"Whaaaaaaat?" Pearl climbed out of the truck's bed. Her filthy socks didn't protect her feet at all. The concrete floor hurt. She leaned into Darren's bare torso and blinked up at him. Her forehead had so many wrinkles that she could feel them. "I'm so confused. Am I high? Did someone drug me?"
He patted the top of her rumpled head. He still looked pissed, but something in his eyes seemed to tone down. However, the sclera in his eyes were pink.
"Listen," Darren said, "We're going to go to bed. We both need to sleep at least a few hours or else we'll fall to pieces. I'll set my old alarm clock, and we can take the dogs to the vet tomorrow. When that's taken care of, I'll clean up the blood in the house, and then I'll sit down and explain everything." His fingers slid down her cheek, and then he held her jaw. "If you call the police, something bad will happen. I'm going to hide the phones. Okay?"
Her lips scrunched up. Then she closed her eyes and rubbed her cheek on his warm body. "There's a werewolf or something. It drove me here, and I was so scared that I let it screw me. I might have to be tested for some weird disease." Despite the information she was giving him, she was so tired that she lost the ability to convey concern and urgency. Her voice was nearly emotionless.
"It's okay. I'll explain tomorrow, Honey. I promise."
"I got kidnapped, but I got out." Pearl yawned into his body hair, sucking his aroma into her mouth and then blowing at least some of it back. "I thought they were going to rape me, but they didn't get the chance."
He groaned and gripped her right shoulder with his left hand. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry, but we need to get to bed."
"That beast that drove me here, it ate up at least one of those guys."
She felt the left hand's short nails dig into her shirt.
His chest froze with his breath.
Then she heard his thinly edged, gritty, almost enraged phrase.
"Damn it."
"Darren ... are you sure about not calling the police? What will happen if we call them?"
He sighed. "We need to sleep. Please. Please just trust me."
She was so miserably tired that she agreed to it. Besides, if they called the police, they'd spend more time awake, giving the police their accounts of the events. And would the police even believe them? Werewolf? Seriously? They'd assume this couple did some crazy drugs.
"Okay," she mumbled. "Sleep time. Then we take the dogs to the vet." The nearest veterinarian hospital didn't typically accept customers twenty-four hours a day, although they did have an area to keep patients overnight with night-shift staff.
In the house, Pearl saw the dogs look up from their beds. Their body language seemed mostly happy, but they were overall slow. They might've been in some pain. There was still some blood on them, and there was blood in the foyer, where they'd attacked the intruder that had first grabbed Pearl. "I'll wash the blood off them before I take them to the vet," Darren had weakly said as he locked the door.
Fine, at least she knew he'd be gentle with the poor, dear babies.
"I'm going to take a shower," Pearl said when they were in the bedroom. She needed one.
After setting a digital alarm clock, Darren just fell on the bed, still wearing his pants, and snored not long after that. When Pearl was as clean as she could get, her hair squeezed yet damp, she too fell on the bed and let sleep come.
***
The dogs were pretty bruised up, but the doctor confirmed that they'd be fine as long as they were treated with kid gloves. Still, he prescribed some painkillers to hide in cheese. They were bruised, yes, but there weren't any problems that required surgery or anything particularly major. The morning walks should be shorter. They should be discouraged from roughhousing, although they probably wouldn't be in a mood to roughouse for a while.
On both the drive to the animal hospital and back, and during the waiting period and examination between, Pearl would stare out at nothing. She wondered if what had happened to her was a dream. But she'd seen Darren clean up the blood in the foyer, and she still had bruises and scratches on her body. She'd wanted to ask questions, but she knew she needed to wait.
Gunner and Baby Blue were given a special treat when they got home. Not only did they get their cheese medicine, but Darren chose to grill steaks with charcoal outside, and each dog got one steak to gobble up. The couple ate the other steaks with baked potatoes. Then Pearl washed dishes while Darren seemed to mentally prepare himself by playing a sad little song on his acoustic guitar.
When all the dishes were drying out on their rack, Pearl sat down on the couch in the living room and nursed a water bottle.
The music stopped soon. Looking like he was chewing on his tongue, Darren got up and carried the guitar off to put it away. Then he returned and sat down beside Pearl. The springs in the couch scrunched up with their metallic noises.
Awkward silence ...
Except for the napping dogs in a corner of the room. They snored and that was cute.
"So," Darren said as he laced his fingers together between his open thighs, "you need an explanation, right?"
Twisting the plastic cap closed on her bottle, Pearl said, "Yeah. I'm still pretty fuzzy."
He sighed and kept his face down, his eyes hidden behind his hair. "When I got home, I saw the van driving away. It didn't take long to figure out you'd been kidnapped. I put the cap on the truck, the mattress in the bed, and I tracked you down."
"Why didn't you call the police?" She put the bottle on the coffee table.
"I thought I could get to you faster."
"What in the world did you think you were going to do once you found me?"
He got to his feet, releasing the springs. But he was still looking down. "I'm about to show you a big secret, and you need to keep quiet about it."
Folding her arms, Pearl asked him, "Are you on the run from the law?"
He pulled his shirt off and casually tossed it on the seat he'd been in. "No, but I need you to calm down and keep an open mind."
"I am calm," she said as she watched him take off his jeans. "Why are you getting naked?"
It was like his eyes were trying to avoid hers. "It makes things easier." His underwear was slipped off. Yep. He still looked fine as hell.
Pearl knew he felt awkward when he turned around. His ass, back, and legs all made her want to hug him from behind. "Hey," she said, "you okay?"
Something ... something in his limbs loudly popped. His back and arms contorted in a way that made Pearl cringe.
Hair? It was just ... coming out, like it had been hiding in his skin and was waiting for permission to say hello. His feet stretched up as the heels rose. Fingernails darkened and even lengthened, more so on the left hand. The fluffy hair on the head shrunk back as if it wanted to hide while straighter hair took its place.
