Roxy had had an absolutely incredible day.

Heeding Pedro’s advice from the night before, Roxy had decided to take a day for herself. She messaged Sam not long after she’d woken up, telling her that she needed a day to decompress, and thankfully, Sam had been completely understanding and supportive. Roxy was just glad that her girlfriend, despite how clingy she could be at times, could understand that she just needed some time away after the stress of the past week and knew that she wasn’t mad or sick of her or anything. Roxy also felt much better now that Sam wasn’t in near-constant pain from her stab wound, even if the question of what was going on with her wolf form was still floating around. It was a much less ever-present issue for both of them now that Sam could pretty much function on her own again.

Roxy started her day off in a way that most of her peers would probably think she was crazy for. She woke up, bright and early, and changed into her workout gear before heading down to the kitchen for some coffee. After having her fill, she hugged her dad goodbye and wished him a good day at work before heading out and doing the unthinkable: going for a run.

Running had been a common presence in her workout schedule ever since she’d started taking MMA classes. Clarissa wasn’t content with just teaching kids how to defend themselves, she also taught them how to keep fit, taking them on a jog around the neighbourhood at the start of every class. They weren’t always very long, as many students were just starting out and didn’t have the stamina to keep up the whole way, but Roxy had consistently been working on hers for months now. As long as she was pacing herself, sometimes it felt like she could keep running forever.

Today, she kept it fairly short. Well, fairly short for her at this point was still a mile round trip, but the thought was there. It was still enough for her to reach that high where her muscles sang with endorphins, which was what she was looking for, anyway. She waved to her neighbours as she passed and by the end of her lap she was already feeling lighter than she had all week.

After a shower and a change of clothes, Roxy booted up her computer and began mindlessly browsing through her recommended videos for a while. Nothing there was particularly absorbing or interesting, so eventually she booted up a game instead. She’d been playing through the Ace Attorney trilogy in her spare time, finding that the odd mix of grim subject matter and lighthearted humour - and the cute girls, of course - was the perfect thing to keep her mind focused off of certain grim things in her own life at the moment.

She spent most of the day similarly, lounging around and just catching up on hobbies and interests that she’d neglected recently. She made herself some homemade ramen for lunch by using one of the instant packets combined with her own personal mix of fresh ingredients. It was one of her go-to meals when she didn’t know what else to make, and it didn’t disappoint today, either.

After her dad had gotten home and dinner had been made and consumed, she settled down in the living room to watch an old action movie with him. Die Hard never failed to disappoint, no matter how many times she watched it. Her mother was off in her study, probably still working on some real-estate something-or-other. If she was being honest, Roxy wasn’t super certain on what her mother exactly did, only that it had something to do with convincing people to buy houses or something, as well as having her face plastered all over ‘for sale’ signs across town. 

Now, after the movie had finished and her dad had settled into his room to read a book, Roxy was enjoying herself with a relaxing bath. It wasn’t an activity she often found herself partaking in, as bathing was usually a very practical affair for her. Get in the shower, clean herself, get out. Occasionally she would spend longer in there if she was getting ready to see Sam or something, but that was about it. Today, however, she pulled out all of the stops.

Candles, a bath bomb, a ridiculous amount of bubbles, the works. Roxy could not, by any stretch of the imagination, be considered a very ‘feminine’ girl, but she would admit that she felt pretty girly at that moment, with her hair wrapped up in a towel and sighing as the hot water soothed her aching muscles from her morning run. She would also admit that it felt pretty damn good.

She laid there, simply existing in the relaxing warmth. Her mind felt completely empty and simultaneously full, thoughts popping into existence and disappearing before she could even process them as she just stared at an innocuous spot on the wall. It was strange, but she was calm, almost meditative. Nothing existed except for her, the warmth, and that spot on the wall.

That is, until, the buzzing of her phone on the countertop dragged her back into the waking world. She hadn’t even realised she was falling asleep until she wasn’t anymore. Probably a good thing, too. The last thing she wanted was to drown on the day she was supposed to be relaxing.

Roxy leaned up and grabbed her phone, checking the caller ID. It was Ross. She sighed. She probably should have expected this after everything he learned yesterday, but truthfully the idea never even really crossed her mind. Welp, goodbye, day of relaxing and forgetting the constant crushing pressure of potentially being a target of a bunch of genocidal maniacs. It was a good run. She answered the call.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Roxy. Uhh, are you busy right now?”

Roxy looked down at herself, covered in bubbles as she was. “I mean, if you wanna do something, then yes, but I’m free to talk.”

“Right, right. I, uh… just wanted to… yeah, talk, I guess. Get a better grip on what you told me yesterday. I’m, uh… sorta still trying to wrap my head around it all.”

The explanation that Roxy had given him about everything yesterday had been rushed at best. She’d been a bit too preoccupied with Sam’s condition to really give him her full attention, so she wasn’t surprised that questions were in order. “That makes sense. I can see how it’s a lot to take in all at once. So what’s on your mind?”

“I-I just… Well, to be honest, I’m really worried. You guys are like, my best friends, a-and finding out that there’s a chance you might get randomly attacked by psycho murderers just because you’re with Sam i-is…”

Roxy sighed. “Yeah, it’s a lot. I’d been trying not to think about it, but anyway-”

“Sorry, sorry! Y-you’re right, this is probably ten times as stressful for you, considering, y’know, you’re actually the one in danger.”

She frowned. “Is there a point to this?”

“Right! I, uh… you said that guy was setting up some sort of training camp or something for you? So that you could be better equipped to defend yourselves?”

“That’s correct…”

“I… I was just wondering if I could, um… maybe… join you guys?”

It took her a few seconds to process his words. “Wait, are you serious?”

“Yes! I know I’m not as athletic as you or even Leif, and I’m not even gonna mention Sam, but, I’d feel useless just sitting by while you guys were in danger like that. Plus, I’m not gonna lie, the gains that you’ve made through MMA alone are seriously impressive, and I kinda want a piece of that action, too. I feel like Lukas would be very appreciative of it, anyway.”

Roxy felt herself flush with pride at his compliment, but she buried it. “I can understand that. You do realise that you can’t tell him, though, right? Like, not even about the training. It’s all too tied to werewolves already and while Sam and Leif and I are already in danger, Pedro and Clarissa aren’t yet. We don’t even know how the hunters ended up finding Sam, and I told you how much they dug up about me. Tell the wrong person and everything comes crashing down. They’re sticking their necks out a lot by doing this for us. I’ve heard that Clarissa is actually closing her classes for the rest of the summer just for us, because we’ll need the space in her gym and obviously we can’t have regular people around while she’s teaching Sam how to be a better werewolf, or whatever they’ll be doing. My point is, you can’t tell anyone, because there’s no telling who might let it slip to the wrong person.”

“That’s… Right, okay, yeah, that makes sense. I won’t tell him. Or anyone else. I dunno what I’ll say if Nat asks why I’m suddenly buff, but whatever.” He sighed dramatically. “Oh, I should probably mention, I won’t freak out if Sam shifts or whatever in front of me again. It was a little creepy at first, what with her weird ass teeth and fucked up… everything else, but I can totally see how you could be into that, I guess…”

Roxy’s cheeks started to heat up, completely separately from the heat of the bath. “Ross, I swear to god. I told you, she’s not usually like that. The silver in her system is causing her wolf to malfunction, or whatever. I’m not into fur, and if you keep insinuating that I am, I'm gonna let her use you as a chew toy once she gets her wolf back.”

“Hey, I’m just saying, there’s gotta be something there for you to stick around once you found out she could turn into a massive dog! Also, I never said anything about fur, that was you.” His tone was lighthearted and Roxy knew he was just trying to get a rise out of her, but man could he be annoying sometimes.

“Seriously, I had no idea she could do that when I started crushing on her, and by the time I found out I was already committed to dating her. Not that it would have been a dealbreaker, anyway. It’s kinda like having a girlfriend and a pet at the same time.”

Roxy shut her stupid mouth before it could say anything else, but it was too late, the damage was done.

There was an almost unbearable silence on the other end of the phone, before, “You realise what that sounds-”

“Yes, I realise what that sounds like. I’m going to hang up now.”

“Fair.”

—

The next few days whizzed by and all of a sudden everything was ready for the training course. It was going to be a full time class, five days a week. One day would be focused on physical training, while the next would focus on theory and weapon skills, alternating on until there was nothing more to learn. Every day would start with a run for endurance training, though the runs on theory days would be significantly shorter, apparently. 

The only thing that presented a slight hitch in the plan was that Sam still wasn’t able to transform on her own. It had long-since passed the week-long recovery period that Pedro had diagnosed for the silver sickness, and yet there was no improvement. It didn’t help that her red eye meant it could be dangerous to bring her out in public, not to mention the risk of her potentially getting hit with another random transformation. All in all, it was a pretty sucky situation for her, but it wasn’t enough to get the course delayed. Apparently, all of the werewolf stuff that Clarissa had wanted to teach her could be practical in hand-to-hand, anyway, regardless of the presence of claws, so it shouldn’t pose too much of an issue to the main meat of the course.

Roxy stretched, getting herself ready for what would be the first run of their training. She was joined by Leif, Sam, and, to most people’s surprise, Ross. He had managed to convince Pedro to let him join after he’d shown up at the gym with everyone else, despite the fact that it wasn’t entirely necessary for him. Pedro had conceded after accepting the fact that, while he may not be directly in the line of fire, there was no guarantee that the hunters wouldn’t go after one of Sam’s other friends in place of Leif or Roxy.

Clarissa and Pedro both supervised the run, both to ensure that nobody fell too far behind and to ensure that they would be able to quickly get Sam away from the street if she felt that she was about to shift. It was for that reason that they kept on a path that ran along the edge of the woods. As expected, Ross seemed to be heavily struggling every time Roxy looked back at him, but she was proud at how determined he seemed. Despite the fact that he was out of breath and practically stumbling along, he still hadn’t fallen back into a walk. Much to her surprise, Sam also seemed to be struggling a bit, although not to the degree that Ross was. Maybe it was a little presumptive, but Roxy had assumed that, given her impressive musculature and general strength, the endurance training would be nothing to her, but instead she seemed to start dragging her feet and losing energy around the same time that Leif did. Maybe those big muscles were just for show, after all.

Roxy asked her about it once they got back to the gym. Apparently, most of her musculature had been built up from the amount of time she spent as a wolf in early highschool. She had stamina when it came to running around on all fours, but the muscle groups that factored in on bipedal running were apparently entirely different, hence, her relatively lacking performance. It wasn’t really an issue, though. Why were they doing this if not to strengthen themselves?

After a food break where Ross had briefly passed out and caused great alarm to everybody present, it was decided that they would move on to combat technique for the rest of the day. Well, the three girls were, anyway. Pedro was taking Ross separately to teach him some more basic stuff, as well as to work on his overall strength. All in all, it sounded like he was in for a rough time, but he assured the rest of them that he would stick with it, regardless.

—

Roxy shifted her weight and heaved, slamming Leif down onto the mat with a thud. The technique was simple yet effective. All she needed to do was slip a leg behind her opponent’s and force their weight backwards, bringing them tumbling to the ground. It was one of her favourites, one that she’d particularly enjoyed using on Kimberly to humiliate her as they fought. If anyone deserved it, it was her. The only difference this time was that Roxy was gripping onto Leif’s arm to ensure she didn’t hit the mat too hard. Kimberly got no such luxury with the concrete.

“Woah…” the girl’s eyes were wide as she processed her new situation. “That was fast.”

Clarissa clapped her hands in the background, as did Sam. “Great demo, Roxy. Now, Leif, you try. Sam, you try with me.”

Roxy pulled Leif back to her feet and settled into a stance, bracing herself. She looked her friend in the eye sharply and smirked. “C’mon, Leify-poo. Kick my ass.”

The girl scoffed and rolled her eyes fondly, stepping closer and positioning herself. They stared for a few tense seconds before Leif moved in and Roxy’s world was suddenly flying out from under her. Thankfully, she was offered the same protection that she’d given Leif, so she didn’t hit the mat too hard. She did feel a mildly worrying tug in her right shoulder as it was suddenly forced to support her entire body weight for a split second, but she ignored it. It was probably nothing, anyway.

They continued on with different moves and each time Roxy was thrown and subsequently supported, that tug in her shoulder would ring out like a warning bell. It was probably a mistake to ignore it, but she did anyway. Soon enough, they would be finished with throws and it wouldn’t be an issue anymore regardless. She would be fine. She was fine. Until she wasn’t.

Leif picked herself up off the ground. They’d moved onto ‘one-armed shoulder throws’ and Roxy thought that she was getting the hang of it, as shown from the way she’d just put her best friend on her ass. Now it was Leif’s turn. She stepped in, grabbed Roxy’s elbow, pulled her close, wrapped her other arm underneath her shoulder, turned and bent her knees, shifted her weight, and threw Roxy across her back and to the ground like a sack of potatoes. Only, this time when she hit the ground, there was an unmissable and unmistakable pop as her shoulder lit up in agony.

Roxy cried out and Leif jumped back like she’d been burnt, letting the rest of Roxy’s body fall to the ground. She was grateful for it. Having most of her body weight be supported by what felt like a dislocated shoulder was causing her an immense amount of pain.

“What happened?!” Sam asked urgently as she ran up to Roxy, Clarissa following close behind.

“I- uh- she just- I didn’t- uh-” Leif sputtered helplessly, holding her hands up defensively.

“M-my… ow, fuck… my sh-shoulder came out, I th-think,” Roxy answered. 

Sam and Clarissa both knelt down next to her. The older woman barely even had to glance before she confirmed it. “Yep, that’s dislocated. I’d completely forgotten that you’d already done it once, I should’ve been more careful. This is on me.”

Roxy frowned, grimacing against the pain. “Wh-what do you mean?”

Clarissa cocked her head. “Your doctors should have told you this, but, since you’ve already dislocated this shoulder once before, the odds of it coming out again were way higher. The joint weakens every time it comes out.”

She sighed. “Fuck.”

“I am so, so sorry, Roxy. I swear I didn’t mean to,” Leif said guiltily. 

Roxy shook her head. “It’s c-cool, dude. That was a g- rrf… A great throw. It’s not your fault my body’s m-messed up.”

“B-but, still! I-”

Clarissa held up a hand and interrupted her. “Can you find something for her to bite down on? I’m gonna put her shoulder back in, and it’s gonna hurt.”

“Oh boy, the bit I’ve been looking forward to,” Roxy muttered.

Sam raised her hand. Honestly, she’d been so uncharacteristically quiet during the whole interaction that Roxy had almost forgotten that she was there. “Can she just use my hand? I can take it.”

Clarissa blinked. “I… No, there’s a chance that she might bite hard enough to break it, and then I would have to take you to the ER as well.”

“Clarissa, I’m a werewolf. Even if I can’t heal right now, I’m still tough enough to withstand that, I would think.”

The older woman stared blankly for a few seconds. “R-right. I… I’m not sure how I forgot that. I guess I’m just used to teaching humans.” She chuckled, shaking her head. “Well, let’s get this over with. The longer we take, the worse it’s gonna hurt.”

“Yaaaay,” Roxy cheered, with no small amount of sarcasm.

Sam moved her hand into position and Roxy preemptively bit down as Clarissa grabbed her arm, sending a slight spike of fear through her gut. She remembered just how much this had hurt back at the hospital, and that time she’d been high on morphine, so it was safe to say she wasn’t looking forward to this.

Her arm was shifted slightly. The pain picked up immediately and she started biting harder, groaning slightly. Her arm was lifted and she couldn’t help but try to scream, thrashing as she unconsciously tried to get away from the blinding agony. She could taste blood, but she barely even processed it before there was a jolt and accompanying crack, sending even more pain rocketing through her, before it all just fizzled away like it was never even there in the first place.

“There you go, all done.”

Roxy wasn’t sure who’d spoken. She wasn’t really sure of anything at the moment. She was breathing heavily and everything was black. Someone brushed the hair from her forehead. That was probably Sam, she couldn’t imagine Clarissa being that intimate with her, nor did she want to.

She realised that her eyes were closed and subsequently opened them. Sam was looking down at her softly. Her face felt wet, though she wasn’t sure if it was from tears or saliva.

“That… really fucking hurt…” she managed to say through her panting. Leif was standing a distance away with a guilty look on her face. Roxy would’ve tried to reassure her again, but she was far too worn out at this point.

“I think we should call it for the day. I got your shoulder back in fast enough that you shouldn’t have to worry about a sling, but definitely still take it easy. Pedro’s taking you down to the range tomorrow, so hopefully it shouldn’t give you any trouble there,” Clarissa explained.

Roxy nodded blearily. “Cool.” 

She slowly lifted herself to her feet with Sam’s assistance, taking care not to move her right arm too much. Even if her shoulder wasn’t out for that long, her muscle was no doubt still damaged, so she would have to be careful with it. Leif was still standing off in a corner, not meeting her eye. Roxy sighed. She walked over and embraced the girl in a hug.

“Stop beating yourself up. It would’ve happened no matter who I was partnered with. You’re fine, Leif.”

The girl seemed startled for a moment before she slowly returned the embrace. “R-right. You’re right. Sorry.”

“Stop apologising, dingus.”

“Right, sorr- uh… yep.”

Roxy giggled. “Dumbass.”

—

It was a familiar situation that Roxy found herself in. Her and Sam, cuddled together on the couch in the latter’s basement, trying to stay awake late into the night so that they could pretend to focus on the movie in front of them while instead only paying attention to the presence of their other half. Sam was running a hand up and down her thigh periodically. The action was sending pleasant shivers through her body, making it all too easy to ignore the ache in her shoulder.

Roxy began to notice that Sam’s hand was climbing higher on her thigh with each pass, occasionally dipping lower to brush her inner thigh on the retreat. It was obvious what her intention was. She knew that Sam wouldn’t go much further than that until Roxy consented to more, though. She considered her options, a sly smirk slowly growing on her face as her head filled with ideas. It was late, after all. No one was likely to disturb them.

Her mind made up, Roxy moved into action. She manoeuvred her way into straddling Sam’s lap in one smooth motion, placed a single hand on her cheek, and silently moved in to kiss her, amusedly making note of the mildly surprised expression on the blonde’s face. 

Sam quickly reciprocated the kiss, her hands finding their place on Roxy’s hips. It started out slow, their lips moving together softly and chastely before Roxy picked up the pace. Sam was always so warm against her. The feeling was addicting. She deepened the kiss, her tongue brushing gently against Sam’s lips as the blonde tilted her head back to accept her advances.

Sam’s hands began to roam across her back, gripping her shirt as Roxy pushed her tongue further in, swallowing a slight moan from the blonde’s mouth. Sam tried to push back a little, tried to regain a little control, but a gentle yet firm hand around her neck kept her in her place. She whimpered as Roxy bit down on her bottom lip before pulling away.

She smiled down at her hungrily. “Good girl.”

Sam’s cheeks were pink and her pupils were completely blown out. Her half-lidded mismatched eyes looked up at Roxy pleadingly. “R-Rox… C-can we…?”

Roxy simply leaned back and took off her shirt in lieu of a reply, watching with great satisfaction as Sam smiled brightly and did the same. Roxy was still wearing her sports bra, but Sam wasn’t, a fact that made Roxy very happy.

Roxy leaned back in, smiling at her girlfriend lovingly. “Mm, you’re pretty,” she muttered, before moving in for another kiss. Sam hummed happily against her mouth. They spent a time just like that, kissing softly and enjoying the feeling of their bodies pressing together, before Roxy escalated slightly.

She kissed a trail down her jaw and to her neck, where she began sucking the skin, intent on leaving a bruise. The thought that Sam wouldn’t be able to quickly heal it didn’t even cross her mind, especially with the noises that she was starting to make in response.

She pulled back and briefly inspected her work. Pleased with the result, she dove back in, aiming for a spot slightly lower down the blonde’s neck. She bit down sharply and Sam gasped, her nails scratching at Roxy’s bare back.

The blonde made a few strangled noises and started shifting more against her. Roxy laughed against her skin. “Enjoying yourself?”

“R-R-Rox, I-”

“Yes?” she laughed again, running her tongue up the column of Sam’s throat before diving back in, prompting Sam to shudder immensely.

“R-Roxy, I th-think I’m g-gonna…”

Roxy raised an eyebrow. “You’re that worked up already? I’ve barely even touched you.”

“N-not that, I-”

Sam sucked in a strangled gasp and Roxy pulled back, confused by the interaction. When she did, she realised what Sam was talking about. Her right eye had turned red and Roxy could do nothing but watch as she shifted, just as she had on the day they had Ross over. Gone were her pleading eyes and soft lips, replaced by a curious half-lidded gaze and a mouth full of sharp canine teeth. Fur sprouted along her sideburns and on the centre of her chest, right above her sternum, along with a light fluff along her stomach.

It took a few seconds, but the situation eventually dawned on Roxy. She slowly rested her forehead against Sam’s upper chest before loudly groaning and cursing her luck, relying on the freshly sprouted fur to muffle her cries of frustration. Of all the fucking times for this to happen.

Well, there was nothing for it. She wasn’t going to continue while Sam wasn’t of sound mind, nor did she have any desire to. The mood thoroughly killed, Roxy crawled off of Sam’s lap and picked her shirt up from the floor, slipping it back on. It took a bit of effort, but she managed to get Sam’s back on as well. The werewolf kept trying to lick her hands anytime she brought them near her face, which definitely made things difficult, as amusing as it was.

Once that ordeal was over, she flopped back onto the couch and let Sam rest her head in her lap, sending a text to Pedro to tell him what had happened. Thankfully, she seemed to have much less energy than she did the last time she involuntarily shifted, so she was content just to snuggle there instead of trying to play. Roxy noted that she probably needed to come up with an actual name to call… whatever this was, but she was too tired and frustrated to think about it. It could wait until she could get Sam’s input.

Her phone buzzed with Pedro’s reply. He said that he’d already sent word to the Council once Sam’s silver sickness didn’t go away, so hopefully they would get back to him with some sort of solution soon. Roxy couldn’t wait for that. As much as she loved her girlfriend, she’d also started to miss spending time with her favourite giant wolf, as well, and Sam’s weird hybrid forms just weren’t scratching that itch for her.

Sam boofed, dragging Roxy’s attention back to her. She was looking up at her with a twinkle in her eye and an adorable grin on her face. Roxy smiled back and kissed her on the forehead. At least they were here together.

—

“Alright, we’re here.” 

“Oh thank god.”

Roxy wasn’t sure how much more of that she could take. It had been kind of funny at the start, when Leif had found Pedro’s collection of cassettes and started singing along to the one she put into the player, only for Pedro to join in at the chorus, but after an hour of non-stop car karaoke between a middle-aged man who could literally howl and a teenager who couldn’t hit the key to save her life, she was desperate for a break. Don’t even get her started about when Take On Me started playing. Those are pitches that no man or wolf should ever try to reach.

Pedro had taken them all out of town to a remote gun range, barring Ross, who was apparently instead being trained in a way that was ‘far better suited to him,’ according to Pedro. All he had said was that it was much more ‘intelligence-based’ than the physical training that the girls were doing. Roxy tried her best not to take that as an insult.

Everyone got out of the car for a much needed stretch. The sun was high in the sky, shining down on them with much more heat than Roxy had felt in a long time. It didn’t usually get that hot in Washington, even during the height of summer, but today was an exception. It was the hottest June day they’d had in years, according to the weatherman, who was apparently Sam’s adoptive dad and Carol’s husband. Roxy hadn’t really seen him around much, despite how much she was at Sam’s house, so she hadn’t recognised him until she brought it up.

“Alright,” Pedro started, tearing Roxy from her thoughts. “As I said before, I know the guy who owns this place and he owed me a favour, so it should just be us in there today. That being said, we only have today, so we’re gonna get as much training done as we possibly can. He can’t afford to have his business effectively shut down for that long, and we can’t risk Sam having another ‘episode’ with the public around, so we won’t be able to come back until we can figure out how to fix whatever’s going on. The owner’s human, but he knows about us, in case you were wondering. He got into a bad situation with some hunters a while back, and I helped him out of it. Don’t ask about his scars or how he got them.” He clapped his hands. “Alright, I think that’s everything. Now, let’s get out of this heat, I’m getting sweaty.” He shot them an uncharacteristic grin and turned around, heading towards the squat building at the end of the empty parking lot. If Roxy wasn’t mistaken, Pedro seemed pretty excited to be here.

They all followed him into the building where a man was waiting for them. He greeted them with a bright smile and even hugged Pedro, who returned the embrace without hesitation. A few things stuck out about the man from the word ‘go.’ For one, he was missing the little finger on his left hand, and she wasn’t certain, but it seemed like his right eye might have been a prosthetic. Criss-crossing scars lined the dark skin of his arms, as well as one that stretched upwards from the point of his chin, bisecting his lips and leaving a bald spot in his beard. Whatever situation he’d gotten into with the hunters, it had clearly left its mark.

“Ah, Pedro. It’s been too long.” His voice was deep and had a satisfying rumble to it. He was tall, maybe even taller than Sam, which was slightly disconcerting. Roxy was used to people being taller than her - after all, she was the shortest person in her friend group - but anyone who could rival the blonde in height was few and far between.

“It has, it has. Sorry I haven’t been able to make time to come see you until now, you know how work is. Hell, I’m even still working now,” Pedro replied, pulling out of the hug.

“So I’ve heard. These are the trainees, then?” The man asked.

“Yep,” Pedro answered, indicating to each girl as he introduced them. “That’s Sam, our resident direwolf, and Roxy and Leif, both human.”

The man raised an eyebrow, smiling with a hint of cheek. “Direwolf, eh? You didn’t tell me I’d be hosting a princess, Luna.”

Sam chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of her neck as her cheeks reddened. “Uh, I-I’m not a p-princess.”

“Oh? I thought you direwolves were like werewolf royalty?”

“Hah, they wished,” Pedro answered. “He’s just fucking with you, Sam. Thinks he’s a charmer.”

The man shrugged with a casual smile. “I try.”

“Anyway, girls, this is Duncan, expert on all things firearm related. I may have taught him the basics, but he picked up on it so fast that now I come to him when I need advice. You won't find a better shot anywhere on the west coast.”

Duncan laughed jovially and slapped Pedro on the back. “Now who’s the charmer, eh?”

“Hey, I’m just telling the truth.”

Duncan laughed again and looked back to the girls with a twinkle in his eye. Roxy decided that she liked him. “Well, how’s about we get you all set up, eh? Time’s ‘a wasting!”

—

“So,” Duncan started as he sat down next to Pedro. He’d just finished setting the girls up with standard issue Colt 1911s, Pedro’s handgun of choice, and they’d moved into an adjacent room so they could talk without the gunfire interrupting them. There was a window so that they could still supervise the girls, but it was thick enough that the sound was heavily muted regardless. “How is it that you found yourself in the care of three new pups, eh?”

Pedro scoffed. “They’re not my ‘pups,’ you weirdo. I’m just helping to train them up. The hunters have been making moves and I don’t want them to be caught unawares. They’ve all had run-ins with them before so I was worried they might still be targets, Sam especially.”

Duncan winced through his teeth. “I sure hope those run-ins weren’t anything like what I went through, for their sake. They’re far too young to go through that.”

Pedro shook his head. “No, they weren’t. I don’t know all the details for Roxy and Leif, but it sounded like they caught one of the recon guys stalking them and a fight broke out. Sam had to fight off a hunting party. Took a few new scars home, but she’s alright.”

“Good. That’s good.”

They sat in silence for a moment, watching the girls find their aim on their own through the window. He’d instructed them on trigger discipline, how to safely hold the gun without getting their hands mutilated by the slide, and how to load a magazine beforehand, and now he was letting them familiarise themselves before stepping in and seeing how much he needed to assist them. Leif had a look of glee on her face as she fired shot after shot into the target, hitting her mark with surprising accuracy for a complete beginner. Roxy was currently struggling to refill her magazine all the way to the top, clearly having trouble with the pressure of the spring. Sam, on the other hand…

Pedro frowned and stood up, grabbing some ear protection before exiting the small office for the range at large. He congratulated Leif on her good work as he passed, and helped Roxy fill her magazine the rest of the way. Sam didn't seem to notice his approach. She was just standing there, holding her pistol just like he'd shown her, aiming at the target with a slight quiver. It was clear that she hadn't even taken a single shot yet.

"Sam?"

She didn't react. Her eyes were distant. Pedro sighed. He would need to be careful here to prevent an accident. He reached out for her wrist, intent on getting her attention physically while preventing her from swinging the weapon towards him in alarm. Just as he'd predicted, when he made contact, Sam yelped and squeezed the trigger, trying to turn the gun in his direction but being hindered by his firm grip. The gun went off with a bang, missing the target by quite some way.

“Wuh? I- uh… P-Pedro?” She looked at him, a slightly dazed look in her eyes.

“What’s wrong, Sam?” he asked. “That’s the first shot you’ve fired all day. What’s got you hung up?”

She stared at him blankly for a few seconds before looking first to the weapon in her hands and then to the target in the distance. “I-I-I don’t know,” she admitted guiltily, her gaze finally settling on the floor. “I just can’t… b-bring myself to shoot.”

“Why?” he prompted gently.

“I-I just… I don’t know, I keep…” She shook her head. “No, it’s stupid.”

“Hey. Whatever it is, it’s clearly tearing you up inside. It can’t be stupid.” Pedro placed a hand on her shoulder and nodded his head towards the exit. “C’mon, let’s get some fresh air. Maybe it’ll help you find the words you’re looking for?”

The blonde hesitated at first before slowly nodding. She followed him as they made their way through the building until they reached the front door, ditching their hearing protection on the way out of the range. Upon stepping out into the heat, Pedro was immediately regretting his decision. The two werewolves both shared a silent grimace before making the executive choice to settle in the lobby instead.

“So, what’s on your mind?” Pedro asked as they sat down on a couch. Sam hesitated for a moment and bit her lip. She opened her mouth to speak, but ended up choking on her words.

“I…” she finally started. “Every time I look at the target and think about shooting it, I just… I can’t help but picture those… those p-people that I… th-that I…” She stifled a sob as her eyes welled up. 

“The hunters that attacked you, you mean?” 

Sam nodded, wiping her eyes. “I… I k-killed them, Pedro! I-I never want to do that to anyone else! I d-don’t care if I can’t remember it. I s-still did it and nothing’s gonna change that. Nothing’s gonna give them back the lives that I… that I stole.”

Pedro was in shock. He had no idea how much what had happened was affecting her. In hindsight he felt a little stupid for it, but the sad reality is that it had just become normalised to him. He wasn’t much older than her when he first started participating in outpost raids, and his first blood had been much earlier. Sam had been raised far away from all of that - aside from the loss of her parents - and that was his fault. She was still just a kid, really, even just over half a year out from turning eighteen as she was. Still, it didn’t change the reality of the situation. Sam was a killer now, just like him. Just like Duncan, like Clarissa, like her mother and father. She had killed before and she will be forced to kill again. It was only a matter of when.

“Sam, I need you to accept something. It’s going to be hard to hear, but you need to hear it, and you need to internalise it. You’re a werewolf. You’re going to kill people. It’s just the sad reality of our lives. There are people out there who want us dead, and they’re gonna stop at nothing to reach that goal, so unless you want to give them what they want, you need to just accept that it’s kill or be killed. I’m not saying it’s easy, I know it’s not easy, lord knows I was a wreck after my first blood, but sooner or later you just have to accept it, or things will just be harder in the long run. 

“It’s important to remember that that doesn’t make you a bad person, Sam. The fact that you’re so vehemently against it makes that clear. No werewolf wants to kill, unless they’re a psychopath or something. It’s just the unfortunate reality of our existence in current day society. We need to defend ourselves, defend those close to us. Your mother killed hunters to protect you, was she a bad person? Would Roxy be a bad person if she killed a hunter to keep you, or any of your friends, safe? When the only option is to kill them or be killed herself?”

Sam was silent for a long moment, staring at her lap with tears in her eyes and an angry expression on her face. Pedro sighed.

“Let me reframe the question. If Roxy was in danger, if the hunters had her and were going to hurt or kill her, would you kill them to save her? Would you do what it takes to keep her safe?”

Sam looked at him resolutely, without a hint of hesitation. “Absolutely.”

Pedro smiled. “See? That doesn’t make you a bad person, Sam. Hunters will come again. And when you have to defend yourself, or Roxy, or Leif, or anyone, you need to remember that. You’re not a bad person for defending yourself or those you love.”

Sam nodded along to his words. “No one comes near my pack. Not again.”

He stared back at her, their eyes connecting with unspoken understanding. She wasn’t the only one who lost something dear to them that day, fourteen years ago.

“Never again.”

—

Roxy rested her head against the car window, watching the sun set over the horizon as she listened to whatever cassette Pedro had put into the radio. She didn’t know the band, but it was good. Leif would probably be able to name the band as well as their entire discography and an extensive list of facts about its members, had she not been snoring in the backseat along with Sam, who was slouched against her in a position that would no doubt leave a crick in her neck once she woke. Roxy was just glad that she’d claimed the front seat in order to prevent another hour of ear-piercing karaoke, even at the sacrifice of briefly giving up Sam snuggling rights to Leif.

She reflected on her day. All things considered, it had honestly been pretty damn fun. She’d never gotten the chance to fire a gun before, and by the end of the day she’d familiarised herself with all sorts. A few different pistols, a few different variations on revolvers, including the .357 Magnum, which had nearly broken her nose on the first shot because she wasn’t prepared for the recoil, a few different rifles, of the bolt-action, semi-auto, and automatic varieties, and even some shotguns. Pedro said that it wasn’t likely that they’d actually end up in a situation where most of them would have any relevance outside of the handguns, but it was good to know regardless. Plus, that feeling of power that came over her when she squeezed the trigger and made another hole in a distant target was second to none.

She’d been a little bit worried about Sam at the start, but after she’d gotten back from wherever she went with Pedro, she seemed much more present. She still did the worst out of the trio in terms of accuracy, but that was more due to her actual ability than any potential mental block. Leif ended up taking home the prize for most accurate shot, in the form of a giant stuffed bear that Duncan had pulled out of god-only-knows where that was currently residing in the trunk of Pedro’s car.

Duncan was certainly… a character. Big and loud and jovial, yet with a certain… something in his eyes that hinted at a dark past, as if the countless scars across his arms and face weren’t enough for that. They’d brought their own lunch, yet he insisted on treating them all to home-cooked salmon and mango lassis, which, while a bit of an odd combination, was surprisingly delicious. The question of why he even had a fully stocked kitchen at his gun range hadn’t even occurred to Roxy until just that very moment.

“Man,” she muttered, half to herself and half to Pedro. “Duncan’s certainly an odd one, huh?”

The man scoffed. “That he is.”

Roxy turned her head to him. “How’d you meet him, anyway?”

Pedro sighed. “It’s not a happy story, nor an uncommon one, sadly. Most of the humans that are connected even remotely to the Council came from similar situations as he did, honestly. Poor saps that, for one reason or another, were taken by hunters for what they like to call  ‘re-education.’” He scoffed bitterly. “It’s not education, it’s torture. They hurt you until you’re too terrified or broken to say no to them. Most hunters that aren’t nepotism hires or lucky psychos looking for something a little bigger to kill than the family pet are scouted that way.

“When we go on outpost raids, we always make sure to check the cells for any new ‘recruits’ that still have an intact sense-of-self. That’s how I met him. I was in my twenties, and he wasn’t much older than you kids. He’d already been in there for a month and he wasn’t in good shape. He’d tried to escape a few days earlier and they took his eye for it. I… I still remember the way he looked at me when I opened that door, my claws and fangs out for all to see. He was staring at me with that one empty socket, looking like he couldn’t decide if I was there to help him or hurt him. It was… horrifying.”

Pedro took a slow, deep breath before continuing. “He was my first rescue. I helped him get back on his feet afterwards, and we ended up staying as roommates for a little while. He moved up here a few years later, to get away from everything and get a fresh start and, eventually, I followed him. Well, I was ordered to, I had to make sure Sam was okay after her parents died, but I wasn’t complaining. I needed a fresh start, too, after…”

Pedro suddenly clammed up. Roxy watched as his hands tightened around the steering wheel until his knuckles were white. It was pretty clear that there was more to that story, but she knew better than to pry, especially after that reaction. He’d already given her enough to think about, anyway, so she remained silent.

Roxy swallowed thickly, remembering how close she’d come to being kidnapped by the hunters herself. Would they have tortured her, just like they did to Duncan? And what about Leif? Roxy had dragged her straight into the firing line by asking her for help that day. Would they torture her too, or just kill her, like the stalker said he would, just because she was trans? Roxy was gay, and she knew the hunters would have known that, given everything else they knew about her. She also knew from their website that that was against their bigoted beliefs. What was so different about her and Leif that she would just be taken while Leif would’ve been killed? Did they just think that her lesbianism was more ‘curable’ than Leif’s transness?

A hot ball of anger settled into her gut. The world was filled with so much unjustified hatred that it just felt overwhelming to think about . Dewsbury was surprisingly accepting for a town on the smaller side, so it was easy to forget how horrible things really were in the outside world. Hell, there were places where she’d be in danger of being attacked at random just because of the colour of her skin, let alone for the heinous crime of kissing girls. It just made her so angry.

“OW!” Leif yelped from the back seat. Roxy turned around to see Sam slowly lifting her head, blinking her eyes blearily as she awoke from the noise. There was a string of drool connecting her mouth to Leif’s shoulder briefly before the shorter girl wiped it off. “Jesus, girl! Your teeth are sharp!”

Sam just stared at her blankly. “H-huh?”

“You bit me!”

Sam cocked her head to the side. “Did I?”

Roxy snorted. “Yeah, she does that in her sleep sometimes. It’s why I try to be the big spoon more often than not.”

“I do?! Why didn’t you tell me?!”

“Would you be able to stop if I had? Besides, I don’t really care. It’s usually not enough to wake me up anymore anyway.”

Sam buried her face in her hands. “Ugh, that’s so embarrassing.”

Pedro laughed a little. “Don’t worry about it, kid. It’s normal. Just happens if your wolf is a bit pent up. Nothing to be ashamed of. Don’t let these prissy humans get to you.” He smirked cheekily.

“Hey!” Roxy and Leif both yelled in unison, though there was amusement behind it. Roxy was just glad that he wasn’t still stewing over whatever he almost let slip earlier.

There was a slight jingle from the back seat. Roxy watched through the rear-view mirror as Leif pulled out her phone and her face lit up. “Holy shit,” she whispered.

“What is it?”

The girl suddenly laughed, seemingly out of pure joy. “Brooke just asked me out on a date!”

Roxy smiled with her as celebrations and congratulations sounded off around the car. At least the world wasn’t all bad.