WITCHES & WEREWOLVES

nice big house on the ridge that overlooked the park and bordering the property was the public pathway leading down into the park. The house was multi level and had a front attach

ll turn human on the full moon and then back into a wolf in the morning.” “So, not permanently a wolf. That’s at least something to work with, but how do we break this curse? Confront them on the full moon and demand they change us back?” “Larry can probably tell it better since it was before I got turned, but there was a guy named Dean that tried to do just that. The cops came and took him away. Not sure what happened at sunrise if he was still in their custody, but no one has seen or heard from him since. They probably have him locked up in some secret facility and experimenting on him.” “Yeah, and they’d probably think he was mental if he was talking about being a werewolf and calling them witches. So the trick would be to confront her on the full moon with other humans as witness that could corroborate the story.” “That’s a brilliant plan! How many human friends have you made since you got turned into a werewolf?” “Hmm, yeah, I can see the flaw in that now. Humans run and scream when they see a wolf.” That realization hit Jake like one of those morning stars. This would not be a simple task to accomplish. “While you come up with a plan to recruit humans to our cause, I’m going to sleep. There’s another hollow a couple of trees over. I’ll be there if you need me.” Brent said as he sauntered by. Now that Jake had seen him. Brent was a pretty scrawny wolf—more like a large coyote. The first thought that came to mind was he probably ate little, which made Jake realize he was hungry. Which was like another kick from the witch—he was going to have to kill something and eat it. Something he had never done before. In the silence, Jake considered everything. The company software tracked both his truck and his phone, and it uploaded everything on his phone to the Internet. He had used the quick key, so he never unlocked his phone. So without knowing his passcode, they could not delete the content. They could destroy his phone, but then the last known location of the phone would be their house, so if they were smart they would grab his keys and phone, put them in the truck and drive the truck somewhere. His mom could be the saving grace. She had administrative access to everything, so she just needed to check the cloud storage. Surely, when he didn’t show up for work tomorrow, they’d go looking into the location of his truck and phone. Plus, Bruce and Paul were his best friends that worked for him and they were with him at the bar when he met Gabbie. So they knew where he was going. Bruce had seen some of the racy texts Gabbie had sent. Mind you, Gabbie was in his schedule along with her address, so they could all see where he went. Hopefully, the search would start early tomorrow morning. He typically sent out his morning email to the group at 6AM, hopefully when it didn’t show up, they’d start looking into the location of his phone and truck and maybe the cloud phone data. The software also recorded GPS coordinates, so they could see time stamps of the locations for both his truck and phone, even if they destroyed his phone. He awoke to the sound of a muffled scream and noticed it was dusk now. As he looked out the hollow, he saw three men trying to rape what looked like a young woman. They were only about 50 metres from the hollow, but Jake couldn’t let it happen, even if he was a wolf. He exited the hollow and snuck up to the group. Once he got close, he ran and jumped at the one man that wasn’t holding onto the girl, likely the leader. Jake then turned and growled at the other two men. He could see the fear in their eyes and smell their fear—and piss, since at least one of them pissed themselves! The other minion pulled out a knife, leaving piss guy to hold the girl, as the man he had knocked down got up and also pulled out a knife. The two men spread out, likely hoping one could attack from his blind side. Fortunately, being turned, he kept his human eyesight, but had the advantage of the dog’s wider field of view. He still couldn’t see directly behind himself, but he could probably see 270 degrees, plus, he also had way keener hearing. As they brandished their weapons, the girl was still fighting the grip of the lone man. She got free for a second to yell for help, before he hit her in the head and covered her mouth. Jake glared at the leader as he waved the knife back and forth. He continued his deep growl as he approached the man. Staying wary of the man trying to flank him. The leader faked lunging at Jake to give the minion a chance, but Jake heard him, stepped to the side, turned around, and caught his knife wielding hand in his jaws. A simple violent twist of his head, cause the man to yell in pain as he tossed him to the side. Jake quickly refocused on the leader, but stayed wary of the injured minion. The leader lunged at Jake this time, trying to stab him with the knife. Again, Jake simply stepped to the side and caught the man’s knife wielding wrist with his powerful jaws. Jake heard the bones in his wrist break, forcing him to drop the knife, as another violent twist of his head tossed the man away. Jake then turned his attention to the man holding the girl, bared his teeth, and growled. The man knocked the girl over the head with something and pushed her toward Jake. As she fell to the ground, she was not unconscious so Jake ran after piss guy. He caught him quickly as he bit the man’s leg and then drug him back to the girl. She had taken out her phone and was taking pictures of the men who were still lying on the ground in pain when Jake returned with the piss guy. She took his picture as Jake let him go and the men all ran, or at least limped away. The girl didn’t look injured, so the man likely just punched her in the head. Jake stayed close to the girl as she called 9-1-1, although all Jake could hear was her side of the conversation. “My name is Hannah, and I’d like to report an attack by three men in Fish Creek Park. ... I was walking home from a friend’s and they jumped out at me. They had knives. ... My dog saved me, he bit the two guys with knives in the wrist and the other guy hit me and tried to run away, but my dog caught him and drug him back. I have pictures of the attackers. ... Yes, he dragged the man back. He’s part wolf, he’s a great protector. ... I’m ok now, just maybe a bump on my head. ... My dog wasn’t with me when I was walking. Luckily, I was close to home. He probably heard or saw me and jumped the fence to rescue me.” She then gave her address and said she would be home shortly and that the officer could come by anytime. As Jake sat beside her during her call, she even petted his fur. So maybe she was trusting him? She then checked for a non-existent collar, then checked his ears, likely looking for a sign that he was a pet with a name. “I don’t see a collar or tattoo, so I hope you’re not somebody’s pet. I just told the police you were my dog, so you wouldn’t get in trouble. Do you have a home?” Jake shook his head no and nuzzled up to her. “You’re a smart wolf. Thank you for saving me.” The girl was pretty, but small. She didn’t look like a teenager, though, just a petite woman. Jake guessed she was in her early 20s, but she was barely 5 foot tall and probably didn’t weigh 100 pounds. “I know you’re a wolf and likely wild, but you seem tame and behaved and you’re obviously smart. Do you actually understand me?” Jake nodded yes. She smiled even more. After all, it’s not every day you meet a wild dog that is intelligent. This was Jake’s chance to befriend a human. “Are you hungry?” Jake nodded yes. “Are you going to hurt me?” Jake nodded no. “Did those guys hurt you?” Jake nodded no. Good! She was asking a mixture of yes and no questions, trying to determine the level of his understanding. Hopefully, he was earning her trust. Let’s see how far she would go. “So, what is your name?” This was a tough one. How could he teach her his name? “Spot?” He shook his head. “Wolf?” He gave her a sideways look as he shook his head. She laughed. “OK, not wolf!” She thought for another minute, then chuckled and asked, “Rumpelstiltskin?” Jake chuckled internally as he looked straight up and then faked falling over and put one of his paws over his eyes. At least she had a good sense of humour. “Wow, you are really smart and funny!” As she bent down and scratched his belly. As Jake then got up, she brushed off the grass and then held Jake’s head in both of her hands and gave him a kiss on the forehead. “Tell you what. It’s cool out here. Let’s go home where we can get you something to eat and figure out your name. It looks like you’re my dog now.” Jake nodded as they started walking down the path. She talked as they went like he was an old friend. Her name was Hannah, and she had been thinking about getting a dog and thought maybe this was fate choosing her dog for her? During the walk, they passed a few joggers and cyclists. They gave her an odd look, but passed by without issue—thinking he was her pet since he seemed so tame. Every time they passed someone walking or jogging, all Jake could think was... act normal, act like a dog, act normal, act like a dog. As they approached Hannah’s house, Jake realized where he knew her from. She lived at a house he mowed the lawn and shovelled snow for. Hannah had been around a few times when he was there. He remembered she looked cute in a bikini! Her place was just like his. She lived in a walkout basement suite about a dozen houses down from his own place. If memory served, her parents were out of the country until Thanksgiving. Without even thinking about what he was doing, Jake wiped his feet on the mat at the door, then stepped inside. He noticed there was a large doghouse at the end of the patio and they had a dog run beside it, but he didn’t see or even smell another dog. Hannah was standing there with a shocked look. “How can you not be someone’s pet? You are so well-trained and behaved. You even wiped your feet! I thought Rex was smart, but he didn’t even do that!” Again, she leaned down and gave him another kiss on the forehead. “Let’s get you something to eat.” Hannah was nice, and she smelled good! Jake followed her around the kitchen island and sat down as Hannah opened the refrigerator. She apologized for having limited food, but gave him about half of the lasagne she had—then put some on a plate for herself. She then filled a pot of water for him to drink and put her plate into the microwave as she walked back outside. Jake devoured the lasagne. It tasted great and definitely hit the spot since he hadn’t had supper, and best of all was he didn’t have to kill anything. The water was still cool, so he had a drink as well, not realizing how thirsty he actually was. It took a few licks until he figured out how to drink as a dog. The microwave beeped again as Hannah came back inside carrying a blanket, a large dog bed, as well as food and water bowls. Seeing Jake had already finished his meal, she laughed. “Typical guy! Did you even taste the lasagne?” Jake nodded yes and licked his chops, causing her to laugh again. She placed the food and water dishes on a mat beside the kitchen island and put the large dog bed in front of the TV. Then took the heavy blanket into her bedroom. “I brought you some of Rex’s things. He died of old age about a year ago, so I had been thinking about getting a new dog. Maybe this is fate saying you are the perfect dog for me?” She got a glass of water or juice from the fridge and took her lasagne to the coffee table. Jake simply laid down in front of the TV on the othe