"I lose control when you're not next to me. I'm falling apart right in front of you, can't you see?"
~ Teddy Swims, Lose Control
Sophie flinched awake and frantically looked around the room. She fully expected to be on the floor at work or possibly kidnapped and locked away in a basement forever. What she didn't expect was to wake up in her own bed, at home.
She struggled to take a few deep breaths, her nose stuffy and body coated in a light sweat. Her body ached all over and though she was sweating, goosebumps littered all along her legs and arms. She had to have a fever.
With tired eyes, she searched the room, praying she didn't find anyone looking back at her. After some time, she convinced herself to crawl out of bed and search the house.
The upstairs was completely clear, no sign of anyone being there or anything stolen. Just as she was about to convince herself she had some crazy fever dream, she spotted her reflection in the bathroom mirror.
On the side of her neck was the bite.
She frantically reeled backwards and hit the wall, knocking a picture frame off of it, making her scream. Immediately she slammed her hands over her mouth. If the bite was real, the person that bit her was too. If she passed out at work, that meant someone brought her here, which meant that someone could still be in her house.
With no phone to call for help, she hurried to her closet and armed herself a broom. From there she quietly made her way down the stairs. She cursed as they creaked and groaned under her weight, but she kept on.
Her heart sank the moment she rounded the corner. Causally sitting on her living room couch were three men. One was dressed in an US army general uniform, everyone of his gray hairs in the perfect place. The second man was also in an army uniform, but the army combat kind, telling her he wasn't as high of a rank. Unfortunately for her, the third person was the man (or creature) that attacked her last night. He was the only one standing. He didn't move a muscle or hardly even blink. He stood tall with his gaze glued to his shoes.
She fell against the wall behind her, her broom raised. "Absolutely not! Get him out of here!" She screamed.
The general barked out an obnoxious laugh as he stood to his feet. "Put that thing away before you hurt yourself, short ass. We only wanna talk."
Her jaw dropped, but her grip on the handle only tightened. "Watch your freaking mouth. You're in my home, with that... that thing! He attacked me last night! He wanted to kill me!"
The man in the army uniform seemed to be holding back a laugh. Out of the corner of his mouth, he muttered, "more like he wanted to bang you."
"Lieutenant!" The general barked in correction, making the man straighten and apologize.
"Excuse me!?" She exasperated as she flailed the broom around. "Who even are you people!? Why are you in my home and what even is he!?" She demanded with her weapon pointed at the creature.
The general shot her a deadpan look. "Shoot, kid, the fangs and claws didn't give it away?"
She scoffed. "What, a vampire?"
The lieutenant made a pfffft noise. "Don't be ridiculous!" He waved her off with a laugh. After his laughter died down, he smoothed out his uniform and composed himself. "He's a lycanthrope..." he said, seriously.
Her eyes widened. "A... A w-werewolf?"
"Wow," was the muttered deadpan response. "Didn't realize we were in Einstein's house."
The general took a step closer, making Sophie take several back. "Don't you freaking move!" She yelled, broom up and ready. "I will use this thing."
The blank stares she received immediately had embarrassment rising to her cheeks. "Stop judging me!" She sputtered in defense. "It's all I have you little jerks!"
"Ouch," the lieutenant blandly replied. "You kiss your mama with that mouth?"
The general stepped forward and this time, she held her ground. "I'm General John J. Hoppers. This is Lieutenant Carlos Garcia. Listen, Sophia, we just want to talk."
She pointed her broom at him. "How do you know my name?"
"Why don't we sit and talk, and we'll explain everything." He tried to negotiate.
"You can even keep your weapon on you." Carlos chimed in.
She turned her weapon to him. "It's the best I have, stop making fun of it!"
He raised his hands in surrender.
General Hoppers tried again. "C'mon, what do you say?"
"Not with him here." She sneered at the creature, who still had yet to say a word. He just stood there, head down, eyes glued to the floor.
General Hoppers sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. "That's what we wanted to talk to you about, Sophia. He can't leave you."
She scoffed. "I beg to differ. He should be in jail for assault."
"I don't think you understand... he quite literally can't be apart from you for both of your sakes."
She faltered, her broom lowering ever so slightly. "What do you mean?"
Turns out, they knew way more about her then just her name. They knew things like where she was born, even at which hospital and what time. They knew every single place she every moved to or worked. They seemed to most interested in her most recent job as a dog trainer and her old volunteer work at a veterans support group.
As for why the brooding werewolf was in her living room...
"Claim me?" Sophie spat, as if she couldn't believe her ears. They were now sat at her kitchen table, but the man that attacked her was still in the living room. "I don't care who or what he is. He can't... what does 'he claimed me,' even mean!?"
With his finger pointed at her in accusation, Carlos's eyes narrowed. "Don't tell me you never read any good werewolf books as a teen. I bet you were even team Jacob."
For a brief moment she looked offended, before she caught herself and narrowed her eyes right back.
Carlos reclined back in his chair as a smug smirk stretched across his lips. "Oh, she definitely knows what that bite on her pretty little neck means."
Unfortunately, if everything she read growing up was true like they said it was, she did know what it meant. While books romanticized mates, and maybe even she did as a teen, she obviously never thought something like that could be real!
According to the books she read, all she knew about werewolves was that they have one mate and they mate for life. To show their commitment to each other, they bite each other on the neck, and the mark stayed for life.
How in the world did she used to find that romantic?
Typically, it was two werewolves that had a knowing that they were mates. Instantly, they're totally obsessed with each other and are totally cool with biting each other and starting their lives together right off the bat.
Unfortunately for Mr. Werewolf, Sophie is a human. There's a possibility she'd never feel the same about her "mate," nor did she want to at the moment. What he did was absolutely wrong and quite frightening.
She slumped in her chair, her face in her hands. "No, because this isn't real. Werewolves don't exist. This... this is impossible." She breathed, her brain running a million miles an hour.
Leant back in his chair, General Hoppers ran a hand over his beard and began. "Lycanthrope, while nearly extinct, are very real. They're natural born predators. They can run faster than us, they're stronger than us, they heal faster than us, hell, they can do just about everything better then us. Being the predators they are, they're excellent at hunting, tracking down, and eliminating our enemies. They're animals and almost need to be treated as such."
Her eyebrows furrowed. "He doesn't look like an animal to me."
"No, but certainly not human either." He pointed out. "Lycanthrope have been helping us win wars for centuries. Just as a service dog is medical equipment, lycans are military equipment. They're quite literally our secret weapon. It takes some time to break 'em enough to get them to comply, but when they do... we're nearly fully expected to win any fight, any battle, or any war. Just that lycan alone has had multiple tours to Afghanistan, a few to Iraq, and more."
She winced at his words, unsure what he meant by 'break them.' Being considered to be military equipment, that meant this lycanthrope certainly wasn't treated humanely. The scars that were littered across his body was proof of that. Sounds like he hasn't had a break in years.
"Sounds like he needs some time off." She huffed, sarcastically.
General Hoppers pursed his lips and actually agreed. "Exactly. His brain's probably going haywire."
"He's shown symptoms of PTSD." Carlos chimed in.
"Hold on," she butt in. "If he's military equipment, how did he break in my workplace and bite me last night?"
"You can take the werewolf out of the woods but you can't take the wolf out of the werewolf." Carlos joked.
All he got were blank stares.
"I thought it was funny." He grumbled with a shrug.
"He's an animal, Miss. Johnson." General Hoppers stated. "No matter the training he's had, his instincts will always come first. He must have picked up your scent from our base. He broke out and tracked you down."
"Me specifically?"
Carlos rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on. You know all about mates. What, did he not say 'mine,' in a deep sexy voice after he bit you-"
"You are so unfiltered for no reason." Sophie exasperated in disbelief. She shook her head and turned back to the general. "So what does this mean now?"
"He'd die without you." He responded, shortly. "There's a chance you could too, but since you're human, you may not have the same effects. Have you felt sick or off in anyway since yesterday?"
She opened her mouth to respond and quickly realized her fever was gone. She went from feeling like absolute death when she woke up, to completely fine now. "No." She lied, quickly. "I feel perfectly fine."
General Hoppers hummed at that. He drummed his fingers on the table as he thought before saying, "well, it could be because it was a short period of time. To be honest with you, we're not entirely sure what could happen to you. A werewolf mated to a human is unheard of."
"Of course it is." She groaned. "Typical."
"Romantic." Carlos corrected.
She ignored him. "He looks just fine to me."
The two men glanced at each other and leaned forward in their seats. "That's the thing, Miss. Johnson. He looks fine now, but he was far from it this morning."
Carlos nodded in agreement. "Last night, he refused to eat and his fever spiked to 104 degrees. By the morning, he was having a hard time standing, let alone walking around. All of that went away once we got here."
She bit back a groan of defeat. Her fever broke the second she saw him.
"We want to make a deal with you." General Hoppers began to explain. "It comes with an ungodly amount of money you could only dream of."
While she felt bad for not only her "mate's" situation and for possibly being the cause of his soon to be death, she couldn't help him. Not for any amount of money in the world. She shook her head and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm sorry, but I can't and won't go anywhere with you."
"We're not asking you to, Miss. Johnson." The general corrected. "Ever since the werewolf has been transferred to our military base here around a month ago, he's been acting... unreasonable. Lashing out, defying orders, and some... other things. We're thinking some time with you can not only save his life, but get him back in the right headspace. In fact, we'd like you to see if he can in time, blend in with society."
"I already told you, I'm not going anywhere." She told him, firmly.
"And again, we're not asking you to." The general repeated. "Based off our research over the decades and our own experience with our lycanthropes, he would never hurt you. Based off our research, that mark on your neck means you two are bonded for life." He said and pointed to the sore wound.
While the general didn't look to be a very warm man, he hadn't done anything yet to show she couldn't trust him. He's served this country for Pete's sake. What's the worst he could do? Her opinion immediately changed as his expression dropped and his eyes darkened, sending a shiver down her spine. "Based off our research on you... this is the perfect place for him. You live in the middle of no where, you have experience with animals, and you have experience with veterans with PTSD. It's no wonder he picked you."
Her jaw dropped. "So you think just because I'm a dog trainer and I volunteer to help veterans who have PTSD, even though I have absolutely no education in the latter.... you think I'm the one that can help him? That's ridiculous!"
"Well when you put it like that, it does sounds ridiculous." Carlos nodded in agreement.
The general shot him a glare.
"Sorry, sir." Carlos muttered and looked down.
"I didn't consent to any of this!" She exclaimed, mentally debating whether or not she needed to pick her broom back up. "That creature is not staying in my home. I want nothing to do with this, you, and especially not him! I don't know what he's capable of, but I got a small snippet of it last night! What if he tries to- to kill me!? Or eat me!?"
"It's not like he'd eat her or anything, right?" Carlos asked. "Even though wolves... wolves do that. A wolf would. And he is that... a wolf..."
The pair looked at Carlos for a long time, Sophie looking more scared than angry compared to the general. His eye even twitched.
Carlos sheepishly looked down at the ground and kicked an imaginary pebble with his boot to look busy. "I see now that my contribution was not helpful and for that I apologize."
"Do you even think before you talk?"
"To be honest, I don't even know what I'm thinking until I hear myself say it. Sometimes after I hear myself, I don't even agree with me." He admitted, a far off, blank look in his eyes.
"Miss. Johnson, our research nearly guarantees he wouldn't hurt you." General Hoppers ensured her. "As I said earlier, if you agree to our terms, it comes with a hefty pay. All you have to do is legally marry the mutt and have him wrapped him around your little finger to ensure me a mean military machine. In doing so, all of your expenses will be covered. You don't leave your home without him, so you will not work. You'll be compensated accordingly for that as well. In six months time, I'll be back to check on him."
"Marry him!?" She exclaimed.
"We need to make him feel secure. I can't have his mind remain how it is now. Additionally, we need his life out in the world as believable and as realistic as possible. If he can learn to blend into society and act more... well, human, we can use him for so many more things."
That was it. She stood up from her chair so fast, it tipped backwards and hit the wooden floor below. With her broom raised, she demanded, "you're crazy. Now get out of my house."
The men shared a knowing look and sat back in their chairs. It was a move as if to show she couldn't make them leave if she even tried. "I didn't want to do this, but I'm afraid you leave me with no choice..."
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We got 100 reads in under 12 hours!? That's crazy! In just under 48 hours, we're at over 170 reads!! Thats never happened to me before! I had a feeling it would have a few more reads than usual because the werewolf genre is pretty popular on wattpad, but I didn't expect this much. Thank you so much!!
Just so you all know, this is an early update. I plan on updating every five days to a week or so, unless I get more ahead in my writing than I'm expecting. I want to pace it out because I have 17 chapters written, but I'm probably only halfway through the book. I don't want to post all my chapters at once before the book is finished, get writers block, and leave y'all hanging with an unfinished book.
However, I mean it when I say comments really encourage me to keep writing! If you liked what you read, please let me know! It literally makes my day and pushes me to continue my stories.
Question of the chapter: what do you think of Carlos?