Haven

Sarah was still looking at what he was pointing at and she didn't even notice when he sneaked up so close to her that she felt his low growl and his hot breath against her forehead.

John was taller than she was, and Sarah had to raise her jaw so she could look into his face.

Soon she had forgotten what he wanted her to look at. "What are you?" Sarah asked in a low whisper.

"Don't know," he said.

Sarah took some steps backwards, her hand flying straight to her mouth. "Oh, my goodness. You can talk?"

"Not... much words," he said.

Sarah laughed, it was just so good to be true. She walked around him as slowly as she could, taking all of him in. As if she wanted to memorize every angle of his new body and every contour.

"Does it hurt?"

"Very," John said.

She came right in front of him again, and those eyes of his were as blue as ever. "I'm sorry."

He grunted in response.

"Now I know why someone like you would hide what you are," she said.

"Not hiding," John said.

"Not hiding?" Sarah asked.

"First time to... change," John explained.

"So... this is the first time this is happening?"

He nodded in response. How much she would have loved for him to be more human again. He talked better that way. As beast, he came with a speech impediment. If that was the case, she wondered how intelligent and smart the beast was.

"How come?"

He said nothing.

"Why are you in Black Hollow, John?" Sarah asked. "The moment you stepped your foot in here my brother sent his men to get to you. How? Was that a coincidence?"

"Letter brought me," John said. Took a pause and went on with some few words, "Said to come." Another pause. "Answers waiting for me."

Sarah folded her arms across her breasts. "Answers? Well, here you are getting beaten. I don't think that letter had your best interests when it mentioned answers."

John grunted in response. Sarah didn't know whether that came out as a negative one or an affirmative one.

"What answers were you hoping to find in a town like mine anyway?" Sarah went on to ask.

He tapped a claw to his right temple and said, "Dreams."

"Dreams?"

"Yours?"

"Mine."

"Dreams aren't that bad."

"Bad dreams," he said.

"Okay. Nightmares?" she asked, and he nodded. Well, he would have just gone ahead to say nightmares. But when she thought more about it, turned out it didn't matter. The number of words equaled the number of pronunciations.

They were still out in the open and Sarah knew that Old Mikey would soon be on their trail, as well as any other that might be looking for John.

They needed to head for the house.

"I need to take you to that safe place, John. You'll tell me all about your bad dreams and I'll help you alright?"

He tilted his head to the left as if trying to decide if she could be trusted or not. Sarah waited, she didn't try to persuade him further. As a beast, he could take that for desperation. Well, for what?

Somehow, that act looked childish. She couldn't remember when last she had done that. But she'd seen kids do it to themselves while playing.

Finally, he said, "Fine."

"Good. Follow me."

She ran in front of him and he followed as slowly as he could. Sometimes, he came to run beside her, jumping from tree to tree and Sarah wished she could do just that.

If anyone could see what she was seeing, what he could do, Sarah was sure they'd want him to bleed out. They'd want him dead.

Even she felt that pang of jealousy. He was one of a kind. And whoever his parents were was something that would come into consideration soon enough. Fully turned wolves couldn't speak or make any words, but he was half man and half beast putting words out of his mouth. That meant something.

Sarah decided she would wait until he was John Crowe again. Then she could ask her plethora of questions and get some meaning out of the man's debacle.

They got the the house. It was dark and deserted. She sniffed the air and he did the same, like a loyal follower.

There weren't any wheel tracks leading up to the property which meant that Old Mikey hadn't been there.

Not yet, at least.

"You'll be safe here for a while, John," Sarah said as she unlocked the door and led the way inside.

The house was a single storey building, with everything in it. Her father had built it after becoming Alpha King. She remembered coming there often, citing that she preferred its simplicity.

And everything had been so warm and cozy.

Until that evening when her brother went rogue and killed every last one of them. Except her. He had just erupted like a volcano. Nothing was ever the same after that. The house was cleaned and every spot wiped clean of blood, but she had never returned. Just stood at a distance and stared at the building trying to remember its glory days.

She turned on the lamps in the house and inhaled the smell of neglect. Then she took him back out and unlocked the barn door.

"Can't have you looking like this in the house, John," Sarah said. ''But once you're John again, we can go in."

"We?"

"Yes, we. I am not leaving you alone."

"Still John."

"Well, yes, yes. You are still John. But I don't even know what to call you like this. What do you think I should call you?"

"No idea."

She held out her hands at him. "See? We share the same confusion." Sarah picked up some sacks and made a sleeping place for the both of them. "I don't want you touching the sacks. You'll just claw the chaff right out of them."

Suddenly, John reared his head up, and looked towards the barn door. He sniffed the air and said, "Someone's coming."