________________________

________________________

IT WASN'T UNTIL three in the morning that the hunt had concluded, the Honour Guard trawling back to Buck Pines empty-handed. If there was another werewolf out there, they hadn't found it and they had steered clear of Adele's cabin all night. She hadn't caught a wink of sleep until she had been sure that they were gone, her eyes drooping even after knocking back a coffee at eleven.

When she had crawled between the sheets at twenty past three, Caleb had jumped onto the end of her bed and nudged her arm, licking her skin after a long and quiet night. Hardly a word had been spoken after Adele had given up trying to get a response out of him, but he didn't want to seem to go to sleep on a bad note. When he had nuzzled her hand, she had grunted and patted his back, and she hadn't shoved him off when he had curled up by her feet.

He hadn't let himself drift off until she was already dreaming.

On Sunday, the day after the hunt, he was glued to her side. He followed when she fished in the river and even caught a couple of his own: when a trout had come swimming downstream, he had leapt into the water before Adele had a chance to recast her line, and he had thrashed in the river until he had emerged with the fish between his jaws. Adele had spluttered her surprise at seeing him so active when a few days ago, he'd been on the brink of death.

He really was on the mend. His wounds had healed, a soft layer of fur growing over the smooth skin where there should have been a jagged scar. All that remained was the slightest limp.

When Adele woke up on Monday morning, she half-expected Caleb to be a little less of a wolf. The better that he got, the more she had to prepare herself to come face to face with a strange man in her house. She wanted to. After three days with him loafing about the house and eating her scraps, she wanted to meet him. She wanted to talk to him, to put an end to the burning questions on her mind.

There was only so much she could get out of his whimpers and barks, his shaking tail and his perky ears: she wanted his voice.

But she woke up to a wolf on her bed, his heavy head cutting off the circulation to her fizzing feet. With a groan, she pushed him off her and he reluctantly dropped to the floor, where he sat while she changed into something a little warmer than her pyjamas. When she changed her underwear, he only looked away after she nudged his face with her knee. There wasn't really anywhere he could go when the door was shut and there was only just enough floorspace for the two of them to stand side by side.

"This is the last day," she said, perched on the edge of the bed with a pair of tights scrunched up in her hand. "I know you're healing or whatever but it's about damn time I got to know you, ok? There's only so much I can help you if you're not going to talk."

She stood to pull her tights up high and tug on a t-shirt before she resting on her haunches in front of Caleb. She picked up his front right paw and then the left and he didn't flinch as she touched him, letting her poke his sensitive pads and check his claws. With all the research she had done in her life, almost twenty years of learning and more than a decade of practice, she was as good as a vet.

"Looking good," she said, running her hands down his sides and over his spine. "I don't know how exactly this works and I'm not sure how you feel on the inside, but you feel good on the outside." Patting his side, she stood again and rooted through her drawer for a pair of thick, thermal-lined tracksuit bottoms that she hitched up over her tights.

Layering a long-sleeved top over her t-shirt, she slipped on a jumper that read Florida Launch. Never had she been out of Scotland, let alone to the United States, and she had no idea who the team were or even what spot they played, but the jumper had been a gem of a find in one of Penlark's eight charity shops a few years ago. Thick and loose and lined with fleece, it had fast become her favourite.

Tucking her hands into the fleecy front pocket, she leant across Caleb and led him to the kitchen to let him out of the back door. There was no knowing when Jade might pop over for a surprise visit and she couldn't be as easily lied to as Angus. He hadn't even thought to question Adele when she had told him that Caleb was her dog, no matter how well he knew the wolves, and the fact that she would never choose to get a dog.

While Caleb cautiously pottered around outside, more nervous without Adele by his side than with her, she fixed herself a coffee and something for him to eat. She rarely ate in the morning, her taste buds needing a few more hours to get used to being awake before she could stomach more than the buzz of a black coffee. Caleb, however, was happy to chow down on whatever bits and pieces she threw down for him.

He bounded up the steps when he smelled his breakfast and his strong tail slammed the door shut, claws clacking on the tiles. Adele watched the way he moved. It was as though he had never been injured. He was springy on his feet, quick and graceful in the way he moved. Her eyes on him, she folded herself into the armchair with her legs crossed and cradled her mug in her lap. For a moment, she enjoyed her hot brew before she addressed the day's agenda with a cough to clear her throat.

"Hey," she said when the bowl was clean. He snapped his head up as though she had slapped him. "Sit."

He sat in front of her, a few inches from the armchair, and he held her gaze.

"There's a lot of shit to do today," she said. "You're healed, right? Which means you're going to shift soon. You'd better do, anyway. And when you do, you'll be naked. Correct?"

He thumped his tail.

"Ok. Well, I'm going to have to get you something to wear. I doubt you're going to fit into anything of mine. Unless human Caleb isn't going to live up to my expectations. You could be a tiny, weedy little guy for all I know."

Caleb growled, curling his lip at her, but it was hard to be intimidated when she knew that come nightfall, he would jump onto her bed and try to lick her face. She laughed, teasing him, and stretched out a foot to scratch his chest.

"I don't have time to go to Penlark today," she said, "and I can't buy guy's clothes from the charity shop in town without it getting back to Jade, but I'll figure something out." She clucked her tongue to herself. "Ainslie might actually be useful for once."

Sipping the dregs of her coffee, she let out a sigh. Caleb mimicked her, dropping his head.

"You can't really come with me so it's going to be a home day, I think."

He lay down with a sigh and a low whine, resting his head on his paws and curling his tail around his back legs. Adele eyed him and weighed up her options in her mind. She couldn't decide whether he would be safer alone in the cabin or if he'd be better off hidden in the back of her truck. If he stayed, he would be out of harm's way but there was no guarantee that Angus or Jade wouldn't show up.

Tutting to herself, she decided to put it to him.

Holding up her right hand, she asked, "Do you want to stay here while I go and find you something to wear?" Then she held up her left hand. "Or do you want to come with me? You'll have to stay in the back of the truck if you come with me. You won't be able to come out, but you won't be stuck here alone."

He thought about it, weighing up the same consequences she had considered before he sat up and shuffled forwards to touch his nose to her left palm. When she smiled, he licked her hand and his tail began to thump on the cold floor. Adele unfurled her legs and leant forwards, almost toppling off the chair when she wrapped her arms around Caleb. His soft fur was like a pillow, his skin as warm and comforting as a hot water bottle, and it got his tail thudding when she hugged him.

He smelled like a bonfire, hot flames and smoked wood and fresh air. She breathed in the scent, burying her nose in the scruff of his neck and filling her lungs. When she pulled away, she could have sworn that he was smiling.

There was no coffee left when she lifted her mug to her lips and when she stood to wash it, she scratched Caleb's head, trailing her hand down his neck and his back as she passed. "I'm beginning to wonder if you're the Ainslie of werewolves," she mused, rinsing out his bowl and her mug.

Caleb tilted his head to the side and when she spotted his curiosity, she elaborated.

"What kind of werewolf with any kind of brain would drag themselves to the only cabin in the whole fucking forest when twenty hunters just tried to kill him?" She glanced at him over her shoulder and raised her eyebrows. "I don't get it. Are you a smart fuck or a dumb shit?"

His face fell and he slowly slid down until he was lying on the floor again, the corners of his mouth downturned and Adele felt a pang of guilt. Perhaps he wasn't stupid, she thought, but she was struggling to understand whatever reasons he had, whether he had just been too injured to protest when she had helped him. Maybe he would have run, but she had caught him in a moment of vulnerability.

"Ok, well, I'm not getting any answers out of you like this," she muttered. Once the dishes were put away, she dropped down onto the chair again and scrolled down to Ainslie's number in her contacts. "Let's see what we can do about dressing you, eh?"

She waited a few seconds. And then a few more. The dial tone rang and rang until the call went to voicemail and she tried again, idly stroking Caleb with her free hand. His head was back, his eyes closed, and the corners of his mouth began to defy gravity.

"Hi Adele!" Ainslie cried, far too excitable a way to answer the phone. "Sorry. I was trying out some yoga moves and I got a bit stuck.

"Only you, Ainslie," Adele muttered. "How did you eve- actually, never mind. That's not important. Is there any chance you have any guy's clothes?"

Ainslie clicked her tongue. "I don't know ... there might be some of my dad's stuff in the cellar, but he left in nineteen ninety-nine, so Mum might have got rid of it by now. But I can check!"

"Thanks," Adele said. She had grown to trust Ainslie, if only because she trusted that her mind would soon latch onto something else. Easily distracted, she could keep a secret well when it hardly took anything at all for it to fall out of her head.

A couple of minutes passed before the thump of feet on stairs and the odd harrumph was replaced by Ainslie's voice, a little breathy as she said, "Ok, I found a box of my dad's old stuff. Kind of weird we've still got it," she added. Adele could just envisage her shrugging it off. "Mostly just jeans and tops. But, like, old-fashioned."

"Do you mind if I come over?"

"Sure! Awesome!" There was a smile in her sunny voice, and Adele smiled too. "See you soon!"

Adele hung up and stood, nodding at Caleb. "Let's go," she said, shaking her head at how clueless Ainslie was, not even thinking to ask why Adele wanted men's hand-me-downs. She couldn't complain. As stressful as Ainslie could make life, there were apparently times she made it a little easier.

*

Caleb lay across the back seat, covered in the same muddy sheet Adele had used to save him, the rope coiled on top. He looked convincing enough as a pile of junk to anyone who walked past, and she only hoped that nobody would stare into the window long enough to see the pile breathing. One of the perks of being an outlier, however, was that most people tended to leave her be. She was seen as an oddity, which she was sure was a rumour Jade had perpetuated, but it gave her a degree of safety.

Ainslie opened the door as soon as she spotted Adele's truck pull up outside and she waved from the doorway, grinning at her friend.

"Ok, now you have to be extra still," Adele said to Caleb before she got out and painted on a smile. "Hi, Ainslie."

"Hi!" She stepped inside, inviting Adele in. "I've got the clothes you were asking about ... what do you need them for?"

"Um ... roleplay," Adele said, the first excuse that popped into her head. Ainslie's eyes widened and she laughed, handing over the cardboard box.

"Oh, ok. What kind of roleplay?"

"The sexy hunter and the werewolf," she said, holding back a smile.

Ainslie laughed, her eyes sparkling. "Interesting," she said. "Wait a sec."

"What?" Adele asked warily. Ainslie frowned in thought.

"Wait ... if you have sex with a werewolf when they're a human, is that, like, bestiality?" she asked, cocking her head to the side like a clueless puppy. She was a puppy in a lot of ways: she was over-excitable and untrained, and almost anything could snatch her attention.

Adele stared at her for a moment before she slowly said, "No."

"Aren't they a dog, though?"

"Not if they're in human form," Adele said. "Human form. You know – not a dog. Or a wolf."

"Oh," Ainslie said. "Ok! Well, um, have fun, I guess!"

Adele let out a dry laugh. "Will do," she said.

"Want to come in?"

"I've actually got to get going," she said. "Lots to do, but I'll take you out for a drink sometime. Or I'll make you a drink next time you get lost in the woods."

Ainslie grinned. "Sorry. And thank you! After you left, Mum told me off for freaking her out so she said I'm not allowed out of the house without a fully charged phone and two back-up charger pack thingies."

"That's probably a good idea, Ains, considering your track record."

"Mmm," she hummed. "Well, see you around!"

"Will do," Adele said, "and thanks for this." She held up the box. "I really appreciate it."

Dumping the box on the passenger seat, she got into the car with a sigh and looked over her shoulder as she reversed out of the drive. "Good start," she said to Caleb. "Fancy looking like Ainslie's dad in the nineties?" Then she laughed. "Well, you don't have a choice. It's something I guess."

It was only as she was about to drive back into the woods that her eyes fell on the petrol gauge. The tank was nearly empty, the arrow hovering a millimetre from the exclamation mark and with a muttered expletive, she turned around and pulled into the old two-pump station. It got an awful lot of business when it was the only one for miles around, and the owner managed to make a little extra money with the station attached to the diner. When drivers went in to pay, they were often too tantalised by the waft of burgers and chips to resist grabbing something to eat.

"You know the drill," she said to Caleb as she got out and filled up. Only when the tank was full of sixty pounds worth of petrol did she realise she had no money. She never carried cash, stashing it in a safe in the kitchen. A scrupulous saver, what little money she earned usually went straight into the safe, and she never let the pile dwindle below a thousand pounds. That was her emergency fund, in case she ever had to up and leave.

Time to act, Adele thought as she headed into the diner. She walked in confidently with a smile for the woman behind the counter, who beamed right back.

"Hi, Adele," she said. "Pump one?"

"That's me," she said.

"That'll be sixty-one forty," the cashier said. Adele went through the charade of searching through her pockets, even unzipping her coat to look through the pocket of her hoodie too.

"Damn it," she muttered. "I must've left my cash at home." She pursed her lips and looked up, meeting the woman's eye. "You know what, do you reckon you can put it on my sister's tab? I can pay her back later." She winced, feigning apologetic inconvenience, and she earnt a smile.

"No problem, hen," the woman said, pulling out a sheet of petrol tabs. Rather than scrolling to S for Shepherd, Jade, she headed straight to K for Keir, Creighton and added to what he owed that month already. A lot, it seemed: his truck was a gas guzzler, and he spent a lot of time driving round the forest.

"Jade doesn't have her own tab?"

"Oh, no, she and Creighton have shared for years," she said. "Ever since they got together."

Adele tried not to wrinkle her nose. Jade was right under his thumb. "Well, thanks. I appreciate it," she said. When she turned to leave, she spotted a couple of familiar faces at a table in the diner, the only two inside. Angus was sitting opposite his partner, Archie. The two of them were almost always on patrol together, and they shared a flat in Penlark. Before she could decide whether or not to go over, she was spotted.

"Adele! Hey, how's it going?" Archie called, waving her over. He wore a charming grin, a cheeky glint in his eye. It was hard to believe he was a policeman when he seemed like he was still a child himself, but he had been on the force for seven years now, ever since he had turned eighteen. Although he was only three years younger than Angus, the two acted like father and son sometimes.

"Hey, Archie," she said with a wink. His grin grew. Angus frowned at the two of them.

"Whatcha up to?" Archie asked, wiggling his eyebrows. "Got any plans tonight, huh, Del?"

Angus gave his partner a warning look. "Careful, Archie," he said, his voice low. "She could snap you without breaking a sweat."

He snorted. "Strong, independent woman," he said, giving her a wink and his trademark cheeky smile. "Just what I like."

She leant against Angus's seat and gave Archie a challenging smile. "You know where I live," she said, slowly licking her lips. As much as she loved to tease Archie, the two of them having shared a flirty banter ever since she and Angus had started sleeping together, it was just as fun, if not more so, to see the way Angus rose to the challenge as though he had anything to be jealous of.

He shifted in his seat before he scraped it back and stood so he was taller than Adele. "I finish at five on Friday," he said, his voice almost a growl, as though he was warning Archie off. "How about you come over?"

"You'd like that, huh?" She gave him a wicked grin and then she winked at Archie. "Well, you know where I'll be on Friday."

Archie grinned. "I'll be there."

Angus glowered at him and moved his hand to Adele's waist. "No you won't."

Adele pursed her lips, trying hard not to grin. "I don't mind," she said, slowly pulling her bottom lip between her teeth. The two were virtual opposites and it had always amused her, how Angus was so serious and cared too much, and Archie just wanted to have fun.

"Del doesn't mind," Archie said, his grin pushing deep dimples into his cheeks as he teased his flatmate. Angus tightened his jaw.

"Well, I do," he said.

"Actually," Adele murmured, walking her fingers up his chest to his neck, "that doesn't matter."

Angus's eyes darkened. He bent his neck to kiss her put she put her finger to his lips and stepped away. Archie was still sitting, watching the two of them with laughter in his eyes, until Adele moved her hand to his shoulder and dropped her gaze from Angus when she bent over Archie to kiss him. He leant into it, one hand on her cheek, and he parted her lips with his tongue.

It wasn't the first time they had kissed. Archie was fun. He didn't get attached.

"What the fuck, Del?" Angus snapped.

She pulled away after a few more seconds and she looked from Archie to Angus before she left and over her shoulder, she said, "See you boys on Friday."

With a smirk on her lips, she got back into the car with the taste of Archie on her tongue, the rich scent of his aftershave on her cheek. She turned to Caleb, patting his back through the sheet.

"Right, we can go home now," she said, rubbing her lips together. Archie had been wearing minty chapstick.

Caleb growled at the smell, rumbling in the back seat. Adele rolled her eyes and shook her head, shifting the car into drive.

"Jesus Christ," she muttered. "You're as bad as Angus."

He growled again, louder this time. Adele adjusted the rear view mirror though she couldn't see him beneath the sheet.

"Right," she said. "As soon as you shift, we're going to have to have a little talk. You can't growl every time I say Angus."

He growled again.  

________________________
________________________

i can't thank you guys enough for your response to this book. i was worried yesterday's double update would lead to less of a reaction but i was so wrong. you're all just as awesome as ever, even if i update twice in a day! that may well happen more with this book, though i'll try not to inundate you. below is a more general turning point picspam. are there any you'd like to see? let me know and i'll make them! you can also see the tutorial for this picspam below.

https://youtu.be/3geupiHyGuM