CHAPTER THREE

A werewolf carried their child for six months and then gave birth in the most painful way possible. Gwen was in her fifth month and anxiously looking forward to the next month. Some days, as today, she could feel the child’s wolf stirring inside her, shifting and turning. 

She had taken up a job with one of the local bars in the town a month into her arrival. The owner of the bar was a short, round man named Bob, whose round face and wide mouth made him have the look of a smiling clown. He was a friendly and jovial man with a warm-heart and now, he stood in front of the counter, staring at her. 

“You don’t look okay. Why don’t you take a quick rest? I’ll ask Sarah to cover for you.”

“I’m fine, Bob. It’s just the baby disturbing.”

Bob gazed at her for a while before strolling off to chat with one of the customers. 

“He’s worried about you, Lia.” One of the girls said, calling her by the false name she had given them. 

“Oh, Suzy!” Gwen exclaimed, turning towards the petite lady. 

“You look horrible. Are you almost due?”

“Next month.” Gwen replied.

Suzy turned the large counter and faced Gwen. “That’s real close. Why aren’t you home? And your stomach doesn’t even look that big.”

Gwen mirrored a horrified expression. “I need the money. And what do you mean my stomach isn’t that big? Isn’t this big enough?” Gwen patted her stomach. “This is big enough for me.”

Gwen had lived with the humans long enough to know that Suzy made sense. Her stomach was quite small compared to the standard of humans but it was big compared to that of werewolves. She couldn’t tell Suzy that. Instead, she feigned a hurt expression and returned to her work. 

Once her shift was over, she greeted her colleagues goodbye and began to head home. The night brought with it a full moon and she felt her wolf shift inside her, threatening to burst out. That was the downside of being a pregnant werewolf. You were not allowed to turn. Turning would shred your unborn child into pieces. So every full moon, she was forced to suppress her wolf from coming out and it left it’s toll on her as suppressing it took a lot of strength and control. 

She hailed a cab and got in. “White woods.” She told the driver. 

“That’s mighty scary at this time of the night, ma’am. What is a lady like you looking for out there?”

Gwen smiled and looked away from him. The white woods wasn’t scary but the town had it’s myth about it. ‘Wolves and bears hunt that place.’ They would say. ‘when you’re driving by at night, you can hear the wolves howling at the moon and see the shadow of the bears roaming around.’

They were wrong of course. Gwen never found a bear around that place but once, she had encountered a lone wolf. Tired and scrawny, searching for a place to hide for the night. It had given her the feeling of déjà vu. She felt bad for the wolf, it reflected the person she had become. A lone wolf. Wolves were most vulnerable without a pack. They could barely hunt for their food and relied mostly on the remains of flesh left by other animals or the little rabbit they could hunt. And Gwen knew how much the wolves hated the rabbits. It didn’t speak well for their strength. 

So she had taken the wolf in. It wasn’t much, but she felt like she now had a pack. She smiled again.

“Should I wait for you?” the driver asked as he stopped the car. 

“No. I’ll be here a long time.” She gave him his money and mouthed a thank you as he sped away. 

Honey – as she called the wolf because of the cheerful yellow and brown of it’s skin – waited for her by a tree and began to howl as he saw her coming. She touched his ears and together, they began to walk home. Gwen’s house was located so deep in the forest that many Towner’s did not even know it existed. Gwen couldn’t fathom why a human would build such a house so deep on the forest, so far from civilization – knowing humans and their need for socialization – but it was an advantage for her. It provided her with the cover she needed and the anonymity she greatly desired. No one knew she lived here, not her co-workers or her boss and being so far from the town, she often enjoyed the privilege of running through the forest naked. It was all she could do since she couldn’t change. 

“Home.” She whispered, as they neared the house which she now occupied. Honey barked as if to say ‘welcome', then ran inside. 

A stab of pain hit her lower abdomen and Gwen growled in pain. Honey must have heard her, because he rushed outside. Gwen fell to the ground, she could feel her wolf inside her struggling to break out. The pain rippled through her and her wolf charged, eager to come out and ease her pain. 

Gwen gestured for Honey to come closer and used him as support to get up. Sweat trickled down her face and sand mixed with saliva and hair in her mouth. 

“I don’t know what’s going on.” She muttered to herself. 

Gwen gasped as water began to trickle down her legs. “Its not time yet.” She murmured. “Honey, can you help me inside.” 

Honey barked and wagged her tail. Gwen couldn’t move. The pain was taking a toll on her and so was the energy exertion to keep her wolf down. She was beginning to fall and as she fell, she saw the form of a woman walking towards her. The woman was saying something but Gwen couldn’t hear. 

She felt her body connect with the hard ground and the woman was in her face hurling words at her. They were hollow and they echoed then faded away into the darkness that soon swallowed her.