The Sensible One (boyxboy) ✓

Chapter Thirty Three

[A/N] I'm in Singapore right now so my updates are all sporadic. I have a Twitter page now where I will let people know when I am delaying things. My name was taken so my name is @OkiNeptune (Oki meaning big in Japanese).

The ground was moist and dirty but it was paved, at least, with slabs of concrete. From where I sat on the floor, watching the scene in front of me with a sense of delayed panic, I wondered to myself at what point I had accidentally taken drugs, fallen asleep, or hit my head, that I had started seeing all of this.

It could have been at the very beginning, perhaps the past few weeks never happened at all, meeting Lowell was just some strange dream. That thought caused a pang of pain in my chest, of loss, which made no sense, as Lowell would never have existed at all, so I had neither gained nor lost anything. 

But it brought be back to the cold windy street, the wet rough pavement and the dumpster behind me, the dead end where the recently finished back of the block of flats cut off the end of the alleyway.

And in the moment I saw the black wolf and instead of fear I wanted to sling my arms around him, wondered if it might get me killed.

"I really would have thought you'd have run from this town by now..." The man spoke, his voice was low, a commanding aura about him.

The black wolf growled deep and low, his fangs showing, the sound reverberating across the walls surrounding us and a strange oppressive feeling suffusing into the air around us, the flash of yellow eyes glinting past as he swung his low head, pushing it lower, like a dog ready to bite. 

It grew louder and louder filled me with a sense of panic, without thinking I reached out toward it, sank my fingers deep into its fur, soft black fur, so soft it was misleading, matched the body of a much sweeter thing, not the terrifying visual of a huge wolf with massive pointed teeth and blazing eyes.

But I felt his heart pounding through his fur, felt him jolt slightly as my hand sank into it, felt as though I could feel some of his fear bleeding out of my fingers, the way he calmed down giving me a sense of relief as well. 

He turned his head toward me, but seemingly refused to look directly at me, more glanced at me as he edged toward me and slowly he transformed back into a man. 

I think... it was almost as much of a shock seeing him turn back into a man as it was watching him turn into a wolf. For some reason a renewed sense of confusion and panic had me blinking through an odd fog in my brain, a fog that was permeated with incredulous denial.

But his figure shifted in front of me, crouching and then extending into the position of standing tall, though hunched forwards a little, aggressive in form. There was Lowell, just as before, all his signals defensive and on guard, ready to bite someone's head off... maybe literally.

"What did you do to Reed?" He asked them low.

In particular the question seemed directed at the man who stepped in front of the group, the one who initially spoke to him.

"He's safe for now." The man smiled and cocked his head. "Who's your friend?"

Lowell stepped in front of me. "What did you do to him." He asked again through gritted teeth. "He has a mate."

"She can wait." He shrugged his shoulders.

Lowell was stiff as he broadened out his shoulders. "Then you'll let him go."

"I'll think about it." He hummed. "If you're good."

Oh, I understood Norman all of a sudden. I felt his rage swim in the air like a kind of perfume, reaching out toward me in one go.