My Neighbor is a Wolf

Chapter One

Hunter

Thursday Night

D ouble checking I had everything I needed, I set the last bag of supplies by my front door. I went over the list in my mind while staring at the bags in front of me. The last few hours had been spent gathering the last minute things from around my apartment.

The full moon was in two days and, man, was I feeling it. My mind was always a bit chaotic leading up to my monthly hunting trip and a decent eight hours of sleep had evaded me these last few days.

Turning from the pile, I made my way to my weight bench in the corner of my living room. It wasn’t a fancy set up by any means, but it did the job. Even after spending the last few hours packing, I knew I wouldn’t be able to go to sleep right then. I needed to distract myself.

Several sets later, my muscles were aching. I sat on the floor and prepared for my post-workout meditation. It was a good way to clear my mind, especially when I was chomping at the bit from not shifting for a few weeks.

Just as I closed my eyes, someone clambered up the steps. Shitty apartment layouts. There were four apartments on this floor. While my unit had the largest square footage, I had to deal with it being next to the stairs.

I did my best to continue, forcing myself to focus on my breathing once more, but heavy footsteps caused my ceiling to creak. These thin walls and floors were notorious for letting every sound through.

There was no way I was finishing. Running my hands through my hair, I opened my eyes and glanced at the clock behind me to check the time.

2 a.m.

That checked out. Rachael, my upstairs neighbor, had a boyfriend who would come by her place around this time. I have never had a full conversation with Rachael. She introduced herself in passing a few days after she moved in. Everything else I simply learned from living under her, including that asshole's name.

Chad. The unemployed alcoholic who didn't deserve to breathe the same air as her. She screamed at him enough times about getting sober and finding a job for me to remember it. Just the thought of him near her made my blood boil with hatred.

By the sound of it, he was coming home drunk even now and would be attempting to wake up his girlfriend for a quickie. She would usually comply, but lately, she had welcomed his advances less and less. So much so that I hadn't heard the bastard stumbling through the building in over a week.

I had probably missed my opportunity to ask her out. When our paths crossed while doing laundry, I was never able to keep my eyes off of her. She was everything I had come to love about human women and more. Rachael was beautiful, with curves that she constantly tried to hide under oversized clothing and long legs that I craved to have wrapped around my shoulders. Her red hair was always pulled back in a bun on the top of her head, with loose, wavy strands falling around her face. I wanted nothing more than to feel their softness between my fingers.

But apparently, she still had a boyfriend. A shitty one, but a boyfriend nonetheless.

I stood up and made my way to the kitchen for a bottle of water, pushing the thoughts of her down into the recesses of my mind. We were not compatible, and the sooner I came to terms with that, the better.

I pressed the bottle to my lips and focused on listening for the typical series of events that I had come to expect. A slammed door. A couple knocks. Several more loud footsteps. A loud thump. Then snoring.

A door slammed right on cue.

But the knocks didn't follow. Instead, what sounded like the same door being thrown open and hitting something rattled the walls. Shouting filled the air, then silence.

That was when I smelled it. Blood.

What the fuck?

Maybe something had fallen and broken. But I hadn't heard anything remotely close to that .

I should have left it alone, but something pushed me to leave the comfort of my own apartment and climb the stairs to the second floor. Chad’s words were loud enough to be heard as I stood outside the door, my fist poised to knock.

“You don't get to tell me no tonight!”

Rage coursed through my body. My fist fell to my side, shaking with fury. Without thinking, I kicked down the door and headed straight to the bedroom. Chad had Rachael by the throat, shoved against the wall.

Her eyes were wide with terror. That was not the look of someone who was participating consensually. Blood dripped from a split in her lip. She clawed at the fingers wrapped around her neck as Chad’s free hand forced its way under the oversized shirt Rachael was wearing.

“Get your fucking hands off of her,” I seethed. His hand under her shirt froze as he turned to look at me.

“How the hell did you get in here?” His hands dropped to his sides. Rachael crumpled to the floor and gasped for breath as Chad charged at me. Bone crunched under my fist as it made contact with his jaw.

He collapsed to his knees, and as he tried to stand I towered over him. “Leave. Now.”

“The hell I will!” He spit blood near my feet and mine boiled with rage. It took everything in me not to shift and tear this shitty excuse of a man apart limb from limb.

My hand wrapped around the collar of his shirt and dragged his ass out the apartment door. He kicked and attempted to tear himself from my grip until we were standing on the sidewalk. I released my hold, letting him fall in a mess of limbs. Before he could stand, I pressed my foot into his chest and pinned him to the ground.

“Don't. Come. Back.” My words came out as a growl, punctured each time by my foot pressing down a fraction into him. His fingers clawed at my ankle as his eyes went big and his face turned red from the inability to draw in enough air.

He was getting a taste of his own torture and I couldn't help but smirk down at him. This asshole had hurt her. That look on her face when I stepped into her apartment will forever be burned into my mind.

When I finally stepped away, I remembered Rachael was still upstairs and I needed to check on her. Without looking back, I rushed back to her apartment. The front door barely hung on its hinges and I made a mental note to offer to fix that. At first glance, it looked like she had left. I stepped into the living room and peered in to see if she was still in the bedroom. I didn't want to scare her.

That's when something hard hit the back of my skull. Stars swirled in my vision. My knees buckled from underneath me, and I landed on the carpet on all fours as my ears rang.

My body was going into fight or flight mode. No matter what it chose, it wanted to shift and I wasn't going to be able to stop it.

Shit. This was not good.