Whitepaw Revival

Chapter 4

Isaac sat holding Cassandra's hand while she lay in a cool bath, ice bobbing in the water around her. Across the room Stu and Deb sat and watched, their expressions a conflicted mess of worry and frustration.

It had been hours since their meeting with Doctor Terrance, Cass was still asleep, and would be for potentially another three days. According to the nurses her vitals were in good shape, she'd had no seizures, and all of the blood and other tests they had results for so far were looking good.

Isaac sat and watched her breathing, scared despite the good news from the nurses and helpless to do anything for her while being eaten alive by the guilt inside him.

'No, it's not my fault. It's a horrible unfortunate coincidence. I had no way to know this was even a possibility, let alone that she had shifter blood. But god damn that makes so much sense now, she'd always had a smell I couldn't place, maybe that was it.'

He was pulled out of his ruminations by his phone jingling its message tone, and found a message from the sisters.

'Damn,' he thought to himself 'I guess I'll have to put that off for now. No way am I driving out there while Cass is in hospital.'

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Several hours drive away Jasmine and Bella were lounging on matching deck chairs beside an inground pool, Jasmine read Isaac's message out loud for her older sister Bella and then posed the question, "Girlfriend? Not a mate or wife or partner...?"

Bella scoffed and responded, "Yeah, he grew up in a human household remember, she's probably as human as they come. That'll be a problem if he wants to restart the whitepaw, if he doesn't ditch her I'm not gonna stick around."

Jasmine frowned at her sister disapprovingly. "Maybe we should wait to meet him and get the full story before we make any comments like that, hmm?"

"Whatever sis, he's a Betas' son who was raised by humans not pack, there's no way he'll be worth anything as an Alpha. I'm not going to hitch my wagon to some useless waste of space, I'd rather shack up with Aerin back in Ironclaw" she snickered.

Jasmine got a sour look on her face, she hated that arrogant jerk Aerin, he was an Alpha's son but a total slime bag. Any time he looked at her she got shivers down her spine, and not in a good way, he creeped her out. His infatuation with her sister was as deep as it was problematic.

"I think both of us have better prospects outside Whitepaw than that asshole, but even if Isaac is an average Alpha, at least we'd be able to stay here together instead of risking being taken into separate packs."

"True that little sister, I'd rather stay with you as well, but I'm not gonna be mated to some human-raised domestic dog."

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Over the following days Isaac barely left Cassandras' side for anything other than bathroom breaks, and to get some clothes from home. His dad was still traveling for work but he'd managed to get hold of him and explain the situation once Cass had been deemed stable. Dr Steinbeck reacted like he was hearing exactly what he was expecting and that steamed Zack right up, his dad clearly knew something but for whatever reason, contracts or non-disclosure agreements maybe, he couldn't say anything.

Their conversation ended on a somewhat frosty note.

He spent the days sitting beside Cassandra's hospital bed, reading up on what little he could find about leading a shifter pack and leadership in general. There was plenty of information out there it just had to be found by sifting through forums or discussion boards, a lot of humans were fascinated by shifter culture. There was a spate of films and pseudo-documentaries in the last decade and it only seemed to be gaining interest, so there was plenty of people talking about it online.

He wasn't sure yet exactly what his decision would be regarding the Alpha mantle of the Whitepaw but the idea of letting the Whitepaw pack die didn't feel right to him. It wasn't an obligation he would take on lightly, so he was going to be studying and researching as much as he could to understand the ramifications.

It occurred to Isaac that he was basically starting a pack from scratch, he knew that most new packs formed by a kind of social osmosis where a pack grew large enough that a small group could break away and find new pack lands to establish themselves. Usually this splinter group would be a dozen wolves at a minimum.

One thing he couldn't find much on was how exactly a new pack grew in size, the pack needed to grow to a "critical mass" to support and defend itself, and there was some conjecture about adopting outcast or banished shifters but that seemed a risky option for a young pack to invite unknown entities into the fold.

Isaac had so many questions for the Wintergreen sisters, but that would have to wait until Cass was back on her feet.

Cass was essentially fully shifted into a war form by the second day, according to the doctor that was believed to be a good thing, the theory was that the longer the physical change took the bigger the toll on the body.

Cassandra's war form was just as attractive to Zack as her human form, more so even, her fur was a rich dark brown with gray ruffles near her hands and a lighter almost tan fur around her neck. Her slim but curvy physique was obvious even through the fur but her muscle definition was turned up to eleven, as per the usual for a war form.

Zack found his eyes wandering her arms and face constantly and chided himself for being distracted from his research so often.

On the third day he was tracing the lines of her face and ears with his eyes when he noticed her crystal blue eyes staring back at him. When she saw he'd noticed her awake her muzzle drew back in a wolfish grin and she spoke, "Well hello there handsome" her voice was unmistakably her own, it hadn't lost her feminine tone, but in this form there was a rumbling gravel in her chest as she spoke that did wonderful things involving butterflies in his stomach.

Isaac shot to his feet and quickly but gingerly wrapped her up in a hug. Cass put her arms around his shoulders and saw her hand for the first time since waking, her furred and clawed warform hand.

"I guess it wasn't just a dream then, huh?" She indicated her hands and arms as they broke their hug.

Isaac grinned at her, he had been terrified she wasn't going to survive the transition at first but once she was in hospital and stable he'd had a lot of time to think and consider what would change when she survived.

"I don't think I've ever had a better dream babe, you look incredible" he kissed her forehead and gently rubbed one of her furred ears before continuing, "Let me grab the doctor and your parents, they just stepped out for a bite to eat."

He grabbed his phone and called the Shermans while walking to the nurses station, all he said when Deb answered was "She's awake" he heard a squeal and then the call cut out.

The nurse at her desk paged Doctor Terrance, and another nurse walked back to the room with him to take observations before too many people converged on the room.

When he walked back into the room he was surprised to find cass sitting up in bed in fully human form.

"Cass, you shifted?"

"Yep, I remembered what you told me years ago about your shift and it just worked so.. yay?"

The nurse was a little annoyed at first but apparently nothing had gone wrong with the IV line or the other sensors and such that had been on her, so she calmed quickly and checked Cass over.

"Her vitals look great, the doctor should be here shortly to check her out and we'll want some more blood work later today."

The nurse mentioned happily as she removed the blood pressure cuff before leaving the room and almost being knocked flat by the whirlwind that was Cass' mother.

Deb flew into the room and crashed into her daughter, babbling near incoherently.

Zack caught most of it, "I'm so glad you're okay", "we were so worried about you", "what happened to the fur? It was very pretty" and so on.

Stuart entered shortly after and came to his daughter's other side and took her hand, but stood quietly while smiling down at his over excited wife. Once Cass was able to get a word in she explained, "I remembered what Zack told me about how he triggers a shift and tried it. It's really simple, there's like a bundle of... I don't know "Instincts" I guess, in the back of my head. Zack said that to shift to wolf he pushes against that bundle, for human he pulls at it and for warform he lifts it, so I pulled at it and 'ta-da'!"

Doctor Terrance arrived at the tail end of that explanation and inserted herself into the conversation.

"Hello Cassandra, I'm Doctor Terrance, I've been your primary physician for the last few days. I'm glad to see you sitting up and talking, it seems you're in good shape. Pardon the pun." She chuckled at her joke before continuing, "I understand your family is anxious to talk but I have a few things I need to go over with you privately first please. It won't be long"

Isaac filed out with Stu and Deb, in the waiting room they wrapped each other up in a relieved hug. Isaac stood nearby awkwardly for a moment until Deb reached out and waved him in to join them.

It was a little odd hugging his girlfriend's parents at first but he knew Deb was a hugger, that's where Cass got it from after all.

Deb spoke into her husband's chest "She's okay, she's awake."

The Doctor called the three of them back into the room not long after and Cass was grinning as they entered.

The conversation was positive, the doctor had no immediate concerns and wanted to keep her in just for observation until the following day but Cass felt great, like she could run a marathon or climb a mountain.

A while after the doctor had left and when the conversation was slowing down Cass piped up.

"Hey Mum and Dad, I'm starving, doc said I can eat whatever but I would kill for a dirty burger from the diner, would you be able to pick one up for me? Actually make it a double."

"Sure sweety. We'll give you two some privacy for a bit." Deb replied, and while Stu didn't seem terribly pleased to be leaving so soon he allowed his wife to pull him from the room by his hand.

As soon as their footsteps had receded down the hall Cass gave Isaac a smoldering look and licked at her bottom lip. He could barely contain himself and damn near pounced on Cass, mashing their lips together and holding each other tightly, tongues dueling and fighting.

They were both panting and Zack had a significant bulge in his jeans when they broke apart minutes later.

"I've been unconscious for more than half our relationship," Cass joked and they both chuckled before she continued, "Speaking of our relationship I want to be clear; I'm a shifter now, and you marked and mated me, that's more permanent than any marriage but I do expect an actual proposal and a wedding." She chided with a smirking grin, before softening into a real smile "We don't need to rush it, we can take our time and make sure we're both ready, I just wanted to make sure you understand what I want. I'm all in."

Isaac was beaming at her, his chest full of love and joy "Okay Cass. To be clear, I'm all in too."

The following day Cass's parents were bringing her home. Zack made contact with the Wintergreen sisters and made plans to visit them at the Whitepaw pack lands the following day.

Cass had spent barely an hour at home before turning up on Zack's doorstep with her overnight bag of clothes and necessities, they couldn't keep their hands off each other once they were together but they knew they wouldn't have much time but a quick shower together ended in mutual satisfaction. Zack's dad arrived home shortly after Cass curled up in Isaacs lap on the couch to watch a movie.

"Welcome home dad, I'd come grab a hug but I'm being held hostage." His dad laughed quietly at that, Zack looked like the happiest hostage ever with a big dopey grin on his face. Cass blushed and waved.

"No worries son, if you don't mind I'll put my suitcase away and then we should have a talk? I think I can give you some more context now."

"Yeah dad, that'd be good I'll boil the kettle."

Barely a few minutes later the three of them were seated around the kitchen table with a pot of tea and some biscuits. Ivan had always been a tea drinker and while Isaac preferred coffee, he did enjoy sharing a pot of tea with his dad.

Ivan took a deep breath to center himself before he spoke. "Okay, long story short; I swore an oath and signed a contract that limits what I can talk about, even now. The Whitepaw pack massacre was a pivotal point in the public acceptance of non-humans, the pack itself wasn't a politically powerful entity, but it wasn't a small pack either, so the shifter council has a vested interest in reviving the pack that's grounded in the political perception. Being able to say that the massacred Whitepaw pack has been revived by the survivors looks good for them. It also looks good for our human government, and I'm a contracted consultant for demi-human policy-planning. Mrs Wintergreen has been stalling both the shifter council and our government to buy you time. Strictly speaking, once you were eighteen she should have stepped back and handed the pack holdings over to you, but with approval from the council she held the reins to allow you to grow and learn and be in the best position you could be, before discussing this with you.

The plan was for her to be here to talk you through it now that you've graduated and got your degree but unfortunately her illness became much more aggressive in the last year, and she lost that battle a few months ago.

The letter from Mrs Wintergreen probably included that she didn't want to pressure you into taking over the pack, and my oath to her was not to influence you in any way shape or form on that decision. You must be allowed to understand the responsibilities of leading a pack and have a full picture of what you would be working with before deciding. You alone will be expected to make the choice of dissolving the pack, or starting to rebuild from the ground up, albeit with a head start with the existing properties and finances of the pack."

There was silence around the table as Isaac and Cass digested his words, Isaac opened his mouth to speak but closed it again several times before nodding.

"Okay that makes sense. You couldn't talk about it because you wanted me to read Auntie Stella's letter first. It's a political situation that you and she have been protecting me from for some time.

What I don't understand is why you felt that Cass and I dating was a complication, interspecies relationships are common enough to be accepted in shifter society now, right?"

Ivan bobbed his head side to side briefly before answering, "Yes and no. It's even less of an issue now that Cassandra's heritage has been activated, but it will complicate things a little for her. She's been raised as a human her whole life so her experiences are definitionally different, though her being human isn't the complication I meant.

How much do you know about how packs form?"

That seemed like a bit of a non-sequitur but Isaac knew how his dad liked to circle an issue to ensure understanding and was willing to take the apparently off topic question in good faith, "Only as much as I've learned in school and been able to glean from the internet; a pack reaches a certain size where a small group splinters off to form a new pack, they would have to have support from their Alpha and the council, and usually it's a dozen or more shifters. They travel, find a place to settle, and establish themselves as a pack. They might absorb wanderers or shifters excommunicated from other packs as well."

"Yes, that's a pretty solid overview, but what you are missing is that usually a new pack is formed by an Alpha's son, often a second or third born son, and that they take as many willing females from the pack as they can sustain. Building a new pack is a multi-generational endeavor of course, and the first generation carries a great deal of risk. The way that's mitigated is... well, think of it like the feudal system, the Alpha is the King and in order to cement relationships with surrounding kingdoms and prevent warfare he must arrange marriages of his pack and in particular his children to those other King's children."

"Oh.. I see. Wait, how does that work with taking as many different females as are willing from the parent pack? They wouldn't be the new Alphas children, how would they have any political bargaining power?"

Before Ivan could answer Cass was already speaking, "No Zack, he takes as many wives as are willing so they can build the pack with the Alphas progeny." she had a blank look on her face at this.

Ivan bared his teeth a moment before answering. "Yes, the new Alpha takes as many wives as he can support and mates their children to shifters from nearby packs. It's a long game, a young alpha that might live for two hundred years can afford to spend twenty waiting for his offspring to grow up. And the pack betas are usually chosen from the offsprings' pairings."

Zack was stunned silent again for a moment.

'Oh, oh damn.. the complication is that Cass and I are together, and if I decide to take up the Alpha mantle then I'd be expected, or needed even, to take more mates.'

Shifter birth rates were about 2:1 female to male, so polygamy was relatively common in packs, but he and Cass had both been raised in human households so that wasn't exactly normalised for them, not to mention that he and Cass had been together less than a week. How could he even entertain the idea of having other mates, especially so soon? And if he did, where would those mates come from? He had no parent pack to draw from, did he?

That's when a couple of pieces clicked together for Zack.

"Oh, shit. That's what she meant. Auntie Stella told me to meet her daughters and 'consider their wants' before I decide. Like I'm going to force them to be my mates to revive the bloody pack!"

"Isaac, that's exactly what would have happened a hundred years ago in this situation. The surviving Alpha would simply take whatever females were available to rebuild and make alliances, or risk the Alpha being killed and his pack subsumed by another. You at least have a choice here, you can dissolve the Whitepaw, but you must understand that would likely mean you would be blacklisted. If you go against the council on this you would never be accepted into another council affiliated pack."

On that note, Isaac needed to get some air. He and Cass ducked into the back yard and stripped in the outdoor shower nook, then shifted together and went for their first run as a couple.

Cassandra's wolf form was as stunning as her other two and Isaac thoroughly enjoyed chasing her around the wooded area as she got used to her new quadrupedal form.

Despite their earlier passion, neither of them was in a mood to explore each other tonight, they both just needed to clear their heads for a while.

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Isaac was laying in bed when Cass walked into his room, fresh from the shower and still drying her hair with a towel, she was wearing a dark purple satin nightgown that hung to her mid thigh.

The thin straps over her shoulders left an expanse of her creamy skin on display and the top was cut low enough that the top of her breasts were presented beautifully as well.