The wolf who was officer Riley rolled his eyes getting up and pushed past her limping for the house. He needed rest and a place to heal. She had shot him she could make it up to him with hospitality. His wolf calmed down and was quiet. Angry but quiet.

“ Hey where you going, hey …” she started following and holding the gun awkwardly.

Jack went up the steps to the deck and waited for her to open the door. Before the wolf could enter  Finneganpushed in and growled menacingly as he flopped on his dog bed eyeing his kibble dish. The growl a steady rumble as Piety finally said “ Shut up Finn. He isn't here to take your food or bed” she double checked make sure the bullets were spent from the gun and set it next to the door.

Piety went to Finnegan and looked at her dog's neck. Finn was missing fur and there was some blood that already was clotting to form a scab. Jack apparently had not done as much damage as he could have. Jack sat heavily making a sound like a chuff  and Piety remembering her other patient. She  ran to get some blankets to make a pallet. Jack laid down with a sigh, the wounded shoulder up and the bleeding now a trickle. The panting started as the bone and muscle shifted working to expel the bullet. Jack hated this part, lycanthropy would heal most any wound, but the process was sheer hell.

Piety watching the process and chewed on her knuckle. It was a nervous habit that dated to her childhood. She did it when she was scared or filled with anxiety. "Should I call a vet?" she thought frantically? The rolling flesh rose and fell and wound puckered and then with a spurt of blood the bullet expelled and bowled to the floor. The skin then knit before her eyes and she realized her mouth had been hanging open. Then with a determined motion she stood and got some Clorox wipes to clean the drips of blood and splatter from the floor as the wolfs body was healing itself. She marveled at his beauty he was silver and black with a few fawn colored markings. His amber eyes solemn as he stared back at her while panting with the pain of speed healing. Jack sighed and now closed his eyes relaxing as he recuperated. 

Piety said softly, " I will be right back okay." Then she went to the hall closet and got one more blanket and a pillow.

Returning she set the pillow under the wolfs shaggy head and put the blanket over him. She said, “I hope you’re okay now. I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize it was you”. Seeing his pain, she felt the prickle of tears. She reached out wanting to pet him and say reassuring things to him like she would for Finnegan. She withdrew her hand, this may be a canid but it was a wolf and a human. Neither would most likely want to be petted like … a pet. Yet the fur was stunning in all it’s hues of silver and grey and she wanted to see if it was soft underneath like Finnegan's.

Jack’s wolf was indignant about the pillow and blanket, he was a wolf not a dog. Jack calmed his wolf and said in their silent mental connection, “It’s her way of being remorseful for harming us.”

“We have fur, this is ridiculous.” The wolf grumped in images of tearing the pillow and blanket to shreds.

“We can shake off the blanket when she sleeps. Don’t be so touchy.” Sighing Jack laid his head on the pillow. Then wolf who was also Jack said a little sheepishly, “This is rather soft…” they fell into a fast-deep sleep, it’s what they had to-do to heal. Piety watched them and finally decided that as insane as it was she had a werewolf in her living room and it seemed to be of the mind to just sleep there. She got her doggy first aide kit from the bathroom to clean Finnegan’s neck wound and she would go to bed . Maybe she would wake up and this will just be a bad dream.

Clarissa kissed her boyfriend one more time and could hear the incessant buzz of her cellphone in her purse. Her curfew was 11 and she knew she was going to catch hell that it was 11:30. She couldn’t help it, Marcus was tall, wickedly handsome and played varsity basketball. She adored so many little things about him, She loved his honey brown skin and his eyes so dark they almost seemed to have no pupal. Clarissa considered that there were so many things about Marcus she treasured that he didn’t drown himself in cheap body spray and the slight rasp of his cheek if he hadn’t shaved recently. She admired the fact that Marcus had a 1999 Honda Accord that he had paid his father back for, first by working as a bagger, then a cashier at the Tops Market. That made her admire him more than the boys whose parent gave them cars. Marcus worked for what he wanted and appreciated it. They had dated for a year and he still treated her like he was trying to get that first date, he respected her, listened and still held the door for her. He was the best boyfriend she ever had. The other two she had previously dated were pawing little boys who thought a dinner at Applebee’s meant that she would automatically put out. Marcus never assumed she owed him anything.

“One more kiss ‘Rissa” he said leaning in and she push him back. He stuck his lower lip out at being rebuffed, it was comical.

“ N.O. that’s NO , I will be grounded till I’m 60 if I don’t get in my house.” She protested with a smile contradicting the seriousness of her words. She knew that the farmhouse door would open soon and screen door with a growing creek would announce her mother at any second.

She opened the car door letting in the cold night air and he said, “I still love you, even though you just up leave me hanging.” He said it with mock sadness. The dashboard light illuminating his face, making his eyes shadowed. She felt a shiver go down her spine for a moment. The feeling of millipedes racing she thought. Then Clarissa reasoned that it must have been the chill of the night air .

Clarissa forced herself to turn, wave and bounced up to the steps as the porch light came on the farmhouse and the door opened. Marcus saw the silhouette of Clarissa’s mom with her hands on her hips in the doorway. He winced his girlfriend’s mom was formidable, and he knew from experience she would corner him and demand an explanation for keeping her daughter out late. He put the car in drive, he didn’t want a lecture tonight. Especially if Clarissa’s dad was home, nope last thing he needed was that man to go up into his 18-wheel truck and show him the little bat he called his “tire” checker.

Still he grinned thinking of his ‘Rissa and how she was worth a lecture or two. She was a firecracker and time flew with her. Clarissa wasn’t like most girls, she was okay with not eating at expensive restaurants or needing presents for every hallmark holiday. She understood how important his scholarship was and never pouted at the amount of time he spent at practice or doing his homework. He wasn’t sure how they would stay together after high school if she didn’t get into the same college, but he knew he loved her. He knew he didn’t want to lose her.

Marcus bumped out of the driveway and started driving back to the tiny town of Mexico. His girl might not mind living in the boonies, but he was quite happy to live his two blocks from the high school. He slammed on the breaks as he saw something in the road. It was huge, irregular shaped and with rolled eyes he determined it was a huge tree limb. Yet another reason to not live in the sticks.

“ Why the hell do people live out here?” Marcus thought exasperated the tree limb blocked the entire road no going around it. There wasn’t another farm for a mile or two.

He got out of his car, fine he would move the limb out of the way, it was huge, but he might be able to pull it to the side enough to get past it and continue home. The moon was out and full and he looked around as he got out. It was one of those cold autumn nights that the moon hung like a dinnerplate in the sky silvery and with a slight ring about it. He could see his breath, winter was coming alright. The air had the faintest tang of cow manure to it. He grimaced he was not a country boy by any way, shape or means.

It was then as he bent to move the limb, he heard the growl. Great someone’s mutt was loose. He would turn and show that he was not afraid. He stood, “Go on, now Get!” he said waving his arms. Then from the wooded side of the road he heard the crunch of something stepping on leaves and dead grass. He wanted to run , panic was slowly spreading though his body , there was something big coming out and with more of a growl he saw a hulking beast with yellow eyes advance from the ditch its claws long and curved they seemed to scrape on the asphalt road. Marcus screamed, he didn’t care if in the moment he sounded like a twelve year-old girl, he screamed in terror of this shaggy thing that in the moon light like had glints of white teeth and claws.

It advanced slowly, growling at Marcus as he backed away from it. Marcus could feel a cold sweat on his palms and sickness in his bowels as he tried to turn and run. He went down his leg caught up in the tree branch. It’s slender branches and twigs still had a few leaves clinging to them ratting as he flailed. The thing was a scant few feet away. He righted himself, suddenly feeling the intense pain of a vice grip like pressure on his leg. There was a sickening crunch as bone broke and the pain was excruciating. The young man was dragged backwards screaming. There was a hot liquid flooding his pant leg and dully the young man realized it was his blood. Marcus tried to kick and flail, screaming to get free, the beast simply flung the young man like a rag doll then slamming him up and down onto the road till the screaming stopped.  Marcus came around how was he still alive he thought dully and the creature loomed over him looking on him with angry red eyes and a teeth bared. It was waiting , but for what? tears hot and burning slid from the corner of Marcus's eyes as he lay broken on his back. All there was above besides the monster was the cold moon . The whimpering sobs of Marcus praying over and over “Jesus lord help me” soon became a whisper.

The wolfish thing who had stood over him seemed to now decide it was time for action, the leg was almost severed, the boys arm at an unnatural angle, and blood pooled thick and coppery. The creature suddenly bit Marcus’s shoulder the young man roused from his stupor shrieked. The beast seemed satisfied at this sound and made a swift motion it’s jaws open lunging at the teen. It liked the screams of pain and it wanted to prolong the terror and panic yet it knew adrenaline could only go so far to stave off death . The things growls  seemed to be like a hyena chortle of enjoyment while it feasted on the boys internal organs.

Marcus was in three large pieces when it finally stopped. There was no context to the mayhem, the creature didn’t feed, it had defended no territory it seemed to only exist to maim and terrorize just before killing. The brutal murder was a statement of who was predator and who was prey.

Chapter 5

With the morning Piety expected a large grey wolf on her living room floor. Finnegan imperiously laid on his dog bed had that same wary look of canine suspicion that the interloper might be still interested in his kibble. He had randomly checked his bowl through the night to ensure the kibble was still there. in the small hours the dog had raced in and got on Piety's bed with her only mumbling for him to be a good boy and let her sleep. at 8 she awoke used the bathroom and checked on the wolf.

Instead of a wolf she saw a naked six-foot something man. The blankets were in a pile next to him and he was on the floor. A perfect square of morning sunlight illuminated him on the floor from the skylight. She didn’t want to stare at him, but his back was too her and he was flawless except for a mass of scars on his ribs, they had healed over long ago. Piety winced at what they  looked like and what they must have felt like when they were new. His back was reminiscent of a Greek sculpture with rippling muscles moving slightly as he breathed. His legs long and with massive calves connected to an equally sculpted backside. His ass was nothing short of perfect with the dimpling on the sides that declared he had done squats with a lot of running. Her cheeks reddened as if she were a high school girl and not a grown woman who been married and saw a few naked men in her time. Well it had been a while… stop it! She commanded herself ,"You’re being a pervert ogling this poor guy you shot last night."

Then again, she didn’t think he would wake up hot and bothered by her choice in sleepwear. She was in her sexy hello kitty PJs and bunny ear slippers. Yup, sultry sensual flannel was her groove, she thought wondering just when she had started sleeping in granny wear. Oh, wait it was when she had to pay for propane to heat the house.

Piety bent to pick up the blanket to drape onto him and he rolled lighting fast and had her arm, his eyes wild. For a second, she saw the amber of the wolf and then they resumed the deep blue of Jacks human eyes.

His voice rusty said, “You…”

Finnegan was off his dog bed , head low stalking position. The dog for all his size was silent and watching wearily.

“Umm yeah, you were in my yard and I sort of…” Piety’s voice quavered this was a large man she might have pissed off from last night’s panic shooting.

“You shot me!” he said indignantly starting to get up. Then Jack’s eyes widened and he yelped in pain as he felt the bite on his calf from the husky mutt, the dog’s fangs sunk in and he gave a slight shake before letting go. Blood droplets sprayed from the bite and quickly stopped.

“ God Damn it!” he swore doubling his fist to strike the dog and Piety with no thought cried out, “NO” and the two broke apart like magnets whose polarity had been reversed. She looked at her hands like she had never seen them before. How had she done that?