Rashness
Wardlikedtothinkhe was a pretty open-minded guy. God only knew he’d had his brushes with the more uncommon or less widely accepted behaviors. But when the wolf in his living room shifted into a man, he really had a moment during which he questioned most of his life choices.
“Okay. That’s it. I crashed the car, didn’t I? I’m dying in a ditch somewhere.”
The man—who was even bigger and more impressive in this form than in his wolf one—took a step forward. “Don’t say that, Ward, please.”
The sound of his name on the stranger’s lips was distracting. Or maybe it was the fact that the guy was completely naked and had all his dangly bits out for Ward to see. Either way, if this wasn’t a hallucination fueled by impending death, it could only be a dream, because wolves didn’t turn into men who looked like they’d walked off the cover of Playgirl. They didn’t turn into men, period.
Ward pinched his arm in an attempt to snap himself out of the peculiar dream, but nothing happened. The naked not-wolf was still there. “W-What the hell is going on?” Ward managed to stammer. “How is this happening? Is this even happening?”
“It is,” the man replied. “I’m a shape-shifter, and I assure you I’m very real. You’re not dreaming and you didn’t have a car accident—well, other than the one where you ran into me.”
“So... You’re what? Some kind of werewolf?” Ward suppressed a bout of hysterical laughter when the man nodded. “Okay, I think I need you to get dressed now. I can’t have this conversation with you naked, and I’m profoundly uncomfortable with the presence of a nude stranger who can turn into a wolf.”
The man winced, but didn’t try to argue on that point. “I’m afraid I left most of my clothing at my den.”
“Den,” Ward repeated in disbelief. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
Obviously, the stranger wasnotkidding, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, since it gave Ward something to do. He left the couch and headed up to the bedroom, studiously thinking only about his self-assigned task—to find the guy something to wear. It wasn’t easy, since rummaging through his bags didn’t nearly provide a sufficient distraction. His internal self seemed to be running around in circles, flailing and screaming,“Werewolves! Magic! A hot naked guy!”There was very little Ward could do about it, and all things considered, he didn’t think anyone could have blamed him.
Despite his complete lack of focus, he managed to find a pair of sweatpants that would probably suit the stranger well enough. When he turned, he found the man waiting in the doorway.
It reminded him of the wolf who’d come after him in the kitchen, which was oddly endearing. He chased back the thoughts and tossed the man the sweatpants. His unexpected guest caught the item of clothing with ease. Ward looked away, even if a wicked part of him nudged him to feast his eyes on the gorgeous specimen of masculinity in his bedroom.
But if there was one thing Ward knew at this point, it had to be that a werewolf would make an awful rebound guy. He had no idea if this was real, or what the strange man wanted with him. It was all too confusing, and Ward half wished to close his eyes and pretend this wasn’t happening.
He supposed he should have been more surprised or more frightened, but after spending the last half hour cuddling a mammoth wolf, maybe he’d become desensitized to the shock. Or maybe he was simply losing his mind.
He decided he needed to address at least some of these questions, because otherwise, he simply would not be able to function. “Okay. So first thing, first. What does all that mean—that you’re here for me? Who are you really? How did you come to be here?”
His hands trembled as he let out every dilemma on his mind. How had his proverbial great escape turned into him meeting a werewolf? And seriously, he needed to stop watching werewolf movies, because he was letting his curiosity get the better of his self-preservation.
The man lifted his hand, like he wanted to reach out to Ward. He let it drop and crossed his arms over his naked chest. He was just as distracting even after pulling the sweatpants on, and Ward congratulated himself for managing to focus on the stranger’s words, not his sculpted physique. “My name is Mathias Girard. As I was saying earlier, I’m a shape-shifter, although just half werewolf. I don’t want to confuse you with more details about my legacy. I didn’t plan on running into you, or scaring you, or spying on you. It simply... happened.”
Ward supposed that made sense, since he’d been the one to run into the then-shape-shifted Mathias. And God, how was he even thinking about this without screaming? Maybe it was worth it simply because it kept him from dwelling too much on his failure of a love life.
Still, he doubted werewolves simply came along with any human they accidentally met. “That doesn’t explain why you’re here, or why you stayed. It doesn’t explain much of anything, really.”
Mathias winced. “I know that. I know that it’s confusing and scary. You’re actually taking it much better than I expected. I would have preferred to get to know you as a man first before I even told you about this, but it just didn’t seem possible.”
Ward arched a brow. “It wasn’t that hard. You could have just left in wolf form and tried to run into me when you were in your human form.”
Mathias’s expression went blank. The idea obviously hadn’t occurred to him. His eyes—as gold as the wolf’s—flashed with something akin to frustration and irritation. “I suppose you’re right. I just... After the phone call, I couldn’t quite make myself do it. The lie felt like a betrayal of your trust. I’ve already witnessed too much of your personal life. I couldn’t just... leave.”
Ward stared. In truth, it did bother him that the wolf had just sat there while Ward had been breaking down during his conversation with Peter. But then, that wasn’t exactly the case. The wolf had been the shoulder to cry on when Ward had needed it most. And really, if Mathias had shifted then, it wouldn’t have helped much.
Somehow, it seemed this man had proven more trustworthy within ten minutes of their acquaintance than Ward’s longtime lover. But no, Ward couldn’t allow himself to think that. Mathias still had not answered most of his questions, and lies through omission were still lies.
“So... You live here?” he tried to prod.
“Not quite,” Mathias replied. “I’m here to help a friend.” For a few moments, he hesitated, and then continued, “I’d tell you more about it, but some secrets are not mine to share.”
That was fair enough, and Ward respected that. At the end of the day, they were strangers, and Ward couldn’t imagine why he was trying to find out more when he should obviously be running in the other direction.
“I’m just... I’m not sure what to do or say here,” he admitted. Under different circumstances, he’d have climbed Mathias like a tree, but for obvious reasons, he could not. “I’m not sure what you expect of me.”
“I don’t have any expectations,” Mathias replied. That was a lie, and Ward knew it even before Mathias shook his head. “No, that’s not it. I... I admit this is confusing for me too, since I’d all but given up on meeting...”