“Oh, man. That was so good. Thank you so much, everyone.”

Pedro swallowed down his mouthful of pancake so he could reply to Roxy. “No worries, kid. The pleasure’s all mine.”

“You want some seconds, Roxy? There’s plenty of scrambled eggs left,” Damien asked.

Roxy’s face immediately turned sour and she shook her head. “No thanks. I don’t think I can eat as much as I used to, and scrambled eggs are…” Her face twitched. “Definitely not.”

“I can finish them for you!” Sam exclaimed cheerfully.

Damien raised an eyebrow. “Really? After all that milk?”

“I’ve seen Sam eat four whole pizzas in thirty minutes. This is nothing to her,” Leif replied.

“Good lord,” Damien muttered. “I guess it makes sense. You’ve gotta keep up that muscle mass somehow.”

Sam shrugged and reached for the plate of eggs. “Yeah, totally.”

Conversation continued on as the mountain of food on the table was slowly chipped away at, mostly by Sam and Pedro. He was really glad that he was able to be there with all of them. Valerie had left for France the day before and, to be honest, it had put him in the dumps a little bit. She wasn’t his first fling since he lost Catherine, but she was definitely the best. If it had been a few months earlier, he likely would have just drank himself to sleep for a few nights and gotten over it that way, but instead, he was able to surround himself with people that he cared about. It definitely had him in a much better mood. The knowledge that Clarissa would be returning in a few weeks also hung on his mind, as sad as he was to hear of her mother’s passing. He was looking forward to seeing her again.

Eventually, Roxy pushed herself away from the table. “I think I’m done. Sam, do you wanna… come up to my room?”

“Hell yeah!” Sam replied, stepping over and picking Roxy’s wheelchair up again.

“Sam! It has wheels for a reason, you know!” Roxy called out through giggles as they ascended the stairs.

“I don’t care, this is more fun!”

Pedro chuckled to himself at the interaction before making the conscious decision to block out any more noise he heard from up there. Leif clapped her hands against her legs and stood up. “Well, I think that’s my cue.”

Damien frowned. “You’re not going with them?”

“No way. Those two need some quality time alone together. Nah, I’m just gonna head home, I think. Thanks so much for breakfast, Damien.”

“Actually, Leif,” Pedro interrupted. “If you wouldn’t mind staying, I might need a little help with… explaining things.” He nodded his head in Damien’s direction.

Leif’s eyes widened. “Oh. We’re… telling him everything?”

“He deserves to know, don’t you think?” Pedro looked back at Damien. He seemed nervous.

“Yeah, I guess so. Not sure what help I’ll be, but I’ll stick around.”

They all moved to the living room and Leif and Damien settled on the lounge while Pedro remained standing. “So, Damien, before we begin, I need you to understand that a lot of what you’re about to hear may be hard to believe. Just… try to keep an open mind, okay?”

“Okay…?” Damien responded, a slightly concerned look on his face.

“I promised you I would answer every question you have to the best of my ability, and I meant it. I’m not really sure where to start with all of this otherwise, so… ask away.”

Damien’s face scrunched up in thought. “Well, first off, I want to know why… Why Roxy was kidnapped. Why was…” He sucked in a breath. “Why did she have to be hurt like that?”

Pedro sighed. A heavy-hitter right off the bat. “That will require a bit of background, so bear with me. The people that kidnapped Roxy are an organisation known as the Sons of the Black Sun. Their one and only purpose is the elimination of a certain… marginalised group, shall we say. Sam and I are a part of that group. As you can probably imagine, it isn’t particularly easy to find people who are willing to kill for you right off the bat, so the Sons use… different methods to recruit new members. Some of their organisation are nepotism hires, some are psychos who got lucky, but most are like Roxy. Innocent people who get taken off of the street and… tortured. They hurt you until you’re too scared to say no.

“In Roxy’s case, recruiting her wasn’t their only motivation. For reasons that would take too long to explain right now, the ‘hunters,’ as we call them, want Sam as well. They’d sent people out to kidnap her in the past, but she managed to fight them off, so they decided to take a different approach. The hunters knew about Roxy and Sam’s relationship, and kidnapped Roxy in order to get Sam to come to them, hence why those pictures were sent to her.”

Damien was silent for a long time. “How did… How did Roxy even get involved in all of this?”

“I think it’s just a side-effect of being friends with Sam, to be honest,” Leif said. “These hunters have been trying to get her for ages, so if you spend enough time with her, you’re bound to get wrapped up in it. That stalker first came after Roxy because she was curious about Sam and, through her research, stumbled across the hunter’s website. They traced her computer and tried to recruit her back then. I wouldn’t say we were really involved in it until Pedro came along, though. It was after the hunters attacked Sam. Pedro said that, because we’re close with her, we could be targets, too, so we needed to learn how to defend ourselves. He and Clarissa started training us. Clearly, he was right.”

Damien frowned “I… I just don’t get it. What do you mean when you say ‘marginalised group?’ I mean, Sam’s white. Is it because she’s gay?”

Pedro huffed a laugh. “No, it’s not that. Although, the hunters definitely aren’t fans of that, either. This is… what I meant when I said it might be hard to believe. The hunters want us dead because, according to them, people like Sam and I are abominations that shouldn’t exist.”

“What do you mean?” Damien asked.

Pedro sighed. This was it. “Sam and I, we’re… we’re werewolves.”

Damien paused, confusion flashing across his face. “Huh?”

Pedro let his wolf leak out and his eyes glowed bright amber. He let his fangs and claws grow longer, let black fur spread up his hands and arms. Damien’s eyes were as wide as dinner plates and his heart was racing. He reverted back to normal before the man had a heart attack, but he let his eyes continue to glow. “It may be hard to believe, but it’s the truth. That was only a half-shift. I can turn all the way into a wolf too, if I wanted to. Same as Sam.”

“Do you remember that wolf you saw me with, out in the woods? That was her,” Leif said.

Damien’s reaction was a lot more subdued than he was expecting. Sure, he was shocked when Pedro showed off his wolf, but he seemed more… reflective, than anything else. His brows were furrowed together in a frown. It seemed like he was thinking about something. Suddenly, a look of realisation flashed across his face. “Oh my god. Everything he said… It… it was all true.”

Pedro frowned. “Everything who said?”

Damien swallowed thickly, looking back up at the man. “Me and my siblings, we never… We never saw our grandparents much, as they still lived in Myanmar, but whenever we went back there to visit, our pho used to sit us down and tell us stories about his dad. He said that he was ‘half man and half beast,’ and that he could ‘turn into an animal at will.’ He always mentioned being sad that ‘the gift’ didn’t get passed along to him. We were young, so we just took it at face value and just assumed they were stories when we got older, but… are you saying that there’s a chance he was telling the truth? Was my great-grandfather a werewolf?”

Pedro and Leif shared an amazed look as what Damien said settled in. “It… it sounds like he very well could have been. Humans being born from werewolf-human relationships are rare, but it can happen. That… That would mean that you and Roxy… you both have werewolf blood.”

“But… but what does that mean for us?”

“I… I’m honestly not entirely sure… Valerie is the same, but… I’m not really sure if there are any differences between you and other humans. One thing is certain, though. You guys having werewolf blood means that, should the hunters succeed in their plan…” Pedro paused as it sank in. There was no getting out, not anymore. “You and your family will die along with the rest of us.”

—

Roxy closed her eyes and breathed in the pine scent of Sam’s neck. Her arm was curled protectively around Roxy’s waist, holding her close, while her other hand was underneath her head, buried in her hair. Roxy’s hands slipped under Sam’s shirt, relishing the comfort of the skin-on-skin contact and appreciating her impressive back muscles. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt so safe, so warm. Sam kissed her on the top of the head and hummed in satisfaction.

“God, I missed this so fucking much. I missed you so fucking much,” the blonde muttered. “You have no idea.”

“I know exactly how much, Sam. I can feel it all, remember?” Roxy pulled back so she could look at her girlfriend. “I’m so sorry I put you through that. I’m sorry I scared you so much.”

“Please don’t apologise, Roxy. You know it wasn’t your fault. I’m just… I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you.” Sam sniffled, her eyes growing wet.

“Hey, if I can’t apologise then neither can you.” She pushed Sam playfully.

Sam chuckled, observing Roxy for a long moment. “You’re so beautiful, you know that?”

Roxy smiled in embarrassment as her heart fluttered. It was hard for her to believe that some days, especially with how her face looked now, but the pure honesty in Sam’s voice and in her heart swept that disbelief away, at least for a little while. “Says you.”

“Mm-hmm.” Sam smiled gently. “Can I kiss you?”

“Of course.”

The hand in her hair gently guided her as Sam leaned in. Their lips connected softly, carefully, setting off a tiny spark in Roxy’s belly. It was slow and calm, chaste for the most part, aside from the occasional flicker of a tongue streaking out to spice things up. She could tell that Sam wanted to progress further, but she could also sense her hesitance. Roxy felt the same. While she wanted nothing more than to see and feel her girlfriend’s body again after so long, she wasn’t sure if she would be able to satisfy her as she was now, nor was she sure if she was ready for Sam to see her body, not after what happened. Sam’s hand slipped under the back of her tank-top, touching her half-healed scars, and Roxy gasped. It felt wrong. It was too numb. There were bumps where there shouldn’t be.

Sam pulled back. “Hey, are you alright?”

Roxy realised her heart was racing and she forced herself to calm down. “Y-yeah, you just… surprised me. M-my back, I… I’m not used to people touching it, except for nurses, I guess. It… it feels weird.”

Sam frowned apologetically. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

Roxy shook her head. “It’s fine, you couldn’t have known. Besides, I should probably get used to it. It’s not like it’s gonna go back to normal.” She pulled herself back under Sam’s chin and yawned. “I think I need a nap after all that food. Stay with me?”

Sam chuckled. “Of course. Sleepy baby.”

Roxy smirked. “Shut up, puppy-dog.”

They settled in and got comfortable, wrapping themselves up in blankets and curling into each other. They couldn’t quite entangle themselves how they used to on account of Roxy’s leg, but it was still nice. Very nice. Roxy yawned again and snuggled up against Sam’s chest, letting the grip of sleep take hold.

She wasn’t sure how much time passed before she was being jostled out of her near-sleep state with something between her teeth. She grumbled and instinctively bit down a little harder, enjoying the satisfaction of the sensation. Sam hissed from somewhere above her.

“Rox, why are you chewing on me?” Sam asked, though with more amusement than irritation.

Roxy blinked herself awake a little more and realised that the thing between her teeth was Sam’s collarbone. She pulled back and wiped it off, ignoring the feeling of loss. “I-I’m not sure. Felt kinda satisfying. I must have done it in my sleep or something.”

Sam chuckled. “Satisfying, huh? I know that feeling. I used to chew on stuff all the time when my fangs were coming in. Hell, I still do.” She was silent for a moment, and Roxy felt Sam’s confusion grow. “Your… your teeth did feel a little sharper than normal.”

Roxy frowned. “Huh?” That couldn’t make any sense.

Sam pulled back and looked at her, a mix of curiosity and concern on her face. She gently shifted her hand over and pulled Roxy’s upper lip back with a thumb. Roxy was too tired to protest. “What the…” Sam squinted, slipping a finger into Roxy’s mouth and prodding it along her upper and lower canines. Her eyes widened. “Holy shit. Holy shit!”

“Wha?” Roxy asked, muffled by the finger in her mouth.

Sam sat up, confusion and amazement and a hundred other things present in her expression. “Roxy, don’t freak out, but… I… I think you’re growing fangs.”

Roxy frowned. "What? No, you must be seeing things. How would that even be possible? I'm just… j-just human." She hesitated as memories of all of the weird, distinctly non-human things she'd been experiencing flew through her head. Still, there was no way she was a werewolf, right? One of her parents would have to be one of she was, and she definitely would've known about it a lot sooner. It's not like there were late bloomer werewolves, were there?

“I… I don’t know,“ Sam muttered, deep in thought. “It doesn’t make any sense, but… Your canines are definitely growing longer. I know what your teeth looked like before, and they are definitely different. Sharper, too.”

“Fuck…” Roxy gripped her hair and curled up into a ball as her stress and fear grew. “What the fuck is wrong with me? Why can’t it all just stop?”

Sam pulled her close and shushed her. “Hey, don’t worry, we’ll figure this out. We should ask Pedro, he’d probably have a better idea about what this could be.”

A whimper slipped from Roxy’s throat without her permission. She really didn’t want to do that. She just wanted to forget about all of this weird shit and pretend like it didn’t exist. She already had enough on her plate to begin with, and telling someone else about everything felt like admitting to herself that it was real and not just in her head.

“Hey, I know that you’re scared, but it’ll be okay,” Sam whispered against her head. “Whatever this is, it can’t possibly be a bad thing, right? I mean, what’s the worst case scenario here, really?”

“All I want is to be normal again, Sam. I… I already look like a freak, but now I really am one. I’m a freak that shouldn’t exist.” Roxy regretted the words the second they left her mouth, but it was too late, the damage had been done. Sam’s hurt flooded through her like acid.

“Hey,” she reprimanded harshly. “I get that you’re hurting, and that you’re scared, but do not talk about yourself like that. You’re not a freak. Fangs and scars don’t make you a freak. Do you think I’m a freak? What about Pedro? Clarissa? Are they freaks?”

Roxy choked on a sob. “I’m sorry, I-I didn’t mean it.”

Yes you did, Roxanne. You’re a freak, and Sam knows it. They’re all going to leave you. I’m the only one who’ll stay.

Roxy pulled her hair tighter and let out a muffled scream. “Shut up! Leave me alone!”

He was standing in the corner of the room, glassy eyes staring right at her as blood dripped from his broken skull onto the carpet. You should just do them a favour and disappear again. I’m sure there are some lovely cliffs out in the woods for you to jump off of. No one would miss you. No one would mourn. The world would be better without you in it.

There were arms around her, but she didn’t know whose. “No, you’re wrong! You’re lying! You’re not real!”

Am I? Only one way to find out.

“Roxy! It’s okay, Roxy, it’s okay! He’s not here!”

She blinked and he was gone, replaced by Sam’s warm embrace. She was whispering in her ear, repeating “You’re safe” over and over again.

“S-Sam, I… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

Sam was quiet for a little bit. She held Roxy tightly and gently kissed her neck. “It’s okay, I understand. I shouldn’t have been so harsh on you, either. What you said just… hurt me a little. I know you didn’t mean it.”

Roxy let her head slump against Sam’s shoulder and stopped holding back her tears. “I’m sorry… I-I-I’m so sorry.”

Sam gently rocked her back and forth. “Shh, it’s okay. It’s okay.”

It took a while for her to calm down. There was just so much she needed to get out of her system, and it wasn’t always easy for her to let herself cry for a long time, especially in the presence of others. She tried not to let herself cry too much when she was being held captive. Emmerich didn’t like it, and sometimes, if she was being too loud in her cell, the guards would come in and beat her until she quieted. Sam’s embrace was the only place she’d felt safe enough to just let it all out since everything started.

By the time she was finished, Sam’s shoulder was well and truly soaked, not to mention her eyepatch. Sam got her a new one from her bedside table and she quickly swapped it out before she could be tempted to try and open it. Her doctor had advised her that doing that was probably not a good idea for at least a few more weeks, but she really wanted to know what her vision was like now.

“Can we go downstairs? I wanna ask Pedro about what’s going on with me,” Roxy asked quietly.

“Sure,” Sam replied. She helped Roxy into her wheelchair and pushed her down the hall, carrying her down the stairs once again when they got to them. It was just a lot quicker than using the chairlift. They caught the end of a conversation as they entered the living room.

“So, let me see if I’ve got this right,” her dad said. “Because of Sam’s connection to the rest of the… what, race? Species?”

“Species,” Pedro answered.

“Right. So, because of her connection to the rest of the species, the hunters are planning to use her to spread this drug to everyone?”

“That’s the working theory, yeah.”

“Hey,” Roxy interrupted. Pedro and Leif must’ve been telling her dad about everything. From the looks of things, it seemed to be going well.

“Hey, Roxy. Everything okay?” her dad asked. From the look of concern on his face, he could definitely tell that she’d been crying. She decided not to address it.

“Uh, not exactly? First off, are you all… caught up?”

“For the most part, he is. Knows about werewolves and all that. Speaking of which, there is something we need to tell you, but you go first,” Pedro said.

‘R-right, uh… Okay, so, hypothetically, if I seemed to be growing fangs, what would that mean?”

Sam flicked her in the head. “It’s not hypothetical. She’s growing fangs.”

Pedro’s face flickered with confusion. “What?” He came over and crouched down next to Roxy. “Open your mouth, let me see.”

Roxy did as she was told. Her dad shot up off the couch. “I thought you said that there weren’t any differences between us and normal humans?” he asked. Roxy frowned. What did that mean?

“There shouldn’t be, as far as I know. Valerie is indistinguishable,” Pedro muttered, staring at Roxy’s teeth and deep in thought. “And yet… those are fangs, clear as day.” He stepped back.

Roxy closed her mouth. “Dad, what did you mean by that?”

“Oh! Uh, long story short, your great great granddad was apparently a werewolf, which means that we, uh… we have werewolf blood, even though we’re humans.”

“Pretty crazy, right?” Leif offered, accurately. Meanwhile, Roxy was just about having her mind blown, and from the feelings rocketing through her body, so was Sam.

“That… wow, I mean… B-but, that explains the fangs, right?” Sam asked.

Pedro shook his head. “No, that still doesn’t make sense. Just because you have werewolf ancestors doesn’t make you more werewolf than any other human. These fangs are from something else. Have you noticed anything else weird?” The question was directed at Roxy.

She decided to just admit it. “Uh, y-yeah, actually. Late at night, m-my gums and the beds of my nails have been itchy. On the full moon, I woke up with heightened senses and a glowing eye, just like what happened after Sam marked me. Th-there’s also the urge to chew on stuff, but I think that’s just the fangs.”

“Marked you? What does that mean?” Damien asked. Roxy’s heart lurched.

“I’ll explain later,” Pedro said. “But that might actually be something. Because she marked you, you have a ton of Lunin in your system that you wouldn’t otherwise have. That could definitely be part of what’s causing this. Maybe it’s… I don’t know, activating your dormant genes or something. There’s no way for a human to become a werewolf, but maybe the Lunin has dragged you from the ‘mostly human’ side closer to the middle.”

“Could the drug be causing it, too?” Leif asked.

“Yeah, yeah maybe. We really don’t know the first thing about it, but according to your doctor you still had some unknown shit in your body, so that could very well be it. We know the drug reacts with werewolves, forces them to shift and get stronger, but the hunters thought you were a hundred percent human. It could be that the drug is what’s dragging out your latent genes. Either the Lunin or the drug or both.”

Roxy forced her breathing to stay under control. She squeezed her hands into tight fists, annoyed that she had no nails with which to dig into her palms. “What’s… Wh-what’s gonna happen to me?” she asked fearfully.

“Well,” Pedro began. “From what I can tell, you’re currently going through what most werewolves go through in early childhood, though at an accelerated rate. This is… completely unheard of, as far as I know, so there’s really no way to know how far this will go, but I doubt it’ll ever get to the point where you can completely shift.” He could see that she was freaking out a little bit, so he put a calming hand on her shoulder. “Hey, whatever happens, we’ll be here with you, okay? You don’t have to worry. Either these developments will stop at the fangs, or it’ll go all the way and you’ll become a fully-fledged werewolf. Some sort of mix, at the very least. There’s nothing there that you need to worry about.”

“P-Pedro, I have metal in my leg. I can’t shift! Wha-wh-what if it happens without my consent and my leg fucking snaps again?”

“Hey, hey, it’s alright. Like I said, it’s very unlikely that you’ll reach the point of fully shifting, and half-shifting won’t mess with your bones enough to cause a problem. Worst-case scenario, it’ll ache a little. We can have a chat with Dr. Parker about it if you’re scared.”

Roxy nodded shakily. “O-okay. Everything… Everything will be fine,” she muttered to herself.

She just wished she could believe that.

—

A couple of weeks passed and Roxy’s mood progressively got worse. She was constantly stressed. Half of the time she wanted to just curl up under the covers and never leave the house, and the other half she wanted to run outside and scream at the world for what it did to her. Her nightmares were less frequent than in the hospital, but she still woke up screaming more often than not. There was nothing she wanted to do more than work out, to just beat out all of her anger on a punching bag or exercise until she was too exhausted to even think, but she wasn’t allowed to. Despite the fact that the upper half of her body was still pretty much functional, she had been advised not to do any strenuous physical activity for at least a month. It was pretty ironic to think of it as torture, considering what she went through, but just sitting at home doing nothing made her want to tear her skin off.

She couldn’t even escape to the internet like she used to before she discovered her love of exercise. Every time she tried, she’d always end up running into something that either reminded her of what happened, or was directly about her. There were still constant news articles discussing the kidnapping, theorising about the hunters, or reporting on when the trial was going to be. A date still hadn’t been set, and it would likely be a few months between a date being set and the actual trial anyway, but Roxy really wasn’t looking forward to it. She knew she would be called in to testify, to relive the worst days of her life in front of a judge and jury, not to mention having to see Harrison again. She wasn’t ready for it. It was hard enough when Brooke tried to apologise to her for everything. Thankfully, she was moving away to live with her grandparents, so that was likely the last she’d have to see of her.

She wasn’t even safe just casually browsing. She clicked on a Youtube video titled ‘Finally some good news’ once, expecting something uplifting, only to discover it was about her being rescued, which was incredibly disconcerting. She’d always thought that, if people were going to know about her, she’d want it to be because she did something worthy of being known for, not just for something that was completely out of her control. It pissed her off. To be fair, most things pissed her off nowadays.

Her friends tried their best to be there for her, but it wasn’t always effective. Sometimes Leif’s antics would be able to make her laugh, and other times they would just get under her skin and cause her to snap. Leif was always so understanding about it, but that didn’t stop her from feeling utterly terrible about it. She could tell it was still hurting them. Sometimes, late at night, she considered humouring the voice of the dead man in her head and just offing herself. She knew it was just her brain being stupid, but in those moments it genuinely felt like her friends would be happier if she wasn’t around anymore. It was just another thing to be angry at.

Sam was probably the easiest to be around, but that wasn’t much of a surprise. Between her calming aura and the fact that she could always tell how Roxy was feeling, it was pretty difficult for either of them to catch each other off guard. That being said, it still happened from time to time. Roxy’s newfound irritability was as unpredictable as it was unfair. She just wanted to be able to laugh with her friends again. It was nice knowing they had her back and would stick by her until she was all better, but how long was that going to take? School started again in only a few weeks, and she felt far from ready to deal with that many people, all no doubt swarming her and asking intrusive questions. She was also starting therapy soon, which was quite daunting, but she knew it was an important step to take. She just… didn’t really know how much help it was going to be, considering she would have to lie about anything related to werewolves. Lying seemed like a big therapy no-no.

The cracking of thunder outside Sam’s bedroom window made both of them jump, though Roxy much more so. Sam gently held her and ran a hand down her bare back until her heart stopped pounding in her chest. She’d finally summed up the courage to see what her back looked like after the last bandage was taken off, and it wasn’t pretty. Dozens upon dozens of raised, discoloured lines littered every inch of her skin. It both looked and felt gross, and she couldn’t understand how Sam could bear to touch it. The warmth of her hand was comforting, but the way that it felt travelling across the ridges and grooves of her back was weird. Some of her scars were more sensitive than the rest of her skin, and some of them were completely numb. She had to just get used to it. It wasn’t like she’d ever be able to get Sam to stop, even if she wanted to. She was currently the only person Roxy felt safe enough with to let help apply her scar cream, which was why she was currently lying there without a shirt on. It helped with the twinges of pain she was still getting, and apparently it would help them mature a little better as well.

She snuggled closer into Sam’s embrace. It was a cold night, especially since she wasn’t wearing a shirt, but Sam never failed to warm her up. A small sigh slipped from her throat as Sam gently kissed her neck, complimenting it with a soft nibble. Her hand slid down Roxy’s back and gave her butt a playful squeeze. “Boop.”

Roxy snorted and Sam giggled. It was a nice moment. For once, Roxy was actually feeling alright. She wanted to freeze time, to stay there forever and never move on, but unfortunately, her bladder had other plans. She sighed. “Shit, Sammie, I gotta pee.”

“You need any help?” Sam asked, stroking her hair.

“Nah, I’m good,” she replied, lifting herself out of the embrace and into her wheelchair, throwing on one of Sam’s many flannels as she did so.

Sam yawned and curled up on the bed. “I love you.”

Roxy smiled. Sam was definitely gonna be asleep by the time she got back. “I love you, too.”

Roxy wheeled herself down the hall and into the bathroom, manoeuvring onto the toilet. Now, Roxy loved Sam’s house - mostly because Sam was there - but the one problem she had with it was that her upstairs bathroom was laid out in such a way that the mirror was directly in front of the toilet, meaning she had to just stare at herself as she did her business. It never ceased to be mildly uncomfortable, for both her and her reflection. Usually, she would try to find something else in the bathroom to look at, but tonight, for whatever reason she just couldn’t drag her eyes away from the girl in front of her. There was just something so… off about her. That girl wasn’t her. She wasn’t Roxy. She couldn’t be.

Once she was done, Roxy got herself up onto the stool in front of the mirror that Carol had so kindly left in the bathroom for her to use so she could wash her hands. She never once broke eye contact with her reflection. She just looked… wrong. She was too weak, too frail, too broken and scarred. Pathetic and useless.

That’s not your reflection, Roxanne. That’s you. Useless, pathetic, scarred, broken, weak. And you’ll never be anything more.

Roxy squeezed her eyes shut and ignored him. She was used to his taunting by now. She knew it was just all in her head. He… wasn’t entirely wrong, though. Obviously, she knew that her reflection was the same as her. She just… couldn’t accept it. She couldn’t accept herself as she was now. Something needed to change. She just didn’t know what.

She opened her eyes and observed herself. She could tell that Sam was asleep through her mark, so she allowed her thoughts to travel unchecked. Once again, they ended up at the place that they so often did late at night. If she didn’t like herself as she was, there was an easy way to fix that, wasn’t there? Her eyes flickered to a pair of scissors on the countertop. Her hand twitched, as if to reach out, but she stopped herself. No, that wasn’t how this was going to go. She was stronger than that.

It would be so easy, wouldn’t it? Haven’t things been so hard recently? Don’t you want a break? One little stab with those scissors and it’ll all be over. Why don’t you just do us all a favour, hmm?

“Big words from someone whose head I smashed in,” she muttered quietly. He always quietened up when she mentioned that. She needed to have a clear head right now. Sam’s face flashed in her mind. So did her dad’s, Leif’s, Pedro’s. She had people who cared about her, she couldn’t hurt them like that. If she wanted something to change, it would have to be something else.

She looked at the girl in the mirror, absorbing every detail. Her tan olive skin. Her dark brown, almond-shaped eyes. The light freckles dusting her ever-so-slightly crooked nose. The almost-invisible scars from years of bad acne when she was younger. None of those were things she could change, nor were they things that she necessarily had a problem with, so she kept looking. There were the obvious things, of course, like the two giant scars across her face, crossing over each other on her cheekbone like they were marking where the treasure was on a pirate’s map, but again, there really wasn’t much she could do about those. She brushed through the white streak in her fringe. She didn’t really mind that. The rest of her thick, black hair was cascading down her shoulders. It was so much longer than she’d ever let it get before, at least since she was a kid. It definitely made her look a lot more feminine, which her mom liked. But, what about what she liked? She’d always kept it short for a reason. She preferred the tomboyish look. She couldn’t even remember why she’d grown it out in the first place. Did she even have a reason?

A memory flashed through her head, of sprinting up a staircase only to be stopped by a hand gripping her hair. Maybe she would’ve gotten out on the first day if it wasn’t for that. Maybe she could have saved herself so much pain and suffering. The damage to her back and eye was already done, but everything else? None of that would have happened.

Roxy took a deep breath and grabbed the scissors off the countertop. It had been too long since she’d done this, and it was certainly going to be harder than usual without depth perception, but something needed to change, and she’d finally made up her mind.

She was long overdue for a haircut, after all.

—

Sam blinked herself awake, realising that Roxy still hadn’t returned from the bathroom. She frowned and curled up under the blankets, trying to hide from the cold. The feelings through her mark were cautious, but steadily growing more and more satisfied. That confused her. What on earth was she doing in there? If she strained her ears, she could faintly hear a periodic snipping noise, mostly hidden under the sound of the extractor fan. Part of her was tempted to get up and go see what was going on, but she knew that wasn’t a good idea. Roxy’s independence was very important to her, now more than ever, and Sam knew that checking on her while she was in the bathroom was a good way to get yelled at. If there was a problem, she would be able to tell through the mark, so there was no reason to go and see otherwise, as curious as she was.

She let out a long yawn and snuggled up with one of her plushies. It wasn’t as good as cuddling with Roxy, but it would do for now. She was close to falling asleep again when she heard the bathroom light turn off and the sound of Roxy’s wheelchair coming down the hall. Excitement lit her heart up at the prospect of getting to cuddle with her again, even as she was too tired to open her eyes.

Roxy climbed into the bed and Sam immediately grasped at her, pulling her under the covers and into her embrace. Roxy laughed heartily. “Someone’s needy.”

Sam grumbled and buried her face in Roxy’s hair. Well, tried to, because there was not nearly as much there as she remembered there being. She pulled back and opened her eyes, cradling Roxy’s face to get a better look. Sam’s heart fluttered in her chest. “Woah.”

It was short. Really short. Shorter than it was when they’d met. Shorter than Leif’s. Shorter than Ross’s, even. The sides and back were messily cut down until there was barely even an inch left, while the top had been left a little longer, enough for her to bury her hands in and ruffle around, at least, which she did. Now that it was short, it was really soft, too. Roxy giggled at her antics, brushing her fringe out of her eyes. “You like it?”

Sam’s mouth hung agape. “Roxy, I… I love it!”

Roxy grinned and blushed. “Thanks. I… I just needed something to change, y’know? And, well, there’s not much that’s better for that than hair. It’s definitely a bit shorter than I’m used to, but I think it’s nice.”

“It’s more than nice, Roxy, it’s… wow, I mean… I just can’t get over it. It really suits you.”

Roxy smiled and kissed her. “You’re sweet.”

Sam kissed back with a little more force. She felt a shiver go down Roxy’s body. “You’re hot.”

Roxy shot her a half-lidded smirk. “Yeah?”

Sam grinned back in kind. “Yeah.”

Roxy pushed her onto her back and climbed on top of her, capturing her mouth in a feverish kiss. Sam gently cradled the back of her head as she reciprocated, their lips sliding together with passion. She could feel Roxy’s eagerness as a tongue parted her lips and slid into her mouth, prompting an involuntary groan. It was the farthest they’d gone since before Roxy was kidnapped, and it seemed like she had no intention of stopping there. Sam let her hands roam up and down Roxy’s sides as they made out, slipping them under her flannel to feel her soft skin. Roxy gasped in response, briefly pulling back with a fire in her eyes before diving back in with renewed vigour.

Roxy kissed a trail down over her jaw and to her neck, sucking on her skin and teasing it with her new fangs. Sam shut her eyes and sighed, squeezing Roxy’s body against her own, as if trying to somehow get even closer to her. Roxy giggled in response, running her tongue up Sam’s neck and kissing her again. She smiled against her lips. “I love you so much.”

“Love you too, Rox,” Sam replied between quick kisses, instinctively bucking her hips up in search of something to quell the want that was building up inside her. Roxy responded by slipping a hand between her legs, providing her with the pressure she’d been craving. She let out a keen and Roxy giggled.

Roxy pulled back and was about to take her flannel off when she slipped a little, accidentally putting all of her weight on her right leg for a split second. She cried out in pain, her shock reverberating through Sam’s body. She darted forward and caught Roxy before she could fall off the bed, pulling her close.

“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!” Roxy screamed, bordering on sobbing. She rolled onto her back, gently cradling her thigh, breathing through her teeth. “Fuck, that hurt!”

Sam really didn’t know what to do. The mood had shifted so suddenly and so extremely that she was at a bit of a loss. “R-Roxy, are you-” No, that was a stupid question. She very clearly wasn’t okay. “What… what can I do to help?”

“I don’t fucking know!” Roxy yelled, groaning and rubbing her thigh. From what she could tell through her mark, it seemed like the pain was subsiding, at least. Sam tried to reach out to her, but Roxy slapped her hand away. “Just…!” She cut herself off and took a few deep breaths. “Just… give me a little space, please. I don’t want to yell at you, you don’t deserve that, but I feel really close to losing it right now.”

Sam swallowed down her emotions and nodded. She reminded herself that Roxy wasn’t mad at her, she was just mad. “Alright. Let’s… Let’s just go to sleep, okay?”

Roxy agreed and they both settled in under the covers on separate sides of the bed, with enough space between them that they wouldn’t touch. Sam squeezed one of her plushies close to her chest, trying her best to keep her feelings to herself. It always hurt her to see Roxy get like that, but she knew it wasn’t her fault.

After a while, Roxy silently shuffled closer and let Sam embrace her again. “Sorry,” she muttered under her breath. “I wasn’t mad at you. I was mad at myself.”

“It’s okay, hun. I know,” Sam replied.

Roxy sighed. “What did I do to deserve you?”

“Well, you saved my life, for starters,” Sam joked.

Roxy snorted. “Oh yeah, I did do that, didn’t I?” She let out a long, drawn-out breath. “I love you, Sam.”

“I love you too, Rox.”

—

“Roxy?”

“Huh?” Roxy blinked and came back to the present, realising she’d been staring at a leaf fluttering in the wind for what felt like hours but was likely only a few minutes. Those edibles she and Leif had earlier must’ve been kicking in.

“I was asking how your therapy went yesterday,” Leif said.

Roxy settled back against Sam, who was resting there in her wolf form. She looked up at the starry sky through the canopy of leaves. “It was fine, I guess. Nothing real deep, just some introductory questions and all that. She says that she wants to get to know me before we try to tackle anything heavy.”

“Ah, yeah. Makes sense.” Leif was lying against Sam as well. It was the night of the eclipse, and while they knew that there was close to zero chance of the hunters being able to enact their plan, all of them were still a little on edge. Roxy had been close to panicking about it, which is why Leif suggested the edibles to help calm her down. Pedro and Clarissa were out in the woods somewhere as well, also in their wolf forms. Apparently the pull was really hard to resist during an eclipse. Roxy couldn’t feel anything yet, but she also didn’t really know how far her werewolf side had developed, so that wasn’t too surprising.

It was really nice seeing Clarissa again. She wrapped Roxy in a bone-crushing hug and gave her a bunch of advice on exercises she could do without using her lower body, as well as tips on how to make her physical therapy a little more bearable, which was wonderful because physical therapy was awful. The exercises she had to do were painful and exhausting, and the nearest clinic that specialised in it was over an hour away, in Wilbur. She had to go a couple times a week, too, which was leaving her more cranky and irritable than ever. Thankfully, Sam had finally decided to get off her ass and get her licence so she could drive Roxy there, instead of her dad having to take even more time off work to do it all the time.

She’d finally graduated to using crutches most of the time, and even managed to take a few steps with a walker during her PT, as painful as it was to do. She wasn’t looking forward to when she would have to start using it full time, mainly because it made her feel like an old woman. While she didn’t think most of the people at school would give her a hard time, she knew that there would be a select few that would latch onto it as another way to make fun of her, as if everything else didn’t give them enough ammo already.

She still had a few days before school started, anyway, and she wasn’t even sure if she’d go right away. The idea of trying to work her way through a crowd of bustling students on her crutches, or worse, her wheelchair sounded like literal hell, and she was still coming to terms with it. Her dad was completely okay with her taking a few weeks off before going back, too, so it wasn’t like she was going to have any problems staying home. The only thing that made her hesitate was the fact that taking extra time off would no doubt bring her even more attention than just starting with everyone else would. Was it better to just weather the storm of new students trying to get their bearings or wait at the cost of bringing more attention to herself? Roxy didn’t know.

“Have I mentioned how much I love your new haircut?” Leif asked.

Roxy smiled. “Once or twice.”

“It’s like… kinda emo, but like… in a cool way. Very queer.”

Roxy snorted. “Thanks. I’m pretty happy with it. Mom hates it, though.”

Leif laughed. “I don’t doubt it. I mean, she used to give you shit just for how you used to cut it, right? This is so much shorter.”

“Yeah. She hasn’t given me a hard time about it yet, but I can tell that she’s holding it back. She doesn’t want to yell at me cuz of… you know, but she really wants to say something.”

“Oh boy, can’t wait for that to pop.”

Roxy sighed forlornly. “Yep. ‘Oh no, my lesbian child is now slightly more visibly queer! My plausible deniability! Aaugh!’” She dramatically threw her hands up with an expression of anguish.

Leif started giggling at her impression, which in turn got Roxy to start laughing as well, eventually descending into the both of them struggling to breathe as they continued adding onto the joke with increasingly unrealistic impressions of Roxy’s mother. Every time it seemed like things were finally calming down, one of them would mutter something like “oh noooo” or “not my real-estate brand!” in an over-exaggerated posh accent and the laughter would kick off again. Then Leif noticed that Sam’s tail was wagging profusely at their amusement, and they just started laughing harder. By the end of it, part of Roxy’s brain was actually panicking because she legitimately couldn’t get a breath in between her endless giggling. There were tears streaming down both of their faces and they collapsed against each other, sucking in as much oxygen as they could before the laughter took over again.

Roxy let out a happy sigh as she stared up at the stars. Her body felt heavy and her mind was processing things really slowly. Every time something entered her line of sight, she was surprised to see it, even if it was part of her own body. Despite the fact that she could hear Leif’s lingering laughter and Sam’s strong heartbeat, the idea that they actually had physical presences and weren’t just disembodied noises never occurred to her, even though she was in direct physical contact with both of them. Her head was completely empty, not a single thought passing through her neurons. It was bliss. She was hungry.

All of a sudden she was three quarters of the way through a bag of plain doritos, with no idea where they came from. Did Leif bring them? Where was Leif? Where was Sam? She turned her head, the world suddenly sharpening as she took in new information for the first time in however long, before slowly becoming fuzzy again. Leif was there, right next to her, staring into space. Literally space, Roxy realised. She was looking up at the stars in space, so she was literally staring into space. Roxy thought that was funny.

Roxy then noticed the giant ball of golden fluff they were laying against. Sam! She buried her face in the fur of her mane and laughed giddily at its softness. “Doggie.” Sam boofed quietly in response.

“You know what’s, like… really fucked up?” Leif asked, reminding Roxy that the universe consisted of more than just her face and Sam’s mane. She slowly shifted back around.

“What?”

Leif turned to her, her eyes very red. “Your middle name is fucking Maria. That’s so messed up.”

Roxy blanched. “Oh my god, never mention that again.”

Leif giggled. “It’s so weird. I don’t even know my middle name. I haven’t picked any.”

“You can have mine, I don’t want it.”

“No way! If I’m choosing a middle name, it’s not gonna be fucking Maria.”

Roxy scrunched her face up. “It’s my grandma’s name on my mom’s side. I literally haven’t seen her since I was like, seven or something. Why couldn’t I get my dad’s mom’s name? At least Myitzu is a bit more interesting than Maria, not to mention the fact that I’ve met her more than twice in my entire life. It’s like my mom didn’t even give my dad any input when naming me. Her mother’s name is my middle name, I have her last name too, and she was the one that came up with Roxanne. How is any of that fair?”

Leif placed a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, at least you got your dad’s cool werewolf genes, right?”

Roxy sighed and ate another dorito. “This is very true.”

The two laid in silence for a while, looking up at the night sky and trying to spot the moon. Roxy couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt so peaceful, so content. She knew the weed definitely had something to do with it, but that didn’t change the fact that this was probably the happiest she’d been in at least a month. That being said, her skin was starting to feel a little itchy, as well as her gums and nail beds. Weird.

“There!” Roxy exclaimed, pointing out the red moon hanging in the dark sky. Her voice was weirdly loud to her ears.

“See? I told you, nothing to worry about. They need Sam if they wanna enact their plan, and she’s right here, safe and sound with us,” Leif replied, referencing Roxy’s earlier worries.

“Yeah. It’s really pretty. Reminds me of Sam’s eyes,” she muttered.

Sam’s tail started wagging and Leif scoffed. “God, you’re so fuckin’ gay.”

“I just think the moon is cool!” Roxy defended.

“Sure sure, dyke.”

Roxy just blew a raspberry and ignored her. A twig snapped somewhere in the darkness and startled her. She shot up into a seated position, looking around. “Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Leif asked.

Roxy turned to her, her ears twitching. “A twig broke or something. What if we’re not alone?”

Instead of responding to her question, Leif just sorta stared at her, her mouth slightly ajar. She bit her lip nervously, her heart beating a little quicker than normal. Roxy frowned. Why could she hear that? “You, uh…” She looked Roxy up and down, hiding her mouth behind her hand in an expression of morbid shock. “You got a little, uh… a little something going on, that’s for sure.”

Roxy frowned and looked down at herself. Sure enough, there was a tuft of black hair poking out over the collar of her shirt. No, not hair, fur. Her hands were covered in the stuff, too, all the way up to her elbows. Her nails had grown back all of a sudden, except they were claws now. A quick inspection with her tongue revealed that her fangs had lengthened to the same level as Sam’s. She hadn’t even noticed the change. “What the fuck?!” She started hyperventilating, freaking out at the sudden transformation.

“Woah, woah, woah, hey, it’s okay Rox! It’s okay!” Leif attempted to calm her down as Sam got up in a panic, whimpering and nudging her with her snout. It was all too much. They were too close and Leif was being way too loud. A growl rumbled from her throat; a warning. Leif smartly put her hands up and backed away.

“Why is this happening to me? What did I do? Why can’t I just be normal?!” Roxy shouted, burying her hands in her hair.

Sam let out a long whine. Roxy could tell that she wanted to shift back, but she couldn’t. The pull of the eclipse was too strong. Instead, she backed off and let out an ear-piercing howl, echoing through the entire forest. The sound made Roxy’s head feel like it was about to split in two and she screamed, covering her ears even as she had the inexplicable urge to join in. She was about to completely lose it at her, to yell and shout and absolutely tear into her for doing something so utterly stupid, when she felt the intention behind it flooding through her.

Help.

Sam was calling for help. She was trying to help, and Roxy had been milliseconds away from screaming at her. Her anger definitely still transmitted through the mark either way. She just sat there numbly as Sam trotted up and nudged her with her snout apologetically. She limply threw an arm around the wolf’s neck and stroked through her fur. “Sorry, Sam. I-I’m not mad. You just startled me. Everything is so loud right now… O-overwhelming,” she muttered. “Y-you too, Leif. I… I didn’t mean to growl at you. Didn’t e-even know I could do that.”

Leif waved a hand dismissively. “It’s cool, dude. I get it. Anyone would freak out if they suddenly became a furry.”

The unexpected jab drew a smirk out of her. “Hey, just because I’m currently furry doesn’t mean I’m a furry. There’s a difference.” She inspected her half-transformed hands. “At least my nails are back. Seriously, you take them for granted until there’s an itch you can’t scratch.”

Leif snorted. There was a rustle in the bushes, but Roxy wasn’t scared this time. She could smell Pedro and Clarissa on the wind, coming to check on them after Sam’s howl. Two wolves came out into the clearing they were in; a smaller one with Pedro’s greying-black hair and amber eyes, and a slightly larger one, bearing Clarissa’s slightly coppery fur and two-tone hazel irises. Clarissa hung back as Pedro came closer, giving her an investigative sniff. Part of her was worried he was going to lick her, but instead he just sat back on his haunches, satisfied with whatever he’d found.

Sam came over and gently laid her head in Roxy’s lap, curling the rest of her body around her protectively. Roxy smiled and petted her, admiring the contrast between Sam’s golden-white and her own jet black fur. The fur would definitely take some getting used to. Sure, it was nice and soft, but it also made her skin feel really weird, like it was thicker or something. More numb, too.

She laid back against Sam, exhaustion suddenly setting in. Pedro walked over and flopped to the ground next to them, his back against Sam’s. Clarissa followed his lead and joined the pile on the opposite side, while Leif squeezed in next to Roxy inside the curve of Sam’s body. She threw an arm over Leif’s shoulders and pulled her close. The taller girl let out a weary sigh.

“Man, it’s been a hell of a summer, huh?” Leif said, shifting down so she could rest her head against Roxy’s shoulder.

“Tell me about it. Just a few months ago we were normal teenagers. Now look at us.”

“We’re still normal teenagers, Rox. We just… have a little more trauma than the rest of our cohort, that’s all.” She chuckled.

Roxy sighed. “Are we, though? I mean, we’ve… w-we’ve killed people. We’ve both been shot. I-I was… I was tortured. Not many seventeen year olds can say that, I wouldn’t think.”

“Eh, normal’s boring anyway. Who’d you rather be friends with? Some random schmuck, or the badass Roxy Reed, rated number one across the country as ‘worst person to kidnap if you want to keep your brains inside your skull.’”

Roxy laughed heartily. “Oh man, you did not just call me that.”

“I just thought you’d like it better than Kindley,” Leif replied. “I mean, I might as well get used to it now, right? Roxy Reed has a nice ring to it, and not just the one that’s definitely gonna be on your finger someday.”

Roxy rolled her eyes and tried to hide her massive smile as her cheeks burnt with embarrassment. “Oh my god, shut up.”

Leif nudged her. “I’m just teasing.” She let out a long breath and was silent for a minute. “What do you think’s gonna happen next?”

Roxy shrugged. “Whatever it is, I hope it has nothing to do with us. I’ve had more than enough excitement for one life. I just wanna move on and forget about everything. Let the Council deal with the hunters.”

“If only we weren’t best friends with the fuckin’ hunters’ mcguffin,” Leif joked.

Roxy chuckled. “Yep. That’s my girlfriend: the last direwolf and only key to the end of the world.” She shrugged. “Eh, she’s worth it. The sex is great, too.”

“Roxy! Ew!”

—

The boy crept through his bedroom window and flopped onto his bed, bruised and exhausted. He couldn’t sleep yet, though. He needed to clean himself up. With a pained groan, he lifted himself to his feet and trudged to the bathroom, shutting the door and turning on the light. Sure enough, when he looked in the mirror, he was a total mess. There was dried blood running from his nose all the way down his neck and his eye was blackened. He smirked to himself. Compared to the other guys, he came out of it pretty well off. Besides, it would all be healed by morning anyway, leaving nothing for his parents to question him on.

He turned on the tap and got to work wiping the blood off his face. The adrenaline of the fight was starting to wear off, and the pain was picking up more and more with each throb of his bruised ribs. He strained his ears. There was no movement in the house, no sound at all except for that of the fridge making more ice-cubes. His parents were asleep. That was good, it meant no one was going to barge in on him and interrupt. It meant he could draw his power out without anyone seeing.

He brought it to the surface and immediately the pain dulled until it barely even registered. He smiled. It always felt good to let it out, especially on nights like this, when the moon hung full in the sky, a blood red tint corrupting its usual pure white hue. It was almost like a physical pull from inside himself to let it out then. His power was stronger on the full moon. He didn’t understand why, though.

The boy looked up at himself in the mirror once again, his bruises already fading away due to the advanced healing his powers offered him. Blood red irises stared back, the same shade as the moon outside. He grinned.

Drew knew he was different, but that was okay. He had a gift, and he was gonna use it for good.