Wow. A people-person and a morning-person. I smiled back weakly and ordered.
I got our breakfast without trouble and brought it out to Clay. We sat together on the curb of the sidewalk in front of the building. This early the traffic crept along quietly keeping the illusion of solitude.
Opening his container, I started to cut up his steak, shushing him when he laughed at me again. He could laugh all he wanted. He usually ate so fast I worried he’d choke. I set his container on the ground for him when I finished. He dug in making it hard to think of him as a man.
“I hope you’re a slower eater when you’re in your skin,” I commented causing him to stop eating and look at me.
Too late, I realized how critical my comment had sounded. I tried to soften it. “It’s just that you eat faster than me. That’s all.” It sounded lame.
I felt even worse when he made an effort to eat slower. Although, he still finished first. In an attempt to make up for my thoughtless comment, I offered him the rest of my breakfast too. When he finished, I threw our containers away in the parking lot trash can.
We began the long walk back, each lost in our own thoughts. Well, I was lost in mine anyway. I didn’t know what to say to take away the sting of my criticism. Why didn’t I think before I spoke to him? I sometimes forgot about the man beneath the fur and tended to just… talk, letting anything flow from my mouth without much thought. Sure, I may have meant what I said, but I could have found a better, nicer, way to say it. Maybe.
Distracted and dwelling on my own thoughts, I paid no attention to my surroundings until Clay began to growl next to me. My head snapped up in surprise at his softly menacing sound. Clay abruptly stopped walking. His head turned, looking between two houses to our left. Dawn still hadn’t lightened the sky so I saw nothing but shadows.
I closed my eyes and focused, depending on my other sight to see what my eyes couldn’t. The yellow-green sparks of the people in the houses around us glowed softly. To the left, closing in fast, a blue-grey light surged. I blinked at it, quickly checking Clay’s coloring. Blue-grey compared to his blue-green. Another color variation.
Still in a residential area, the approaching light came at us through people’s yards.
“What is it Clay?” I whispered taking a step back, confused. The colors I saw classified into werewolves, humans, and anomalies like Charlene and I. It moved too fast for a human. So, a werewolf.
Clay remained alert to the other werewolf’s advance. Hearing more than I could.
“What should I do Clay?” I tried not to panic, but I could think of only one reason a werewolf would run at us like that. It wanted to challenge Clay.
If I walked away, it might think I rejected Clay’s claim. As much as I didn’t want to claim Clay, I didn’t want a tie to anyone else. I’d stay close to Clay and trust him to keep me safe.
Clay’s growl increased in volume. I looked at the darkened houses around us. Perhaps I could use that to our advantage.
Clay tensed in front of me. I took a few more steps back stepping into the road, no more than five feet from Clay. From the darkness ahead, I faintly heard the rapid thud of its paws hitting the ground. I tracked its spark. It sped forward closing in on us even though my eyes hadn’t yet spotted anything. The rhythmic sound of its paws striking the ground suddenly stopped even though its spark continued toward us.
In that moment, an enormous object flew from the darkness toward us, jumping the last twenty feet. Its large body rivaled Clay for size. I scrambled back further while the newcomer’s dark grey fur and bright blue eyes burned into my memory.
Clay braced himself. Focused on each other, neither looked my way. The flying mass hit Clay hard, sending them skidding toward me as they grappled, swiping claws and snapping jaws. Clay let loose an aggressive snarl, twisting, trying to keep his back legs under him. His claws dug into the asphalt, scrapping and scrabbling to slow their skid.
Eyes wide, I continued to maintain my view of the sparks, watching for people, while watching the fight before me.
The challenger scuttled out of Clay’s reach, regaining his own footing. Clay lunged forward, using his teeth to clamp down on the other’s muzzle, his sharp teeth ripping into the other werewolf’s tender flesh. It yelped loudly in pain. They broke apart. Clay continued to growl viciously. The challenger responded with his own snarl, but didn’t attempt another offense. Instead, he sidestepped looking for an opening.
I moved maintaining a small distance from both of them.
The noise escalated as they stalked each other. The challenger feinted toward Clay, lips drawn back and teeth parted. Clay gave no ground, carefully keeping himself between the newcomer and me while I tried to stay out of the way. The dogs in the neighborhood started to bark. The continued use of my sight began to strain me, but I saw a spark moving in a nearby house.
Time to take the offensive.