The Hungry Wolf Ch. 04

"As am I." He sighed and resumed pacing. "I explained to her about needing to mate, to change her, and she kind of threw it back at me."

"How so?" Eva asked.

"She asked if there was a way I could change. If there was a way I could stop being a werewolf and just be human."

"Did she?" Eva smiled. "Interesting. And how did you respond to that?"

"I went to my wolf."

"You didn't correct her?" Darian asked, incredulous.

"How could he?" Eva asked, turning to her mate with a smile. "She made an excellent point. Her wanting him to change is no different than him wanting her to. If it is unacceptable to one, why is it assumed to be acceptable to the other?" She turned back to Damien and shook her head. "My admiration for her grows and grows, Damien. But you should not have behaved so cowardly."

"I know." He smiled at Eva. "And she knew what I was about, too."

"I'm sure she did." There was a knock at the door.

"I'll get it." Damien answered the door and led Eric and Lisa to the sitting room. They bowed respectfully to Darian and Eva, and took the offered chairs on the other side of the coffee table.

"You know why you've been called here?" Darian asked.

"Not exactly, Alpha," Eric said.

"I've found my mate," Damien said. He came over and sat on the arm of the couch with the alpha pair. "My human mate. She didn't take finding out what we are -- what she will need to become -- too well."

"Well, yeah, I can imagine," Lisa mumbled.

"What was that, Lisa?" Eva asked. "Please, speak up."

"I'm sorry, Ma'am. I didn't mean any disrespect."

"None taken, we assure you," Darian said, giving her his most winning and soothing smile. "As the last human taken into the pack and turned, your opinion is most valuable."

"Mr. Dimeo -- sir -- I only meant -- well, we can be overwhelming. When I first found out about Eric I pissed myself. Then I got pissed."

"Lisa -- please," Eric groaned.

"She's fine, Eric." Eva said, smiling warmly at Lisa. "Please, continue. Why did you react that way?"

"Humans grow up hearing tales of scary wolfmen who run around under the full moon and murder and rape. We watch movies of them eating people. We love it, too. We love to scare ourselves with old myths and fairytales because we know it's not real. To find out they are real, well, it's a bit of a shock."

"Why did that make you angry?" Damien asked. He never really thought about the culture in which Charlie was raised. Werewolf lore and movies always seemed funny to weres.

"That's not what made me angry." She smiled and looked at Eric. "I felt I was played. I had this incredible desire to be with Eric, this need to be close to him from the moment we met. And he knew what was happening but didn't tell me." She paused, twirling a finger in her hair for a moment. Eric reached over and took her hand. "I felt like he took advantage of me, because he knew I was to be his, and he knew I would be drawn to him. That's...that's not a nice feeling."

"Why?" Damien asked.

"Well...it made me feel manipulated. I had no say in it."

"But neither did Eric? Neither do I?" he pressed.

"Yes, but you're born with that knowledge. You know your mate is fated for you, and you don't have to seek them out, you will just know them. Humans...they don't have that. They do things differently. They date, and get to know the people they mate with. So when something like this happened to me -- no matter how right it felt from the beginning -- it still made me feel powerless."

"Thank you, Lisa. Eric. Your insight has been most useful," Darian said, recognizing the 'a-ha' look on Damien's face.

"Thank you, Alpha, Madam, Mr. Dimeo," Eric said, standing and giving another slight bow.

"Hope that helped, Mr. Dimeo," Lisa said. She had been with the pack since 1968, and even as tense as he was, she had never seen him so open and easy to talk to. She could see his happiness, and was sincere in her wanting to have helped.

"Yes. Thank you, Lisa." He smiled at her and they left.

"Well, Damien, what do you plan to do?" Eva asked after the door closed behind them.

"Give her back her power."

"How do you propose to do that?" Darian asked, eyeing his brother skeptically.

"I will agree to be with her on her terms."

"Damien!" Eva exclaimed. "You can't!"

"Think about what you are saying," Darian cautioned.

"If she leaves, I have no chance, no hope," Damien said.

"But you can't leave the pack, brother. You can't live as a human without it destroying you," Darian countered.

"I know it will -- eventually -- but it will give me her lifetime with her."

"If you're lucky," Eva said. "We don't know how long you would last." She shook her head. "And what about babies? You won't be able to have any pups, Damien."
"I know. But I'd have her."

"No. You can't do this." Eva stood and shook her head again. "Please, Damien." She put her hands on his arms and looked at him earnestly.

"I have to, Eva."

"No, you don't," Darian said, stepping up to his mate and putting his arms around her. "I would urge you to think that through before you act. It is reckless and I fear it could have consequences beyond our comprehension."

"Will you stop me?" Damien asked quietly.

Darian thought for a moment before answering. "No. I won't."

"Thank you." He looked at them both, envying their surety in each other. "I hope it won't happen. I really do. But I have to try everything I can."

"We understand," Darian said.

"I have to go." He smiled at them. "I want to get back in case she wakes and wants to find me."

"Of course," Darian said, nodding at his brother as he turned and head back towards his apartment. He went straight to the door of the room Charlie took, laying his head against it and smiling at her even breathing. He desperately wanted to go in there and lay with her, taking her in his arms and burying himself in her scent, but knew he couldn't do that. He sighed and settled for the next best thing, taking off his clothes and shifting to his wolf before curling up outside her door and going to sleep.

Her stirring woke him up a couple hours later, and he quickly shifted, grabbing his clothes and heading to the kitchen. The clock on the microwave read 6:30, and Damien dressed as coffee brewed, taking a cup on the deck to watch the brightening sky of the new day. He thought over what Lisa had said to him. He'd never thought of Charlie's feelings in the context of the culture she was raised in, only in light of her ex-husband.

He sighed as he looked out over the ranch. He was worried. Much more than he let his brother and Eva know. He didn't think Charlie would want him to give up his family, his pack, but it was a risk. And he wasn't even sure how to proceed to approach this on human terms.

He was brooding, deep in thought, when he heard Charlie leave the bedroom and go to the bathroom. He listened as she came back out, fighting the urge to go to her and grab her. He heard her bare feet make their way to the living room and stop. He knew she was staring at him, and he grabbed on to the railing to keep from turning around. She was still for a moment before he heard her head back to the bedroom and the quiet snick of the door shutting.

He sighed again, heading back in to refresh his cup of coffee. He took it to his office and turned on his computer, bringing up a browser window and going to Google. He sat there for a moment, wondering what to type in.

He tried:

'how to mate a human', but got nothing but porn sites, so he typed in:

'how to get a woman to mate', but that only added websites on fertile sex positions to the myriad porn sites, so he tried:

'how to make a woman want to mate', but that just brought up disturbing websites about stalking and kidnapping. He rubbed his eyes and thought for a moment, and typed in:

'what do women find romantic', and finally found what he was looking for. He clicked through several sites on relationship advice, rom-com movie synopsis and dating advice. He zeroed in on the dating advice and spent a good forty minutes reading and clicking, a smile slowly spreading across his face. He ran upstairs and changed his clothes, anxious to go and get back.

He came downstairs and paused at Charlie's door, listening. He could hear her shifting on the bed, and knew she was awake.

"Charlie?" he said softly. She stilled but didn't come to the door. "I have an errand to run. I should be back-" he glanced at his watch, it was shortly after 8AM, "by 1 or so." He stopped and listened, hearing nothing but her breathing. "I wish you would talk to me, dolcezza," he breathed, laying his hand flat against the door. He heard her breath catch and waited, but she still didn't open the door. Damien opened his mouth to say something else, but couldn't think of what it should be, so he shut it again and left.

'I have an errand I need to do this morning, but I should be back around lunchtime,' he sent to Darian. 'I am not holding Charlie captive in my rooms. If she wants to wander about, please let her, and please be sure she is unmolested.'

'Absolutely. Drive safely,' Darian replied.

He didn't press Damien on what he was doing, and for that he was grateful. Damien head down to the garage and got in to his truck, pausing as he backed out to look at the Triumph. He smiled, hoping tonight he would be able to take Charlie on the ride he promised her, and head towards Portland.

Charlie sat on the bed, listening as Damien left, and slowly forced her hands to let go of the blanket. At first she was angry at his words -- he wished she would talk to him? Last she knew, she wasn't the one that changed species to avoid confrontation. But his tone...he sounded so worried, so guarded. Like he did when she first saw him. It nearly broke her heart to hear it. And she'd wanted to go to the door and fling it open, leap in to his arms and wrap herself around him for the rest of her life. She'd grabbed on to the bedclothes as an anchor, concentrating on clutching the blanket with all her might until he left.

She got up and shuffled to the door, opening it as quietly as she could and peering out. She didn't see him, and figured he really had left. She sighed, disturbed at feeling so at a loss without him around.

"Jeez. Get a hold of yourself," she muttered, making her way to the kitchen. She saw the fresh pot of coffee, an empty cup placed beside it, and smiled. She poked around a bit for some sugar and got the half & half she'd bought out of the fridge. She doctored her cup to her liking and took a sip, leaning against the counter.

She had a lot to think about, and was kind of relieved she would have some time to herself to do so. She knew she could have told Damien she wanted time to think, time alone, and he would have obliged her, she just wasn't sure she would have had the nerve to ask for it face to face.

Charlie laughed at herself, making her way to the deck where she saw Damien earlier. She'd wanted to come out and put her arms around him. Soak up his heat and his feel and...him. She knew he had heard her behind him, he seemed to tense a bit, but when he didn't turn around she figured he was not yet ready to talk. Good thing, she acknowledged to herself, as she wasn't ready yet, either.

She sat in one of the deck chairs and drank her coffee, thinking about the night before. She tried to tell herself she didn't see what she saw last night. She tried to tell herself a huge black wolf didn't turn in to Damien and Damien didn't turn in to a huge black wolf. She put the cup on the deck and closed her eyes, rubbing her temples.

She thought about her mom and grandma. About what they would say to all of this. She could picture the three of them sitting around the kitchen table, drinking lemonade. She could see her mom gently reassuring her that whatever decision she made, she would have their full support. Charlie laughed softly as tears rolled unheeded down her cheeks, picturing her grandma waving a hand dismissively at her mom as she asked what did it matter if he was different, regardless of what that difference was? She would tell her that any difference only made him that much more special, and she would have scolded Charlie, telling her to turn off her reason and follow her heart.

"If only it was that easy," she sighed to herself at long last. She gathered her cup and went to the kitchen, washing up hers and Damien's dishes and wiping down the counters. She turned and froze, looking at the cooktop, a smile just lifting the corners of her mouth as a shiver ran down her back remembering the previous morning. Shaking herself out of her reverie, she made her way upstairs to shower, feeling especially grubby after sleeping in her clothes.

Charlie stopped when she entered Damien's room. Everything was exactly as they had left it the night before and the bed hadn't been slept in. Her brow creased as she wondered where he slept. Unless...

She snapped her fingers and ran back downstairs, slowing as she approached the door to the room she'd used, looking at the floor closely as she went. Aha! There it was -- hair. Long black wolf hair along the baseboards on both sides of the hallway. Charlie knelt down and ran her right hand along the baseboard, picking up some of the hair and looking at it in her hand.

Her shoulders shook as she started to laugh, at first just a quiet chuckle, but soon she sat hard on her butt, rocking to and fro and hugging herself as she neared hysteria.

"Oh my god! My boyfriend sheds!" she gasped out to herself, making her laugh harder. Tears were streaming down her cheeks as she lay herself down in the hallway, laughter changing over to sobs. Her entire body clenched as she lay on her side, curled up and weeping uncontrollably. Part of her mind seemed detached, looking on her from afar and telling her she was hysterical. The rest of her mind, however, didn't give fuck-all about whether or not she was hysterical. All it cared about was the crying and laughing felt good, really good, and it was the first time she'd felt good since last night.

She lay in the fetal position in the hallway, crying and laughing, for a long while. When she finally calmed down she turned and lay on her back, and even though the knowledge she was laying on her back in the middle of the hallway made her giggle even more, she still felt incredibly calm.

"No," she whispered to herself. "This is...this is peace." She put her hands behind her head and laid for a moment, stunned by the realization. She slowly stood, feeling a bit drained from her fit, and brushed herself off before heading back upstairs.

She grabbed underwear, cut-offs and a t-shirt out of her suitcase and made her way to the bathroom. She quickly got in the shower and just stood under the spray for a while thinking. Meeting Damien has been...good. Great. Iincredible. I don't feel awkward or uncomfortable at all, she thought, reaching for her scrubbie and the Rainbath. Even after finding out he turns in to a big wolf. She stopped scrubbing for a moment, realizing that of all the things she felt over the last 12 hours, she never felt discomfort or unease. Hell, she thought, I haven't felt uneasy around him since I learned his name. And even then there was something...his voice, his smile, his laugh, Something. Something that made my heart go YES. She finished scrubbing herself up as another realization hit.

"Was he...was he protecting me last night?" she asked, unaware she was speaking aloud. Damien had lunged at the other wolf, the tan wolf, not her. "He was. He was protecting me." She smiled, rinsing off before reaching for the shampoo. The thought, the idea that his reaction was for her protection only made her happy. Made her feel warm inside.

He said he would give his life for mine, didn't he? she mused as she scrubbed her hair. A frown crossed her face as she rinsed the shampoo out. But he also said there was only one partner for him, there was only one person in the world he could ever be with, and that was me; so how did he get hurt before? If he only has one true partner, how could anyone have ever hurt him before?

She grabbed her conditioner and worked it through her hair. I need to talk to Eva, I need to get some answers. If what Damien said was true, then he should not have gotten hurt. If not...well, then he's lying. And I don't want to think about what that means.

Charlie quickly rinsed and got out of the shower, drying herself haphazardly and throwing her clothes on. She dashed to her suitcase and grabbed her flipflops, heading downstairs and out the door to talk to Eva.

She quickly crossed the landing and knocked on the double doors to Darian and Eva's apartment. When she got no response after a couple minutes, she knocked again, louder, and contemplated seeing if the door was unlocked.

"Can I help you?" a voice called from behind her. Charlie gave a gasp and spun around to find a young woman -- Charlie guessed no older than 23 or so -- behind her.

"I was looking for Eva," Charlie said, eyeing the girl closely. She wasn't as tall as the others, but she was still a couple inches taller than Charlie.

"Oh. Madam is downstairs in the office with the Alpha." She looked at Charlie and gave her a shy smile. "I can take you to her if you like?"

"Please. And thank you...." Charlie answered, hoping the girl would volunteer her name. When the girl simply turned and head downstairs, gesturing for Charlie to follow, she decided to try another tactic. "I'm Charlie Bell."

"Yes, I know, Ms Bell." The girl glanced at her sideways and giggled. As they reached the main floor they were nearly run down by two wolves racing past them. Their sudden appearance startled Charlie and she jumped before giving a shaky laugh. The girl looked at her and smiled. "Sorry about that, Ms Bell. They're young. And excited they can let their wolf out again."

"They couldn't before?"

"The Alpha asked that we did not until Mr. Dimeo had an opportunity to introduce you to his wolf. We were told today the restriction has been lifted." She gave Charlie a brilliant smile.

"I see," Charlie said as she was led down a hallway. "I'm sorry -- I didn't catch your name."

"My name is Mimi, Ms Bell."

"Please, call me Charlie." The girl gave her an odd look at that, but didn't speak. "It's nice to meet you, Mimi."

They came to a door and Mimi signaled to Charlie that this was the office. Charlie thanked the young woman and knocked, opening the door when she heard Darian call her to enter. She walked in to find Darian seated with his feet up on a large wood desk, and Eva perched on the side of it. Charlie's eyebrows raised when she took in the obviously staged scene.

"How'd you know it was me?" she asked the couple, closing the door behind her and leaning against it.

"What do you mean?" Darian asked while Eva snickered.

"I hardly think this is how you carry out your day-to-day operations," Charlie said, moving into the office.

"What?"

"Come on, my heart, she's not stupid." Eva stood, turning to Charlie. "We heard you talking with Mimi on your way here."

"Really?"

"Our hearing is exceptional," Darian said, putting his feet down and leaning on the desk. "What can we do for you?"
"Actually, I was hoping I could talk with you for a bit. If you're free," she said, looking at Eva.

"Of course," she said, walking towards Charlie and putting a hand on her shoulder. "Let's go upstairs and have some tea."

"Sounds good, thank you."

"I will be back in a bit," Eva said to her mate as they turned to go.

'Careful what you say,' Darian sent as they left the office and turned towards the stairs.