Lupine// TW Imagines

Theo

  You were breathing heavily as your sneakers hit the sidewalk, the song Wicked Ones by Dorothy blaring from your headphones. You weren't going to lie, you hated running, but the way you felt after you finished was a good enough trade off to make the burn worth it.
You did this every night, and you were just turning off the sidewalk and onto the wooden jogging path as the sun slowly sank into the trees. Some people might not advise you to be running around at eight o'clock in the fading daylight, but you lived in a relatively safe, well-lit neighborhood, and the path you took through the woods near your house was closed off and safe. It wasn't like you were going running through pitch black alleys, so what was the harm, right?
Your kicked up dirt as you jogged through the woods, but as you went farther and farther into the treeline, you couldn't help but feel the strange sensation that you were being watched. You stopped, pulling out your headphones and pausing your music. You placed your hands on your knees as you caught your breath, peering around the dimly lit woods.
Of course there was nothing there, but it did nothing to quell the anxious feeling that sent a shiver down your spine. You took a deep breath, shooting a look over your shoulder at the rest of the path. You knew at this point the faster way to get out would be to just keep going instead of turning back, so you took a deep breath and headed deeper into the trees.
You picked up the pace, hoping to get out of the woods as fast as you could, but unfortunately you never made it very far. A loud growl from behind you caused you to freeze, and you whirled around to see a shape coming out of the woods.
At first you thought it might have been a bear on account of the growl, but as you got a good look at it, you realized it was a person. Well, at least it looked like a person. It walked on two legs, but as it came closer you could see it had huge, razor sharp teeth.
You had no idea what the hell was wrong with this person, thing, whatever it was. You just knew you had to get away from it, so you backed away and began to run. Before you could even make it ten feet, a hand with sharp nails dug into your ankle, ripping you off your feet.
You screamed, hitting the dirt with a thump as your palms slammed onto the earth. You fought and kicked, but the thing wasted no time in dragging you towards itself.
"Let me go!" you screamed, desperately trying to distance yourself from the thing.
Your nails dug into the earth, caking dirt under them in an effort to slow your impending demise. You screamed, but you knew that no one could hear you when you were all the way into the woods.
The thing snarled, hissing out something that you thought might be the words, "I'm so hungry".
Panic flared up in your mind, and you instantly wondered if the thing trying to attack you was some kind of cannibalistic serial killer that lived in the woods. You didn't really feel like being eaten today, and the thought of this was enough to give you the strength to kick your foot back into the thing's face.
However, this did nothing to make it let go of you, only causing it to let out an angry roar. As you looked over your shoulder, you saw that its eyes were now glowing a bright white, which only served to terrify you further. You let out a desperate sob, praying for someone, anyone to come and save you.
Just as you were thinking that help might never come, the thing was ripped off of you and thrown into a nearby tree. You looked up in shock, only to find a boy about your age standing over you.
The first thing you noticed were his bright green eyes, filled with nothing but concern for you. Then you took in the stubble on his chin, and you figured he might have been tall, although he could have just seemed like he was from where you were lying on the ground.
You suddenly realized that you knew the guy, and that while you weren't friends, he was in several of your classes at school. You had definitely seen him around, although you had never spoken once.
He opened his mouth to say something, but that's when you noticed the monstrous shape rising from the ground and coming towards him.
"Look out!" you cried.
The boy turned, just in time to duck as the shape lashed out at him with clawed fingers. The boy let out an animalistic snarl, and in seconds he seems to rip the thing's throat out with nothing more than his fingers.
You let out a shocked scream as the body of the thing fell to the ground, realizing he had just killed it. You stood up on shaky legs, ready to run if you need to. The boy in front of you turned around, reaching out for you with bloody hands. You flinched back, and he looked down, wiping his hands on his jeans.
"Are you okay?" he asked carefully.
You eyed him nervously, wondering if he was going to try and attack you, but he held his hands up in surrender.
"I won't hurt you," he promised. "I swear."
He took a step forward, only to have you take one back in return. "You're Y/n, right?"
You nodded, and he continued. "Yeah, you go to my school. You're in my biology and my history classes. I'm Theo, remember?"
Now that he said it, you did recall his name, and you also knew that he had always been nothing but nice to everyone. He hadn't seemed like a psychotic killer, and after all, he had just saved your life. Whether you liked it or not, you kind of had to trust him.
"What the hell was that thing?" you asked shakily, your eyes flicking down to the body lying in the middle of the path.
"It's called a wendigo," Theo told you. "It's a sort of shapeshifter."
"Shapeshifter?" you repeated. "W-why was it trying to kill me? I-it would have killed me if-"
"But it didn't," Theo told you, stepping closer and putting his hands on your arms in an effort to calm you down.
"I-is that what all the animal attacks are?" you asked him. "Is that what's killing people?"
Theo swallowed, not exactly knowing how to explain everything. "Sort of."
"Sort of?"
"Look, it's a long story," he admitted. "But, I swear I tell you all about it if you just let me take you home."
You nodded, anxious to get out of the woods and forget everything that had just happened. You let Theo wrap an arm around your shoulders, gently guiding you through the path and back towards your house.
Halfway home, Theo noticed the shiver that ran through your body. He paused, taking off his jacket and handing it to you. You blinked at him, not understanding at first.
"You're cold," he stated.
"Oh. Thanks," you murmured, giving him a soft smile.
You were finally making it out of the woods, and you felt all the tension going out of your body as you moved under the streetlights. Theo kept his arm wrapped around you, and you instantly felt better.
"So," you said slowly. "You gonna tell me what just happened back there?"
"I could," he told you. "But we're already at your house."
You turned back to him, raising your eyebrows. "How do you know where I live?"
"I live two streets over," he told you with a shrug. "I see you sometimes."
"Oh," you said.
"I guess I'll see you in bio tomorrow," he told you, as you stood at the edge of your porch.
He stuffed his hands in his pockets, flashing you a brilliant smile as he walked down your driveway. You watched him go, only to realized you were still wearing his jacket.
"Wait, Theo!" you called, causing him to turn back.
He looked over his shoulder and you held out his jacket. He broke into a grin, his green eyes sparkling.
"It looks better on you," he told you. "Besides, you could always give it back to me over coffee or something."
With that, he turned away, leaving you blinking in the dim glow of the streetlights. You watched him walk down the road and turn the corner, and that was when you finally walked up your porch. Your fingers gripped the fabric of Theo's jacket, not sure what exactly it was about him that intrigued you so much. But you did know one thing, and it was that you would definitely be seeing him around.