Three days later, Karl Hurtz woke up with Alice in bed besides him, the morning sun lighting up the bedroom in their shared home. Birdsong filtered through the window from the trees in the front garden. Karl smiled. They had a good home on the edge of their town, next to the large expanse of woods – woods where Sally had happily hunted squirrels and rabbits, before the increasing awareness (and hostility) of the townsfolk to their local werewolf had forced Sally on.
Carl’s frown of unhappiness at that memory disappeared as he stretched, causing the small, ginger-headed lady to open her green eyes and grin back at him. Sitting up next to Carl, Alice Pierce rubbed her smooth hands over her boyfriend’s shoulders. Carl wasn’t tall or particularly handsome – merely average looking with his light-brown hair, clean-shaven features, and medium build. But Alice had fallen in love with him because of his intelligent and kind, compassionate nature – and his steadfastness in standing up for what he believed in. Including the need to help and protect his friends from cruelty and injustice. He also shared her love for the great outdoors, and her concern for the need to protect the forests and the wider environment from the adverse effects of the growing human population.
“You’re tense,” she murmured. “Here – let me help you relax.” She rubbed his shoulders, and then leaned in to gently nip the outer ridge of his ear. Alice giggled as he protested.
“Hey! Right, then… Come here, you.” Karl grabbed hold of Alice and licked her nose, making her squeal. A pillow fight then broke out between them, which ended with Karl pinning Alice to the bed. Grinning, they slowly kissed again.
“Thanks… I’m feeling better,” Karl admitted, releasing her.
“Want to talk about what’s on your mind?”
“Various things. The TV show I was on. The control measures that exist for werewolves. The fact that we’ve still having to hide Sally. The recent video footage you showed me yesterday of Sally, demonstrating her ability to change of her own accord before you…,” Karl paused, and then looked his British girlfriend in the eye. “And our discussion yesterday. About us finally deciding to go for it… Us plucking up the courage to ask Sally to bite both of us, so that we can be a pack together.”
Alice nodded. “You said you admired Sharon’s wolf woman form on the ‘People’s Talk’. Well, I admire Sally’s physique too – now that I’ve long lost my fear of her lupine side. She won’t hurt us…unless we ask her to. But there’s only one werewolf I want to be intimate with – and that’s you. I’d love to see how sexy you will turn out to be as a wolf man, Karl!”
“Thanks. And you’re going to be beautiful as a wolf woman. I know it.” Karl nipped Alice on her ear. “I’ll be as dedicated to you as any dog wolf to his mate. Together, for life.”
“Together, for our dual lives...,” Alice whispered. She squeezed his hand, beaming. “C’mon. It’s Saturday. Let’s get showered, get breakfast, and do the shopping. We’ll see Sally tonight.”
* * *
But as they finished off breakfast, Karl and Alice heard a knock on the front door. They were surprised to find a black man and three white women on their doorstep, all of them casually dressed. They looked to be aged in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties (Karl and Alice themselves had both not long passed the 30 mark). In turn, the four regarded the serious-looking man who they recognised – standing alongside his petite, bespectacled, English-accented girlfriend - as Alice called out, “Hello! Can we help you?”
“Well, hopefully we can help you,” one of the women remarked. She wore her auburn hair in a long pony tail, and had piercing grey eyes. “You are Karl Hurtz?”
Karl nodded, feeling tense.
“Allow us to introduce ourselves. I am Danielle – and these are my friends Carly, Maria, and Kevin. We saw you on the ‘People’s Talk’, and we wish to let you know that we too accept your apology for exposing our kind.”
Alice’s jaw dropped open. “You’re…werewolves?” she whispered.
Next to Danielle, the woman with short brown hair that was greying nodded. “We also would like to thank you for taking a stand against people like Walter Moxie. People like him will never understand what it’s like to be misunderstood and prejudged against – until they find themselves in our shoes.” Her lip curled in distaste.
“Or on our paws, Maria,” the shortest – and chubbiest - of the ladies spoke up, smirking.
“Ah. Right…” Karl checked around the street, and saw of the neighbours across the residential street stop her garden pottering as she eyed up the strangers and their car outside Karl and Alice’s home. The woman quickly knocked at the home next door to her - and she glanced fugitively over her shoulder, as the lady owner of the house opened up and also sneaked glances at the strangers. They started talking in hushed tones. “Perhaps it would be best if you came inside, where it’s more private.”
Danielle parted her lips in a wide smile. “That would be best. You see, we have an offer which we would like to pass onto your friend…”
* * *
Saturday marched on. When the evening came, Karl and Alice drove out of their town and took a rambling route in their car to ensure that they weren’t being followed. Within the hour, they pulled up at a solitary house in the hills that was enclosed by woods. The property had belonged to Karl’s aunt – but half a year ago she had been admitted to a care home after being diagnosed with dementia. Now Karl had the rights to the gothic-looking old house. He and Alice visited two-three times a week – not only to take care of the ongoing maintenance that the place required, but to provide company for its new resident.
Sally Yeller brushed a blonde lock of hair from her face, as she embraced her closest friends on the threshold – before they headed inside and shut the front door behind them to keep out the gathering gloom and the possibility of anyone watching…
* * *
“So… What do you think, Sally?” Alice paused to sip at the strawberry milkshake that Sally had made for her, whilst their joint dinner was cooking. “Carly, Danielle, Maria, and Kevin are based at Carly’s house in the next state – where they are registered to be during full moon nights, unless they are deep in the countryside at the time…”
“…which Danielle sometimes is, because of her overnight haulage work. Or so she told us.” Karl added as he shifted in his chair in the lounge, addressing the two ladies sitting on the sofa as the log fire crackled in the grate. “Carly seemed sweet and bubbly. But Kevin… Kevin didn’t say much at all. He didn’t seem to like me.”
Sally frowned at that. She nervously fiddled with the ends of her wavy, near-platinum blonde hair. “How did this pack track you down?” she asked.
“Danielle said that she knows a friend at the studio, someone who is sympathetic to werewolves. She managed to sweet talk my address and telephone number out of him. But since the pack lived not far away from us, they wanted to talk things over in person rather than phone me.” Karl narrowed his eyes, feeling uncomfortable with the disclosure of his personal details. He looked up at Sally. “What are your thoughts about this offer?”
“As you know, since my…exposure…I’ve lost my job and my home. Most humans…people…treat me as a leper – and I’m not exactly popular with many in the werewolf population, either, after that night…”
“But these werewolves say that they know about that, and want to rectify your situation,” Alice pointed out. “The tide seems to be changing. You have a chance here to have a life of your own again, amongst others in the werewolf community! You don’t have to keep being a hermit, Sally. I know the loneliness is killing you. You need friends - besides us, I mean.”
“You guys have done so much for me…” Sally felt her eyes becoming moist, but she forced herself to look at Alice and Karl. “But you’re right – I am lonely. I just want to be treated as a normal person – after all, that’s what a creature like me is most of the time! I never asked to become a werewolf… And… Well, I want to have a boyfriend. A true friend and gentleman like you, Karl – it doesn’t matter if he’s a human or a werewolf, so long as he’s the right kind of man at heart. And as for having a family…” She sniffed and wiped her nose.
“I know – we’ve talked about this, Sal.” Alice rubbed her shoulder. “If you and a human boyfriend wanted a human baby, you could adopt. So… Will you check out these guys, and see if you wish to join their pack?”
Sally gulped and nodded. “All right. I’ll meet them – at Carly’s house, as they suggested. You get back to them, Karl, and set a date between yourselves.”
“Will do.” Karl’s eyes meet Alice’s, and she nodded meaningfully. He summoned his courage and spoke again, carefully measuring his words. “There’s another possibility we have to offer you, Sally. Another way to end your self-imposed isolation from other werewolves. We could… We could be a pack together, if you would like that. You, Alice, and me…”
Sally’s eyes widened. She straightened herself on the sofa and gaped at her friends. “Is this…because of the guilt you’ve felt over exposing me? Over exposing the werewolf race – and knowing the prejudices and horrors it’s resulted in?”
“It was… But it’s more than that now. The two of us have talked this over. It’s what we both truly want. If enough people thought the same way as us, and became werewolves who would never give their kind a bad name – then maybe the werewolf haters will become fewer, and less powerful in number. Or at least, less vocal. That goes for this state, this country – and the world at large.”
Alice leaned over to Karl and took his hand, before smiling at Sally. “We’re not under any illusions, Sal. But we want to be a part of nature too. We want to be like you. Different, but still humane. Human where it really counts – on the inside. You can teach us – and the hunting reservation grounds the government is setting up for werewolves will soon be in place…”
“But you’ll have to register yourselves, like I did. And be tagged!” Sally angrily held up her forearm, displaying the armband that marked her as a registered lycanthrope. The armband was made of a special tough compound, resistant to claws, which resized itself to fit its werewolf owner, regardless of either form they were in. “Just like the Jews had to wear a yellow star in Nazi Germany. And then they were victimized and assaulted on sight, thanks to a fascist, totalitarian regime… What if your own associates turn against you?”
“If they do that, they’ll prove that we don’t deserve them – and we’ll be lepers together, so to speak,” Karl answered. “Please Sally… Will you do this for us? Now that you can control your transformation on any non-full moon night, you could even change and bite us tonight – if you so chose. Not that we expect to transform before the next full moon, of course.”
“I know it’s asking a lot – so take your time. We’ll accept your decision, either way, Sal,” Alice added softly, her hand still entwined with Karl’s as they stood up together. “But we’ll be honored to become your pack mates.”
“Once the infection takes root in your bodies, there will be no way back…” Sally opened wept. Her heart fluttered as she considered her options…