Werehuman

Questionable Alliance

Katie held my arm for the whole ride; I wasn't sure why she was so attached to me, but hoped that when she was with her pack again, she'd leave me alone. Mel followed Katie's directions and then stopped the truck just before the cabin came into view.

"Katie, give us a moment," she told the girl.

Katie bobbed her head and hopped out of the truck.

"Are you okay?" Mel asked me.

"I'm fine," I said. "I wish that girl hadn't stayed behind, but I'm fine. They seem more curious than territorial, but they're human first. I don't know how they'll act."

"At the first sign on trouble, you get out of here," Mel instructed. "Not just for your sake, but for ours; they know where we live and humans don't just kill for food."

"I will," I promised and opened the door to jump out of the truck. Katie immediately grabbed my arm again, pulling me close to walk beside her along the path.

"Is she your alpha?" she asked. "I mean, I know they're human, but you treat her and that other guy like the alphas."

"They are," I replied. "They didn't have to let me stay with them. They could have killed me. But they didn't."

"It's weird how thin you are," she said. "I mean, as a wolf, you looked normal, but as a human; you could eat more."

"Ralph thinks my wolf weight and my human weight are the same. I'm a normal sized wolf, which makes for a smaller sized human."

The cabin came into view, and Katie shifted to walk behind me. Was she afraid of her pack? The hairs on the back of my neck prickled.

"Hello!" Katie called. "Marcus, I'm back!"

No response.

"They may be asleep still," Katie suggested. "If they ran all night. Tell me about being a wolf, a real wolf."

She pulled me to a picnic bench and we sat. It was weird not helping Ralph on the farm this morning. This whole day was weird.

"Why don't we try hunting instead," I suggested. "We're human and it's midmorning, but..."

"Let's go!"

Katie dragged me away from the cabin and towards the woods. I took a deep breath, smelled nothing useful, and listened to the morning creatures.

"Talking will scare the prey, of course," I said. "And you have to be aware of your steps. There's a twig you're going to snap, Katie, move your foot."

She did so, though still crunched through the undergrowth like a calf, not a wolf.

"Normally, I could smell what was here, but humans have a terrible sense of smell," I continued. "Give me a moment."

I took a deep breath, but this time used my wolf senses, not my human ones. There were birds, of course, a couple rabbits, a deer had passed through here not too long ago. The animals knew that whatever was staying in this cabin was predatory; they were giving this place wide berth.

"Whoa," Katie breathed. "What did you do? How did you do that?"

"I smelled with my wolf nose, it works better," I said. "Come on."

"But you looked so... How do you smell with your wolf nose?"

I tilted my head towards her, puzzled. She had been a werewolf for longer than I; how did she not know how to do this?

"Close your eyes," I ordered. She did so. "Take a deep breath. Remember how it's supposed to smell, what it's like when you're running and hunting."