I'm pretty sure there are actual wolves around here, doesn't necessarily have to be a werewolf. It's probably nothing you need to worry about, love.
You probably know most of the common lore already just from pop culture. Standard story says the transformation is generally tied to the lunar cycle, they transform in the light of the full moon, and if you get bit by a werewolf, and then you become one yourself. So, going logically, there's got to be some sort of venom or something in the saliva that infects you through the bite, kind of like rabies.
There's other variations on it, though. Around here, Louisiana and this area, there's myths about something similar. They aren't so much mindless beasts a few nights a month as they are shapeshifters. They don't rely on the moon for when to change into wolf form. And there was something about shedding blood, I think? I can't remember all the specifics, it's been a while since I looked up werewolf lore.