FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

To see more of my original work, follow me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/FlightInSnow

Pack Mentality

Summary: In the years after his escape from his family's pack, Tobi has learnt to survive on his own. The only problem is that in this day and age, a wolf without a pack is a walking target. With no alpha to protect him, Tobi spends his days looking over his shoulder until he runs into an old friend. It's a far from happy reunion as Tobi releases just how much danger he's in. This new pack invites him with open arms. Unfortunately, they don't care whether he's interested in staying or not.

--

Chapter Eight

Free as the Wind

--

The sun was well up by the time Tobi reached the next town. Rocking on his sore paws, he wondered if it was worth the risk going into the town to try and flag down a bus. Shifting came at a rather unusual cost. They couldn't shift with heavy, bulky or loose clothing. A pair of skin-tight shorts were the only thing covering his human body. Sure, he could say he was robbed but it would still be a rather uncomfortable conversation.

His stomach rumbled with hunger. He was also pretty thirsty. He hadn't had anything proper to drink since those few painful gulps of water on the run the night before. There was a motel not too far from the edge of the forest. To his great relief, there was a vending machine against the main building. Traffic seemed pretty quiet. He watched intently for about ten minutes.

When he was sure there was no one around, Tobi shifted back into his human form and pulled some notes from his wallet. He rushed over to the vending machine and peered inside. He stuffed the notes in and hit the buttons. Once the machine had distributed his precious cargo, he bundled it all up and sprinted back towards the trees.

Geez, he must have looked absolutely ridiculous.

Three bags of chips, a bottle of water and an iced coffee weren't much of a proper breakfast, but he was relatively used to it and it was certainly better than nothing. He ate as he walked, stretching his bruised and aching muscles. He had done well to get this far but he wouldn't be able to stay here. The pack was probably already sending wolves out to any nearby settlements.

He was about to turn his back on the place when a child's laugh made him look up. A family of four; mother, father and two young girls were climbing into a car. The youngest child was giggling, and her mother was picking her up to fit her into her children's car seat. Tobi watched them from a long moment. He wandered what it must be like, to have a family that loved each other, to be loved. He turned his heart cold to the idea. Thinking like that wasn't going to help him now. Tobi found a trail and headed on his way.

He was right not to stay.

He never saw the silver car pull into the parking lot outside the motel nor the two wolves that got out. As they headed into the town to question the people that lived there, Tobi got further and further away.

--

Tobi sat at the bus stop, watching people pass on their commute to work. It had been almost a full week since he had left the pack lands. He still couldn't quite believe he had gotten away. His subconscious didn't seem to believe it either because every night marked another kaleidoscope of confusing dreams. He would wake before dawn in a sweat, limbs tingling. It always took him a few minutes to understand where he was and chase away the unreasoning feeling that something enormous was about to crash down on him.

It had not been a very comfortable week.

Tobi had been looking over his shoulder every step of the way. Every look he got, be it friendly or derisive had set him on edge. It seemed mad that the pack would have followed him so far from the pack territory, but that paranoia prevented him from staying anywhere for long. He was tired, hungry, and jumped at every small noise.

He had no real plan of where he was going either. He couldn't just keep wandering aimlessly though or he could end up blundering into the territory of a new group of shifters and start the whole mess over again. Thinking of Holly caused a deep ache in his chest. He had been traveling for so long that he had thought he was used to it.

That had been before he had found his childhood friend again. The sight of a friendly face had been like a balm to him. Wolves weren't engineered to spend their lives in isolation, and he had now chosen to do so twice. It left him feeling brittle.

His distrust of public places and the people who occupied them meant that he was now spending a lot of time in wolf form inside the forests and woods. This meant he was at least not burning through the little cash he had on accommodation, but the forest had its own host of problems. It was difficult to hunt in the dense ferns and tall trees. He'd been able to catch a few stouts and a couple of distracted rabbits but mostly he wasn't getting enough to fill his belly every day. He needed to stop somewhere for a while and get his strength back.

For one thing he wanted a damn shower. Tobi stood up and stretched. He needed a place to wash, charge his now dead phone and eat a proper meal. He had been lucky enough to find a few backyards with a low fence and clothes on the line. The sweatpants and tee-shirt didn't fit great, but they were a lot better than walking around in skin-tight shorts.

He was just about to head for what he thought was a motel when a man with straw coloured hair and broad shoulders stepped out from a side street to his right. Tobi froze, his instincts telling him that this man was a wolf. He sniffed, the hair on his arms rising. He was sure that this wolf wasn't from Anton and Lorena's pack.

It happened to fast. Tobi smelt the wolf, the wolf came onto the main footpath and saw him. They both stared for a moment. Then the man hitched a smile onto his face.

"Well good morning. Out alone?" About as smooth as a fucking chainsaw. Tobi's lip curled.

"It was and none of your business," he growled. He made to go around the man and was entirely surprised when the asshole stepped back in front of him again.

"Hey, easy there. I meant no harm. This is no man's land at any rate. Some of my pack and I are just passing through," the blonde purred. The skin along Tobi spine tingled in revulsion.

"If you're by yourself then we could escort you?" he added hopefully, his eyes traveling up and down Tobi's body. Tobi glared, feeling his canines lengthen inside his mouth.

"If I'm alone then it would be for a reason. I'm not interested," he snapped. The man took a step closer.

"It's not safe to be without a pack. Why don't you come with me, meet my mate? She'll love you."

This smarmy bastard thought Tobi was free game. He waited for the punch of alpha's aura, but it didn't come. The man was posturing, waiting for Tobi to react as only a submissive would. Tobi could smell the wolf's musk like the odour leaking from a to full bin in a summer kitchen. It was not pleasant, and it wasn't the overwhelming presence of a dominating alpha. Or at least, it wasn't the one his senses were expecting.

The man's grin faded a little, his expectation that Tobi would show him his throat faltering. Tobi decided to make those vanish completely. He stepped up to the man and swung, using his smaller size to fir himself under the taller man's frame. His knuckles connected with the man's jaw, snapping his head back and sending him stumbling backwards.

"That's my answer you dense fuckwit," Tobi growled. He heard a gasp and looked up. A stunned middle-aged woman, her hands on a stroller had stopped dead on the other side of the road. Her mouth was hanging open. Seeing as Tobi was thin, small and delicate looking and the other man looked as though he could have played football, she didn't seem to know what to think.

"He asked me out and wasn't taking no as an answer," Tobi said flatly as the man gave a loud groan of pain. The woman's face contorted with fury.

"Oh sweetheart, why don't you walk with me for a bit?" she said, her eyes narrowing on the blond-haired man. Tobi nodded and came over to join her, trying to look as small and innocent as he could.

"Thank you, I appreciate that," he said. The man seemed to have finally pulled himself together. He rounded but paused at the sight of the human woman. Apparently, he wasn't quite that stupid because after a few seconds of teeth grinding, he stormed away. Sometimes Tobi loved the double standard of human society. He knew things would have been taken very differently if it had been the blonde's female mate trying to block him from leaving. He probably would have punched her too. He doubted this lady would have been quite as loving toward him then.

"What is wrong with people these days?" the woman muttered, chivvying Tobi along with a motherly sweep of her arm. The toddler in her stroller gave a soft gurgle. The woman's name turned out to be Janise and he got the impression that Janise did not live a particularly exciting life. She seemed thrilled to have been a part of some scuffle and bragged about how jealous and excited her yoga girlfriends were going to be when she told them.

Tobi nodded, listening as she told him all about her next-door neighbour's problems with the council and how the man across the road was trying to build a swimming pool without a permit. It was all very mundane, and Tobi oddly enjoyed it. He tried to imagine talking about begonias and pool permits to his own father and the sheer ridiculousness of the thought made him snort with laughter.

"I know! That was my reaction. Anyway, I said to her, Marge, you just need to bite the bullet and tell him." On and on she talked as they strolled down the street together. The smell of hot food made Tobi's belly rumble with hunger. She paused mid-sentence to stare down. Tobi's cheek went pink.

"I urgh, forgot to have breakfast this morning," he said. Janise sighed.

"Young people today, always rushing about. There's a great little deli over here, this way." Tobi allowed himself to be pulled along to a busy looking shop. The smells coming from inside were making him drool. Without being told, he lined up. People shot Janise annoyed looks as she wedged in her stroller, still talking at the top of her lungs. Tobi just smiled.

Lunch was delicious. Tobi struggled not to go so far as to spend an extra lengthy time licking the remnants from his fingers. Belly bulging and feeling satisfied for the first time in days, Tobi sagged in his plastic seat.

"I needed that," he sighed happily. Janise snorted.

"It looked that way. You eat like my nephew Johnathan." Then her smile widened.

"I'm glad you stood up to that man. Hopefully, he doesn't bother you again," she added primly. Tobi good mood wavered. Yes. That.

Unfortunately, he very much doubted that the blonde alpha would give up. If nothing else, he would want to teach Tobi a lesson for hitting him. Tobi certainly wouldn't be able to stay here tonight. For a split second he actually considered asking Janise if she had a place for him to stay but that would be both bloody weird and inappropriate.

From what Janise had been babbling she had a lovely husband who was also very clingy. And by clingy Tobi had a feeling she meant possessive. Grown men generally didn't like coming home to find strange twenty somethings getting cosy with their wife.

No. Tobi was going to have to shift and carry on following the ancient forest. Now that he was well fed and watered, the idea didn't bother him so much, but the sight of a new wolf was troubling.

"Thank you for lunch Janise and keeping me company. I've had a great morning," he said politely. She waved him off with an obnoxiously loud laugh.

"Not at all! With Rachel sick, I needed someone to walk with!" She stood up. With a slight pang of regret they said their goodbyes. It was a miracle that the little boy in the stroller was still asleep but then again, he was probably quite used to his mother's booming voice. Tobi sighed and stretched. He needed to get the heck out of dodge. Just as that thought crossed his mind, he made eye contact with two men across the road. Two big, angry looking men. Tobi sighed. Guess blonde really didn't apricate being punched.

He quickly turned and headed towards the small collection of shops. Hopefully, he could lose tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumb in the crowd. He was just about to head into the grocery store when a woman touched his arm. For one wild moment, he thought it was Janise.

"Excuse me?" Tobi turned around at the sound of a hesitant voice. The scent on the air told him it was a human. The speaker was a nervous looking young woman.

"Can I help you? he asked carefully. Probably in her twenties, short and freckly, she looked a little rattled as she held of a mobile phone with a shaking hand.

"I was told to give this to you. Your name is Tobi, isn't it?" He wanted to just say no, walk away. But something in the pale face of the wide-eyed woman made him reach out to take the phone. He stared down at it, throat dry. There was a live call waiting. He looked up to ask her who gave her the phone, but the woman was already hurrying away, arms crossed over her chest and head down. His own hand shaking now, he brought the receiver to his ear.

"Hello?"

"Tobi, it's wonderful to hear from you." The sound of Anton's deep voice dropped Tobi's jaw. It sent a shiver across the back of his skull and down his spine.

"How did you find me?" he hissed.

"With some difficulty, I must admit. You got so much further than we expected. I have never been more thrilled to invite a new wolf into out pack." Tobi laughed but the sound came out harsh and painful to the ear.

"Yeah, well, you may have some competition on that," Tobi breathed.

"Oh? Moved on already? Tobi, I'm hurt,"

"Like fuck you are," Tobi replied, gripping the phone hard.

"We are coming to collect you Tobi and you're going to sit and wait for us." Tobi's heart was thumping hard in his chest. Sweat collected on his palms as his eyes darted from left to right around the street.

"And why the hell would I do that?" he hissed. The sound of Anton's laughter was like warm molasses. Tobi sagged against the cool brickwork of a post office, his legs shaking.

"Because Holly's old pack have made an application for her to return to them." Tobi's blood ran cold.

"You would never give her up," Tobi croaked.

"I know she helped you Tobi. Lorena is not very happy with her. She didn't leave her old pack with their blessing. By the old law, she is theirs."

"You don't give a fuck about the old laws," Tobi snarled.

"There's a lovely little public garden two blocks away. Go there now Tobi and stay there until we come and get you. I know you want what's best for Holly but if you don't come home then we may have to consider the alpha's proposal. She needs to be punished for sending you away."

"She didn't send me away. She wasn't even there on the day I left!" Tobi's voice was rising in pitch and volume. People were giving him odd looks as they went by. He didn't care. His girlfriend could be dumping him, he could be losing his house for all they fucking knew.

"Tobi," Anton purred.

"We both know you didn't get out of your room yourself that first night."

"Yes, I did," Tobi snapped stubbornly. Anton chuckled, sending prickles right down Tobi's arms.

"The public garden Tobi."

"I'm being followed, I might not be able to get there," he croaked.

"You're smart and creative. You'll find away." The line went dead, and Tobi was left staring down at the blank screen. Throat dry, he pocketed the phone. He sniffed weakly, catching the scent of his pursuers. Tobi took several deep steadying breathes and did what he did well.

He ran.

At first, he heard nothing behind, his sudden take off taking them by surprise. It wasn't long before he caught the sound of heavy footfalls behind. They were not exactly stealthy. Twice he heard a yelp from people who were shunted sideways. Tobi was fast but their longer legs allowed them not to fall to far behind.

Adrenaline pumped through his veins as he vaulted over a stack of produce boxes being unloaded from a van. He turned sharply into an alley, vaulted the fence at the end and hit the ground hard on the other side. His ill-fitting shoes slithered slightly on landing on the concrete from the drain runoff. Tobi pushed off again, ignoring the stunned grocery works out the back for a cigarette break.

"Hey, kid!" one of the workers shouted.

"Holy shit!" Another man yelped as tweedle-dee and tweedle-dumb crashed down on the other side of the fence. Tobi reached the end of the side street, only just managing to stop himself racing out in front of a car. The driver leaned on the horn, shouting something in Spanish as Tobi darted around the back of the car and across the street. He strained to make out the various road signs until he saw one advertising the gardens.

He had to lose the two wolves following him. An idea came to mind as he raced passed a small group of shocked school students. There was a bank and another line of shops, He skidded to a halt and scooped a rock from the side of the path. Without waiting, he pelted it as hard as he could at the shop window next to the bank.

The rock hit its mark, shattering the window and spraying the footpath with teardrops of glass. The street erupted into chaos. People shrieked and the security guard outside the bank whirled around.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!?" the guard shouted. He was looking furiously around. He saw Tobi but then he caught sight of the two enormous charging men. Panicking, the man withdrew a taser from his belt.

"Both of you, stop right there!" the guard bellowed. The wolves hesitated but didn't stop. Neither did Tobi. Breathing hard, he slipped between the gorping crowd and dashed off down another side street. He could hear shouting and cursing from behind. He darted from one street to another, zig zagging backwards and forwards as he got closer to the park. The park entrance was surrounded by the perfume of roses. He slipped passed the gates, the strong smell making his eyes water. He stood on one of the lush lawns, breathing a hard, a stitch in his side.

Brightly colours flowers took up every inch of the garden beds. There was a group of women doing yoga on one of the other lawns and an elderly couple taking up one of the benches. He stood there, trying to catch his breath, a great stitch in his side. Everything was so sweetly calm it set Tobi's nerves on edge. The smell of the flora was so strong, and his heartbeat was so loud in his ears that he didn't notice the figure behind him until a set of large hands came down to squeeze his shoulders. Tobi froze, eyes wide.

"Hello Tobi."

--

END

--