Little Wolf

Ch 15 What the Wolf Wants

He followed me back to town. I debated but finally drove to my place. I told him to go clean up in the kitchen while I took a super quick shower. I slid on some jeans and a tee-shirt before I came out.

He was still in the kitchen.

I grabbed two of Derrick's beers and led the way out the back door. I chose a seat on the curbing on the far side of the empty lots. As long as we kept our voices down, we should be safe to talk.

"Here you go," I said as I held out a bottle toward him. "It might be wee early in the morning, but I think you and I both need this."

He didn't say anything as he took it, still not looking directly at me.

"I want you to know I'm not mad at you or anything. You don't have any reason to fear me."

I had a feeling I could say that a hundred times, and he would still piddle on himself.

"Why don't you start by telling me what a royal is and why you think I am one."

He took the cap off his beer and took a long draught. He looked like he was about to cry. It was so stupid. This guy was a bodybuilder, probably close to three hundred pounds, and acted like some sniveling, downtrodden, bullied... just thinking about it ticked me off. No one should be made to feel how this guy was feeling. I couldn't imagine a life like his.

"A Royal is born a werewolf. Royals shift faster than bitten wolves. They have more control over their shifts. They can control themselves mid-shift, reversing the shift even."

His voice was slow and deliberate. He was reciting what he had been taught. He looked straight at the road in front of him. He looked like he was waiting for me to punish him for something.

I reached over and bumped the bottom of his bottle up, encouraging him to take another swig. I took one of my own.

"It's true I was born a wolf, " I told him, "but you're assumptions are wrong. My dad bit my mom. She had no problem shifting, and she could control her shifts as well as my dad. Have you ever tried?"

Terror again. Somebody had done a job on this man. I was glad he couldn't smell my outrage over what had been done to him. I had a feeling that if he could, he wouldn't be able to do anything but cower and piddle. It was pathetic.

"It's all right, dude. You don't have to. You should shift forms more often, though. I'm guessing you don't change much. The more you shift between human and wolf, the easier it gets."

"My alpha forbids it."

Shame again. Damn. He might as well say master. Whoever bit him had him strung out tight.

I could hear my dad... what the wolf wants. The wolf sure as hell didn't want to be chained. I tried to stay calm.

"Forbids?"

Silence on his part. Too many emotions had him choked up tight.

"Listen to me. It's cool. You don't have to go back to him."

He was shaking his head, actually crying now. I had opened up a floodgate.

How long had he been terrified, unable to share his experience with anyone? When was the last time he felt free?

I wanted to rip my teeth into this so-called alpha of his. I put an arm across his wide shoulder, letting him get it out. He tried to get himself under control. I finished my beer while he tried.

"You mentioned a pack," I finally said. "How many people in this pack of his?"

"Nine warriors, five omegas including me, three she-wolves last time I was there."