I Don't Bite [Dean Winchester x Reader] Book 2

Pay The Devil His Dues

This forest was familiar.

Conifers towered over me, hiding me from the sun's warmth. Heavy boughs that bent to encase me and hide me from the outside world seemed to angle towards me in my mind's eye. The trees seemed bigger here – or maybe I felt smaller. I glanced down at my paws, fluffy black toes blanketed by crisp leaves.

In here it was just me, and the trees, and him.

I lifted my furred head. My ears felt heavy like I hadn't quite grown into them yet. My paws were too big and I found myself stumbling to keep up with the swishing gray tail that disappeared between the trees ahead of me.

A yip left my throat, a higher pitch than I had heard in years. The footsteps ahead of me stopped and waited for me to catch up. I bounded forward and tripped over my own paws with every third step. I wasn't used to this shape yet.

Why was he still so far away? Each step failed to bring me closer. He was just around the bend in the forest, I could see him there waiting for me. Sleek gray fur, darker at the shoulders and spine, unlike my thick black coat. His ears were pinned back, listening for the sounds of me chasing to no avail. If he turned I knew I would see golden eyes that matched mine.

Dad, I tried to call, but my voice was carried away in another feeble bark. The wolf ahead of me cocked his head to the side as he waited. Dad, wait for me.

He never did wait. He was always one step ahead of me, gone before I could reach him. It was always the same with him.

I watched with curiosity as his back arched. I watched his bones crunch and snap, rearranging in shape. Fur receded into skin, fangs withdrew to teeth, and claws shortened to nails. But something was off.

I expected to see a man who looked like my father, as I remembered him from years earlier in my youth.

Instead, the man who turned to me had a face I felt I should remember. Tanned skin, with a crooked nose and a scar across his cheek that pulled the skin tight when he scowled. His hair was long and white, strikingly so as it contrasted his skin.

He turned fully to face me and his eyes met mine.

Red.

—

I woke with a shuddering gasp. I choked on my own breath and coughed raggedly as I rolled to the side, gripping the sheets that pooled around my waist. Spit filled my throat and I gagged at the feeling. Tears welled up in the corners of my eyes at the harsh sensation as I struggled to calm my breathing and hold in the coughs that wracked my throat.

My nails- claws dug into the plush fabric. Where was I? Where were the conifers? My head snapped up to look at my surroundings-

Right. I was in my bed, at home, surrounded by my pack. I flopped back down on my bed, empty without the heat of Dean beside me for months now. Home. Right.

A presence tickled at the back of my mind and my spine went rigid in fright for a moment. The familiar cold feeling of the ocean brushed against me and I sighed in relief. Booth. I brushed his questioning touch aside dismissively, assuring him that I was fine.

I pressed my palms to my face and sighed deeply. This didn't seem like the last vision... no, the first one had felt more like Mai-coh's memory than a nightmare like this one. But why would Mai-coh have any memory of my father learning to shift..? None of it made any sense. My hands thumped back down by my sides in frustration.

Three long and frustrating weeks had passed since Anna had recovered her grace. With no further leads on the angels, apocalypse, or Seals, the brothers had chosen to move on to regular hunts that felt far too ordinary now. Regular hunts that did not include me- my pack needed me more.