Fangs Or Tails?

10 | Chapter

A growl escaped his lips against his will, unable to hold back the animal within him anymore. Throat vibrating with the unfamiliar sound, Tobias gripped his legs even tighter than what he thought possible. Eyes fixated on the man, no, werewolf, standing before him.

This guy again! He may be the reason that I exist, but that does not warrant all the stress that he put you through! The least he can do is leave you alone.

"Are you alright?" Felix wisely kept his distance, as if instinctively knowing that he was unwelcome. But that didn't stop him from roving his pools of obsidian over the scrunched up ball of flesh and bones that was Tobias. Worry marring his perfectly sculptured face. He slowly, but surely, lowered himself to the ground, so that he now squatted at Tobias' eye level. An action which was silently appreciated.

Tobias gained back a smidgen of control over his body, and exhaled a shaky breath the second he did. Every inch of him was trembling with such fervor that one would think he was suffering from a seizure. Sweat dribbled steadily down in bucket fulls. It took a tremendous effort for him to scrounge up the words from within his scrambled brain.

"It... h-hur-t-tss," Tobias rasped, voice so wrecked that he was concerned that the words weren't coherent enough.

Tobias? Chase's voice came out garbled. It was too low to be heard properly.

Thankfully, Felix had no trouble hearing. He immediately shuffled closer, eyes frantically searching for an injury, still hesitating to touch him. He noticed blood smeared under Tobias' nose, yet he doubted that that was the entirety of the pain. "Where? What hurts?" A lone tear trickled down the boy's cheek, very nearly sending Felix into a mindless panic. Tobias rested his aching head against the wall with closed eyes, struggling to take in adequate air to fill his suddenly starved lungs.

"Everything..." he breathed out.

Tobias! I'm so sorry! I don't know what to do!

Chase wasn't the only one who was panicking at Tobias' weakened state. Felix barely held himself together, seeing the guy in so much pain made his chest tighten as well. He had an inkling of what was happening to Tobias though. He's a newly turned werewolf, there was bound to be some pain involved in the process. But the extent to which Tobias was obviously feeling was too intense to simply be part of the transformation. Something else was at work. The only solid thing he knew was that it was somehow connected to his novelty in being turned.

"Tobias, I'm going to touch you to help you stand up. Is that okay?" Felix asked softly, not wanting to startle him. "I'm going to help with the pain to the best of my ability, but we need to move to somewhere more isolated. Someone could spot us skipping school."

He gave the werewolf a jerky nod, more than eager to get out of the place. Tobias didn't want anyone else to see him in such a pathetic state. Not again. A low groan squirmed its way free.

Felix didn't need further prompting to kickstart himself into action. Sliding an arm around his shoulders, he hauled Tobias to his feet with minimum effort. Thanks to his supernatural strength, it was no grand feat. Two wobbling hands latched on to his jacket, and a burning forehead pressed against his exposed collarbone. A shiver ran down Felix's spine at the extra warm skin on his own. An inappropriate smile threatened to make it's appearance, but he perserved.

Squashing down the urge to nuzzle the sweet smelling, sand colored hair just inches from his nose, Felix started to walk. Heavily conscious about the feverish body next to his.

Somehow... in someway... the anger boiling him from the inside out calmed somewhat at the werewolf's touch.

The reprieve was just enough for Tobias to maintain a semi-conscious thought process. Yet not for him to be able to stand straight. His entire weight was leaned on his schoolmate, legs barely moving to even count as walking. If he was not delirious from the burning fury ravaging his very being, Tobias would never allow anyone to touch him in such a manner. The act seemed... intimate almost, in a way that scared him shitless. But right at that moment, he admitted to himself that he desperately needed the guy to be his support. In more ways than just helping him stand or walk.

Coin...

The direction in which his thoughts were heading in was a dangerous, uncharted territory. Tobias needed the reassurance from his most cherished possession. Except... he tried to reach for it, only for him to lose his balance the moment he released his hold on the jacket. A distressed whine left him.

"Whoa, careful!" Felix warned. However, the whine caught his attention far better than the slight stumble, which he soon corrected. His heart ached at the sight of the normally self-confident loner, reduced to a vulnerable boy seeking help. And it was all his fault...

Stop squirming Tobias, you're gonna hurt yourself!

He didn't have the heart to speak those words out loud, sneaking a glance at him. Felix frowned as he noticed the rapid gasping breaths and fumbling hands. It clicked in his mind after a short while, especially when he'd already observed the boy for countless hours. Watching him had become one of his favorite pastimes the last few days.

Felix never once stopped walking, and reached with his free hand in to Tobias' jean pocket. He swiftly dipped two fingers in and out, not wanting to further increase anxiety when all he was trying to do was prevent it, exiting with his prize. The coin. Victorious, he slipped it into Tobias' fidgeting right hand which grapped on to the coin quite desperately. Seeing that that crisis was averted, Felix hastened his pace towards the forest. Having changed the direction he was originally aiming for.

The pack house is too far away to bring him to. I have to find a way to lessen his pain first, and then take him there.

The short trek to the edge of the woods went as smooth as it could go. With Tobias clutching on to both the coin and the lapels of his jacket, and Felix speed-walking through the underbrush, carrying the weight of a grown man with ease. A handful of minutes later, they stopped.

Taking a huge, deep inhale, Tobias instantly felt better once he was away from all the city noises. But not fully cured. He relaxed his grip, and let himself gently fall to his knees on the cool grass. The feeling of the solid earth underneath his fingers proved to soothe a troubled mind. Yet it wasn't enough. His body still scorched something dreadful.

"Look at me, Tobias."

He felt hands tenderly grasp his cheeks, coaxing him to open eyes which were screwed shut. Panting, Tobias met the eyes of his stalker with his own bleary ones. Except... they looked... different. The iris seemed inhumanly larger, only a few hints of the white remaining at the very edges. They had an animalistic quality in them. Tobias was captivated by the two black holes that stared straight through to his soul.

Chase stirred within his mind, drawn towards the surface by the odd shift in Felix's eyes. It felt almost as if the two of them, man and wolf, were looking out of the same window, side by side. Finally in harmony. When Felix touched their foreheads together, his eyes widened as all the aches and boiling temper were washed away by a single sweep of a calm wave. The experience was like a warm hug, enveloping the blazing inferno and muffling it into non-existence.

"How does your wolf feel now? Calmer?" The hope in his voice was crystal clear.

"Yeah..." Tobias trailed off, trying to concentrate on the creature. He was definitely still there, just that all the anger he'd been exploding with was snuffed out. Chase was behaving oddly demure after that ordeal. "What was that all about?"

The werewolf smiled faintly, albeit a bit melancholic. "You were fighting with your wolf. We werewolves are part man and part wolf, two souls joined together to form the ultimate bond. We're supposed to help and learn from each other every step of the way. The closer your connection is to your wolf, the stronger you become. It seems like the two of you haven't been getting along all that well."

Can't argue with that. Tobias was just about to wipe under his nose to clean the blood off, but a certain someone still had their foreheads linked. "Do we have to stay like this in order for my wolf to relax?" he questioned. Felix snatched his head backwards hurriedly, a blush coating his otherwise colored cheeks.

"Sorry, sorry! I got carried away. Your wolf should be fine after you guys talk out whatever it was that upset him so much."

A/N

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER!!!

- RL -

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