Werewolfing. 2

Chapter Two

The stranger gave chase after him. Seb darted through the loosely-packed trees, rushing under brambles and heading back to the truck as quickly as he could. His heart flailed in his chest so strongly that his very vision quivered with it.

All Seb heard, beside his own frantic breathing, was a rough snarl before the werewolf clamped its jaws around his tail. Seb yelped and surged forwards, wrenching his tail out of the steel-trap jaws. That little bastard bit me!

There was no nighttime euphoria in his run now, nothing but cold adrenaline as his ears perked forwards to pick up the faintest traces of Juana’s squeaky puppy barks. Where Juana was, Riley wouldn't be far away. He honed in on it, let his mind cling to it as his legs started to burn. It was the only time He regretted skipping out on gym class.

The stranger never faltered. His jaws kept snapping, his paws kept drumming, all the way back to the truck. Seb tumbled onto the track, trembling with tongue lolling out. Riley - who’d been curled up with her head on Tiffany’s lap - scrambled up and rushed over, ears and hackles coming up as the stranger sprinted out after Seb.

Seb snapped around, getting a proper look at the werewolf. He was a stark contrast to Seb - he was too skinny, standing shakily on spindle-legs, and his eyes were deep, livid amber. His pelt was dark on the top, but he wore a mask of white on his muzzle, eyes, and underbelly. Blood matted on his shoulder, where a gaping wound hung open. The thing that scared Seb the most was his terrible stench - it was wild, male, angry, and scared all at once. He also had the overwhelming, musky, dog-like scent of unwashed wolf.

Riley stepped between Seb and the growling stranger, approaching slowly. Seb risked a glance backwards past his bloody tail; Tiffany had scooped Juana, who'd fallen silent, into her arms. Seb let his lips lower and cover his teeth again, padding after Riley.

The stranger drew back, his low rumbling shrinking away as Riley advanced - she gave off serious head-of-the-household vibes, even when she wasn’t particularity angry. The scared rolled off him in waves, setting Seb on edge. He stood by Riley’s side as the stranger backed up into a tree. The stranger sat down and curled his tail around his paws, fixing his eyes on the ground. She turned to Tiffany and gave a curt nod.

Juana whimpered softly as Tiffany set her down by Seb. He nudged her side to try to reassure her as he led her away from the gathering.

“You’re a werewolf, aren’t you?” Tiffany asked, crouching down to the wolves’ levels beside Riley.

The stranger nodded, baring his teeth again. Riley lunged forward and barked, effectively silencing him.

“Where are you from?”

Nothing.

“Your name?”

Nothing.

"You hurt Seb, didn't you?"

Nothing.

Riley and Tiffany shared a look - a look that Seb was very, very familiar with -, and backed off, motioning for Seb to follow. He picked Juana up by the scruff of her neck, and followed Riley. Years spent with Riley and Tiffany taught him to follow without questioning. He swallowed down any shadow of confusion, waved his bloodstained tail as Tiffany opened the doors to the truck and started to whisper to Riley, who responded as best she could in slightly frantic, almost comical attempts at sign language.

Seb turned back when a leaf crumpled. The stranger limped after them, ears pinned back and gaze lowered. Riley's gaze snapped toward the stranger, looking him up and down. He really was a wretched, sorry sight. Seb could almost hear her inner debate, almost hear her trying to decide between her logic and her emotions, her underlying, more wolfish desires.

Eventually, after what must've been an agonizing decision, she nodded at Tiffany, who nodded back. Riley snapped her gaze back to the stranger, gesturing to the backseat.

Seb huffed as the stranger jumped in. Great.

That was the other downside of being a werewolf: adoptive and bonding instincts were constantly in hyperdrive and spilling everywhere. Riley had already submitted to hers, and he knew it wouldn’t be long before he too had accepted the stranger.

Juana sat in the front, nestled into Riley’s chest. Seb leaped into the backseat, followed, somewhat cautiously, by the stranger. His stink crept into Seb’s nostrils almost immediately. He snorted and glared at the stranger from the side, only softening when the stranger flinched and whined when Tiffany slammed the door shut and started up the engine.

Dejection and disappointment etched their way into Seb’s mind. He only had two nights a month to really run wild, to let his wolfier side take over. One of October’s nights had already been taken up by the stranger, and, by the look of him, they’d be staying home for the full moon.

The return drive was held in a tentative silence. Juana would whimper, only to be shushed up by Riley. The motorway sped by, followed by the suburbs, which jarred into the inner city. Their neighbourhood was comprised of crooked, three-storied terraced houses and those tenacious weeds that sprung up through cracks in the pavement.

Tiffany got out first. She took the keys and the bags, and opened the front passenger door. The wolves slipped out through the shadows, their claws skittering on the pavement as they raced for the front door. Their house was safe and warm and smelt of home. Seb heard Tiffany lock both doors and usher the wolves inside, into the kitchen. Riley had already headed upstairs to but Juana to bed.

Seb climbed onto a chair and put his paws on the kitchen table.

“Now, you,” Tiffany addressed the stranger, who shrank back. “We need to get that wound healed up,”

The stranger turned his head away and let his ears twitch as Tiffany rustled around for the first aid kit in the back of the mug cupboard. She bought it down on the table, bringing out the antiseptic and the bandages. The stranger cringed away as Tiffany rubbed antiseptic into the wound, laying a hand on his back to keep him still. Seb couldn’t tell if the stranger’s teeth were yellow with filth or kitchenlight. She wound the bandage around his chest five times before she tied it off.

“Seb, he’s going to have to share your room,”

Seb didn’t respond, pretending not to hear her.

“Seb.”

He tipped his head to the side and held his ears back.

“Young man -”

Growling. Riley had come back. She stared right at Seb, a low, quiet growl rippling from her chest.

Seb nodded once, unwillingly. The pain in his tail hadn’t ebbed yet.

“Riley and I are going to bed. You’d better not be too far behind. No food until the morning. Goodnight, you two.”

Seb motioned to the stranger to go on up, before he swung back around to face Riley and Tiffany. He narrowed his eyes as best he could. What the hell?

Tiffany crossed her arms, “he was hurt.”

He growled. It wasn’t fair that this scrawny newcomer got all of the attention - and a spot in his room.

“He was running away from something. We need to know what. It could be another loony bounty hunter, you know.”

He’d heard stories from fellow werewolf Tanvi about the bounty hunters, passed down from her grandparents' adventures. But they were nothing but stories, just fables told to rowdy cubs.

"It's Riley's decision. Talk to her in the morning."

Seb waved his blood-soaked tail.

"That's... true," Tiffany said, leaning over to reach into another cupboard, "but you can just take Juana's old baby monitor. Just press that and we'll come and help. I'm sure nothing'll happen, though. You probably just scared him too much."

Seb wrinkled his nose and turned away from the baby monitor. He’d have given anything for the moon to wane and give him back his human form. Anything, just to voice his thoughts in something other than growls.

“Sebastian Sutton. Are you jealous?”

Seb rolled his eyes and turned to plod up the stairs, still growling. He passed the mirror on his way up and stopped to share an angrily exasperated look with his reflection. His tail had stopped bleeding, but the delicate silvers and greys had been corrupted by the blood. He had a big dark stripe on his muzzle, and another one on his right ear. The rest of his pelt was flecked with mud and twigs, but at least the guard hairs had kept them off of his skin. Seb carried on up the stairs.

His room was the the smallest, a little room in the attic floor of the house. It was warm and musty and it smelt of safe. And that stranger. All of the wood, the bed’s legs, the bedside table, the wardrobe, was chewed up. It was a bad habit, sure, but it offered too much security to give up. The stranger looked around sniffing in the wardrobe.

Seb dragged the pillow off of the bed, reared up to shut the door, and set the pillow down in the corner. He motioned to it, and the stranger approached, looking from the pillow to Seb and back again. Seb nodded, not bothering to stifle his yawn.

The stranger sat down as Seb settled on the top of his duvet, burying his nose in his sore tail. He turned his eyes away from the stranger and huffed.

Well. Tonight was unexpected.