HEA

Two wolves ran through the forest beneath the fading light of the setting full moon. One was a lovely gray and black she-wolf with brown eyes and a fine thick brush of a tail. The other had a coyote’s tall ears and pointed muzzle. They had come to hunt, but spent the night more in play than tracking. Tonight their hungers ran in other directions.

Moonset caught the gray wolf in the middle of a leap. She changed in midair and landed awkwardly in a pile of dry leaves. Maureen sat up and brushed off forest detritus. “Poop.”

The coyote shifted into Ewan. “One of the drawbacks of true werewolfism. You’ve gotta have the right lighting. You okay?”

“I’m fine.” She squinted at a smudge on her forearm. “Double poop. My eyes are back to normal too. You’ll have to lead me out of the woods. It’s so much easier as a wolf. I see so much better with my nose.”

Ewan plopped his bare ass down on the ground beside her. “Then you’re gonna go for it?”

“I don’t know.” She plucked a leaf out of her hair. “It’s pretty intense. I keep getting urges to rip things apart with my mouth. Living things. I wasn’t counting on that part. It makes me think about those monsters that wacko was creating. How he wanted to turn me into one.” She shuddered.

Ewan put his arm around her. “It’s not like that all the time. Being a werewolf’s easier than being a shifter. You know when you’re going to change. You can eat a full meal beforehand. Then you’ll just want to run around and chase things. Or sleep. Eat a moderate meal beforehand. Anyway, it’s only for three days a month.”

Maureen made a pouty face. “That isn’t much.”

“Better than no days a month. You’ve got plenty of time to decide. Marissa’s spell won’t wear off for another couple weeks. If you decide to go for it, she’s already agreed to use Gil’s curse spell on you. We just have to get you the right fur so you don’t turn into a squirrel.”

“Squirrel, huh? Let me think about that. I used to like climbing trees. I could throw nuts at people.”

Ewan spread his legs wide. “You don’t need to be a squirrel for that.”

Maureen giggled. “Darn astigmatism. I can barely see. You’ll have to bring them closer.”

He eased her onto her back and climbed on top on her. “Done and done.”

# # #

Did Maureen decide to go for her dream and become an actual werewolf? No one in Talbot’s Peak will say. But a lot of howls were heard in the woods around Ewan’s place, and not just on the nights of a full moon, either.

Maureen’s knowledge of xenomorphs served her well when Dante added her to his payroll as their cryptozoology expert. The Peak had many different kinds of enemies, and Cochrane and his team had hunted almost all of them. If a threat had a weakness, she’d find it.

Working for Dante meant they got a discount at the Pleasure Club. A lot of howls were heard down there as well, and not just from the harem room. Maureen refused to have anything to do with goats. Why, she never said.

And that about wraps it up. People would never imagine a flighty, irresponsible coyote would turn out to be a devoted, faithful lover. Ewan always kept quiet about that part. He had a reputation to maintain, for the sake of all coyotekind. “It’s those scatted wolf genes,” he’d grouse to Maureen, who’d pat his hair and say, “Amen.” After which they’d head for the bedroom.

And they lived happily ever after.