EXCEPTIONS

Damon's P.O.V

"Okay, see you later," Will replies, completely oblivious to my struggles as she entered her apartment while I bolted for the stairs.

You can control this Damon - Theo tries as I sprint my way through the town, trying to find the closest escape to woodlands.

Not now Theo - I snap back angrily as I sprint, pumping my legs faster as my body weighed itself down on each bone, begging to break them into a shift.

You don't have to hurt to feel better - She argues as I spot the first sign of woodlands.

I shoot forward, crashing to the ground the moment I was far enough out of sight to shift easily. I rake the floor with hazed eyes, barely warding off the shift as I searched for masking elements. I grab the first set of weeds I need and drench myself in the plant.

Then I let go.

My bones shatter in my body, my skin reforming into an animal and I soak in the pain of it all, letting it comfort me as I became something bigger and stronger than I felt. The shift takes longer than usual, new pieces building together to create a wolf bigger than I'd remembered. When I settle, I find my view taller than usual, my build feeling larger than I was accustom to.

It was because I was an alpha now, it was the only meaning that made sense. But I wasn't the alpha I wanted to be, I wasn't surrounded by my family with a pack listening to my every word. No, I wasn't any of that but I was still one by blood. Just a rogue one.

The thought heightens the discord within my chest and propels me back into the depths of the blinding rage, sending me deeper and deeper as my legs took me further and faster.

I caught a scent within minutes, a rogue. My wolf ran like never before, propelling through the spaces of the trees at lightning speed to leave nothing but a white streak in its wake. The need, like my size, was larger than ever before. As if it'd grown with my size, but I knew it wasn't because of that. It was because I was an alpha without the one thing my genes demanded - a pack.

My mind drifts to Felicia, worry, and sadness plaguing me at the thought of her quietly experience this feeling for so many years. But it would've been worse for her, she didn't have a wolf, she would've been suffering alone. The thought of my brother in pain slows my chase, but only makes it faster when I remember that she lied as well.

I'd trusted Felicia and she, like my parents, lied to me for months on end. She even helped me with some of my ridiculous tasks, had she known the entire time as well? Had she played along just so she could get out of the pack, go to the woods where her mate, someone she truly loved, was waiting? Did she even care about me the way I thought she did, the way I cared about her?

She probably didn't.

She probably saw me as a demon as well. Someone with zero regards for life, just like our parents. She probably only saw the wrongs, she doubted me too I bet. She didn't think I'd make a good alpha, she thought I had no control. She thought I was nothing more than a mutt running in shoes too big for me.

Josey used to say that all the time. She thought I was a mutt. She thought I wasn't good enough to be alpha. I bet she knew all along, so did Hagen and Peter. They all probably knew. All laughed and smiles around the table, all in on the secret and let themselves be amused that I wasn't.

They didn't care about me. Not truly, not like I missed them. They didn't miss me. Why would they miss the person that disgusted them more than rogues themselves? They were probably happy without me, at peace without having to appease their demon mutt.

I sink further into the darkness, my vision blackening as I pounce on my first kill. I let myself fall into the pleasure of my struggling prey, that's all demons were good for after all.

---------------------------

I walk through the little human town with nothing but exhaustion to be felt through every muscle. The smell of blood was poignant to any wolf but the humans just kept walking, one or two offering a smile as they passed me by.

Stupid humans, I wouldn't smile back.

I just kept walking, the same way I'd been since I'd resurfaced in the woods. I'd cleaned myself up, buried and cleaned up any traces of me and began to walk. Now I was in the human town, holding a bag filled with different lettuces for Blaze to munch on instead on my clothing.

My bones ached like it had the first did after my first few shifts, the size and weight of a wolf foreign to me. The same feeling to be found with my bigger wolf. Images of dad's wolf flash before my eyes, I always had to look up to him, I wondered now if we were on the same level. I wondered what he'd say if he saw me, probably wouldn't react with the same joy he once had when he saw I had a white wolf.

The familiar scent of honeysuckle I'd grown to love tugs me away from the edge, pulling me towards it as my feet change course without a second thought.

I follow it all the way to the front doors of a shop called Blue's. I frown up at the music store, curious as to what Will could possibly be doing in there for her scent to be so strong. I could tell it was a place she visited frequently.

I push the door open and wince at the bell that rings directly above my head to announce my entrance. The chiming echoing through my skull to pummel my senses.

The bell. It was one of the human contraptions which I hated the most. Werewolf history taught us that they'd been created a long time ago during the war when wolves got too good at camouflaging among the humans.

The bell was an easy way of distinguishing a wolf from a human, a wolf wouldn't be able to hide a wince or the subtle twitch of their ears from the amplified ringing we heard, while a human would walk in without so much as blinking.

But when the war ceased and the history pages of the humans were bleached of mostly everything they had on werewolves, the bell just become a way of telling when someone entered. But some hunters still remembered and used them to segregate us from their own.

"Just a minute," Will's voice rung through the air from a corner in the colorful store.

I survey the space, feeling a little happier when I find that I'm the only one in. I roam the colorful shelves decked in records of all kinds and sizes, surveying the artists for any I knew and only found a few. But I wasn't interested in getting any from this store, I listened to music provided by the supernatural adjusted for wolves' ears.

I was one of the few in the pack who refused to train my ears to suit the humans' insanely loud volumes which they claimed to be low. I preferred to be among wolves, so I never needed to adjust much more than I had naturally. But I suppose with one of these humans as my mate, I would have to make an exception.

My eyes shot to Will the moment she comes out of a room at the deepest corner of the store, she quickly shuts the door behind her before coming to the counter.

My heart does an annoying flutter when I lay eyes on her, her petite form drawing me in as her crystal, blue eyes shimmer in all their beauty.

She sends me a smile, different to the one I'd grown accustomed to, this one seemed to be a customer smile that made me frown. There wasn't a single sign of recognition to be found on her face.

"Anything, in particular, you're looking for?" She asks as her eyes dart around my face. For a moment her eyebrows draw slightly as if confused but it smoothens out just as quickly.

"Not really," I reply and my frown only deepens when her face morphs into one of realization, eyes brightening as she offers me a small smile.

Did she really not know it was me?

I narrow my eyes as I study her, confused beyond comprehension how that could possibly be the case.

"Damon," She replies with such happiness in her tone that it made the confusion subside for a moment. "What are you doing here?"

"Just thought I'd take a look in, see what music was here." I lie and let my gaze run the shop's length once more. "I didn't know you worked here."