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  A Week with Werewolves

  By K. Matthew

  Text copyright 2012 by K. Matthew

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the author.

  Emmett's house was a picture-perfect vision of the American dream. A white picket fence outlined a well manicured lawn with immaculately trimmed shrubbery lining the path to a red-painted door. It was better than most people could hope to afford in the outside world with the recession going on. No wonder he was such a smug bastard.

  Before I had even finished knocking, the door was pulled open, revealing the alpha of the Blackfoot Werewolf Reservation who had been expecting me the entire time. His dominant brown eyes looked down on me with amusement before he invited me inside for the grand tour.

  The house oozed with luxuries vacant from most of the other werewolf domiciles. Rich wooden furniture and leather upholstered seating were a hallmark for those that worked hard within the community, but Emmett got it all for free just for being the leader of the pack.

  “How many months have you lived in this?” I asked while he showed me the master bathroom. His tub was large and jetted, even better than mine.

  “Are we starting the interview now, Ms. Raveen, or would you prefer to wait til we get to the living room?” he said.

  There was that arrogance again, a subtle hint of it—a hint of his discontent from having me around. I had been oblivious to it before Devon, the omega of the pack, warned me that Emmett was only putting on a front. Now, I was all too aware of his false nuances.

  “Whatever you're more comfortable with, Mr. Kennedy,” I tried not to sound rude.

  When we returned to the living room, Emmett sat me down on the sofa and offered me a beverage from his mini fridge. I nodded in kindness, figuring he could spare a soda.

  “I suppose we should start with the question I asked you in the bathroom.” Preparing to record his response, I flipped open my notebook to a fresh page, jotting down his full name on the top line.

  Emmett looked to the ceiling, counting quietly inside his head before saying, “I believe it's been about six years now.”

  It didn't seem very long, considering that he had lived inside of the reservation for nearly twenty years. “Who was alpha before you?”

  “Rick was, but that didn't last for too long. We kind of bounce the position back and forth between us. I'm not going to let him win this time around though.” Emmett smirked to himself.

  I wasn't surprised that the position was passed between a handful of men. The hierarchy trials were probably like any other stale competition. When you pitted the same group of people against each other repeatedly, it didn't make much sense to expect a consistently different result.

  “Well,” I continued, “I already know your age and how long you've lived on the reservation, so I'll move on to the things I don't know about you.”

  “That makes sense,” he interrupted me.

  “How did you contract the lycanthropy disease?”

  “Sex of course.” Emmett gave me a look like I shouldn't be surprised. While he was certainly a specimen of manliness, he wasn't particularly my type. Too broad. Too muscular. Too dark. And I wasn't a fan of chest hair either. My eyes darted to the thick curly patch that peaked out the top of Emmett's blue jumpsuit.

  “Who was she?” I kept my expression deadpan, and there was a twinge of disappointment in his eyes from my lack of reaction. Perhaps he thought he could get any woman he wanted. Maybe Emmett's high position worked inside of the reservation on his female pack mates, but it certainly wasn't working on me.

  “Some high school slut.” He waved his hand and looked away as if it hadn't mattered. “I was the star quarterback of my high school football team. Girls were a dime a dozen.”

  “So you don't know which one gave it to you?”

  “Nope.”

  “You say that girls were a dime a dozen. I'm assuming that meant you slept around a lot. Don't you worry that you might have passed it on to someone else?”

  “I did pass it on to someone else,” Emmett replied without shame. “One of the women here is here because of me. There was another too, but she died trying to escape the reservation.”

  I cocked an eyebrow, a bit miffed by his obvious lack of emotion when he spoke of the two women. It didn't seem that the consequences of Emmett's actions mattered to him at all.

  “You don't feel any remorse?” I asked finally.

  “Why should I? It was an accident. I didn't know I had the lycanthropy disease, at the time. If I had, I would have worn a condom.”

  “Who's the woman you gave the lycanthropy disease to that lives inside of the reservation?”

  “Her name is Jeanette Navy. She lives in a two-bedroom suite with her husband now, so it all ended up fine in the end,” he assured me.

  “Her husband?”

  “Yes. It's common for people to get married inside the reservation. As I've mentioned before, life is pretty normal inside here for most people. We work like normal people, have festivals and celebrations, go on dates, all of that good stuff. We even have sex.” Emmett's brown eyes flashed mockingly. “If you're ever interested in that last part, I can get condoms from the compound staff. Or did they issue you some when you came in here, just in case?”

  It took everything in me not to be offended and disgusted. Part of me thought he was joking, but the realist in me knew that he wasn't.

  “Let's move on with the interview,” I said, keeping my deadpan expression.

  “Oh, Taya,” he guffawed. “I'm just pulling your strings. Loosen up a bit.”

  As much as I wanted to force out nervous laughter, it wouldn't come. Instead, I stifled a small sigh and continued on, “What did you have to leave behind when you were brought to the reservation?”

  “A life that I loved, for one thing. Though I think most would tell you the same. I had a football scholarship, you know?” Emmett's eyes met mine, but there was no regret in them.

  “What about siblings?”

  “Three brothers and two sisters.” He laughed again. “I came from a litter.”

  “That is a lot.”

  “My parents were happily married. Of course, they were both devastated when they found out I had the lycanthropy disease. I was with that one girl at the time of my first shift . . . the one that died. She wasn't thinking, locked herself in her car and called the police right away. As soon as she told them that we had been having sex when I shifted, they brought us both in. Well, they got her first. They couldn't collect me until the next day.” He grinned at a memory. “I woke up butt naked in one of our neighbors' backyard. I was covered in blood and feathers. I had really torn up his chicken coop, slaughtered nearly all the chickens on his property. Man was I full though.” Emmett chuckled. “I must have eaten at least a half a dozen of those sons of bitches.”

  “So, this girl, the one that died, was she your girlfriend at the time?”

  “One of many,” he replied proudly.

  Not feeling like delving any deeper into his prior love life, I decided to continue with my last main question. “How do you feel about the reservation, the detainment process, how you felt when you were introduced to the reservation, and how you feel where you are now?”

  Emmett leaned back in his chair, digesting all that I had asked. Perhaps I should start splitting that last question up, since Devon had the same confused reaction.

  “The detainment process is definitely rough, but necessary. Unlike most of the other guys in here, I didn't much mind the vasectomy. I mean, sure, having kids would be great, but I hate condoms, and being fixed lets m
e fuck whoever I want without having to worry about getting them pregnant. Besides, inside the reservation you don't have to worry about STDs.”

  “So no one inside of the reservation has had STDs?” I cut him off, a bit curious about that one.

  “Well, there was this one guy who had herpes, but he died.” Emmett shrugged.

  “How'd he die?”

  “He was killed during one of the shifts. Sometimes we get a bit rowdy,” he replied nonchalantly. Now I was even more relieved that I wouldn't be staying for the full moon. The werewolves sounded dangerous.

  “Sorry for interrupting.”

  “It's alright.” He thought for a moment. “When I was introduced to the reservation, there were only eighteen other people here. The reservation was a lot smaller, only one hundred acres instead of one thousand. The government has gone above and beyond to make sure that we have enough roaming room for when we shift. I mean, you've got to imagine that fifty-three horse sized wolves need a lot of room to roam.”

  I was happy that the government had done at least that much, especially since they weren't working very hard towards a cure.

  “The place has improved a lot over the years,” Emmett continued. “Most of the buildings that you see today weren't even here. In fact, it was run a lot like a prison. We lived in basic efficiency units and basically just worked, ate, and slept. But then things got better. More people started coming onto the reservation, and there was a huge funding grant. That's why the place is as big as it is now.”

  My main questioning was over, but there were still a few more things that I was curious about. “Were you an alpha from the beginning?”

  “No.” He shook his head. “In the beginning, we didn't have hierarchy trials. The only time there was such a thing as alpha or beta or omega was during the shift. And hell, we didn't even know who it was. When we turn into wolves, we lose everything of ourselves. The animal takes over, and the man is completely gone. Apparently, some strange phenomenon takes over where we use pack formation when we shift, but no one is aware of it except for the compound faculty that monitored us. At the time, this other guy was alpha.” Emmett paused. “It wasn't until a few years after I got here that the compound started doing the hierarchy trials.”

  “Oh?” I was a bit surprised.

  “Yeah. Originally, it was a reward system to help cut down on employment expenses. Instead of having guards stay inside of the reservation to monitor us all the time, they decided to give some trust over to the residents. We decided to have some fun with it by naming the power ranks alpha and beta.”

  “And what about omega?”

  He grinned. “We made that up along the way. I mean, if you're going to have alphas and betas, then you have to have omegas too, right?”

  “It seems a bit cruel,” I admitted, thinking of how Devon was deprived of all the luxuries that the other werewolves were entitled to. “I'm surprised that the reservation goes along with it.”

  “They do, to keep the peace, and to give us a sense that we've created our own way of life inside of the reservation.”

  “You said that you and Rick toss the alpha title back and forth. It would make sense that if the same group of people shared the high titles, then there would be a similar group of people that passed around the omega title.”

  Emmett looked thoughtful, and I couldn't help but wonder if he was remembering how he had told me that no one stayed omega for long. Logic would disagree with that, if what I had said had been correct.

  “There's a bit of a difference with omega,” Emmett told me. “Once someone is an omega, they really don't want to do it again. The omega will usually work really hard to make sure that he or she doesn't end up omega again.”

  It made sense, but I still had my doubts. “Where do you think Chris will place in the hierarchy trials?” I questioned curiously, thinking of the shaggy blonde-haired boy who was the newest member of the pack.

  “I'm not sure. The guy certainly looks strong, but I haven't talked with him enough to gauge his level of intelligence. No one has ever taken an alpha or beta position right out of the gates, so I imagine he'll fall somewhere in the middle. I definitely don't think that there's any threat of him being an omega though.”

  It was a strangely comforting thought. I could imagine that being an omega from the start would only make Chris hate living on the reservation even more. He obviously detested life on the reservation as things were.

  “Well, I think that's all I've got for you.” I straightened myself, flipping my notebook closed with a sigh of relief that the interview was over. For some reason, I felt incredibly uncomfortable being alone with Emmett. His eyes had been looking at me differently ever since the front door had closed behind us, a strange mix of contempt and desire.

  “If you ever want to get out of your suite or away from Devon, you're more than welcome to come visit my anytime you want,” he offered as he led me to the door.

  “Thanks,” I replied politely. “I'll keep that in mind.”

  The air was cool and crisp outside, washing away thoughts of Emmett's inappropriate sexual comment as I stepped further from his house. To be honest, I didn't want to end up there alone again and would avoid it at all costs for the rest of my stay on the reservation. Now I would begin seeing Emmett's true colors, I was almost sure of it.

  When I reached the steps leading up to my suite, Chris was sitting on the stairwell, staring down at his feet, completely lost in thought. A blush immediately went to my cheeks at the sight of him, and I chastised myself for being so happy he was there, especially when I knew that he probably just wanted to borrow some of my job points to get a soda. My shoulders slumped slightly at the thought, but it was what it was.

  “Hey you,” I tried to sound cheerful, drawing Chris's dreamy blue eyes up to meet mine.

  “Hey.” He rubbed the back of his neck, the same as he had the first time I had found him there, quickly pulling himself to his feet and moving to the side of the stairs to allow me to brush past him.

  “Did you want another soda?” I asked, wondering if it was even worth the bother to go inside and drop off my notebook. After what Devon had told me about thinking that someone would come into my room to look at it, I hadn't let the thing out of my sight.

  “Oh no,” Chris said, letting his gaze fall to the floor. “Emmett told me that they'll have sodas with the pizza at the celebration tonight. I just . . . kinda didn't want to go alone.”

  This surprised me a bit. Chris did his best to avoid most of the people inside of the reservation, including me. Even if he had finally decided to start coming out of his shell, why would he want to hang out with someone who was only going to be at the reservation for a month? Shouldn't Chris want to be spending time with his own kind so that he could get acclimated to being a part of the reservation?

  I decided not to over analyze it any further. Besides, the more that Chris hung out with me, the more comfortable he would get with me, the more likely he would be to open up about what had happened between him and his fiancé. There was a reason why Chris was at the reservation and she wasn't, and I wanted to know it.

  “Come on in.” I led him inside. Before I could even close the door behind us, he was sitting on my loveseat, staring at his hands, strands of sandy blonde hair obscuring his eyes. “Are you nervous about tonight?” I asked, holding onto my notebook when I sat down as if I was scared Chris might try to look at it.

  “A little,” he admitted. “I don't much like crowds.”

  “It will be a good opportunity to meet everyone inside the reservation.”

  “Maybe a good opportunity for you. You're only going to be here for a month. I'm going to be here for a lifetime. I'm fairly certain I'd get to meet them all eventually even without the celebration,” glumness was apparent in his voice.

  “They're just trying to make you feel welcome.”

  “I'm pretty sure they're more interested in the food than welcoming me.”

  I sighed,
not knowing what else to say on that front. “Devon is coming over in a little while to escort me to the celebration. Have you met him yet?”

  “No, but I've heard a lot about him.” A sarcastic smile curled the edge of Chris's lips.

  “He's a nice kid, and I think you two would really get along. He shares a lot of your views about this place, I'm sure.”

  “I imagine so, considering that he's the omega. I wouldn't think that waking up every morning to a shit sandwich would make someone like this place.”

  “Are you even going to give this place a chance? I mean, this is your home now, and if you know that the government isn't working very hard on a cure for the lycanthropy disease, then you should also know that you're stuck here. This is your life now.”

  His eyes shot up to meet mine with a look of pure scorn. “It must be so easy for you to say that, knowing that you get to leave here in a month.”

  “I'm not your enemy.”

  Guilt flooded Chris's expression, and he quickly turned away. “I know. I'm sorry. This is just . . . really hard for me to cope with.”

  “I know. I didn't expect it would be easy.”

  There was a knock on the door and little question in my mind as to who it was. Devon looked as eager and excited as usual. The tension from earlier was completely erased from his face, though he seemed a bit startled when he glanced past me and saw Chris sitting on my loveseat.

  “Oh, am I interrupting an interview or something? I'm sorry. I can wait outside,” Devon said, taking a step away from the door.

  “No. Come on in. Devon, this is Chris. Chris, this is Devon,” I introduced them to each other before reclaiming my seat, forcing the two of them to sit together on the loveseat.

  “So, you're the new guy? I mean, of course you are. I saw you sitting at the table with Emmett and Rick and Ms. Raveen during lunch. That's how all the newbies start out,” Devon addressed Chris nervously.

  “Yup,” Chris replied.

  “Um, I know it's hard right now, but it will get better, you'll see,” he gave encouragement.