03.2023 | WELCOME BACK! Hello friends old and new! I'm so excited to welcome you all back to SITW! I've made some changes to the plot and added the ability to play supernatural charcaters! So come and check it out! I can't wait to jump back into this little town with all of you!
A strange history surrounds the town, it is a place where mysterious and supernatural things have been known to happen. The reputation of the town reguarly draws in visitors and newcomers alike. While some residents avidly believe in the supernatural, others are far more skeptical. What do you believe?
Winter was settling upon the small town, turning temperatures colder and leaving Darcy with more limited time to go for runs lately. The cold also meant not near as many guided tours or hikes. Leaving her with a feeling of being boxed in at work. But it wasn’t just that. She had been avoiding confrontation with her Beta, Rhett McCoy . And avoiding him was getting to be more of a chore, so she decided to just bite the bullet and let him say what he needed.
Darcy whipped out her phone to text the familiar name, knowing she was the one being childish by avoiding him. She just didn’t want to sit through a lecture, least of all from him. She might be the pack Alpha, but he was older than her, more experienced than her and she couldn’t help but still feel guilty over how things had played out. While making pack Alpha hadn’t been intentional; Rhett had been her closest friend prior to things going down the way they had. And she respected his opinion, which is why she was dreaded this conversation. She’d received plenty of admonitions for her reckless actions from the elders, but it would always be taken more to heart coming from him.
Fancy a walk in the woods? I’m ready to talk about the bear incident.
She pressed send, sighing softly as she ran a hand through her messy curls. Light wash denim jeans hugged her thighs tightly, a slightly oversized olive green sweater hung off her left shoulder as she tucked the phone into her back pocket. Her typical hiking boots on, the colder weather not at all a deterrent for her to want to spend time in the forest. She leaned up against her truck, waiting near one of the hiking trails.
Rhett wasn't naive and he knew Darcy all too well. He could tell she'd been avoiding him and though he wanted to push and find out what was going on in that curly headed brain of hers, he had been doing his best to let her come to him when she was ready. She couldn't avoid him forever. Not only were they in the same pack but he was her Beta. Unless she wished to kick him from the pack, she'd have to face him soon enough.
When he did finally get that text, a unique ring tone signaling him that it was her who was texting, he answered it immediately.
Meet you in 20 at our spot
Three years in Sweetwater and they had made a habit of meeting at a particular hiking trail often enough that it became 'their spot'. It was 22 minutes later that he arrived in his black Impala and parked next to her truck where she was waiting.
"I was wondering how long it would take you to talk to me," he said bluntly.
There wasn’t a doubt in her mind that he would agree to meet her, so she made the safe bet that he’d want to be at their usual spot. It was one of the more advanced hiking trails that didn’t get used often, so it made for a nice private place to get together. She appreciated the fact that he was decent enough to let her have her space for the time being. And also that he didn’t just chew her ass in front of the elders. Even when she knew she’d pissed him off, he was at least good enough to not embarrass her in the pack. It made things difficult sometimes; their complicated history that had its occasional reappearances when emotions got heightened or when the moon was full. She shook her head, curls swaying at the movement.
She could hear the approaching vehicle long before she could see it, smiling softly at the familiar sound. Darcy was not at all immune to the charms of Rhett in his classic car with his mechanical know-how; she’d spent more time than she’d care to admit in the passenger seat of that car, once upon a time… even time in the backseat too. Complicated was the easiest way to describe their relationship. Especially over the last four years with her as Alpha.
His words almost made her want to wince, but he wasn’t wrong. She had been childish in her avoidance of him, but she just wasn’t ready to deal with it all from him. Rhett had been the first friend she’d made after her years of running from her family’s pack. He was the first person to make her feel safe again… like she could finally breathe again. So being scolded by him… it stuck more. She pushed herself off from the side of her truck and gave a shrug. “Would it help at all if I said I’m sorry… and I missed you.” She glanced down to kick a piece of gravel toward the path, tucking her hands into her back pockets. “I know I messed up, but I needed time… you know I hate when you’re upset with me.”
Complicated indeed. Even after this time he couldn't deny that he cared about Darcy deeply though the definition of what that mean had changed many times since they'd met. She looked a little sheepish as she apologized but Rhett was feeling stubborn and merely grunted in response. "Come on, let's walk," he said, motioned with his head towards the path. It would be easier to talk while in the forest rather than out here. Sure, this time of year it was unlikely that anyone would end up interrupting but just the movement in general made conversation flow more smoothly.
He locked his car and his heavy boots crunched on the snow as he headed towards the mouth of the path, expecting that Darcy would come along.
She watched as he seemed to just sort of grunt in response, and she took in a deep breath, no quite sure what she’d be expecting. He was completely allowed to be frustrated with her. She’d acted impulsively, put herself (and therefore the pack) at risk and then revealed herself to a human. To say she hadn’t already thoroughly kicked her own ass enough mentally over this was an understatement.
Darcy shrugged lightly as she followed behind him at first but then took a few quicker steps to be beside him. Why did she always seem to find herself around these taller men that she’d had to quicken her pace to keep up with? And from his set jaw, it was safe to assume he wasn’t ready to just ‘forgive & forget’. Not that she blamed him.
Darcy had been avoiding him, and in turn spending a lot of time with Ferris. Even just the thought of him made her heartbeat quicken, and she tried to clear her throat to make it less obvious. This wasn’t something she knew how to talk about yet. “So… exactly how much groveling are you needing from me? Because these jeans are new and I don’t want to ruin them too much.” Trust Darcy to be making the jokes, not the best at handling the silence. Not from Rhett.
Trust Darcy to throw out a joke in an attempt to lighten things up. Yet Rhett wasn't in the mood to lighten things up, not with all the secrets she'd been keeping from him. He didn't yet know what they were but of course his imagination had stirred up all sorts of possible scenarios, each one worse than the last.
He didn't laugh at her joke, he didn't even look amused. Instead he just looked over to her as they walked and replied in a serious, almost hurt, tone. "Why don't we start by you actually talking. What really happened that day?" he had heard snippets of rumors but had tried to dismiss them. He was upset about the idea of what she had done but he was just as hurt that she still had yet to actually talk to him in person about it.
Ouch. Okay, so maybe she deserved that, she truly couldn’t fault him for being frustrated with her. She would have been livid if the situation was reversed, but then again… Rhett wouldn’t have avoided her. He would have already told her all about it and had the situation handled. The avoidance game, that was her issue. And Rhett didn’t deserve that. But she was still embarrassed to admit she’d let herself get distracted enough whilst out for a hike that they wandered directly into the path of a bear.
“I… fucked up.” She exhaled heavily, running a hand through her hair as she continued, both with walking further into the trail and with the account. “It shouldn’t have happened, I was hiking and ran into the fire chief. We ended up hiking the same trail, and I didn’t realize we were heading straight for a bear. At least not until it was too late.” Darcy shrugged her shoulders, crossing her arms against her chest as she felt a little of that embarrassment returning.
“With the wild fires and shit going on in the forest, the bear was feeling very aggressive and territorial. She attacked and was barreling right for me. I pushed him out of the way, and ducked away to shift. I also sent a text to a few pack members near by. ” Retelling how it all went down made it feel like so much time had passed, and made her feel even more guilt over how she avoided Rhett.
“I got hurt, and as much as I thought Ferris would have run off; he didn’t. Thankfully the other wolves showed up and herded the bear deeper into the forest. I had a severally dislocated shoulder and three deep gashes in my thigh. I needed the help before I lost too much blood and passed out. And I hurt Ferris when I pushed him out of the way… between the blood loss I was handling and the smell of his, I panicked a bit.”
Darcy didn’t like when he was upset with her, but it was unavoidable at this point. And she would just accept it. She hadn’t just put herself at risk, but their entire pack. And while she trusted Ferris now, thisnwasn’t how they were supposed to handle things. What a mess she’d made. “I needed help with my shoulder, so I changed back in front of him… he helped me with my shoulder, and after mostly stopping the bleeding, we ended up back at the ranger station so I could stitch him up and staple my wound.” And since then she’d spent a lot of time with the human, which would only add insult to injury. How she found herself spending so much time with a human she barely knew, and avoiding her friend of eleven years. Even that thought hurt. She couldn’t imagine what Rhett was feeling right now.
(So sorry! I accidentally marked this as read so I didn't realize it was my turn! Oops)
Rhett walked along the trail beside as she began her story. He didn't make eye contact but was clearly listening. When she explained her injuries his jaw tightened at the thought of her being in such bad shape and that he hadn't been there to help her, but he was still too stubborn to express that out loud. So instead, just that tightening of his jaw in acknowledgement, making it hard to read if he was worried or angry. Both was the answer.
He let silence pass between them for a bit before he replied. "I didn't know how hurt you were...but was there really no other way than outing yourself to a stranger? A human stranger? Fuck, Darcy, what if he blabs about it to all of his friends?! We're already on thin ice with the Shadowridge Pack, specifically because they see our presence as a threat that might end in outing all the wolves to this town. You just went and proved them right!"
Okay, so that tightened jaw didn’t typically bode well for her from him. She knew him well enough to know that he was angry. And more than well enough to know that he had every right to be. She fucked up. Honestly, she could handle his anger just fine. If he’d actually choose to put it into words or even actions. Hell, it wouldn’t have been the first time the pair had gotten rough with one another… though, that was typically just sparring and not in their human forms.
Darcy’s dark eyes turned up to look at him as he spoke and a momentary look of hurt flashed across her face. But just as quickly, she reeled it back in and settled for looking more like a scolded child, eyes dropping to the path. “He was looking for me and found my clothes. I know, not my finest moment.” She admitted and looked back up at him with anger in those eyes,
“You don’t think I know that?” she shook her head, curls bouncing at the motion. “I fucked up, I know. But I’ve also spent enough time with him since then to say that, I-I trust him.”
Trusted. Wanted. Imprinted.
Fuck.
She couldn’t tell Rhett that. Not because he didn’t deserve to know, but because she was still trying to be in denial over it herself. But she did trust Ferris… with her life. The way she trusted Rhett. “He’s had plenty of opportunities to out me since then, and he hasn’t… he’s actually been pretty great about it. All things considered.” Darcy was suddenly feeling a little self conscious. She knew there was no denying she’d spent a lot of time with Ferris, considering even her truck smelled like him.
His behavior certainly would be out of character for Darcy. He had a temper, they both knew that, and he tended to hold grudges and hold onto that feeling for longer than he should. She tried to explain herself, at least she admitted that she knew she was in the wrong. He tried to be comforted by her trust in this man but he wasn't. He had a hard time taking people's words for things. He'd need to find out for himself.
Though still feeling the anger coursing through his blood, he did try to turn the conversation slightly. "Sounds like you've been hanging out with him a lot..." he said, lifting a brow. Was there something going on between her and this human? He wouldn't describe the feeling as jealousy necessarily. While he and Darcy had had their moments, he didn't have a problem with her being with other people. He just wished it was at least another wolf instead of a human. Better than a vamp he supposed.
Despite expecting him to yell or vent or just be, well; Rhett… he kept his cool and collected nature. And this only served to unnerve Darcy. She was so used to seeing his anger and she knew better than most just how deserving of his anger she was; and yet… he asked a question she hadn’t been expecting. “Oh, well… yeah.” She said, feeling a touch stupid for managing words that were mostly just her stumbling through sounds. Try as she might, she couldn’t fight the rosy blush that settled in her cheeks.
She wouldn’t lie to him. Rhett knew he better than anyone else. Being around someone for as many years as they had been; he would know immediately if she tried to lie. Plus, she didn’t want to lie to him. This was Rhett. As much as she knew they got under each other’s skin and had their moments of flared tempers; he was her closest friend. “I-I don’t really know how to explain it, I guess it’s just been nice to be friends with someone so normal who isn’t completely freaked out by me being a werewolf.” she shrugged, looking back to Rhett as she spoke.
“You know how hard things have been… in the last four years I have spent more time defending myself as Alpha to pups who think I shouldn’t be in this position. And when we aren’t icing each other out, we fight or- ” She fought back a half grin, shaking her head as she laughed a little. “Fuck, until one of us just gets over it.” Darcy sighed a little. “It’s been nice to feel like I have another friend in this town.” Not quite sure how to mention she’d also slept with him… several times. Mostly because she was still trying to convince herself it was just fun and not because she was imprinted to him.
Sure, there was part of him that could understand where she was coming from. Being a werewolf could be really isolating, especially if there were personal issues in the pack. If you couldn't get along well with your pack then it was even more lonely, yet he had done the lone wolf thing before and that had ultimately been harder. Still, he could see why she'd find the appeal to find someone she connected with who accepted her and who she wasn't Alpha over. "I guess I can understand enjoying a friendship like that," he grumbled.
Though he was still hella pissed about her recklessness and didn't know this Ferris guy. For all he knew, the guy was just biding his time before outing them all. Then they'd really be forced out of Sweetwater as the the Shadowridge pack would be only too happy to have a real reason to kick them out so that they also didn't get outed. Fuck, this could still turn out so badly. He ran his fingers through his hair in frustration but his eyes quickly jumped to her before she added the 'fuck' part of their own dynamic. It was true though. The way they'd been with each other for years seemed to always be volatile in one way or another. It was a wonder they were still even friends. Or at least he thought they still were. Maybe that was changing too.
The muscles in his jaw tensed visible as he clenched his teeth. He wasn't exactly in the right state of mind to open up about he really felt. He felt a...distance with Darcy, like something really had changed between them. He just never could have guessed that it was because she'd imprinted on this human. Still, whether she said it or not, he had already assumed the two of them were fucking. He did know Darcy well after all.
He simply grunted at her final words, unwilling to admit that it hurt to know that he wasn't a good enough friend to her to keep her satisfied. He still couldn't blame her. He wasn't so naive to not know that when it came down to it, he was actually a pretty shitty friend. "Fine," he finally said, unable to completely hide his grumpy tone. "Just don't start blabbing our secret to everyone you meet." He didn't really think she would but he couldn't fight the urge to toss a jab at her.
Darcy wasn’t naive enough to think everything was just fine between them. There was a distance that hadn’t been there before… well, before Ferris.
It wasn’t intentional, and she didn’t mean for it to happen. Rhett was her oldest friend after all. She couldn’t imagine just how things might have played out for her if she’d never met him. Would she have been found by her former pack members and brought back to Switzerland? Would she ever had become an Alpha? Would she have even still been alive? Thoughts like that plagued her mind more than she cared to admit.
“I know I fucked up here Rhett, and then made it all worse by avoiding you… and I’m sorry about that.” She said with a slow exhale, those brown eyes moving to meet his gaze. It was odd, not feeling the same closeness or even the desire she used to when around him. He was still the same Rhett, but something was different with her… she was the problem. Or rather; her imprint bond was. The feelings she used to struggle with for Rhett felt like a dream from lifetimes ago, instead of merely weeks.
But perhaps that was because she’d known he was going to be angry with her about everything. She would rather come up with every excuse possible to try and keep herself in denial over this imprint bond notion. Especially considering Ferris was a human. It just seemed easier to consider anything else. Well, easier in the sense that she was the only one struggling. But that was fine… she was fine.
His tone wasn’t lost on her, but his jab stung. Surely he knew her better than that. But, she supposed she had that coming after everything. And she’d hurt him, he was allowed to say whatever he felt so led to say. “Oh, I can’t make that promise. You know me, apparently I just love to talk.” she quipped with a roll of her eyes, stopping and taking hold of one of his arms. “I know we’ve had our moments, and a lot of the problems have been my fault… but I don’t like when things are tense with us.”
Her quip back only made him more angry, though he knew full well he had started it. Now they were just hurting each other on purpose which was something they'd done before but always come back quickly from. To say their relationship was volatile was pretty damn accurate, especially right now. So he narrowed his eyes as she rolled hers and just scoffed in reply.
She took hold of his arm then, stopping them both in their paths. At first he merely stopped and refused to turn to face her but her words did soften him up a bit and he sighed as he shifted to face her. "I know. I'm sorry, I know I'm being an ass," he admitted. "I just-" he sighed again and ran his fingers through his hair, letting his anger shift to unease. "I just wish it hadn't been with a human, you know..."
For as long as she could remember, this was how so very many of there encounters went. Not necessarily over such a serious subject, but the pair was known to get into some loud ‘discussions’ over the years of their friendship. And in the past, the quickest way she knew to reign in the anger and work out the frustration with Rhett would have been to just pull him in for a kiss. And she was sorely tempted to do just that. Alpha or not, once upon a time that had been their ‘go to’ conflict resolution because sometimes they were like two sides of the same coin.
“I can handle you being an ass, so long as I know we’re moving forward and not just stuck in this… you know this shit isn’t my strong suit.” She said softly, looking down slightly as she let her fingers tease along the edge of his coat. “I’m sorry, I can’t go back and change anything now, but I want to make this better moving forward.”
Why was there something so easy about falling into that same familiarity to Rhett? Even when she was angry and ready to throw fists, she didn’t want there to be issues between them. Heck, if she thought he would got for it, she’d try their former method for working off stress and anger together.