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Lupa often told Jason stories. Stories about the gods and the titans and monsters.
Jason's favourite story was about her.
Every time she told of the founding of Rome she would get this fond, faraway look in her eye, and every time she uttered the names Remus, Romulus, the only thing Jason could think was brother. Lupa was their mother, as she was Jason's.
There were others too, but they weren't Lupa's. Not in the way that Jason and Remus and Romulus were.
They were more like invaders in the Wolf House.
Static electricity rippled over Jason's skin as he growled, backing away on all fours from the offending, reaching hands. The stranger kept talking at him, using a grating high-pitched tone that raised his hackles.
They were trying to take him away from Lupa. He didn't know exactly what they were saying but he knew that much.
A hand came too close and he bit down savagely, the familiar tang of coppery blood filling his mouth.
The stranger made a sharp sound of pain and retreated, clutching their hand. They turned to Lupa, who had been observing from the shadows, and began to shout, gesturing wildly at Jason.
"Son of Jupiter— can't keep him here Lupa! He needs— not wolves!"
Jason couldn't pick out every word, but he got enough. They gestured to him again and he bared bloodstained teeth at them.
Lupa listened to the stranger until they went silent, face red and breath heavy.
"If he will not go with you, he is not ready to leave." Her growl echoed off the walls, a finality.
"He's a child, Lupa! A baby!"
"And he is not ready." Lupa raised herself up, fur rippling until she towered over the stranger. "You are. Now go." The dismissal was clear, and the stranger could only fume as Lupa loped further into the house, Jason scampering after her giant paws.
They weren't the first stranger in the Wolf House to try and take him away, but they were the first to argue with Lupa about it. The memory of their reddened, angry face and reaching hands made him uneasy for some reason.
Faint flickers of blonde hair and manic blue eyes danced through his mind.
He shivered. He didn't want to leave Lupa. He was her son and his place was with the pack, no matter what she said about Jupiter, whoever he was. Lupa taught him how to hunt. She taught him how to run, how to fight. She taught him how to survive. And there was nothing more loving than wanting someone to survive.
Jason crawled over to where Lupa had settled, nestling in between the wolves and reveling in the soft warmth. Lupa's fur smelled like pine needles and fresh meat. He stuck his face into her side and huffed in contentment. She turned to nuzzle him with her snout, making him giggle when her cold nose touched his neck.
He reached out, planting his hands on either side of her nose. She was so big. The biggest thing he'd ever seen. His hand was smaller than one of her eyes, both of which were warmly focused on him.
Lupa was bigger than any scary thing he'd ever faced.
Jason closed his eyes and leaned forwards, pressing his forehead against her nose.
"I love you, mama."
The wolf tongue didn't come naturally to him, growls and soft huffs falling awkwardly from his mouth, but from Lupa's warm puff of breath over his face he knew she'd understood.
"Te diligo, Jason."
It was dark when Jason next awoke, surrounded by the oppressive heat of too many furry bodies. His mouth was dry and the undeniable urge to pee was beginning to be too strong to ignore. He painstakingly extracted himself from the pile of wolves, careful not to step on any wayward tails before loping silently down the hall, towards the forest beyond.
The air outside was bitingly cold, making Jason shiver. He wished, not for the first time, that his fur would grow in already. He wanted to match with the rest of the pack, to be just another furry flash in the hunt, not the pale one that was always cold. The rags Lupa made him keep on did little to ward off the chill.
His business was dealt with quickly, the frigid air making him uneasy. It reminded him too much of another night, ages and ages ago. The one where the scary glowing lady held his hand all the way to the Wolf House, him crying the whole way because the longer they walked, the farther he got from blonde hair and the warm embrace that smelled like smoke and roses, and the farther he was from the blue-eyed, gap-toothed smile that always picked him up and swung him around. It had been cold, it was so cold, and he'd left his jacket in the car and—
A branch snapped somewhere to his left.
Jason whipped around, hackles raising as he dropped to all fours.
There was something in the trees.
He bared his teeth and let out a low growl, eyes scanning the treeline for movement just like Lupa taught him. It was quiet for a long moment, the only sound the rustling of leaves in the breeze.
The wind shifted.
Moonlight glanced off of something in the corner of his vision—
And out of nowhere there were hands on him, lifting him. He only had time to yelp before the world turned sideways and he was thrown under someone's arm. His eyes landed on the Wolf House, and they widened as it became smaller, the person holding him dashing into the woods.
Jason kicked out, flailing, squirming, trying desperately to get the stranger to drop him. He had to get back to the Wolf House. He had to get back to Lupa.
The stranger yelped as he ruthlessly bit down on their hand, the taste of copper filling his mouth.
"Jason," the stranger hissed, and Jason realized it wasn't just any stranger, it was the one from the wolf house, the one who'd argued with Lupa.
He bit down harder.
"Jason— Jason, stop!" The stranger tried to maneuver him away from their hand, nearly tripping over a tree root. "You don't understand now, but this is for the best, I promise. Just— stop!"
Jason didn't stop. "Down! Down, down, down!" He cried, reaching fruitlessly for something, anything to stop the pace.
"Jason, it's okay. I'm taking you to Camp Jupiter. There's lots of other kids like you there. Lupa was wrong, okay? You can't live like this." The stranger sounded frustrated, angry, almost close to tears as they tightened their vice grip on Jason.
"No no no no no!" Jason felt static start to collect in the air, sparks catching on his fingers as he pounded on the stranger's back. "Lupa!"
He knew the stranger could feel it too from the way they tensed. "Stop! Jason no!"
"Lupa!" Jason cried again, tears bubbling at his eyes. He felt the cold air around them go superheated, light brighter than anything he'd ever seen arcing down from the sky in an instant. The resounding crack echoed across the treetops, drowning out the stranger's scream as the light hit them dead on.
For a brief moment it was exhilarating, feeling the light run through his veins, the heat burning out the cold that had settled in his bones. Jason felt powerful, like he could do anything. But just as suddenly as it had come, it disappeared. As the light left him, it was as if all his strength went with it, nothing remaining to stop his fall to the hard earth.
He barely felt the impact. But as he lay there facedown against the dirt, as his vision began to fade, he heard wolves howling in the wind.
When Jason came to, it was to the familiar sound of paws on dirt.
Lupa. He tried to push himself up on shaky arms, only to fall back down in a heap. He could hear the pack huffing and pawing around, surrounding him with the feeling of safe safe safe. He still tried to raise his head, searching for the largest of them all.
Lupa loped up to him, seemly out of nowhere, surrounding him with the scent of pine needles and nuzzling his hair with her nose. "You have done well, Jason. Rest, puer meus." Jason let his head fall back to the ground in exhaustion. Lupa was here. She would take care of everything. His tired eyes fixed on her rippling fur as she prowled past him.
"But you." Lupa's voice burned with a fury Jason had never heard as she turned to the stranger, body still twitching and smoking on the ground. The stranger's watery eyes widened as Lupa moved to stand over them, their mouth opening and closing like a goldfish. "You, daughter of Trivia, have disobeyed direct orders. You attempted to steal a son of Jupiter from the sacred wolf's den." The stranger began to shake, tears flowing freely now. "Your actions betray your character; you are not fit for the Roman Legion, and I rescind your right to pass," Lupa snarled.
The stranger barely had time to cry out before Lupa leapt. It was beautiful in a way, a predator in her natural element, all grace and cold brutality.
But the horror outweighed it by far. Lupa's claws sunk into the stranger's chest like knives through butter, their scream cutting off into a gurgling mess as blood spurted up like a fountain. Jason could feel its warmth as it splattered on his face like rain.
Lupa reared back, the moonlight catching on her exposed fangs. Jason's eyes widened. It was the same stance she took before tearing into prey. To eat. She wasn't gonna—
Lupa dove back in, locking her teeth around the stranger's left leg. Jason heard the distinct crunch of bone as she whipped her head back, tossing the stranger into the air before inhaling their legs and biting down.
Their top half fell to the ground, innards spilling across the grass like a dead rabbit. The stranger's eyes stared blankly into Jason's, only feet away.
Dead.
Slaughtered like prey. Eaten like prey. But prey didn't run with the pack. Lupa didn't train prey.
Jason looked around wildly. Even if he didn't like the stranger, even if they scared him, this felt wrong. The pack— surely they felt the same way he did. But that's when he heard it; the chorus of tittering, chortling howls that seemed to echo in his skull. They were laughing. And they kept laughing as Lupa plunged in again with her teeth, her beautiful fur stained red all the way to her ears.
The sounds of laughter and crunching viscera didn't stop until there was nothing left of the stranger, save for the red stain on the grass. Lupa licked her lips one last time before turning her gigantic body to face Jason. She looked almost alien in the moonlight, her fur matted with blood.
He couldn't help but flinch as she drew near, those gore stained teeth coming too close for comfort as she licked his cheek. "Why do you cry, Jason?" She asked, so close it sounded like a growl. It was only then Jason realized his face was wet with tears.
"Lupa gonna eat me too?" His voice was shaky as he gazed into her huge dark eyes. If Lupa was surprised by the question she didn't show it.
"She was eaten because she was weak." Lupa nuzzled her nose into Jason's hair, and he realized that her natural pine scent had been overtaken by the stench of pennies. He felt sick to his stomach. "And you aren't weak, are you Jason?"
"No."
It was a lie. A big fat lie. If Jason was strong, the stranger never would have been able to take him. None of this would have happened, and there wouldn't be hair lodged in Lupa's teeth.
He just hoped Lupa couldn't hear the tremble in his voice.
"Good." She nudged his arm with her nose, bending down and urging him to climb on. The other wolves from the pack were already on the move, yipping and howling like they were on their way home from the hunt. Jason's muscles burned as he clambered the familiar route onto Lupa's back. He squeezed his eyes shut as she began to move, strides turning into sprints as they reached the front of the pack. Clutching onto her fur, it almost felt normal, like any other homecoming from a late night hunt.
But he couldn't pretend away the dried blood on his face anymore than he could the excess electricity dancing through his bones.
The pack protected their own, and he ran with the pack today. But how easy was it to be cast out? He remembered sharing the fire with the stranger. He remembered sleeping beside them.
Wolves howled all around him, the sound coalescing into a single eerie harmony.
And he wondered, was he more akin to Romulus? Or the stranger in Lupa's belly?