Oh dear.
Oh dear.
Oh dear.
Look crazy or save a life?
What was I thinking?
Possibly save a life and definitely look crazy.
“When did you get the…German shepherd in?” Playing dumb, I frowned at the wolf-looking canine in the large back kennel at the animal shelter I volunteered at on a regular basis.
I was pretty sure it was my declaring him a shepherd that made him start growling at me, but it could’ve just been the dog comment in general. There was no way that was a dog but I seemed to be the only one who understood that because Mandy chuckled. “We think it’s some kind of wolf hybrid. It’s definitely not just a shepherd.”
Silly me.
But at least I hadn’t asked her where she’d gotten a werewolf from.
“Really?” Still playing dumb, I cocked my head and studied the animal that was smaller than I’d always expected a werewolf to be. “Isn’t that illegal?”
If it wasn’t, it should’ve been.
She sighed and seemed to get distracted as he gave another low growl. “It’s not a good idea no matter what. He’s snapped at everyone who’s tried to come near him and wouldn’t let the vet tech check him out at all. We nearly had to sedate him to get him in the kennel because he came to a lot faster than we expected.”
Well, I wouldn’t want to be poked and prodded either…much less locked in a cage by humans.
“Came to?” How had they ended up with him?
Frowning, Mandy didn’t seem to like the answer to my question. “Someone appears to have hit him with a car from what we can tell. He was out cold when he was brought in but he woke up slightly disgruntled before we could do much.”
Oh.
“Right now he seems fine, but Sara is still trying to figure out who to call because…well…he’s just not adoptable no matter what he is, and if he’s actually part wolf, there are rules we need to follow.” She didn’t seem like she wanted to follow the rules, which made me decide not to take the conversation down that path.
No one wanted to fill out any extra government forms unless it would come with a grant at the other end.
“There’s no way of knowing what he is without a genetic test.” I knew that from a mutt my mother tried to have declared a pureblood beagle so she could try to breed it. “Are you guys going to pay for that?”
Her wince said she knew they weren’t going to pay for anything. The shelter was always barely scraping by, and their complete inability to tell anyone no was probably how the werewolf ended up there to begin with.
“We’ll figure something out.” She shrugged, trying to convince herself it’d be fine. “There’s no way he’s going to be adoptable.”
Not in his current headspace.
“How…” What was I going to do? “Um, how about I sit with him for a few minutes before I start walking the other guys?”
Her look of disbelief should’ve been rude, but I was slightly impulsive when it came to dogs or anything canine related.
“I won’t go near the kennel.” Holding up a hand like I was swearing in court, I did my best to look as honest as possible. “I will not go near enough for him to lick my hand even if he was the cutest Great Dane you’ve ever seen.”
They’d gotten one in last month who’d somehow wandered out of his owner’s house. How they’d lost something that size had amazed everyone, but he’d been at the shelter just long enough for everyone to fall in love with the cuddly giant.
“He’s not safe, Dorian.” Still frowning at me, she waited a few seconds before sighing. “Fine. But if you get bit in any way, you won’t be allowed back. We’ll lose our insurance.”
It hadn’t been my fault that Pomeranian bit me…it’d been possessed by something because nothing else could explain that level of crazy in a dog.
“I promise.” Taking a step back from the kennel, I pressed myself against the wall on the other side of the hallway and pointed to the floor. “I will sit here and you can even watch me not move through the cameras.”
I certainly wasn’t going to go near a growling creature no matter what it was…I was impulsive, not terminally stupid…and I liked all my fingers exactly where they were.
“Fine.” She clearly didn’t believe me but one glance at the very angry animal seemed to push her to my side. “Maybe having someone here will help him relax.”
I hoped so because otherwise he was screwed. Everyone else at the shelter had a boring human energy and never pinged my weird radar as anything but normal. Really nice, but really normal.
Before I could do more than nod, she glared at me and wagged a finger in my direction. “Don’t touch him.”
“I won’t.” It’d be rude if he was a werewolf and stupid if he was just an angry wolf hybrid that someone had bred. “I promise.”
I got a few more sighs and glares from her, but eventually, she turned around and headed back toward the front of the shelter. There was always a mountain of paperwork to do and it was a slow enough time of day that I knew she’d get distracted with all of it soon.
Unless I did something stupid to make her keep watching me.
Nope.
I was going to be boring and sit very still for a few minutes until she got back to work or went back to playing the game she’d been playing when I’d startled her earlier. Considering I came every Saturday afternoon, she was always shocked to see me.
“Hello.” Really hoping he wasn’t just some weird dog, I looked in his general direction without making eye contact since I wasn’t sure if that was rude or not.
Just because I knew there was stuff out there didn’t mean I understood any of the manners and customs associated with them…or why my mailman was always mumbling to himself about “those damn humans” or why the lady who kept trying to sell me candles from some kind of multi-level marketing scheme told me humans liked smelling nice.
Yeah, my neighbors were weird, so I was going to do my best not to offend the werewolf guy. “I’m sorry for how loud it is in here, but as long as you can hear me, we’re just going to count it as a blessing. All the barking is the reason the cameras don’t record sound.”
They’d tried when they first opened the facility but it’d been a nightmare.
Waiting, I did my best to project calm and look relaxed so Mandy wouldn’t think I seemed suspicious, but it was hard when the werewolf went still and somehow ended up looking even more menacing.
Shoot.
Did he really think the safest course of action was to eat me?
“If you eat me, they’ll put you down.” It seemed like humans weren’t the only ones who made impulsive decisions. “You need to look like you’re calming down slowly so it won’t look weird.”
His head cocked.
Good grief, had I gotten a stupid werewolf?
“If you’d like I can pretend someone taught you to use those weird buttons that are always showing up online, but I think that’s just going to needlessly complicate matters.” His huff definitely had a canine sound but his expression looked like he thought I was an idiot.
Clearly we were both questioning each other’s intelligence.
“Alright, then your best bet is to calm down and do a better job of looking like a dog that can be adopted and less like an angry werewolf looking to eat people.”
How had he managed to roll his eyes?
Did canine eyes even do that?
“I’m trying to be helpful here, so less attitude would be appreciated.” I shouldn’t have needed to point that out. “Everyone around here is human as far as I can tell and you’re going to be screwed if we can’t figure out a plan.”
Finally.
He flopped down on the ground and somehow managed to look bored, but it was better than his monster movie routine. “Thank you.”
God.
I recognized that look.
He was a teenager.
“You aren’t fully grown, are you?” His snort and the way he looked away from me said I was right on the money.
Please God let all teenagers work the same way across different species.
“You’re impressive now but your paws are huge. I bet you’re going to be massive when you’re fully grown.” Bingo. His gaze shifted back in my direction and he didn’t growl that time. “Managing to keep them all away from you is impressive too.”
Thank God.
He was still doing his relaxed and bored of life routine, but he at least turned his head in my direction again. “I’m going to need your help to figure out the best way to help you. I don’t know anything about your world except some people set off some kind of internal radar like…it’s like having really good gaydar but less useful.”
Oops.
Should I have mentioned that?
He laughed.
Teenagers were a pain in the ass.
“Ignore that. It was inappropriate.” I needed to shift into teaching mode but it was hard. “But yes, I have no idea how to get you out of here. They know I can’t adopt a pet because of my rental agreement. So I can’t pretend to adopt you.”
That would’ve been the easiest option, but we were going to have to think outside the box. My new friend seemed to agree that life was being difficult based on the almost-sigh he let out. It looked as if I’d gotten through to him, though, because his body language changed to show he was more engaged with what I was saying.
“The cameras will show some of your movements. Anything that happens in about the first third of the space if I’m remembering them correctly.” I’d seen them a few times, but I’d never needed to remember the details. “So you’re going to have to be subtle while we’re figuring things out, but I know you’re going to be able to do that.”
Playing up his smarts again seemed to help the situation because he went still and I could almost see the wheels in his head spinning. I wasn’t sure what he was doing, but not being a pain in the ass meant I had to be patient.
Oh.
His front feet shifted back and forth slightly.
His ears flicked one at a time.
His tail went side to side slowly.
He was figuring out how he could communicate…thank God…he wasn’t going to be stubborn just to drive me insane.
“The ears were subtle and wouldn’t stand out on camera. Your tail going back and forth so deliberately might draw more attention but I really don’t think she’ll be able to see it from the position you’re in.” Should we make sure, though? “Um, why don’t you stand up and do a slow circle like you’re thinking and trying to decide if you’re going to ignore me.”
His ears flicked in a deliberate motion that made me want to smile. “Then when you settle back down, you’ll want to be about a foot deeper in the…the room.”
Space?
Kennel?
Cage?
No…not cage.
Thankfully my slightly attitude-inclined new friend didn’t notice my word issue as he stood up and did a very dog-like stretch before doing a wonderful job of shifting back in the kennel. When he settled down again, lower half well out of range of the camera, there was no question in my mind that I was right about him being a werewolf.
But we still needed to figure out what to do next…I was a math teacher, not the James Bond of the paranormal world.
“Wonderful.” Trying not to look too excited, I started talking through my thoughts. “How about something like right tail or ear twitch for yes and left for no?”
He twitched everything.
When I sighed and rolled my eyes, he gave me a shit-eating grin like he was proud of himself. “Don’t be a smart-ass.”
That didn’t stop his pleased-as-fuck attitude but he did settle down like he was ready to be helpful. “Okay, so we need someone to come get you…agreed?”
I wasn’t sure if he was thinking of something else, but I was glad when his right ear flicked for yes.
“I’m going to list off the weird people I know and you let me know when I hit on someone who’s going to be helpful.” Fingers crossed I’d come across someone helpful. “My mailman grumbles about humans and is a disagreeable person. One of my neighbors keeps trying to sell me candles. She’s not human either.”
As I kept going through everyone I’d met in the last couple of months, he grinned a few times at my descriptions but he didn’t seem to know most of them. “Okay…further out…”
We needed more options.
“I stopped for gas last week and the guy growled at me.” I stopped as my new friend finally twitched everything. “Really?”
And we were back to him rolling his eyes.
“Okay. It was in a small town not far from where I teach.” Most of the kids in the area were apparently homeschooled, but there was enough to run a small high school.
I’d done my best to ignore any might not be human weirdness but that might not have been the best decision because so many kids pinged my radar I couldn’t tell who wasn’t human and who was. “It’s in the opposite direction from where I live, so I haven’t explored that area much.”
Based on how his ears and tail all twitched, I should’ve made more of an effort to hang out there. Not that I was trying to meet more of the nonhumans in the area…but it would probably be polite.
“Well, that’s a start in the right direction.” We both seemed to be feeling better based on the chuffing almost laughing sound he made. “If I head over there and stop at that gas station again, am I going to meet someone helpful?”
Yes.
Thank goodness.
Now I just had to figure out how to approach the angry man who worked there and ask if he knew any werewolves.
I was going to end up committed before I saved him if I wasn’t careful.
