Werehuman

Not Alone

The first two nights, nothing happened. I either slept too soundly to hear anyone or they didn't return. Ralph and I fixed the chicken coop and I found one of the chickens scratching up in the hayloft. For now, things had become more normal, albeit with me still sleeping in the barn.

The third night I woke up suddenly. I didn't hear anything, but something wasn't right, I could tell. I sat up and crept out of my stall, careful not to let my shadow fall towards the door. The other animals were too quiet, I realized. Even the guineas had quieted down and they spooked at everything.

I glided to the opening in the double doors and out into the night. The light in the barn made it difficult to see out here, but I waited patiently for my night vision to return.

There were voices upwind of me. I didn't move until I could see their shapes in the dim light of the moon, but I could hear them, even with these human ears. I took a deep breath through my nose, but I didn't smell anything more than grass and pollen.

The figures didn't move. They were near the chicken coop, but even closer to the house. I had to keep the growl in my throat quiet; how dare they come so close.

Once I was within pouncing range, I pulled off my shirt, setting it gently on the ground. I changed before leaping toward the group, hitting one of the figures in the chest with my front paws and giving a low snarl. With my wolf nose, I could smell the man I had pinned much better. He smelled odd, mostly like a chemical coated human. But underneath there was something more, something different.

I heard snarls behind me, but I didn't move my position. The man smiled at me, a foolish gesture.

"Let's talk about this like civilized people, all right?" he suggested. "You can't fight all three of us, little one."

Little one? I spared a glance to the left of me and noted that the wolf was much larger than I. She bared her teeth, making it clear that I was not in control here. I stepped off the man's chest and trotted back to my abandoned clothes. The two wolves and man followed me and so after grabbing my accursed shirt and shorts in my jaws, I headed away from the other animals of the farm. The cows would not appreciate four predators in their midst and I wanted them away from the house.

Once I assured myself that we were far enough away, I spat out the clothes and changed, pulling on the shorts before facing the man again.

"What are you doing here?" I demanded.

He shrugged. "We could smell you on the farm. I assumed you hunted here."

"I live here," I corrected. "And have marked it my territory; you have no business in this area. You should know better."

The man blinked at me. "Marked your territory? What is this, the Wild West?"

The wolf on the left changed, rising on two feet to be a female. She had cropped hair, at least as a human. I had never seen another wolf like me, and so stared for longer than I should have before returning to the conversation at hand.

"I assume you're the ones who raided the chicken coop three nights ago?" I asked. "Why?"

"Curiosity," the woman shrugged. "There aren't many lone werewolves out there, you know."

"What?" I had never heard the term before.

The last figure changed and stood. He was younger, maybe even younger than me. All three of them were bigger, both as humans and as wolves.

"Werewolves?" the woman remarked with a laugh. "Montana's isn't that isolated; you must have heard of other werewolves."

I shook my head and folded my arms into a defensive stance. If they attacked, I should be able to outrun them. I changed faster than they did and I could make it at least to the creek before they caught me. I wasn't certain if I should be more afraid or aggressive, but was waiting to find out what they wanted.

"I'm Marcus," the older man said, extending his hand toward me.

"Conor," I replied, but refused the hand. "You should go."

"We just want to talk," said the woman. She sounded like Susie Lynn when she was begging her parents for a puppy. "You don't have to be so rude."

"Rude?" I scoffed. "You broke into our chicken coop and needlessly killed four of them! You've come onto the property uninvited in the dead of night, ignoring all the warnings I've put in place. If you 'just want to talk,' come back in the daytime and not like thieves in the night. You and the rest of your pack stay away from here."

"Rest of the pack? How do you know if there are more of us?" the younger man questioned.

"I can smell them on you," I replied. "And this woman is not an alpha. Now go."

I stalked off, twisting the shirt in my hands, wishing I wasn't human. But I may need my wolf form later and I didn't want to waste it tonight. They hadn't smelled like they wanted to fight, but with humans, I wasn't as certain.

"Conor!"

I sighed through my nose and wheeled around. The woman was running after me. The other two were gone.

"I want to stay," she said. "Please? I answer any of your questions."

"I don't have any questions," I told her. "Except, what is with your pack's fascination with this farm?"

"Not the farm; you," she corrected. "You smell different that we do."

"I'm not in your pack, of course I smell different."

"Packs smell the same?" she inquired.

I blinked at her. How could she not know this? Every pup knew their pack's smell. I could still remember my former pack's smell, even though it had been two years and so much had changed.

"Where do you run?" I asked instead, unsure of how to answer her question.

"We just drove here from Nebraska," she said. "Our pack split on less than friendly terms. Marcus thought it would be better to get away from them."

We made it back to the barn. I was tired, but mostly irritated this woman had stayed behind. I wanted to go back to sleep and talk to Ralph in the morning.

"Do you have any clothes?" I asked the woman. "Humans prefer clothes."

She nodded, and opened a small purse on her ankle. The fabric unfolded into a dress, which she pulled over her head. I shook my own head and slipped back into the barn.

"This is pretty nice," she said.

I couldn't tell if she was serious or not.

"I have a bedroom up at the house. I've been sleeping here in case your pack came back."

She sat down on my quilt, peering into the picnic basket before glancing up at me.

"You're odd, Conor," she said. "I'm Katie."

It was clear she wasn't going to leave me alone. I rolled my shoulders and sat down next to her on the makeshift bed. She curled up next to me and was asleep far faster than I would have thought possible. I had never met anyone like me before. Granted, she wasn't a very good wolf or a very normal person, but maybe wolves like us were affected differently. Anyway, it could be dealt with tomorrow.

So I lay down, missing my former pack keenly. It seemed like an age ago that I had been a normal wolf hunting with my family. Being human had changed everything about me. Katie stretched and nuzzled next to me. She was far too trusting to be a wolf, I thought.