Collins

We had a nice day. I meant I made her laugh. She ran around the street when she could have been sitting there and thinking all bad thoughts. She was happy, and I made it happen.

She would have sat on the porch like a cat who lost its kitten. And I didn't want that for her. It was not her fault that someone had cast a spell on her generation; she didn't have to go through much trouble because of me. So I did what I thought was best for her. I made her run.

It was fun. Everything was normal until we arrived and saw someone had broken into the house.

It turned out the person wasn't a stranger. It was a guy called Eric. He was bald, tall, and bearded. His head was nothing interesting; I thought of a round big yellow egg with some hair. He looked comfortable holding some food he had bought and a bottle of Jack Daniels.

I would have attacked him, but it seemed his appearance wasn't new. Yet, I stayed alert, legs spread apart, eyes on the target, teeth ready for a bite.

They greeted each other-- he and Angelina. Then Angelina turned to me and spoke with her mind. She could see my stance and tell that I was ready to make the intruder regret why he was standing there. She knelt and spoke with her mind.

“Calm down, calm down, Collins,” she begged. “I got this. You have to trust me. Please, trust me,” she embraced me in a hug. Then she got up and led me towards the bedroom. Once I was inside, she locked the door from the outside.

“That’s nice big dog. Where did you get him from?” the loud-mouthed guy asked.

“I will be back. Do not cause any trouble,” Angelina spoke.

I listened to her because all I wanted to do was protect her, and as far as I knew, the other shouldn't be near her. Yes, I met him for the first time a couple of minutes ago, but I'd heard about him. I knew he had other girls, but “it was nothing serious.” That wasn't the type of relationship to have with a woman you care about. You don't keep her guessing where your head was. Keep things real or get out of her life.

I paced the room around and around, looking for the best route to break out. The window was there, but it led outside the house and was locked. There was an image of me on the nightstand. Angelina and I were both in the image, hands around each other. I smiled and walked closer until I could see the date below: December 2008. That was two years ago. The picture was taken during Christmas. I remembered how we went partying, drinking, and cooking that night. It was just us in our own world that day, from night till dawn.

We’d both added weights compared to what’s in the picture.

Eric raised his voice. “You shut up!” he shouted at her.

I turned around, walked toward the door, and placed my ears on the doorframe to eavesdrop. This was the part I liked about being a wolf. I could use my ability to hear them clearly, and I could listen to Angelina’s heartbeat.

Eric's heart was beating faster, and it was more of rage as if he was ready to fight someone. I would break the door if the worst happened. Though it would be a little difficult, I would try anyway, even if Angelina didn't want me to interfere. I would have no choice if the man raising his voice did something stupid, like hitting her.

I could hear her voice. She was communicating with me, saying sweet things to me. “I know you're listening. Please don't come out. He is a curious thing and won't leave you alone once he suspects something. Please, stay,” she spoke.

“I hear you, Angie, but it's up to him. If he lay his hands on you, I won't spare him,” I spoke back.

“You're not even listening to me,” Eric cut in. “What do you want from me, Angie?”

He shouldn't call her that. He didn't have the right.

“I am listening to you,” Angelina begged, “but now isn't the right time. We can talk about this at work tomorrow.”

“Are you pregnant? Or are you seeing someone else,” he asked.

I was confused and straining my ears to listen --- even more, to hear what Angelina had to say about that. But she was quiet. She wasn't even talking to me with her mind, even though I wanted her to say something.

“No,” she blurted out.

"So what? I've been trying to reach you, but you're avoiding me."

“I-I have something I need to sort out. Personally,” she said.

Everything went silent for a second. I strained my ears even harder, but all I could hear was the sounds of two hearts beating harder and louder than normal. They weren't not running or jumping, but their heartbeats were banging in their chest like heavy drums in a brigadier's hands. I wanted to step out so badly to see their physical reactions, to intervene before things could get worse.

“Don't do it, Collins,” Angelina said.

That was all I needed to stay calm again and pay attention.

“You're not breaking up with me. Are you?” Eric asked. “Do you know how much I care about you? The future we're going to have. The plans we had and the things we would do with our time after we get married,” he said all of these carefully, like a rehearsal of some kind. Like he had those words at the back of his hands.

“I didn't plan anything serious with you, Eric,” Angelina said. “I only accepted your date once. And the night... I didn't promise a commitment or forever,” she said.

I could hear some footsteps walking away, but Eric’s voice came, and the feet stopped moving. “Okay, wait! I can make things right. What did I do wrong? What do you want me to do that I haven't? Tell me the truth and I will change.”

I set the front paws on the door and spoke. “Tell him you don't want a change. You want an end. You don't want to see his bald head who always has options. He should stick with his other girls.”

“Relax, Collins. I got this,” she spoke.

I set my paws on the floor. I wish I knew what happened next, but I could hear a few slaps, and twice, Angelina shouted, get off me! Then everything got silent again, yet two hearts beat harder and harder. Eric was getting angry, and I wished the bedroom door wasn't locked so I could stand by Angelina and prevent any assault. She needed me.

Something crashed to the floor. It was probably a bottle or bottle. I waited for the sound of fighting or struggling, but I heard none of those. The main door to the house slammed shut, and then the house fell silent again until Angelina began to clear whatever mess had been left to clean.

I waited for her to open the door, but she took her time doing it even though I was hitting my hand on the door and speaking to her with my mind. She took her time. She opened the door eventually. I walked out of the bedroom and followed her to the living room. I could see the spilled alcohol.

Angelina walked into the kitchen to continue her cooking. I could smell fried meat all over the room and licked my lip in anticipation. But there was a greater problem to deal with. Eric had ruined Angelina's evening, and she was walking around the kitchen like an active drunk. Someone whose mind was away, but the body was present. She handled the kitchen spoon like she was holding a stick. Her hands held the spoon in the middle, and sometimes, she walked around and dropped it far away, only to return for it a few seconds later.

I had a question on my mind, and it would be stupid to ask why Eric was asking about pregnancy. I would wait till things got less tense. They’d been dating, seeing each other, and having sex, but it was still a painful thought that he could have gotten her pregnant. I would ask later. Angelina wasn't herself. She sighed again and brushed her hair backward for the tenth time since I had been standing here.

“Hey,” I called her, and she looked back at me. “Did that guy hurt you?” I asked her.

She looked back at me and smiled.

“No,” she said out loud. “He is… as expected, angry,” she said.

I walked closer, and the closer I got, the stronger the smell of the meat. I glanced at the sizzling oil and the meat and then turned to Angelina. “You're worried he is going to fire you?”

“Yeah,” she said. “And I know him. He is not giving up. He will want to hurt me before he gets rid of me before he fires me.”

“Hurt you?”

“I don't mean physically. He is going to make the job difficult, so I am preparing myself for that.”

“Oh.”

I raised a paw and hugged her.

“I will sort it out. We will be fine,” she said.

I sat on the floor, trying to keep my eyes and nose away from the meat. She looked down at me. “You can use my credit card. I have some savings, too. While you find a new job.”

She looked away from me as if I had suggested something ridiculous. “You know I can't do that. You will need that money more than anything else once you become humans again. What will you fall back on if you spend everything in your savings or investment.”

“If I can survive this, I will survive anything.”

“No,” she said. “I will figure it out. And yeah, we will find a witch that can help.”

She served me meat after that, and I didn't know how hungry I was until I smelled the hot and freshly fried meat. I didn't know I could eat meat that fasts. She watched me and laughed at the ridiculous speed at which I finished eating the meat. Then she served me more, and I consumed it the same way.

We sat in the living room afterward. I watched the Television while she sat in the dining working on her laptop, perhaps preparing for the next day's work. Somehow the thought that she would be with Eric for hours tomorrow was unpleasant, like the thought of seeing a cruel doctor because you have a toothache. She needed the job, but a better one, not with someone who counted as one choice out of many. To me, she was the only one that I wanted. It had been that way since I could remember how to count the numbers.

I stood up from the couch and went behind, peeping to see her laptop screen. She wasn't actually preparing for work. Her computer was showing a page on a job board. She was looking for a job, anyone at all. And that made me sad.

Later, we both went to the bedroom and slept holding each other. But I couldn't sleep no matter how hard I tried. Behind me, Angelina slept peacefully, hands wrapped around me. After waiting for hours and I couldn't sleep, I got out of bed, went outside the house, and sat on the porch.

Surely, the sleeplessness had little to do with my worries about Angelina. But it had much to do with my new fondness for the night. I had extra energy. I could hear a lot clearer, and since the night was silent, I could hear an extremely faint sound. Sitting on the pouch, I could hear loud howls some kilometers away. There was a huge urge to dash out in the dark and find that sound. It was as if some people -- a pack of wolves -- were calling me from miles and miles away. I still had a lot to learn about my new abilities. As far as the howling and snarling seemed, they could hear me, and I could hear them. Running out in the dark was tempting, but I waited, hoping the calls would stop. But it didn't, and it was impossible to resist.