Autumn was settling into the air for the first noticeable time while I walked towards the coffee shop. The air felt thin and cool on my skin. In spite of the anxiety budding in my stomach, I smiled to myself. Matt wasn't a raging monster who tried to kill me. It was merely a coincidence that he had woken up bare-ass naked in the forest. Maybe his drunk self liked to get in touch with nature. I grinned to myself again and suppressed a chuckle.
A woman leaving the shop held the door for me, so I smiled and thanked her as I entered. My gaze swept across the cozy French-style cafe. Matt's eyes, looking more gunmetal than blue, met mine with a face void of visible emotion. I flashed him a sheepish smile before walking over to the table where he sat.
"Hey," I greeted.
"Hi." He smiled back at me but the gesture was tight with uncertainty.
As I pulled out the chair across from him and sat down, I scrambled for a way to start the conversation. I hadn't even remotely considered how this could go or even if I would walk away knowing anything more about the monster who attacked me.
"I'm sorry I didn't get your calls and messages," I told him. "You must think I'm such a jerk. I wasn't ignoring you, I swear."
He shook his head slightly. "It doesn't really matter, I'm okay now."
"What happened, Matt?"
"I don't know if I'm honest. No fucking clue."
"You just woke up naked in the woods?"
"Yup," he said with a sigh. "And then I hiked back to town. Thought my feet would've been bloody, but they were fine. Wasn't even sore the next day."
I couldn't help but gulp worriedly. "Have you noticed any changes?"
"Uh...what kind of changes?"
"I don't know," I replied softly. "Sharper hearing, better sight, sensitivity to anything?"
"Why would I be having any of those—" Matt cut himself off and his head cocked towards the door.
Tandan's scent struck my nose seconds after. I bit my lip as Matt's face whipped back in my direction. His pupils were narrowed.
"What is he doing here?" he said in a low, burbling way that reminded me all too much of a growl.
"Making sure you don't try to kill my mate again," Tandan answered before coming to stand beside my chair.
Though the anger didn't fade from his face, it did make room for confusion. I tried to push away the rush of emotion from that look.
"What are you talking about? I've never tried to kill her," Matt said. "Her or anyone else, for the matter. What the hell is going on, Lee?"
"We should take this conversation elsewhere." Tandan began to tug on my arm to coerce me to stand.
"Why?" Matt burrowed his gaze into me again.
"Something happened to me," I whispered, looking away. "Something happened to me, Matt."
When he was silent and I lifted my face once more, his skin was beet red and veiny. I made a poor attempt to breathe properly.
"I will try to explain it to you, but we shouldn't do it here."
To my utter surprise, Matt nodded. "Alright. Let's go somewhere then."
We left the cafe and walked two or so blocks down to an abandoned parking garage. Ivy vines grew up along the cement walls and cracks split open the floor. Tandan kept a hand on the small of my back the entire time while we led Matt into the first floor of the garage.
"This isn't shady at all," Matt retorted. "Tell me what happened, Lee. Did this dickhead do something to you to make you think I somehow tried to kill you?"
I glanced up at Tandan and patted his shoulder to keep that barely contained fury from burning out of him. "Friday night I was attacked in the woods. A few hours after we left you at the bar."
"Attacked?" He sounded worried now.
"Yes. By a...I don't know what it was. A monster."
Matt's eyes scrutinized me and Tandan before a strange smile started on his face. He chortled nervously. "Oh, you guys are punking me. Yeah, okay. Way to be an ass, Lee."
A snarl thundered out of Tandan's throat, his hands clamping onto my hips. I patted his hands to soothe him, but I didn't think it very effective. The nervous smile vanished from Matt's face. It looked like he'd just shat his pants.
"Matt, I need to know if anything has happened to you recently," I said. "Has anything or anyone bit you? Aside from Friday night, do you remember any blackouts? Anything out of the norm?"
"You think I attacked you?" He somehow managed to seem furious and devastated simultaneously. "Lee..."
"I don't know what to think. I really hope it isn't you, I really do. It just seems too coincidental that you woke up naked in the woods the morning after I had been attacked in the woods."
"If anyone here is a monster lurking around in the forest, it would be that one standing behind you," Matt remarked in self-defense.
Again, Tandan unleashed a monstrous snarl.
"See!" Matt shrieked. "There's something wrong with him!"
I let out a quieter, warning growl. This time Matt had nothing to say, only a blank stare.
"We are wolves," I told him, "but not monsters. What I saw in the forest was a monster."
"Y-You're what?"
"I'm sorry, Matt. I never wanted to tell you; I never wanted to put you in this situation. If it wasn't for our little coincidence, I would have protected you from this."
"Did you say you're a wolf?" he demanded.
"Yes, she did," Tandan resounded, voice deeper than usual. "As am I. This is not something for humans to know."
Matt clearly was at a loss of what to say or how to act.
"Good thing you aren't human." Tandan let out a dark chuckle.
"I am human!" he insisted.
"Look," I butted in with a glare at Tandan, "we can't be sure of anything unless something else happens. We are trying to help you, Matt. If something has happened, we have to learn how to control you while you're...whatever that was. Wolves intentionally try to be low-profile because hurting humans will only put our own lives at risk. The same rule applies to the monster."
"It's not me," Matt said lowly. "I don't know what attacked you, but it wasn't me."
Before I could say anything, he turned and ran. I started to go after him but Tandan held me against his chest. My heart thudded in panic against my ribs.
"Let him go," he whispered.
"But what if it's him? What if he transitions again and hurts someone?"
"It is him, Lee. His scent is not human, and you would realize it too if you tried to be objective."
Pursing my lips, I pulled out of his grasp. I faced him with pouted lips. "Since you're so certain, why did you let him go?"
"What else would you do? What else can you do? He has to come to terms with it so he can control it." Tandan set his face sternly and, for some reason, I found it unbearably sexy. "You can't just lock him up somewhere. That thing would tear us both apart."
He was right, but it still didn't sit well with me.
"But you chased it off before," I reminded him.
"I bit its leg pretty good, good enough that it lost the will to fight. Next time, it might be more self-aware. There's no way to know."
"So...we just let things happen until Matt tells me he's not human? And just let it kill whoever it wants to in the meanwhile?"
Reluctant, Tandan nodded. "Something tells me it wasn't looking for just anyone though."
His words chilled me. I didn't know why a monster would target me unless it just preferred weaklings. In that case, that beast and I would probably have more encounters to come.