The Outsider

Oliver

I blinked sleep out of my eyes as I rolled over in bed, grabbing for my phone that would not stop ringing. One missed call isn’t such a huge deal - repeated calls in the middle of the night start to become worrisome. 

The caller ID showed a name from the past - someone I hadn’t spoken to in a very long time. He was one of us, but very much on the periphery, really only calling when he needed help. Against my better judgment, I accepted the call. 

“What?” I barked out. 

“Good evening to you, too.” He was much too perky for this time of night. 

“It’s 3 am. Not my definition of evening anymore.”

He chuckled. “Well someone isn’t having much fun with their life, then.”

I groaned, ready to end the call. “What do you need?” 

There was a pause, and I could tell the upbeat demeanor vanished. “I need to report a rogue.”

That caused me to sit up. Rogues weren’t uncommon - hell, my own brother would now be considered a rogue - but ones worth reporting were. Rogues worth reporting posed a threat, whether it be to our kind or humans. To us, they were easy to manage. A threat to humans is worse. That would mean exposure, and hunters on our backs. 

It had been so long since he had been on our lands, he could be anywhere at this point. This threat might be one to pass off on another pack, but I worried that was not the case. “Where are you now?”

“East River, college town on the border of South Dakota and Minnesota, Brookings to be exact,” he said. 

East River was a long way off, but we were still considered the ones responsible for unwanted activity over there. South Dakota was such a wasteland over there, there was no natural habitat for us, but we still fell responsible for protecting the people in that neutral territory. Protecting them from our kind. 

I huffed. This was not what I wanted to deal with. “How many?” I asked.

“Just one. She’s alone.”

I furrowed my brow. Females rarely went rogue. “What makes you think she’s a threat?”

He sighed. “I’ve known her for a while, I think. I should have known, she never smelled quite right for a human…” His voice trailed off and there was a pause. “I think she’s shut out that part of herself and she doesn’t even know. She has a life here; job, friends.”

“What makes you think she’s a threat?” I reiterated.

A pause again. At this rate, it might be quicker if I just tracked him down to have this conversation. “I don’t think she has any control… she just shifted and killed her fiance.” 

I stiffened. Rogue female with no control potentially going on a murderous rampage. Yes, this was bad, and it needed to be dealt with. Yesterday. 

“How do we damage control this?” I demanded.

“She bailed, and I snuck in and cleaned it up so it just looks like a normal domestic violence murder scene. The true crime YouTubers will probably have a great time with it,” he chuckled.

One problem solved, but we couldn’t lose eyes on her. “But where is she now?”

“Headed into town, and I’m tailing her. It… uh… kind of looks like she’s headed to my place…” 

“Get her here as soon as you can.” I pulled the phone away from my ear to hang up, but he spoke up once more.

“How much do you want me to tell her?” he asked. “I seriously think she has no idea at all what is going on.” 

“As much as you need to and as little as possible,” I replied. A situation like this was uncharted territory. How does one not know what is going on when there has been another goddamn entity sharing their body for years?

“Hey, Ollie, wait.”

“What?”

“Her fiance that she killed? He was a hunter.” 

I slammed the phone down, ending the call. He always somehow managed to bring bad news our way. I swung my feet out of bed and got dressed. No sleep would be happening at this point. We hadn’t had a run in with hunters in almost a decade. I had hoped we had been forgotten. I didn’t want that to change now. 

I made my way to my office with a brief stop at the kitchen for coffee. Once settled at my desk, I pulled up the database we had with all current assignments and locations. It looked like we had a few over in that direction we could use to help cover this up. With Trevor trailing her, I was confident he would have her here by noon. But there was still a lot to do. I really wanted to avoid going over there myself, if I could, but I wanted to avoid another war more. 

A low growl reverberated through my head. 'How could one deny such a special gift?'

'I don’t know,' was all I had for a response. I really had no idea what else to say. 

I picked up the phone, hoping I could set wheels in motion while calling as few people at this ungodly hour as possible.

“Hey little bro!” I smiled at my brother’s cheerful greeting. He always was chipper, no matter the circumstances. “What has you calling so early?”

“Any interest in covering up a murder?” I asked wryly. 

He chuckled. “I’m not exactly sure that’s how you start a conversation before sunrise.”

“Or is it the best time?”

He laughed at that. “So what’s going on?”

I sighed. I barely had enough details myself to wrap my head around what was going on, and it just seemed unfathomable. “An out of control rogue. She shifted and killed her hunter fiance and fled. Probably best if we just disappeared the body.”

“Alright, but you know I’m a ways away from you now, right? There might be someone better to call since this is time sensitive,” he pointed out. 

“It’s just outside of that college town over on the state line. You’re my closest guy.” 

Thankfully, he was on board to help out. We chatted a bit more, then hung up. He had the names and numbers of who to call if he needed extra assistance, but for right now, I felt like keeping this as under the radar as possible was the best way to go.