Wolf Ears

Xander's POV

When Xander got back from his run, the house was much more 'awake', the smell of coffee filling the air of the house, a sign that Artemis was awake. He walked to the kitchen to find that Jayce and Artemis were sitting toward looking over at her phone.

Xander noticed they were sharing a pair of earphones and were unaware that he had walked in. So, he gently tapped on the counter table to make them aware of his presence, not wanting to scare them. The two looked up, pulling the earphone from their ear.

"Oh hey Xander!" Artemis quickly greeted, handing him a warm mug of coffee.

"Thanks. And morning to you too." Xander replied, taking the cup from Artemis.

He took a sip of the coffee, it being the right temperature. He didn't like drinking coffee when it was hot, preferring it to be lukewarm.

"So, what are you two doing?" Xander asked curiously as he took a seat across from them.

"Oh, Jayce is just showing me one of his friends from college." Artemis answered quickly, turning her phone around.

Xander looked at her phone, a picture of a dark haired woman with wolf ears at what looked to be a convenation. She had bright green eyes and tanned skin, wearing a short, black dress with fishnet tights and black boots.

Cosplaying a character from the look of it, but he wasn't sure. Xander never really liked fiction in general, preferring to stick to non-fiction type things.

"Who's she cosplaying as?"

"Herself." Artemis smirked. "Maria is a werewolf too. The ears are her real ears. How cool is that!"

Xander looked at Artemis in shock. Real ears! But werewolves couldn't do half shifts, it was either their human form or their wolf form. He'd never heard of or seen a mixture of both wolf and human features.

"How is that even possible?" Xander asked.

"Apparently, there's a special technique to doing a shift like that." Jayce answered. "Instead of shifting to your wolf form, you limit it to a body part. Like this…"

Jayce closed his eyes, concentrating a little before silver wolf ears suddenly hopped out on the top of his head.

"It's a little hard to do but with practice you get it." Jayce said, opening his eyes again.

Xander stared at the other male wondering how it was possible. He was seeing it with his own eyes and yet…

He still couldn't believe it…

A sudden flash brought Xander out of his daze to see that Artemis was laughing at her phone while Jayce looked embarrassed and shocked, wolf ears now gone. He realized Artemis must have taken a picture.

"Artemis you didn't!" Jayce cried out, confirming Xander's suspicions.

"Come on, it makes for a cute wallpaper." Artemis laughed.

Jayce grumbled, "I don't mind you having a picture of me on your wallpaper but please not with that photo."

"Come on, please…" Artemis stared at Jayce making a cute face.

"Fine, but only if I get to have a picture of you as my wallpaper." Jayce sighed, giving up.

"Okay deal." Artemis nodded her head in agreement. "You can take it later."

"Jayce, how come the packs don't know about this if it's that simple?" Xander asked, deciding to change the subject.

"Huh…Oh it's because the packs had it banned at one point. Not sure why though. The ability mostly got forgotten and it was pretty much useless. I mean if a wolf walked around like that a hundred years ago, they'd be dead. Now people will think you're just cosplaying." Jayce explained. "At least that's what Nina told me."

"Nina?"

"My college friend." Jayce sighed. "The cosplayer."

"Ah right…" Xander muttered. "You guys meet at a class or something?"

"Nah, I met her girlfriend first. We shared the same classes and she introduced me to Nina and we became close too."

"Wait, I thought you knew her through Beth." Artemis said suddenly.

"Nah, I met Beth and Nina through Rebecca, Nina's girlfriend." Jayce replied. Turning to look at Xander, he added, "Beth is Nina's twin sister. She also took the same classes as me and Rebecca."

"You sure know a lot of girls." Xander commented.

"Pfft…" Artemis coughed at the comment.

Jayce looked annoyed, rolling his eyes. "I may have had a few female friends but let me tell you that they're not my type."

"Then what's your type?" Artemis asked, tilting her head to the side slightly, interested.

"Um…well for one I'm into werewolf girls-"

"Rude but okay…" Artemis muttered.

"And they have to have honey brown eyes, long wavy hair and can eat a pizza by themselves." Jayce smirked at the last comment.

It took the other two a second to realize he was trying to describe Artemis vaguely.

"No fair…" Artemis huffed.

"It is because you are my type." Jayce winked. "I was trying to hit on you in the bookstore before the whole incident, remember."

"Well, we can see how well that worked out for you. You needed the Goddess's help." Xander blurted out before he knew it.

Artemis laughed at the comment as Xander cringed, feeling stupid for making such a comment. Jayce meanwhile growled at Xander.

"Haha, you're hilarious Xander. Anyway, Artemis, I told you my type, it's your turn now."

Artemis blushed. "Do I have to?"

"Yes!" The two males said, surprising each other.

Xander was curious about Artemis' type, not really knowing what type of person she liked romantically.

"Hmmm…Okay fine. But it's better for me to show you than explain." Artemis murmured, opening up her phone.

She scrolled through it for a few seconds before putting the phone down, a picture of a fictional character on the screen. He had dark hair and red eyes, wearing what looked to be historical clothing.

Jayce's eyes widened. "No way! You're into older men."

Artemis blushed even harder. "I can't believe you realize this character."

"I have female friends. Beth likes this character too. Made me read the series. It's not bad, the story but I think I'll stick to L*rd of the R*ngs."

"Agh-"

Xander just stared at the picture, drowning out the sound of the two talking. Jayce's words played on rerun in his head, making his heart tight. Artemis liked older men. It made him realize that maybe, just maybe there was some hope for him after all.