Who: Gabe, Nina, Neal, Ruby, Merlin When: June 1st, Full Moon What: Nina turns into a Werewolf and gets loose! Mayhem! Rating: Medium/Werewolf talk Status: Complete
Nina and Gabe were sat snuggling together on the sofa, it was a full moon night, Nina had finished smoking and had already taken the wolfsbane potion. Having her inhibitions loosened a bit she was currently engaged in an incredibly heated make out session with her boyfriend.
Her mind wasn’t really on the full moon or anything except Gabe and how good it felt to be kissing him and having his arms around her. The weed she’d consumed was dulling her pain which would normally alert her to the need to get to the basement.
Gabe had lived up to his promise that they’d have that date of more than just the usual cuddles. In fact, as if prophetic from their playful banter a week or so ago, they’d even managed to get each other shirtless. Of course, his had been the first to go, Nina had her hands all over his body by the time the weed and wolfsbane had kicked in. What had been innocent, teasing kisses had somehow burst into full out passion before he’d even known what had happened. Not that he was complaining. It really was just a matter of all that pent up sexual tension.
At the moment, Gabe was more than a little occupied with kissing the tops of Nina’s breasts, still restrained in her bra. His hands moved over the soft fabric and curves, moving down her sides as she straddled him. Time wasn’t even a concept. If you’d asked him his name, he’d probably have needed a moment. He was all about Nina and nothing else. His mind was heady with the fragrance of her perfume, the sound of her voice and the feel of her touch.
Gabe’s hand and mouth on her felt really good to Nina and she pushed aside the first clench of pain in her stomach. Just butterflies, it had been a while since she’d been intimate with anybody and she was just nervous. She continued kissing him, her hands running over his chest. She loved the play of muscles under her fingers and knew she’d probably never get enough of being able to simply touch him.
But the next push of pain as her internal organs began shifting for the change was more forceful and she gasped, not in the good way she had been. It pulled her from the fog of lust enough to glance out the window to see the light disappearing. “Oh no” she whispered, before looking back at Gabe, “The basement” she said before moving off him and rushing from the room.
It'd been a long time since Gabe had been intimate with anyone as well; two years at least. So the hunger and desire were intoxicating, to the point that when Nina broke their kiss and gasped hard, for a second he thought he'd done something wrong some how. His brow scrunched and he looked up at her panicked expression as she glanced out the window. But before he could even get the words "are you okay" out she was scrambling off of him with the word "basement" on her lips.
That was all Gabe needed to snap out of it himself, and he belatedly got himself up from the couch and was on her heels running down the stairs to the chamber in the basement, muttering "Crapcrapcrap," as they went.
Nina shot him a look over her shoulder but was still smiling despite everything, it had been worth it. She was just glad they only had to make it to the basement.
“Well the pain is definitely less” she quipped stopping to kiss him quickly before entering her special room shutting the door just as another burst of transformation hit her and she fell to her knees as the wolf began to emerge.
“Looks like,” he said, kissing her back. “I’m glad.” Watching her turn to go into the room, he quickly blurted, “I love you!” before she shut the door. As per the norm, Gabe turned his back on the chamber so he wouldn’t see anything through the single pane of glass in the door. He sometimes wondered if his imagination was worse than the reality of what her transformation looked like. Most of the time though, he trusted Nina’s assertion that he didn’t want to see it.
He sighed heavily, running a hand over his bald head, grateful they’d just made it. He smirked a little to himself. Yeah, even though they’d had to rush, it’d totally been worth it. He headed up the stairs to get his shirt, phone and a blanket and pillow so he could fall asleep outside the room and be there for his girlfriend when she changed back into a human.
Nina didn’t get the chance to call back before the transformation took hold but her last clear thought was to tell him when morning came. Eventually Nina may come round and let Gabe watch her change but it was so horrific to experience that she couldn’t imagine it was pleasant to watch. Bones breaking and muscles reshaping. Not attractive at all.
Once she became the wolf it was almost like she was watching herself from inside, at first it all went as normal the wolf moved to the door and sniffed at it before jumping up to look at the window. But this time as it moved away the handle of the door caught on the wolf paw and the door opened. Before Nina had a chance to even attempt to control anything the wolf had sprang out of the door, up the stairs and bolted from the house. She thought she briefly saw Gabe but couldn’t be sure.
Gabe was up in the living room, having just procured the spare pillow and blanket Nina had set out for him earlier when a blur of fur went flying by, the sound of a growl going with it. He stood dumb a moment, before realizing what was throwing open the front door with a massive paw.
Oh no. No this was NOT happening!
"NINA!" Gabe shouted, running out the door and sprinting down the darkening street after the wolf. It was already halfway down the block and Gabe knew within a few strides he was going to lose her. "Oh God....NINA!" He bellowed her name as loud as he could as she vanished around the corner. He followed her path until he turned the corner. Nothing. She was gone.
"Oh god, oh shit," he swore. He was actually shaking as he pulled out the phone that was tucked into his back pocket. Nina was loose. The wolf was out, among a populace. Where there was also traffic.
Neal. He had to call Neal. His fingers fumbled at the touchscreen and Gabe uttered a few more choice words before he got it right. He waited for him to pick up before starting to head back to the house.
The night of the full moon meant that Neal was also occupied with his own lady wolf. They hadn’t gone to the abandoned diner off the highway this time, their usual place, because for the past couple of months they’d been in more open areas - places for Ruby to run around in, not so confining, and definitely not being chained to a pillar. This particular place looked to once be a skate park - the graffiti attested to that idea - and Neal had discovered it a couple weeks ago, noticing that the landscape had run wild and green menace vines had taken over. But there was space, and it was isolated, that was the important thing.
With him he had the standard crossbow with silver bolts, specially made and obtained just for him, and also Ruby’s red cloak - if there was ever an emergency, he’d toss it on her and she’d turn back into her human, womanly self. Not like he wanted to use the crossbow either, but she always insisted he bring it anyway. Maybe it was wise. After all, she had blood on her paws, from a land way back when. And they both knew how strong she was as a werewolf.
However, his phone going off was not what he anticipated. Gabe calling could only mean...well, Neal didn’t assume the best, let’s just say.
“Hey, Gabe?” He sounded a little frantic, please excuse him. “What’s wrong??”
"Oh god, she's gone. Neal she escaped the house!" Gabe blurted, striding back across the street towards the house. "I don't know what to do, I dunno where's she gone! She just...she was just sofast!"
Fucking shit on a--
“Okay, just calm down,” Neal instructed, despite the volley of curse words that were flying through his brain. “I’ll come to you right now, and we’ll find her. Tell me where to meet you.” He quickly rummaged for the red cloak, with its intricate patterns on heavy, sturdy material, because he was going to need it, to toss on Ruby and get her to change back into his brunette, hazel-eyed fiancee. Well. Gold, technically. She had eyes that were more lioness than wolf during the moon, it was a little freaky. But he would have to leave, and he didn’t want her to be on four legs and by herself without him, not during a night like this.
And he thought of something else as well. “Bring something of Nina’s too, I’ve got a locator spell thing we can use to track her.” They really had no time to waste, and luckily it was the type of potion that anyone could use - and a specialty of Regina’s.
Gabe hastily gave Neal the address as he reentered the house. This was a living nightmare. How could they have been so reckless! Gabe was starting to blame himself for not checking the time, for not checking the lock on the door (though really he never had before since it locked on the inside). "Thanks man, I really appreciate this. I owe you. If anything happens to her I...I..." He sighed nervously. He was glad Neal knew precisely what they were dealing with since he too was romantically involved with a werewolf. And that's when it hit him. Ruby. "Oh man, I forgot you got Ruby. I'm sorry. Is she gonna be okay?"
“She’ll be fine,” Neal promised. “I’ll use her cloak, it just changes her back into her human form. Actually, she’s pretty good at tracking too - she can find most anything as long as she has a scent to go off of, so do you want me to bring her?” he asked, hitting ‘speakerphone’ on his mobile and just holding the iPhone in one hand, cloak tucked under his opposite arm as he went to go fill in his currently wolfish fiancee, though he was sure she hadn’t gone far for a run. The locator potion he also kept with him (he could use it on her cloak if need be) in case they got terribly separated during the night - Neal was nothing if not prepared for the full moon, always.
“Wish I had something like your cloak,” Gabe sighed. At the offer of Ruby’s help, Gabe lit up with hope. “Yeah? That’d be great if she could help. It’s not gonna be a problem though, y’know, her being a werewolf too? I mean if we find Nina?” Whether Ruby was in human or wolf form, he figured Nina would be able to sense what the other woman was, especially on a full moon night. He just hoped it wouldn’t trigger something.
He was pacing the living room, part of his mind distracted with whether he should wake Merlin and Audrey. Surely he should as Nina was their friend and maybe Merlin's magic could help. But they also had a baby, and one of them would need to stay behind regardless.
Neal considered that a second. “It shouldn’t be, I mean, wolves are pack animals, right? Ruby had a pack before. Like in our dreams. Maybe it’ll be a sense of camaraderie rather than some territory struggle,” he chuckled wryly. Even so, Ruby’s scent would likely be distinctive to a fellow werewolf - Nina would be able to pick up on the fact that there was something different about the other woman, even if she was a wolf herself.
This would be interesting though. It was like some Discovery Channel special.
“Gonna toss the cloak on her now, be there in a few - and don’t forget to grab a shirt or something of Nina’s,” he added, before hanging up the phone.
"Yeah, yeah they are." Gabe said. Though from the documentaries he'd seen once upon a time he couldn't remember there being any info on how females reacted to one another, they always focused on the male Alphas.
"Right, okay." Gabe said, distractedly and hung up. He grabbed Nina's top that had been tossed to the floor during their makeout session. He took a moment to just hold it, the worry returning and making his chest tighten.
Gabe tried to shake it off. He couldn't let himself get immobilized by fear and worry. He needed to get as much help as he could. And so with that resolution he left Nina's house and walked up to Merlin and Audrey's front door and knocked.
Given her control, Ruby really did prefer the past few months of finding open spaces and just being able to run. Isolated, woods, wherever. It felt better to run than to be chained up. She would always take precautions as she refused to let the past repeat itself, but the option to be out in the open and running and free as she had her control? Definitely a better way of spending the full moon.
When Neal had gotten the phone call, the wolf had been a bit away, though she had heard the sound and the slight panic in Neal’s voice. Something was happening and so she had started on her way back to her fiance, making sense of the words that were being spoken on speaker phone. Something about another wolf missing. Oh. That could end badly. By the time the phone call had ended, Ruby had made her way to where Neal was. Given where they had to go, it would be the car, and that meant human. Which was why she just nudged him to get him to drop the cloak on her, standing tall once the transformation took hold.
“Well this is an unexpected turn of events.”
“Sorry,” Neal grinned crookedly, an apology with those sweet puppy eyes of his too, when Ruby was back to woman-form. “Didn’t mean to cut the run short. But an escaped werewolf on the loose...you know.” Likely Nina was a little mellowed out from the weed she smoked before the transformation happened, so Neal really hoped that she wasn’t out there tearing through the flesh of hapless denizens. Maybe just had the munchies? More of a craving for Cheetos or something?
He slid his arm around Ruby, in her namesake cloak - now the only caveat was that she couldn’t take it off, or she’d revert back to wolf form. At least until sunrise. “To the car, then? He gave me the address - we’ll plug it into the GPS, shouldn’t be long. I’ll also speed.” Keep an eye out for cops hiding in the shadows, babe!
“Ah yes. Well then.” Which she had already picked up on. Though given it was Neal and Ruby, the complete fact that it almost felt like ‘just another day’ because of randomness? Probably spoke more to Orange County and everything that went on than anything else. Given she really didn’t know much on Nina’s wolf, or how she controlled herself during the moon (or the weed), she was instead running through different scenarios on what could happen. Either way, they’d be ready.
“To the car.” And he would be speeding. She knew what that meant, “I’ll be your lookout then.” And it was into the car and on the way to the address they were given.
Nina, or rather wolf Nina, was enjoying the free run. She didn’t get the chance often being locked up as she was each time she was released but this was good. The wolf ran towards the nearest town, but whenever she scented humans Nina was able to exert enough control to pull her away. But when she smelt chicken, which Nina often had in the basement there was no control powerful enough and she followed her nose.
Merlin woke up immediately when the knock came, looking over at Audrey and Ben he was glad the noise didn’t seem to have disturbed them. Sliding from bed he moved to the front door and opened it, “Gabe?” he frowned, “What is it?”
Anxiety was written all over the big guy’s face. “Nina, she’s gone. She escaped. I don’t know what to do. Neal’s coming, Neal and Ruby but I wanted to let you guys know.” He was clutching Nina’s shirt in one big fist at his side, still ignorant of the fact he was kind of missing his own shirt, despite the evening falling upon them. “I just...we were...I don’t know what happened. I was upstairs, and she was downstairs changing in the room thing, and next thing I know this blur of fur whips past me and she’s halfway down the block!”
“Oh my god” Merlin said, “I’ll come with you. Let me grab a jacket. Gabe, she’s going to be okay. We’ll find her and we’ll bring her home okay?” he said, laying a hand on his friends shoulder. “Now, would you like to borrow a jumper?”
Gabe blinked. He’d forgotten what a jumper was. Nina was teaching him all the different ‘Brit-speak’ words she used, but at the moment it eluded him. “Um…what’s that again?”
“Oh umm, sweater?” Merlin tried, thanks to her dreams Audrey was pretty expert on British terms so he sometimes forgot that he might not be understood when he used an uncommon term.
It was in that moment Gabe realized why Merlin was asking. He looked down and saw his exposed torso. “Oh, damn. Yeah uh, yeah that’d be great. Thanks.” He felt his face burning in embarrassment. “Are you sure it’s okay for you to go? I mean, what about Aud and the baby?” He didn’t want to cause any panic by stealing Merlin away.
“It’s fine, not a problem” Merlin assured him with a smile, gesturing for him to come in. “It’s fine, I can leave a note for Aud and I’ll throw a little protection spell over the house before we leave” He handed Gabe a jumper that was very baggy on Merlin so would hopefully fit Gabe.
Gabe slipped on the sweater gratefully. It was a bit snug on his muscular torso but not uncomfortable. “Okay, well Neal and Ruby should be here any moment. He’s a friend, who’s also dating a werewolf, Ruby.” As he was speaking he thought he heard the squeal of tires turning the corner.
That squeal of tires was indeed Neal, with his Bonnie in the front seat, who had done an excellent job playing lookout so they could get to the designated spot quickly and efficiently (no cops, score). It hadn’t taken very long at all, and as soon as the house came into view Neal was zooming to a stop nearby, nearly throwing the gearshift into ‘P’ to get them out and into the action. He left the crossbow in his trunk, having tossed it in there before he and Ruby peeled out of the park, because he remembered Gabe mentioning that silver could severely harm a werewolf like Nina. And the last thing he wanted to do was have to shoot her, but it would be okay, wouldn’t it? The weed and the potion she drank beforehand should be enough to let her keep some of her wits about her.
A lot to bank on, but he was going to hang onto hope.
“Hey, we’re here,” was his rushed greeting, as they went up to the door. “You guys ready to go track down a runaway wolf?” Man, their lives were never dull, were they?
As if Ruby would let Neal get caught by the police. It would be very poor Bonnie & Clyde antics of them if that happened. Not like this at any rate. Beyond a quip about how it felt like Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, she had mostly be quiet. Not much to say and given she didn’t know exactly what they’d be up against? Well. She was there for tracking and herding purposes. At least that was her understanding. Yay different werewolf games!
Sometimes all anyone had was hope, and they still survived. If there were a group of them, no doubt things would work out.
An amused look was sent to Neal at his question to Gabe and Merlin, before Ruby waved some.
“If I can have the shirt to smell?” Of all the things to say for a first impression.
“As ready as one can be” Merlin replied his eyebrows raising at the request but he said nothing, unique abilities were rife around this town after all.
Gabe handed Ruby the shirt, not really surprised at all by the request since Neal had informed him ahead of time. It would be an amusing introduction when he'd look back on it later, though. "Thank you guys for coming. I owe you one." Or five, as this was a huge favor to ask when Ruby had her own change to deal with.
That was definitely one hell of a question to ask, but Neal looked on like the proud fiance he was - his lady wolf was so talented, wasn’t she? He would have beamed from it all, but it was a serious moment, serious times, they were supposed to be tracking down a loose werewolf who was potentially eating people. So the sooner, the better.
“Her nose never fails,” was his encouragement. He had a magical ‘oomph’ with him in the form of a locator potion too, just in case, but he was confident that Ruby’s skills would pull through. “What direction does it look like, babe?” Or smell like, he should say.
Shirt in hand, Ruby took a deep whiff of it so that she could make sure that she had the scent and then looked around the area, eyes narrowed so that she could figure out which way to go. And there it was, a lock on the scent and the direction to go in. Which great, seemed to be towards a more populated area.
“This way.”
And without saying much else, the red cloak clad woman started in the direction Nina had run off in, making sure to sniff the shirt periodically just to make sure she kept it as more scents started to become prominent.
Gabe followed along at Ruby’s heels, watching her every move expectantly. They walked through the path Gabe had seen Nina take until he lost her, and then continued onwards, slowly heading from the neighborhood of houses towards the noise of traffic and more open areas. They must have looked like a version of the Scooby Doo gang: making their way down the streets in a cluster while Ruby clung to the only clue they had. He’d have laughed at themselves if the situation weren’t so serious and dire. He strained to hear any cop cars or screams of panic, but so far things seemed normal. He wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad sign, but he trusted Ruby’s nose.
Nina had used her nose to locate what she was after which had left her in front of a store where the smelly tasty chickens were housed. Moving forward she entered the building.
“So what’s the plan when we do find her?” Merlin asked as they followed the young cloaked woman.
“That is an excellent question,” Neal remarked. He too thought they resembled some ragtag group of Ghostbusters or something - or Werebusters in this case, and he wished he’d brought something with him, fingers itching to hold the crossbow. But that was just the paranoid side of him talking - he didn’t want to be attracting suspicion as some kind of weird search party, or frighten Nina when they did come across her.
So, a plan. Hopefully a defensive one more than an offensive one. “I think we can all agree that we don’t want to hurt her,” he said, with a glance toward Gabe as they continued on, “So maybe some kind of spell to get her to freeze long enough to sniff out her mate or something, and trust us to come back?” Because out of all of them, she’d recognize Gabe as her mate - that was what Neal was assuming; it seemed to make the most sense. What did you have in your bag o’tricks, Merlin?
“Worse comes to worse, I can shift back to wolf as well to try and corral her back.” While she was more focused on following the scent, Ruby was also paying attention to the conversation at hand. “Depending on how aware she is of herself while a wolf will determine if sniffing out her mate will work.”
Ruby knew that one far too well. So far, there was no scent of blood or screams in the air. That was a good sign. But they did have to plan for the worse. Which was also why her going wolf may be necessary should the spell not work. Because at least as a wolf she could hold her own if it were needed.
"Nina says she's self aware," Gabe said distractedly, "So lets go with the freezing spell and I'll see if she recognizes me..." He trailed off as they came upon a small supermarket that was closed for the night. The parking lot was empty, with the sodium lamps still figuring out how to warm up now that it was dark out, casting light at half strength. The door to the supermarket had been torn open and hung awkwardly ajar. It was like a scene out of a horror film, and Gabe realized they were about to walk right into it.
"Ruby?" he asked for confirmation.
Well, if she said she was self aware… though Ruby would be ready, just in case. But that was one less thing to worry about. But now they were at the supermarket and Ruby narrowed her eyes and sniffed at the air.
“She’s definitely in there.”
"Okay," Gabe breathed, relieved that they had found her. But now his gut tightened at the thought of being in close quarters with a werewolf that may or may not recognize him. He looked through the dimly lit doorway - the interior was lit only by the exterior lights spilling in through the windows. He pulled out his phone from his pocket and turned on the flashlight function. "So I don't want anyone to get hurt, so I'll lead, Merlin you be ready with that spell and Ruby couldja lemme know which way to go, I don't wanna just stumble on her and spook her. Neal, you okay with takin' up the rear?" Gabe needed to take charge, these were their friends risking their lives for this.
Merlin nodded, “I’ve got you don’t worry” he said, fingers flexing. If the freezing spell didn’t work then he had a few others up his sleeve to work with but he had a feeling it would work. At least there was certainly no reason to think otherwise.
Neal was right there with them too, and he was steely in his resolve. “Good with the rear, I’ve got your backs,” he promised the others. Maybe he didn’t have any weapons on him, but he’d turn anything not nailed down into one if necessary - all for the sake of defending his friends and himself.
It all seemed like a pretty solid plan, anyway. Nina being in a supermarket was a decent sign too - it meant she was only going for animals already dead as opposed to a live human? Her potentially raiding the refrigerated poultry and beef supply wasn’t as bad as it could be, in the scheme of things.
In the scheme of things, it definitely was one of the better options. With Gabe in front and Merlin ready to do a freezing spell, Ruby stuck a bit behind them. If Nina did pick up on the fact there was another werewolf around when she was…. hunting? Finding something? Ruby didn’t want it to turn into a turf thing instead of the hope that it would be a pack thing. So.. closer to the rear and ready to act if necessary as a second, third? line of defence.
"All right, here we go." Gabe said quietly and slipped into the doorway, carefully aiming the cell phone's LED down and not forward as to not attract attention. They headed down a dark aisle, towards the sound of what could only be described as something rooting around and tearing apart plastic and chomping hungrily on something else. Briefly Gabe thought of The Walking Dead and a chill ran down his spine. Of course it wasn't zombies but the comparison couldn't be helped.
The closer they got the louder the sound became until the hum of freezers and refrigeration could be heard. The aisles ended into an open area at the back of the store - what Gabe assumed had to be the meat department. It was pitch black. Gabe touched Merlin's arm to let him know to be ready. Then he angled the flashlight up and onto the hairy hide of an enormous werewolf chowing down on several chickens. Fear caught his throat a moment at the sight. She was huge, and intimidating and holy crap they were gonna die if he didn't give the order. "Now!" Gabe shouted.
Nina had been so busy devouring the chickens she had located that it wasn’t until the light hit her that she realised somebody was there. Not being able to entirely control her instincts in surprise she growled and moved into a hunting position.
Merlin didn’t hesitate and instantly cast the freezing spell over Nina, stopping the wolf in it’s tracks. Moving carefully towards her, he looked into her eyes and unfroze just her head. She snapped at him but couldn’t move towards him or anything.
“Okay” he said, “Gabe, she can hear and smell you so do whatever you can to convince her not to eat you” he said with an encouraging smile.
Gabe was inwardly freaking out. This was so surreal. His girlfriend was a cornered, frozen, not so friendly werewolf.
When Merlin had started forward, Gabe tried to grab after him to stop him but was a second too late and watched in frozen trepidation as the young man approached the wolf. But so far the spell seemed to be working, and now it was his turn.
Carefully Gabe walked forward in the darkness, the cool white of the LED from his phone casting a cold light upon Nina and throwing harsh shadows. He took in the full sight of her; it was one thing to see her through a small window of the room that separated them, it was another thing entirely to be up close and personal. The bristling fur, the heavy breaths of the wolf, the glaring inhuman eyes and the deadly looking snarl. Pink gums and white teeth with a tongue that licked those sharp fangs with the wolf-like posturing that threatened disembowelment.
"Nina," his voice came out shaking, and he cleared his throat to try again. "Nina, it's me Gabe. I know you're in there somewhere." He did his best to sound more forceful and in control. He kept his eyes locked on hers as he slowly circled her until he was directly in front. Maintaining control, that's what Alphas did, right?
Nina was regaining control of the wolf after momentarily losing it in surprise and as a result her wolf senses registered Gabe. Her snarl lessened and the head tilted in question as he approached, when she smelt him she whined a little in her throat.
Merlin smiled, “I think it’s working” he whispered to everybody, as he watched. Maintaining the spell all the time.
It was so different, to see all this. At first Ruby as a wolf had been feral. She was out of control and didn’t have a handle on herself, to keep the instincts to tear out throats in check - it was better that she was chained up, but she’d been a young wolf too. As she came more into her own, accepted both sides of herself (human and wolf), that meant she was more her own hybrid of a person instead of simply one or the other. Now she was so tame - never before could she have nudged Neal the way she did, without leaping and pouncing, going for the jugular.
Just goes to show that most anything was possible.
“That’s intense,” Neal remarked, hushed, watching the interaction between Nina and Gabe. Her...alpha? Something like that. At least she wasn’t looking at him like a snack. Probably a good sign. “Um, no rush, but how long can you hold, Merlin?” Just making sure he wasn’t going to pass out or anything.
Ruby remained silent during the interaction, instead just tugging on her fabric of her cloak to wrap around herself some. It really was different from her own wolf. That had been more accepting both and until she was able to do that, the wolf was in full control. It’d been awhile now, though. Even in December, she’d enough presence of mind to go for her cloak in crisis. So she nodded at the comment on this situation being intense. Her own senses were on alert just in case, but it seemed for the moment that would be unnecessary.
“We’re good for a while” Merlin said, it wasn’t a difficult or draining spell and thankfully he had his full range of powers. Sometimes being ‘the’ Merlin came in pretty handy. Like now.
Meanwhile Gabe was doing his best not to show any fear. It was abating as the wolf seemed to calm down and recognize him. Gabe's hand was merely inches away from her snout, hovering in uncertainty. "That's it...it's me babe...It's Gabe. We gotta go home, okay?" His voice was as calm as it was going to get and he spoke slowly. "Let's go home." He glanced at the mess of partially devoured chickens. "We can take these to go." Risking it, he extended the back of his hand so her nose could touch it, hoping to god she didn't bite it off.
Nina let the smell of Gabe fill her nostrils and it calmed even the true wolf inside her, it recognised him and would follow. When he held his hand close enough she licked his fingers before nuzzling his hand as much as she could.
Oh man, being licked by a werewolf. Never saw that in all those horror films. It was certainly an experience. "Merlin, you ready to let her go? I think we might be good." They'd better be or Ruby would be up to bat. "Ruby, be ready just in case." He didn't take his eyes off of Nina as he spoke.
Taking the chickens to go. That was probably a good idea too. What was it with the Nina-wolf and chicken? Did they have a special taste for poultry? Well. Neal supposed he couldn’t blame her. Those cluckers in the deli were pretty tasty - he didn’t know about raw though, but whatever she wanted.
“Um, I can get these?” he motioned toward where Nina had been indulging in a late-night food binge. “With us. You can still eat ‘em, Nina.” The last thing he wanted was to give her the impression that he was taking her food away. Then he’d probably become the food, no thanks.
This was probably not the time for comments such as ‘born ready’ because really, how was born ready to turn into a werewolf to potentially stop another one? Exactly. So instead she just nodded.
“I am.”
Though it was an interesting development all around. Between the chicken and the seeming to recognise Gabe. It worked out, though. Which was the important thing. But getting them back to the house was the most important thing. No need for Nina to get startled by strangers.
Merlin nodded and released Nina completely, who shook herself as if to get rid of the feeling before padding closer to Gabe and rubbing herself against him. It was the best she could do to let him know she was okay and in control at least for now. Still she couldn’t help hoping the plan was to get home as soon as possible.
Thankfully with Merlin’s magic he was able to float the chickens along so nobody needed to touch them, just in case the wolf took over when food was involved.
Gabe threw his hands up in surprise when Nina rubbed up against him like a friendly stray cat. Holy crap that was unexpected. “Um...hi. Okay.” He tentatively reached down to pet the coarse fur along her head and neck. Now he was petting a werewolf. It honestly couldn’t get any more surreal than this.
He watched as Merlin floated the chickens over and headed back to the group. “All right, let’s get outta here ASAP.” The sooner they got home, the better. Once again Gabe moved to the head of the group, keeping a careful eye, and a hand, on Nina, to make sure she didn’t react to the others. He just hoped the wolf didn’t scent Ruby as they passed by and push Nina back.
“I’ve got it,” Neal chuckled, referring to the floating chickens. That would just look great on the way home, wouldn’t it? Giant wolf spotted, trailed by levitating poultry, news story at 11. But Nina seemed to be doing okay, now that she was cuddling up to Gabe, so Neal grabbed a bag from the front of the store and snatched the cluckers in there to carry them home.
He wouldn’t attempt to pet that wolf though. That was for...someone not him. Then they were heading back again, Werebusters going the same way they came.
An amused look was sent to Neal as he grabbed the chicken. Really, floating poultry. Instead she stuck closer to the back as they started the trek back to the house, gripping the cloak as if it would mask the fact she was a wolf from Nina. She knew it wouldn’t but so far, they were fine. Well, so long as the news didn’t catch the story. It was weird enough already.
Merlin easily masked them all which was why he wasn’t too bothered about floating the chickens out but they didn’t need to know what now. Attention needed to be focused on Nina and making sure they got her home safely.
Nina was happier now that she was close to Gabe, she was taking comfort in his scent and presence and even smelling the other wolf didn’t get much of a reaction except a little grumble which was silenced when Gabe continued to pet her. Nina was throwing everything she could at the wolf to make it understand that Gabe was the alpha and the wolf was his to command. It seemed to be working.
Gabe was taking deep breaths to relax as they made their way back through the neighborhood. Unaware of Merlin's masking spell, he hoped they didn't run into anyone. He would just have to convince any curious passerby he had a very rare breed of dog.
He was grateful the wolf was responding to him and actually was drawing comfort keeping his hand on it as they walked along. Somewhere deep inside his inner fanboy was freaking out with sheer joy at this encounter.
After what seemed like endless blocks Merlin's house came into view. "Thank God," Gabe breathed.
Gabe wasn’t alone, because Neal’s inner fanboy was also jumping up and down with some kind of glee. Mostly because, being that he was romantically linked with his own lady wolf, they were simply just fascinating creatures to him. When he saw the home base, he couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief, however. And handed the pleasantly-stuffed doggie bag (wolf bag?) to Gabe, full of Nina’s lovely chickens.
He wouldn’t try feeding her. Didn’t particularly want to get his hand bitten off.
“You guys good now, or do you need us to stay for anything else?” he asked the crew at large.
A few blocks should not seem like a marathon. And in terms of energy expended? It wasn’t. In terms of the tension because they had to make sure that Nina remained in control? That was something else entirely. But they made it, no incidents. Well, besides a werewolf rummaging through the supermarket for chicken. But really? Was that so bad in the grand scheme of things? Ruby would say no, it wasn’t.
Now to see what the next move was. Which was either they were sticking around to help or being able to leave.
“Uh, let’s get her into the house first.” Gabe said with uncertainty. He didn’t want to get to the point of her nearly getting back into her room and then suddenly have her escape again with no one around to help. Gabe led Nina back to her house, holding the bag of chickens with one hand ahead of them to keep her attention on that as they went. Then it was through the door (he’d left it slightly ajar in his panic for help) and to the stairs of the basement. Gabe could feel his muscles relax more (he hadn’t even realized how tense he was until now) now that they were back indoors, with light and familiar surroundings. He turned to the others. “I’ll take her down. Just wait here in case anything else happens.”
He descended down the stairs, leading Nina with the chicken until they were back where they started, at the open chamber. Gabe hadn’t wanted Neal and Ruby to see, just in case human Nina didn’t want them to. Couldn’t blame her, she’d only just met them, and probably wouldn’t even remember it.
“All right, sweetheart. Here you go.” he tossed the entire bag of chickens into the room, hoping Nina would follow her stomach. He gave her a pat on the back. “Go on. I’ll be right here.”
Nina nuzzled into Gabe before padding into the room and settling down to munch on the chickens. Happy now she was home and eating. Internally Nina let go a little and breathed a sigh of relief.
“Well that was certainly an experience” Merlin said as he stood with Neal and Ruby waiting for Gabe to give them all the okay, “We made a pretty good team though I think” he smiled, pleased now that they were all back home with no incidents.
That was actually pretty adorable. Neal had to grin just a bit, arms folding loosely across his chest as he watched Gabe corral the dangerous werewolf into the house, all with affection and dead chickens. Nina actually being in the house also earned an exhale from him, dislodging some of the tension, because nothing weird (well, extra weird) had happened, no one got maimed, no one had died. Success!
“Definitely a good team,” he agreed. “At least we know we can handle it, should the situation ever come up again?” They didn’t need to get business cards printed or anything, but it was nice to know that they had each other’s backs should anything go awry on the infamous full moon.
“So basically we’re prepared since we knew it worked. Did you become a boy scout when I wasn’t looking?” Amused? Yes. But it was definitely good that things seemed to be calming down. Nina was back to wherever she spent her full moons, affectionate, had food, and no one had been hurt. To Ruby? That was a definite win.
“Agreed about the good team.”
Gabe watched Nina for a moment before stepping out of view. It was then he noticed for the first time the heavy deadbolt across the outside of the door. Usually Nina locked herself in from the inside, but since that was currently impossible, he knew he'd have to give the outside lock a try. He slowly pulled the door shut so as to not distract the wolf from her meal. Then Gabe tried sliding the large metal bolt.
It wouldn't budge. Gabe swore under his breath and tugged again. "Dammit, need some WD-40 up in here." He muttered to himself. Finally, he heaved his strength against it and it slid free, causing Gabe to stumble over himself. He caught himself against the chamber with a grunt.
Straightening up he peeked through the window one more time at the wolf before heading up the stairs to join the others.
"All right, we're good." he exhaled. "Thank you guys, I owe you big time." Gabe smiled and clapped a hand on Neal's shoulder as he said it, though he was speaking to everyone. He shook hands with Merlin and with Ruby. "Thanks for the doggie bag," he smirked at the wizard. "And thank you for coming, I know it's a lot to ask of you on a night like this." he smiled at Ruby.
“No problem. Happy to help” Merlin said with a smile, “That’s what friends are for after all”