Why Try. (Ziam Werewolf.)

chapter one

Liam glanced around nervously as he walked hand in hand with his boyfriend, Jack. They were walking through some woods, and had gone off the trail a long time ago. Liam’s legs felt sore from how far they had walked, and he was tired. It was starting to get dark, and Liam would have been completely lost if he did not have Jack there to guide him. Jack seemed to know the way, but Liam had no idea why his boyfriend had chosen to go this far into the woods.

“We should be turning back soon, don’t you think?” Liam felt the wind sweep past them, which made the leaves on the trees rustle as if they were whispering secrets to each other. “It’s getting dark, and I’m cold. And...we might come across some werewolves” Liam lowered his voice as he mentioned the word werewolves. “The treaty said we can’t come into their territory, Jack”

Jack stopped so suddenly Liam almost stumbled. He glared at Liam. “Stop whining and just be happy we’re spending some time together. Isn’t that what you wanted?”

“Well, yeah. It’s just that when you told me you wanted to go on a walk, I thought you meant the park, not a place like this” Liam replied quietly. Judging by the annoyed expression on Jack’s face, Liam knew he would be wise to just stop talking. Still, the danger they could be in in they were found by werewolves outweighed his fear of Jack’s bad temper. So he took a deep breath. “Can we just go back? Please, Jack. I don’t want us to get killed out here”

To Liam’s complete surprise, instead of getting mad, Jack laughed. “They won’t harm us, you idiot. Why do you think I took you here anyway?” He stared at Liam, his eyes turning cold. “I’m making a trade with one of those furry mutts”

“A trade?” Liam shook his head slowly, trying to make sense of what Jack had said. “You didn’t bring anything to trade. What would they need from us?”

Jack smirked at him callously. “I can’t believe you haven’t figured it out yet. And you’re meant to be the smart one...”

The truth of the matter hit Liam then, as he watched Jack observe him with a brutally indifferent look. And it hit him hard. He felt like Jack had taken out a knife and stabbed him in the heart. “You’re trading me...” Liam was devastated by this revelation. “I don’t understand. Don’t you love me anymore?”

“I never loved you, Liam. You were just a means to an end for me” Jack explained uncaringly. “I needed someone to support me, and you were useful enough when you had that inheritance money. Now it’s gone, you’re worthless to me”

Liam pulled his hand away from Jack’s grasp, not wanting to touch him anymore. Jack’s betrayal cut him deeply inside. “You don’t mean it. You’re lying...Everything we went through together. None of that means anything to you?”

“No, it means nothing” Jack shrugged carelessly. “Thanks for paying my gambling debts though. That was really stupid of you, but it helped me out a lot. And now, you’re gonna help me out again. This werewolf is gonna pay me 50 grand for you. It was an offer I couldn’t refuse. I know I told you I would go to therapy and that support group, but I lied. I never stopped gambling”

“So you’re still in debt” Liam replied, sounding bitter. “I should have known you were lying. I guess I just chose to see what I thought was good in you. But there’s nothing good about you. All this time, I kept trying to make excuses for all the horrible things you did to me. I wasn’t brave enough to stand up to you then. I was scared of losing you. But I never had you to begin with...” Liam started to back away from Jack, and it seemed to Liam like he was looking at a complete stranger and not the person he had been in love with.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Jack advanced upon Liam and grabbed hold of him tightly, stopping Liam’s struggles to get free with little effort. “Save your energy. I don’t know what they want with you, but it can’t be anything good...” He eyed Liam’s lean built frame thoughtfully. “Maybe they just want a slave, but you’re too weak for them to get much hard work out of you. Although if they made you a house slave, I guess that would suit you, right? Since you did all the cleaning at our place”

“Only because you were too much of a lazy slob to help me, and otherwise the apartment would have been a disgusting mess” Liam snapped.

Jack frowned as he twisted Liam’s arm up behind his back. Liam winced at the painful pressure it exerted on his shoulder. “You better watch that mouth of yours. You’ve never talked to me like that before and I don’t like it” He released Liam and shoved him down to the ground.
Liam glared up at Jack as he rubbed his arm. “I hate you” Liam hissed as he stood up again. He made a rush at Jack, but Jack tackled him back to the ground and straddled him. Liam spat in Jack’s face, knowing he should not rile up Jack anymore but he was too furious to care anymore about what would happen to him. The punch Liam received was hard enough to daze him. Jack did not stop with one punch. He kept on hitting Liam, but Liam felt numb to the pain. It was almost as if he was somewhere else, and his thoughts were hazy, hard to catch hold of. The world around him seemed to fading away. Liam knew he was slipping into unconsciousness, and just before darkness overtook him, he saw a dark haired guy push Jack off of him.

“What the hell are you doing?” Liam’s unknown saviour growled at Jack, as he grabbed hold of Jack’s t-shirt and slammed him into the trunk of a tree with a strength that belied his slim body. “You could have killed Liam. I told you how important it was that he get here unharmed” His eyes flashed an eerie blue for a moment, and he trembled with the exertion to stop himself from shifting into his wolf form, and tearing Jack into pieces.

“He deserved it” Jack replied, trying not to show that he was at all intimidated by the shifter that was in front of him. “You got what you wanted. Where’s my money?” Jack was relieved when the werewolf released him and then gestured to a brown leather bag lying on the ground a short distance away. Jack ran over to the bag, and hastily opened it. He saw piles of money, all in neat stacks and tied together with rubber bands. He grinned as he shut the bag, and slung it over his shoulder. Jack did not even spare a glance at Liam as he started to walk back the way he had come. What Jack did not see was the shifter let out a low whistle signal. It was too low for Jack’s human ears to hear, but the two werewolves who had been waiting for the whistle heard it clearly. Jack soon found himself surrounded by two fully grown werewolves who were advancing on him and baring their teeth. One werewolf had sleek fur that was the colour of pale gold, and the other had dark brown fur that was more unruly, sticking up in random places. Their eyes both shone with the eerie blue of all Beta wolves. Jack was frozen in shock, and he only started running when he heard the werewolf with the dark brown fur snarl at him.

He ran and ran, until he tripped and fell. The bag slipped from his grasp and fell into a creek. Jack did not hesitate in jumping in to the water. He thought the werewolves would not follow him, and he was right. They stood at the edge of the creek bank, silently watching him. The one with the yellowish brown fur seemed like he wanted to dive into the creek, but the other werewolf stopped him. Jack started to swim, with a great deal of effort as the undercurrent was pushing against him, and he managed to grab the bag. The current was carrying Jack along, and it was too strong. He knew he should let go of the bag, he would never be able to swim well enough while holding it, but his greediness ended up being his downfall. He sank in the water, and only surfaced once before he lost the struggle against the pressure of the water and he drowned.