Week 11 Story: Wolf Pack

Rebecca had loved her husband once upon a time. At least, she had loved the man she thought he was. But he had changed, bit by bit, after they got married, until he became so cruel she could no longer recognize him as the man she had once loved.

She left him one day. She had nowhere to go, but she couldn't stay with him for one more day. Anywhere else would be better. She'd figure it out.

Rebecca met Lucy in a bar. Lucy smiled kindly, and asked what was wrong. Lucy listened with genuine concern to Rebecca's troubles, and offered her a place to live.

Maybe it was stupid to agree to move in with someone she'd just met, but she really had no where else to go.

Lucy's apartment was almost always full of a group of other women. None of them technically lived there, they were all neighbors, but they came and went as they pleased and there was always at least one other person there. Everyone was friendly to Rebecca, but they all seemed like they could be dangerous if they wanted to be. They referred to themselves as "The Pack."

For a while, Rebecca was pretty sure her new roommate was in a gang. And then the night of the full moon came around.

Walking into the living room and finding it filled with giant dogs was a shock. Then all the dogs turned to look at her, and Rebecca realized that they weren't dogs at all. They were wolves. One of them leaped at her. It knocked her to the ground, and she was certain she was about to die.

The wolf licked her face. It's tail wagged excitedly. Cautiously, Rebecca pushed the wolf off of her so she could sit up. The rest of the wolves had gathered around her. They all nudged against her, and several tried to climb into her lap. They seemed friendly enough, and Rebecca didn't know what else to do, so she spent the night playing with a pack of wolves.

Rebecca fell asleep at some point, and when she woke up, the wolves were gone. Instead, she was surrounded by Lucy and her friends.

Lucy apologized for not warning Rebecca about the apartment full of werewolves earlier. She explained that the pack had been planning on transforming somewhere else that month, but they'd lost track of time the night before and ended up wolfing out in the apartment. Lucy insisted that Rebecca had never been in any danger. Sure, werewolves acted almost entirely on instinct in their wolf form, but wolves were social animals. They had pack based instincts as well as hunting instincts, and the pack had bonded with Rebecca. They would never hurt her.

Lucy said she would understand if Rebecca wanted to leave, if she didn't feel safe there anymore.

But Rebecca had never felt safer anywhere else. She knew for certain, now, that Lucy cared about her. That all of these women cared about her, and had no intention of ever harming her or letting her be harmed.

So Rebecca stayed. A few months later, her husband showed up and tried to convince her to come back to him. He didn't get very far. After all, Rebecca had been taken in by a pack of wolves, and the pack always protects its members.

                                       
                                                                      (Wolves)

Author's Note: This story is based on the Sioux Story of the Lost Wife. In the original, a woman runs away from her abusive husband. She follows a man who promises to lead her to safety. The man turns out to be a wolf, and she lives with the wolf pack until her tribe finds her again. She goes home with her parents, and eventually ends up back with her husband. I decided to have the wolf pack be werewolves because that's the first place my mind goes when I read about a person turning into a wolf. I changed the ending so she doesn't go back to her husband.