PW Like You Locked Up Me

Along the way, there were some wolves that noticed her, but they didn't create a pack that tried to take Hero down. Hopefully her strange fur colors kept them away too. They trotted several blocks. Her Aunt didn't live much further than ten blocks.

At first, her Aunt was startled when Roxie approached her at home and told her what happened.

“Oh.” Her Aunt sighed. “I am so sorry, Roxie, I didn't know. I just . . .you needed someone, and I knew your parents wanted a baby.”

“Where did you find her?” Hero questioned.

“In my basement. I was an idiot back then. I should have called the police or something, but, no, silly me. I was just too curious.” She took them towards her basement door. There were chains all around it. “I had a second door put up halfway down the stairs. The construction worker thought I was nuts, but I paid him well. It's got even heavier chains.” She left a moment and came back with a large keychain. She began to unlock several locks along the door. “I have not come down here since Roxie, so do watch yourself. No telling what is down there now.”

Such heavy chains. Roxie had been to her Aunt's house before, but she was never allowed this far back.

“I don't even know if it's still there, so be careful.” She finished unlocking the last lock.

“What is down there?” Hero asked.

“A portal. This strange whirling cloud. I used to keep the washing machine and dryer down there. I was bringing down laundry and there it was.” She held her hand out. “I stuck my hand in it, watching it disappear. I brought it back quickly, but it was fine. Curiosity got the best of me. I stuck it in again, and then my foot. Nothing happened . . . so I shoved my head slowly through.” Her Aunt looked back at her. “It was another world. A whole other world on the other side.” She walked down the stairs while the other two trotted down with her. “I didn't go far but I saw a grisly site. I heard crying, and I saw you, Roxie.” Her Aunt looked at her, tears filling her eyes. “You were screaming around two dead wolves. I looked around and I didn't see anyone. I thought your parents must have been killed by projects or something. Looking back at it, they were more than likely your own parents.” She unlocked the last door. “I bolted out of there with you. I wasn't fond of the thought of raising a baby, and I couldn't just put you up for adoption. People would ask questions.”

“So you gave me to mom and dad,” Roxie said. “Hero was right, I was from another dimension.”

“Just be careful. I don't know if it's still down there.” She started to head back up. “I will give you one hour, Roxie, and then I'm locking it all back up. No one, not anyone in this world, should know about that hole.”

“That we can agree on,” Hero said. He grabbed the door with his teeth and paws, trained well in opening doors. As it opened, a light of blue could be seen. They both headed down the rest of the way and stood before the portal. “Your home is through there.”

“Where my parents died a grisly death. I want to stay here,” Roxie answered. “If I can change back, I can still have my life. The scent's changed and . . .this is my home, Hero.”

“Stay if you want, but I am going. Whatever started the projects is over there. What if he's still alive on the other side? What if there are more?” Hero approached the portal. “This leads to a world where part of me came from.”

Roxie came closer to him. “My world.” She closed her eyes. “I suppose I should visit it. See where I did come from.”

Hero nodded and looked toward the hole. This time he moved backward. “No telling what's over there. On the count of three, we'll run fast and jump.” As he counted to three, they both ran at their top speed and leaped into the portal.

DIMENSION: ROXIE'S WORLD

This world. The very air of it seemed cruel. Hero walked slowly beside Roxie, scanning the horizon. It was dark and foggy. Each of their breaths as they exhaled could be seen.

“So I was found somewhere around here.” Roxie broke the silence first. “This is really my home world. What happened?” Around them were ruins. Ruins of odd shaped homes. Hero moved over toward one of the ruins, a door still ajar on it. He pushed it down and looked inside. The entrance was made perfectly for a wolf to trot through. “Stay here,” he said to Roxie as he moved into the home. There was no furniture but there was some décor. It was covered in cobwebs, spiders had long taken over the house. There were embellished rugs draped all over the floor in all of the rooms.

Curious, Roxie walked in too. “This is . . .a home?”

“For wolves. For wolves like us, I think.” If it had been fixed up, it would be a lovely home. There was even a small area hollowed out in the backroom. In it, the embellished rugs were pastel with soft textured designs. “A cub's area.”

Roxie came up beside him and looked down. Could it be hers? “Everyone is gone. It hasn't been used in years.”

“This might be yours. There are different abandoned houses though.” He was going to dig at the rug to see if there was something there, when he spotted something different. “Broken frame on the floor.” He couldn't ask Roxie to pick it up in their form, it was too new to her. Picking up broken glass wasn't a good idea for him, but the home was not large. It was made for a wolf form, he coudn't transform. Delicately picking it up with his paw, he flipped it over.

It was a family. Not of wolves, but human forms. There were two kids, a baby, a dad, and a mom. “This could be your family.”

“Maybe.” Roxie couldn't remember. “They looked happy.”

Both of them left the home but Hero kept himself on alert. There were more small homes that looked abandoned, but some larger ones too. He quickly checked out a large house, but came to the same conclusion. He came back to Roxie. “Roxie. These are dens. Even the big ones, there are old pictures of wolves I've seen.”

“Like me.” Roxie sat on her haunches. “Whatever happened must have been bad. My Aunt was right to have taken me. I wouldn't have survived.”

“Some kind of attack.”

“Is the whole world like this?”

“I don't know. We could travel farther if you want.”

“No.” Roxie hung her head down. “The home I was born in is gone. There's no one here. On the other side, I don't know how to live either. I can't go to school like this. People will mistake me for a project when I walk down streets. Not unless I remain in a human form.”

“No, that's not nature,” Hero stressed to her. “Look at these homes, Roxie. People chose either form, not giving in one way or another. Some are large, but most are small. Probably more affordable if that was the way it worked. You weren't born human, you were born like me. We must embrace both forms. Denying your wolf side is denying your heritage. Denying who you are.”

“But I don't want to be a wolf!” She shouted. She bent her front down, lying on the ground. She moved her head all the way down. Her body was as sunk to the earth as it could be. “I just want to be Roxie. Why can't I just be Roxie? The girl who goes to school, has normal friends and a normal life.”

“Roxie.” Hero swished his tail. He lied down beside her in a similar position. “Projects and this world are connected. You aren't a project but you are similar. I can't guarantee you won't go into heat. I can't guarantee that your scent won't spike again. I don't have that information. I know that you reached your peak, but that's it. This world, if someone is here, they will understand better.”

“You would be looking after me all my life?” Roxie asked Hero.

“I wouldn't know what would happen. To go back and try to live as a human, as normal Roxie Malone, I can't guarantee nothing would happen. I can't. I mean . . .” He picked his head up. “I save the world, Roxie. I have to be here and there, stopping projects, and helping with disasters. I couldn't always make it. You need to be trained.”

“Trained?” Roxie picked herself back up. “Trained in what?” She looked toward his eyes, a few scattered memories resurfacing. She shook her head, trying to clear it.

“Trained to fight. What's wrong?” Hero asked. “Are you remembering?”

He knew? “I don't know.” Roxie tried to move away more, not ready to deal with anything else.

“It's okay. I found out about that too.” He seemed almost casual about it. “I know why you didn't remember. The original wolves didn't find a mate until maturity. To mate before then triggered fits of amnesia until they became mature. It was something evolving from nature I suppose for a wolf's well being. Maybe giving them a chance to choose their own mates before nature took over? Welcome to maturity, Roxie.” She could have sworn she almost heard a chuckle. He pulled himself up to be even with her as he stared at the moon. “Have you ever howled at the moon?”

Roxie looked toward the moon. “Not something an average girl does on a school night.”

Hero lifted his head and howled next to Roxie before he continued. “To howl releases all that frustration and anger out towards the serenity of the moon. Try it.”

“To howl?” Roxie continued to stare at the moon. She felt silly at the notion. “I don't know how to howl. It would probably sound like a shout.”

“Try. There is no one in need of a howl more than you right now,” Hero said right before he howled again.

“Okay, but don't laugh.” Roxie tried a small howl, but it didn't sound anything like Hero's at all.

“Try again. It's your first day as a wolf, you are doing fine.” Hero howled again, probably hoping she'd join in.

She tried again. This time, she was firmer with her voice. Hero kept howling, so she continued. After a minute, she found it. She stumbled back slightly, surprised that came from her throat. She lifted her head and gave it her all one more time. She thought about the fact that she couldn't be in school anymore. She had to depend completely on Hero. How her own family kept their own secrets about her. Her parent's kidnapping. It all came out in one mind numbing howl.

After she finished, Hero looked proud of her. “How do you feel?”

Better. Her body having released that frustration felt so much more relaxed.

If wolves could smile. Hero's teeth were slightly exposed to her. “Good job, Tigress. Those are proper howls.”

“Tigress? What is tigress?” Roxie asked him.

“My father used to call my mother that. She was not treated the same as us, not a common wolf. I didn't understand at first, but I think she was like you. You both came from this world.” He looked out onto the horizon. “Now I understand.”

Roxie was lost in her own thoughts. The fact that she was suddenly purring didn't help her and she didn't know how to stop.

“Those colors, that sound, and the name.” Hero looked around. “Could it be? Are there actual tigers here too?”

Roxie wished she was able to shrug, but she wished more that she could stop purring. Hero didn't call attention to it of which she was glad.

“Are you okay?” Hero asked as he walked around her. “Your purring hasn't stopped. Do you control that?”

“No.” Great, he was drawing attention to it. “Nothing, it's nothing.” She tried to back away, but she was still getting used to her feet. Her back went up oddly instead before she fixed herself right.

“Then what, embarrassment?” Hero moved toward her slowly. “Is your purring from pleasure?”

“No, it's just confused. I mean, I'm just confused,” she said quickly.

“You like me back.”

“No, I don't,” Roxie disagreed. “What do you mean back?” He didn't like her like her. He could never like her like her. He barely knew her.

“You do?” Hero looked like he wanted to do a back flip in the air. He darted behind her. “I knew you would eventually. You're too much like my own pack.”

“I am not.”

“You are.”

“It doesn't make me yours.” Roxie flipped around on all fours, surprising herself she could make such a move.

“It makes us, each other's.” Hero edged. “We drive out those who even care for us, and hold only a certain spot for those in our pack. We take care of each other, and care about each other's well being. A wolf without a pack usually dies, but we made it through with others who cared for us. We survived, and now we've found each other..”

“You're a Y, I'm a Z. I can't even fight, I haven't been trained and I'm nineteen years old,” Roxie countered him.

“We are the only two wolves that care about more than their next meal,” Hero reminded her. “It only makes sense we have connected. We should share a fresh kill some time.”

A fresh kill? “No, thank you.”

“I bet it would drive your wolfish taste wild.” Hero approached her side. “There is nothing I want more than to hunt something for you.”

Charming? Roxie didn't know what to make of those words. “Like another date?”

“Of sorts, now that we have no more secrets.” Hero dashed through the winds with Roxie right behind him. “Feel it run through you, Roxie! There is no greater thrill in the world.”

Roxie felt her adrenaline pumping, she never imagined she could go that fast. Running and leaping, trying to stay up with Hero. Her new body was beginning to feel more natural by the minute. The only thing she didn't know yet was how to change back, but that would come with time.

Before Roxie left her world again, she gazed at it one more time. A world that she truly would have belonged to, but that she didn't belong to. Even if there had been some villagers there, she would never have stayed. She had another life back in the world she had thought was hers almost her whole life. Maybe one day when she knew her wolf self better, she would come back. She had enough of a journey ahead of her though. Learning to fight. Another date with Hero. Learning how to live in her world with this new knowledge. Could she still go to school? Would she be safe out there when people discovered her secret? “Hero?”

“Yes, Roxie.”

“You said that I should embrace both selves, but I can't be a wolf out on the street. People will assume I am a project.”

“No, they won't. I am the only white wolf and you are the only tiger colored wolf. People will know about us before you know it.”

“I don't know if word would spread that quick.”

“Media moves fast. I should ask though.” Hero looked toward her. “Marriage or should I buy you?”

The hell? “Excuse me?”

“Marriage or buy? You can't be out there like this anymore, Roxie. Who knows what happens in the future? I will not lose you simply because I was out saving the world and you're maturing. I can't always be there.”

Marriage or buy? “I know you can't always be there, but buy me or marriage?” Those were her options. “Can't there be a third option?”

“Media would get the point across and the whole world would be knocking down your front door. Projects would come for you because of who you are and you can't fight yet. I'll teach you, but even then it would be for emergencies. With me, you can get out in the world, but be safe.”

“No.” There had to be something else. “I can't accept that, no way.”

“It's the only way.”

“We can talk to the community leaders. Territory leaders, they are the final say, right?” Roxie asked. “Could we talk to the territory leaders? Hero?”

“ . . .yeah.” His voice was kept low as they departed from the world.

***

Bose said no. He said no and he meant it, but Hero wasn't going to play fair. That guy wanted Roxie like no other, and he said 'no stupid maturity was taking her away from him!' He reminded him of how he'd lost everything before, at such a young age. Hero felt like he had a pack member now, and he wouldn't lose her.

Bose heard the word, but Hero was putting his words into action. “Damage reports?”

“Nearly two million on my territory,” one of the leaders said. “All projects who caused it, uncaptured. Total loss of human life, still zero.”

Bose drooped his head toward the table. Hero had always saved everything. He stopped projects, stopped their destruction, and saved people. He helped with natural disasters too. He did it for nothing since he had already amassed a fortune. And, he didn't do much with it. Add to his secret home? That's about all he had. “Anything else?”

“He stopped by my territory and stopped the projects.” A territory leader got up and went by Bose. “After I paid his bill.” He slapped the paper in front of him. “250,000 out of my own pocket for something he used to do for free. I vote get him his project woman.”

“I got a bill too, but I couldn't risk paying it,” another one said. “Now I've got twenty projects running around in my territory and the damage has already been worth three times what he asked! I can't get a hold of him to get the offer back.”

“I wish I could get an offer,” another one said, “my territory finances are dying. We can't keep going like this.”

“He used to have a salary when he was younger. Mostly, it was considered donation of a job well done. We could pool our money together, and create something?” Bose suggested.

“Just give him the woman already,” another one groaned. “One woman. We already know how to do it, we've got the loopholes, and he's even willing to pay.” He hit his head. “What are we going to do when he starts charging to save people's lives?”

“He would never do that.” Bose shook his head. “I've known him since he was a kid, no matter how desperate he is, he'd never lose a human life.”

“But he doesn't mind damages or sending bills,” Bose was reminded once again by someone else.

“What do you want, huh?” Bose held up Hero's new application. “Do you really want to knock on someone's door and say 'we want to buy your daughter, and it doesn't matter what you say, we'll get her because Hero wants her'?!” He slammed the application back down. “No. He needs to stay as far away as possible.”

“From a project?” Another leader yelled. “In the end, that's what she is! We can put a media twist on it, she's only a project.”

“She was raised as a normal girl. Normal schooling, normal parents, and a normal life.” Bose tapped the application. “This is wrong. This is not what we allow for society's youth.”

“No, standing in the way of nature is wrong,” another one said. “They both go together. Hell, she can turn wolf now too. Do we really need a wolf walking around out there? Let them work it out in secret. Eventually, they will figure it out.”

“Now you sound like him.” Bose looked toward the application. Hero was serious. He wanted to defend Roxie since he didn't know what the future held for her. He couldn't do that and help save at the same time. Hero knew that just as well as Bose.

In the battle of nature verses nurture, nature was winning. She was just a project, a wolf. But her history gave her a deeper meaning to Hero.

They couldn't keep going this way though. Letting projects run free, causing damage, and only cleaning it up after the bill was paid? Hero was dead serious.

Bose did not want to do this, but Hero was grown up now. Nineteen and obviously ready to do whatever it took to get Roxie Malone. “By the almighty, Hero better know what he's doing!”

Bose marked out the word denied into accepted. His conscience would tear at him, but Hero held all the cards. The economy was falling apart all because of one wolf girl.

Hero better not let him down.

***

“Are you sure you'll be fine?” Roxie asked her parents as Bose pulled up with some other cars.

“They are following you,” her father pointed out. He shook Bose's hand as they came up. “Thank Hero for trying to help her out. I hope that a private conversation between government officials can help. If word spreads about her form, maybe she'll be as free as Hero one day?”

“Yes, we'll see.” Bose cleared his throat. “Roxie Malone, please enter the car in the back.” He gestured to the car that had someone holding the door. “I need to speak to your parents a moment and I will catch up.” He watched as she stepped into the car. The door closed behind him, and the driver took off. None of the other cars moved.

Bose adjusted his tie. “Mister and Mrs. Malone, it's time to talk about Roxie. Legally.”

“Legally?” Mister Malone cleared his throat. “Regarding?”

“She is a wolf. An illegal entity that doesn't belong here. Legally, she should not have been adopted out into normal society. There is no application for that.” He nodded toward her parents. “I am sorry, but this factor could land you in prison.”

“She is not evil!” Her father yelled quickly and looked toward where her car had been. “No. No, I don't like this! Even Hero agreed her Aunt did the right thing!”

“Maybe, but the law is always on our side. It's always on the good side.” Bose handed Mister Malone a copy of the application. “It's your choice. You can either sign your daughter over to Hero, and I will write you a five hundred million check, right now. Or if you prefer, bills. Whichever format.”

“Never!” her father yelled.

“Then option two.” Bose gestured to both of them. “Behind me in the other cars are policemen. They have been brought, but are unaware of the illegality you have committed. Once we tell them, you two will be behind bars waiting for trial. When the trial comes we will have all the evidence we need to keep you away, including Hero's testimony. After you are gone, we will use different techniques that will eventually lead to the same conclusion. Hero gets your daughter.”

“Why? Why are you doing this?” Roxie's father screamed. “What does he want with her?”

Bose looked at her father's expression. Livid and furious, but Roxie's mother was calm. “Nothing but to protect her. She is the only member of his pack to him.”

“I see. A pack. I understand, it has to be this way.” She met Bose with jagged eyes. “They should have talked it out. Taking her under the pretense he was trying to help is wrong.”

“I know, but Roxie is also not . . .a part of our world.” Bose watched his words carefully. “Hero said that if the media discovers her real past before he can hide it she would regret it. Would she put up a fight against this?”

“Of course!” her father yelled. “I don't care what the media says, she is my daughter.”

“She would fight, he is right.” Her mother stroked her chin. “Hero knows my daughter well. What would he think would happen?”

“Basic projects that can't transform are kept among regular wolves. Few know that,” Bose answered her. “If she doesn't get seen as a threat, she could end up there. That is a better scenario.” Bose didn't reveal anything more. Her mother understood but her father wouldn't.

Yet, there wasn't much choice. For good or for bad, Roxie was Hero's.

Roxie grabbed her suitcase and closed the door behind her. Through the beginning of the trip, she was blindfolded, and it hadn't been lifted until they were in the middle of nowhere. Then, she had to deal with driving in the middle of nowhere for some time. She was now only sharing one car with Bose, all the others had left. “Where are we? Are we with the leaders yet?”

Bose didn't make much eye contact the whole trip. “This is where you'll be staying. We are near Hero's private residence.”

Hero's place? Roxie looked though and saw nothing. There was no home anywhere.

“I have to go now, but he's waiting.” Bose sniffed. “Tell him I'm taking care of it now.”

“Wait,” Roxie knocked on his window. “I don't see a home. I thought we were meeting in a conference to discuss things?”

“It's there, he's coming.” He took off as she held onto the side of the car. She couldn't keep up though, so he was gone. Roxie turned back around. She still didn't see it.

“Roxie.” She heard Hero's voice behind a tree. “This way.” Hero moved faster than her as he played around with some rocks on the side of the mountain. A few buttons were revealed and a door appeared.

Not something she'd choose if she were famous and had lots of money, but she wouldn't complain. Roxie went in after him keeping a fair distance. He kept signaling for her to stay back so far like something would happen if she came too close.

Once they went deeper, Roxie regretted her thoughts before. This place was beautiful. The rock was turning into glass, and the ground had become tiling. Her surroundings transcended from cave dwellings to luxury. Glass, ponds, fountains, along with many flora and fauna. It was closer to an indoor greenhouse than a home, but Roxie didn't mind. It felt soothing inside of it.

Hero skipped ahead faster and disappeared. Roxie tried to catch up, but she heard a door close behind her.

“Okay, that's far enough.”

Roxie looked beside her. On the other side of the glass, Hero looked at her.

“Now we can be truthful.” He held his hand up to hers in the glass. Hero took his hand off the glass, making a stroking motion with his hand against hers on the other side. “I had to push a lot of buttons to get this. When I'm a hero, I save everything. From environment to people. For the last seven days, I've only kept people out of harm's way the best I could. I let damage fall everywhere, and I let projects rule some areas.”

Roxie gulped. “Why?”

“I had no choice. I kept everyone safe, and actually, it's a lot more work this way. Projects have racked up over twenty million in damages I could have prevented.” He put his hands completely down. “I promised not to do anything but save people, but that financial loss was hard. The territory officials finally understood how serious I was. That's also why Bose is angry.”

“That's a lot of damage,” Roxie agreed. “You did that just so I could talk to the leaders?”

“No. I...” Hero sighed. “I bought you, Roxie.”

Roxie tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

“Your family will be wealthy, no worries.” He placed both hands against the glass. “Even I couldn't get the territory leaders to change things. At nineteen, there is no way I could have done anything. Your best bet would have been to be given a dose of something that keeps you a wolf. You'd be kept in zoos. That's how some of the most dangerous projects are kept once attained.”

“I don't understand.” Roxie banged on the glass. “What are you saying? You bought me? My parents would never allow it.”

“They adopted you through unofficial channels. You are no citizen of this state, you have no rights.” Hero rubbed his hand down the glass. “My offer is 500 million or jail time. I know which one they'll pick. Even if they picked jail time, I'd fight in court and win. I'm Hero, the saver of all.”

Roxie covered her mouth. “I don't understand!” She grabbed her head. “Why?! Why couldn't we have worked something out?”

“Life doesn't work that way, and I know you. You'd fight this tooth and claw. You'd bring attention to it, and someone would leak the truth. Zoo would be the easiest option. People get scared, they kill what they don't understand. I almost died at five years old. Five years old and not fighting humans back, but they still wanted to kill me. Bose is the only reason I'm alive. I won't risk that.”

“It was not your choice to risk it! It's my life!” Roxie yelled.

Hero tried to speak more, but Roxie started to run. “There's no way out.”

“What do you want with me?” Roxie banged on the walls. “What?”

“Nothing. Just to keep you safe.” Hero sat next to his side of the glass. “I couldn't risk anyone finding out. Even with my sworn allegiance you weren't a threat, I couldn't guarantee mankind's reaction to you.” He pointed at her through the glass. “You are not just a wolf. You are a wolf of tiger colors, and you're from a different world. Wasting time could get you killed. An order to have you executed could come before I even knew you'd been captured.”

Roxie was quiet a moment, thinking. “Is that why you never bothered asking me about my thoughts?”

“I'm sorry but yes,” he admitted.

Roxie covered her mouth and yelled, once again looking for a way out. “So what, I belong to you because you bought me?!”

“You are safe.” Hero stood back up. “I'm not here to hurt you. I know you didn't want me to, but I couldn't dawdle. You don't understand the danger you could have been in.” Hero tried to get the message across. “I am just trying to keep you safe. That's all. I know you understand that.” He sighed and leaned onto the wall. “You went to another world with me. I could have done anything there to you, but you trusted me. I know that buying you is hard for you to accept. It happened though and I can't change it. Personally? I wouldn't mind being friends with you. Another wolf that wasn't a dirty project. It sounds great. I could teach you all kinds of things you wouldn't believe.” He tapped on the glass. “But I do what is best for this world, Roxie, not myself. Hate me or not, this was the right choice. I stand by that. I hope that one day, we can get pass this.”

“Forget it,” Roxie growled. “You've locked up your chances like you locked up me.”

Hero didn't say anything else. There was nothing more to say.