So, we’ve covered a lot. Now on to a bit of
a no brainer chapter, but one that will almost surely be one of which those of
you who only change on the full moon will be fully aware. I’ve lost too many
mates to count because of this rule before and after the public knew we
existed. This particular incident is actually five years after the death of
James. I’m three years into a relationship with a werewolf. Yes I mean one of
those wolves who can only change during the full moon. It was one thing that
almost forced me to go lone wolf. My pack didn’t accept a Forbitten into its
folds. I smoothed out the situation during the first full moon after I started
dating this particular wolf. I told the werewolf what I was going to have to do
in order to accept him into the pack. If you’re wondering what that particular
thing was it involves unprotected anal sex and a particularly unpleasant bite.
This is knowledge not usually shared with other lykos, If a lycan bites a were
during the full moon, it creates a hybrid of sorts. When the bite occurs,
though, it must be during a full tie with the werewolf and must be in the form
of a ‘love bite’. This hybrid has full control over his wolf but still is only
able to change during the full moon.

How about I give this
fellow a name? Jeremy Patrón was his name and by Aphrodite’s locks was he
beautiful. He’s the sole reason I got over James. Now I don’t mean that he was
a rebound rather that his support helped me get out of the depressive spiral
that I was going down due to his death. He was part of the reason I decided to
write this book. I actually think that my human heart fell in love with him. So
getting over him was a huge ordeal and it was only through Jeremy that I
eventually did. So let’s see how I lost Jeremy…

***

It was the day before the
full moon that his boss decided to take the entirety of the management on a
camping trip. This was something Jeremy had been looking forward to since the
day he was hired, so of course I wasn’t going to rain on his parade by telling
him that that weekend was the weekend of the full moon. Ah hell, he knew but he
trusted his new lybrid (yes that’s what we call them) wolf. It was really sweet
watching him make his preparations. However, again I’m getting beside myself.
My job is to tell you solely his story. So I shall.

The day before he was
supposed to leave I found him sitting on the front steps of the apartment we
had in Downtown Toronto. “¿Por qué estás todavía acá? Necesitas ir a tu trabajo, ¿no?” [Why are you
still here? Don’t you need to go to work?] I asked him.

He looked at me with eyes
filled with fear and…was it regret?...Yes I believe it was. “Sí, pero, ¿cómo puedo presentarme la cara
a mi jefe cuando le mentí a él? No le dije que soy un Luco. Mi papá me haya
matado. Para convertirme en un
lobo y para mentir a mi jefe.”[Yes, but how can I show my face to my boss when
I lied to him? I didn’t tell him that I’m a lyko. My dad would’ve killed
me. For becoming a wolf. And for lying to my boss.]

“¡No te preocupas! Todo
estará bien. Estoy seguro que ninguna cosa pasará cuando viajarás en el campo.
Recuerde a los recuerdos con tu mamá. Tu papá era un toro de un hombre que no
debió haber estado permitido a criar a los niños.”[ Do
not worry! Everything will be fine. I'm sure nothing will happen when you
travel in the countryside. Remember the memories with your mom. Your dad was a
bull of a man who should not have been allowed to raise children.]

“¡Gracias! Mi amor, tú
sabes siempre como darme tranquilo. Me encanta eso sobre ti. ¡Salud!”
[Thank you! My love, you always know how to calm me down. I love that about
you. Cheers!] He said as he left.

***

Jeremy entered his boss's
office and looked at his boss. “¡Buenos días! Jefe. I have something that I need to tell you,
sir.”

The man looked at up. “Yes, Jeremy? What is it
that you need to tell me?”

Jeremy sniffed the air, trying to sniff out
the boss’s emotional state, he was calm. That musk that typically hung in the
air around every human was overpowered by a very powerful cologne. “I must tell
you that—”

“—you’re a lyko? I know. I’ve known for a
while Jeremy. I assumed you got bitten after
applying and that’s why you didn’t explain this on your application.”

“R…ri…right, sir.” Jeremy was quite shocked.

“…Is there anything else, Jeremy?” The boss
asked rather pointedly.

“No sir. I’ll leave you be.” Jeremy left the
office and headed down to the busses waiting to take them to the retreat.

***

“So tha t concludes the actual business
portion of this retreat. I will see you all tomorrow. Also Jeremy, there should
be an unoccupied area of forest a mile in. Let us know if you need anything
else tomorrow.”

“Thank you, Jefe. I
should be fine.” Jeremy said before getting up to call it a night, saying as
much to his fellow office mates.

They bade him good night
before the boss said, “I think everyone should turn in for the night. We’ll
need our rest for tomorrow.” And so everyone went to bed shortly after Jeremy
hit the sack.

***

“Everyone, let’s go on
our nature hike.” Everyone got up and grabbed their company-provided walking
sticks. It was extremely tacky, if I remember correctly, every piece of
clothing was emblazoned with the company logo: a red, gold and blue Phoenix
with a scroll in one claw tied with gold ribbon and a tri-rule in the other.
Underneath, it said “Amazonian Architects—Eugene, OR”. Jeremy never understood
the connection the company had to the phoenix, but it was quite interesting,
nonetheless.

It was the day of the
full moon and Jeremy’s senses were heightened to an extreme. Every sound and
every smell was a hundred times more intense than any other day of the month.
He loved being in the country during this time of the month all of the smells
were intoxicating. The only problem was that if he didn’t keep his heart rate
down he would change and he was hiking with his co-workers and he really didn’t
want to change around them. It wouldn’t be until around eight thirty where he
was forced to change, but that still was in the fore of his mind.

“Hoy es muy bonito. Es un
día para quedarse en el campo. Los olores del bosque atacan mi nariz en una
manera que me encanta. Estoy en el cielo.” [Today is very beautiful. It is a day
for me to stay in the countryside. The smells of the forest attack my nose in a
way that I love. I’m in heaven.] Jeremy said to himself. His voice hushed, but
still heard by one of his friends.

“Te encanta el bosque en
una manera que no puedo entender, Jerry. Es porque tú eres un licántropo, ¿no?” [You
love the forest in a way I cannot understand, Jerry. It’s because you are a
lycanthrope, right?] His co-worker replied in a terrible accent. It was obvious
to the lybrid that the man wasn’t speaking natively. However, it wasn’t
terrible Spanish.

“No realicé que hablas
castellano, Nico. Italiano es tu lengua nativa, ¿no? Creo que no sea tan
difícil para aprender castellano cuando se conoce italiano. ¿Es la verdad?” [I didn’t realize that you spoke Spanish, Nico.
Italian is your native tongue, right? I think it wouldn’t be that difficult to learn
Spanish when one knows Italian. Is that true?]

“Sí. Creo que aprendo
castellano hace tres semestres en la uní. Es el idioma más fácil cuando se
conoce otro idioma romanzo. Regresamos a nuestra conversación previa. La razón
que te encanta el bosque tan mucho como te encanta es que tú eres un licántropo,
¿no?” [Yes. I think I
learned Spanish through three semesters in college. It’s the easiest language
to learn when one knows another romance language. Let us return to our previous
conversation. The reason that you love the forest as much as you do is that you
are a lycanthrope, right?]

“Sí, los olores, los
sonidos, y los colores en el bosque tienen más fuerza cuando se es un tipo de
Luco. No soy un licántropo. Mi novio es un licántropo. Soy un hombre-lobo.
Puedo cambiarme solo durante el día de la luna llena. Sin embargo, eso es la razón
porque me encanta el campo.” [Yes.
The smells, the sounds, and the colors in the forest have more forcé when one
is a type of lyko. I’m not a lycanthrope. My boyfriend is a lycanthrope. I’m a
werewolf. I can only change during the full moon. However, that is the reason
that I love the countryside.]

The conversation stopped
there and soon Jeremy’s boss was back with Jeremy and Nico. “How you holding
up, Jer?”

“Fine, thanks, Jefe. I’m
under control. How’s everyone else holding up? Anyone scared having a lyko in
their midst?”

“Nah, we all understood
the risks when we hired you. We also know that you are a lybrid. You have
control of your wolf unlike other werewolves. We all signed up for this even
after you signed up, Jer. We knew the risks, and we accepted them. We will live
with the consequences should any arise. None will, though, right?”

“Of course, at 2000 hours
I’m going to the designated change location that every National forest put in
after we lykos made our presence known.”

“Seriously, did you do
time in the military or something? I swear the way you talk you could have
been.”

“No. I wasn’t.” Jeremy
answered, slightly annoyed. He looked down at his heart rate monitor and
sighed.

***

Jeremy trekked to the
change location in silence. He was worried that he’d end up doing something
stupid. He never did, especially after that night. His heart rate monitor
started going off due to his heart rate increasing slightly. He sighed, while
pinching the bridge of his nose. This was going to be a long night. It didn’t
help that he was there all alone. I’d offered to have him come with me during
his change and he would have, but he had the camping trip that full moon.

This was life for the
werewolves, though. Until they became comfortable changing with a pack they
were fairly solitary creatures and would rarely have mates within the first
five years of being ‘infected’. However, thanks to me, Jeremy had a pack, he
had a mate, and he now had full control over his wolf.

This was all fine and
dandy, it meant that he wouldn’t be that dangerous to any human that happened
to mistakenly enter the change location. However, they didn’t know that. They
would be just as afraid as if he were a normal werewolf. It would be a problem
if he were to run into such a situation.

Jeremy just kept walking
through the forest as the hour came closer. Just as his watch read 8:15 is when
he happened upon the border to the change area. There was a large sign posted
next to the trail on which he was walking which said “LYKO CHANGING AREA; AREA
OFF LIMITS TO HUMANS.”

Jeremy stepped past the
sign and his entire being vibrated from the force of an apparent binding spell
cast over the area. Within the radius of the change area Jeremy would be able
to roam unimpeded as a wolf but he wouldn’t be able to exit the area until the
following morning.

***

So right now you’re
probably thinking, “What the hell?!? He’s doing everything right so far.” Well
he is and that’s part of the point of this chapter. Just wait, as Murphy’s Law
will soon rear its ugly head.

***

So Jeremy put his pack in
the crook of a tree near the edge of the change area. Then sat down and waited
for the tingling feeling that he always got during a forced change. Every lyko
was forced to change on the full moon. It was something to do with our wolves
having an innate desire to be out and about during the full moon. Even those of
us who communed with our wolves in the recesses of our minds were not able to
stop them from coming out during a full moon.

This was the moment. He
changed into his wolf and he looked at the moon, “Fucking hell…Why can’t I live
a normal life. This is so annoying. Fuck you Zeus! Why did I get bit?”

“This isn’t something to
lament over, young werewolf. You are here and you are a creature many envy.”
Jeremy heard a growling voice say.

He scented the air,
“Jefe? You’re a wolf? When?”

“I am your ‘Jefe’s’ wolf.
This is his first full moon.”

“Um… If you are his wolf
how can you converse in anything other than wolfyr?”

“I don’t know, you forget
this is my first time actually expressing myself.”

“Where are our
co-workers?” Jeremy looked down at the wolf’s distended belly. His eyes
widened, “You didn’t…did you?”

“Those foul humans? Only
one. Never again.” The werewolf chuckled.

“Goddamnit! I will call
the Hunters on you…Nah, I’ll kill you myself!” Jeremy said and attacked the new
wolf. The other wolf laughed and charged it wasn’t too long until Jeremy was on
the ground.

The wolf looked down at
Jeremy, head quirked, “You didn’t expect this. I am the wolf. I’m not some
human’s consciousness trying to pass myself off as a wolf.” He looked
disappointed that the fight was so quick; He raised his clawed hand and
slashed, rending open the flesh of Jeremy’s neck. Blood splattered all over the
ground. “Well, I guess that’s that.”

***

The wolf started running
into the night. As he did there was the buzzing of an arrow and the thwack of
it hitting a tree not three feet from the wolf. “Goddammit! This is Eagle; the
mutt’s headed your way, Crow.” Said a hooded figure in the crook of the tree
which Jeremy had put his bag.

“This is Crow; Mutt’s
dead.” Came a voice over Eagle’s radio.

“Good Job, the damn Mutt
ate a human. This is why we tell the Werewolves we know to stay within these
areas when they change. I also need to report that one Jeremy Patrón has been
killed in the process of handling the rogue werewolf.” Eagle said as he jumped
down from the tree and headed toward the dying lybrid.

Jeremy looked at the
Hunter as he approached he was barely conscious, he had lost a lot of blood and
was not going to make it. He weakly lifted his arm and called the man to his
side. In barely a whisper he uttered his last words, “Please tell Gabi I loved
him and,” he paused as he coughed up a large amount of blood, “I’m sorry.”

With that the light faded
from his eyes and he was claimed by the Fates at last. The Hunter called Eagle
stood up and radioed, “Dispatch, this is Eagle. I need the coroner. Also look
up anybody by the name ‘Gabi’ or ‘Gabriel’ in association with Jeremy Patrón.”

“Eagle, as an answer to
your query, I have one Gabriel del Lobo. Do you want me to contact him?”

“Please. I’m in the LCA
in Rocky Mountain National Forest.”

“Understood. Coroner’s on
the way.”

***

I looked down at the body
of my mate. His throat has been ripped open by a lyko that much I can tell
without needing any help from the coroner. I looked over at his boss who had a
silver-tipped arrow sticking out of his chest. As my eyes passed over the two
bodies I couldn’t help but think that this was some cruel joke. I knew it
wasn’t but that was the thought going through my head.

“Are you doing alright,
sir?” Hunter Rodriguez asked me not fazed at all by the fact that I was a nine
foot lycan who was without clothing.

“I’m just sad that my
mate thought he could take on this wolf. He never was that good at fighting.”