Fall

Posted on Tue Jul 19th, 2022 @ 2:32am by Dominique LaFramboise & Jarrod Lask
Edited on on Wed Jul 20th, 2022 @ 3:29am

Mission: Prequel - Or How We Met
Location: Bay City, MI - Nicki's House

It was time.

The hounds had enjoyed the campaigning greatly, Xaviera and Pete the most. There had been mudslinging- all of which had been playful ribbing- and debates, during which Xaviera had humorously taken the exact opposite stance as Pete. The whole affair had been mostly full of laughs and jokes.

But now, it was time to actually vote.

Since Pete and Xaviera were actually running, they didn’t vote. And since Nicki and Jarrod were moving in a little less than a week’s time, they also abstained. But they were present all the same. And their votes wouldn’t have changed a thing. It seemed everyone would be voting for Pete, which was okay with Xaviera; she didn’t want to be Alpha, anyway.

The vote started like any other Hound vote. Everybody wrote their choice on a slip of paper and placed them in a top hat- which Juan had insisted on using for this particular vote. (When Nicki had asked him where he’d gotten it, he had shrugged and replied, “doesn’t everyone have a top hat?”)

When all the votes were in, Pete and Xaviera counted them together. Xaviera pulled the first slip from the hat. “The first vote,” she announced dramatically, “goes to Pete!”

The hounds cheered.

Nicki didn’t notice any change for the first few votes. When they got to about a third of the votes counted, however, she began to have a sensation of slowly falling, like slipping down a hill. It was, at the same time, both exciting and frightening. As the counting went on, the sensation intensified so that by the end, she felt as if she were in free fall.

“And the last vote!” announced Xaviera, still grinning widely. “Makes a unanimous decision! Pete is our new Alpha!”

Nicki blinked and reeled as the hounds cheered and surged forward to congratulate Pete. She became aware of an arm around her shoulders and Jarrod’s voice in her ear. “You okay, Nicks?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she said, shaking her head to clear it. “I just… I’ve never been voted out before. It’s a bit disorienting. Like falling.”

Juan had noticed by that time that something was wrong and he came over to check on her, too. Before she knew it, the whole Leesh’s attention had shifted to her. “I’m fine, guys,” she assured them. “Really, it’s just an unusual sensation, being voted out. I’m okay.”

Xaviera pressed a glass of water into her hands and Jaime scooted a chair over to her, into which Jarrod made her sit. Everybody seemed to want to give her their healing power and she was suddenly overwhelmed with gratitude and love for her Leesh. “I’m really going to miss you guys!” she said as the tears started.

This, of course, sent them all into tears and hugs. It was a very emotional couple of minutes for everyone. Even Jarrod was choked up and Nicki had never seen him so much as frown before.

“I’ve just realized,” said Xaviera, dabbing at her eyes with a tissue. “You’re our Mother. Most of us anyway. Grandmother to the others. But you turned most of us and we owe the whole Leesh to you.”

“Sí!” agreed Juan, nodding his head earnestly. “If you had not come along, we would all still be strangers.”

“I’d be a Cheetah,” put in Penny. “Or maybe not. It’s hard to know.” Penny had asked for a bite as a cure for Cheetah lycanthropy and had ended up a Hound instead. It was impossible to tell if she had managed to fight off the Cheetah virus herself or if the Hound one had overwhelmed it.

“And I wouldn’t have ever met her,” added Jaime, slinging an arm around Penny’s shoulders.

“I’d still be living on the streets,” put in Steve.

“You guys!” groaned Nicki. “You’re gonna make me cry again!”

This brought watery laughter all around.

“We’re really gonna miss you guys,” Jarrod told them.

“We’ll miss you, too!” promised Penny and everyone else agreed.

A few minutes later, Nicki hurriedly chased them all away before the effects of the vote wore off and they couldn’t enjoy them to the fullest. She and Jarrod had their own activities, of course.

Later, as they lay curled up together, both unable to sleep, Jarrod admitted to Nicki about his early misgivings about moving. “I guess I was afraid you would change your mind,” he said.

“Why would I do that?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” he replied. “I’m… kind of geeky. And you’re… you’re the alpha!”

“Not anymore,” she pointed out.

“Even so,” replied Jarrod. “What does a girl like you want with a guy like me?”

“Uh, gee, I don’t know,” said Nicki sarcastically. “What girl would want to share her bed with a big strong firefighter? Or a man who went out of his way countless times to help her, expecting nothing in return? Someone who is tough and not afraid to eat a few faces and yet gentle enough to make sure she’s okay after being voted out as alpha? Someone who has her back in any situation! Why would any girl in her right mind want a guy like that?”

“Well, when you put it that way,” said Jarrod after a pause.

“My point is, Jarrod, you’re a good man,” she told him. “Whether you know it or not. And I’m lucky to have you.”

“I’m the lucky one,” he insisted, squeezing her tight.

“We’re both lucky,” she conceeded.

There was a pause during which they simply lay in each other’s arms, content to be close. Then, Jarrod broke the silence.

“This feels right,” he said.

“You mean… this?” she asked. “Laying here in bed? Or being with me?”

“No,” said Jarrod. “Well, yes, both of those. But I meant moving to Nashville. It’s scary and intimidating, but it feels right!”

“That’s the way it is with Hounds,” agreed Nicki. “When it’s time to move, we just know. Father Abraham doesn’t even own a home anymore. He just sort of lives on what feels right. And he’s never wrong.” She sighed. “I can’t wait until the day we’re like that.”

“Do you suppose we’ll be like that… together?”

“Oh, I hope so,” replied Nicki. “What’s the point of such a life if it’s not together?”

He chuckled and kissed her forehead. “I love you, Nicks,” he said.

“I love you, too, Jarrod.”