I couldn't help but wonder how the Sheriff fared out with the neighbour. Grabbing a wine glass and a bottle out of the wine fridge, I thanked grandpa for his love of vintage wines and went out to the back deck. I felt pretty shitty for day drinking without really any reason, but fuck, after the day I've had, I deserved a drink. A man changed into a wolf in front of my eyes. It honestly surprised me I had kept it together this well. That shit just wasn't normal.
Opening the bottle, I set it on the outdoor table, Heading inside to check on the dogs. They were surprisingly hiding under the table and in other spots. I had never seen them like that ever. It honestly made me really uncomfortable to witness. I wasn't sure why they were hiding.
Shaking the feeling that it gave me off, I went back out to the deck and poured myself a glass of wine. Sitting on the deck swing, I sipped my wine and enjoyed the sounds of the wildlife. The alcohol was really helping me unwind after it all, and I didn't even get to nap thanks to the Sheriff. If anything, I would say that Sheriff either knew about the neighbour too or maybe he was like the neighbour too! I doubted it, But to be honest, I didn't remember seeing him age either and he was hunting buddies with my grandfather, or he used to be. Oh well, If he was that wasn't my problem, that was his. Downing my third glass of wine, I just wanted to relax.
The birds sung loudly as the heat from the day started to wind down, but they just suddenly stopped. It was dead quiet, except for the sounds of fighting coming from the forest. Before I could investigate the sound, two wolves spilt out from the forest into the gravel of the large driveway.
I knew one of them was the neighbour, just by the colour of his fur. The other wolf, I didn't know, but if my hunch was true, then this was the Sheriff. But it wasn't clear why they were fighting. I watched them rip into each other for only a few minutes more before the alcohol from the wine influenced my proper thinking capabilities. Setting my glass down on the deck railing, I walked to the other side of the deck and flicked the sprinklers on. Promptly soaking them both. The cold water must have been a shock to both of them, because they did stop fighting.
It was the Sheriff that changed back first, his naked body standing in my driveway. The neighbour, right after him. They stood in the spray of the sprinklers only a few moments more before they moved from the spray distance. The sheriff looked the most unhappy out of the two.
"Jett, go the fuck inside and mind your own fucking business!" He snarled at me.
"He's drinking stop." I heard the neighbour say his attention on me.
I made my way down the deck stairs and down the driveway until the Sheriff and I were only a few feet away from each other.
"Get the fuck off my property. Sheriff."
"Stupid human, mind your fucking——"
That was the point at which I closed the distance between him and me.
"I won't shoot him out of respect for my grandfather, but I might shoot you. Now get the fuck off my property, because that is my business."
"Jett your drinking, you don't understand how wolves——"
"Don't you start either! This, my drinking, is your fucking fault. I could have gone on without knowing I live in a world of monsters! Now there's two of you! Fucking unbelievable man. What the fuck was my grandfather thinking?"
That shook the Sheriff out of whatever anger he was in.
"You showed him what we are?"
"Yes. He helped me after they shot me."
"Fuck sakes, for an ancient, you don't hold the secret very well."
"Mind your business. I chose to tell him. Plain and fucking simple."
Shaking my head, I turned around, nearly falling in the gravel, except the Sheriff caught me. I tugged my arm out of his hold; I didn't need his fucking help. I was just a stupid human. After all, he had said it. Making my way up the stairs, I was well past drunk. This is the first time I've ever drank like this. I didn't even wait for them to say anything more; I slammed the glass slider and flipped the lock. I was aware I had forgotten about the sprinkler system, but there was no way I was about to go back and flick it off now.
"Bark at them all you want. You have my permission, guys." I said to the dogs. I stumbled all the way up the stairs, almost falling a few times, but catching myself. Lying face down in the bed wasn't a smart option, but I didn't really care. I really just wanted to pass the fuck out and not remember another fucking thing about either of them.
At some point, I did pass out. But not before I heard the dogs whimpering. I just said fuck it, there was no way I could let them out. They knew where the dog door was to the side yard. They could go out there to do their business.
I felt something jump up in the bed; I knew it was too heavy to be one of the dogs and glancing at the alarm clock; it was three in the morning. Looking at the end of the bed, the only thing I could see in the dark were yellow eyes. The sheriff had been more grey than anything, and I would have been able to make that out with the little light in the room. This wolf was solid black and knew where my room was.
"Your lucky," I mumbled before sliding over a bit more to give him more space.
It didn't take me long to fall back asleep, even with the knowledge in my head that this was the neighbour and he was a monster. Well, maybe not him, but definitely the sheriff was a monster.
I felt him move in the bed and he had woken me up because of it. He had crawled up to the top of the bed beside me and laid down. This was weird, but not the first time he had laid this way before I had known who he was. Did that really change any of this? Probably, but who cared?
Siting up in the bed, he growled at me again.
"Oh, knock it off. Change into a human again and we will have some proper words."
He didn't. He just let out a huff of air and laid back down on the bed. I didn't understand why he came back here, in this form, out of the two. Maybe he thought this would make me more comfortable. He wasn't wrong; I was more comfortable with him in this form. That was the strangest thing, though.
I didn't even wait for him to growl or bite me, I just petted him. I could tell it made him uncomfortable, but I didn't care. He could deal with me petting him because it was just going to happen.
"You know, not that hard to put two and two together about the Sheriff when I thought about it. That's how I figured he was the other wolf. But I still don't understand why you two were fighting? Is that normal with your kind?"
He didn't answer me, not that I expected him to, but I felt better asking him this way.
"Also, I didn't mean to spray you with the sprinklers. I just wanted to break you two up. The moment I saw your wolf, I knew it was you. I know I'm just a stupid human——"
He bit my free hand that wasn't petting him, making me stop what I was saying, and I just looked at his yellow eyes.
"What! Why did you bite me?"
He narrowed his eyes at me and I realized it had to be the stupid human remark.
"Hey, I was just repeating what he called me. I wish I would have drunk enough to forget, sadly I don't think I could drink that much if I tried."
We sat in silence for a moment before I scrubbed his head with my short nails. He actually seemed to enjoy that, but I wasn't really that surprised. He was part 'dog' after all.
"How did you get inside and you have a lot of nerve crawling in bed with me again?"
My comment and question seemed to go even more unanswered than the rest of them I had asked, and I figured he probably went through the doggie door. But why he had come back into my bed was the real question here. I wondered if he thought the Sheriff might come back and harm me, which I honestly doubted. Yesterday was the first time the Sheriff had ever spoken to me that way and it kind of hurt. I figured we would at least be friends, but I thought wrong, apparently.
"I'm just going to take a shot in the dark here, but I have a feeling there's a lot of you guys around here. You, the Sheriff, probably so many more. It's kind of scary, but at the same time, it's really not."