Lisa suddenly looked very weary. “Death is what makes life so beautiful. Even your species can die, and eventually will, though your long life might make you forget that at times.” Lisa turned and looked out of the window that her table sat beside. It was nearly noon, and the winter sun shone brightly on the lightly snow-covered ground. Tanya had barely noticed the bite of the cold air—another difference between their two species. “One day, much sooner than you, I will die,” Lisa continued.
Tanya shook her head. “No… I don’t…” She paused as the tears that had finally stopped welled up in her eyes again. “That’s not something I can think of.”
“It doesn’t matter if you can think of it or not, Tanya.” Lisa turned her brown eyes back on Tanya. “You have to accept it. And understand that our relationship, what we have now, is all the more precious because of it.”
Tanya suddenly wanted to jump and run. She wanted to shed her human skin and let her wolf take over and just run until her legs would no longer carry her. She didn’t want to think about her cheating mate, her controlling father, the torn beta who was loyal to both her and his alpha, or her friend who was mortal, every day moving closer to death. Isn’t that what humans were? From the moment they took their first breath, they began to die. Tanya shoved away from the table and stood up so fast that her chair nearly toppled over backward. Her quick reflexes allowed her to grab it and slam it back to the ground. “I need some air.” She wiped her face with the bottom of her shirt.
“Take some clothes.” Lisa pointed to a cabinet by the front door. Tanya knew that the woman had learned long ago that it was good to have clothes on hand when you lived around werewolves. “Come back when you’re ready. I’ll be here.”
Tanya clenched her fists. “Will you?”
Lisa stood slowly. “Sweet girl.” She walked over and pressed her hand to Tanya’s cheek. “My time in this world is not yet over.”
“You look older than the last time I saw you,” Tanya said before she could censor herself. “You move so much slower, as if you might break if you fell.”
Lisa patted Tanya’s cheek. “Yes, I have aged. But I still have things to do before I go home to my maker. And the top of that list is helping you in your time of need.” She walked toward the door, opened the cabinet, and took out a stack of clothes from a shelf with Tanya’s name on it. “When you get back, I will be here. Waiting. Maybe I’ll even make you dinner.”
Tanya took the offered clothes and pressed a kiss to Lisa’s cheek. “Thank you,” she whispered and then hurried out the door before she collapsed and begged the Great Luna to somehow spare Lisa’s life. She headed for the woods, in the opposite direction she’d seen Daniel drive off. She didn’t want company. As soon as she was under the cover of the trees, Tanya found a place to tuck the clothes away and then she gave control over to the wolf. In a blink, she went from two feet to four.
Her wolf shook out its fur and then threw back its head and howled. There were so many emotions in the wolf’s song, Tanya was sure that even her beast would be shedding tears when she opened her eyes. She pawed at the ground, sinking her claws past the snow and into the cold ground. Her wolf drew in a deep breath, enjoying the bite of the cold air in her lungs. Without another thought she lunged forward, taking off in a dead run. A part of her wanted to keep running and never stop. But she knew eventually she would have to face her mate. And her wolf looked forward to it. Stupid wolf.
After Tanya disappeared from her sight, Lisa remained in the doorway of her home, her heart aching for the young woman who was learning the painful side of love. Many people, including the Canis lupus at times, believed love to be just an emotion. However, it was much more than that. Love encompassed facets that some might never experience in their lifetime. Love went beyond a feeling, beyond the flutters in your stomach or the excitement of a new relationship. Throughout her lifetime, Lisa had heard so many people say they had “found” love. But love was not something to be found because it was not a tangible object that one searched for. When people claimed they were “in love,” what they really meant was they were “in infatuation,” which wasn’t a bad thing unless it became the foundation of their relationship. If that were the case, they would fail from the start.
Love was what made a relationship last, especially on the bad days when your partner was at their worst. In those moments when their words were unkind, their temper short, or their choices selfish, that was when love was crucial. It was then that you chose to love that person even though they were unlovable. Love was hard, often ungrateful, until that person, or even yourself, recognized that your actions or words had caused pain. Love was forgiving, even when it wasn’t deserved. It was about giving grace when you would rather have revenge. In short, love was a choice. It was an action, not just a feeling. Even between the powerful connection of true mates, the bond was not enough to ensure a healthy relationship. They could remain loyal and faithful to each other, but they were still imperfect beings who, like humans, could be selfish and cruel.
Lisa closed the door behind her, her movements stiff with pain. The winter months only exacerbated her discomfort, although that was not the main reason for her bodily aches. As Tanya had pointed out, Lisa was aging and no longer a spring chicken. What Tanya didn’t know was that Lisa’s agony stemmed from the disease that was slowly killing her. It was a recent diagnosis, and Lisa was still grappling with the reality of it. The idea of having to reveal her condition to her sweet friend, especially after the emotional blow she had just endured, made her stomach twist. Despite these thoughts weighing on her mind, Lisa pushed them aside and rummaged through the cabinets to find something to cook for dinner. Comfort food was the order of the day—a meal that would hopefully make her friend feel loved, even though she doubted whether she could love or be loved in return. Although she knew Tanya would not feel the cold due to what she was, Lisa still hoped that the warmth from the stove would offer some comfort—perhaps not the same kind of warmth as a human would feel, but warmth, nonetheless.
As Lisa prepared the meal, her mind wandered back thirty years earlier to the time when she first learned about the Canis lupus. She remembered how shocked she was when she discovered that a supernatural world existed around them.
As a nurse, Lisa often worked late nights, and the drive home to her house in the country was filled with long stretches of road with nothing around. It wasn’t uncommon to see a dead deer on the side of the road or even a coyote. However, on that particular night, as her headlights pierced through the dark night, it wasn’t either of those two things that she encountered. The form in the middle of the road was much larger than both deer and coyote and had a lot more fur. At first, Lisa thought it was simply a massive dog, but as she drove closer, she noticed its legs moving. She couldn’t believe the animal was still alive. Even though her medical training was in human care, her heart cared for all living beings. She couldn’t leave it to suffer while waiting to be hit by another car that might not be paying attention.
Lisa pulled her car over to the shoulder, ensuring that she kept it far enough back so that her headlights illuminated the animal, allowing her to determine the extent of its injuries. As she climbed out of the car, the sky overhead suddenly lit up with lightning, even though there had been no forecast for a thunderstorm that she had heard on the radio or news. Thunder boomed as she approached the injured creature, which was the only way she could describe it as she drew closer. It was huge. Once she was only a couple of feet away, Lisa froze. Thunder rolled overhead, and more lightning flashed, adding an even more surreal feeling to the already impossible sight. The creature had distinct parts that were not animal-like. Where giant paws should have been, there were hands—human hands. The chest was not covered in fur as it should have been; in fact, it wasn’t an animal’s chest at all. Fur surrounded flesh that appeared to be that of a human man. Lisa didn’t know what to think. It wasn’t Halloween. Could it possibly be someone dressed up in an incredibly well-done costume for some bizarre reason? Were the fur and head that were absolutely canine in appearance elaborate pieces to what appeared to be a Hollywood-quality getup?
Suddenly, the animal groaned, and its back legs moved. Lisa jumped and nearly screamed but quickly covered her mouth. What if this person was a weirdo with a sick fetish, using this ruse as a way to abduct people who were bleeding hearts for injured humans or animals? When the creature made noise again, it no longer resembled a growl. In fact, it didn’t sound like an animal at all. Lisa’s eyes ran back over its form, and she took a step back as she watched the head, which had been completely canine, begin to morph. Her breathing sped up, and her heart beat so painfully in her chest that she was sure she was going to have a heart attack on the spot. It would be her luck, and then this man-beast would probably eat her, leaving her bones for the carrion to pick the leftover rotting meat. “Good grief, Lisa,” she said breathlessly. “Pull yourself together.”
To be fair, Lisa had every right to be freaking out. Unless there was some other explanation for what she was seeing. Maybe one of her coworkers slipped her some sort of antipsychotic because they were feeling vindictive over having to do an extra bed bath. That’s because Lisa had been pulled aside by a surgeon to be yelled at over something that wound up being his own fault. Yes, that definitely had to be it. There was no way she was watching a wolf turn into a man, a very naked man, right before her eyes. Or maybe she was simply having a mental breakdown from the stress of her job. Nurses had one of the highest burnout rates in the country. It wasn’t easy to care for people who were sick, in pain, or dying. Family members could be verbally abusive, doctors were verbally abusive, and patients sometimes got physically abusive. All in all, it was a pretty challenging job, but she still loved it. That didn’t mean it couldn’t be taking a toll on her mental health.
“I’m going crazy.” More lightning struck, the crack of it so loud that she jumped. “That’s what it is. There’s probably not even a storm happening. I’m just imagining it, too. Yep.” Lisa nodded. “I’m actually driving down the road, and all of this is in my head. If I don’t pull myself together, I’m probably going to have a wreck and not even realize it.”
“You’re not going crazy,” a deep voice came from behind her. Lisa screamed and turned as the sky opened up and drenched her. It rained so hard that she could barely see the person who spoke. He was tall, seriously tall. He wore jeans and a black T-shirt, without a jacket. In late November, evenings in Missouri could get quite cold, but this man didn't seem bothered in the least. His body appeared relaxed, but she could see his hands clenched into fists at his side. She squinted to see more of his appearance, but the lights from her car behind him cast him mostly in silhouette.
“Wh-who are y-you? And wh-where in the world di-did you come from?” She looked around and didn’t see another vehicle. They were miles away from even the nearest gas station. All around them was the forest.
“That’s not important,” the man said.
“Umm, I disagree.” Lisa decided she preferred anger to fear. “I think it’s pretty damn important. I am a woman alone in the middle of the night. I have come across a dog-man and another man who appeared virtually out of nowhere. Do you think this is some sort of friendly meetup in a grocery store? If who you are and where you come from aren’t important, then what is?”
“I think you need to chill out so I can help my friend who is in a bad way,” the man said gruffly.
He began stalking toward her. Lisa backed up so quickly that she didn’t pay attention to where her legs were taking her. She felt her heels hit something, and her arms pinwheeled as she fell backward. The man grabbed one of her flailing arms and pulled her forward, managing to keep her from falling backward over the dog-man and onto her butt. He pushed her to the side, not gently, but not hard enough that she fell. Then he kneeled down and rolled the wolf over—nope, not a wolf.
“What in the hell is that?” She gasped and knew her eyes were so wide she probably looked like a cartoon character. The rain eased up, and she pushed her wet bangs from her face. “That wasn’t there when I stopped. That was not there.”
“He’s a person, not a ‘that,’” the large man barked at her. “He’s injured, and I need to get him help.”
As Lisa approached, she noticed a river of blood running from under the naked man’s body. The part of her brain that needed to help people battled with the part of her brain that said there was no way what she’d just seen was possible. The man groaned again and then began to cough. He tried to get air in his lungs, but the more he tried to breathe, the harder he struggled.
“He’s got a punctured lung.” The nurse in her won out. “And we need to see where he’s bleeding and get that under control.” She walked around to the other side of the two men and kneeled down. Her eyes met the green, glowing ones of the large male across from her. “I’ll help, but you have to promise not to hurt me.” She was sure she was crazy; there was no other explanation.
