I woke up in the bed of the van. The morning light that entered through the side door was pretty annoying. I noticed a metallic flavor in my mouth and I touched my lip, seeing blood in my fingers.

I propped myself up and cheeked my body looking for wounds. I was okay, better than okay. I had been getting in shape over the past few weeks but that was the next level. My shy abs had turned into a sculptural six-pack. I could see each muscle under my skin in each body part. And my arms, god with my arms.

After that first moment of admiring my new body, I noticed all the blood over it. An uncomfortable question appeared in my mind. Who was the owner of that blood? My kidnapper entered the van.

"Good, you're awake," he said while he was looking for things in a toiletry bag. I showed my hands covered in blood like a desperate request for answers. He looked at me and sighed. "You were hangry and I taught you how to haunt some rabbits. You aren’t bad at catching them but you waste most of the good parts."

I let myself fall on the bed. "It wasn't a dream. I'm a werewolf,” I said, trying so hard not to think that I had killed those poor creatures.

"This is not the terminology, but yes, you're a shapeshifter," he said, still looking in the bag.

"And are you who bit me last month? You are my alfa, aren't you?" I asked.

"Again, not the terminology, but yes." He took some shampoo and a towel. "C'mon, you need a shower." He said getting out of the van.

I got up noticing that I was naked.

"Ehh, you."

"Romulo."

"Romulo, I'm... wait a second, is your name Romulo?"

He sighed again looking at me while I was trying to cover myself with the blanket. "Yes, it is."

"Sorry, but I'm naked."

He closed his eyes and snorted. "Yes, you're naked because you were impossible yesterday. Go to shower."

"But I'm naked," I said looking down.

"Fucking idiot," he muttered. "You fell asleep in your other form: I was who took you here, naked. Can you fucking move your ass right now?" He yelled at me.

I put the blanket around my wrist and followed Romulo to the back part of the van. The two back doors were open showing two plastic deposits and some utensils under what I guess was the bed in the compartment. In the left door was a showerhead which Romulo was connecting to one of the deposits. Then he turned back and rolled his eyes to see me with the blanket covering my privates.

"There is little and it’s cold, be quick. Here," he said, giving me a strange soap bottle in a foreign alphabet. "It doesn't smell good but it's perfect to clean blood."

Then I stayed looking at him until he finally rolled his eyes again and went to the side of the van. The water was cold and the soap smelled like I was cleaning myself with bleach, and as far as I knew could be one of the ingredients.

"What's your complete name?" Romulo asked from the side of the van.

"Jonathan Thompson, but everyone calls me Jon," I answered. Meanwhile, the water finally changed from a reddish color to a normal one.

"Jonathan then. I need your password."

"What?" I asked. He showed my phone in the corner of the van. "I'm not giving you my password."

"I have to make a backup of your data. I don't have any interest in your boring private life."

I hesitate for a second but like the last day, I have an inner wish to do what he was asking me. "310115, the day we adopted my little sister." The sister who had warned me about the terrible idea of going to the party. Not for the reason she thought, but I should have paid attention. "I have to call my parents, they must be worried. Never have I spent the night away from home without calling."

"You'll do it, but first end the shower."

I made a final pass with soap to remove any possible rest of the blood. If Melisa, my sister, knew what I did with these poor animals, she wouldn’t speak with me again. I turned off the water and Romulo threw me a towel from the corner.

"You have clothes inside the van," he said.

He went to the pilot seat with my phone in his hand while I went to dress. There was a T-shirt from a football team which I didn't know and gray shorts. Both of them were used recently and both were giant to me. No underwear in sight.

"Ehh, I don't wanna sound ungrateful but..."

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"It's the best I can offer you. Your other option is to go naked," he said like he was reading my mind. "Take the shoes that better fit you. They’re under the bed. Go to the passenger seat when you are ready."

I dressed and took sandals because they were the only ones that weren’t double the size of my feet. The clothes didn't fit so badly, they were big but at least the pants didn't go down. Could they fit last night? I didn’t only gain muscle but also height, I guess I was bigger than before.

I entered the cabin and I sat in the passenger seat. He kept doing something with my phone.

"Ehh, Romulo, can I ask you something?"

He sighed. "Shoot it."

"My body is like … not my body."

"Yeah, there are a lot of changes necessary to balance our double nature. For bitten people, it is fast only a month to receive all the changes, for this reason, you were in pain throughout your first transformation. The next one will be easy.” Then he brought the phone closer to me. "Here, I need you to call your parents and tell them that you won't go home for now."

"Okay, but I should come back before night. They won't be happy if I spend two nights away from home," I said, trying to catch the phone but he put it away before I could touch it.

"Jonathan, you won't come back home for a very long time. We have to go with my pack."

"What?, I can't. I have school and the basketball team. And never will my parents agree with that."

"You're almost eighteen, aren’t you? And there are no other options. It's dangerous."

"Yes, in December, but I don’t want to. I had to help my sister buy clothes. She likes a boy and I promised, I promised to help her," I stammered.

"Jonathan heard my words. It’s too dangerous. You are too dangerous. The next full moon or even before you could transform and, well, the rabbits could be your family the next time."

I put my head down trying to catch my breath. "I never could. You said this was a gift, not a curse."

"And there is but you need time to learn and find a balance between your doubleself. My job is to make sure you do it without killing anyone in the process or being killed yourself. But I can't do it here, we need the pack," he gave me the phone. I looked at the screen where several missed calls and texts popped up.

"I can't do it. They won't believe me."

"Perfect life, I don’t think so. Is there really no reason why you would want to run away?"

The question hit me like a wrestler in a national competition. "I told them that I'm bisexual two months ago." Romulo was looking at me. I could sense his glance over my back. "My mother didn't take it well. Our relationship has been weird since then, she always has been so tolerant but for some reason..." I kept quiet without the strength necessary to end the sentence.

"It's not the same with his own child," Romulo finished my words. "I can imagine this is hard, but they need a good reason to not call the police and to not search for you before you're ready."

I tear fell on the phone. I enter my contacts and push my father's number. I don't think there was another moment in my life where I would have such an extreme wish for no one to take the call.

"Jon. Are you okay?" He asked with a genuine feeling of worry.

"I am, dad. I'm sorry, I ... I was with a friend."

"Ohh, boy, you're in so much trouble. Do you think it is normal to leave your mother and me all night worried for you? You could have called at least..." I let him say all he needed to say. How much he was disappointed with my behavior. These words in other circumstances would be the most painful part of the conversation. "When will you get home?" The scolding wasn't too long but it was intense. I would be grounded for a long time and I would be grateful to receive it.

"Dad, sorry, I wo…won't go home."

"What?" He said without a hint of the angry tone of before.

"Things are not going well. I need to find myself and I can't do it here. I need a break."

"Jon, what are you trying to say to me?"

"I'm leaving town, I'm not sure for how long. I can’t stay at home for now," I said, trying to suppress the urge to cry.

"Son, please, come home. We can talk about this calmly. I know your relationship with your mother has been weird for some weeks. But I'm sure she doesn't want you to feel this way. She has some expectations about you and your sister and she felt a little off because of them. But it's her problem not yours, you don't have anything wrong. We talked about this and she's trying to fix it. Please, don't do it." He started to cry. I had heard my father cry before, but never because of me. I was totally broken. I started to cry too and it was painful.

"It's not mom. It's school, it's the team, but above all it's me. I'm not the same and I need to find myself."

Both stayed quiet for a while. "Be careful. I'm going to send you some money to your account, don't waste it."

My quiet cry turned into a sound one. "Dad, you don't have to do it."

"Yes, I do. If you have some problem, call home. If you need me to pick you up on the other coast of the country, call home. You can come home at any moment without having to explain, in any moment. Have you heard me?"

"Dad. I love you," I said between tears.

"I love you too kiddo, be safe and I wish you found what you are searching for."

Both stayed quiet until I summoned the strength to hang out.

I let my back rest on the seat. Romulo put his hand over my shoulder, I looked at him but he was looking at the sunrise between the trees in front of us. I do the same and we stay in this way for a while. Finally, his deep voice broke the silence.

"We need to get rid of the phone."

"Why?" I said still trying to contain the storm of feelings that was destroying me in its wake.

"The police could track you. I don't think they're gonna search for you after your conversation with your dad, but you're still underage. We cannot take the risk." I gave my phone to him.

"Do whatever you have to do," I said while I was trying to snuggle in the seat. He smashed the phone with his bare hands and took it into a plastic bag.

"I put all your information in a new account so that you can log in to a new phone, when we arrive with the pack I will get you one."

He started the motor and we drove to a secondary road, we left my hometown behind after ten minutes.