“Werewolves aren’t wolforhuman. They’re somethingother.Forced to change during each full moon, feral and rabid. Shifters were… blessed, if the stories are true, by a coven of witches many millennia ago. In exchange for use of our lands for their ceremonies, they gave us the ability to shape-shift into our wolves at will. No full moon needed.”
“If that’s true, why didn’t we know aboutyou?”
I gave her a sad smile. “Maybe more things have been lost to time than either of us truly know.” I rested my hand over hers. “But I think it’s our responsibility to figure it out. To right the wrongs of our ancestors. We’re all being persecuted by humans. Isn’t it better to have strength in numbers? To have a town like this be a safe haven for all?”
She scrunched up her nose. “That’s pretty deep for ten o’clock in the morning, Barrett…” She looked at me, a question in her eyes. “You know, I don’t even know your last name.”
“Lockwood,” I answered. “Barrett Lockwood.”
“Eryne Fowler,” she said in response, before holding out her hand. “Pleased to make your acquaintance, I guess.”
We shook, and something unfurled in my chest. I couldn’t explain why I instantly felt better, but I did.
“How old are you?” Eryne asked, studying my face. I looked scruffier than normal, in desperate need of a shave and a haircut, so it was a fair question.
I chuckled at her blatant perusal. “Twenty-seven. How old are you?”
She let out a breath. “Twenty-five. I thought you were going to say something crazy, like you were hundreds of years old.”
I ran my hands through my hair. “No. We age much in the same way that humans do—as witches do.”
Our lifespans were similar as well, though both of our species would outlive humans.
Our food came, and we were silent for a few minutes, taking bites of our food.
I wasravenous,and after barely eating for the last two weeks, I knew why. My metabolism was ten times faster than a regular humans, part of how we managed to heal so quickly. It also meant I had orderedwaymore food than the witch opposite me, and I was quickly gobbling down dish after dish.
When I finished most of my first plate, I looked up at her. She’d ordered a cinnamon roll with a side of apples, and it was soher,I almost smiled. Watching her was proving to be an enjoyable pastime.
“I never thanked you for taking care of me,” I said, pausing eating to stare at her.
“Oh.” Eryne blushed, dragging a forkful of food through the puddle of icing on her plate. “It was no problem, really. I couldn’t just leave you there to bleed out and…”die.I heard the unspoken word.
“You could have. For all you knew, I was some big, scary wolf, who could have just as easily snapped your neck with my jaw.”
“I did consider that,” she admitted, not making eye contact. “But only for a moment.”
Hmm. So she wasn’t scared of me, then? “What changed your mind?”
“Your eyes. From the first moment I saw them, I thought they looked so human. Now I know why.” She giggled to herself. “You also acted more like a domesticated dog than a wild animal.”
“Blame my wolf,” I said, rolling my eyes. “He likes you.”
Her eyes widened. “Your wolf? Is he like… a separate being that lives inside of you? Can you talk to each other?”
I shook my head. “He’s an extension of myself. Iamthe wolf, and the wolfisme, but it’s more than that. I don’t know how to explain it, other than we’re two sides of the same coin.”
“That’s…” Eryne twirled a piece of ginger hair around her finger.
“Insane?”
She snorted. “I was going to say incredible. But sure, Wolf-Man, we can go with that, too.”
I chuckled. It was so nice to be able to talk like this, instead of being forced not to speak to her in wolf form for all those days.
“About my stuff—” I started. I’d come here on foot, and I really needed to get it. Otherwise I’d need to buy a new phone and set up a secure connection to contact Ezra.
“Oh. Right.” She looked down at her plate. “I can take you there, if you want. I have a car, and I’m happy to drop you off?—”
