Howls in the Dark

I sat down on one of the vintage chairs in the main living area. Wendi had been silent after closing the door and locking it. I understood why he was upset, though I still found it unfair. If he had told me that there was even the possibility of him dying because of this whole mate situation then I probably wouldn't have acted the way that I had.

But now as I realized, I couldn't leave this Wendigo now, my life had flipped upside down and now I had to deal with this. I didn't have it in me to kill him through that, and even if I did I knew this mating bond probably went both ways and I would likely die as well.

It all made me overwhelmed, thinking about this catastrophe I had myself into.

I sighed, well now that we were practically permanently bonded together I thought I should at least talk to him in an attempt to make things right between us, even if I still thought he was in the wrong for not telling me to begin with.

I walked up hesitantly to the door, still unsure how he'd treat me now that he had told me everything.

I knocked softly on the door. I heard his footsteps shuffling quietly to the door, quite slowly I realized.

The door opened slowly. He really looked tired now, his eyes unfocused, and fur looking disheveled. But I couldn't get over how he wore no shirt in this moment. I hadn't really gotten the chance to observe his form but it was quite impressive. I shouldn't be looking at him like this I thought. This exposed all of his scars, the one I had caused him on his shoulder bringing me a sudden spike of regret. I really felt guilt for doing that, causing that permanent mark on his body. I snapped my eyes back to his face

"H-hey." He said, his voice softer than it usually was.

"I just wanted to check on you and make sure you were... you know, okay after what had happened."

"Yeah? I'm fine." Wendi snapped.

Even though it was quite rude how he had responded, I carried on. "I suppose I shouldn't have ran off, or... stabbed you, i just wanted to tell you that I am sorry for doing all of that."

Wendi's face suddenly softened. "Don't worry about it too much Aidan, I feel like it was my fault, partially at least for not telling you about the workings of the bond."

"Well can you at least tell me now, I feel this is pretty important."

He nodded, reaching out and grabbing my hand instead of my arm. I tried to hide my surprise as I felt the heat of the palm of his hand against mine.

He sat down on the edge of his bed, me sitting next to him.

"Alright, so there's a lot to go over, but I suppose I'll just give you a basic understanding of how this works."

I nodded my head.

"So, when every male Wendigo turns 25, we basically get assigned a mate. No one knows exactly how the mates are selected, but we basically just feel a sort of connection and attraction to them." He paused for a moment, seeming to look away from me, avoiding eye contact. "Like I did with you."

"So it's quite hard to control, and we have to keep our mates close, or else as you know, we could die." He said while picking at his cuticle.

It was really weird seeing him so awkward since he usually appeared so confident and shameless in his demeanor. I guess he had just been trying to keep this part of his personality away from me.

"So after all of this, the dominant male usually initiates a claiming. It's... well," I could visibly see his cheeks redden. "It's essentially where we take... the final step in our relationship and I claim you, where I..." he hesitated. "I have to give you a claiming mark, where I bite into you, it's basically a symbol that the bonding has completed."

I raised an eyebrow. "So you have to do this?" I snapped.

"Well I don't have to but I've heard the urge is quite difficult to control from other Wendigo I have met."

"Alright. Well I guess we can deal with that when the need arises. And what happened to all of the other Wendigo? I didn't know there were others that lived around here."

I saw his jaw clench. "There used to be, but not after the authorities had them sent away." He paused to look at me. "I used to have my parents, friends, all these people and now they are all gone. I tried to save them, but I was too young, I've lived here ever since."

Oh, oh. "I'm so sorry, for everything."

He chuckled darkly. "It's not like you would have been there to help me, not like anyone would have been there at this point."

Wendi sighed, his elbows on his knees, holding his face in his hands.

I put my hand on his furry back, almost not even realizing I had done so, stroking my hand through his fur.

He turned to look at me. "What are you doing? I thought you still hated me?" he bit out.

I pulled my hand away, what was I doing?! I gathered myself. "Wendi I don't hate you, just because of the things you have done doesn't mean that I would hate you now. And I really understand why you were like that to me, just please don't do that again."

I saw a smile form on his face. "I won't, I promise."

Suddenly he pulled me into an embrace, his arms wrapped firmly around me, resting on my back. I felt myself grow taught, unsure what to make of this, but after a moment I sighed and put my arms hesitantly around him, though I couldn't quite wrap my arms all the way around his torso.

I felt myself grow quickly aware of him now, the feeling of his muscular torso against me. Now that I wasn't scared out of my mind, I was quite flustered just by that I was feeling this way to begin with.

I felt him press into me even harder, I didn't know what was happening as I fell backwards onto the bed, his body on top of me.

His hands were now slowly moving across my back, stroking back and forth. I was then aware of a pressure against my pants, quickly escalating before I could hide it.

Wendi pulled himself away from me for a moment. "I suppose you do like me after all." He said laughing softly into my ear.