Hairwolf
Chapter Thirty Nine

Ralf walks, stealing quick sips from his coffee, washing down the burger, bit by bit, trying to find a way to get to the point. “So, an unknown species. Think big, furry thing, just not all the time.”

“Not all the time?” Foster asks. “Like what, just during a full moon? Come on. You got to do better than that.”

Ralf stops walking, somewhat pleased with Foster’s response. “No. I don’t think I do. I’m pretty sure we’re talking about the same thing.”

“What?” Foster asks, humorously, “werewolf? Are you a werewolf, Mr. Meyers? Is that what you’re telling me?”

Ralf is taken by the direct question and considers how to answer.

“Wait a minute,” Foster says. “Ralf Meyers? Stefanie’s, Ralf?”

Ralf is wide eyed.

“You know Stef?” Ralf asks. “Are you a werewolf?”

“No. What are you doing here? She’s . . .”

“. . . Looking for her. You know where she is?”

“Yes. Well, I mean, maybe. Hold up,” Foster says, taking a second to get his thoughts in order. “I don’t know who you are.”

“You just . . .”

“. . . I know, I know, I know. But, I need more. Give me something more. Tell me something only you and her would know.”

“Well, she probably blames me because I’m the one that scratched her. How’s that?”

“You scratched her.”

“I did. I had no choice. I thought I was saving her life. I wanted to give her an edge.” Ralf is revealing a little guilt. “She blames me, doesn’t she?”

“No. No. She knows why you did it. She knows. Come on, I’ll take you to her. She’ll be happy to see you.”

“So she’s alright?”

“Yeah. Strong woman.”

“How did you guys meet? Are you dating?”

“Not yet. But soon. Kissing, mostly. Lot of kissing. You’re probably single, right?”

“No. Married,” Ralf says with a chuckle.

“So that wasn’t you last night romping around under the full moon?”

“I was romping. It just wasn’t here. No, you guys have another one. I was in Vermont following up on their incident from the night before. Then I saw the news on TV and came here.” Ralf crosses to a trash barrel and discards his coffee cup and wrapper. “Oh, man, this is fantastic. So you know.”

“Werewolf? Oh, yeah. Been through the whole denial thing. I’ll be seeing a therapist in a week or two.”

“Yeah. It won’t help. Talk to my wife if you need to talk to anybody.”

“She’s not a werewolf?” Foster asks.

“No. Oh, man, you have no idea how nice it is to talk to about it. And you’re a game warden. How bizarre is that?”

“Yeah. Right up there with being a werewolf.”

“So do you run with her or just let her do her own thing?”

“We just met this weekend,” Foster says. “He’s here. Stalking her. Ominous. That’s what she calls him.”

“Ominous, ah? She said he’s the same one from her past?”

“Yeah. What do you know about him?”

They approach the Warden station and hover around the vehicles.

“I know enough to know I need to talk to her first before I say anything else,” Ralf says. “Does that work for you?”

“I understand. So it was him in Vermont?!” Foster asks while clearing the passenger seat

for Ralf.

“I don’t know,” Ralf says. “I never caught up to him. I’m always a step behind the sightings and it’s usually a crap shoot if I catch up to any of them.”

“Them?”

“Oh, yeah,” Ralf says matter-of-factly. “I’m putting together a network of sorts. Help those who aren’t so comfortable with it. Not everybody gets struck at an early age.”

“A network.” Foster says, very surprised there’s that many out there. “It’s that big a problem?”

“Not for us,” Ralf says, playing with him. “Just kidding. Hey, we’re all just trying to live our lives. So you’re almost dating, ah.”

“Almost. Kissing for now. Dating soon. But you’r married so that’s good.”

Ralf is beaming with a smile.

“Go ahead, laugh,” Foster says entering the drivers seat. “You have no idea. Here I thought I had no competition and then you come along, six foot-ninety, two hundred, fifty pounds of damn. And a werewolf to boot. What female wouldn’t want that? Talk about not being fare.”

“Oh, you’re funny. She must really like you.”

“Yeah, they both do.”

“You kiss her yet?” Ralf says, teasing. “That’ll be fun.”

“If you like being trapped in a cage with a cougar. She had a small branch sticking in her side. She was in a lot of pain. I got it out and sat with her till morning. She was more worried about the dress than she was the wound.”

“My man. You got a friend for life. Good match. Game warden, werewolf. What did she say about the other one, Ominous?”

“She knows he’s the one from her past – missing a piece of his ear. Very aggressive.”

“Yeah, he runs a little off the res. It affects some people differently. Like alcohol. Get a happy person drunk, they’re happier. Get an angry person drunk, they’re angrier.”

Foster digests the information. It makes sense.

“So if someone is normally hyper-aggressive . . .”

“That would be him.” Ralf says.

Foster drives with Ralf back towards the Out House Post. Ralf takes a deep, relaxing breath of air. “So you haven’t done the thing yet,” Ralf asks, taking the conversation to a whole new level.

“Thing?”

“You know, the thing. Huggy, smootchy, touchin tuchy. . .”

“No! No.”

“That’ll be interesting. I don’t mean when she’s off. I’m talkin about when she’s on. You’ll need to

be strapped in for that ride, with a vest. And make sure you keep that shit under wraps. Don’t want

P.E.T.A finding out you’re bangin a werewolf. They’ll lock your shit right up.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Foster’s a little more behaved about such things and is very willing to drop it.

Ralf, notices. “You alright man? I hope you don’t mind me talking about this. I don’t get a lot of opportunities as you can imagine.”

“I’m still working out the PETA thing.”

“That’s easy. Don’t let anybody find out she’s part wolf.”

“Do you have any kids?” Foster asks.

“No kids. Mutual agreement. We couldn’t do that to them. Too risky. You’ll need to think about that long and hard with her. I’d let her bring it up. She’s going to be the source of the outcome and you’re going to have to be good with it.”

“Yeah, way ahead of ya,” Foster says. “So I’m guessing you’re pretty even tempered.”

“Oh, yeah. I got it down. I’m into the whole nature of it. Just don’t piss me off. The same with any wild beast. You don’t piss em off.”

“You like it too. That’s interesting.”

“Is that what she said, she likes it? I don’t know if I’d go that far. I haven’t run into anybody that likes it. We accept it. One day you wake up and you’re different. For ever. She doesn’t like it. She’s very alone, poor kid. Can you imagine the abandonment she must feel? First her parents, then any chance of a normal life, the endless changes she has to adapt to. She can’t like it. But she does need it. It’s her strength. It’s the only way she can survive. Her parents are going to be elated I found her.”

“Her parents?”

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