Hands helped the struggling bundle to sit up and pulled the quilt away from a very angry Ethan, his eyes glowing bright gold and his canines curved nearly to his chin.
“What the fuck! You buried me? You fucking buried me alive?” he screamed. Ethan spat and brushed the dirt from his face and he watched the faces around him, all of them grinning and smiling. Even Zahara was smiling but she was also crying. Why in the hell was she crying and wait a minute? Didn’t she dart him?
“I can’t believe you darted me!” he yelled as hands pulled him out of the hole. He wavered a bit and Xander’s firm grip held him from toppling back into the grave. Grave?
“Wait, did I die? Did you think I died?” he asked, confused. Then he sniffed and his eyes widened as he looked from Xander to Zahara, his heart beating hard in his chest. He could smell them. They smelled wild, like ozone and animal. Like a wet dog, but not as stinky and puppy breath. He held his hands out before him and he pushed and saw his nails begin to turn black and to grow and curve into sharp claws. He stopped and allowed them to go back. To retract.
“It worked?” he asked, his voice going high and cracking. Xander and Zahara were grinning foolishly and Rose was crying. He turned to Rose and gathered her into his arms and held her tight. She was shaking and sobbing and he patted her on the back, rocking her. Reggie was smiling and shaking his head.
“That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. Dude, you were dead. Seriously, dead. You died last night and you’ve been planted for about two hours now,” Reggie said, a grin spread ear to ear. The children had gathered and there were startled and awed looks on their faces. A slow smiled spread across Lauren’s face and Ethan thought it was very much an adult expression. She turned and herded the children away.
“Let’s go get you cleaned up,” Rose said softly, looking into his eyes. He smiled and nodded.
“The last thing I remember is Zahara darting me,” he said and his eyes narrowed and slid over to her. She was grinning a big cheesy grin and he grunted out a laugh.
“Figured you’d not wanna be awake for the procedure,” she said and snickered.
Ethan pulled his shirt away and saw several nasty looking wounds though they looked to be healing. He looked from Zahara to Xander with a questioning look. Xander smiled and lifted a hand.
“I did it. I gotta say, I don’t think I’ll ever do it again.”
“Well, if you’d have buried me a little deeper and had packed that dirt a little harder, I think I would have suffocated for sure,” Ethan said, shaking his head. They went into the kitchen and Rose began to move around, pulling the skillet out and looking over her shoulder and smiling at him. Ethan turned his head when he heard the children laughing outside. It sounded so close. His hearing was so much better and he looked at the other two werewolves.
“Maybe later me and Wilder can go out in the woods and I can see what’s what with my body. I don’t think I want the kids seeing me change and all,” Ethan said softly. Rose stopped and looked at him and she nodded. He thought that she wasn’t happy about the whole werewolf thing, but she was very happy he was alive. For now, that was enough.
An hour and a half later, Xander was bent at the waist, tears streaming down his face. He was laughing so hard he was choking and Ethan’s glare didn’t help it any. They were far from the farm and Ethan was trying to turn to full werewolf. It was not a pretty sight nor was it a smooth transition. For twenty minutes Ethan had been attempting to turn completely. He would get started turning and be distracted from the results and stood partially human and partially werewolf.
“My dick looks smaller,” he complained.
“Well, it isn’t as if you’re gonna use it, now, are you?” Xander said and sat on the ground hard, lifting his head and howled in laughter.
“You’re an asshole,” Ethan said with difficulty, his snout was neither human nor wolf. He had one human ear and one wolf ear. His lower legs were full werewolf and he stood very tall, but his upper torso was human and his shoulders were werewolf and his forearms human with irregular tuffs of fur all over his body.
Xander wiped at his eyes and wished Zahara could be here but Ethan had flatly refused.
“She doesn’t need to see me in the buff,” Ethan had said with as much dignity as he could muster.
“You don’t need to think about it much, just let the inner beast out. He knows what to do, it is instinct for him. Take a deep breath and relax. You’re trying way too hard, Ethan.” Xander leaned back on a bended arm and extended his legs in front of him and crossed them at the ankles. It was going to take a while so he might as well get comfortable. He didn’t remember having this much trouble when he turned eleven. The biggest issue was finding a place to turn. He remembered his mother telling him to never let anyone see. It was hard to remember her now, it had been so long ago, before his father had murdered her. Had he killed her because she was a werewolf? He knew his father wasn’t, he couldn’t smell the wolf on him.
He remembered one other boy
