by Kenya Wright
Remember what Harper taught you. Breathe in. 1-2-3. Breathe out. 1-2-3.
I’d been breathing since getting into the truck. My nerves had calmed a little, but not much. Mama Joe rounded the corner to my block. My house was only a ten-minute walk from the diner.
“You were tired, sweetie.”
“You’re right,” I slurred. “The moonlight does tricky things to the eyes.”
“And he’s a big one, but not a monster.” Mama Joe pulled the truck into my driveway. “I told you, you should get some rest.”
“But then. . .”
“What, sweetie?”
“Why did he run?”
“You keep asking that, and I will say the same thing.” Mama Joe turned to me. “Because you screamed.”
“Hmmm.”
“Get some rest.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Don’t you ‘yes ma’am’ me. I mean it.”
Chuckling, I climbed out of the truck. “Thanks for the wine and the ride. I feel better.”
“Call in sick the day after tomorrow. You need more than one day off. Stress kills. It also makes you hallucinate. You have to rest.”
“Okay. Okay. Thanks again.” I shut the door and waved. “Love you. Bye.”
“Love you, too.” Mama Joe drove off. She was late to relieve her babysitter but had stayed to calm me down. Because of that, I gave her half my tips.
I watched Mama Joe drive away. I should’ve gone straight inside, but the night air felt so good against my skin. My sister Harper was probably up in the living room, waiting for me to come home.
Even with the cheap diner wine and Mama Joe’s advice, I was still a little rattled with tonight. But being outside of my childhood home made me feel safe.
I do need a few days off. There’s no way his eyes turned gold. Right?
I headed to the backyard and walked out into the darkness. I loved the meadow there and always hung out on evenings like this when the fireflies danced over the grass. A thick patch of woods bordered my property, leading out into the mountains.
Yes. I’m going to take a break. This month’s bills are paid. If not now, then when?
And then an odd sensation slipped against my skin. It felt like someone or something was watching me. I swallowed and backed up, studying all the fireflies several feet in front of me. My heart boomed in my ears.
Relax. It’s okay.
But I couldn’t keep myself calm because, amid the radiance of those fireflies, there were two small golden lights unmoving and shaped like a large animal’s eyes.
A cold chill ran through my body.
Are my eyes playing tricks on me? Is that an animal?
“What are you doing?” Harper asked behind her.
I jumped and turned around. “Shit! Don’t scare me like that.”
“How did you not hear me coming?” Harper tossed her long chestnut dreadlocks over her shoulders. “You smell like you’ve been drinking.”
I turned back around and looked at the spot past the fireflies again. This time those two huge golden eyes were gone.
I’m losing it.
“What’s wrong, Imani?” Harper got to my side.
“Nothing.” I backed up. “Nothing at all. I just need to get some sleep.”
Chapter 4
Aiden
After Imani screamed at the diner, I raced into the shadows. It wasn’t one of my best moments. What else could I do? I’d startled her.
Due to the Wars capturing all my attention, it had been many years since I talked to a woman. Who had time for sex when so many were dying?
Now we moved in a time of peace, and I struggled with courtship.
I’m not even supposed to be talking to her anyway.
While I forbid my pack from returning to the diner, I sneaked back over. The plan had been just to inhale her fragrance one more time. Then, I yearned to hear her voice. When she stepped outside, I knew she would have to walk. There’d been no scent on the other cars. Thank God, or I might have rubbed my cock against the vehicles.
She’s made me a mad man.
What else could I do but leave the shadows and talk to her?
I should have just followed her home, made sure she got there safe, and then returned to the pack.
But I had to talk to her. Clearly, none of my words came out planned or with any finesse. They spilled out of my lips with no logic. And then she screamed. My heart broke.
Not that I should even try to have anything more with her.
Thankfully, the other waitress drove Imani home. When the women entered the truck, I raced after them. The whole time I kept to the darkness. I wasn’t as fast in fatal form, but I could keep track of a car driving at a slow speed. Since I knew Imani would be walking home, her place had to be close. My assumption proved right. There, I sped behind the house and leaped into the forest.
If my pack could see me now, they would be on the ground laughing.
“Mate!” Conri roared.
She’s here. Focus.
I entered that section of the dark woods, the raccoons hid. Crickets shifted to silence. All the birds, squirrels, owls, and more rushed away, scared I would eat them. I shed my clothes behind a tree and shifted into wolf form. It would be easier to see her in the darkness. Imani’s neighborhood didn’t have decent street lights. Black shadows flooded the forest. Conri would be hidden. Besides, my wolf craved to be free and smell her in his form.
Conri, we remain in the forest. Do not take us to her house.
“Understand.”
At my age, shifting didn’t hurt anymore, but it still took a decent amount of energy. Adrenaline rolled over me. Magic vibrated in my bones, triggering the shift. I grunted, pushed through the discomfort, and dropped to the ground. A sweltering heat poured through my body. Bones pushed up my flesh, cracked under the skin, and then reformed. Moon magic sizzled within my bloodstream. More bones appeared. The heat grew more intense. My skin stretched. Silver hair sprouted, spread into a thick mane, and coated my muscled frame.
My beast form was massive and as big as a car. When one spotted us, there would be no mistaking it as a regular wolf.
As my jaw broke apart, fangs ripped through my gums. A huge nuzzle emerged.
Gold eyes peered out from my large skull. Fangs jutted from the side of my jaw. My claws pushed out several inches from my paws.
My large ears grew. Now, I could hear Imani and the waitress’s conversation in the truck. The waitress’s voice came through clear. “You were tired, sweetie.”
“You’re right,” Imani said. “The moonlight does tricky things to the eyes.”
My heart boomed in my chest. Perhaps I would get another chance to speak to her.
My vision transformed. My fatal eyes had typical photoreceptor cells in the retinas. They were responsible for color vision, functioned best in bright light, and could identify red, blue, and green combinations. My wolf eyes were different. With just two rod cells, the color field consisted mostly of yellows, blues, and violets, but the eyes worked best in dimmer light, allowing me to see five times better than in fatal form.
Looking around with Conri’s eyes, I focused on the truck. My ears flickered from their conversation.
“And he’s a big one, but not a monster,” the waitress continued. “I told you to get some rest.”
“But then. . .”
“What, sweetie?”
“Why did he run?”
Ignoring the conversation, Conri raised our leg and urinated on the tree. He took us over to another and pissed on that.
We don’t need to mark her property.
“Mate!”
I relaxed within Conri’s chest, knowing that deep down inside I also wanted to mark the woods too.
Just make sure she doesn’t see you.
Conri lived on pure animalistic desires while I struggled to follow the ways of the fatal world. Still, marking the boundary of her land would signal to other shapeshifters to stay
way and that the area was occupied. I couldn’t make Imani my mate, but I wouldn’t let another werewolf take her either.
What are we doing? We should head back to the pack.
Conri continued to paint piss all over the ground. He was no longer concerned with my dark mood.
However, I shouldn’t have even been outside of Imani’s house tonight. Anybody could’ve spotted me.
The truck drove off. Footsteps sounded.
We snapped our view to her and crouched within the shadows.
“Beauty.”
My wolf had a small vocabulary, but I had to agree.
Yes. She’s beautiful.
Through my wolf’s eyes, I watched Imani. Thankfully, the Moon Goddess hadn’t revealed me to Imani. Leaves and branches guarded me from the Goddess’s light.
Damn it. We scared her.
“You.”
We’re in this together, buddy. By the way, we can’t see her again. Tonight was stupid.
My beast bared our fangs.
We can’t.
A shiver of desire ran through me as I remembered the electric surge of her touch. My wolf’s cock hardened and dropped to the ground.
Relax. We can’t use that on Imani. It would break her body in two.
“Want.”
What was the solution to this dilemma? How could I tell her I was a werewolf? She would never believe me. And if she did, she would run away.
This is why I made the damn rule in the first place. No mating with fatals. They could never wrap their minds around it.
I yearned to howl to the moon. That was how intense I craved her. But how could it ever happen? The two worlds between fatals and shapeshifters had been divided for a purpose—one that stemmed from ages of creatures devouring fatals. Due to that, they figured out ways to kill us with bronze and silver bullets. We would heal any other bullet, but not those. Chopping or burning our heads off would end us too, but that was damn near impossible if the person wasn’t a vampire or witch.
The weak feared the strong, and the strong tended to misuse their power, killing and feasting on the weak. It was best the shapeshifters hid, and the fatals lived alongside them without knowledge of their existence.
My rule is there for a reason. I won’t break it. Goodbye, Imani.
I watched Imani walk back to her house with another young woman. I sniffed the air. They had similar scents. This made me think they were related—probably sisters. The other one smelled like she was in her mid-twenties. There was no magic in her blood either—no reason to explain why Imani had me so hooked.
When they both disappeared, I inhaled the fragrance trail Imani left.
Intoxicating.
Imani possessed the most alluring fragrance of the two of them.
Clary sage and ginger.
It took everything in me to keep Conri in the woods.
She’s shaken up, but she’s safe. If she doesn’t see me again, I’ll just be some crazy memory. Nothing more.
My wolf whined.
Let’s go. We’ll have some fun in the woods, before getting back to the pack.
My wolf wagged our long bushy tail.
There was no doubt in my mind that my pack would have to leave this week. I messed up by shifting my eyes in front of her. It hadn’t been intentional. Lust had triggered my gaze to glow. It was another reason why I couldn’t be around her again. I knew I couldn’t control my desires. One touch would lead to a kiss. One press of my lips against hers would have me greedily exploring her soft breasts and those stiff nipples that poked through her shirt after I touched her palm.
She wanted me. She desired me. She would’ve begged for me to do more, had I not shifted my eyes like an idiot.
Conri roared, “Idiot!”
I’ll take that.
“Idiot.”
Okay. That’s enough. I already feel bad.
We backed away. I was glad that she’d gotten home with no problem.
“Mate.”
No. She’s safe. Let’s go, before someone sees us. We’ll have to get our motorcycle parked at the diner later.
We raced away, deep into the woods. Heavy dark trees sped past us. The Goddess’s light guided our path. Leaves, grass, and rocks rustled under our clawed paws. The wind blew through our thick mane.
For hundreds of years, werewolves had hidden safely from fatals. Every now and again, a story came out that people mistook as a legend, but it was all real.
I couldn’t think of any tale where a werewolf happily mated with a fatal. And the history of our kind was as ancient as the sun and moon. Limitless. Infinite and more unknown than the origin of the universe. And in every century, every historical period, a werewolf existed with some tale woven into the past.
The truths of my kind danced around in fairytales too. Little Red Riding Hood was the werewolves’ biggest joke on fatals. If only they’d known how true that story was. There’d really been an enchanting young woman named Red. Her hair reminded an old warrior werewolf named Ysengrimus about blood.
As soon as he spotted her, his wolf grew obsessed. He began to follow her around. Each time he spotted her, his jaw would drool and his beast would roar in his chest. Many times he tracked Red to her grandmother’s cabin but remained off in the distance. Other moments, he would shift into fatal form and attempt to lure her away. Never did she fall for his bait.
This made Ysengrimus slowly descended into wild madness, losing the last bits of humanity within him.
When he could deal with his hunger for her no more, he stalked her. The moment he knew Red was heading to her grandmother’s house, he rushed forward, ate the grandmother, and waited in the bedroom. When she stepped inside, there were no clever words like in the fairytale.
He took Red against her will, fucking her in beast form and ripping her body apart. When he spilled his seed, he cried at what he’d done and ate her torn flesh.
A nearby witch picked up on the wolf’s scent and the smell of death. She hurried to the grandmother’s cabin and decapitated the wolf with an enchanted ax.
Somehow the details in the story changed.
But none of it mattered.
In the end, werewolves tended to eat fatals.
My pack never feasted on them, but many of my kind had no problem with the idea. This was one of the main reasons why witches and warlocks sought to control us. Werewolves needed authority and strict rules. That reason was also why I forbid breeding and mating with fatals in my pack. How could I make sure that these women would be protected? Would my brothers have control of their beasts?
The less contact with them, the better.
“Mate.”
Enough.
We sprinted through the cool forest.
The Moon Goddess journeyed with us home.
Our true mate is in the sky, Conri. Take pleasure in that.
A werewolf and the moon lived together forever—both shifting in and out of forms. The moon orbited around the earth and werewolves circled the phases of the moon, never away from the Goddess. Never alone, with that bright glow hovering over the earth and surrounded by exploding stars. Never too far, with her light trailing through the forests, decorating each blade of grass and shimmering against every leaf.
Forget about Imani. Forget about this town. Remember the moon and understand that we will leave in the morning.
Chapter 5
Aiden
It took me half an hour to get back to the cabins that I rented for the pack. They resided deep in the mountains. Once purchased, Sherwin draped the entire property and surrounding area in an elaborate illusion. If a fatal came near, terror should rise within them. Seconds later, they would be too scared to walk forward.
As Conri and I approached, I sniffed out two of my wolves waiting outside of the cabins for me in fatal form.
I can’t tell them what happened with Imani. It won’t matter anyway. We’re leaving tomorrow.
When I arrived, Blaze and Zerab stood next to their bikes. Blaze smoked
a cigarette. Zerab drank a beer and held black sweat pants in his hand.
“Welcome back, King. We were worried.” Blaze blew smoke into the air. “Why are you in wolf form?”
I stopped in front of my Beta, leaned back on my hind feet, and triggered the change.
My claws pulled back into my paws. My sharp fangs slid inch by inch into my gums. My jaw cracked and crumbled. My skin melted into warm liquid. My face molded and created a human jaw. My silver fur slipped back into my pores. Tanned flesh bled out. My spine and bones broke, shattered, restitched, and reformed into my human frame.
Cool air brushed against my new skin.
I grunted from the pounding pressure of the transformation. Even my senses changed—my thinking became more complex as a man. My eyesight went weaker as well as my hearing, although I could still see and hear better than any fatal.
Blaze held a knowing look on his face. “Where did you go?”
Laughing, Zerab tossed me the black jogging pants.
I caught them. “Conri and I went on a run.”
“And your bike?” Blaze asked.
I frowned. “I’ll get it later.”
Zerab took a swig from his beer, swallowed, and then smirked. “Just a little moonlit run?”
I raised my lip into a sneer. “What?”
“I can smell her all over you.” Blaze snorted. “You did more than run.”
“Whatever.” I put the pants on and turned to Zerab. “Why are you here? Why aren’t you following the witch?”
Blaze spoke for him. “He lost her. That’s why.”
I held in my anger.
This isn’t good. We can’t leave this town with some unknown witch.
“How did you lose her?” I asked.
“I waited at the diner until she finished eating. That waitress Imani waited on her, and I overheard their conversation. The witch said she was in town looking for a quiet place to live. She called herself Raven.” Zerab finished his beer and grabbed another one from the six-pack resting next to his bike. “Once Raven left the diner that was when shit got crazy. She went into a dress shop. Five minutes passed. And then the door opened. Instead of one witch walking out, twenty left. And they were all Raven. Every one of them had her long black braids and grey eyes. Same smile. Same scent. Same walk.”
