William Greyson Gallagher

There was a time when Will would never have imagined that he would be happy. He had had a life worthy of a poor devil who in his past life had been something relatively bad like a puppy killer or the creator of the pineapple pizza who only created it because he hated pineapple and wanted everyone else to do it too , because Will was sure that even in his past life he had hated pineapple pizza.

But then his life took a complete turn and no one Will tells his story to would be able to believe him without asking him what kind of mushroom he had eaten.

That's what he thought when he watched his foster father shapeshift into a 5 foot 2 brown wolf and his other foster father make colored sparks with his hands to raise the protective barriers over the pack's territory so everyone could run under the full moon in peace without humans knowing. Will was sitting on the porch steps along with Thom who was also watching his father transform with a frown on his face.

"Do you think anyone will believe us if we tell them we have homework and we have to get out of here fast?" Thom asked getting too close to Will who was about to have a cardiac arrest. "If we leave now we can get to you-know-where."

"I don't think so. And more for the fact that they can hear us with their supernatural wolf ears."

Thom turned to the pack of wolves who were looking at them both with narrowed eyes. He then looked at his human mother who didn't seem to have noticed what was happening. He sighed in relief.

Will smiled. He grinned like an idiot. Because he always smiled like an idiot when it came to Thom. He looked at his warlock father who returned his gaze and motioned for him to come closer. Will stood up and came to him in three strides, the good thing about measuring almost two meters is that you can get anywhere fast.

"Don't you have to go?" Rob told him, his warlock father.

"Can I go?"

"As long as you use a condom."

"Oh, my God."

"Just don't do drugs."

"I never do," Rob looked at him and raised an eyebrow. Will rolled his eyes. "It was only once. It won't happen again. I didn't even like it."

Rob smiled at him and nudged his arm gently with his elbow. "Go have fun today. But next full moon they'll want you here. Both of you."

Will turned to see Thom who was talking to his mother, slapping the air and gesturing as if he was trying to explain quantum theory to her. "I don't think we can go today anyway."

"You can go by yourself. You have other friends besides Thom."

Will chuckled. "I know. But I don't want to go with them."

Rob sighed. "I still think your crush on your straight best friend is a suicide mission."

Will smiled and placed a kiss on his father's cheek. "Don't overexert yourself with this," he said, referring to the barrier. "You'll have a fucking headache tomorrow."

Rob waved him to shut up and go away as Will turned and walked back to his spot next to Thom on the porch. On the way, his wolf father came up to him and rubbed his head against his hip, Will patted his head and sat back down on the porch. Thom was there, defeated.

"It didn't work, did it?" Will said.

"It's impossible to make that woman give in to something I say. Sometimes I think she doesn't even consider me a human being in the same league as her."

"Of course not, you are her child. She is your mother, she owns you until you are eighteen."

"How long until that?"

"For you about two years. For me only one."

"Fuck you."

And Will wanted to tell him that he could do it whenever he wanted but he would never say it. Instead he did what he always did, hide his true feelings with a relaxed smile.

"How about you?" asked Thom. "What did Rob say?"

"He said I can go. But we'd have to be present at the next full moon."

"Dios," he said in Spanish. "Can we exchange parents?"

"Nope. They're mine, I've grown quite fond of them."

"Hey, think if I hadn't introduced you to this world taken from a fantasy novel you would never have met your current parents. You owe me. The least you can do is lend them to me for a few days."

"Nice try," Will said with a laugh. "But you should stop saying that, you'll feel guilty later."

"You're right. I'm sorry bro," he leaned lovingly against his shoulder and Will felt his chest go up in flames. "But I still think you should consider it."

"God."

Then the howl of the Alpha was heard. A large snow white wolf lit its eyes red and his betas followed him running into the forest ahead of them.

Amber, Thom's mother, looked at the boys still lingering on the porch and waved them to their feet.

"Get off your asses and run with your pack. Now." she demanded.

"Wolf mama ." Will said under his breath.

"And she is a human, imagine what it would be like if Marcus gives her the bite." Thom stopped for a second, looking at nothing, imagining things, and then he shuddered.

Will smiled and smacked him in the arm with his own. He made a quick run into the woods and seconds later Thom was at his side, grinning wildly. They caught up with the wolves in a few minutes. Will ran to Callie's side, a black wolf with a white spot on her chest, Thom's twin sister. Callie rubbed against his side and ran faster, challenging him to a race. Will accepted the challenge and they ran at full speed to the lake. For obvious reasons, Callie was the winner. Will caught up with her minutes later.

Thom joined them. He was sweating and breathing hard. Will thought he wanted to wipe his sweat with his tongue and Callie growled in disgust, flicking her tail against his leg. It still bothered Will that wolves could smell emotions, or smell body chemistry as they called it so they wouldn't feel so alien.

"What?" Tom said.

"Nothing. She's just jealous because she wanted to have me all to herself."

Callie growled and bared her fangs at Will who laughed to the moon.

"Sorry sis," Thom said. "But I found him first, he belongs to me."

Then someone came running out of the trees. He stopped when he saw them and gave them a charming smile. "Hello. Sorry I'm late."

Will smiled at him but Thom grimaced. "We didn't realize you weren't here, really."

"Shut up Diaz," Will said, then looked at Gao who reached over to Callie to pat her head lovingly, ignoring her brother's overprotective comment. "I'm glad you were able to get away tonight."

Gao smiled at him. "They could never hold me for long."

"You know we might as well take down those idiots if you just ask, right?" Tom said. And when he realized how the others were looking at him, he cleared his throat and hastened to say: "I mean, we're pack. It's our duty to protect each other and stuff."

Will smiled. "He's right," he told Gao. "Just say so and we'll put together a rescue plan. We'll kidnap you and hide you in the basement of the house until the Langs give up and let you become a Green."

"I don't think it works that easily," Gao said smiling as Callie licked her face. "But thanks."

Thom and Will smiled at him, well Will did, Thom looked away pretending he didn't care. Sometimes they didn't understand why Gao didn't depend more on them , they were a pack, they would do everything for him. Gao was part of a millennial coven of super-strong warlocks who were obsessed with purebloods and shit, but ever since Gao and Callie met and fell in love, the Langs had forbidden Gao from seeing her or having any contact with her and her pack. But Gao was already part of the pack from the moment Callie recognized him as her mate, there was no way they would give up on him. Still, Gao didn't want to make a fuss or have the pack go to war with the Langs, and that was something Thom and Will didn't understand. They wanted Gao to lean on them more and ask for their help. But they respected his decision, even if they didn't agree with it.

"Weren't you going to the football team's party?" Gao said. "Aren't you the captain, Thom? I think you should be there."

"Don't you think I don't know? Who do you think in my mother? Rob?"

Will stifled a laugh.

"Oh, I see," Gao said. "And what about you, Will? Why don't you go?"

Then Callie huffed and sat on the grass and leaned on her front paws.

Will shot her a look. "I don't feel like going."

"Oh please," Thom said. "You were just as anxious as I was."

"You're right, so I think I should go. See you guys." And he turned to go but he felt two arms hugging him from behind.

"No. Please don't leave me here with them. I'm sorry, I take it back. Stay." Thom said against his back.

And Will did his best to make his heart stop beating as hard as he felt it in his chest. Thom could hear him if he kept up like this. "Okay," he said. "You do know we're in for hell tomorrow, don't you?"

"God, don't remind me. They're all going to be bitches because we didn't show up at the party. And it's not even that important, it must be like the fifth party of the year and it's only June."

"The next game is an important one, right?" Gao said.

"Yeah, we'll make those East High bitches cry." Thom said smiling mischievously.

"He's still upset about what happened last time." Will said as he sat down on the grass across from Callie who laid her head in Gao's lap and then rested her tail on Will's leg.

"I'm still upset about it too, actually." Gao said.

Callie growled in agreement.

"Why? We gave them what they deserved. I did five points in a row after that."

"They called you a 'fucking fag,'" Thom said with a dark look on his face. "And then they targeted your leg throughout the game. How do you expect me not to be upset about that?"

Will smiled softly. "I am satisfied with the results of that night. The fucking fag scored five points and we ended up winning."

"Well, not me," Thom said. "And I won't be until I completely humiliate them."

There were certain attitudes of Thom's that gave Will little and almost invisible hope, like this one, for example. But then he remembered that Thom was straight and that he only saw him as his best friend, his brother, his pack. And that would never change. Then he would snap back to reality and wear his relaxed, smiling mask again.

"Then we should train super hard tomorrow," Will said. "I heard they have a new guy on the team who's almost taller than me."

Then the three of them looked at him with their eyes widening.

"Taller than you!?" Thom exclaimed unnecessarily loudly.

"Is that even possible?" Gao said a little puzzled.

Calli's ears twitched and she panted with her tongue lolling out of the side of her mouth.

"And now I feel like a hundred foot freak. Thanks pack."

"How are we going to stop that?" Thom said to himself. "That is, you are already our trump card. What will we do against someone taller and faster than you?"

"Hey. Nobody's faster than me," Will defended himself. Then he thought about it some more and added, "On the field."

"We should be at that party," Thom said. "Enjoy the last few hours of peace before Spartan training."

"It doesn't have to be Spartan, Thomas."

"Of course it does, William. We won't have this conversation again. The goal remains the same: to humiliate or kill those bastards."

Will sighed deeply and leaned back on the grass. He looked up at the full moon and let its silver light consume him, if he were a wolf he would have already turned. He sometimes thought about the possibility of being a wolf, of asking Marcus for the bite. But his mind always returned to the same place: his mother. He sometimes thought it consumed him. The idea of leaving his mother worried him, he knew that even if he turned into a wolf nothing would change but he felt that he would be taking the cure for all the diseases in the world while his mother selfishly chose to stay as a human and die of leukemia. . He knew that sooner or later the stress would consume him to the point where he would make the decision to ask Marcus to bite his mother even against her will, so he would no longer have to worry about her life and his mind could focus only on football, his friends, the pack and Thom.

And suddenly they heard Marcus' howl calling them back home.

They walked quietly until they reached the house. There, in the clearing in front of the house, were the wolves lying close to each other, ready to sleep in the moonlight. There were blankets and pillows for humans to join them, though they would later end up being no avail as the heat from the wolves would keep them warm and protect them from any cold breezes.

Amber was already lying on her wolf's belly, Thom's father, and she was resting her head on his neck. Rob was doing the same, he was leaning over Seb, Will's wolf father. Lindsey was the last human of the pack and was Marcus' mate, she would snuggle up against her mate's white fur and wrap her arms and legs around him.

Callie snuggled close to her parents and she wrapped her tail and neck around Gao as he rested his head on her back. Thom went to the first wolf he found and asked him to please let him wrap himself in their fur. Reese, the wolf in question, growled at him shortly but let him snuggle up next to him. He motioned for Will to join in, saying that Reese was big enough for them both to fit which prompted Reese to gently bite his shoulder as a rebuke for treating him like a blanket. Will rejected the offer, sleeping with Thom was a resounding NO, and he felt a little sorry for Reese. He ended up sleeping next to Ada, his usual sleeping partner. Ada's wolf was light brown and white, her eyes were brown and bright. Will laid down next to her on the grass and Ada clung to him and rested her head on his chest.

They slept soundly until the morning sun woke them. When that happened, they moved into the house and each went to sleep in their room.

Will snuggled under his covers and closed his eyes when he heard someone crash into his room, he didn't even open his eyes to see who it was because he knew it was Thom.

"Let me sleep here."

"Go away."

"Why? We used to sleep together all the time."

"We were seven."

"The last time was two months ago."

"You were drunk and high."

"We both were."

"For God's sake, get out of here."

"Nope. My sister's room is next to mine and she and her witch boyfriend started doing things I'd rather not think about."

Thom got into Will's bed, abruptly removing the covers and tucking himself in again, sticking to Will's body, who had his back to him. And Will started counting sheep and praying at the same time to not think about Thom's warm, strong jock body against his.

"Are you gonna see your mother today?" asked Thom. "Do you want me to go with you?"

"No," Will said sleepily. "I'll go alone. You go to the school and control your team, Captain Diaz."

"Okay," he said sleepily. "Just call me if you need me."

"I know." And he was about to fall asleep when he felt Thom's big arm wrap around his waist and his legs tangle with his. He inhaled sharply, trying to resist the urge to rub against Thom's body.

He didn't sleep well that day.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

When he arrived at the hospital, the nurses at the front desk greeted him with beaming smiles. Will had brought them rolls for breakfast.

He went to her mother's room and found her reading one of the books that Seb had brought from her the last time he had come to see her. When she became aware of her son's presence, she looked up from the book and gave him a tired but radiant smile at the same time. "Hey kid, how was the party?" She stopped to examine his face with her gaze and frowned. "You look pretty fresh to have gone to a wild high school party."

"Wild high school party? Who says that?"

"I do. I'm cool."

"You're not. Nobody says that."

"Shut up. I'll start a new trend. I just need the youngsters to sign up." She gave Will a sidelong glance.

"I'm not going to go through life saying I'm cool, mom."

"Killjoy."

Will smiled fondly at her and sat in the chair next to her hospital bed. "I didn't go to the party."

"Why not? Rob and Seb said it was fine, right?"

"The pack wanted me at the full moon."

Rosemary, Will's mother, eyed her son suspiciously. "Will, honey. I know you like I gave birth to you and I know that's not the reason you didn't go to the party."

"Actually, you did give birth to me."

"It was because of Thom, right? You didn't go to the party because he didn't go."

"Why is everyone making such a fuss over a party? There will be like ten more throughout the year."

"That's not the point. The point is that you keep letting whatever Thom does run your life. It's not healthy, Willie."

Will shuddered. "Don't call me that, for God's sake."

"I'm worried about you."

"Don't be," he told her taking her hand. "This will only last one more year."

"What will last another year?"

Will's expression darkened and a veil of sadness passed over his face. "I'll go to college and be away. Away from him. It'll be good for me, I'll try to get over him for those four years I'm gone."

Rosemary squeezed her son's hand fondly and smiled softly at her. "Our luck with men really sucks. Me with a violent son of a bitch and you with a charming straight guy."

Will stifled a laugh. "I don't think you should put them together in a sentence. Ever."

"You're right. My bad."

"Are you saying my bad now?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "I told you. I'm cool."

"Oh, my God." Will whispered.

"Have you already decided what career you will study?"

"Not yet. I'll tell you when I do," an alarm went off on his phone. He looked at the screen and saw that it was time to go to school. It was already late but at least he would make it to second period. "I gotta go. School."

"You have school!?" She screamed shocked. "I thought you had the day off. William Grayson Gallagher get out of here and take your ass to school!"

And that he did. Not before leaving a kiss on his mother's forehead.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

"Bro, Diaz is getting intense again," Jordan said as he sat down next to him in science class. "He's saying things about breaking knees or taking down ten-foot giants. Control him or we will."

"And how do you plan to do that?" Will said with his usual calm smile and still looking at his notes on the desk.

"I don't know, bro. But something has to be done. At this rate he'll probably do it for real."

Will sighed. "I'll talk to him. But you know he's harmless. He won't do anything that could harm the team."

He felt Jordan look at him, incredulous. "Will, the captain becomes a wild animal when it comes to you. Everyone knows that. And everyone knows that one day he'll stop barking and bite."

"Fine," he said softly but clearly fed up with the subject. "I'll talk to him, don't worry."

"Now, are you going to tell me why you didn't go to the party yesterday? Or are you going to give me another sorry excuse like the one Diaz gave me?"

"We had a family thing."

"And there it is, the sad excuse."

"It's not an excuse. It's the truth."

Jordan snorted. "Whatever. You're coming to practice today right? I heard the bitches at East High have a guy who's taller than you."

"My God," Will whispered. "Yes, I'll go to training. And no, he's not faster than me. Nobody is. On the field."

"Nobody said that, but now that you say it, it makes sense that he is."

"He's not."

"Oh, now makes sense what Díaz said about knocking down ten-foot giants . Do you think it measures ten foot?"

"I don't think so."

"You two shut up," said Professor Jenkins. "Gallagher and Shaw. Which of you can tell me about Dalton's atomic model?"

"In his atomic model, Dalton suggested that the atoms were similar to balls," Will started to say immediately. "He also believed that atoms of two or more elements could chemically join together to form compounds. By the end of the 19th century, it was generally accepted that matter was made up of atoms and that these combine to form molecules."

"Thank you Gallagher for proving to all of us once again that he has a photographic memory," he looked at Jordan. "Shaw. Do you want to paraphrase what Gallagher just said?"

"Not really."

"Do you want to go to detention?"

"I'm sorry Mr. Jenkins, I wasn't listening to anything you were saying."

Jordan ended up being sent to detention and was not present for practice that afternoon.