The time is now.
In the space of a week I managed to get: my iphone stolen, very inappropriately hit on by the cop that took the report, and my car almost towed. I also managed to fuck up my knees and scrape the shit out of them (because I was sprinting frantically towards my car) and, oh, whatever. Challenging week. BUT WHO CARES, BECAUSE: WEREWOLVES.
I am on a strict plan right now that requires focus on one project only and writing 750 words per day to finish a 40k word novella by mid November, so I have another couple of weeks to panic about getting a book cover done and PUBLISHING ON KINDLE. Because fuck it, you know? It's time. I have researched enough. If fucking Twilight fanfiction can bring millions of people sketchy sexy joy and get adapted into a movie with maybe Mila Kunis, then, by god, I can self publish awkward werewolf romances on the internet for money. I am not even judging anymore. I can sit here on a high literary horse and painstakingly never finish crafting an emotional masterpiece, OR I COULD JUST WRITE A FUCKING GAY WEREWOLF ROMANCE ALREADY.
Someone please love me enough to buy this for 99 cents on amazon when I'm done.
Anyway, because I'm an attention whore and I vaguely remember a time when I used to post actual stories on here, occasionally on Fridays, I am introducing to you, as I introduce them to each other, Axton and Leander. Only one of them is a werewolf.
The first time Axton saw Leander, he'd been limping across a lonely stretch of dirt road and bleeding in four different places after running away from a bear fight. Expecting to be run over, Axton had jumped aside and hurt himself in the process. With a soft whine, he'd gone down into the dirt--but at least he was safe, he figured, and the car would be long gone by the time he managed to shove himself back on his feet.
Instead of rushing past, the car stopped. A blond man shot out of door and jogged forward, calling out, "hey, you okay?"
Intrigued, Axton pricked his ears up and lifted his head.
The blond skittered to a stop.
Looking right at him, straight into his eyes, was a big dark wolf. It was no dog in need of help, like he'd first thought. The eyes looking into his were sharp, obviously intelligent, and the most startling shade of gold.
And those gold eyes were sizing him up.
Under his breath the blond muttered,
"Oh, fuck."
Axton cocked his head to the side. The human wasn't moving--he wasn't coming any closer, but he wasn't running away, either. He seemed to want to help, and that was baffling. Usually people threw rocks and scrambled in the opposite direction, but...this guy was actually taking a tentative step forward, and then another, and--
No, no, no. Axton couldn't let him get closer. Human contact with werewolves did not go over well, generally speaking, and Axton in particular didn't consider himself a people person. He was wounded, yeah, but he couldn't let this guy get closer. Someone could get hurt.
Leander, who had steadily been edging forward, froze in his tracks at the first warning growl.
"Easy, boy, easy," he muttered, eyes darting to the wolf's face, "Steady. I'm not--"
The answering snarl cut him off, but it wasn't until the wolf shoved itself into standing up that Leander scrambled away, heart pounding, and threw himself back in his car.
Axton sulked around for a couple of minutes--he hated doing threat displays on humans--and then very pointedly and visibly trekked off into the woods.
Only then did the car drive away.
++
The first time Axton actually met Leander was a few days later, when he jerked awake to the sound of someone knocking at his front door. The noise was so unexpected that panic hit Axton square in the chest, and he was halfway to instinctively shifting before he even realized he was doing it. Before he could blink, Axton was out of his human shape and in his wolf one again.
If he'd still had the mouth for it, he would have scowled.
Who could possibly be knocking? There wasn't even a camping site around for miles, and the nearest town was half a day's drive away. Axton counted his breaths, made himself mindful of his heartbeat, and did his best to calm down. Deep breaths carried the scent of outside to him, and something was at once out of place but vaguely familiar.
Intrigued but calmed down, Axton padded to the door and shifted back into his human shape. Ah, thumbs. Good.
He opened the top half of the door and blinked. The well meaning guy that hadn't run him over a few days ago was now standing on his porch.
"Hey," he said, and it was almost the same voice (easy, boy, easy), just that now it sounded friendly and confident, "I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but I've been trying to catch you for a couple of days now, so I could introduce myself." Undaunted by Axton's furrowed brow, he beamed and held out a hand. "I'm Leander."
Axton stared at his outstretched hand.
What?
Leander waited, determined to continue smiling despite everything.
Axon squinted his eyes once and then remembered how handshakes worked. Right hand to right hand, firm but not too firm--careful of your wolf's strength, up and then down...
"I bought the cabin next door," Leander offered into the subsequent strange silence.
"You're moving in?" Axton asked immediately, distractedly still locked in the handshake, "Here?"
"Uh," Leander said, a little thrown off by the intensity of the question and the never ending handshake, "Yes."
Axton's breathing stopped. He was going to have a neighbor! No! No, he wasn't, because he was going to immediately flee and leave this place because he couldn't risk being found out. And he'd liked his little cabin, too. A whirlwind of bad futures played behind his eyes. Stricken, he finally ended the handshake, his hand dropping to his side uselessly.
"I mean," Leander amended hastily, "Not, like, for the whole year. Couple of weeks here and there. Maybe summers, you know?"
"Oh," Axton said. "Right." Relief flooded through him and he leaned against the door frame to steady himself.
"So, uh," Leander said, eying Axton strangely, "I'll just be..." he gestured vaguely, "That way if you...want to...say hi, or...anything..." He trailed off, because he really couldn't imagine that this taciturn, tousled hair stranger would ever want anything to do with him, given how horrified he seemed by the idea of being neighbors.
"In the cabin a quarter of a mile away?" Axton asked, just to be sure.
"In the only other cabin around," Leander confirmed. "Yeah."
Axton sighed to himself. He could handle this. He could do it. Leander smelled of city, in the folds of his early spring coat, the scent lingering in his blond hair. He wouldn't stay. It would be fine. He would be fine.
"Well," Leander tried, attempting to wrap things up, "Nice meeting you." He turned away, started walking.
The werewolf watched, noticing for the first time the broadness of Leander's shoulders, the casual grace to his walk. He smelled like city and looked like he put in time at the gym, trim but built. Axton's eyes tracked the line of Leander's shoulders again, then traveled down his wide back. His whole silhouette promised muscles, and Axton couldn't help but let his gaze linger.
His own body was narrow hipped and lean like a wolf, giving him away as much as his angular face and strange golden eyes. Leander was in great shape, but it was an entirely different shape than his own lithe one. And there Leander was, walking away with an easy, confident stride on legs that promised strength in every step. The werewolf paused, realizing something.
"Ax," he called out.
Leander stopped.
"Pardon?" he said, looking back, eyebrows quirked in polite surprise.
"Axton. Ax," he clarified, swallowing, then glancing quickly to and away from Leander's face, "My name is Axton."
Leander's smile reached his eyes. He waved.
"Well, Axton. Good to meet you."
Axton felt something in his insides flutter. He waved back, closed his door, and then finally realized he was still naked from the change.
He groaned.
I am on a strict plan right now that requires focus on one project only and writing 750 words per day to finish a 40k word novella by mid November, so I have another couple of weeks to panic about getting a book cover done and PUBLISHING ON KINDLE. Because fuck it, you know? It's time. I have researched enough. If fucking Twilight fanfiction can bring millions of people sketchy sexy joy and get adapted into a movie with maybe Mila Kunis, then, by god, I can self publish awkward werewolf romances on the internet for money. I am not even judging anymore. I can sit here on a high literary horse and painstakingly never finish crafting an emotional masterpiece, OR I COULD JUST WRITE A FUCKING GAY WEREWOLF ROMANCE ALREADY.
Someone please love me enough to buy this for 99 cents on amazon when I'm done.
Anyway, because I'm an attention whore and I vaguely remember a time when I used to post actual stories on here, occasionally on Fridays, I am introducing to you, as I introduce them to each other, Axton and Leander. Only one of them is a werewolf.
The first time Axton saw Leander, he'd been limping across a lonely stretch of dirt road and bleeding in four different places after running away from a bear fight. Expecting to be run over, Axton had jumped aside and hurt himself in the process. With a soft whine, he'd gone down into the dirt--but at least he was safe, he figured, and the car would be long gone by the time he managed to shove himself back on his feet.
Instead of rushing past, the car stopped. A blond man shot out of door and jogged forward, calling out, "hey, you okay?"
Intrigued, Axton pricked his ears up and lifted his head.
The blond skittered to a stop.
Looking right at him, straight into his eyes, was a big dark wolf. It was no dog in need of help, like he'd first thought. The eyes looking into his were sharp, obviously intelligent, and the most startling shade of gold.
And those gold eyes were sizing him up.
Under his breath the blond muttered,
"Oh, fuck."
Axton cocked his head to the side. The human wasn't moving--he wasn't coming any closer, but he wasn't running away, either. He seemed to want to help, and that was baffling. Usually people threw rocks and scrambled in the opposite direction, but...this guy was actually taking a tentative step forward, and then another, and--
No, no, no. Axton couldn't let him get closer. Human contact with werewolves did not go over well, generally speaking, and Axton in particular didn't consider himself a people person. He was wounded, yeah, but he couldn't let this guy get closer. Someone could get hurt.
Leander, who had steadily been edging forward, froze in his tracks at the first warning growl.
"Easy, boy, easy," he muttered, eyes darting to the wolf's face, "Steady. I'm not--"
The answering snarl cut him off, but it wasn't until the wolf shoved itself into standing up that Leander scrambled away, heart pounding, and threw himself back in his car.
Axton sulked around for a couple of minutes--he hated doing threat displays on humans--and then very pointedly and visibly trekked off into the woods.
Only then did the car drive away.
++
The first time Axton actually met Leander was a few days later, when he jerked awake to the sound of someone knocking at his front door. The noise was so unexpected that panic hit Axton square in the chest, and he was halfway to instinctively shifting before he even realized he was doing it. Before he could blink, Axton was out of his human shape and in his wolf one again.
If he'd still had the mouth for it, he would have scowled.
Who could possibly be knocking? There wasn't even a camping site around for miles, and the nearest town was half a day's drive away. Axton counted his breaths, made himself mindful of his heartbeat, and did his best to calm down. Deep breaths carried the scent of outside to him, and something was at once out of place but vaguely familiar.
Intrigued but calmed down, Axton padded to the door and shifted back into his human shape. Ah, thumbs. Good.
He opened the top half of the door and blinked. The well meaning guy that hadn't run him over a few days ago was now standing on his porch.
"Hey," he said, and it was almost the same voice (easy, boy, easy), just that now it sounded friendly and confident, "I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but I've been trying to catch you for a couple of days now, so I could introduce myself." Undaunted by Axton's furrowed brow, he beamed and held out a hand. "I'm Leander."
Axton stared at his outstretched hand.
What?
Leander waited, determined to continue smiling despite everything.
Axon squinted his eyes once and then remembered how handshakes worked. Right hand to right hand, firm but not too firm--careful of your wolf's strength, up and then down...
"I bought the cabin next door," Leander offered into the subsequent strange silence.
"You're moving in?" Axton asked immediately, distractedly still locked in the handshake, "Here?"
"Uh," Leander said, a little thrown off by the intensity of the question and the never ending handshake, "Yes."
Axton's breathing stopped. He was going to have a neighbor! No! No, he wasn't, because he was going to immediately flee and leave this place because he couldn't risk being found out. And he'd liked his little cabin, too. A whirlwind of bad futures played behind his eyes. Stricken, he finally ended the handshake, his hand dropping to his side uselessly.
"I mean," Leander amended hastily, "Not, like, for the whole year. Couple of weeks here and there. Maybe summers, you know?"
"Oh," Axton said. "Right." Relief flooded through him and he leaned against the door frame to steady himself.
"So, uh," Leander said, eying Axton strangely, "I'll just be..." he gestured vaguely, "That way if you...want to...say hi, or...anything..." He trailed off, because he really couldn't imagine that this taciturn, tousled hair stranger would ever want anything to do with him, given how horrified he seemed by the idea of being neighbors.
"In the cabin a quarter of a mile away?" Axton asked, just to be sure.
"In the only other cabin around," Leander confirmed. "Yeah."
Axton sighed to himself. He could handle this. He could do it. Leander smelled of city, in the folds of his early spring coat, the scent lingering in his blond hair. He wouldn't stay. It would be fine. He would be fine.
"Well," Leander tried, attempting to wrap things up, "Nice meeting you." He turned away, started walking.
The werewolf watched, noticing for the first time the broadness of Leander's shoulders, the casual grace to his walk. He smelled like city and looked like he put in time at the gym, trim but built. Axton's eyes tracked the line of Leander's shoulders again, then traveled down his wide back. His whole silhouette promised muscles, and Axton couldn't help but let his gaze linger.
His own body was narrow hipped and lean like a wolf, giving him away as much as his angular face and strange golden eyes. Leander was in great shape, but it was an entirely different shape than his own lithe one. And there Leander was, walking away with an easy, confident stride on legs that promised strength in every step. The werewolf paused, realizing something.
"Ax," he called out.
Leander stopped.
"Pardon?" he said, looking back, eyebrows quirked in polite surprise.
"Axton. Ax," he clarified, swallowing, then glancing quickly to and away from Leander's face, "My name is Axton."
Leander's smile reached his eyes. He waved.
"Well, Axton. Good to meet you."
Axton felt something in his insides flutter. He waved back, closed his door, and then finally realized he was still naked from the change.
He groaned.