Company

Meg woke to a whine. She refused to open her eyes. Her body was warm under the covers and she was willing to believe the whine was nothing more than one of her nostrils being clogged. When the wine came again she remembered he was sharing her space with a wolf. She sat up with a jolt and searched the room for the beast, definitely having second thoughts about saving the creature.

It was where she had left it last night. Laying under the cover with its muzzle still tied shut. Meg frowned and scratched her arm as she wondered how best to remove the cloth without losing a hand or at the least a finger. She slowly stood and made her way over to the wolf. It remained still, golden eyes watching her intently as she carefully bent down and moved the cover off it. She looked at the bandages without touching them and was happy that they didn't seem to be bleeding anymore. She put the cover back and stared at the wolf for a moment making eye contact. "If I take that off, you don't bite me deal. Then we will get you some water and maybe some food, that's not me, and you can go on your way. Deal?"

When the wolf didn't move Meg took it as a yes and hurried to untie the cloth. With it off the wolf snorted and moved its jaws around. Meg had jumped back, and now slowly walked backwards to get the wolf a bowl of water. She scooted it closer to the wolf with the wooden shotgun, it smelled the bowl then took a few large licks of the water. Meg let out a breath of relief and made her way over to her food storage to find something for the wolf to eat. She thought a few moments before gathering a handful of venison jerk and tried to toss it close to the wolf's mouth. She didn't want to risk getting bit. The wolf sniffed the jerky and then ate one, followed by another, it drank more water and ate more jerky. Meg watched it mesmerized by the wolf's movement last. She jumped when it tried to stand and gave a wimpier of pain.

"The ribs, I think." Meg offered "Are broken. I wouldn't try to stand quite yet. Maybe rest awhile more." She shrugged. What did she know, maybe the wolf wasn't hurting from the ribs. Maybe it should walk. She surely wasn't a doctor. The wolf seemed to take her advice as it laid back down carefully. She nodded and then wiped her hands on her bottoms. She needed to pee. "Oh." She gasped. Where was it going to pee? If it couldn't get up it couldn't go outside. "If you have to go, you can go... I mean it wouldn't be the worse thing that the floor has seen." Meg laughed "I must be insane." She muttered as she walked to the bathroom. The toilet didn't work anymore, but there was a bucket and it was warmer in the small room then out in the outhouse. She finished her morning routine and headed back to the main room. The house had other rooms, but it was hard to heat them all in the winter so they had always used the main room then.

The wolf had peed on the floor. It was laying in it too. Meg gave a small smile. "Like I said not the worse the floor has seen. Promise not to bite and I can clean it up some." The wolf gave her the same sad eyes it had been, so she took it as a yes. Meg pulled out a old mop, it had seen better days, she moped the pee up and rung it out as best she could before cleaning the door with water and soap and drying it with a washcloth. The wolf remained still and watched her work. Once she was done Meg found herself some breakfast and checked on the level of snow before adding a log to the stove. She was glad that she took the wood inside. The snow had calmed down but not stopped.

Meg wasn't sure what to do with a wolf. It seemed content enough to stay in its spot. So she went about her day as normal as she could. By the end of the day Meg was 90 percent sure the wolf wouldn't eat her just for the hell of it and since she was feeding it her venison jerky she didn't think it was hungry. She had cleaned up more pee from the silver wolf and was thankful it hadn't had anything besides urine come out.

"Well, Goodnight then. Hopefully you will feel better in the morning." Meg said as she climbed into her bed and got situated. She stared at the ceiling for awhile making sure she wasn't wrong about the wolf eating her.

The wolf had only been in her care for a day and already half her venison jerky had been devoured. She didn't want to think about how much would be gone if it stayed much longer. Meg went to sleep staring at the ceiling thinking about venison.

Footsteps made Meg toss a hand over her head. She wasn't ready to get up. She wanted to sleep longer in the warmth of her bed. A clatter brought her to her senses and she jumped out of bed and looked at where the wolf had been. The spot was vacant, the blanket was even gone. It didn't take long for her to scan the room and locate the source of the noise.

A mostly naked man stood by the old sink, his back was to her and she could see the bruises over his sides. The man was muscular yet lean and had her wolf's cover wrapped around his waist. He was drinking water from her bucket with his cupped hands. He finished his drink and turned to look at her.

Shaggy dark silver hair framed his face, he was about her age and had the same golden eyes as the wolf. His torso was scratched up some, but over all just appeared toned and fit. His arm was stitch in a few jagged lines. Meg took him in as he stood silently and watched her.

"It's a dream" Meg sighed and shook her head. "Or I'm insane." She muttered when the man was still there.

"No." The man answered in a rough voice, like one that wasn't used much. "Your awake and rather sane."

"I need to sit down." Meg laughed and she move to the edge of her bed and sat down slowly, never taking her eyes off the man.

"Probably best you do." He nodded and turned back to the water helping himself once more. He then started rummaging through Megs food, sniffing a few of the bottles. He passed over the jars of fruits and vegetables and landed on the stew Meg had made with rabbit and potatoes. He opened the lid and fished the rabbit pieces out with his long finger nails. He then drank the meaty juice and left the potatoes in the jar. He grabbed another jar and consumed it just as fast as the first one. Once it was gone he looked for the jerky, he pulled a few strips out and shoved them into his mouth.

Meg watched in shock as the man destroyed her meat reserves for the winter. After a few minutes to take it in she cleared her throat. "Excuse me, are you planning on eating all my food?"

"Meat." He growled chewing on the tougher pieces of jerky.

"I can see that." Meg shook her head. "That's all the food I have for the winter."

"I will bring you more." He assure her as he stopped eating to drink some more of the water.

"Thanks, that's real reassuring." Meg sighed. She still wasn't sure if she was insane, but it didn't much matter no one was here to confirm or deny it and since she was still seeing a half naked man eating her food she went with he was real. "So, are you the wolf then?" She asked as he destroyed the last of her jerky.

He gave her a look that made her feel stupid.

"It would just be nice if you confirmed it. I mean I know that's my skillful sewing on your arm... Hope you don't mind scars." Sewing wasn't her strong suit.

He huffed. "It's fine... thank you, for your help" he shifted from foot to foot and the blanket slipped. Meg turned her head.

"No problem, just keep that up." She cleared her throat.

He rolled his eyes and tightened the blanket at his waist. "What's your name?" He asked moving to sit in Megs fathers chair. It was wood with cushions that had ripped over time.

"Meg."she rubbed her hands on her knees. "Yours?"

"Tate." He supplied as he looked over his stitches arm. "Not many would have helped, either of my forms. You did though, why?"

"I'm not sure." Meg replied honestly. "Maybe I was just lonely."

"So you thought I would be your pet?" Tate glared.

"No. I didn't think that at all. I was hoping you would get better and be able to leave soon. A wolf isn't a pet, I don't keep pets anyways." Meg added to clarify.

"Your alone." Tate stated the obvious. "That's unusual still right?"

"My dad passed a few months ago. I'm not sure what's normal. I've been here my whole life. I mean I have been to the town a few times a year, but I'm not sure what all is normal. Does that make sense, well now I have no idea what's normal since I'm talking to you. Are you normal?"

"Of course, everyone besides you can change from a wolf to a human." He stared blankly at Meg. When he felt sure she wasn't buying his lie he answered honestly. "Normal for my kind. We have been around a long time. The last era, with cameras and videos everywhere, made it harder for my kind and we were dying off. The disease and natural disasters have helped our numbers grow some."

"Oh... were you around then? How old are you?" Meg frowned, not sure she wanted to know the answer.

"Old. I was around before the disease, but I was a cub then." Meg frowned, so he had to be 50-60 years old and didn't look older then 20-25. "We age slower then humans." He shrugged. "Our birthrate is lower then humans so it evens out I think." Meg nodded and shrugged. "You are in your 20s?"

"Almost. I mean close enough." She nodded. "So do you remember what happens in one form to the next?"

"Unfortunately, in some cases, I do." Meg thought she spotted a blush on Tate's checks.

Meg made a shooing motion with her hand. "Like I said the floor has been through worse." She blushed herself after saying it, wondering why she even brought it up. "So your feeling better now?"

"Yes, food and rest helps. We tend to heal faster then humans."

"How did you get so hurt?" Meg asked remembering how she had dragged the wolf inside and fixed it up.

"Another pack has found their way here. They ganged up on me. I'm sure I killed two of them, but I know there was more. I need to get back to my pack and warn them and help

fight the others off. That's why I was raiding your supplies."

"Are you sure your health enough? You didn't look so good a day ago and your still covered in bruises."

"I don't have much choice. The pack needs me."

"Can I help in some way?"

"You have done more then I expected you to do. Unfortunately there isn't much you can do, maybe let me eat the rest of your meat and drink some more water before I go. Other then that I'm afraid your rather useless."

"Wow, thanks." Meg rolled her emerald green eyes. "I think I have more stew."