Bri

My heart rate kicked up, eyes going wide, breath catching in the back of my throat. My palms began to break out in a sweat and I rubbed them against the sides of my jeans nervously. I thought about saying something, but the words were scattered inside my head. I couldn't string together anything coherent because of the fear. Instead all I got out was an awkward, faint little whimper.

Out of the shadows, a beautiful woman with long, flowing black hair stepped forward. She had large, leathery wings at her back, dressed in a dark red dress suit. She was wearing a concerned frown. "Are you okay, miss? I saw you wondering around earlier and you looked...upset," she murmured.

Blinking rapidly, I shook my head. Wow, I'd scared myself so badly earlier with that horror movie comment. Finding a hesitant smile, I let out a breath of relief. "Oh, I'm okay. I was angry and I just sort of...stormed off. I was actually on my way back...If you could tell me where I am, I'd really appreciate it," I offered. 

Her eyes were a red color, glowing just a little bit. Very suddenly, they turned pitch black, the pupils elongating and turning white. "Oh? So you're all alone?" she snickered, voice suddenly no longer pretty. It was shifting to sound ragged and low, gravely. Her smile turned sinister, revealing a very long, creepy-ass tongue as she licked her lips. "That's just perfect, then. A young, pretty, pregnant woman such as yourself is my favorite meal!" she purred in delight. I took an instinctive step back, my entire body shaking with fear, confusion, and horror.

How the hell had this happened again?!

...Oh, yeah. I'd run off, by myself...In the center of Tempus, capitol of the Other Realm...Yeah. In retrospect, not one of my better ideas.

The woman's wings began to flap strongly, making gusts of dust rise up in the alley way as I started to back up. But despite what I expected, the noise her wings made was different from the normal flapping. Instead, they made this strange, faint tik-tik sound...Almost like a half-broken clock, the sound very soft even though she was so close to me. She let out a high-pitched cackle, like a classic witch. "I'll be dining very well tonight! To think a half-breed would stumble into my lap...You're fair game, little missy!" she beamed in glee.

Before I could react, she took several very quick, sudden steps forward. Her hands reached out, gripped the sides of both of my arms. Her freaky tongue stretched out, moving closer and closer to my face. "I can just tell that you have a tasty meal in you..." she groaned in eager anticipation.

My brain stuttered and then kicked back into high-gear on nothing but terror and panic. It didn't make for a very coordinated combination. "G-g-get aw-way!" I tried to command her, but my voice shook horribly as I twisted to get out of her grip.

She froze, blinking down at me. Then she shook her head and a nasty smile ripped through her lips. "A siren?" she sneered. "Not a very good one, are you?" Her fingers dug in even more, until they were hurting me. I cried out in pain at the piercing touch of her nails, feeling my skin break and blood pool to the surface.

Grunting in effort, I tried to calm down and focus. If my voice wasn't going to work right, I could still use my body. I might not be able to fight back well, considering my condition. But there was no way I wasn't going to at least try.

Shifting my stance, I kicked out with my right leg, going for her knee. She grunted, hissing in pain as my strike hit home. I felt my balance very quickly waver and I moved back a few steps, trying to get away.

I backed up even faster, stumbling in my haste, gasping in horror at what happened next. Her upper body, from her belly button up, began to tear off of her lower half. Her long, thin, tube-like tongue was swirling around in disgusting anticipation of eating me. Her eyes were wide and bright as her wings continued to flap, pulling her two halves apart even more. Once she was fully two pieces, she let out another cackle of triumphant.

My back had hit the alley wall, the dead end, and now I was trapped. My mind was in a panic. I'd never seen anything like this. It was truly terrifying. The woman's lower half remained where it was, rooted, just past the edge of the shadows. But I could still see the inside of her, the meaty, fleshy bits, even a segment of her spine that was sticking up an inch out of the rest of her. 

"Oh, gods," I whispered in prayer.

Everything happened very quickly, so quickly I barely saw it. The sound of plastic scraping over concrete made me glance down, noticing the bright light of a phone screen rushing toward me, sliding over the ground. Frowning, I stared at it as it came to a stop a few inches from my feet.

A second later, I glanced back up, at a confused cry from the woman. Something, though it moved too fast for me to see it clearly, reached out of the darkness and grabbed hold of the woman's lower body. She shrieked in shock and outrage. "What?! Who are you? This is mine, I found her first!" But her shriek of anger quickly turned into a scream of pain as another sound filled up the dark alleyway.

Crunching.

Bones crunching in a very large, powerful jaw...The sound of flesh tearing...A massive beast's rumbling growl of both threat and pleasure at it's meal.

I very quickly dropped my gaze back to the phone, lowering to my knees to see it better. Something told me I really didn't want to see what was happening. Unfortunately, though, I could still hear it.

Something huge was moving in the deep shadows, hidden in the darkness so I couldn't see it. The woman cried out and I could faintly hear the tik-tik of her wings still. "W-why are you doing this?" she begged before I heard more flesh tearing, the gnawing of jaws. "No! No! You can't eat me, you horrible creature!" The woman was shouting in panic. I didn't know what was going on, but it sounded like the monster in the shadows was eating her lower half. At this point, she seemed to have forgotten all about me, but I preferred it that way.

I shuddered, focusing on the phone as I lifted it up, blinking rapidly at the bright light of the screen. It wasn't locked. In fact, a note or memo app was pulled up, with words already written down on it. I paused, staring at the words.

CALL BREN! TELL HIM WHAT HAPPENED!

Hands shaking, phone held tightly, I glanced back into the shadows. The woman's wings were still beating, but she was sobbing in horrible pain, her voice hissing in rage and hate. I couldn't see her either but, for now, she was still alive...and so was the monster. The crunching and chewing was so loud, it was impossible to try and block it out.

I quickly pulled up the contacts and located Bren. Hitting dial, I placed the phone to my ear, clumsily, slowly shifting to a sitting position. For now, the two threats were occupied with one another. But I had no idea how long that would last.

Bren picked up after two rings. "Felix?" he asked in surprise. "What's up? You don't normally call out of nowhere."

"B-Bren," I stuttered out, my voice shaky with my fear. "Y-you...Thank the gods you answered! I'm in trouble...Oh, wait, this is Bri, by the way. I was out with Felix and we started fighting and I got out of the car and took off and now-"

"Whoa, whoa!" Bren cried, voice shocked. He inhaled before continuing. "Okay. Slow down a little bit there...You said you were with Felix and then you took off?"

"We were fighting...It was something so stupid!" I felt angry tears leaking past my eyes and quickly reached up to wipe at them. 

In the shadows, a deep, rumbling growl was starting up. It was different then the growl from before. It was much scarier, echoing off the walls of the alley. It was the type of growl that you heard from an animal and knew you had better leave it the fuck alone. The growl was shouting out it's message loud and clear: Fuck off!

I instantly grew still, not daring to move. The shadows had been growing deeper and darker all around me...There was just a little bit of light left from a small lamp sticking out of one of the buildings I was in between. It was an emergency light hovering over a door, but the door was about twenty feet away and I knew I wasn't going to be able to get to it in time. Not with how awkward and slow my belly had made me. I wasn't going to be fast enough to get past whatever beast was in the darkness either, let alone the flying woman. 

Now though, like creeping tentacles, the shadows were reaching out and beginning to...to suck the light out of the lamp! In the blink of an eye, I was left in complete and total darkness, all save for the light of the phone in my hand.

"...Was that a growl I just heard?" Bren's voice brought me back to reality, centering me, giving me something to cling to in the fast overwhelming terror.

I nodded even though I knew he couldn't see me. "Y-yeah...that's what I was going to tell you about. When I ran away, I ran into an alley and a woman with wings followed me. T-then she split in half and has this super long tongue and-"

"Fuck!" he cursed vehemently. "...Okay...That sounds like a manananggal and...shit, you're pregnant! Don't let her get anywhere near you with that tongue!" he shouted through the phone in fear. "The manananggal feed on human blood and the hearts of fetuses!"

I paled, gagging. "Oh, gods...!"

"But...wait, how are you calling me? Why do you have-?"

Very suddenly, the growl transformed into a snarl of pure rage and a few seconds later I heard the shriek of the woman. "No! No! No!" she screamed.

As she did, the very air was filled with this cold, dark, terrifying presence, the lack of any and all emotion besides wrath and hate. I froze, sobbing now in reaction, unable to stop it.

"Bri?" Bren asked in a soft, worried whisper.

"...I-its cold..." I whispered back. "Oh gods, I can't move...I'm going to die. That monster is going to eat me after it eats that manal-thing!" I panicked. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out my own phone, turning on the flashlight app I had. Holding the phone up, I tried to squint out into the darkness. It was thick, almost as if the shadows were half-solid. I could hear the sound of Bren moving and breathing through the phone, but silence echoed around me. It was almost sinister, the lack of sound, the complete silence…

Abruptly, the low rumbling growl returned, followed by the very loud, horrifying noise of ripping. It took me half a second to realize what the sound was…The monster was ripping the wings off of the woman’s back, which could only mean that it had killed her…

“B-Bren…please hurry up…” I gulped into the phone. “I’m pretty sure the monster killed the thing that was trying to hurt me.”

He let out a soft noise, almost a laugh, but not quite. “Yeah…I’d be surprised if it hadn’t. I’d like to say that you don’t have to worry…But I honestly can’t. The thing’s so damn unpredictable…Gods, what is he doing?” he muttered in irritation. “Yet another mess I’m going to have to clean up,” he sighed heavily. “Just…Bri, just try not to make any very sudden movements, okay?”

“I…Y-yeah, that sounds good,” I agreed, swallowing in fear. “I don’t like whatever is in the shadows, so I’ll leave it be,” I promised.

Now I could definitely hear a small note of amusement in his voice. “Well, I’m sure the monster would be a little hurt to hear you say so, but alright. I have your location here on my phone. I’m on my way, but it’s still most likely going to be another ten minutes before I can get there. Think you can last that long?” he teased lightly.

I glared at the phone, feeling my anger starting to spark back up. “This isn’t a laughing matter, you ass!”

Suddenly, the monster’s growl shifted to one of rage, and I could hear it shifting in the darkness. It was…pacing? I wasn’t completely sure, but it sounded like that. There was the soft, quiet, but still noticeable sound of it’s feet lifting up and then hitting the ground again.

Pat, pat, pat, pat…Pat, pat, swish…

Swish? It’s tail, maybe, if it had one. “Yeah, okay. Just hurry!” I pressed.

“I’m going to hang up now,” Bren warned me. “I’m sorry, but I don’t have any sort of hands-free equipment right now.”

“Don’t you dare!” I yelled. “I swear, if you hang up on me, I am going to kill you! Baring that, if I can’t, I’m going to come back as a ghost, hunt you down, and haunt your ass for the rest of your life!”

He didn’t listen to me though. The line clicked and I slowly pulled it back down, staring down at it in disbelief. “You motherfucker…!” I swore, royally pissed off now.

Monster snarled, the sound echoing in my ears and I could hear the sound of it growing closer. My head snapped up and I gripped the phone tightly, holding up my own phone-my flashpoint at this point-out toward the darkness. “N-no! Don’t you dare come over here, you scary bastard!” I told off Monster. “I’m perfectly fine by myself thank yo-”

My voice cut off, catching in my throat as my flashlight, pointed toward the ground about fifteen feet in front of me, caught sight of something. My hand shook as I stared at the large, fur-covered paw…Five toes…Gods, it was literally the size of my fucking head!

“Holy shit,” I gasped. At my words, the twins inside me began to kick and squirm violently. I gasped again, sucking in a sharp breath of pain. “G-girls, please!” I begged of them. “What are you, soccer players in the making? Damn it, I am not a fucking ball!” I growled.

Echoing me, Monster let out another low growl. As it did, a weird sensation, like a burst of energy shot through me. I glanced down, seeing a small, faint glow surrounding my enlarged stomach. I blinked rapidly, my head feeling faint for half a second. But the glow and the odd, uncomfortable sensation quickly faded away. Monster let out a very soft whimper, followed by a giant exhale of breath that I could feel, it was so close to me now.

I rubbed at my belly as the twins’ movement started to lessen. They weren’t quite as active now…Though why or how they’d started up, especially so bad that I could feel them at this point, I had no idea. I let out a long sigh. “Where the hell is Felix? Your dad is so useless,” I told the girls in an annoyed huff. “Felix, why didn’t you chase after me?!”

Even as I said the words, the logical part of my brain told me I was being ridiculous. Going off of the evidence that I was now in possession of Felix’s phone, as well as that it had Bren’s number on it…That could only mean the “Monster” was actually Felix. But right now…With how tightly frayed my nerves were, with the amount of emotional turmoil I’d been in today, I honestly couldn’t handle any more.

Right now, for my own sanity, it was a lot easier to let myself think and believe that Felix wasn’t here. It was a lot easier to believe that this Monster was someone I didn’t know…And especially not someone I’d tied myself to like I’d had. Right now, I preferred the reality where this thing didn’t know me and I didn’t know it. It was a lot easier to swallow then that Felix had transformed into a monster and had killed someone right in front of me. Granted, he’d been justified, as the person had been about to hurt the girls and I…But that didn’t change the fact that in the real current reality he’d ate that woman!

Yeah, I much preferred the dream reality…

Temper sparking, I kicked out my right leg towards the giant paw. “Fuck off, you bastard!” I told it, even though it was too far for my foot to even reach.

Monster rumbled a deep sound, but it wasn’t quite a growl…Almost like a weird hybrid between a bark and growl.

“Not like that much, huh?” I grumbled. Lifting up my free hand, after dropping Felix’s phone into my lap, I lifted it up to flip off the monster. “Felix, Felix, Felix!” I muttered, half-shouting the name. Monster rumbled some more. I froze when I heard it shifting again. My eyes grew wide and I sucked in a panicked breath as it started moving even closer.

While I watched, too terrified to move or make any noise, the large paw shifted. It was no longer lying flat, the muscles and toes moving until my flashlight let me see a very small portion of Monster’s leg attached to the paw. Echoing softly was the sound of it’s footfalls and I watched as the paw I could see grew closer…And then another paw appeared…And then I could see the darker shadow of it’s body, vaguely. It’s body drew closer, it’s footfalls echoing in my head. My heart was racing so fast I could feel the drum beat of my own heart in my skull.

I let out a shaky breath, my left hand shakily rising up to show off more of Monster’s body. In the back of my mind, I started to noticed that the shadows were retracting back swiftly. But all my senses were very quickly overwhelmed by the sight that their departure left me with.

Monster didn’t do this thing justice: It was a Beast. A terrible one. The thing was bigger than an elephant with it’s body alone. It was like the Norse mythological wolf of end times, Fenrir, had been brought to life. It’s head was only a little smaller than myself, it’s jaws so large that it could have snapped me in half without breaking a sweat. It’s big, fluffy tail was about seven feet long and it’s legs were roughly twelve feet in length each. In fact, standing up at it’s full height, it towered over me like I was an ant.

I let out a soft whimper of fear just as the twins started up with their movements again. I swore, they were trying to figure out who could leave the more defined footprint mark in the skin of my belly at this point.

The wolf’s fur was black, as dark as the shadows had been. Along it’s fore chest and underbelly were streaks of bright red, orange, yellow, and blue fur. But on it’s sides, back, neck, and forehead were streaks of white, gray, and icy blue that cut strange patterns through it’s fur. Looking at it…It was almost like tendrils of frost.

To be honest…it was strangely beautiful…and incredibly terrifying.

It was close enough now that I could see it’s eyes. Blood red, with round black pupils. They stared at me, easily cutting through the natural darkness of the alley for several seconds. Then the beast began to move once more. It’s mouth slightly ajar in quiet panting breaths, revealing rows of long, very sharp fangs, it lowered it’s head down directly toward me. Its teeth were half-stained with blood and pieces of flesh and muscle from the woman earlier. A red, bloody outline around it's mouth showed just the same.

I ducked, closing my eyes tightly, expecting to feel the pain of it’s jaws closing around me. Instead I only felt it’s hot breath, along with the horrible smell of the meal it had consumed earlier. As quietly as was possible for something so huge, it let out a little whine. Blinking, startled, I opened my eyes and slowly lifted my head back up to look at it.

Once our gazes connected, it’s tail swished back and forth a little. Then, it lowered it’s head, jerking it back a little, whining again. I followed the wolf’s movements, seeing that it’s right foreleg was bouncing up and down slightly. It lifted the leg again, the whine a little harsher. I blinked again, and it jerked it’s head back once more, tail thumping against it’s right hind leg. It clawed it’s right foreleg against the ground, scrapping it’s claws along the concrete. The motion was similar to a digging movement. It let out a noise that was similar to a huffing bark.

Glancing back up at the beast’s eyes, I very slowly rose to my feet, placing both phones back into my pant pockets. I was clumsy and uncertain, but the wolf remained completely still as I did so. I could feel it’s gaze burning into me as I stumbled forward a few steps. My legs were a little stiff from fear and how I’d been half-sitting on them, and I had to throw my hands out to get my balance a little better. Wolf let out another small, almost worried whine, but stayed still.

A minute later, I’d reached where the wolf’s right foreleg was. It quickly moved it out of my way, stepping back slightly. I felt a little faint as I saw a single stride for this thing was the length of my entire body, if not more. Once it had backed up slightly, it crouched forward awkwardly, letting out a whining bark, until it’s head was lying flat on the ground. It took me a few seconds to get the wolf’s message. Groaning in pain, I very carefully started to try to lower my self back down to a sitting position. But it was a lot harder when my legs were still shaky with fear and worry then it had been earlier.

I let out a short cry as I started to fall backwards, my balance completely off to be able to lower myself all the way to the ground from a standing position.

Before I could blink, there was a very sudden, very fast blur of fur in my vision and rush of air. Then, while I was gasping in startled fright, I felt my back collide with a solid body…furry though it was. I twisted slightly, fighting back my instinctive reaction to jerk away. Digging my fingers into the thick, soft fur of the wolf’s coat, I used it’s solid body as an anchor and wall. Like this, my descent to the ground was much safer. Once sitting, I dropped my hands, staring at them in bemused shock.

Wolf let out another whine. It’s body was curled around me, head about seven feet away. One eye was open and staring at me, observing me carefully. I could see the immense level of intelligence and emotion in it’s eyes. This thing was more than just some animal. It let out a quiet woof, as if mimicking a domestic dog, though it’s voice was much deeper and grander than any tiny dog could manage.

Letting my hands fall into my lap, I cleared my throat, staring into Wolf’s eye. “So…um…are you Felix?” I tried, in a slightly strained voice.

Wolf let out a long sigh and I felt it’s body shift. Turning my head up, I saw that it had lifted it’s shoulders slightly in an awkward mimic of a human shrug.

“So…you are?” I murmured in confusion. “Or you aren’t?”

It closed it’s one eye that I could see for a second before opening it again. It barked, this one a little sharper, and I could hear the thumping of it’s tail close by, which was also curled around it’s body.

“I’ll take that as a yes then,” I muttered, reaching up to rub at my forehead. “If you’re Felix, why aren’t you turning back? This is your true form, isn’t it?” I asked. Saying the words was pushing the Real and Dream realities together until they fought it out and Real became the victor. I’d never imagined that Felix’s true body and appearance was literally a giant, scary-ass wolf.

Felix remained silent, his tail still thumping a little. He closed his eye and let out a low, rumbling growl. As he did, his jaw opened in a yawn and his huge, long, pink tongue licked at his still bloody chops. He let out a panting grumble, opening his eye again to stare back at me.

I flinched when he exposed his teeth, but he hadn’t snapped out to bite me or anything. He seemed…He seemed like an oversized dog that was pleased after a meal. If he could have purred, I was pretty sure he would be.

To say this was turning out to be the oddest Friday I’d ever had was a massive understatement…

Very suddenly, his right ear perked up, twisting toward a sound at the entrance to the alley. A deep growl started up again, one I could feel, since my back was against his side. I snapped my head around to face the alley. A dark shadow was standing there, but I couldn’t make out anything else about it, besides that it wasn’t Bren. Bren was tall, but this looked like a child. It stepped forward a few feet and suddenly Felix’s growl was becoming a snarl. It was the same sound I’d heard earlier, that sound that told you to Back the fuck up!

At the sound, a high-pitched hiss, like the yowl of a cat, came from the shadow. Moving at inhuman speeds, it backed up further out of the alley, until it had disappeared. I blinked, turning back to look at Felix. His one eye rolled and he let out an annoyed grumbling yawn. His body shifted slightly and I rolled with him, so that now his head was a little closer to me. He rest his head on top of his forelegs, yawning yet again.

“Tired much?” I asked dryly. He lifted his head just enough to blow an exhale of hot breath towards me. I raised a hand to try and wave it away from my nose, gagging. “Oh gods that’s ripe!”

His lips pulled back, revealing his teeth once again, but I didn’t sense any malice from it. He let out a low, guttural whine-bark, which seemed like he was laughing. His ears twitched again, before lowering a little, not quite as upright. He sighed again, yawning.

I rolled my eyes before starting to try and rise to my feet.

Before I could blink, his head was up and looming over me. His red eyes glared hotly down at me, ears flat against his skull, fangs bared in a loud growl of warning. It was so loud it made small vibrations run through the ground under me. Nothing major, but I noticed it, since my ass was still flat on the ground.

I glared right back up at him. “Down, boy!” I pointed to the ground.

His jaw snapped, not towards me, but he was showing me just how big his open mouth was. By his body language, he was showing me that he was dominate, he was the Alpha.

I shook my head, though I was quickly feeling my courage fade in the wake of his not-so-nice face. “I want to be up on my feet, stretching my legs,” I explained, fighting to not let my voice shake. “My feet aren’t hurting me anymore,” I tried to tell him. It was only half of a lie, but I really didn’t want him to be bossing me around. No matter if he was a Big, Bad Wolf or the “human” Felix I’d come to know.

I watched the red in his eyes beginning to swirl, black creeping in on the edges. He growled even more when I started to brace the weight of my hand on the ground next to me. He snapped his jaws once more and this time I could see the saliva as he licked his chops again. He lifted his right foreleg, bringing it slamming down on the ground two feet away from me. His claws made small clinking noises against the concrete and he snarled to pull my attention back up to his head.

Swallowing, I gave in, though I didn’t like it. I lifted my hands into the air, before crossing them over my chest. “Alright, alright!” I half-shouted in irritation myself. “I’ll stay put! Happy?”

Slowly, his growl began to die down. Just as slowly, he lowered himself back down until he was lying as he had been. But his red eye watched me suspiciously, waiting for any sign that I was going to try and get up again. I glared at him, sticking my tongue out in a childish form of defiance.

He rumbled another warning growl, but did nothing else, save for stare a hole into me. We sat there, tense and awkward, for several more minutes. But eventually, once full darkness had fallen and my phone said it was 7:07 p.m., the sound of hurrying footsteps echoed in the silence that had hung between us.

Bren, going off of his panting breath and how tall the shadow was, appeared at the opening of the alley. “B-Bri? F-Felix?” he called out, leaning over to catch his breath.

Felix grumbled, making Bren’s head snap up and he clicked on a flashlight. I raised a hand to cover my eyes, squinting at the bright light in my face. Felix let out a high-pitched whine of discomfort, turning his head away quickly. His tail thumped weakly twice before falling still once more.

“Felix…why are you still in your true form?” Bren asked in confusion. He stepped forward cautiously, eyeing me in amazement. “I assume you aren’t cold at least,” he observed, seeing how I was mostly surrounded by Felix’s warm body. Over his left arm was a bundle of cloth, though I couldn’t tell if it was a blanket or a jacket.

“He refuses to let me get up,” I explained, like I was telling on Felix to a parent, pointing an accusing finger at him. “I tried and he almost ate me!” Felix let out a snarl, glaring at me after turning his head back, red eyes burning bright in anger.

Bren glanced between the two of us, shaking his head sadly. “You two are so alike, I’m honestly sorry for you.”

“Hey! Do not compare me to this…this fool!” I muttered in outrage. Felix let out a loud huff, rolling his eye, his tail moving in agitation. “Don’t give me that shit,” I wagged my finger at him, glaring. “If you hadn’t pressed the issue, I wouldn’t have gotten so angry. So what if my feet have been hurting? Like I said, it’s nothing to worry about.”

Felix’s jaw snapped, though he was careful not to point it toward me or Bren. He jerked his head violently back and forth, like the shake of a head. He lifted his head up to loom over me again, letting out that Fucking stop that! growl once more.

“Um…” Bren mumbled awkwardly. “Maybe getting him angry isn’t going to help with the fact that he hasn’t reverted to his human form yet?”

Felix’s gaze turned to Bren and he stared down at the man who looked so tiny in comparison to him in that moment. I could tell Bren wasn’t comfortable with having Felix’s attention. His muscles were clenching, preparing for having to take some sort of action, whether it be evasion or attacking.

Very suddenly, I felt a shift in Felix’s body behind me. There was two seconds of an awkward absence of his warm, large, furry side. Then, suddenly, I felt arms slid around me from behind. Staring down at my upper chest and abdomen, I saw they were white and then felt another, very human body behind mine. I let out a breath of surprise, starting to pull away. “Let me go!” But the voice behind me made me freeze in my tracks.

“Bri, I am holding you right now…These are your two options,” Felix growled, voice tight with rage. In his voice, as well as the very air around me, I could sense that aura of dread, of terror, rage, and hate. “Either I continue to hug you or I will strangle you. I assume you prefer the hugging option,” he muttered into my ear.

The rage coming off of him was so thick it was a physical thing, like a force pressing down on my back, trying to crush me under itself. I tried to find words but my voice was thick and choked, my words dying in the back of my throat.

“Please, don’t argue with me right now. I was so worried…So angry. What kind of fool are you? Why would you run off, in the middle of Tempus-of the Other Realm!-without me? It doesn’t matter how angry you are, how upset you are…You cannot go around here without some sort of escort! Damn it, Bri, you’re half-human! Maybe that doesn’t mean anything in the Human World, but here…Here you’re like a walking buffet, just waiting for some hungry hunter to come swooping down to snatch you up. What if I hadn’t made it here in time? What if you or the girls had been eaten by that bitch? What. Fucking. Then?!” he snarled.

“Stop being so fucking stubborn and admit when you are out of your depth! Isn’t that what I’m here for? To help you? To take care of you? To keep all three of you fucking safe? So how the hell am I suppose to do that when the person I’m suppose to be protecting runs off without a care in the world? Thirty calls, Bri. Thirty! You couldn’t answer at least one of them to tell me to fuck off? I-!” His voice cut off suddenly, and he inhaled sharply.

I stared down at my hands, feeling uncomfortable with just how tightly he was holding me close to him. But I knew in that moment that his threat wasn’t empty. If he stopped hugging me, he’d start strangling me. My main question, in the back of my mind, was why he cared so much? I couldn’t wrap my head around it. He’d spent all this time since I’d told him denying the truth or saying how he hated every second of it…

Even though, for the majority of today he’d seemed cooperative…I couldn’t trust it. At some point, he was going to stop. He was going to return to the asshole he always was. He was going to basically tell me that I’d ruined his life because I’d gotten pregnant. After all, that’s just how he saw it. I’d come crashing in, pregnant belly and all, shouting how he was the father. Now, suddenly, his whole life was about to change and he had no idea how to handle it. It was easier to just treat me like shit, to blame me for every problem he had…

Tears pricked at my eyes and I let out a hicupping sob. Why did I always ruin people’s lives? This was just the same…exactly the same to when I’d been eight and my whole world had changed. I’d done the same thing to my dad then too. I’d ruined his life as well and he’d never seemed to have forgiven me, had never seemed to try and really work with me over it. Instead I’d been tossed off to his wife and forced to face the reality that I was a piece of shit, that I was worthless…

The twins kicked out again, growing active for a few seconds before starting to settle. I grunted, pulling out of the downward spiral of my thoughts.

“I’m so glad you three are safe…” Felix breathed out in a slightly calmer voice a few seconds later. The anger was mostly gone…or at least the amount of force behind it was. It was no longer oppressive, no longer suffocating. His hold had gentled as well, and it was about that time that I’d realized his clothes were gone, his naked body pressed into mine. I’d been a little more preoccupied with other things.

I glanced up at Bren, who was watching us with a weary look in his eyes. Hesitantly, I opened my senses to read his emotions. Fatigue, small levels of annoyance, worry, a little bit of amusement, and a dark edge of envy. I blinked at that, looking into his eyes. He stared into mine as well, face impassive before slowly raising one eyebrow in question. Blushing faintly, I shut down my emotions sense and lowered my gaze.

“Well, I think it’s time I step in,” Bren cleared his throat. “This has been exciting and everything, but I get the feeling it might be best if you get some clothes on, Felix,” he muttered dryly.

Nodding his head, Felix rose to his feet from where he’d been kneeling at my back. He took hold of the clothes Bren held out to him. I kept my head facing forward, not wanting to see any part of Felix’s naked anatomy at that moment. It was still hitting me that Felix, who was only four inches taller than me, had the ability to change into a gigantic wolf at any time. I raised a hand to my cheek, slapping it gently. Yeah…No, that was still going to take some time to process completely.

Once dressed, Felix came around to my front, holding his hand out to help me to my feet. Blinking, I stared up at his dark blue eyes for a moment before taking his offered hand. He quickly reached out to wrap an arm around my back to help support me. Once standing, my legs started to cramp up a little and a small groan slipped past my lips. “We’re going to a doctor, right now, to make sure everything’s still okay,” Felix told me in a tone that allowed for no argument.

Exhausted, drained mentally and emotionally, I didn’t argue. My whole body hurt and I was starving. Felix wrapped an arm around me, turning his head to Bren. “Thank you,” he told him in one of the most sincerest tones I’d ever heard from the man before. Felix’s arm around me squeezed me a little tighter and I swear I almost heard tears in his voice. I glanced up, not seeing any…But his expression was both grateful and filled with anguish. “Thank you, Brennan,” he repeated quietly.

Bren stared at him for a moment before slowly smiling and shrugging. “It was nothing, Felix,” he assured the other man. His sea-green gaze turned down to me and he frowned. “We really should be heading out though. Bri looks really pale. So, doctor, right?”

“Food right after,” Felix added a second later, nodding. “We’d been heading out to get some, before things got dicey,” he explained. He glanced back down at me, breathing in a deep breath. “Bri…Please don’t do that again.”

“…But I thought you said violence wasn’t the answer…So I walked away,” I defended myself weakly.

He shook his head, expression weary. “There’s a difference between being smart about an escape and being stupid. Next time, be smart, if it gets that bad. I…I don’t think I can handle a stunt like that again. Hell…I’d almost say you can just hit me. But I’d rather try to teach you how to use your words instead of your fists,” he sighed.

I frowned, crossing my arms over my chest. But after a few moments, I sighed as well. “I’m sorry I ran off like that,” I apologized heavily.

His expression was tight, tense. “…Just don’t do that again, please.”

I nodded, letting out a long breath. “Can we just get…get out of here now?”

Without another word, the three of us left. Bren lead the way to his vehicle, and I slid into the back seat, Felix following me. The car ride to a 24 hour clinic-for Others that couldn’t be out in the sunlight-was tense and silent. We hadn’t forgiven
each other, but at least we’d come to something of an impasse. Though, honestly, I knew I was the one in the wrong…this time.

At the clinic, my thoughts were confirmed. I was not showing signs of anything serious, just soreness from the amount of weight I’d gained and the problems that came with pregnancy. Felix bowed his head and thanked the doctor, staying silent until we were in the car again. He apologized for getting angry at me, but told me that he would have done it all over again without pause. He also asked me, in a very tight voice, to make sure to tell my normal physician of any problems that arose from here on, instead of keeping quiet.

After I promised to do so, he let out a long breath and his whole demeanor changed. No longer was he tense, and tightly controlled. The Felix I was use to was back, along with all his snide, asshole comments. I almost missed the darker version of him…but only almost. He’d been so angry, so carefully controlled…It had been creepy, seeing Felix like that.

Bren had stayed quiet, only making comments here and there to try and lighten the mood. The two of them escorted me back to Willow’s house in the Human World, dropping me off. Then they left and only I remained, standing outside of Willow’s door. I started to knock, but the door suddenly opened.

Prophecy stood there, curls surrounding her, a solemn look in her eyes. “I’m glad you weren’t hurt, Auntie Bri. You shouldn’t do that again though,” she told me off. “It could have been…Uncle Felix could have done some very bad things, Auntie Bri,” she whispered softly. “Playing with fire isn’t something you should do,” she warned me.

I let out a long breath, smiling tiredly. “…Yeah…I think I’ve learned my lesson,” I sighed.

She nodded her head, staring into my eyes. “As long as you have, that’s all that matters. I told Mommy and Dad that traffic was really bad and that you had to wait longer than expected at the spa,” she told me. “You came home an hour late, so Mommy was really worried,” she explained.

Reaching out, I pulled her into a hug. “Thanks, chica,” I murmured into her mass of curls. Then, pulling back, I pulled forth a wide, bright smile. “Hey!” I called out in a much louder voice cheerfully. “Sorry about that. Today’s been one crazy day. You will not believe what I’ve gone through…”