PRESENT
That night, Jack could do nothing but stay locked in his room, trying to distract himself and thinking about the possibility that he was a murderer. No one could know about his involvement in the case, or about Kurt. He didn't have to deal with it, they were wolves after all. Werewolves didn't exist and all of humanity knew that, there was no way to find out anything. Unless one day he was captured as a wolf and magically woke up as a human, his life would end there. He tried not to rush. He got into his notebook and looked at some news already published by the company about what had happened. On the home page, a wall had been created, but it was anonymous. The whole company began to share their grief, lamenting the death of the boys.Logged into his account, Jack tried to leave the most sincere comment he could, even though he hated them, but the guilt was too consuming for him to do anything about it. A few minutes later, he saw that Kurt had left a short text as well. Finally, after the exhaustion, he needed to relax and take a shower more calmly.While he was in the shower he realized that the smell was in the air, the strong smell of wolf was there, and his breath gasped for a few seconds. Seconds were enough to terrify him. As the water ran down his body, Jack tried to calm himself down, he didn't even know why he needed to do this, but he knew he did. He counted to ten, slowly. “You're all right,” he repeated to himself. “You're all right,” he repeated. “You're okay,” and he kept going, until the fifth time he growled. Quickly, Jack stepped out of the shower, dried himself off, and paused for a moment. His breathing was still irregular. He tried to count to ten again, but he had barely reached five and the growling sound happened again.His fear grew as he walked to the bed, trying to breathe, attempting to calm himself, but he could not. In a few seconds, he returned to the bathroom and splashed some cold water on his face to improve the situation, but it had no effect. The smell of wolf began to fill the air more and more, and his breathing became even heavier. When he returned to his room, he was surprised by the ringing of his smartphone. It was Kurt, calling. Without a second thought, he answered the phone.“Jack, something's going on, isn't it? I'm feeling a weird tingling,” Kurt asked, his breathing heavy as well. Jack said he couldn't breathe properly, his voice indicating the truthfulness of the information. “Try to calm down, try to think of something. I'm feeling something peculiar too, I've locked myself in the room,” Kurt told over the call. Jack, still struggling, told his partner that his teeth and claws had already grown in and that his body was twitching too fast. “What? No, Jack, you can't, not in the morning, please don't change, just try, I don't know, maybe, damn, I don't know, man,” his concern was clear, as was his gasping for breath. Jack set out to answer one more time, but couldn't.Jack screamed and dropped the device and Kurt tried to contact, but Jack was already writhing on the floor, struggling against his new skin, unable to do anything. Kurt could hear everything, every scream, every growl, but it was still Kurt. For a moment, all sounds ceased. “Jack?” asked the voice on the other end of the line. All he heard back were growls, and he knew Jack was no longer there, the wolf was. He ended the call.Jack spent the early morning hours as a wolf, trying not to break anything in the apartment or make any noise that would disturb the neighbors. He possessed a little conscience at that moment. He thought that Kurt had transformed too, but was surprised hours later.First Kurt knocked on Jack's door, but there was no answer, so he decided to open it since he had a copy of the key. There was nothing strange in the environment, everything seemed normal. He didn't hear any strange sounds. He went a little further inside and found his smartphone turned off, which justified the missed calls. Suddenly, he heard a noise coming from the bathroom, someone vomited. He walked over and opened the door to find Jack sitting on the floor, human and almost naked, vomiting into the toilet bowl. “You're all right, thank God,” Kurt relieved himself. “I was anxious”. Jack said that he had turned back into a human a few minutes ago. Because he was more conscious than normal, he could feel the backlash of the change and claimed it hurt less, but it was unbearable just the same. Kurt helped him up from the floor. Kurt then told him that he had felt strong indications of transformation, but that he had not changed, while Jack told his version of the shower. “I'm sorry, man. I'm truly sorry,” Kurt said, slapping his friend lightly on the back.Last year, Kurt barely knew who Jack was, and Jack barely knew who Kurt was. They were in the industry together but were limited only to work. All Kurt knew about Jack was that his family had a good reputation and that he suffered from some things he didn't like to talk about. He had no interest in him and no other people. He liked to be alone. Jack also liked to be alone, but whether he liked that or not, no one knew. At the time, the company was already prominent and the two of them were already part of the team.It was on a night that Kurt transformed in the middle of nowhere that he met Jack for real. Jack was already transformed when he found Kurt too close to the street in the changing phase and pushed him into the woods, after the transformation was over, he approached him again and the two ran together, and hunted together. The next morning, Jack had put on his spare clothes and stood watching Kurt still unconscious, he thought that maybe it wouldn't be a problem if he knew he was a wolf too, and so he stood there, waiting for him to wake up. When he did, he just threw him some clothes and said, “I'll take you home”. After that, they started a friendship, they shared the same secret, the same mysteries, and they were no longer alone, they had to deal with it, and it was hard. When the new term started, and they were in separate rooms, they didn't think they could handle it, as they noticed a certain worsening in their condition. Now they were worried about her.A short time later, Kurt l
As planned, Cassie waited for Jack, and he soon showed up. She had to let Kurt go since they used to have lunch together. His friend didn't ask much, but he was intrigued. Cassie had a car, but Jack considered it a kind of date, so he felt obliged to take her in his car. As they drove down to the parking lot, Jack was so nervous that his sense of smell sharpened, and he could smell the sweet aroma of her car from yards away. At least he could be sure that he wasn't stinking. It was a good day after all.Jack tried to be polite and opened the car door for Cassie. She seemed happier than in the company. She hoped he was the reason to cheer her up because that would mean he would have a chance. Close, it was as if he didn't have his problems.Sitting at a table near the window that gave a good view of the street, they placed their order. Jack ordered a hamburger with fries and Cassie ordered a portion of noodles, garlic, and oil. Jack felt a little embarrassed but remembered that men ten
Josh said that all he knew was that he heard one of the employees come into the building screaming in despair. Then everyone in the department went to check what had happened, and that's when they saw the bodies already stretched out. No one knew who was the first person to see them. The security team was already behind the footage.Jack and Kurt moved a little away from the others. “Where were you?” asked Kurt, curious and serious. Jack told the truth. “You went out to lunch with Cassie? Cassie?” he inquired, even more curious. Jack confirmed once again. “I thought you wouldn't risk our condition,” he confronted. “Anyway, we have more pressing problems to deal with presently,” he finished.Cassie's descriptions of what happened only emphasized what the pair wanted to deny. They still couldn't remember anything, it was hard to believe they had done that, they didn't even know why they had changed during the party. The clue they had was the horrible smell in the room. At least Jack rem
Cassie's apartment was almost vintage but reasonably minimalist. It looked as if it had been taken from a magazine cover, colorful in the right measure, and also harmonious.“Thank you so much for everything,” Cassie said in thanks, still pulling herself together from her fright. “They are very much on me because of the… wolves,” she said. Jack didn't know what to do about that, he felt he had no right to have a say in the matter. “Sit down. I'll prepare something quickly by way of thanks,” she ordered. Pointing to a medium-sized ochre-colored sofa. Jack obeyed and sat down, if it would make her feel better, he would. Looking around the house, he could see that in some ways the place reminded him of her. Maybe she had decorated it herself. Most of the rooms in the office were decorated, possibly Cassie had something to do with it. Jack didn't have that much time, he urgently needed to visit the interdicted room where the crime had happened, but he was there, facing the girl's dilemma.
The next day, everyone was already at work, trying to digest everything that had happened in the last few days. Kurt had not yet said anything more about Jack and Cassie, but he would when he had the chance.Sighing, without knowing what to think about it all, the boys got to work. They had a lot on their minds, dealing with their transformations, their lack of information and now with dead wolves mysteriously appearing, not to mention Josh's constant demands.A few hours later, all the major stories in town were reporting the appearance of the dead wolves in the company and returning to talk about the murder, as well as Cassie's first statements. The statements were the only thing that connected the two cases. Up to that point, no one knew the cause of death yet. Jack, Kurt, and even Cassie were keeping an eye on all the matters. They needed to understand the danger that surrounded them, and she needed answers to the trauma.The first analysis by the security team revealed that nothin
Jack wanted to accept that offer, she seemed happy to see him and quite interested in the matter of having dinner with him, but that was not the appropriate time, at least not for Jack. “Cassie, I'd love to, but it's not a good time,” he said, approaching her. She questioned him if he was busy or had an appointment, and he said yes. Jack apologized once again and walked into his apartment, watching the disappointed girl walk away. It had been a complicated day.The next morning, Jack avoided Cassie as much as he could. He feared that she would call him for another date soon, and deep in his heart, he would rather not turn down another one. In fact, he definitely wanted another one.Jack was more in line in the upstairs cafeteria than Kurt, who was more or less seven employees behind. The size of place was large enough to hold everyone there, and the number of tables and chairs was almost surreal. As soon as he had filled his tray, Jack nodded to Kurt, to show him where to sit, Kurt no
The union between New Shadow and Lightning offered psychological help to the employees. The entire service was offered as an option, except for a few. Cassie had been forced to consult, given her situation regarding the slaughter; she liked the idea. Jack, on the other hand, was not on the list until he had beaten Ronan in front of everyone. The team agreed that it wouldn't be a bad idea if he consulted as well. Scarcely any people knew about Jack's past, including his superiors, who knew nothing. Jack didn't like therapy, his problems couldn't be solved by mere conversation.“Good afternoon, Jack. I'm Camille, and I'll be taking care of your psychological follow-up for the next few months,” she said, smiling and friendly. “First of all, let's get to know each other, tell me a little about yourself, about who Jack is,” she asked, using the standard of communication.Jack didn't have that much patience for that. “It's in my file,” he said, direct, but without being rude. “I already hav
Walking through the halls, Jack returned to work, thinking about what a waste of time that appointment had been. Martin and Wallace were in a department close to Jack and Kurt's area.Because they had changed the day before, the probability of not changing that day was slightly higher, but not enough to disregard it happening. There were times when he and Kurt changed three days in a row, it was so scary that they thought it would happen every night. Walking some more, time later, Jack found Evan doing the opposite route, in a department a little further away.“Any appointments now?”, Evan asked, as they crossed paths through the halls.“I was going to see a friend,” Jack replied, amiably.“Is he a former gang member too?”, Evan asked curiously. Jack was not one of the friendliest guys at the time. In fact, I didn't think he had any friends at all.“No, just someone I sympathized with not too long ago,” he explained. Evan commented that he seemed different, and changed. “If you only k