DECEMBER
“Are you sure this is okay, Roxy?”
“Dad. They literally invited us. Yes, it’s okay. Besides, I’d much rather this than just celebrate Christmas with only the two of us. No offence.”
Roxy watched as her dad took a deep breath and gripped the steering wheel tighter. “Okay, okay, you’re right. I just hope they like the pork roast I made. I wanted to make some shwe kyi for dessert as well but I didn’t realise we were doing this and ran out of time!” He waved one hand around dramatically as he spoke, emphasising his stress.
Roxy laughed and shook her head at his anxiety. “It’s fine, dad. They’ll love it. If you really still want to make shwe kyi, I’m sure Carol wouldn’t mind you using her kitchen for it.”
He shook his head. “No, no, it would take too long, and what are the odds that she would have the semolina I would need? If I wanted to make it, we would have to turn around and get it from home, and then we’d be even later.”
Roxy sighed. “I guess.” That was a shame. Now that he’d brought it up, she really wanted some shwe kyi.
They pulled into the Walkers’ driveway and Roxy stepped out of the car, appreciating the fact that it was entirely under her own strength, no walking aid required. It had been a long, painful journey, but her leg had finally healed to the point where she could pretty much walk normally most of the time. Running was still a little bit difficult, and it still ached every now and then (she didn’t think that would ever go away completely) but for the most part she was fully recovered. One thing was for sure; she would never take walking on her own two legs for granted ever again.
She secured her scarf tightly around her neck and pulled her beanie low to cover her ears as an icy wind threatened to sneak into the gaps in her clothing and freeze her solid. A light snow had been falling all morning, covering every surface in soft white powder. Roxy had never really cared for snow one way or another, but Sam loved it. For the past few weeks of winter, Sam would immediately run outside at the first hint of snowfall, trying to catch flakes on her tongue, rolling around in it, making snowmen and just giggling like a madwoman the entire time. It had derailed more than a few dates at this point, but Roxy wasn’t going to complain. It was endearing, and she enjoyed seeing her so happy. Part of the reason she liked her was for her boundless energy and excitable nature, after all.
Roxy walked through the front door, her dad following behind with the pork roast. Immediately she was assailed by warmth, spices, and Christmas music that gave her terrible flashbacks to working the till at 7-11 around the holidays. She decided at that moment to hand in her two-week notice, even though she hadn’t worked since the night of her kidnapping anyway. A christmas tree was set up in the corner of the room with a pile of wrapped gifts sitting underneath it, and a space heater turned to max was keeping the space comfortably toasty.
“Hey! Merry Christmas!” Carol greeted as they entered, ushering them into the kitchen. “You can just put that down over there,” she directed, pointing at the island bench. Damien set down the roast and returned the pleasantry.
Roxy looked around, taking note of a particular person’s absence. “Where’s Sam? I would’ve thought she’d be down here with all of the food around,” Roxy asked.
“Oh, you know how she is with snow. She’s been napping outside all morning.”
“Outside?!” Damien exclaimed. “Isn’t that dangerous?”
“She’s a wolf, dad. Fur coat.”
“Oh. I… I’m not sure how I forgot about that.”
“If you’re going out there, give her this as an incentive to come back inside,” Carol said, cutting a piece of pork off the roast and holding it out to her. “Also bring some clothes out for her so she doesn’t have to run all the way up to her room naked. Pedro’s coming soon and I don’t want him - or any of us - to have to see that.”
Roxy laughed as she took the piece of meat. “Sure.” She was about to turn and go carry out her task, but she stopped herself at the last second, leaning back around the corner. “Oh, by the way, you wouldn’t happen to have any semolina flour, would you Carol?”
Carol peered at her curiously. “I think we do. Why?”
Roxy turned to her dad with a grin. “The ball is in your court, dad. Shwe kyi, shwe kyi, shwe kyi,” she whisper-chanted, backing out of the kitchen. She turned around with a smile and quickly made her way up to Sam’s room, grabbing a simple set of Christmas-themed PJs for her. She carried them back down the stairs and out the back door, listening to her dad explain what shwe kyi was as she passed by the kitchen.
Outside was the picturesque image of winter: a snow-covered yard sitting on the edge of a pine tree forest. There was a conspicuously canine-shaped pile of snow in the centre of the yard, the top rising and falling in a steady rhythm. Roxy smirked and hid the pork behind her back. She knew that Sam would be able to smell it once she woke up, but for now she wanted to keep it a surprise.
“Oh, Sammiiiieee!” she sang playfully. Part of the snow shifted and a golden-furred tail popped out, wagging up and down and thumping against the ground in its fervour. Roxy laughed. “Wakey wakey, puppy dog. You gotta come inside now.”
Sam lifted her head out of the snow and let out a growly whine. Roxy revealed the slice of pork and the wolf paused, indignation disappearing as her eyes locked onto the meat. Roxy could see her salivating from here, licking her chops eagerly. She chucked the meat over to the wolf and she caught it straight out of the air, scarfing the entire thing down in less than a second. Once it was all gone, she locked eyes with Roxy, staring at her expectantly, like she thought she was hiding another piece of meat somewhere in the pile of clothes under her arm.
“You want more, you gotta come in,” Roxy explained. The wolf whined and grumbled a bit, but she did as she was told and stood up, shaking the snow out of her fur. She trotted over to Roxy and gave her a quick kiss (lick) on the cheek. Roxy chuckled and scratched her under her chin. “Yes, hello Sam. Merry Christmas.”
After a cursory check around to make sure no one was watching, Sam shifted back into her human form and gave Roxy a proper kiss. “Merry Christmas, beautiful,” she murmured against her lips.
Roxy smiled, trailing a hand down Sam’s bare arm and admiring her form in all its glory. “Aren’t you cold?”
Sam nodded, her pale cheeks and nose already flushing from the nipping air. “Fucking freezing, actually.”
Roxy laughed and threw the clothes into Sam’s arm. “Put these on already, you big dolt.”
She donned the clothes as quickly as she could and they both stepped back inside, happy to be enveloped by the warmth the space heater was providing. Sam immediately ran over and stood directly in front of it, sighing in satisfaction. “Ooh, that’s good.”
“Hey, Sam. Merry Christmas!” Damien greeted from the kitchen. The smell of coconut and semolina was emanating out and spreading around the living room from her dad’s cooking, bringing to mind pleasant memories of eating shwe kyi as a child.
“Merry Christmas, Damien,” Sam replied. She sniffed the air and her eyes widened, pupils blowing out. “Ooh, what’re you cooking?” She eagerly wandered into the kitchen, following the scent.
“Shwe kyi,” he responded. “Coconut cakes, pretty much. I thought they’d make for a nice dessert.”
“Works for me,” Carol said from elsewhere in the kitchen, working on a salad. “All I had planned for dessert was a frozen apple pie with ice-cream and custard.”
The front door opened and Pedro entered, quickly followed by a very under-dressed Leif, who was hugging herself and shivering profusely. She immediately rushed over to the space heater as soon as she got inside, planting herself in front of it and letting out a sigh of relief. She was only dressed in a thin long-sleeve top and jeans, so it was no wonder that she was freezing.
“Leif!” Roxy greeted, running over and giving her a hug. “I didn’t think you were coming till later?”
Leif shrugged, her teeth still chattering. “I w-wasn’t meant to be, b-b-but my brother was being an asshole, so I didn’t wanna s-stick around. It was pure luck that Pedro saw me stumbling through the snow as he drove here, or I might have genuinely frozen to death.” She laughed humorously, in spite of how much real danger she would’ve been in if not for Pedro.
Roxy raised an eyebrow. “You didn’t even think to throw on a jacket before you left?”
The other girl sighed. “You know how my brother can be. You remember how I told my family about Drew last week?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, mom asked if he was coming over at any point, and Todd decided that Christmas morning was the perfect time to make me feel shit about myself. Calling Drew gay and asking about our sex life, misgendering me, excetera excetera. He wouldn’t stop bringing up the fact that I have a… y’know. Mom tried to shut him up, but as usual it didn’t work, and there was no way dad would bother getting involved. I had to get out of there before I lost it and broke his stupid nose.”
Roxy’s throat rumbled with a weak growl as anger flushed through her body. It was a completely involuntary response that had started to become irritating with how frequently it had been occurring lately, but she ignored it. She gave Leif another hug. “What a loser. Just ignore him, you’ve got a better family right here.”
Leif smiled. “Yeah.”
The rest of the day went on smoothly. Lunch and dessert were had, presents were swapped, girlfriends were kissed under hanging mistletoe; it was a perfect Christmas. The mood wasn’t even sullied when Leif let out an absolute bombshell while the three of them were watching a movie in the basement later in the night.
“Hey Rox, I don’t wanna alarm you, but I think your dad might be a little gay.”
Roxy nearly spat out her drink. “Fucking what?!”
“Yeah, he kept staring at Pedro while we were all eating lunch.”
Oh. Was that all? Roxy let out an amused sigh. “Oh my god, Leif. You would ship two rocks together if they were in the same patch of dirt. That doesn’t mean anything.”
“No, now that she mentions it, he was definitely staring at him,” Sam butted in. “his heart rate kept spiking and everything.”
“Yeah, and remember when Pedro complimented his coconut cake thingies? He went bright red and started stuttering all over the place. It was just like you back when Sam first came around, Rox.”
Sam laughed. “Like father, like daughter.”
“My dad was nervous about his cooking all morning, of course he reacted like that! It doesn’t mean he has a crush on Pedro, jesus!”
“Pedro has started to come around to yours more often, hasn’t he?” Sam asked, a teasing glint in her eye.
“Oh my god, Sam. They’re friends, they can hang out! All they do is drink beer and chat, anyway, I would know if something was going on. No one said anything about anything when Pedro started coming around here to see Carol more often, did they?”
“Yeah, but Carol’s in a relationship,” Leif said. “Your dad, however, is single and ready to mingle, just in time to spread his gay little wings and have a mid-life bisexual awakening!”
Roxy let out a long-suffering groan. “All of this conjecture is pointless. Pedro is definitely straight. We’d know by now if he wasn’t.”
“Pedro doesn’t have to like men for your dad to be crushing on him.” Leif smirked at her mischievously. “Just think about it! Your dad just got out of, what, a two decade long relationship with a woman who only got horny thinking about housing markets and child abuse? This is probably the first time in a long time that he’s been able to freely think about his sexuality without guilt. Who knows what he’s uncovering?”
Roxy sighed. “I guess I see your point. Still, can we not just jump to conclusions here? My dad is a nervous guy in general, why do you think he let Martha push him around for so long? He got flustered by a compliment, it doesn’t mean he’s into Pedro. Even if you’re right, and he does have some repressed gayness in him, it doesn’t mean you have to start shipping him with every guy he makes eye contact with. Just let him figure it out on his own.”
Leif huffed playfully. “Fiiine. But keep an eye out for signs, would you? I wanna know if he gets a cute boyfriend.”
“If my dad gets a ‘cute boyfriend,’ it will be none of your business.”
“Lame.”
—
JANUARY
Roxy sighed happily, staring up at the twinkling stars above her and getting lost in the radiance of the night sky, unmarred by light pollution as it usually was. They had finally made good on their plans that were originally meant to be for Roxy’s birthday, driving far out into the countryside to camp and stargaze for Sam’s birthday instead. While Ross was invited, he ended up chickening out because of the cold, so Drew had taken his place. Roxy chuckled at his reluctance. It wasn’t even snowing, and the fire they had going was keeping them plenty warm. Its constant crackling was filling Roxy’s head with white noise and making it a little hard to think, but whatever.
“R–y?”
Speaking of Drew, he was pretty much an official part of the pack by this point, which was good. Roxy wasn’t super sure how things would work if he’d ended up trying to make his own pack with Leif while she was still in Sam’s, but she knew it probably wouldn’t end well. Thankfully though, according to Pedro, pack hierarchies weren’t really a thing anymore; most packs regarded all their members equally, like a family. There was no set ‘leader’ from a purely biological standpoint unless the pack decided on one, unlike with regular wolf packs. The scent of whichever werewolf started the pack was usually the strongest on pack members, but, given enough time, a new werewolf’s scent would generally distribute itself throughout the existing pack as well. It had happened with Pedro a while ago, which pretty much made it Pedro’s pack just as much as Sam’s. This meant that Drew joining Sam’s pack was effectively the same as all of Sam’s pack joining Drew, which meant no issues over who was in charge or who belonged to whose pack. Roxy was just glad that there wouldn’t be any turf wars between the two direwolves over Leif. She was still going to think of it as Sam’s pack in her head, regardless.
“-oxy.”
She had been noticing a change in Leif’s scent recently, now that she thought about it. Obviously, this whole ‘being able to differentiate people’s scents from a distance’ thing was pretty new to her, but she’d known Leif for most of her life, she was pretty sure she knew what she smelled like. Drew’s scent was pretty mixed up in hers, though she couldn’t tell if they’d done that mating bite thing yet, so it was likely just pack scenting. What she could unfortunately tell was when the two of them had been all over each other recently, which was proving to be quite the annoying development in her ever-increasing werewolf skill set. She didn’t wanna know about it every time her friend got laid, as much as she could cheer her on from the sidelines. On the other hand, it was pretty funny when Leif had joined their pre-MMA run with an uneven gait the day after spending the night at Drew’s. Roxy could make a pretty good guess what went on with that whole affair.
“Roxy!”
Finally being allowed to start MMA again had been amazing. While she’d been working out as best as she could from home, mostly doing pull-ups and lifting weights while her leg was healing, it never scratched that itch that MMA did for her. She didn’t know what it was, but there was just something inside of her that had a desperate need to hit things, be it punching bags, sparring partners, or assholes that needed a beating, Roxy just couldn’t get enough of it after being deprived of her outlet for so long. Clarissa was still being very careful with their activities and who she set her up against, but it was still leagues better than anything else she’d been able to do during her recovery. Roxy didn’t even have it in her to be mad at the woman for the treatment. As much as she hated being babied or coddled by anyone (except for Sam, and occasionally her dad), she knew that, while she was pretty much completely healed physically, the mental side of things was still far from stable, and one small slip-up could potentially lead to a big mental breakdown and a whole lot of backsliding, as her therapist called it.
“ROXY!”
Roxy snapped back into the present, though you wouldn’t be able to tell from the way that her head slowly pivoted back down from looking up at the stars. Her eyes eventually found Leif, who was staring at her with an incredulous smile on her face. She’d honestly forgotten about her presence entirely, as well as that of Sam and Drew, even with the former’s head resting in her lap. Her brain was really foggy right now. She was hungry. “Huh?”
“Your marshmallow, dude! It’s fucking charcoal!”
Roxy slowly blinked at her and turned to the fire, which she was apparently holding a stick into, as she’d just found out. At the end of the stick was a little flaming black ball that she just remembered used to be a marshmallow. Evidently, she’d been trying to roast one over the fire and spaced out, too distracted by the twinkling stars. Her head slowly tilted backwards, once again enamoured by the majesty of the universe now that she’d remembered about it.
Leif cackled in that way she only ever did when she was slightly inebriated. The joint between her fingers teetered dangerously, but Drew picked it out of her grasp before she could drop it entirely. “Oh my god, dude! You only had like, two puffs! How are you so baked already?!”
Roxy frowned, knowing that information to be false but not yet having the evidence to back that claim up. She paused for a while, digging through the moist folds of her brain in search of the memory she needed. “I had three, actually,” she retorted. It was a weak excuse to justify her current level of high-ness (was that a word? Roxy didn’t really care right now) and she knew it, so she mustered up something else from the deep recesses of her mind. “I think this werewolf stuff is messing with my tolerance. Didn’t Pedro say they had a lower tolerance than humans?”
“Sam’s had just as much as you, and she’s still fine,” Leif replied, still struggling to hold back her laughter.
As if on cue, Sam yawned in her lap. “For the most part. I’m just sleepy. And hungry, for that matter. Are there any chips left?”
Sam leaned up to catch the bag being thrown her way before lying back down again. Roxy huffed in mock outrage. “That’s not a fair comparison! Sam is a 220 pound mountain of meat, muscle, and pure sex appeal!” She obscenely caressed down her girlfriend’s abs for emphasis, prompting a satisfied growl. “I, on the other hand, am just a little guy! I still barely weigh any more than I did when I got out of hospital, and that’s including the extra weight for the metal in my leg! Going by the weed-to-body-weight comparison, plus the werewolf factor, it’s completely reasonable for me to be just a little more stoned than the rest of you!”
“Methinks the lady doth protest too much,” Drew said, taking a drag from the joint, only his second for the night. He slowly exhaled out the cloud of smoke, which quickly dissipated into the cold night air. “You sure you aren’t just a lightweight?”
Roxy blew a raspberry in his direction, prompting laughter from Sam, which continued on for what would be a frankly ridiculous amount of time if she didn’t have the weed as an excuse. The sound was enough to have Roxy’s not-so-mock-anymore outrage dissipating into affection for the wonderful girl lying in her lap. She stroked a hand through her thick blonde hair, revelling in its soft texture. She leaned down and gave her a quick peck on the lips. “Happy birthday, darling.”
Sam’s laughter quickly turned into sobbing, which had Roxy filling with dread at the thought that she’d done something terribly wrong. Sam sensed her distress and quickly shook her head, clarifying that these were happy tears. “I… I-I just… I’ve never had any friends to celebrate my birthday with before… Th-this is… this is a dream come true for me. I love you all so much.”
The admission soon had Roxy in tears as well, which in turn had Leif laughing at their combined emotionalness. It lasted for a while until they were both cried out, at which point Sam decided it was time to turn in for the night. Roxy agreed. A cold wind had started blowing and she was eager to snuggle up in a sleeping bag next to her lover. Sam got to her feet and pulled Roxy up with her, the top of her head bumping against the taller girl’s chin.
Wait, what? That can’t be right.
Roxy frowned, looking up at her girlfriend. Sam looked back down at her, equally as confused. Leif stood up and walked over to them, seemingly picking up on the same thing that Roxy had just noticed.
“Am I crazy, or have you gotten taller?”
Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.
—
FEBRUARY
Roxy stepped back from the measuring tape and turned around, her heart lurching as she noticed where the mark she’d made sat. It was late evening at the Walkers’ house, and most of them were out, so she was taking the time to do a few experiments in regards to her recent changes.
“Wow, a whole two inches in just a few months!” Leif exclaimed, looking at the tape. “You’d better not catch up with me, it would be weird to not have you as the shortest one in the group.”
Roxy just let out an uneasy whine. Just when she was starting to get used to the changes being a hybrid was bringing, life just had to throw another curveball at her, this time in the form of a sudden growth spurt. After being a respectable 5’5” for the past four years of her life and thinking that was it in terms of height for her, all of a sudden she had shot up to 5’7” in just the span of what could only have been a few months. It wasn’t the only physical change she’d noticed lately, but it was definitely the most jarring, and she certainly didn’t appreciate having to buy new pants after her old ones became too small. “I just want my body to make up its mind about what it’s trying to do with me.”
Pedro was here too, taking notes on her developments. “I wish I could give you more of a heads-up on what to expect, Roxy, but this is a completely unprecedented situation. As far as the Council is aware, you’re literally the only one like you in the entire world. Congrats, I guess.” He shrugged, yawning. He’d just gotten off of a long shift, and was no doubt pretty tired. “Take it with a grain of salt, though. They didn’t know about Drew, either, so clearly the span of their knowledge is far from all-encompassing.”
“I don’t mind it,” Sam said, embracing Roxy from behind and picking her up to spin her around. “It just means there’s more of you to love!”
Roxy laughed as she was set down. “Sam, I could literally turn into a puddle of mud and you would still like me.”
“Your point? Rolling around in mud is the best!”
Roxy shook her head with a grin, knowing there was no point in trying to turn down the vote of affection. She stretched, ignoring the tightness around her scars as her skin was pulled taut over her re-developing muscles. The work she’d been putting in at MMA was paying off, and she was finally beginning to bulk up again. It was a lot faster than she’d expected it to be, but apparently that was also due to the werewolf factor, which did something to her metabolism to make her build muscle quicker, according to Pedro. To be honest, she hadn’t been paying full attention when he was giving his explanation, but she got the general gist.
The other passive change she’d been noticing was a general increase in how quickly her body hair would grow back after shaving. At this point she’d pretty much given up on shaving altogether, accepting that being part-werewolf meant being used to having a little extra hair in places. She’d never had particularly thick body hair anyway, so it wasn’t really a massive issue. She still made sure to trim in places where the hair was prone to grow longer - she didn’t want things to get too wild, after all - but shaving all the way down to the skin was something she just couldn’t be bothered with anymore.
“Alright, you wanna try and give us a shift, Roxy?” Pedro asked. Roxy took a deep breath and nodded, focusing herself. It was something that she and him had been working on together, trying to train her into being able to summon her wolf out without the aid of the full moon or a life-or-death situation. She reached deep down, searching for that familiar fire that resided somewhere inside of her. Once she found it, she singled it out, imagining that it was spreading throughout her body and bursting forth from within her. A heat flared just under her skin and the change happened before she could even register it.
Claws sprouted from her nail beds, fur erupted from her hands and arms, her fangs lengthened and grew, and her eyes sparked up a burning amber. Pedro took some notes as she inspected her changed form. It was the same as it had been the last three times they tried it, despite her attempts to push the shift further along. That was probably for the best, as she didn’t want the change to fuck with her bones enough to affect the metal in her leg and send her back to the ER for another six months of physical therapy, but it was still a little disappointing, regardless. How could she not want to know what being a fully-fledged wolf was like?
“I think this is as far as I can go with this,” she said, looking up at Pedro.
He hummed in agreement. “Your shifting seems to have plateaued. Hopefully this means the rest of the changes will follow suit and you won’t have to worry about anything else, but we’ll just have to wait and see.”
“Can I touch your fur?” Leif asked. It was a completely innocent question but it left Roxy feeling a little flustered, like she’d asked her to take off her pants instead. She guessed she just wasn’t used to people talking about her fur yet.
“Yeah, okay.”
Leif walked up and grabbed her arm, gently stroking through the black fur there. It was slightly disconcerting, but she just summed that up to the unfamiliarity. “Ooh, it’s soft.”
Roxy was about to reply when a sharp, coppery scent hit her nostrils, causing her fur to rise up on end. Pedro and Sam clearly noticed it too, from the alarmed expressions on their faces. “Blood,” she muttered.
At that moment, the front door slammed open and Drew came stumbling in, clutching his side. There was blood all over his shirt and dripping from between his fingers. For a moment, Roxy could do nothing but stand there and stare as a peculiar sense of déjà vu washed over her. “Drew!” Leif screamed, rushing over to help him before he could collapse to the ground. “What happened?!”
“I… f-fucked up,” he grunted, leaning against his girlfriend. Pedro brushed everything off of the coffee table and pulled it out into the centre of the room.
“Lay him down on this!” he yelled. “Sam, go get the first aid kit and some clean towels! Roxy, put your claws away and come give me a hand!”
Everyone sped into action, following Pedro’s instructions. Roxy struggled a little bit to revert back to normal with the way her heart was racing, but she got it eventually, rushing to Pedro’s side as he lifted Drew’s shirt. Sam returned with the towels and he immediately took one, applying pressure to the wound. “Shit, I can’t treat this. Sam, when does Carol get home?”
“Uuh, a couple hours, I think?”
Pedro cursed under his breath and let out a long exhale. “Okay… Drew? How are you feeling? Is your wolf alright?”
Drew winced. “Y-yeah, it’s okay. I… I think I can heal this on my own. I j-just… panicked.”
“It was just a regular knife? Not a silver one?”
“I don’t know, j-just… just a pocket knife.”
“It wasn’t hunters that did this?” Roxy asked.
“Hunters? N-nah, just some assholes trying to beat on a kid. They weren’t too happy when I stepped in, but the kid got away, so it’s fine.”
“It’s not fine, Drew! You’ve been stabbed!” Leif cried.
“Alright, if you keep your wolf out it should be okay,” Pedro said. “The wound should close up on its own within the next few hours. Just keep pressure on it for now.” He stepped back as Drew took over, holding the towel to his side. Pedro sighed. “I understand that you were trying to help someone, but you’ve got to be careful with things like this. You don’t have proper training like Sam, Roxy, and Leif do, and even with training, throwing yourself into fights unnecessarily like that is just stupid.”
“Nah, f-fuck that,” Drew replied. “That kid could’ve died.”
“So could you!” Pedro yelled. “Just because you’re stronger than most people and can heal quicker, doesn’t mean a knife to the heart isn’t going to kill you!”
“But it didn’t.”
Pedro groaned, rubbing his eyes. “We need to do a lunar ritual for this kid before he does something really stupid and gets himself killed. At least that’ll give him a little extra defence.”
“Agreed,” said Leif. She flicked Drew in the forehead. “Stop throwing yourself into danger!”
Drew grinned weakly. “Says the one who stormed an underground bunker full of psychos to save her friend. I can’t just be a bystander if someone needs help. I’ve got the power to save people. What’s the point if I don’t use it?”
“...he’s got a point,” Sam said. “The hunters hate us because they’re scared of us. If it comes down to a contest of physical strength, werewolves beat humans a hundred percent of the time. If we aren’t using that strength for good, aren’t we just giving them even more of a reason to want to kill us?”
Pedro sighed. “I guess.” He shot Drew a pointed look. “But no more of this heroism shit until you learn how to actually hold yourself in a fight. Strength only takes you so far, and the last thing you want to do is give yourself away to the hunters by overly relying on your wolf, especially since you’re a direwolf. You’ll fuck us all over if you’re not careful.”
“Lay off him a little, Pedro,” Roxy interjected. “The guy literally just got stabbed.”
Pedro muttered some exasperated Spanish under his breath before sighing. “I’m too tired for this. I love you all, but I’m going home. I’ll ask Clarissa about giving Wonderboy over there some lessons. Adiós.”
Drew let out a weak laugh as the door shut. “Ah, that man never changes. Anyway, could someone help me over to the couch? If I need to lie somewhere for the rest of the night, I’d rather it not be a table.”
“Alright, come on, big guy. Up you get,” Leif said, straining as she tried to lift him. Sam gave her a hand and together they were able to get him onto the couch, settled down on top of another towel so he didn’t bleed on the upholstery.
Roxy sighed and carded her hands through her hair. “If the people in my life could go just a few months without one of us being attacked with a knife, that would be just great.”
“Hey, the last time was with Kimberly in October, so we had a pretty good streak going for a while there.”
“Sorry for breaking it,” Drew said with a smile.
—
MARCH
“Alright, that should be good,” Leif said, backing away from Roxy and putting her eyeliner pen away.
Roxy released a nervous breath and blinked a few times, glad that the application process was finally over. Leif was a professional when it came to makeup, but having anything that close to her eyes was uncomfortable no matter which hand was in control. “How does it look?” she asked.
Leif grinned. “See for yourself.” She stepped aside and allowed Roxy a full view of herself in the mirror. She couldn’t help but beam at her reflection. The eyeliner was the perfect feminine flair to her mostly androgynous prom tuxedo. The top of her white dress shirt was unbuttoned and her bowtie was undone, giving her otherwise put-together appearance a certain ruggedness, while her hair was slicked back with gel. She wanted to try out high-heels to complete the look, but decided against it in the end, given that she had zero practice with them and didn’t need to give her wonky leg any more reason to act up.
“Woah, I look hot.”
“I told you the tux was a good fit for you,” Leif replied with a smirk. “Just add an eyepatch and you’d make the perfect queer-coded Bond villain.”
“Shut up,” Roxy snorted, punching her in the arm. Leif was wearing a flowy pale green dress and had a full face of makeup done already. In fact, Roxy was the last one to finish getting ready. She could hear everyone else milling about in the living room already, waiting for her to finish up so they could take photos and get going. It was both her friend group and Ava’s, so the Walkers’ house was a lot more packed than usual. She and Sam hadn’t told each other what they were going to wear, and the suspense of finally seeing her girlfriend’s prom outfit was almost too much to handle, not to mention seeing her reaction to the fine figure she was cutting in this suit. “Is that everything? Are we ready for my grand reveal?”
“Should be. Unless you wanna add some lipstick? I’ve got black if you wanna lean into the goth aesthetic a little more.”
“Nah, I’m good. Let’s get this show on the road!”
They exited the bathroom and made their way into the living room, which was currently filled with mostly Ava’s friends. If it hadn’t been for the fact that she was in a committed relationship, Roxy’s gay little heart probably would’ve been pounding right out of her chest with the amount of pretty, dressed up girls around, but as it was, she only had eyes for one pretty, dressed up girl, and when she finally saw her, the breath was knocked straight out of her lungs.
She was wearing a dark blue full length dress that hugged her body nicely, open at the back to show off her impressive musculature. Roxy remembered hearing about the difficulty she was having finding a dress that would fit her, but clearly her hard work paid off. Her makeup was simple yet effective, highlighting her features without caking her face and triggering her sensory issues. Red lipstick, some eyeliner and mascara, a little bit of blush and a touch of eyeshadow, and Sam was looking almost angelic. She ran over to Roxy with a huge smile and Roxy could do nothing but stare in amazement, wondering how she scored such a total hottie.
“Roxy!” she yelled, pulling her into a hug. When she pulled back, her eyes were sparkling. “You’re so handsome!”
“You’re so gorgeous,” Roxy said in reply, grabbing her chin to pull her into a quick kiss.
“Alright, the lesbians are ready! Let’s take some pictures so we can go!” Ava called out to the room. Roxy fondly rolled her eyes, and the two of them went to go find Leif and Drew so they could get a group photo taken.
After photos, they all piled into a rented limo and headed to the venue, pretending like it was somewhere fancy, and not just the school gym dressed up to host a prom. The night went well, with lots of dancing, good food, and making out in the toilets to be had. By the end, though, Roxy’s leg was aching severely and she was ready to get home. Leif and Drew were heading back to his place, so they split up for the night, Sam giving Roxy a piggy-back as they made their way home.
“Are we going to mine or yours?” Roxy asked, squeezing her girlfriend tightly as she was carried along.
“Can we go to yours? I promised Ava she and her friends could use the house tonight, because we’re always using it for our pack meetings and stuff.”
Roxy nodded, pulling out her phone. “Yeah, that’s fine. Just gotta let my dad know we’re coming. I think you still have some leftover PJs there to change into as well.”
The walk wasn’t very long, and in a few short minutes they’d made it to Roxy’s front porch. Her dad hadn’t replied to the message yet, but that was fine. It was only really sent so he could leave the door unlocked for them. He probably just fell asleep on the couch watching a movie again. Sam set her down and she opened the front door - unlocking it with the spare key - before stepping into the kitchen, not realising what she’d just walked in on until it was already too late.
There was a blur of movement as her dad threw himself away from an unfamiliar man, landing heavily against the countertop and clearly trying to act casual as he leaned against it. The other man, who seemed to be around her dad’s age, was looking between the two of them frantically, clearly a little thrown-off at being interrupted with whatever they had been doing. It didn’t take a heightened sense of smell to put two-and-two together. “Ro-Roxy! I…” He laughed nervously, his eyes flicking away briefly. “I didn’t think you were coming home tonight!”
Roxy stared blankly as her brain connected the dots, a memory of what Leif said at Christmas playing at full volume in her head. Her dad really was a little gay. One thing was for sure, she was not looking forward to when Leif inevitably found out about this. She cleared her throat. “I, uh… Sam’s place was taken. We’re gonna…” She gestured vaguely towards the stairs.
Her dad nodded and the two girls went without saying another word, desperate to get out of the awkward situation. Right before they were about to pass onto the landing and out of view of the kitchen, her dad spoke up one last time. “Did you have a good night?”
Roxy paused and turned to him. She smiled, the good vibes of the night still flowing through her in spite of what she just walked in on. “Yeah, it was good.” She pointed down at the kitchen, aiming back and forth between the two men. “We’re, uh… we’re gonna talk about this at some point, just so you know. But for now, I’ll leave you to it. Goodnight!” With that, she dashed the rest of the way up the stairs and out of sight. Once she and Sam had made it to the safety of her room, she buried her head in her hands and groaned. “Oh my god, I can’t believe Leif was right.”
Sam chuckled. “What did I say? Like father, like daughter.”
—
JULY
Roxy woke up with a yell, summoning claws and frantically slashing at the empty air above her bed before realising where she was. She sighed, slumping back down. Another nightmare. They’d been much more frequent lately, no doubt due to the recently passed one-year anniversary of her kidnapping. She couldn’t believe it had been a whole year already. Between the flashbacks and the nightmares, it felt like she was back there far too often for her liking. It had been getting better though. Things got easier with time, and though her progress wasn’t always linear, she really felt like she was finally recovering. And she wasn’t gonna let a nightmare get her down today, even if this day last year only held bad memories for her. It was her birthday, and she was determined to make it a good one.
She threw herself out of bed, turning on her computer to play some music. As the opening beats of Paramore’s ‘Still Into You’ started blaring from her speakers, she spun around to face her mirror, getting herself ready for the day. Her outfit of choice, picked out in advance, was a black crop top, short jean shorts, ripped leggings, her trusty kicks, and even a little bit of eyeliner and mascara for flair. She was trying to be more confident in what she was wearing lately, and not let her scars hamper her fashion sense. She’d spent so much time putting together outfits only to chicken out at the last second and just throw on a long-sleeve and some jeans. She missed expressing herself, it was just a difficult hurdle to overcome.
With one last check in the mirror to make sure she was looking good, Roxy exited her room, sliding down the railing of the stairs into the kitchen. Her dad was already down there, frying up some bacon and eggs. “Hey, dad!” she greeted cheerfully, walking up and hugging him tightly.
“Roxy! Happy birthday!” he responded, dropping the spatula to return the embrace.
“Did Chris not stay the night?” Roxy asked as she backed up, taking a seat at the table.
“He did, he’s just sleeping in. He’s had a rough week at work, so I thought I’d make him some breakfast in bed.”
Roxy smirked. “Who knew you were such a romantic all this time? Who’s birthday is it again?”
They were talking about the guy her dad had been seeing for the past few months, the same one she and Sam had walked in on after prom. They had a long conversation about it the next day, where she found out that he’d already been seeing Chris for a few weeks at that point. They apparently met on a dating app and hit it off. Leif was right, it turned out that he really had been repressing himself during his relationship with Martha, always having had these feelings towards other men, just never able to act upon it. Apparently, it was actually her relationship with Sam that gave him the confidence to break out of the compulsive heterosexuality that he had felt bound to since his teenage years. While he’d never really had any negative feelings towards gay people, he’d also never spent much time around them, either. Seeing her and Sam so happy together made him realise that it was no different than if they were a straight couple instead. It made him realise that there was no reason to limit himself only to women, so, in a bid of curiosity and self-acceptance, he allowed himself to acknowledge the feelings inside of himself and changed the settings on his dating app to allow men to see him as well. The newness of it all had been daunting, but he fumbled his way though, and Roxy couldn’t be happier for him. She couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this happy, and it was wonderful to see.
Her dad scoffed and turned back to the eggs with a smile on his face. A tiny chirp caught Roxy’s attention and she turned to find Mr. Slinky, sitting on the floor by her seat and looking up at her expectantly. She laughed and reached down, petting him on the head. “Don’t worry, goober. I didn’t forget about you.” She turned to her dad. “Has he been fed yet?”
“Yep. I even treated him with a bit of bacon. Don’t listen to his lies, he’s just trying to squeeze more food out of you.”
Roxy tsked and picked him up, setting him on her lap so she could stroke his fur. After a moment, she began to get a strange feeling, like she was being watched. She whirled her head around and saw a familiar face peering at her through the window, before zipping out of sight after realising they’d been caught. There was a burst of amusement from her mark and Roxy grinned. She got up and walked to the front door, opening it to find Sam, Leif, and Drew standing there and trying to act casual, as though they hadn’t been peeking through her windows a few seconds ago.
She raised an eyebrow. “What are you idiots doing?”
Leif sighed. “We were trying to surprise you, but someone told us that you were still asleep!” She very obviously glared at Sam.
The blonde grinned. “I thought it would be funny to see you get caught.”
Roxy pulled out her phone and checked the time. “We still have a few hours before our booking at the bowling alley. I haven’t had breakfast yet, do you wanna go walk around town and find a spot?”
“Sounds good to me,” Sam replied.
With a parting goodbye to her dad, they headed off into town, chatting about whatever as they walked. It was so strange to think about the fact that they’d all graduated now. Roxy had no idea what she wanted to do for college, or if she even wanted to go at all. Her MMA had been going really well, and Clarissa said that she could probably make a career out of it if she wanted to. The idea was tempting, but also a little daunting. It had always seemed like something that was ‘in the future,’ something that she wouldn’t have to worry about for a long time. But, time waited for no man, and before she knew it, she was completely finished with highschool and ready to take on the world as a fully grown adult. She didn’t even know what to have for dinner tonight, let alone what she wanted to spend the rest of her life doing! At least she could take comfort in the fact that her pack was with her. Wherever life would take them, they would figure it out together.
They walked into Danny’s Diner and took a seat at the booth, taking a look over the menu. Roxy sighed, realising that pretty much everything was out of her price range. She still hadn’t found a new job after quitting 7-11, and her funds were pretty much running dry. She probably should’ve just eaten at home, but the allure of ‘hang out with friends and loiter around town’ was too strong to resist. “Shit, I’m still broke as hell. I hate to ask, but could someone cover me?”
“I got you, babe,” Sam responded. “I was going to, anyway. It’s your birthday!”
Roxy smiled, trying to ignore the slight guilt that ate at her insides for being such a burden. She laid her head on Sam’s shoulder. “What would I do without you?”
“Starve, probably,” Drew said.
The rest of the morning went well. They all ate their food, and then argued over who would get to finish Leif’s leftover pancake that she was too full to eat herself. Roxy won, partially because she was the birthday girl, and partially because the pancake had chocolate chips in it, and while she had developed a werewolf’s appetite, it thankfully hadn’t come with any of the dietary restrictions. She didn’t know what sort of werewolf deity was looking out for her, but she made sure to thank them for their mercy. She wasn’t sure that she could survive without spicy food.
They made their way out of the diner after paying and spent the next hour or so walking around town, window-shopping and making jokes. It wasn’t anything special, but Roxy was happy. They stopped and got some ice-cream across the street from a park, where a news crew were reporting on the tearing-down of a statue. It had been there since Roxy and her family moved here, but she never really knew who the statue actually depicted. Some old racist from the civil war era, apparently. They stayed on their side of the street, watching the protesting crowd from afar.
“I’ve gotta say, this birthday has been a lot better than last year’s so far,” Roxy said.
“I should hope so,” Leif replied with a laugh. “Hopefully we keep it that way.”
“Eh, the bar’s pretty low. So long as you don’t burn me with hot metal, you should be good.”
Drew snapped his fingers. “Damn. There go my plans.”
Roxy chuckled and focused back on her ice-cream before it could melt too much in the Summer heat. A few months ago, a joke like that might have freaked her out. Logically, she knew Drew had no plans to burn her, but her unstable mind might have taken him seriously anyway, just in case he actually was a threat. Today, though, nothing was going to put a damper on her good mood. She smiled at an old man as he walked past, heading for the crossing. He smiled back as he crossed the road, slowly hobbling along with his walker. She knew him. Well, she didn’t know his name, but he lived a few houses down from her. There was a bus coming down the road, a little too fast for her liking. He couldn’t see it, his head was turned in her direction. It was okay, though. It would stop for him.
…Right?
…
It wasn’t stopping.
There was a blur of movement to her right as Drew suddenly sped forward, leaping at the old man with power and speed far beyond that of any human. He made it just in time, grabbing the man and pulling him out of the way of the bus just before it would have hit him. They flew to the other side of the street, landing together in a tumble. It all happened in less than a second. Drew saved his life while Roxy could do nothing but stare in horror.
“Drew!” Leif screamed, rushing over. Roxy remembered how to use her legs and quickly followed her, Sam in tow. They made it to the other side of the street just as Drew was standing up, helping the old man to his feet as well. The news crew from the park was running over, their cameras trained on Drew, and it didn’t take long for Roxy to realise why. In his fervour to save the old man, he’d half-shifted. His arms and face were covered in fur and his eyes were bright red, long fangs on full display. They’d finally performed the ritual on him a few weeks ago, after getting through the rest of the werewolves, so his lupine features were even more pronounced than they would be normally.
Oh no.
“Hey, are you alright?” Drew asked. “You didn’t hurt anything?”
The old man could only stare back at him in shock, the colour draining from his face. Finally, he screamed, falling straight back down to the ground. Drew frowned, looking up from the man and coming face to face with the camera, which Roxy knew was a live broadcast. Her stomach dropped.
“Drew! Your face!” Sam yelled.
Drew finally realised what all the commotion was about when he reached up and touched his furry cheek. His eyes went wide, staring into the camera lens. Slowly, his wolfish features reverted back into those of a human, giving whoever was watching at home a perfect view of the fact that this clearly wasn’t just a costume. Roxy would have face-palmed if she wasn’t currently on TV.
Finally, Leif ended all of their suffering by grabbing him at the back of his shirt collar and pulling him along as she ran down the street, away from the crowds of prying eyes. Roxy and Sam followed along as Drew regained enough composure to run by himself. The fear that Roxy could feel through her mark right now was second to none. Sam knew exactly what this meant for them, and Roxy knew it too.
They needed to call Pedro. Drew might have just fucked them all.