Corey stared up into the eyes of the man before him, feeling his breathing slow as his human body returned to him. He had no idea who he was or what had happened to him, but this police officer was the same as him; a man who could turn into a wolf. He’d been right to come back near the city, although he wasn’t sure if he’d done that on purpose or if it was random chance. Either way, he was so glad to be able to have fingers again.

Some part of him registered that the police officer sitting in front of him was rather attractive. He had honey-brown eyes that glistened amber in the light. His face was strong and handsome, clean-shaven and framed with a mass of untamed brown curls. His shoulders were broad, muscles straining at the seams of his blue uniform. This was a person that could be trusted, Corey knew. This Dell, Officer Brightly, had spoken to him so gently…

“Where am I?” Corey whispered. He tried to speak normally, but a whisper was all he could manage. His throat was parched, his tongue like a dead, bloated snake in his cotton mouth.

Dell nodded almost as if in approval, honey eyes glimmering pleasantly. Corey couldn’t stop looking at him, couldn’t keep from staring into those eyes. They grounded him to the world somehow, kept him from going crazy again. “Good. You’ve got a voice. This is Montana, Corey. Near Eureka.”

“Eureka?”

“Never heard of it? Not surprised. We’ve only got a little more than 1,000 residents so we’re just a speck on the map. Wouldn’t be on the map at all if we weren’t famous for our tobacco in the past.” Dell reached into his pocket. Corey cringed, expecting a gun, but the cop just brought out a battered pack of cigarettes. “I like to keep up the tradition, of course. Help out the local economy and all.”

“How did I get here?”

“I would assume that you ran here, just like you’ve been running everywhere. Been running for a while now, haven’t you?”

Corey nodded. A tremor ran through his shoulders and didn’t stop, making every part of him quiver like a drawn bowstring. “Yes. But I… I can’t really remember.” He lifted one hand to his head and pressed the cushion of his palm against his eyes. The movement took far more effort than it should have, making him feel as if he was underwater.

I certainly feel like I’m drowning…

“No memory?” Dell looked skeptical. “Nothing at all?”

Corey so badly wanted this man to believe him, to help him, so he struggled for more. “I… I think I might have been jumped? Like, attacked? But I don’t think I saw them, or at least I can’t remember. And then… this happened.”

“And?”

“Well, this might be normal for you, but it’s never happened to me before!” Corey blustered. His heart rammed up in his throat and his spine tingled, the urge to flee rising in him once more. “I’m not a monster!”

“And you aren’t a monster now,” Dell said. His voice tightened, though Corey couldn’t tell why. “There are a lot of people who would be real offended that you think you’re a monster, because that means you think they’re monsters too.”

“Is this normal? Can everyone do it?”

“Not everyone. Some. We’re rarer than normal humans.” Dell frowned and crossed his arms, looking Corey up and down. That intense gaze made a different sort of shiver pass through his body. “You’ve never transformed before? Not even once?”

“I can’t remember,” Corey whispered. He lowered his head, neck sagging beneath the weight of his overfull brain. “Am I in trouble?”

“No,” Dell soothed. “No, you aren’t in trouble. Do you remember if you have family or anything, kid?”

All Corey could do was shake his head. He felt his lips tremble, but was too tired even for tears, though his eyes still burned with their heat.

“Okay, then here’s what we’ll do.” Dell put his hands in the grass and pushed himself up to his feet. His body, though large, moved with an enviable liquid grace. “I could take you to the station right away, but I think you’d pass out by the time you finished giving your first statement. I live in an apartment pretty close to the edge of town. I’ll take you there. You can rest, get some food in you, and then we’ll start getting things figured out for you. Okay?”

Corey nodded and tried to stand. “Okay.” Relieved beyond words, he moved to his knees and pushed himself up but collapsed down again before he’d gotten very far.

Dell reached down, offering his hand. Corey hesitated but took it in the end, noticing the size difference between them. As the officer dragged him to his feet, Corey’s fingers were fully engulfed. He didn’t want to let go of the other’s hand, needing the emotional support just as much as he needed the physical. However, Dell gently dislodged their fingers and started off back up the slope they had both descended. “Town’s this way. Come on.”

The brief respite had let Corey get his breath back, but it hadn’t done much in the way of helping his exhaustion. Every step was a struggle, what with his legs feeling like the unholy offspring of noodles and gelatin. His lungs ached and his chest burned, but somehow he managed. Somehow.

As they walked, he noticed the way that Dell kept rubbing the fingers of one hand, as if he wasn’t aware of doing that action. His own fingers tingled a little from their touch, and he didn’t know quite what to make of that. Maybe it was just a monster thing.

“Do you remember your last name, kid?”

Corey shook his head. “No.”

“Do you know how long you’ve been on the run?”

“No.”

“Hm. Well, that’s going to make it tough to find out where you came from.” Dell stopped and turned back, waiting for Corey to catch up. “Doesn’t matter so much though. We’ll put out a description of you and see if anything comes up. If anyone is missing you, we’ll find them.”

He nodded, but didn’t feel any better for some reason. He couldn’t quite remember anything, only felt vague echoes of feeling and glimpsed the barest impressions of other figures when he concentrated, but something told him that he wasn’t being missed. He felt as if he used to be lonely much of the time, though there were always other people around. Yet, for the life of him, he couldn’t recall who those people had been or why he didn’t enjoy their company.

Besides fractured memories of running, sometimes remembered as a human and other times punctuated with the rapid thoughts of a wolf, the last thing he could recall was a still image composed entirely of shadows. Harsh dark walls, perhaps an alleyway. A rough rectangle in the corner seemed to be a dumpster, and standing beside it were three figures dressed in all black and silhouetted by a distant streetlight. Remembering that scene made him feel shaky inside and terrified all over again, on the verge of running until he collapsed, and that was why he assumed that he had been attacked. Those three were no doubt muggers or gang members of some kind.

The town came into sight exactly as Corey remembered, more or less. It was certainly a tiny place with no buildings rising more than two stories high. The church steeple towered over all else, proclaiming its importance over the neighborhoods. He balked a little, feeling like a nightmare might not be welcome in such a place that was guarded by a huge religious symbol, but Dell didn’t seem bothered in the least.

I guess if he thinks it’s okay…

Soon enough, though not quite soon enough for Corey, they passed into the first neighborhood and turned down a long, narrow street. It wasn’t the best neighborhood street he’d ever been on, but it wasn’t exactly a ghetto. It looked exactly like the place where a cop would live; a street of budding families who couldn’t afford better and single men who couldn’t care less that the sun never quite reached their brittle lawns. Weeds poked up through the sidewalk in a display of defiance, yet it seemed as if they were there by design.

There was only one apartment building on the street; a series of four units in a line rather than stacked up on top of each other.

Dell pointed toward the nearest unit, with a medium-sized truck parked out in front. “This is where I live. Come on.”

Corey staggered up the gravel parking lot and followed Dell inside after he unlocked the door. A blast of air conditioning hit him in the face, making him gasp with relief. Sweat cooled on his skin, made him feel almost human again. Blinking, he looked around and took in his surroundings.

What he could see of the apartment from the foyer was Spartan and immaculate, without a typical bachelor’s layer of trash. Corey didn’t even know if Dell was a bachelor, though he assumed that to be true for some reason. He just couldn’t imagine this immense man tying himself down to one person; couldn’t imagine him being in love.

He saw into the living room, and the connected dining room and kitchen. A short hallway led down past both areas, clearly where the bedroom and bathroom were. Small and not quite cozy, but also lacking that sterile air that overly-cleaned places sometimes had. Here and there, he caught signs of habitation that comforted him. A plate and fork sitting soiled on the dining room table, waiting to be cleaned up. There was a blue stain on the carpet over in the corner, a drink having been spilled long ago. There were no pictures but posters instead, an odd assortment that featured the cover images of comic books and even a video game or two.

“Back here.”

Dell led him across the shaggy carpet to the hallway and stopped before a door that was slightly ajar. Peering through the crack, Corey saw clean white tiles and the most inviting shower in the world… although, at that point, any shower would have been inviting. He would even have settled for a bath.

“Here. Clean yourself up and take your time. Make sure to get a drink too. I’ll get started on making you something to eat.”

Corey slipped through the door with a murmur of thanks and shut it behind him. Then he turned the lock and leaned back against the door, uncertain of himself and a little breathless again.

Maybe I should have been more careful.

After all, sure, the guy wore a cop’s uniform, but that didn’t mean he was actually a cop. There were a lot of sick, cruel people in the world who pretended to be things they weren’t just to get what they wanted. While he was glad for the hospitality, he couldn’t help but to wonder if something was wrong here. He should have been at a hospital right now, or the police station. Shouldn’t he?

Maybe monsters don’t get the kind of help that everyone else does.

In the end, there was nothing he could do but go along with this. He had nowhere else to go, nothing else to do. He couldn’t run for the rest of his life, and certainly couldn’t run for even another minute. He was toast, so he might as well make the best of it.

Nodding to himself, Corey stripped off his filthy clothes and let them fall to the floor. Being naked in his own skin was something a person didn’t know to miss until they had been in someone else’s body for a time.

While the water pouring from the faucet slowly heated up, he examined himself in the mirror and noted that all the small scrapes and bruises he’d accumulated on his wolf body were present on his human form. If he squinted, he could almost see the cuts closing up and becoming less pink. Disturbed, he refocused his self-examination and ran his fingers through his patchy blond hair, then inspected the shape of his body with a trailing touch to see if anything was out of place.

Finding himself more or less whole, Corey tested the water again and found it hot enough for his liking. He pulled the knob and the showerhead started spraying, soaking his arm and then the rest of his body as he stepped inside. With the curtain shut, it was as if he’d been transported to a world composed entirely of heat. Steam drifted around his body, rising up from his soiled skin. Every breath was damp, beginning to cleanse his sinuses. Sweat rose on his body once more, but it was a clean sweat this time, born of humidity rather than fear.

For a time, all he did was stand there and look down at his feet as the spray pounded his thin shoulders. As the water trickled down his body, it collected grime and puddled gray on the bottom of the tub. His sore muscles finally relaxed and he stretched slowly, one limb at a time, until his joints stopped popping. His neck cracked like a machine gun as he worked the tension from that next, and then he finally focused on his back.

Once he was loose and the water had washed away the top layer of filth, he reached for the collection of bottles on the wire shower caddy crammed against the wall. Riffling amongst them, he located a body wash that apparently smelled like the ocean and poured the gel from inside into his palm. He rubbed his hands together to work up a lather and then set to scrubbing his body clean. There was no washcloth or loofah in the shower, so he used his nails. Every part of him, he worked to scrape clean, turning the water not merely gray but all sorts of shades of brown. It took a long time, but eventually the water circling down the drain was clear and he started work on his hair, shampooing and conditioning. Great clumps of his hair came loose between his fingers but, as far as he was concerned, going bald at 18 was the least of his worries.

Oh. I remembered my age.

Maybe every part of his memory would return like that, in an almost casual manner.

When he was cleaner than he’d been in ages, Corey remained under the water for another few minutes before shutting it off and stepping out onto the bath mat just outside the tub. The air conditioning seemed even colder than before on his shower-heated body, raising goosebumps and making his hair prickle and stand on end. That reminded him too much of bristling wolf fur, so he grabbed the towel hanging nearby and roughly dried himself until he was glowing pink.

Where are my clothes?

Where he had dropped his pants and shirt was a new pile of garments, a simple t-shirt and jeans that hung on his thin frame like a flag billowing in the wind. They had to be Dell’s clothes.

Dressed and cleaned, Corey finally noticed that the locked door was now unlocked and standing open once more. In addition, the bathroom fan had been turned on. He felt shy without quite knowing why, realizing that the cop must have unlocked the door with some police trick and done those things without him even noticing. Had the silhouette of his naked body been distinct? And had he been watched? The thought was more than a little frightening, yet strangely enticing and also dumb. How could anyone find him attractive in this state?

Puzzled by his own desires—puzzled by everything—Corey settled for the simplest course of action and stepped out into the hallway in his bare feet. He smelled something baking, his stomach howling in response.

He found Dell standing in the kitchen, slaving over a hot waffle iron with a bowl of batter in one hand and a pan in the other. The police officer’s face was hidden from view, yet he seemed peaceful and relaxed, his broad body lacking any tension at all. His hips were slender compared to his linebacker shoulders, and his ass…

“You a bacon or a sausage man?”

Corey jumped, pulled away from his perverse contemplation by the mundane question. Guilty, cheeks blushing red, he stammered, “Sausage.”

Dell chuckled low in the back of his throat. “At least you didn’t say neither. A man has to have some meat in his life every now and again.”

Am I being flirted with?

“You drink anything yet?”

He belatedly remembered that part of his instructions. “No. I’m sorry.”

“No reason to be sorry, kid.” Dell shrugged and reached up to the cabinet above his head, having set down both frying pan and bowl. “I’m seriously impressed you’ve done this well. I half-thought I’d have to go in there and drag you off the shower floor. Here.”

Corey looked at that broad hand offering him a glass full of water. The cup was dwarfed in that grasp, seeming to be a mere plaything that came with a child’s toy set. Swallowing hard, he reached for it and felt their fingertips brush together. The tingle was stronger than even before. He gasped and would have spilled the water if not for Dell’s other hand flashing out to steady his, but that only made the tingling grow in strength.

“Easy there, okay? Just take it easy. Go sit down and drink that. Go on.” As Dell turned away, a flicker of something passed across his face, telling Corey he definitely wasn’t the only one who felt that. He wondered what it meant, decided he was too tired for much wondering, and wobbled his way over to the couch to drink his water.

As the first drop of liquid touched his tongue, he was grateful to be sitting. It was only tap water and not very good, tasting distinctly of metal and run-off chemicals from the nearby tobacco farms, but the moisture felt like a kiss from the gods. It soothed the burning in his throat, soothed some of the fire in his stomach and brought tears to his eyes. His parched lips cracked and bled, stinging him, but he was so glad to get rid of that just-woke-up taste in his mouth that he didn’t care.

Before he knew it, he’d drained the whole glass and came up gasping for breath. Dell leaned down over him and retrieved the empty vessel, flashing a smile that didn’t quite reach his troubled eyes. “Good. Just stay here. I’ll get more.”

The next glass pushed into his shaking fingers was tinted slightly orange. “Watered-down orange juice,” Dell explained. “You need the citrus and the sugar. Food’s almost ready.”

While he drank the juice, which was still strong enough to cramp his taste buds, even in diluted form, he found his eyes straying once more to the scattered posters. “You play video games?”

“Is that what those are from?” Dell mused as he came over, carrying two plates. Both held an enormous Belgian-style waffle and enough sausage to craft a sculpture of the pig it came from. “No, I just like art.” He sat down and rested one of the plates on Corey’s knee, keeping the other for himself. “I’m just not the type for making a statement and I couldn’t care less about landscapes. These just made sense to me. I liked them.”

Corey’s waffle had only a dribble of syrup but it cloyed his senses in a rapturous way, as did the rich grease of the sausage. He ate ravenously, shoveling food into his mouth and leaving no room for words. Between bites, his mouth filled with saliva in preparation for more, and his stomach cried out in weary acceptance.

Only once he’d finished the first plate and was provided with another was he able to slow down and fully examine the nearby posters in more detail. The blown-up magazine cover posters all depicted stark battle scenes, the shading powerful and brash. The others were much more diverse, depicting an epic clash between man and dragon, and a pseudo-futuristic skyline where the digital characters still wielded swords and other medieval weapons. One almost even seemed peaceful, though the quality of the graphics was less than the others: a hero on horseback in front of the peaceful sort of landscape that Dell claimed not to like, though something ominous shadowed the corner of the horizon.

Even after looking at all the posters, Corey still hadn’t found any real insight as to Dell’s character. Perhaps the officer was telling the truth and he just liked art for art’s sake, especially since he was clearly not a pretentious man. He wasn’t sure why it mattered so much to him, only that it did.

“After you finish eating, do you feel up to going to the station? I’ll even drive you. I normally don’t drive.”

The offer made it seem as if he should be flattered. “I um...”

“Or would you like a chance to rest?”

A bed to sleep in was an even more tempting offer than being driven around. Corey practically sagged with the weight of all these wonderful choices. “I just… can’t you explain some things to me? Please? I don’t understand any of this.”

Dell chewed thoughtfully, like a cow at his cud. “Sure. What’s your question, kid?”

“What are you?”

“Same thing as you. We’re shapeshifters. Wolves, although there’re a ton of other animals a person can be. Not all at once. One animal for each person.”

The concept belonged in one of the comic books whose covers Dell so enjoyed. Corey wouldn’t have believed it if not for the fact that he had lived it. “Any animal? Even fish?”

“I can’t say I’ve ever personally met a fish shifter before, but anything is possible. Surely you must know that by now.”

Yes, he was indeed becoming increasingly aware of that fact. It boggled the mind. “Well… how? Why? How long has this been going on?”

Dell shrugged. “Do humans have the entirety of their history written down somewhere? I think not, though some out there would like to believe so. I would just have to guess that, as long as there have been humans, shapeshifters have been there right along beside them even though they’ve never been aware of us. We stay in hiding, most of the time. Most of us are just going about our lives, same as humans.”

Corey thought of alien sightings, and Bigfoot, and werewolves, and mermaids, and El Chupacabra, the goat sucker of Mexico, and all the puzzle pieces clicked into place for him. Shapeshifters, the lot of them, though their true identity were warped out of shape by time and circumstance and the repeated telling of the tale. If that wasn’t mind boggling, he didn’t know what was. “Wow,” he breathed.

“And you’re part of that.” Dell frowned. “Even though I’m starting to think that this was the first time you’ve ever transformed. I’ve never heard of that before.”

“Ever?”

Great. I’m a freak.

“Ever,” Dell repeated. “I’m just one guy though. I don’t know everything. But, I can tell you that this isn’t how things normally go. You don’t just suddenly transform one day in the middle of your life. You’ve been a shifter since birth. Most children have their first change before they’re even able to walk, although a lot of pups start changing the moment they’re born.”

“No one takes longer than that?”

“We get some late bloomers, sure. It’s usually omegas. A couple years, five tops. But you, I can’t figure out. But don’t worry, we will get it all figured out.”

Corey shook his head, overwhelmed. He felt as if he might be drowning again, that helpless feeling that made his heart sink so quickly. “Omega?”

“Sorry. Most of the time, a shifter is born one of three things. Alphas are strong and dominant, usually males. Omegas are usually women. Betas can be either, usually between strong and weak.”

Another bit of a puzzle piece dropped into place. “You’re an alpha.”

“I am.” Dell nodded, looking pleased.

“And what am I? A beta?”

“No.” Dell looked a little uncomfortable. “You’re omega.”

“Oh.” The weak one. Of course. That seemed fitting. “What do omegas… do?”

Wariness flickered in Dell’s gaze. “Exactly the same as alphas, only different. Are you ready to go to the station now?”

Corey pulled in a deep breath and tried to steel himself for what was coming. A ton of people, staring at him and asking questions… The thought awoke some deep-seated fear inside himself, a yawning black cavern of a mouth that threatened to swallow him whole. “Are they all like you?”

“All the police in Eureka are wolves,” Dell replied, looking grave. “We have wolves who aren’t police too, of course.”

“The whole town?!”

“No.” Dell pushed up to his feet and reached down to help Corey do the same.

He nearly reached for that hand, to feel the tingle, to rely on its strength, but stopped himself just before doing so. Compared to how he felt before Dell’s hospitality, it was like coming back from the dead. Good, simple food filled his stomach and fueled his brain. His thoughts came clearer, almost steady. That helped with his comprehension of the situation, the piecing-together of the fragmented puzzle. If his mind was stronger, perhaps his body would be as well.

Pulling his hand away, Corey gripped the arm of the couch and used it to propel himself up. He’d been prepared for success and failure both, but he wasn’t prepared for an extreme degree of either. He succeeded at standing so well that he actually would have gone sprawling across the floor if not for Dell stepping between him and the carpet.

“Easy,” the alpha grunted, lifting him up by his armpits and setting him back down on his feet again. “Even omegas like you are much stronger than simple humans. All that running you did, without stop, is proof of that. You have a lot of power inside of you that you’re going to have to learn how to control.”

Even omegas like me.

He didn’t like the sound of that phrase but decided to drop it in favor of asking a more serious question. “What if I turn back?”

Dell turned to look at him with those honey eyes. However, they were not as warm as the sun right then. They were deathly cold. “Then I will stop you before you do any harm.”