Wolves

Territorial

I tremble at the cold, sitting up to find myself in the woods.

Shit!

It's made even worse when I realise that I'm also stark naked, with scratches and animal bite marks all over me. When I get up to leave, I notice that there's someone else lying next to me.

"Hey." I check, starting to get worried that I killed someone before the sun came up.

The mysterious person groans, turning over with similar bite and scratch marks on him too, squinting at the light of the new day. "Hey." He smirks.

I know instantly that it's no use trying to hide what I am since it's clear that he's also a werewolf.

"Aw, I almost forgot how that feels." He groans, stretching a little.

"It's been a whole month." I point out.

"So, where do you live?" He checks.

I give him an awkward look. "It's a bit soon to be sharing that information."

He sits up awkwardly. "Judging from the trees everywhere, we're probably in Oak Woods. That means, I live right across town. I'd rather not show off my junk to everyone and getting arrested for indecent exposure on the first night of the full moon doesn't sound like a good idea." He explains.

I roll my eyes and groan. "My house has a nice view of the woods."

He nods, getting up and fixing a dislocated shoulder by slotting it back into place.

"Sorry about last night." I try.

"Nah, you're the territorial type, I get it." He shrugs off.

"I've never met another..." I trail off before he laughs.

"Werewolf." He finishes, grinning at me.

"Yes, one of us before." I finish. "At least we didn't kill any humans." I add.

"Well, we did spend the whole night trying to rip each other apart." He chuckles.

I get up and follow him back to town. "So, what's your name?" I check.

"Drew, only for twenty-eight days of every month." He replies cheerfully.

"We're still mostly human." I try.

He lets out a hopeless bitter laugh. "No, the wolf never leaves us, even when the sun's up." He admits.

"You really think so?" I challenge.

He goes quiet and nods. "You've never met another werewolf before, the whole relationship is revolves around who's the alpha when the moon is full." He admits.

"You make it sound so Primal." I murmur.

"That's because it is." He adds. "Come on, show me to that house of yours."

I start guiding him out of the woods and climb over the fence to my back garden, I always leave the back door unlocked on the nights of the full moon so it's easy to sneak back in again in the event of my escaping.

"Nice house." Drew comments.

"You'll have to show me yours next time." I reply.

He seems surprised when I go straight down to the basement and even laughs when he sees the cage I put in for myself, completely wrecked and broken. "A cage, talk about denial." He chuckles.

"Three nights of every month, I'm a monster that kills everything I can find. This is for everyone's safety." I point out. "You should try to restrain yourself too."

He just shakes his head, still laughing. "Why would I do that? We belong in the woods, not locked in a cage!"

"There are hunters out there, believe me, I know and they will kill us the second they find us." I warn.

"For safety, right?" He checks, rolling his eyes.

"No, for sport." I tell him honestly. "I had a friend who saved me from hunters..." I trail off slightly.

"Let me guess, the cage was their idea." He sighs.

"Before I killed them, yes." I point out.

He goes quiet out of respect. "I'm sorry to hear it."

"So before sunset, I want you here." I tell him assertively. "That way the only people we can hurt is each other." I add.

"I'm not getting in that cage-" He starts but I simply cut him off.

"-You just do what I tell you." I growl at him.

He takes a moment before grinning. "There he is. There's the beast I met last night."

I find myself growling quietly at him but quickly shake it off.

He nods with a sigh. "Fine, I'll spend tonight in that stupid cage only under one condition, we fight it out to see which one of us is the alpha."

"Agreed, hopefully I don't kill you." I nod.

He grins. "I've had more experience fighting other wolves like us, you don't have a hope in hell."