“What, are you guys drug dealers or something?” I mumbled. My body slowly sank to the ground to sit. I rested my back against the wall and crossed one ankle over the other. I shivered from the cold. Matt looked down at me sympathetically.
“If only.” He chuckled sardonically. After a moment of watching me, he removed a jacket from a nearby chair. Bending down, he wrapped it around my shoulders. Matt moved to help me up and off the ground before Jamie spoke.
“You’re not in charge, pal. Let the boss decide if she joins.”
“No,” said Matt firmly. “The coded rules were made for a reason; she doesn’t belong here.”
“Told you,” said Cale in a sing-song voice. He looked pleased with himself as he shot me a cocky smirk. It was enough that it caused me to throw my hands in the air.
“I wanna join the club,” I slurred in a mumble.
Some of the others snickered as Matt’s eyes widened. As he looked down at me, I flinched from his suddenly angry expression. “You’re not joining, and that’s final.”
“You’re nooooooot the boss of meeee.” I glared at him. Or rather, I attempted to glare. It came across as awkwardly squinting at him.
“Stubborn little thing,” he breathed before looking up at the dark sky. He murmured more long profanities. I jumped from how fast he bent down and grabbed my forearm. He simply held it up and then dropped it, seemingly testing how much control I had over my body. My arm tingled in his grasp. I didn’t have that much control. My arm fell awkwardly and hit the hard ground as he let it go. It was a proverbial wet noodle. This alone caused Matt to glare at the rest of the group. Nico and Bobby winced.
“So she’s a little drunk,” waved off Jamie defiantly. “She still knows what she’s doing.”
“I can’t lifffft my arm up.” I giggled stupidly. I had a random case of the giggles I couldn’t control. Laughter took over me as I watched everyone’s expressions.
“Yeah, that’s clear consent right there,” snarled Matt. As he and Jamie engaged in a verbal sparring session that involved name calling, the others looked torn. Cale was obviously team Matt. He started berating Jamie while Nico started angrily ranting in Spanish. The others alternated between looking indifferent or unsure of whose side to take as the arguing commenced. “You’re such a tightly wound spaz,” said Jamie.
“You have no idea how dangerous it was to bring her up here!” snarled Matt. Harsher name calling was made. Soon enough, the fight escalated. As soon as someone said that Jamie was an airhead, Jamie took ahold of his beer bottle to chuck at Matt’s head. Given the short distance and it being a glass bottle, it should have hit Matt square in the face and caused massive injury by either breaking his nose or cutting his left eye. But it didn’t. No impact to his face was made.
Matt caught the bottle easily before it hit the bridge of his nose. The glass didn’t shatter upon his catch, either.
Next, a low, horrible grumble sounded from Matt’s throat. The startling noise caused my breath to hitch. Suddenly, a frightening snap of jaws and more growling was heard from all around. Given the music from the club next door was so incredibly loud, it was doubtful anyone else could overhear them if they weren’t on the rooftop with us. More snapping and snarling took place that sounded like a growling pack of dogs. Before I could comprehend what was happening, I had many sets of piercing yellow eyes watching me tremble on the ground. Too many things were suddenly happening at once. Cale made a sudden movement for me. It was faster than normal, easily at a supersonic speed that would be impossible for anyone that was human.
He leaped over a table, sending bottles of beer crashing into shards all over the floor. His mighty leap had him suddenly perched right in front of me. But right before Cale could reach me, he was body slammed into the ground by Matt. The fight was easily won with Matt as the victor. Cale was flat on his back and very angry. He had a boot pressed against his throat as he thrashed against the ground, desperate to get back up. A growling snarl sounded next and halted everyone’s movements. I saw that the familiar faces of the boys had all disappeared. No longer were any of the boys resembling a human. All were now horrifying hairy animals with protruding snouts and muzzles dripping saliva. Before I dropped to the ground in an unconscious slump, I saw Matt’s face was no longer pale and handsome. It resembled the face of my other coworkers, monstrous. His face was now furry with a long, pointed muzzle. His hands, just like the others, had fur covering the outsides of them as well as long fingers that had sharp talons protruding from them. Simon had been accurate in his bizarre theory that my supervisor was a werewolf. Only, he hadn’t known that every one of my coworkers were one as well. Matt wasn’t a lone wolf; he was part of a pack.
CHAPTER 11
The next morning, I woke up groggy and weary. My eyes blurred. They slowly readjusted to the daylight pooling in through my bedroom window. In my head there was a dull throbbing, a rocking headache that could slay a walrus. My entire body felt sore and tired. It took a few long moments to get my head together. Removing my comforter from my body, I found I was still dressed in my too-revealing dress. My cape was off, as were my earrings and sky-high heels. They were neatly folded on top of the wardrobe across the room. I pulled myself out of bed and into a stretch before I realized something bizarre. I had no recollection of taking any of those things off of my body the night before. Walking over to my vanity mirror, I found my hair was a proverbial rat’s nest. My curls were mangled, and my makeup was smeared. I clearly hadn’t run a brush through my hair or even taken off my eyeliner and foundation when I got home last night. My eyes soon grew wide with horror. It was watching my frightful face in the mirror that inspired me to try hard to recollect how I even got home, but my mind was coming up empty. I couldn’t recall anything other than my bizarre nightmare involving all my coworkers morphing into monsters. I tried to qualm my panic as I hurried into Simon’s room. He was still fast asleep under his blankets, his digital clock saying he had an hour to go before it was time to wake up. After trying to politely wake him up only to fail, I finally shook him to wake him.
“Geez, I’m up, I’m up!” he grumbled as he stirred awake. “What the hell…?” It was seeing my frightened face that caused him to sit up. “What’s up?” He yawned as his eyes slowly adjusted into focus. He was wearing a ratty Rugrats t-shirt, and his hair looked just as bad as mine did.
“How did I get home last night?” My voice was barely a whisper.
“I’m assuming you drove,” said Simon with a yawn. “That’s typically common with people who have cars.” His tone held his typical amount of teenage snark as he rubbed his eyes. He yawned. When he looked back at me, he could obviously see that something was wrong. “Why…?”
I spent the next twenty minutes dissecting the party and everything I could recall. I explained all about Darren standing me up to my getting drunk. By the time I got to the part about my coworkers’ transformation right before I passed out, it appeared I had lost Simon. He had taken to pacing his room and looking out his bedroom window. After my final detailing, he looked near eye rolling. “Wait…so all of your coworkers turned into werewolves, and not only did none of them turn you into shredded meat before eating you, they instead brought you home safely and tucked you into bed.” It wasn’t a question but more of a statement. Simon showed no emotion. He then nodded seriously, and that was how I could tell he was mocking me.