Child of the Moon

Lukos had come home the next day with bags full of clothes for Nymeria. She took them gratefully, thanking him. Nymeria then dyed her hair, took a shower, and changed into one of her new outfits–a plaid shirt and black skinny jeans.

"I hope you like the clothes. I just picked out anything that looked like something my sister would wear," Lukos told her.

"Oh, yes, thank you," Nymeria replied.

"The hair looks nice on you," he said.

"Oh, thanks. Me gusta el pelo rojo.¹ I think it looks nice," she responded.

"It definitely does."

Selene had walked through the front door then, and upon seeing Nymeria, she had flipped her long silver hair and asked, "Who's this?"

"This is Nymeria," Lukos introduced. "She's going to be staying with us for a while." He explained the situation to Selene, and Selene had just nodded.

"Well, in that case, it's nice to meet you Nymeria," Selene said.

"Oh, es un gusto conocerte también,"² Nymeria replied.

"Not to freak you out or anything bro, but there were a few weird guys hanging around in the woods like they were looking for something," Selene told Lukos. "When they saw me, they tried to call me over, but I just pretended like I couldn't hear them."

"Damn it. Where were they?" He asked.

She gave him directions and he said, "Stay here," before walking out the door and disappearing into the woods.

When he was out of sight, he changed into his wolf form, using his sense of smell to track down the men. He stopped just out of their line of sight, crouched down on all fours, and listened.

"The bitch couldn't have gotten too far! She had to have been almost dead!" One of the guys said.

"What if someone found her first?" A second guy asked.

"There's no way. No one lives out here!" A third guy answered.

"What about that girl we saw?" The first voice asked.

"Probably just cutting through the woods to a friend's house. We don't need to worry about her," said the third voice.

"We should still check out the area," the second guy said. The others grumbled in agreement.

Lukos raced home ahead of the men. He slammed through his front door in his wolf form, causing Nymeria to let out a shocked scream. Selene made a 'shhh' sound to her as Lukos raced to his room. He changed into his human form and pulled some clothes on before coming back into the living room.

"Nymeria hide," he told her.

"What is it?" She asked, still looking terrified. It broke his heart to see her look at him with scared eyes. "¿Qué pasa?"³

"The bad men are coming this way," he answered. "I need you to go upstairs. You, too, Selene."

"But-" Selene argued.

"Go!" Lukos said. "You don't have a wolf form. These guys don't need to know you live here."

Selene nods and heads upstairs with Nymeria. A few seconds later, there's a knock at the door. Lukos answers it to see three men wearing flannel shirts and worn out jeans.

"Hey," one guy said. It was the first guy, and he had short brown hair and a shaggy beard. "We're uh… lookin' for a girl that went missing around here. Wonderin' if maybe you saw anything."

"No," Lukos said. "It's been pretty quiet around here."

The second guy stepped up. He had shoulder length blonde hair and a muscular build. "So nothing out of the ordinary?" He asked.

"Nothing that I've noticed," Lukos responded.

"Alright, well, if you see anything, don't hesitate to come see me at the police station," The third guy said. Lukos couldn't believe he didn't recognize the officer's voice until then.

"Yes, sir," Lukos said. "Will do." He noticed the men look around suspiciously before finally heading out. He waited to make sure they were actually gone before he went upstairs to tell Nymeria and Selene it was safe to come out.

"You were a wolf," Nymeria said, still shocked. "¿Cómo es posible?"⁴

"It's a long story," Lukos said. "But basically… I'm a werewolf." He felt his heart tighten when she looked scared. But her face quickly changed from scared to amazed.

"So a big wolf did save me!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah," he replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

"What about you?" Nymeria asked Selene.

"Oh, I can't turn into a werewolf," Selene answered. "I wasn't born with that ability for some reason."

"Oh, lo siento,"⁵ Nymeria said.

"Oh don't be sorry, it's alright," Selene responded. Then she turned to Lukos and said, "What are we gonna do about those guys? I have a feeling they aren't going to stop until they find either her body or her alive."

"I'm gonna come up with a way to throw them off," he replied. "If I can't… Well, then, I'll do what I have to do to make sure both of you are safe. I don't want them sniffing around the house again."

"You're better than dad, bro," Selene said, slapping him once on the back as she passed. "Dad would've just ripped them to shreds."

"Yeah, I'm hoping it doesn't have to come to that," Lukos said.

Selene made her way down to the living room where she put on a scary movie. Nymeria started to follow, but she stopped for a moment, turned to Lukos, and gave him a big hug.

He was shocked, but hugged her back. He noticed her hair smelled like lavender and lilac, and found himself wanting to protect her even more.

"Thank you," Nymeria whispered with her face buried in his chest.

"You don't have to thank me," he said, kissing the top of her head. "I just want you to be safe."

★★★

¹I like the red hair.

²It's nice to meet you, too.

³What's going on?

⁴How is that possible?

⁵I'm sorry.