Trae was stalking through the forest like an angry bear with big steps and lots of noise. I couldn't fault him for it. His conversation with Mae had been difficult to listen to, and I didn't think I could have done any better than he did, but I kept wanting to step in. Mae's reaction was not what I'd expected; I had imagined she'd be confused, but her anger . . . It was strong and sharp, and Trae had suffered the brunt of it.
I waited until we were out of earshot of our soulmates before I called out to him, "Trae. Trae, hey! Calm down."
He gave no response and kept walking.
"Bro, you need to chill. You know what'll happen if you shift like this."
"So what?" he muttered. "As long as I can prove to her that I'm a werewolf, it doesn't matter how I get there. She definitely doesn't care."
I rolled my eyes. "She's upset, Trae. That doesn't mean she doesn't care. If she didn't, she wouldn't still be here. Just take a moment."
"I don't have time for a moment. She expects us back in ten minutes. Why are you still here? You just said you didn't want to see me shift. Go away."
"Fine. Your funeral."
Shaking my head, I watched him walk away from me before finding a spot of my own. I waited to make sure no one was coming, then took off my clothes and got down. I wasn't kidding when I said it was best for everyone involved that nobody came looking. It was a gruesome sight, yes, but I was most concerned with not being seen like that. When I was shifting, I was stuck between two forms, unable to defend myself or move or do anything. Vulnerable and helpless. I would rather die than have someone watch me while I was in that state.
Once I'd recovered from my shift, which was thankfully uninterrupted, I got up and followed my brother's scent. I found that he still hadn't calmed down, and for the first time in years, he didn't try to jump me.
Neither did I. This was not the time for games. Instead, I whined and nudged him. He huffed in response and started moving . . . slowly.
She expects us back in ten minutes, my ass.
If I asked how he felt right now, I'm sure he'd say he wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible, but I knew the truth. The hitch in his step told volumes. I passed him so he could follow. I would pull him if necessary.
Shaun and Mae were deep in conversation when I reached the edge of the clearing behind the house. They didn't notice me. My footfalls were soundless and my fur colorless. So I watched. Shaun talked with his hands, and his movements were excited. Mae's were stiff. She kept glancing to the side, into the trees. At some point, she even seemed to look straight at me. If the sun wasn't setting already, she would have seen me. Trae quietly moved in by my side. I glanced at him. He avoided my gaze, ears pulled back.
Okay, if this is how we're gonna do it, we're gonna do it.
I backed up and pushed him forward.
His indignant snarl made Mae and Shaun fall silent and look over. A moment passed in which nobody moved and everything stopped. Trae and I were still hidden in the shadows, but they knew we were here.
Mae scrambled up from the ground. "Hello?"
Shaun jumped up, too.
Mae called out for Trae, so I nudged him again.
When he didn't move, I took it to the next level: I grabbed him by the scruff of his neck. This got me a much more satisfactory reaction. He swiped at me, claws out, and I jumped aside. We came out into the clearing fighting. That part was less satisfactory. Since I was too busy evading attacks from my frustrated brother, I didn't see Mae and Shaun's reaction. I could guess, though. Mae was shocked, and Shaun was elated. My suspicions were proven correct when I heard Shaun chanting.
"Fight, fight, fight!"
Good lord.
I jumped out of Trae's reach and growled at him. His chest expanded to its full size, as if to collect air to growl back, before letting out a forceful huff. He slumped down and backed off, gaze turned downward. Finally. I twisted to face our soulmates.
Shaun looked like I'd told him some game he'd been waiting for had been released early. I could almost smell his excitement. He was still hesitant as he stepped forward, though. After clearing his throat, he said, "Leroy?"
"Is that really them?" Mae asked.
There was, surprisingly, no fear in her eyes. Trae and I were not small as wolves, and we'd just been snapping at each other like wild animals. To any innocent bystander, it would seem obvious we were not safe to be around, but she only looked . . . intrigued.
"Look at them," Shaun said, gesturing. "Those are not normal wolves."
I started to move, and Mae took a step back while Shaun came forward. This time he didn't stop until he was right in front of me. For some reason, he held his hand out to me. I wasn't sure what he expected me to do with it, so I decided to relieve the tension by licking it.
"Ew!" he exclaimed, jerking back. "Why did you do that?"
I gave him my best wolf smile.
"Right. You can't talk. How convenient." He wiped his hand on the thick fur in the back of my neck, then gave me a smug smile. "I'll just assume it's a kiss, then."
A kiss? I'm not a dog. Affection from a wolf involves a lot more teeth.
Then again, I was a werewolf, so it was reasonable for him, or anyone, to assume these things were different than they were for normal wolves. In a way, they were, but not how one might think. Being something that is both wolf and human is exactly that: being both. There were things that felt natural to me that might not for a human, or for a wolf, and I could relate to both and neither for the same reasons. It was an alienating experience sometimes, and the only people I ever felt truly myself with were my family.
Showing Shaun this side of me was a little unsettling, to be honest. I didn't know how I was supposed to act. When we were out here together that one time, when I was in human form, we wrestled. That had felt right. Now I would probably wound him if I tried to start a fight, no matter how playful my intentions. Part of me wished he was a werewolf too.
This must be even worse for Trae, whose soulmate had almost walked away a moment ago. I looked over my shoulder again. Mae was watching us, but she quickly turned her gaze away when our eyes met.
My brother still stood in the same spot as he did before, ears flat against his skull. I wouldn't be surprised if he kept standing there until the sun rose again.
"You're . . ." Mae looked him up and down. "It's you, isn't it?"
He dipped his head in confirmation.
She slowly came closer, still watching him with those curious eyes, until they were in front of each other.
I would have kept watching, but Shaun was talking again. He hadn't taken his hand off my back either. He was running his fingers over my back as he said, "Your fur is so soft. And thick. Must be nice in winter. You probably never get cold, do you? Especially if you're moving around all the time. Hey, do you think I could sit on your back?"
I turned to glower at him.
"Okay, wow, I guess you don't need to talk," he muttered. "But come on! You're a really big wolf and I'm, like . . . well, I wouldn't say I'm light, but I'm definitely not heavy, so I'm sure it's doable. Please."
I continued glaring.
He sighed. "Can I at least hug you?"
Fine, I had no objections to that. I started to nod. But then I heard it.
It was several miles away but clear as day: the howl of a wolf. The unmistakable cry of a stranger. My hackles rose when another one rang out in response. I hadn't heard either of their voices before, I was sure of it, so there were two unfamiliar wolves in my territory . . . Shit. Wolves or werewolves? Did it matter? Shit.
"What?"
I faced Shaun and realized I was baring my teeth—one of those things that just happened whether I wanted them to or not. Wolf instincts, driven by fear and anger and nerves. I pulled away from him with a growl, shaking my head, and turned to Trae.
He was already shoving his shoulder into Mae's backside. She stumbled and reached for him to steady herself. "What are you doing?" she asked.
All he did was whine and give her another push.
I started to herd Shaun into the house, too, which made him ask a lot of questions, but Mae finally caught on and dragged him inside. I was satisfied when she locked the door. It would've been even better if they'd left this place altogether, but there was no way for me to communicate that. Besides, whoever these wolves were, there was no guarantee they were alone. For all we knew, there was a whole pack out there. At least I knew where Shaun and Mae were. I knew how to keep them safe, if it came to that.
The last thing I saw before turning around was Shaun giving us a thumbs-up. Then, I raced into the woods. Trae was right on my heels. I had no plan, and he probably didn't either, but we had to do something. This was our territory, our home. Our soulmates were here. The thought of strange wolves—werewolf or not—coming here set my teeth on edge. If they were looking for a new home, they'd come to the wrong place.
Trae and I had been too lucky. We'd gotten lazy. Our territory was big for two people, sure, but not so big that we couldn't take care of it, and yet, the last time we'd marked our borders was months ago; our trails had faded so much that it would seem, to any outsider, like we hadn't been here in a long while. Like it didn't belong to us at all.
We ran and ran for miles with no sign of the wolves, until finally, the howling returned. This time, there were four, and they were close. Really close.
Despite all the running, I felt cold. If these were, in fact, werewolves, and if they'd decided this was a nice place to settle, there was no way Trae and I were able to take on four of them. Recalling my father's stories, I found it unlikely they'd stop to have a chat. Honestly, neither would I. There was no point in shifting to my human form to talk when growling was clear enough, and I was much better armored as a wolf.
I came to a halt and looked at Trae. He stared back at me, then pointed his nose in the other direction. I didn't have to guess what he meant—we'd done this before during many of our hunts: he was asking if we should go around. It would give us an advantage. If one of us came from one side, and the other from the other, we could surprise them. I almost smiled. The element of surprise. Shaun would be proud.
Hopefully, we didn't have to attack. Just showing our faces and giving them a warning should be enough. It should be.
My paws didn't make a sound as I rolled them across the soft earth, avoiding dead leaves and branches. I couldn't hear Trae anymore either, but then, I did hear the wolves. I smelled them, too.
Softly, I breathed out in relief. Not werewolves.
Wolves usually steered clear of werewolves because we smelled too much like humans, and on top of that, a lot of werewolves liked to scare wolves off as well. They thought of them as the inferior species. In a way, it was understandable. Wolves couldn't think and speak like humans could, so there would never be that level of understanding that we craved from our companions. But I thought it was bullshit. We could live together in peace if we put aside our differences. Try explaining that to the wolves, though . . .
They wouldn't understand.
There were four of them, which meant this was a pack, or at least part of one, and wild packs didn't work the way people thought they did. They were established families that wouldn't just "submit" to us if Trae and I fought them for dominance and happened to win. They'd run away and look for some other place to bring up their young. There was no social hierarchy like there was with captive wolves.
Wolves and werewolves knew only one thing alike: territory.
The best thing to do was to scare them off. If we were lucky, a warning was enough. If not, we'd have to defend ourselves, and I wasn't sure how that was going to turn out. Two against four weren't great odds. Still, I moved forward until I saw them dashing through the trees. I ran alongside them at a safe distance until I heard growling.
That would be Trae.
The wolves changed course, and I shot forward. In a moment, we had them cornered. I wasn't sure what I'd expected, but it wasn't this. They were scared—terrified. One was injured. Something awful had happened to this pack. Before I could even come up with a course of action, the biggest of the four wolves stepped forward and growled at me.
Great . . . they were terrified and aggressive.
I stood my ground and responded with my own growl. I wished I could offer them a place of refuge, at least temporarily, but it didn't work like that. It was us or them, and I wasn't backing down. For a moment, it seemed like that was enough. Then the wolf lunged at me.
I barely jumped aside in time. More growling came from my left as the other wolves went for Trae, and I made the mistake of looking over, worrying over my brother despite knowing he was perfectly capable of holding his own in a fight.
I soon paid the price. Sure, I was bigger and smarter, but I was outnumbered; I could only fight one wolf at a time. I managed to distract and injure the wolf who'd tried to attack me, but another flew in to finish the job. Teeth sank into my hind leg, and pain shot through my muscles. My jaws relaxed automatically as I whined in agony, and the wolf came free from my mouth.
Letting myself fall to the ground, I rolled over and desperately kicked at the other wolf. My leg screamed when it let go. It felt like its teeth ripped out every muscle. It was honestly the worst pain I'd ever felt aside from shifting, but I couldn't give up now. Gritting my teeth, I scrambled up and barreled into the wolf. My weight forced its knees to give in, and it dropped to the ground with a yelp. I closed my teeth around its throat, applying pressure but not killing it. A better message than a growl, hopefully.
I glanced at the big wolf from the corner of my eye.
Nope.
It was about to fucking kill me.
But then a growl, so loud it drowned out the whole pack, rang out and a big black blur bowled the wolf right over. They crashed into a tree together, my brother's much heavier body effectively pinning the wolf against it. It was all very brutish and uncoordinated, but it did the trick. One of the remaining wolves had already been weakened, and Trae must have injured the other one, so they didn't step in to help their elders. The fight was over. These woods were not safe for them. I wished they were, but not today.
The pack went, half of them limping.
Trae and I watched them go, standing tall and strong—until they were gone. The moment I lost sight of them, I sank to the ground with a tired whine. I was dizzy with pain. Trae came over and lay down next to me to lick the wound. It would keep it clean, but I'd have to go back and shift if I wanted to survive the night.