Traumatised Tim

Chapter Five

                His instincts took over, the wolf in him coming out sharp. His eyes glared open checking his surroundings, under the car and behind the huge mechanics that could very easily conceal a person. At first he didn’t notice that his appearance had changed until he noticed he was walking with a bounce to his steps and his head was cocked to the side. For the first time he was partially changing, his wolf coming out at the sense of threat and attack, and so caught up in the moment Tim hadn’t realised that he was slowly losing control.

                Loss of control would help nothing and he had calmed his breathing down to let the anger he was feeling fade away.  Choosing a form with which to walk around with his human side came back to him. A customer could easily come in with their car and Tim wouldn’t be able to explain the presence of a wolf. The garage which was completely ground floor turned out to be empty save for Tim and his dead boss. The attack had been done on purpose, Tony’s neck slashed with the claws of a wolf made it impossible for Tim to go to the police about this. He felt a pang of guilt to the wife and children that Tony had waiting back at home for him. They could never find his body and he just hoped that they found closure in some other way.

                Closing the shop he picked up Tony’s body and walked to the outskirts of a forest, any forest, it wasn’t the one Tim lived in but it would do; there was no pack on most of this land for quite a while. Tim had a lot of freedom. He buried his friend in the ground, deep down, spending hours digging deep with his claws in his wolf form. After that he scooped the earth back up and placed it over the body. The sense of warning was clear, Tim had been reprimanded by this wayward pack and they were warning him not to get mixed up in their business but to submit to them. Something he wasn’t going to do.

                He spent the next hour clearing the blood from the office and tidying it up. He wanted a UV light to ensure that no blood traces could be found but he hadn’t gotten one so he sighed and went back over the room for a fourth time. He was meticulous - humans could not get involved in his world. They couldn’t be trusted to know the workings of a wolf pack and not want to either kill them or experiment on them. Ray had had human connections but they were rare, Tim himself didn’t want to get mixed up in that kind of thing.

                The thought of Ray brought back to his mind his old pack, the three that joined it and he felt like cold water had just been dumped on him. Ashton. The name hurt to say, even to whisper. As Ray had taken over the role of a father so too had Ashton. He even called him Uncle Ashton. The man had lost so much as well but Tim had always been there for him as he had for Tim. Leaving had not been easy decision, staying away was even harder. But now he knew he couldn’t go back. He knew he wouldn’t be welcome anymore. Still, the thought that all those he loved as family, even they didn’t think that of him, was more painful than he could imagine.

                He left his boss once he was buried and let his wolf run a while. The feel of his muscles stretching was pleasant. It was a welcome relief to his body and the heavy feel of his long shaggy hair around him made him feel protected. He had always clutched a wolf teddy as a child and when he first changed he was pretty impressed that he was now the ‘teddy’ he took comfort in. The same comfort was still there now, though not  as childishly had it had once been. He knew that his body could fight and run. He was safe while he was like this. His large paws hit the ground as he covered miles in but a few bounds. The forest was dense and the years of exploring and familiarity could easily been seen because he knew what to doge and when it was coming up. He made his way through the trees and bushes, brambles and weeds and thorns as if he was walking along a street avoiding lampposts. It was natural to him. The sounds of insects were loud in his ears, the chirping and the clicking tried to distract him but he was going somewhere important. He was going to his old pack.