Joshua Stillwater stood at his bedroom window watching the activities below in his mother's garden.
It was the annual Stillwater festival where all members of the Stillwater clan celebrated the summer and coming autumn. Joshua smiled as his best friend, Marcus, was accosted by single females each inspecting him, physically grabbing hold of his buns and tugging at his dark hair. Marcus took it all in good favour and even dared to laugh as one possessive woman palmed of his crotch.
Joshua sighed, moving away from the window. A strange melancholy took hold of him without reason or prompting, a feeling of suffocation that had taken occupancy in his chest for some time now. He didn't know why or even how to get rid of it.
Buttoning the shirt his mother had laid out for him, Joshua turned to the mirror above his chest of drawers. Ash blonde hair laid ramrod straight past his ears brushing against his shoulders, his icy blue eyes stared belligerently at his reflection, hating what he saw. As always he changed his Alpha like posture into one of submission, hunching low and lowering his head so that he looked as small as possible.
Naomi, his mother, hated it when he did that and maybe that's why he did it, since it was the only thing in his life he could control. Picking up his worn, purple band, he tied his hair into a messy ponytail. He stared at the black shades on the dresser, normally he would wear them since disturbed the other pack members but he decided that there was only so much rebellion his mother could take.
Joshua Stillwater was a shifter, as were the people congregating in Naomi's garden for the festival. Shifters were subspecies of Homo Sapiens, differing from their human cousins due to a small piece of their DNA that had altered as they evolved over millions of years.
This defective strain gave them the ability to shift into whatever animal they were partial to. There were, Canidae comprising of wolves, foxes, jackals and coyotes, Panthera who could shift into lions, leopards, jaguars and tigers, and finally Ursidae the bears. Three animal clans scattered all over the world.
The Stillwater clan were wolves, and most of the packs members were Native American, although some had bred outside of their clan. Joshua Stillwater was in fact half Native American and half something else, a something else that his mother refused to tell him.
Joshua didn't really care nor did he allow himself to care, he could never leave the pack for family was everything to them. The Stillwater pack kept to themselves, chiselling a small community in the wilds of north America, miles from any town and becoming a self efficient community.
Stillwater children attended the local school, had jobs that further bettered the pack and later mated into other families. Only rarely did they allow other shifters into their clan and if they did they had to be wolf and they had to be male. The Stillwater clan was a matriarchal society, their identities inherited from their mothers.
Joshua walked into the kitchen watching as his uncle and male cousins prepared food for the barbeque, they worked in an easy comradeship which Joshua envied. He had always been an awkward boy and that awkwardness had stayed with him into maturity. He smiled to himself as Paul, the eldest of his cousins, picked at the food on the platters, his large stomach quivering as he laughed at something his father said. Uncle Remus was beginning to bald and his scalp shone beneath the light bulb.
Joshua cleared his throat, remembering from an earlier experience, that it was better to make his presence known instead of gaily springing up on them. A scar ran down his chest were his cousin Simon had struck him, thinking he was an assailant.
"Joshua we were wondering where you were." Remus said.
Joshua smiled politely, both of them knew it wasn't true and any shifter in their vicinity could smell the stench of his lie like something putrid but Joshua just smiled.
"Your mother was looking for you." Paul said, handing Joshua a plate of rare meat that oozed as he bit into it. With a large grin he applauded their efforts.
"This is so good." He moaned taking another bite.
"I knew you'd like it." Paul laughed.
Paul was the only one out of his family who truly accepted Joshua and for that Joshua was grateful. He knew that his family didn't hate him but there was a void where love and affection should be, he had never had never bothered to decipher why and put it down to his different appearance.
Joshua left the group and entered the garden, enjoying the smell of summer. The air was filled with the scent of grass and flowers, the lilac bush he had planted a few years back grew untamed just how he wanted it and he thanked his mother for humouring him. Walking towards the bush he ran his fingers over the delicate flowers laughing as the bees flew hastily towards him. Knowing that their sting would be more fatal to them than him he stepped away quickly, bumping into Marie his friend from when he was a pup.
...
Marie steadied Joshua, hiding a smile behind her glass of wine as he blushed hastily pulling away from her. He was always so jumpy around the females, and she found his mannerisms as endearing as the other bitches found it irritating.
They were far too impatient when it came to Joshua but what neither of them realised including Joshua, was that he was every bit the Alpha he was born to be. Marie licked her lips with excitement, the full moon was only four weeks away which meant that hormones were high and any unmated wolves could mate with whomever they wanted.