"OK... what the hell?!"
"You Changed," Rory smiled. "You ran with the pack. You howled under the Moon."
"What the hell are you talking about?! Demarco demanded.
"You're a werewolf," Rory replied.
"I'm a... I'm sorry, what!?" Demarco blurted out. "Let me break my weekend down for you... I came up to get away from the Harbor, do a little fishing, breathe the air. I end up getting lost in the woods, bitten by some big hairy monster, sleep the whole day in the Cabin of Aging Hippies, get lost again, threatened... by you... and now I'm hung over and naked on a mountain top, with you guys... naked! And you're telling me I'm a werewolf!?"
"Feel better for that?" Rory asked.
"A little," Demarco admitted.
"Good. Look... sorry, I've forgotten your name," Rory said.
"Demarco, Lux Demarco."
"Right... Demarco," Rory nodded. "It's normal to be a little hazy after your first change, but think back. You remember running. The feeling of the earth beneath you, the scent of the others around you. Our scent. You remember running with the pack."
"I... oh shit," Demarco breathed.
"You remember standing on this mountaintop. The scent of the grass and the trees, of the lake below us. You remember the Moon above us. You remember howling to the Moon with us."
"This is... insane," Demarco stammered. "I... I remember. Oh shit, I remember!"
"You're a werewolf, Lux Demarco," Rory said. "You're one of us."
"You're a werewolf?" Demarco said, feeling like her aching head wasn't handling things well. "You're all werewolves? Right... yeah... of course you are. Wait... you knew! When I came to the fire, you knew. Was it you? Are you the one who bit me?"
"No," Rory said. "I could smell the Wolf in you. With the moon rising, I knew the Change was coming. That's why I couldn't let you run off. There are some normals around Moonwood Mill. Keeping you with the pack, we could keep you away from them. Less chance of someone getting hurt."
"What about the... werewolf... who bit me? Noone kept him from hurting me," Demarco muttered.
"Let me guess," the brown-haired man put in. "Creepy house out in the woods. He was big, grey and black?"
"Well, I didn't get a really good look, on account of him trying to eat me, but yeah, sounds right," Demarco said.
"That would be Greg," the man said. "He got me too. I'm Lou, by the way."
"This is Bianca," Lou added, nodding at the fair-haired woman, "and tall, dark and sinister over there is Kiril."
"Nice... to... meet... you," Demarco said slowly, still uncertain.
"Look," she continued, "I don't want to make this weird... weirder... but can we talk about the whole 'everybody is naked' thing. I mean... did I? Did we?"
"Fuck?" Bianca finished for her. "No. Kiril's mine and Lou is Rory's. We don't fuck around on each other."
"Yeah, I've got an ex who talked like that," Demarco said, "until I caught him banging Missy from the gym."
"Wolves mate for life," Bianca replied. "We aren't normals."
"Anyway, clothes get in the way of the change," she continued. "Yours... all of ours... will be back at the trailer."
"I bet Demarco would feel more comfortable dressed," Rory said with a wicked grin. "Bianca, lead them back."
"Clothes, yeah," Demarco nodded, "clothes would be good."
"You just have to run naked through town to get them," Lou grinned.
"I hate you all," Demarco chuckled.
"Ok, so this is the craziest morning I've had in a while," Demarco said. "While I was sober anyway."
"You get used to it," Lou said. Demarco was starting to think that grin was just his resting face.
Back at the trailer, and with everyone dressed, she did certainly feel more comfortable. The entire night... nights... before was starting to take on an unreal quality in her mind.
"You're starting to think it wasn't real," Rory said.
"OK, can werewolves read minds or something?" Demarco asked, shocked to hear her thoughts spoken aloud.
"No," Rory grinned, "but I've seen a lot of people go through this. Everyone here, in fact."
"First you can't remember," Bianca said. "Then you can't believe and you wonder if it really happened. Then, you start to think you can go back... back to the life you had before."
"You can't," Rory said.
"Wait, what?" Demarco said. "Hey, I've got a job... OK, it's a shitty job, but it's a job... and I've got an apartment... ok, also shitty. I've got friends... not shitty friends! I've got... a life."
A life waiting to get started, she thought.
Did my life just start?
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