Howls of Chaos. Gabrielle Boyd

you busy today? Did you get a bunch of clients?” I asked while putting on some lip gloss and sitting on top of Carlos’s desk.

      “Yeah, I had quite a few,” he said.

      “Were they mostly women?” I asked.

      Carlos looked at me then and sternly replied, “Actually, yes.”

      “Well, why didn’t you invite them over like you used to? You know, lure them over, please them, then eat them,” I said very seriously. Then I began to laugh.

      Carlos turned around and yelled “What the! What’s wrong with you today? You came from school actin’ like a —” He stopped.

      “Like a what? I’m not a female dog; I’m a wolf,” I said, laughing at Carlos because I knew exactly what he was about to say.

      “Same thing,” said Carlos, who was sort of upset now.

      For some reason, it is just so hilarious to me to make Carlos mad. He has such a quick temper, though not as bad as mine or most werewolves. Carlos tends to get mad over little things. There were times when people would cross him or upset him, and he would just eat them. I would sometimes do the same, but that’s only if they pushed my buttons too far. It used to be that I could not help it, especially when I first turned; we have these weird impulses that rush through our veins that cause us to do bad things sometimes. Plus, all you want is blood and fresh meat.

      I remember the times when we lived in large- and medium-sized packs. We left the big pack back in the early 1930s, mainly because they wanted to hunt, attack, and feed on humans by choice. Others wanted to try and prevent the old habits of harming humans unless they just accidentally got in our way. After that, the pack split into good and bad leadership amongst the werewolf society.

      Leaders in the werewolf society are certain alpha males that run each of our packs. It’s rare to find a pack that is all female, but there are still some that exist. They usually have to be careful or are forced to have a male join their pack if revealed. There are some werewolves who live alone, and just like regular wolves, they will find a mate and start a clan of their own.

      Carlos was once one of the top alpha males in our society. Even since he retired from being leader over the fourth pack, he is still well known, respected, and well liked among the werewolf society. He still helps and uses his law skills when he is needed. The new leader that took Carlos’s position in the fourth pack is a werewolf named Zorrin. He is one of the most hostile alpha males in our society. Carlos and Zorrin knew each other when they were mortal. Not only did they know each other, they were good friends.

      Zorrin was a member of the fourth pack when Carlos was the leader, but when they divided, he chose to go with the primitive ones who did not want to change their ways to eating deer and cattle. Now Carlos and Zorrin don’t really get along, yet they tolerate each other. Besides the pack splitting, there are other reasons why they aren’t quite on the same page.

      The main reason is because of a female werewolf named Taquah, whom I cannot stand. Carlos and Taquah have a son together. Taquah was a member of the pack for a while. When we left the fourth pack, she and a few other werewolves came with us. She got pregnant by Carlos and just left a couple years ago. Now she is married to Zorrin.

      Carlos’s son is named Rafael. We call him Rafy for short. Rafy is five years old, and he lives in California with Taquah and Zorrin. He looks just like Carlos, except much younger. He acts just like him too. Carlos and Taquah share joint custody of Rafy. I was surprised when the judge did not grant Carlos and me full custody of Rafy, especially because Carlos is a big-shot lawyer.

      Since Taquah has been married to Zorrin, we haven’t seen Rafy. Taquah says everything is fine, but I don’t think it is. From what we’ve heard, we are pretty sure that Zorrin does not mistreat Rafy; he’s just doing this to upset Carlos and me.

      Anyway, I told Carlos about the people I had met in town that day including Mr. Yates’s kids and about Mallory and me going out for lunch.

      “Yeah, she’s a nice girl,” Carlos said. “I can’t believe you jumped in the car with her that quickly; you must have sensed her.”

      “Yeah, she and I were on the same page, except that she’s a human. I did not suspect anything. She was harmless,” I said.

      “Mr. Yates must have told her about you,” said Carlos.

      “I guess so,” I said.

      I left the office a few minutes later, headed back to the house, and did a little straightening up. I put some old paintings of Carlos and me on the living room wall and dusted them off since they had been in storage for ages. One was an antique oil painting of Carlos and me when we lived in Paris during the late eighteen hundreds. I remember having this painting done, I thought. Carlos was wearing one of his finest tuxedos, and I had on a beautiful Victorian gown that was blue with some white accents. My hair was pinned up with curls, and Carlos had a mustache. After having that picture painted of us, we went wine tasting and then hunting. That was back when we were primitive.

      I finally snapped out of my gaze and began digging through some more boxes. I hid most of the stuff in the basement because it was mostly pictures and old books on werewolves, vampires, and other immortals. I didn’t want anyone to come over and think we were weird, with that stuff in the middle of the floor.

      After straightening up some, I began to cook dinner and watch television. When I turned on the television, the local news was on. The news anchor was talking about how a man had been torn to pieces and killed after being attacked by an unknown wild animal. They also showed several people standing a few feet away from the crime scene.

      I stood there in shock because Carlos and I had just moved here. Plus, we hadn’t been doing any hunting lately. I continued to watch the news and cook the leftover rare lamb into a stir fry. While I was cooking, the front door opened and then slammed. I heard Carlos yell, “Alexsys, turn on the news quickly!”

      “It’s on! What’s going on?” I yelled. Carlos threw his briefcase down and started checking the caller ID.

      “Has anyone called here or come by?” asked Carlos.

      “No. I thought you weren’t getting off until five, and then you were going to the shop,” I said. Carlos did not say anything. He looked out the windows, and then shut the curtains. “What’s going on?” I asked again.

      Carlos grabbed me by my shoulders and said, “There is another werewolf in this area. I don’t know who, but I got off early and on my way back, I passed the scene where the attack must have taken place,” said Carlos, who was kind of hysterical.

      “Well, did you get out?” I asked.

      “No, but I let my windows down to try and pick up on the scent,” replied Carlos.

      “Well, who was it?” I asked.

      “Couldn’t exactly catch it,” said Carlos pacing back in forth, somewhat frustrated.

      “Well calm down; we’ll figure it out,” I said, but before I could finish my sentence, the doorbell rang. Carlos jumped then slowly walked over to the door. I followed him closely.

      “Who is it?” asked Carlos.

      A voice said, “Sheriff Collinbelle.” Carlos and I looked at each other and then smiled. Carlos opened the door.

      “Well, hi there, Sheriff,” said Carlos.

      “How are you doing son? And please, call me Wesley,” said the Sheriff, while shaking Carlos’s hand.

      “Come on in, and please, take a seat. We were just about to have some dessert. Can we get you something?” said Carlos.

      “Well all right, I guess I can come in for a minute,” he said.

      “By the way, this is my fiancée Alexsys,” said Carlos, introducing me to the Sheriff.

      “Well, hello, Alexsys. It’s nice to finally meet you. Aren’t you beautiful! I can see now