Wolves

Drew

I'm pleasantly surprised to see Drew again before sunset.

"Let's go to that damn cage of yours." He mutters when he enters my home, unbuttoning his shirt and removing his jeans.

I take his clothes from him and put them away before also undressing myself completely.

We both head back towards the cage that I've spent the whole day fixing. Drew seems a little reluctant to enter but he eventually does so. I close the cage's door behind me to lock us both in, putting the key somewhere reachable for when I change back.

"What if we both change back and can't reach the key?" Drew smirks.

"I've got a friend who checks up on me around eight o'clock." I answer.

He looks around, noticing that I've got towels put up as if to hide my private parts and laughs. "I'm guessing this friend of yours isn't that close if you need towels to hide yourself from them."

"It's my sister in law." I answer simply.

"I was about to say, I don't smell anyone else on you. When was the last time you were intimate with someone?" He checks. "Simply 'cause, this could go one of two ways. We could fight all night or we could, well let's just say wolves do it like dogs so..." He winks at me when I get it.

"I'm sure we'd need to establish who's dominant for that to happen." I tell him.

Our conversation is cut short by a sharp pang of pain as both of our bones get forced into another shape. We both groan at the pain as it makes us fall onto our hands and knees.

I look down at my arms to see hairs sprouting out of them and my hands turn into claws, also feeling my sight changing as my nose gets stronger and all strong colours fade into duller versions of themselves.

The sound of growling on the other side of the room alerts me to Drew, making me look up with a vicious snarl at the other creature in my cage. When he looks back at me with a growl, there's nothing human about him.

We both pounce at each other, snarling, scratching and biting each other.

-

When the sun rises again, we're both out of breath and tired.

"I think we did a good fight." He pants.

I nod, carefully observing his injuries. "Are you okay?" I check, trying to catch my breath back.

He nods. "I think we now know who the loser is." He tries.

I get up and head towards the door of the cage, reaching out for the key to unlock it.

He follows me and rests his hand on my back. I flinch and turn viciously to growl at him again.

"Sorry. See you tomorrow." He smiles, licking the side of his lip and leaving his tongue there a little longer than is necessary.

"I want you back here for that." I demand.

"In the cage again?" He checks.

"Yes." I tell him firmly.

He lowers himself to look up at me with a whimper in protest.

"You will join me back in the cage or we'll have that fight again." I warn, noticing that he's limping a little due to a massive, deep gash on the side of his thigh.

He worries me when he can only make it to the stairs leading to the rest of the house before collapsing.

"Are you okay Drew?" I immediately check, starting to get defensive about him.

"Yeah, I don't think I'm going to work today." He groans.

I look down at the painful bite marks on my chest. "You did quite a bit of damage yourself." I smirk.

He lets out an exhausted chuckle. "Thanks. I think this goes with that saying, size does matter."

"Don't be so hard on yourself." I smirk at him, grabbing the first aid kit and cleaning up his wounds.

"Thank you." He smiles, wincing at the pain as it stings.

"Hey, don't worry, I'll look after you." I tell him with a smile.

"You have no idea how to act around betas." He chuckles weakly.

"Well... right now, I'm going to treat you like a human being-" I tell him.

"-but-" He tries.

I quieten him by placing a finger against his lips. "I know what you're going to say but I'm not just going to give you orders like that, neither than I would expect you to lick my wounds when you're like this."

"I would." He offers, still keeping his tongue hanging on the side of his mouth for longer again.

"Then I'm telling you don't." I tell him.

He nods, whining a little quietly like a dog.

"That's something okay?" I check.

He awkwardly smiles, letting out a sigh. "Thank god."

"You can stay here and heal up." I tell him, realising that he can't walk so I simply pick him up and carry him to lie him down on my bed.

He groans at the pain when he puts some of his weight on the deep cut on his thigh. I'm also pretty tired and lie down next to him, both of us on our backs.

*

After sleeping for a few hours we both wake up again.

I want to sleep a little bit more but the light of a late afternoon shines through the windows.

He turns over, having finally healed up enough to move and puts a plaster on a small scratch at my waist.

"How many hours do we have?" I check.

"Only two." He replies.

I prop myself up on my elbows, looking down at him curiously as he doesn't get up. "What's wrong?" I ask him.

"I'm worried about tonight." He sighs. "I don't want to be locked away in a cage, I don't have that restraint." He tries.

"I'd rather we both stay safe in the cage rather than getting hunted down by hunters." I tell him.

"There's two of us now, we can hunt them down together." He tries.

"No." I growl assertively.

"Please." He adds.

"I've made myself perfectly clear." I reply.

"Okay." He sighs.