Figs till the End (Real Werewolves Don’t Eat Meat #10)

Chapter One

I should have been alone.

Here, at the “hunt house” in western Massachusetts, I should have been able to shift into wolf form and run with no interruptions.

On full moon nights, I shared the house and its grounds with my mate Kyle and our guards, as well as the members of the two Boston werewolf packs, but today wasn’t the full moon.

I simply needed a break from everyone and everything.

As much as I loved Kyle, now that we were almost at our wedding day, he’d become overbearing about making sure everything was ready and perfect.

It didn’t help that in my infinite wisdom, I’d decided to schedule the wedding immediately after the national gathering of all arkhons—regional leaders—and pack alphas in the United States.

The gathering I would be hosting for the first time. I was the Anax, the ruler of all United States werewolves, a rank I’d won during the previous year’s gathering. This year, I was, as Kyle put it, in charge of the whole shebang.

And the day after the “shebang” guests left, I would say legal words and vows in front of a legal officiant to make Kyle not only my destined mate but my legal husband.

Something both of us wanted…except for the part of me that still wondered if Kyle was a weakness and wished for an easy way out of the relationship just in case. I wasn’t fond of that part.

To shut off the thoughts and emotional turmoil swirling through my brain, I’d come here to the hunt house to shift and run until I couldn’t think anymore. I should have been alone out here in the woods that comprised over half of the hunt house’s property. My property.

One of my guards, Xavier, was stationed at the house. After a couple too many assassination attempts, I wasn’t allowed to go anywhere without a guard. But I had at least convinced Xavier to give me space and keep an eye on me from a distance instead of being beside me.

Xavier wasn’t the only one nearby, though. The rustling in the brush off to my side didn’t automatically herald an intruder, but my instincts and my sense of smell alerted me to the presence of another werewolf. A terrified one.

An injured one. The coppery scent of blood filled my nose. Whoever had entered my territory unannounced was no threat to me. More like they were being threatened.

Being Anax granted me a mental bond to every werewolf in the country. I reached along it now. You are intruding on the Anax’s property. Identify yourself.

The rustling stopped. In its wake, loud, pained panting filled the air.

I heard no answer to my order, so I tried again, this time adding just a touch of compulsion, the power all werewolf leaders possessed in order to force those under our rule to obey if necessary. Show yourself. Tell me who you are.

The rustling began again, a slower sound, and the loud breaths grew more pained. Finally, a light tan male wolf, not much more than three-quarters my size, emerged from between trees. Trembling in fear and, it seemed, pain, he dropped to his belly.

Red stained his fur, and a few thin red streaks ran onto the ground.

I caught my breath. Werewolves healed extremely rapidly, but this wolf was so severely injured that his wounds were still fresh.

He couldn’t have been attacked here. I would have heard the fight.

Somehow he’d made his way here, bleeding so heavily his healing ability couldn’t keep up.

Your name? I asked gently. This close, his terror was overwhelming. I didn’t want to make it worse.

Ren. He hitched in a breath. Anax.

Yes. I’m Tobias Rogan. The Anax. I sat beside him, debating what to do next. Problem-solving wasn’t one of my stronger points when I was wolf.

Speaking and comprehending often weren’t strong points for other wolves.

Without knowing this Ren, I had no way to know how much he could understand or whether he’d be able to answer any other questions while he remained in his current form.

As a wolf, he might heal his injuries a little faster, but I needed to know why he was here and, more importantly to my current mind, who had done this to him.

I’m going to shift, I said. You do the same. Back to human.

Ren whined and covered his eyes with one of his front paws. A paw that sported what looked like a deep puncture wound.

The meaning of the gesture wasn’t entirely clear, but I took a guess. You don’t want me to see your human form?

No.

The single word, even as a thought rather than out loud, shook. What was Ren hiding?

In the face of such strong fear, I refused to compel him to reveal himself.

Someone had harmed him extensively. For those of us who had been abused and damaged by others, compulsion often felt like yet another person was stealing our control.

I wouldn’t do that to Ren. He posed no threat to me, not in his current state, and I couldn’t justify forcing him to do something he wasn’t willing to do.

I will shift back, I said. I want to talk to you. Hear who did this to you. Let me shift. Then we’ll see.

He didn’t answer. Knowing the risk I was taking by leaving myself vulnerable while I resumed my human form, I lowered myself to the ground and began the shift.

Shifting hurt. Going from human to wolf, the form expanded, bones lengthened or moved, the face changed shape.

The return shift was worse as the wolf’s body compacted and contracted back into a human one.

Through any shift, I had little awareness of who and what was around me, which endangered me if anyone had followed Ren here.

The possible danger, however, was worth it. I needed to help this strange wolf.

Finally, I lay on the ground in my nude human form. Clothes didn’t shift, so werewolves got used to casual nudity pretty fast. Even so, I sensed how upsetting my naked body was to Ren, and I wished I had something to put on.

“Hey.” I sat up, my hands in my lap to cover my penis and balls.

That was the best I could do for now. I could have contacted Xavier through our bond and asked him to bring me something to wear, but having another man present might frighten Ren more.

“I’m Tobias Rogan. You know I’m the Anax, but right now, I only want to help you.

You can call me by name.” I paused, watching for any sign of comprehension in Ren’s wide eyes.

His forehead wrinkled. “Do you understand me, Ren?”

Anax.

No, clearly he didn’t understand. At least not the part that I wanted him to understand. “Call me Tobias. We are equal in this moment.”

Anax, he said again.

I gritted my teeth and took a slow breath. It wasn’t his fault if he didn’t know what I was saying. Some werewolves lost human language entirely when they were in wolf form. Ren at least had some words, though clearly not enough to grasp what I was trying to tell him.

“Shift back. Please.” I held up both hands. “No fear. You are safe.”

Again he whined and covered his eyes, but after a beat, his form shimmered. Slowly, much more slowly than I had shifted, the wolf in front of me reshaped himself into a human.

A human…woman?

No, that couldn’t be, and yet the human who eventually lay on their side in front of me had small breasts. Between his…her? I no longer knew what pronouns to use. Ren kept their legs tightly together, so I couldn’t see what lay between them.

“Hello,” I said softly as they looked up at me, eyes wide with sheer terror.

Their injuries were even more noticeable now, large gashes on their belly, back, and legs as well as a deep puncture wound on the back of their left hand.

“Ren. It’s all right. You’re safe, I promise you.

I’m Tobias.” I’d said my name twice already, but I wanted to make sure Ren understood.

“I’d like you to call me Tobias. Not Anax. You understand?”

“You’re…” Ren hitched in a breath. “They said I should be destroyed.”

“Who said?” I hesitated. I didn’t want to be offensive, but I had to understand who this person was. “Ren, your wolf form is male.”

“I’m male.” Again Ren inhaled and flinched. “Fuck. Oh, Anax, I’m sorry.”

“For swearing? I suspect you’re in a lot of pain.” I studied him. “You’re…”

“Trans.” They spoke the word as if it was another curse. “I’m a transgender man.”

That made sense, though if anyone had asked before this, I wouldn’t have guessed that a transgender person’s wolf form would be their actual gender rather than matching their assigned sex at birth. It wasn’t as if there were a lot of transgender werewolves. “Got it. So he/him?”

He stared at me. “Yeah. Um, yes, Anax. He/him.”

“I think you didn’t hear me before,” I said in an even gentler tone. “I would like you to call me Tobias. That’s my name. I’m not speaking to you as your Anax right now. I’m speaking as someone who’s concerned. What happened to you, Ren?”

He opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, then burst into tears. Helpless, because I didn’t dare to touch him without knowing what had been done to him, I just sat there.

Finally, my rational brain started to kick in. “Ren, listen to me. Can you hear me?”

He nodded and sniffled but didn’t say anything.

I would take it. At least he was processing my words.

“My guard Xavier is nearby. He is a good man and will not hurt you. I’m going to have him bring us both some clothes, and then we’ll go into my house.

You’ll be safe in there. I can give you food and something to drink.

” I would also contact Wilbur Gumendo, the concierge doctor I’d finally gotten around to hiring about a month earlier, to come assess Ren’s injuries, but I didn’t want to bring that up with Ren just yet.

Getting him inside was the most important thing.

It was a warm June day, but that didn’t mean I wanted to keep the guy lying out here on the ground.

“You…” Ren let out a sob. “You’ll help?”

“Of course.” I stood. “Is it okay if I have Xavier join us now?”

“I…” He looked down at himself. “He’s safe?”

“He won’t harm you. I give you my word as Anax of the United States.”