"Seventeen weeks."
"Twenty weeks."
Lauren had gone from not being pregnant at all to five months pregnant in just two weeks. I would have deemed the doctors quacks had it not been for the rapid changes Lauren had gone through.
The morning I woke up with the first sign of coarse hair on my hands was also the morning when the deep purple line trailing from Lauren's navel down became extremely prominent. She had lost sight of her feet the day before.
She was still sleeping as I studied the dark blonde fur. I rubbed it and sighed. The full moon was two days away.
I turned back to Lauren. Slowly I swept her hair away from her neck. She didn't feel as warm to me as in the past. Then again, I could feel the sweat beading on my own forehead. I was desensitived.
Lauren's normally smooth, slender neck was scratchy. Dark brown hair trailed down towards her back. I yanked my hand back, my eyes squeezing shut.
It was happening. No amount of denial was going to stop it.
The subject was taboo, but that didn't stop me from obsessing and finding any information I could. I didn't want to be scared like the first time.
I wanted to be prepared; even more so now that I had passed it on to Lauren. The guilt made the need that much stronger.
"Mmm," Lauren moaned. She rolled over and curled up to me. I pressed a hand to her stomach.
Information on potentially pregnant were-women didn't exist on line. I had no idea what to expect. The only thing I was able to find confirmed my suspicion on why her due date kept changing.
A standard wolf's pregnancy only lasts sixty-three days.
"Mmm," Lauren moaned again. Her hand pressed against my chest. The top of her hand was covered in the same dark brown fur.
"Nick," she whispered. Her eyes fluttered open.
"Hey," I whispered back.
Things had been tense between the two of us. I think both of us were living in our own little worry bubble. This was the closest that Lauren had been to me since---since---
I didn't have time to think about dates. She kissed me hard. Then she growled.
The events after that were a blur. Lauren was strong; just as strong as me. This time there were no bruises. It was insane; it was vicious.
It was good.
We must have fallen asleep afterwards - I don't really recall. Just like the last time, big chunks of time were blacked out in my mind.
Lauren's scream woke me up.
"What?" I asked, scrambling to sit up. I rubbed my back against the headboard; the itching was starting again.
Lauren sat, bare chested, staring in horror at her hands. "What's happening?"
She tossed back the covers, only to scream again. Her legs - the legs she had laser waxed, or whatever the girls did to make them feel like butter, were slowly spreading in dense brown fur.
It was happening to her quicker than it had for me the first time. Maybe it was the pregnancy...the hormones already throwing her off balance. I don't know. I do know that I could relate to her fear.
"It's almost the full moon," I said. She turned to look at me. I showed her my hands.
"So what?" she snapped.
I was walking a very shaky line. I swallowed hard. "That's when the transformation takes place. From human to werewolf."
"You're fucking insane. If I wasn't..." she gestured towards her stomach. "If I wasn't a freak of nature right now, I'd leave."
"You can't," I said forcefully. "I don't want you to be alone when it---when it happens."
Lauren stood up. I averted my eyes from the sight of the odd bone protruding from her back.
"Conversation over, Nickolas."
Indeed, the conversation was over. Lauren took her shower. I took mine. We sat around the house, miserably running our backs along walls, on the chair, anywhere that would take the itching done slightly.
Towards lunchtime, Lauren disappeared into the kitchen. She was gone so long that I couldn't help but check on her. I found her standing with the refrigerator door open eating hamburger.
Raw hamburger.
"Laur," I said. She looked up. The sight wasn't revolting. To anyone else, yes, but not to me.
"Help," she whispered.
"I'm not going anywhere," I promised.
"When does the sun set?" Lauren asked.
We were sitting side by side in the doorway of our balcony, watching the sun dip lower on the horizon. I felt oddly in control. I knew what was about to happen. Lauren clung to a kleenex, her eyes red-rimmed. We were both dressed in swimsuits. Anything else was too confining--too hot.
"In a few minutes. I don't remember if it happened exactly at that point or not."
There was no way Lauren could deny it any longer. We hadn't slept at all the night before. Instead we had stayed up and I had gone over ever little bit of information I had gleaned. She closed her eyes and tipped her head back.
"So, I'll have to go through two of these...these things before I give birth?" she asked fifteen minutes later. The shadows of the night were beginning to form. I could hear the water not far off lapping onto shore.
"If the theory's right. Yes."
"What are we going to do with four--"
She never had the chance to finish her sentence. She crumpled out of her chair. A moment later, the same feeling overtook me. It was the same as before - every bond in my body seemingly broke and shifted. My face was no longer my own. Nose and jaw elongated with agonizing slowness. I fell to the floor, my body writhing to and fro. Hands became paws. Sight weakened; smell strengthened.
Lauren's somber howl broke me from my narcissim. My head turned.
Her fur was brown and long. She pawed at the ground, desperately trying to gnaw at herself. I nuzzled her, if only to tell her it was alright. I didn't want her to maim herself like I had tried to do the month before. She turned and snapped the air in my direction.
I had made adequate preparations just in case. I had called all the guys to let them know Lauren and I were going out of town. I hadn't even told them about the pregnancy yet. The more people that knew, the more questions that would have been asked.
The other thing I did was to buy steaks in bulk. They were sitting on the kitchen counter. I refused to go out on the streets. To do so meant danger for myself...and for anyone walking the streets.
Lauren was the first to move towards the stairs. I trotted at her backside.
The steaks were gone in seconds.
Planning ahead has never been my strong suit, but this was life or death. As it so happens, Lauren and I spent the evening curled up on our mattress, noses touching. It's crazy, but in wolf form, I could even sense the babies more than ever. I picked up on their movement. I couldn't imagine what Lauren was feeling. I lovingly licked the side of her face. A tear cascaded out of one large golden eye.
With every fiber of my being, I hated that I had done this to her. The worst part was not knowing how it would end.
But, for the here and now, it was all about just getting through the night.
The morning would only bring more questions.
