A Kink in the Tail

Chapter 4 - Who's a Big Bad Wolf

This is a spoiler of sorts....have you read Breaking the Bond that Binds?

It took 40 minutes to reach the edge of the city and then another 15 to get to Mulengow National Park. Constantine was familiar with the route. They had made the trip before, but those trips had been planned and not a race against time like this one. The bushland was well away from residential areas, it was large enough and isolated enough for Wolf to enjoy a good run, and in this case, vent whatever feelings were torturing him. The entire trip the sounds of growling and grunts filled the car as Adam tried to keep himself together. It was too late to offer him suppressants and in his present state, Constantine wanted to stay away from him. The most he could do was get him to a safe place to throw off his human shell.

The sun had set by the time they arrived, and as soon as Constantine drove into the empty car park and put on the brakes Adam flung open the back door and was out of the car. Within a few steps, he was himself. Wolf stood in the beam of the car lights, huge, bigger, tougher looking than when Constantine last saw him. Wolf hadn't made an appearance for a long while, his human shell being more convenient for how they lived. How much he'd changed worried Constantine. The tenuous balance of power between them was tipping more and more to Adam's side.

Wolf's claws extended from his huge paws as he shook off the last lingering human fragments. His long snout and ears turned up to take in his surroundings. He shook himself starting from his head, then down his body, pawing fiercely at the ground, and stretching his rarely used body. His eyes darted from one side of the car park to the other and there was a predatory look about him that hadn't been there previously. Wolf let out a long deep howl, an alien sound in Australian bushland. Constantine realised that he should have known that while Adam had been showing signs of change, Wolf was growing stronger in the background. The nervous knot in his stomach tighten.

However even with Wolf's fearsome size and power...there was his tail. 

 Looking at his silhouette, at first sight, you would think he didn't have one but if you dared to have a closer look, you would see his small black tail curled back awkwardly on itself and lay on the base of his spine. No lush wolf's tail more like a chihuahua's. The first time Constantine saw it wagging through his thick fur it had made him gag.  It was disgusting.

Wolf turned to glare at the werewolf from where he stood framed by the car lights, it felt like a challenge. His eyes burned into Constantine even at that distance. Then he turned and started running towards the tree line at the far end of the car park.  Then he was gone.  Constantine could hear Wolf crashing through the thick undergrowth, birds that had settled for the night suddenly flew up over the trees tops in all directions.  The howling slowly faded as he went deeper into the bush.

Constantine turned off the lights and tried to make himself comfortable in the confined space.  He pushed back the seat and stretched out as much as possible. All he could do was wait.  Sometimes Wolf was gone an hour, other times he spent the night out in the wild, enjoying the freedom. He felt sorry for the local wildlife, tonight was going to be a blood bath.

.....

The werewolf finally fell asleep in the suffocating heat of the car.  It was a slightly better option than being bitten by hundreds of mosquitos.   His sleep was restless and full of unpleasant dreams.

Hours later, dawn still some time off,  Constantine woke up with a start.  He felt drained.  His wolf hearing picked up the sounds of someone approaching.  He sat up and got out of the car to stretch his stiff legs.   One sniff of the cool morning air told him that the malakas was on his way back.  It took a few minutes to realise that something was off.  His eyes searched the darkness in the direction of the shuffling, uneven footfalls.