Chasing Tail: A reader x shifters romance

Part 1

Y/N POV

You walk down your street to your apartment building.

You pull the collar of your coat tighter around your neck. The wind is harsh, and winter still has its grip on your home city in February. You're the only one still out on the street tonight. It's late. You're always home late on the weekends because of your multiple part-time jobs.

You sigh, thinking about how you'll be coming home to your empty one-bedroom apartment to no food in the fridge. It'll be cold again there tonight—you can't afford to turn the heater up too high at night. You can barely afford to pay rent, and that's not even counting the mounting student loans you're taking on every semester to cover tuition at your college.

It's all going to be worth it once you get your degree, though. You're going to be a hot-shot business woman and make a big salary soon enough. Then you'll have everything you've ever dreamed of. What's a few more semesters of long work hours and cold nights in your cramped apartment? You can handle it.

A rustle in an alley you pass breaks you out of your thoughts. You freeze, peering into the dark alleyway. Your heartbeat quickens.

This wouldn't be the first time you've met some unsavory characters on your way home late. The city you live in isn't huge, but it's big enough to have a downtown that gets shady at night. You've endured the catcalls and harassment time and again, keeping your head down and rushing by.

But lately, you've gotten the creepy feeling that someone—or something—has been following you on your daily walks to and from class and work. Every now and then, you'll hear the sound of footsteps or even the scrape of claws behind you as you walk, especially when it's dark out.

But whenever you turn around to catch whoever's following you, there's nothing there. You've heard it so many times and yet have never seen anything, so you've pretty much convinced yourself that you've imagined the whole thing. You are pretty tired all the time, after all. Your mind is probably just playing tricks on you.

And now, something about this rustling noise has your feet rooting to the ground. Will you finally catch a glimpse of your stalker tonight? Does he really exist?

The halo of light you stand in flickers and then extinguishes as the streetlight above your head goes out. Well, that's ominous timing.

You can only make out the dark silhouettes of trash cans, sign posts, and a few grimy doors in the alley. Then something shifts behind one of the trash piles. You can only stare, terrified and fascinated, as a silky shadow slinks out onto the pavement and approaches you.

You quickly take a few steps backward, which only makes you trip over the sidewalk curb and land on your ass.

The shadow emerges from the alleyway, padding closer on four legs. Your breaths quicken as it steps into your space.

Then the streetlamp above your heads flickers back on, and you finally see what's come out of the alleyway.

It's a dog. A really cute dog. He has golden fur that gleams in the yellow lamplight and hangs from his body in silky strands. His long legs have little tufts of fur hanging from the back.

A golden retriever.

You release a sigh of relief that turns into a huffing laugh at your own silliness. You were seriously terrified of an adorable golden retriever dog. You should get yourself checked for paranoia.

As you laugh semi-hysterically, the dog watches you patiently. He drops back into a seated position. His tongue pokes through between his teeth as he tips his head to the side. It's so cute.