Nick glanced at the clock. Nearly midnight. Last file for today.

Where another person might have felt relief or happiness at the prospect of going home soon, Nick felt.. indifferent. He didn't have anybody waiting for him, there wasn't anything there he was looking forward to in particular, except maybe for his bed, but even sleep wasn't important to him nowadays.

The only meaningful thing in his life was his work, even if that didn't mean investigating cases in the real world anymore, but sitting in an office all day.

Regret made his heart sink for a moment, thinking back to the excitement and the fun from when he was still a normal detective.

He had made the right decision, though. The only decision anyone in his position could have made.

He should have left his job altogether, but here he was.

Nick scanned the words in the file quickly, skipping over the details.

Possible animal attack.

That caught his attention.

He swallowed, read that last part again. His heart was already picking up speed when he turned the front page to have a look at the pictures of the crime scene.

- - TW: crime scene details - -

Immediately, he had to fight the urge to gag. Two men who had been brutally ripped apart and there was blood everywhere. He'd seen his fair share of homicides working for the police, but even in his line of work it was rare to see something so savage and inhumane.

- - end of TW - -

He felt the animalistic side of him scramble to its feet at the sudden burst of negative emotions bubbling up inside of him.

Closing his eyes for a second, he took a deep breath and mentally willed himself to calm down.

The wolf stayed just below the surface, as always.

When he looked at the pictures again, his mind was already jumping to conclusions.

An animal attack on, not one, but two men, two lawyers? It couldn't have been random. So, either the killer had picked up some wolves from the woods to do the work for him or, more likely, another werewolf was in town.

His thoughts were wrestling with each other for dominance. If he managed to find someone in the same predicament, that would be fantastic.

Maybe they knew how to get it under control, maybe they even knew about a cure.

His train of thought had one big flaw, though: this werewolf had killed two people.

They obviously didn't know anything about managing this condition, let alone a cure. He wasn't thinking rationally.

Nick closed the case file and buried his head in his hands.

He felt the familiar buzzing begin, the spike in adrenaline and dopamine whenever Nick's wolf tried to break free, which was just about anytime he felt some kind of stronger emotion.

It was exhilarating and addicting and he punched all of those misleading, happy thoughts down as hard as he could.

This was neither the time, nor the place.

Of one thing he was certain, however: if there was even the slightest possibility that there was another werewolf out there, Nick needed to find them.

He reached for the phone on his desk and dialled the number of Peter Stevens, his new boss and the police department's latest shining star.

****

I hope you liked this first chapter!

Are you curious about the murder?

Or do you want to know more about Nick's past?

Kate is going to be introduced in the next chapter, so stay tuned!