Blood of a Werewolf

by T. Lynne Tolles

  “Well, in a rather weird way, I guess we’re related. You do have some of my brother’s blood in you after all.”

  “Never thought of it that way, but yeah, I guess you’re right. Hmmm. Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow, 9:00 P.M. Bye.”

  “See ya.”

  Chapter 20

  Rowan headed back to the waiting room to find nobody there. She figured that was a good thing, as it must mean Darby was in her room. She made a U-turn and headed up to the floor on which she was told Darby would be once she was in a room.

  “O’Rielly, yes, she’s in Room 204B. Her fiancé is there with her,” said the nurse at the nurses’ station.

  Rowan headed up the hallway - 202, 203, 204 – here we go. She saw Devon in the chair at Darby’s side and a tiny, bandaged Darby in the bed. “Hey D, how are you feeling?”

  “A little loopy! How are you? You look sad.”

  “No - just worried about you.”

  “Liar.”

  Devon said, looking at Rowan, “Maybe I should leave. Let you two talk.”

  “No, I’m fine. Really. So are you two all patched up?”

  “We’re good,” Darby looked at Devon then continued, “Any word from Blake?”

  “I don’t think that’s going to happen on my phone, maybe Devon’s,” Rowan said. “By the way, I called Dean Wolfe and he said he’s glad to hear you are on the mend. I asked him if I could spend tomorrow evening with him during the transformation, since it looks like we’ll still be here and, well, Devon will be busy tending to you and Blake will be in Connecticut.”

  “Rowan, I wasn’t going to abandon you. I would have done it. You didn’t have to go to a stranger,” Devon said.

  “We’re not really strangers, Devon. We share some of the same blood now.”

  “I hadn’t thought of it that way,” Devon said.

  “I guess if I’m going to turn into a werewolf, who better to be with but another werewolf, right?”

  “You mean aside from your boyfriend?” Darby said and then looked at Devon.

  “I don’t think he’s exactly my boyfriend anymore, Darby.”

  “Blake and I came to Colorado to help you - to get information for you. He was desperate. He would do anything to help.”

  “I don’t think you have the full picture, Darby. You came here for that reason, but Blake came here in hopes of finding a cure. He can’t deal with the werewolf thing. He hasn’t said three words to me since Maine. I can deal with that. I left him a voicemail while I was downstairs. I let him off the hook with this relationship,” she said looking from Darby to Devon.

  Darby looked at Devon, astonished. He grimaced and nodded his head.

  “I don’t get it,” Darby said.

  Devon and Rowan looked at the floor. It was silent in the room for a good five minutes. Rowan finally broke the silence with, “It was a good thing you sent that text or we wouldn’t be standing around having this conversation. It was some quick thinking on your part. It took me a minute to figure out the ‘Dean’ part of the message, but as soon as I started concentrating on you I knew what it meant. So what happened? Can you remember?”

  “Hmmm, some of it is fuzzy, but I remember us pulling up in the driveway and as soon as we got out of the car he started pacing and acting really weird. I went up to the house, knocked, and started inside. I guess Dean could sense Blake. He was pretty rough with me on my neck, but once I told him about you, Rowan, he began to listen. He answered a few questions, but it was apparent he was very agitated by Blake’s presence. Just as we were finishing up, Blake came in and he must have seen the blood on my throat and thought Dean was killing me. Blake jumped him but they were pretty well matched. At some point I think Dean was getting the upper hand, when all of sudden a hand came out of the turbulence between them and the next thing I knew, I was outside. I started to feel like I was going to pass out so I sent the text. That’s all I remember.”

  “So Blake let you go into a werewolf’s house by yourself?” asked Devon.

  “Yeah, I guess so.”

  “Why didn’t you put up the bubble?”

  “I thought the house was abandoned. Dean caught me off guard and he had his hand to my throat before I could make one. Then he was right next to me. The bubble would have just encased us both and served no purpose.”

  “No, I guess not,” said Devon.

  Darby turned to Devon, “So what is going on with Blake? Why is he acting this way? He didn’t seem to care we were witches. Why would he care about this?”

  “I figure it has something to do with Uncle Dominic. I never paid much attention to his rantings about werewolves, but Blake was younger; maybe the stories affected his attitude towards them. That’s the only thing I can come up with.”

  “So your uncle has some kind of prejudice for werewolves, like Dean has for vampires,” Darby said.

  “Yes.”

  “Do you know why Dominic felt this way?”

  “Something he had experienced in his youth, some kind of incident he saw. It terrified him. You could see that when he’d tell his story, but like I said, I didn’t pay much attention to it.”

  “Does anybody know where Blake is now?”

  “He said he was going to Connecticut this afternoon,” Devon replied.

  “What’s in Connecticut?” Darby asked.

  “Uncle Dominic,” answered Devon.

  “Well, that’s not a great place for him right now.”

  “That’s what I told him on the phone, but he had his mind made up.”

  “Rowan, all this time he hasn’t spoken to you?” Darby asked.

  “No.”

  “Well, we need to go find him,” she said and started to get up. Devon panicked at this, jumped up, and tried to sit her back on the bed.

  Rowan said, “He needs some time to work things out on his own. He’s a big boy. He’s going to a relative’s house. He’s in no danger. What’s the point? He’s either okay with it or not. I’m guessing the latter. You rest. Tomorrow I’ll go do my thing with Dean and before you know it you’ll be better and we’ll all go home.

  “You know I don’t want to talk about this anymore. I think I’m going to check into the hotel down the street and get some sleep. I’ll check in with you in the morning, Darby.” Then she looked at Devon and said, “If you need me, just call.” She smiled, kissed her sister’s cheek, and left.

  Darby turned to Devon and said, “Wow. What a mess! I had no idea, but it does explain why he’s been so odd lately.”

  “He’s also done some things he shouldn’t have.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “He never gave me the letter you wrote before you both left for Colorado. He hid it in his dresser drawer. I accidentally came across it looking for a USB cable. I’m also guessing he hacked into the police database. I think that’s how he found Dean.”

  “He hid the letter? Why?”

  “Probably because I would have stopped or postponed you from going. He’s grown very attached to you. I think he felt he needed you to help him with his quest.”

  “Is there anything we can do?”

  “I think Rowan’s right. He needs to figure this out for himself.”

  “How is Rowan doing? Really?” Darby asked.

  “I think she’s falling apart. She’s scared. She’s heartbroken. She’s confused and I think she’s angry. She’s got a right to all those feelings.”

  “Do you think she’ll be safe with Dean?”

  “I do.”

  “And you? How are you doing?” Darby asked tenderly.

  “I’m 900% better than I was this morning before your sister kicked my door in. She taught me a thing or two today and I will always be grateful. I just wish I could return the favor with Blake, but I can’t. I also have her to thank for your being alive right now. That debt I won’t ever be able to repay.”

  “She kicked your door in?”

  “Impressive isn’t it? It sounded like it took her two kicks, bu
t either way, I was impressed,” Devon smiled.

  “Would you please come over here and kiss me? I’ve missed your kisses and you so very much,” Darby said sadly.

  Chapter 21

  Rowan woke up in the little hotel room just down the street from the hospital where her sister was. It had been a long night, her thoughts and tears keeping her awake. When she did fall asleep she had nightmares of turning into a werewolf in front of Blake and him running from her, not in fear, but disgust. It ripped at her heart such that she thought it would never heal.

  All her life people had prejudices against her and her family for being witches. Now when all of that was beginning to die down, she had the added plague of being a werewolf. It just keeps getting better, she thought.

  She thought about the abandoned-looking house out in the middle of nowhere and the man that lived there. A man that like her was a werewolf. She understood now why he chose to isolate himself. No prying eyes. No pointing and whispering. He was the lonely werewolf man with the angry hazel eyes - Dean. She now knew why he chose that life. It was safe. She longed for solitude right then too.

  She went through the motions of the day. She checked in on Darby and Devon at the hospital. Darby was to be discharged the day after next. Devon had booked them all on a flight flying home Thursday morning. It would be great to be back home, but everything had changed so much. Her life now seemed foreign to her in so many ways. She looked at life differently too and she thought how there wasn’t all that much to go back to anymore.

  She tried to sleep during the day as she figured she’d be up a lot for the next three nights. The sleep, however, was always plagued with the dream of Blake running away from her. Her first full moon was that night and she was scared. She’d know for sure if she were truly a werewolf. It wasn’t so much a question to her, as she was pretty sure she knew the answer already. She had felt the new strength, the speed, and agility while running through the airport with Devon. Things even smelled different and her hearing was so acute. She knew what was going to happen that night and she was grateful that someone who understood would be there with her.

  As it came time to head for Dean’s, she received a call from Darby, who had wished she could be there and wanted to know if Rowan wanted Devon to come with her to Dean’s. Maybe he could learn how to help for future reference. She told Darby that she wanted to be alone that night, but that she’d ask Dean if Devon could be there for maybe the last night. Darby told her how proud she was of her and how much she wished she could share this night with her, but really Rowan felt this was the best way. To be with a fellow werewolf tonight, that is how it should be.

  She drove out to 1414 Old Oak Hollow and was greeted, this time, by Dean at the front door. He had a strong, stern face and his hair looked like a grown out buzz cut gone awry. He had what looked like a two-day-old beard and mustache, but it looked becoming on him. She hadn’t noticed how handsome he was before. He was tall, maybe six foot two, slim, and had a rather buff upper body. He was dressed in a T-shirt and jeans and she couldn’t imagine him in anything else. They suited him well.

  “Hi, Rowan.”

  “Hey.”

  “How’s your sister?”

  “She can go home Thursday!”

  “How about you?”

  “What about me?”

  “Are you okay?”

  “Oh, sure! I’m fine.”

  “Hmmm. Sit down, relax.”

  “I somehow don’t think relaxing is going to be in the cards for me tonight.”

  “Oh. Nervous, huh?”

  “A bit. Weren’t you the first time?”

  “No. Excited maybe. It was a coming of age thing I suppose.”

  “So your whole family were...are werewolves?”

  “Yes.”

  “Where are they now?”

  “Gone. Died. Benjamin was the last to die.”

  “Sorry.” There was a long pause and then she continued. “Is it going to hurt?”

  “What? Tonight? Umm, it won’t hurt, but it will be uncomfortable. You get used to it.”

  “Oh. Can you control it? I mean do you have to turn during a full moon? Can you turn at will?”

  “During the full moon the turn is pretty automatic, but I suppose with some strong will and practice you might be able to keep from turning. I’ve never tried myself. Seems natural so I go with it. As you grow more comfortable with yourself and the change, you will be able to change at will at any time. In the beginning though, you’ll change when you feel threatened. It’s just a matter of controlling your emotions.”

  “Do I have to kill...feed or whatever?”

  “No. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want. It’s getting close to time, can you feel it?”

  “Feel what? The tingling?”

  “Yes. You might want to take your clothes off.”

  Her eyes were like saucers. “You want…naked? Why?”

  He smiled at her. It wasn’t a huge smile, really only a slight curving of his mouth, but it changed his entire look. There was genuine sweetness in his face. The face she’d seen so far had always been so hard, almost unapproachable, but this added smile changed everything. “Well, unless you want to have your clothes destroyed in the transformation, and go back to the hotel naked. I mean, it’s cool with me.”

  “But.”

  “I set a sheet on the bed for you to cover up, unless you’re not shy. That’s cool with me too. I’m sure you’re quite beautiful naked.”

  “What about you?”

  “What about me?” The tiny smile came back.

  “Will you be, ummm?”

  “Naked? Normally I would be, but since I have a guest I’ll put a towel on.” He turned and went to the bathroom and gestured to the bedroom.

  She went into the bedroom reluctantly and closed the door. She slowly undressed, folding her clothes in a neat little pile, hiding her bra and panties between her shirt and pants. She shook out the folded sheet and wrapped it around her. She slowly opened the bedroom door and walked into the living room.

  Dean was sitting in a chair leafing through a book, wearing a dark green towel. He looked up at her with his ever so slight smile, but there was another look that came across his face, one that she could only describe as awe. She blushed a crimson red.

  “I’ve never seen anyone who looked so great in a sheet.”

  “Well you do live in the boonies. How often do you get an opportunity to see a woman in a sheet?”

  He chuckled, “Good point.”

  “So now what?”

  “Now we wait and you need to relax. Your first impulse will be to fight it, but you have to try to relax. So I opened a beer for you. Here.” He handed her the bottle.

  “Thanks,” she said appreciatively. She took a long draw on the beer, just about taking in half the bottle.

  “Dear Lord, a woman after my own heart,” he laughed.

  She laughed too, but chugged a bit more, then set the bottle down. “I’m really scared, Dean. I can’t relax. I wish Darby was here.”

  “What would your sister do to relax you?”

  “I don’t know, um.”

  “Think.”

  “Okay, okay. I guess she’d hold me, distract me, I don’t know?”

  He stood up, looking amazingly sexy in his towel, and walked to her and stretched out his arms to her, inviting her.

  “What?”

  “I can hug you,” he said.

  “You what?” She choked on her beer.

  “Come here, I can hug you.”

  “Oh no. I don’t think that would relax me.”

  “Why not?”

  “Why not? Look at you all...in a towel...looking...with that smile...Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to relax me,” she said and grabbed the bottle of beer again and downed the last of it.

  “Really. You think I’m, hmmm.” He walked towards her and put his hands on her shoulders and a little too roughly rubbed them as if to warm her up. He said, �
��It’s okay, I’m not going to let anything bad happen to you. It’s really quite natural, all of it. It’s like a butterfly coming out of a cocoon, or a bird learning to fly. It’s a oneness you now share with nature in its purest and most beautiful form.”

  “I feel weird, Dean.” Her skin was crawling and she threw her arms around him and clung to him as if for dear life. He wrapped his arms around her and held her. His strength and warmth protecting her, she felt safe. He smelled wonderful, not of soap, or deodorant, or cologne, just a completely natural, musky scent. She closed her eyes for a moment. She wasn’t sure but she thought she felt him smell her hair, maybe even brush his lips against her ear. It was wonderful, but the tingling was getting worse.

  Her bones seemed to be mutating and moving. It didn’t hurt but it was a sensation she wasn’t sure she liked. She noticed too, that his skin was moving and hair was sprouting all over his chest under her face.

  He very calmly whispered in her ear, “It’s okay, Rowan. I’m here. You’re safe. Take a deep breath.”

  She inhaled deeply and that’s when things really changed. It sounded like crumpling leaves and bones breaking. It sounded a lot worse than it felt, Thank God. She could see that her nose was elongating and she could feel her knees buckling backwards. She felt the sensation she was sinking, but it was her body changing from a biped to a quadruped. She couldn’t see what she looked like, but by the appearance of Dean, she had a pretty good guess. He was a wolf now. A beautiful beast with warm brown fur, but the same hazel eyes, stood before her. His ears were alert and his head was slightly cocked to one side as if questioning her. How do you feel? he asked, but not verbally. She heard him in her mind.

  She shook her body as a dog would shake off water. She could feel every hair on her skin stand up straight as she did so. She answered him, I feel...fine...no, I feel amazing...strong.

  You look beautiful, he said with a tiny bit of embarrassment, she thought. Come on. He nudged her with his nose and they went out the front screen. She trotted behind him. Once they were outside, the wind swept over her, moving her fur. It tingled everywhere, like someone stroked her. She could smell things she had never smelled before, but mostly, the smells she did recognize were much stronger. To make things worse, Dean’s scent was overwhelming and it made her shudder with delight. She tried to block this from her mind. How embarrassing it would be if he saw or felt her tremble like that.