives Elio a friendly smile with him returning it.
"Are you sure? You can go with everyone if you want to," Elio tells her.
"I'm sure. We can get to know each other some more while we're at it and maybe explore a bit of the forest together." She takes a drink of her water.
Elio blushes a bit, "Yeah. We can do that."
"Cool." Ona turns to everyone else, "Everyone cool with the plan?"
Everyone agrees with the plan. Casey, Alec, Blade, Raven, and Zeke are in their wolf forms, while Ona is in her human form standing next to Elio. Ona puts a collar bag onto Casey.
"We'll see you guys later," Zeke tells them, smiling. He turns around and signals to everyone else and they all agree to head out. Everyone leaves Elio and Ona to stay around at the campsite. They head to the bonfire pit and take a spot in a couple of chairs next to each other.
"Well, now that we're alone. What do you want to do?" Elio asks her.
She finishes her drink of water, "Well. I was thinking that we could get to know each other. Like… What do you usually do for fun?"
Elio shifts, "Well. I typically tend to the garden when Alec isn't around or take nature walks. How about you?"
Ona chuckles, "Well, if I'm not hunting, I'm usually knitting or playing baseball. You play?"
Elio shakes his head, "Heh. No. My folks were usually too busy to play with me, plus my school never had a team, so I couldn't have tried even if I wanted to."
Ona shifts forward, "What do they do if you don't mind me asking?"
Elio places his water bottle down and puts his hands together, thinking carefully, "Well. My mom is the Minister of Foreign Affairs and my dad is a treasurer for the provincial government." He explains.
"Wait? Your parents are Eliana and Marcel Starshade? What does Alec think?" Ona asks him, surprised.
Elio nervously chuckles and looks away from her, "He um, doesn't know. I don't really talk about my family much."
"Haven't you guys been dating for seven months tho? How could you not mention that?"
"Well, I didn't want him to think differently of me. People typically treat me differently when they find out about my parents. Plus, us Elves don't usually keep photos of family up around our homes unless they are dead."
"Well, when do you plan on telling him? Family is important, at least to him and Blade it is." Ona explains, confused.
Elio looks at her, embarrassed, knowing he should've mentioned something about it, "He asked, but I've successfully put it off for the past few months. I'll ask them… eventually, but like I said, they're usually busy."
Elio and Ona decide to take a walk through the forest for a bit. They explore for quite a bit, until they reach a river. They stop and Elio studies it for a moment, Ona notices him crouched down, having placed his hand into it.
"What are you doing?" Ona asks him, laughing.
Elio gets up and turns to her, "Observing it. I think this river has magic infused into it."
This piques Ona's interest, "Really? What makes you say that?"
"It has an aura surrounding it. As an Elf, I'm prone to being more magic sensitive than others."
"That's amazing. I had no idea."
"Yeah. I wonder where the magic comes from."
"Do you want to check it out? Maybe we can find the source."
Elio grins, "Sure. That'd be amazing!"
The two of them start going against the flow hoping to see where it flows from.
As Elio and Ona continue exploring the river. Alec's group continues running through the forest, everyone still in their wolf form. They stop running when they start reaching the rough part of the terrain and start walking through it. When they reach the other side they form a circle around each other with Blade taking the lead of the conversation.
"Well. Should we go any further or should we turn around?" He asks everyone, they all look around at each other.
"I say keep going. What do you all think?" Alec asks them. They all nod in agreement and start walking further into the forest.
As they continue walking, Blade calls back, "Hey, Raven, Casey." Both of them look over to Blade, "Don't you guys have a family cabin up this way?"
"Uh, yeah we do. How come?" Raven asks him
Blade stops walking and turns around, "Just wondering. I know Casey mentioned it once before when we were hanging out that it was up this way."
"Well, it's been a minute since we've been to it. But we can make a pit stop there if need be," Casey tells him. Blade nods, but notices something, sniffs the air and starts walking in front of the group, still sniffing the air.
"What is it?" Zeke asks him, curiously. He follows Blade to see where he is going.
Blade looks towards the group, "It's a deer. I think we should go after it."
"No the terrain's rou-" Casey tries telling him but Blade starts running off. As Blade runs off after the deer, the deer flees and the group carefully tries to go after him. As Blade is running towards the deer, he stops and sniffs the air. As he starts running after it, he trips at a muddy part of the hill and slides down it, hitting a tree.
"Ahh!" Blade yells, immediately shifting back into his human form. The group run towards the scream and notice Blade sitting up, his back laying against the tree.
Alec calls out, looking down to Blade, "You okay, bro?"
"I fell down a hill into a tree! What do you think?" He yells up. He immediately jerks in pain from yelling.
"Hold on. We'll get you up," Alec calls down to him. Alec shifts into his human form, ignoring his lack of proper clothing and starts slowly scaling down the hill to Blade, tripping and falling into Blade's lap.
"The hell, dude? Are you trying to hurt me more?" Blade asks painfully.
"Sorry." Alec shifts back into his wolf form and sits down in front of Blade. "Get on. We'll get you some medical attention," Alec gestures. Blade slowly crawls onto Alec's back and places his arms around Alec's name, then Alec slowly starts walking back up the hill. When he reaches up the hill, he has Blade still holding onto Alec's neck tightly.
"Can we head to your guys' cabin?" Alec asks everyone.
"Shouldn't we head to the hospital first?" Raven asks him, shocked at the idea of not getting an ambulance first.
"Well we need to put him somewhere in the meantime." Alec tells her.
The group starts walking with Raven up front, they notice the sun is in the middle of the sky, signifying it's midday. As they slowly start trekking the trip to the cabin, Blade groans in pain. Alec looks back, worried for his brother. They reach the cabin and Casey shifts into his human form with the bag starting to fall off him. He walks over to Raven, places it on her and starts looking for the key. He finds the key in the birdhouse and unlocks the door. Alec walks inside and notices a couch and walks over. Blade crawls onto the couch.
Casey walks over to Blade, "Hey, are you having any other problems?"
"Nothing really other than the back."
"Well I'm going to call anyway just in case."
Casey reaches for his phone and starts dialing for an ambulance.
"Hello, this is Casey Hall and we have a friend who injured his back and is in need of an ambulance."
The operator responds and Casey and them continue talking, eventually Casey hangs up, "An ambulance should be here in forty." Casey looks around at everyone, "Where'd Raven go?"
Raven walks out of a bedroom with a change of clothes, "I'm right here. I just wanted a fresh set of clothes in the meantime."
"Blade, do you need anything?" Alec asks him, softly while everyone is talking.
"Water," Blade responds, strained, laying down on the couch.
"Yeah. I can do that." Alec walks towards the kitchen, shifting back into his human form and searches the cabinets for a cup. He grabs a cup and walks over to the sink to fill it with water. He walks back to Blade handing it to him.
Blade grabs the cup, "Thank you." He takes a sip of the water and gives it to Alec to place on the nightstand. Alec obliges and places it there.
"I'm going to have to call Elio," Alec tells them. He starts going for his phone and grabs it out of the bag on the couch. He walks outside and calls Elio, but doesn't answer.
"Maybe his signal is just weak. I'll call Ona when things calm down," Alec thinks, he looks for Ona's number and tries calling her
Meanwhile Elio and Ona are still talking and laughing together, still trying to find the source of the magic not realizing what happened.
"You think we're getting closer?" Ona asks him.
Elio senses the magic in the air and shakes his head. Not sensing it having gotten any stronger since they first started walking.
"Let's start heading back." Ona agrees and they start walking back down the river, hoping they didn't get lost.
As they walk, Elio thinks about a conversation they had while walking up the river together, "So um, where did you go to school?"
"Well, pre transition, I went to St. Malachi's School for Boys before I transferred over to Elizabeth's School for Girls."
"Oh, really? How was that?"
"Honestly, going to Malachi's was miserable for me. But Elizabeth's was honestly a breath of fresh air to be around other girls, especially with how many wolf girls who saw me as Ona and not as—" Ona stops in her tracks and puts her hand over her mouth.
Elio looks at her, realizing what she meant.
Ona notices his silent realization, "Yeah. It was miserable having to pretend to be someone I wasn't."
"But I thought Werewolves were generally accepting of soulaligned* folk," Elio mentions.
Ona sighs, "Yeah. We generally are accepting, but most of Malachi's unfortunately think differently."
*Soulaligned: A term used by Elves and Werewolves for those that are Transgender.*
Elio leans in closer to Ona, "Well, I see you as a woman tho."
Ona blushes, looking away from Elio. Ona gets a phone call and sees it is Alec.
Ona picks up, "What's up? Enjoying your guys' run?"
Alec starts talking, "Hey um, we're getting an ambulance to get Blade checked out."
"What? What happened?" Ona asks, shocked and worried for him.
"What's going on, Ona?" Elio asks her.
She puts Alec on speaker, "You're on speaker."
"Blade fell down a hill and we're getting him checked out just in case," Alec explains.
"Is he going to be okay?" Elio asks, worried.
"Hopefully. We just have to get him checked out."
"Okay, good," Ona says, relieved, but still worried.
"Where are you guys at?" Elio asks him.
"We're at a cabin owned by Casey and Raven's parents. I'll head to the hospital with Blade while everyone else meets with you guys back at the campsite," Alec tells them.
"Okay, we'll have to get back first then we'll pack up and wait for them," Ona tells Alec.
"Okay, the Ambulance should be here in thirty, so you guys should have time-" Alec responds, but hears a crash inside, "I'll call you guys back. Just get started cleaning up." Then Alec hangs up on them.
Ona turns to Elio, "Let's hurry."
Elio nods in agreement and they start running back to the campsite. They run through until they reach the path they split off from. When they get back, they start cleaning up their campsite. They continue talking about miscellaneous subjects and once they pack up the tents, they lean against Elio's Jeep with the other two cars empty, next to Elio's.
"So, you think Blade's okay?" Elio asks her, looking up at the sky, staring at the stars.
"I hope so. I know he and Alec have always been close. Alec's probably taking this pretty hard," she responds, looking up at the stars as well.
As they continue talking, they hear some footsteps from the forest and see a few wolves walking over.
"Casey? Raven?-" He starts asking but gets cut off.
"Yep, it's us," Zeke responds, still in his wolf form. He starts shifting out of his wolf form, in some black pants and a binder. Elio notices Zeke has some scarring under his chest and Ona hands him his shirt. He puts it on and Raven and Casey shift out and get their clothes on.
"Do you know which hospital Alec and Blade went to?" Elio asks them, worried.
"Yeah. I'll lead you there," Raven tells him. They all get in their respective vehicles and they all drive to the hospital. Elio notices Alec sitting in the waiting room, his ears and head down. He walks over to Alec and sits in the chair next to him and wraps his arm around him.
"Hey, Alec. How's it going?" Elio asks him. Alec looks up, his eyeliner dripping down his eyes. Elio holds back a bit of laughter and silently pulls Alec towards him. Alec leans in and Elio keeps holding him.
Later, an older woman walks into the waiting room, "Alec Fenrow?" Elio opens his bag and gives Alec a wipe and Alec cleans the eyes and looks up.
"That's me. How's my brother?" Alec asks her.
"He's okay and able to talk if you're ready to see him."
Alec jumps up at the idea, "Yeah."
"Who is everyone else here? Patients are unfortunately limited to three visitors at a time."
Raven steps in, "I'm his wife. Can I see my husband?"
"Well if you three have it covered, I guess we'll head out. Let us know how Blade is doing, okay?" Zeke asks Alec and Raven, "Tell him we'd come in if we could."
"Of course," Raven responds seriously. Zeke,Ona, and Caey leave the hospital and the nurse leads Alec, Elio, and Raven head to Blade's room and see him laying on a bed, a brace covering his torso.
"Hey, babe, how do you feel?" Raven asks him, rubbing his head.
"Eh, still in pain, but the painkillers are helping," Blade comments, looking right at her, "Looks like I'll be out tomorrow. So thank goodness."
Alec joins in, "So what did the doctor say?"
He turns to Alec, "Looks like just a sprained back. I'll need to take the next two weeks off though to recover," he responds, holding Raven's hand, "But nothing I can't handle."
"Yeah, well glad to see you're doing better. If you need anything, let us know," Alec tells him, but we have to get home.
"Okay, well thanks for visiting anyways." Blade tells him. Alec walks over and gives Blade a fist bump, then he and Elio start heading out.
"It was nice meeting you, Elio," Blade calls out, as Alec and Elio are in the doorway.
Elio turns around, "Yeah it was nice meeting you two as well. Hope you get better soon."
"Thank you," Blade says.
When Alec and Elio get into his Jeep, Elio looks over to Alec, "You know, I was thinking, maybe we should go visit my parents when we get the chance to. I'd like you to meet them."
Alec looks over, "Really? What's the change of heart?" he asks, surprised at Elio's suggestion.
Elio shrugs, "Just a thought."
Elio starts his Jeep and they start driving back to their cottage. When they get back, Elio decides to make a call. His mom picks up the phone.
"Hey, Mom. How's it going?" Elio asks her.