Wolf in Hero Clothing

by Serena Spacey

  I didn’t understand. He was purposely letting projects run things? “Why?”

  “I had no choice. I kept everyone safe, and actually, it's a lot more work this way. Projects have racked up over twenty million in damages I could have prevented.” He put his hands completely down. “I promised not to do anything but save people, but that financial loss was hard. The territory officials finally understood how serious I was. That's also why Bose is angry.”

  “That's a lot of damage,” I agreed. “You did that just so I could talk to the leaders?”

  “No. I...” Hero sighed. “I bought you, Roxie.”

  Roxie tilted her head. He was joking. “What do you mean?”

  “You’re my courtezan. Your family will be wealthy, no worries.” He placed both hands against the glass. “Even I couldn't get the territory leaders to change things. At nineteen, there is no way I could have done anything. Your best bet would have been to be given a dose of something that keeps you a wolf. You'd be kept in zoos. That's how some of the most dangerous projects are kept once attained.”

  “I don't understand.” I banged on the glass. “What are you saying? You made me a courtezan?”

  “Your parents adopted you through unofficial channels.” Hero rubbed his hand down the glass. “My offer is 500 million or jail time. I know which one they'll pick. Even if they picked jail time, I'd fight in court and win you.”

  I covered my mouth and then grabbed my head. “Why? Why couldn't we have worked something out?”

  Hero was stiff. “People get scared, they kill what they don't understand. I almost died at five years old. Five years old and not fighting humans back, but they still wanted to kill me. Bose is the only reason I'm alive. I won't risk that.”

  “It was not your choice to risk it. It's my life,” I yelled. This wasn’t what I expected at all.

  Hero tried to speak more, but I started to run. “There's no way out.”

  “What do you want with me?” I banged on the walls. “What?”

  “Nothing. Just to keep you safe.” Hero sat next to his side of the glass. “I couldn't risk anyone finding out. Even with my sworn allegiance you weren't a threat, I couldn't guarantee mankind's reaction to you.” He pointed at me through the glass. “You are not just a wolf. You are a wolf of tiger colors, and you're from a different world. Sooner or later, the news will come out. Marriage is not seen as a desirable option for the territory leaders, and I can’t wait. Mankind is unpredictable. An order to have you executed could come before I even knew you'd been captured.”

  I yelled, once again looking for a way out. “So what, I’m a courtezan because you bought me?”

  “You are safe.” Hero stood back up. “I'm not here to hurt you. It’ll be fine when time passes and people can get over it. You’ll be getting credits and fancy clothes and nice press. I know someone like you hates the thought of it, but I couldn't dawdle. You don't understand the danger you could have been in. This goes beyond wolves now. I am just trying to keep you safe from wolf kind and mankind. That's all. I know you understand that.” He sighed and leaned onto the wall. “You went to another world with me. I could have done anything there to you, but you trusted me. I know that buying you is hard for you to accept. It happened though and I can't change it. Personally? I wouldn't mind being with you. Another wolf that wasn't a dirty project. It sounds great. I could teach you all kinds of things you wouldn't believe.” He tapped on the glass. “But I do what is best for this world, Roxie, not myself. Hate me or not, this was the right choice. I stand by that. I hope that one day, we can get pass this.”

  “Forget it,” I growled. “You've locked up your chances like you locked up me.”

  Hero didn't say anything else. There was nothing more to say.

  ***

  A large panel of glass was open toward a cliff. Outside was a magnificent ocean. It was a breathtaking view I could never describe. I often looked beside myself, but Hero stayed on the other side of the glass if he was even present. Until (as he would say) I felt comfortable enough around him with my scent, it was a precaution kept.

  I walked through the house each day with no real boundaries. I was even free to leave it. There was nothing out there though, it was hot and deserted. No wolves would be caught dead out there.

  Which made sense why Hero chose to build there. Free to live as he pleased with no one for miles upon miles around.

  Food was never scarce, Hero had a large banquet hall. Even though he had no staff there was always something waiting. If I were extra hungry, I could have cut the beasts up myself. My tastes had changed as well as my body. Sometimes I wanted it extremely rare like him, but at other times I still wished for cooked meat. I often went in and meat would be there, cooked and ready to consume. I learned when he fixed it each day and adjusted my eating time to it. The tension between us though stayed strong. Hero did not push me to accept him, he just stood by his word. This was best for the world. It didn't mean he didn't try to be friendly.

  He brought me every book and magazine on animals that he could. He even brought in visits with some of my favorite animals that I would never have even been able to see. I almost wanted to keep a sweet giraffe, but I knew it deserved to be out there running wild and free.

  I went on for months this way, but I still yearned for something more. I still wanted to be free. Would there ever come a day where I could return back to civilization?

  Chapter 13: The Fight For Her

  ~Hero~

  “She is locked onto my property and that is even better than a zoo.” I tried to remain calm around the territory leaders. I had imagined that I could at least take her out every once in awhile. Beside me, people wouldn't fear her, but I was not that lucky. My worst prediction had come true. “She is not up for debate.”

  “A hole to another dimension. She is not of this world. What if she has different powers than you?” another one said again.

  “She is locked up. I bought her and she is locked up. Don't start this again with me, Roxie Malone is nothing dangerous. I don't care where she is from.”

  “Execution of the alien is the safest option.”

  “She is not a threat!” I banged my hand on the round table. “Bose, talk some sense into them?”

  “She was accepted by society before she had turned wolf,” Bose said to the territory leaders, trying to help out. “Not long ago we were debating whether we could even make her a courtezan or not. She is just a young girl.”

  “I bought her and she will not escape. I would force marriage on her if it was allowed.” I looked at the territory leaders none too lightly. I knew Roxie dreamt of a world where she could be free out there, but it would not come. Right now, I had to keep fighting the scared thoughts of the stupid human territory leaders. There was no room to talk about anything else. “Roxie Malone is completely safe. She doesn't even know how to fight.”

  “What if others find out she isn't a regular wolf? They go trawling for answers and find out about the dimension hole? Asking why we have guards surrounding a simple property home?”

  “The dimension hole is under tight lock and key, no one comes in or out,” I said. “Humans always ask questions and you never answer. What is the difference now?”

  “She could be a ruse by the mad doctor.”

  “She is not a ruse.” I straightened my jacket. “I am the first being to be concerned about that possibility. If I am not considering her a threat, I even made her my courtezan. She is mine! I demand the applications of execution or zoo imprisonment be lifted off this table.”

  “We could be caught off guard. We give into your petty demand, she goes rabid, and then what? We couldn't even take action against her. She is a being from another world and that fact cannot be denied! We know nothing of her. Even you don't know what she could do in the future. We need those options there.”

  Over six months. Roxie Malone had lived with me over six months. I surveyed her daily, and kept everyone up on her danger level. Sti
ll, those options couldn't be destroyed. If I had not bought her, in all likelihood, she would be dead by now or incapacitated at a zoo.

  Which was worse? If she was taken to a zoo they would give her a daily drug that would leave her in a stupor most of the day so if she was found by some tourist, she couldn't attack. That was why there weren't vicious wolf attacks from zoos in large numbers year after year. With her tiger colors, she would be a showy attraction promising great revenue.

  “We have called this meeting with you, Hero, not to discuss either of these applications.” Bose stood up and left the round table, handing me a new application face to face. “You should consider this one.”

  I looked at the application and instantly looked back at Bose.

  Banishment.

  “She belongs to another world. If she goes back over, then I am sure we could all agree to leave her alone,” Bose offered. “Until then, we are having a hard enough time keeping a lid on this from the media. They know that something is going on, and they won't stop until one of them finds it out.”

  “Her world is gone. There's nothing left there.” I tried to make them understand. “She would be alone, forced to live in a wilderness by herself. I refuse to let that happen.”

  “This application is widely accepted by all.” Bose crossed his arms. “Even I believe in it, Hero. You can't keep her forever bottled up. Best case scenario, she dies in your care. You know the other options. At least this way she has a better chance.”

  “And mankind feels safe from the threat. The threat of a harmless girl.” I growled at Bose. “If I had ever shared my den's location, people would be there right now, wouldn't they?”

  “Correct.” Bose wouldn't lie. “It's been accepted. Tell us Roxie Malone's location.”

  “Never.”

  “Hero. No one has found your den because we don't seek it out. Fight against this and we will discover it. There are only so many mountains out there, and you have taken me relatively close. I could take a guess where it's at.”

  “Don't make me.” I bent my head downward. “I refuse.”

  “She will be taken one way or another. You know that you can't stop the law.” Bose tried to put his hand on my shoulder, but I rejected it. “There's no time to play the same game as last time. Refusing to help out the world will not be enough. All we have to do is locate her and the work is done. The contract will be carried out in four hours. Enough time to talk to her.”

  Enough time to talk to her? It was obvious this meeting was over. There was only one thing to try and it didn’t high a high success rate. I didn’t like the method. “Ten million, each territory to reject it.”

  “Ten million?” There were a few utterings among the smaller territories. The larger ones weren’t impressed.”

  “Thirty million.” I watched the larger territories gain interest, but I was stopped by the inevitable. Ethics.

  “Champion Adventurer Hero. Trying to buy off the territories to get what you want is bribery and wrong.”

  “It’s better than letting an innocent girl get banished to some alien forest she does not know or understand,” I snapped back. Even if I got all but one territory to agree, that one would blow it. Money couldn’t buy anything for me. A waste. I grabbed my jacket and headed out. Four hours.

  Roxie Malone would be thrown over into her original world in four hours and I couldn't stop it. The press moved into my way again, same questions. Where was the girl I had been dating? Was she a wolf? Did she turn evil?

  The press. Humans and their need for . . . wait a minute. My head shot up. No matter which way the press took it, her fate would be sealed. It was worth the chance, knowing human kinds greatest weakness. “I am sorry, but Roxie Malone is too hard to talk about.” I made my hands into tight fists. I had to get it all done, the lie and sympathy, in the same sentence, to make this work. “The woman carrying my pack is considered too dangerous and has been cursed to banishment by the territory leaders.”

  There was an odd silence I was not used to coming from the press. After a couple flashes, questions sped up so fast. I knew the territory leaders would make them back off soon, so I needed to tell and quick. Empathy, truth, and lies all rolled into one. “All projects come from alien DNA and human DNA. Roxie Malone is completely alien, but raised as a human. The leaders would not let me marry her, so she fell away from the public because I bought her as a courtezan, so that she could stay close. We were happy, like we were married. I fell in love with her, but I will not fall in love again. I will never experience the sensation of having a pack when she is banished. My only family.” I took a large breath. “I have saved so much, but that means nothing to the territory leaders. My future pack means nothing to anyone. There is no female out there that isn’t a vicious project. Only her. I will be lonely for the rest of my life.” Just to add that last bit, that more human bit, I ended the lie with a twist in my words. “My cubs mean nothing to anyone but me. I am a slave to saving humanity, yet humanity will not save me.” And a tiny twist, just to seal the deal. I looked up in the sky and howled somberly.

  Everyone’s hero was sad. Something I had never betrayed before. I’d rather die than exhibit such disgraceful weakness, but death wasn’t an option. It was my pride or Roxie. I transformed back to my wolf form, and pattered off softly. It was the worst moment of my life. Acting so soft, so needy, making up lies about having a pack with Roxie. I only had four hours though, four hours. The only miracle I could think of to get a message out to the only rulers over the territory leaders was the press.

  And it worked. The territory leaders tried to call to me as I slowly walked away but they were getting battered with not only questions but ‘shame on you.’ and ‘I will never vote for any of you next year!’ Shouting, cursing, even things had been thrown at them. I played my role perfectly, now just staying as still as I possibly could. A white wolf howling in despair.

  TV networks were falling for live coverage. The hole, the danger level, what happened, secret scandals, nothing had been safe. It was a risk, but like I said before. It was my last choice. I kept my eyes on the news from my limo. People were holding signs in protests, interviews shared the people’s opinions, and they were siding with me.

  “This is just so horrible,” a woman cried on tv, dabbing her eyes. “He does everything for us, and he finds someone finally like him, and she is going to be banished? With his future family? It’s an outrage.”

  “I always thought he was ultra-tough, a real alpha ass probably, but oh my goodness. He almost like cried over her! That is totally love, and I just want to give him a big bear hug and let him cry on my shoulder.”

  “My reputation is so fucked.” I sighed. So many were saying ‘so brave’, while the other side believed I was a weakling from my money. That I insisted on the girl because I got everything I wanted. Luckily, the love angle worked better, and the pack angle more than anything. If this worked, Roxie would hate me for the last part. I didn’t have a choice though, love only worked so far. Humans had a real weakness for their young, it was my strongest defense.

  “Man, I thought he was ultra badass, but crying over a girl? Come on.”

  Judgmental humans. I closed my eyes. I was hearing more positive than negative still.

  “He just wants someone like everyone else, you know? He even has a chance to have a family. It’s so not fair, this is not how we treat our heroes.”

  “Honestly, if I was him? I’d start charging for my ‘services to mankind’. Like, big time fees. Make them regret tangling with him. You don’t fuck with people who save the world, you know.”

  “I know she’s like an alien, but she doesn’t seem dangerous, so what if he could marry her and like, put her on a leash in public? Then they could be together and stuff.”

  A leash? I rolled my eyes. This news coverage from channel to channel, a waste of time. I just had to cross my fingers that this would convince the territory official leaders to let the contract go, and let me marry Roxie Ma
lone. Only marriage would save her in the future from anyone’s ‘opinion’.

  Oh if we did have a pack, I would omit this for the rest of my life and I would make Roxie swear up and down it never happened either. Everyone was eating up the story and official leaders were pissed. I knew some of them wanted to attack me but it was done.

  I had the decision reversed within three hours with one hour to spare. I was relieved, but it came with one clause.

  A pregnancy test on Roxie Malone. I bulled that I could smell it on her instantly when it happened, but they came back with a four-week test. In four weeks, Roxie Malone had to register pregnant.

  “Just to be sure,” Bose almost growled at me, obviously upset I shared the leader’s dirty secrets. “Four weeks from now. This information should have been shared when we were talking about the application.”

  “What did it matter to you? You would not let me marry her or save her.” I scoffed. “Put a cub in the womb and things change.” None of the official leaders had kind eyes for me. No matter though, I had none for them.

  “If you keep her on some kind of leash in public, at least at first, marriage would be acceptable,” Bose gave in. “It has been agreed upon. Begrudgingly. However, that also depends on the test. This cannot be a trick, you cannot fake her pregnancy.”

  Marriage. No more banishment. I had won and lost.

  Roxie would have to pass a pregnancy test, which meant only one thing. I bit my lip and tried to mentally prepare for the reality of what had to happen.

  Chapter 14: Desperate Lie

  ~Roxie~

  “Roxie.” Hero was on the other side of the glass in his wolf form. “I failed.”

  “Failed?” I approached the glass. “At what?”