‘I am fed up with hiding from the world,’ Alastair said kicking the corner of the table and snapping away his bottle of beer.

His demented sister Rita stared at him and grimaced, while Rick punched the same table. He was having enough of his beta’s tantrums. But the truth was, ever since Alastair had managed to scratch his right eye away, that he had felt he could outrank the alpha. He shouldn’t have bitten him on that cursed Blood Moon night. Now, not only Alastair desired to become the alpha as he also desired something else: the love – or perhaps lust – of Rick’s alpha partner, Mariel.

‘You guys please stop this nonsense,’ Mariel demanded as she dutifully cleaned Rick’s forever wounded eye and changed his bandage. She couldn’t deny and Rick knew it. He smelled it. His tall, broad-shouldered stature and bronze skin had attracted her and had made her agree to only have Rick in her life, but Alastair’s rebellious character pleased her. She loved his half-shaved head contrasting with the other, long-haired half. It gave him a wild look. But alphas mate for life. And the only way for her to be with Alastair was something she dared not even dream of. It was the highest treason in their world which would inevitably end with the death of the traitor.

The four of them had lived in that house in the woods, away from everybody, for over fifty years. Rick had tried to control the pack but even a wise alpha like him could lose it during the Full Moon. He had lost count of the people they had killed, whether on a spree or whether someone got lost in the woods and found their lair. They could not afford to let a stranger go back to town and reveal their secret. It wouldn’t take long until the house was set on fire, or they would be perforated by silver swords and bullets. That was why Rick had to tame Alastair. That was why Rita was also transformed. So that Rick could keep Alastair under control, even though Rick now sensed he no longer cared about his sister and wouldn’t mind let her die.

The alpha and the beta would often get involved in fights both as humans and as werewolves. Getting iron cages didn’t work either. It was easy for Mariel and him to push howling, foaming Rita inside and lock themselves too but Alastair had just refused.

‘Alastair, you do know what’s at stake,’ Rick reminded him as Mariel finished tying his bandage.

But Alastair just stared at Mariel who bowed her head, embarrassed, yet pleased for being the love interest of two gorgeous men. If only she could have both.

‘You transformed me,’ Alastair growled at him. ‘I never asked to serve you.’

Rick swallowed hard, trying to remain calm.

‘I made you powerful and immortal,’ he hissed.

‘What’s good about being powerful and immortal when locked in a cage during Full Moon? And another Blood Moon is coming, you should take the chance to grow the pack. Maybe find yourself another partner.’

Mariel blushed. Rick got up, his massive body knocking his chair down.

‘How dare you, mutt?’

Alastair looked at him in the eyes challengingly. Rita laughed but Mariel just rushed outside, unable to bear the fight.

She sighed as she got to the woods and took her hand to her heart. She loved Rick. She loved the sense of protection he inspired in her, the fire in his eyes whenever they made love and how he would do anything to show her his love. She had always been sure she loved him back equally. Until Alastair joined the pack. Submissive at first, he didn’t take long to show them he was not one to follow, rather to command. Mariel knew too, that he desired her and as much as she desired him back, she couldn’t tell if he loved her or just lusted her. That’s why she wanted Rick around. Rick would protect her. Alastair… deep inside she knew he only wanted power and having her as his mate would be nothing but a display of might.

‘You deserve much better than to be the mate of a loser,’ she heard his voice and the same time her nostrils caught his scent. ‘We are werewolves, and all that idiot wants is for us to be locked in a cage during Full Moon.’

‘He doesn’t want to hurt people and you know it,’ she answered back but she knew he could sense the weakness in her voice.

‘Screw that,’ he growled again.

Suddenly, before she could do anything to stop it, he pulled her to him and held her in his arms, his mouth dangerously close to her ear. She gasped as a guilty warmth invaded her body.

‘Let’s just get rid of him once and for all,’ he whispered, seductively. ‘We are three, it will be easy. My stupid sister will help.’

‘I can’t… They…’

‘Screw them! We’re meant to be free.’

‘They will kill us, all the others. They will know. It will run in their blood, and they will come after us.’

But her words were baffled by his full lips, and she found herself taking her hands to his half-shaved, half long-haired head. He followed and ran his fingers through her beautiful thick red hair before holding her waist and staring at her deep in her eyes.

The sky was getting darker and soon the moon would reveal herself and force her bloodthirsty power on them.

‘Let’s do it, Mariel. I will make you happy, I promise.’

She reached for his lips again.

‘If he finds out…’ she cried.

‘That’s why we have to kill him as quickly as possible.’

‘He must already know what we are doing now.’

‘Let him,’ Alastair laughed.

Suddenly, in a moment of wisdom – or perhaps fear – she pushed him away.

‘No, I cannot do that. Leave me.’

And she rushed back home only to find a raging Rick by the door. He grabbed her, his eyes glowing yellow. He sniffed her.

‘You were with him!’ he roared.

‘No… I did nothing wrong.’

‘You body tells me something else. I smell him all over you, bitch!’

And he slapped her and tore her down even if somehow it made him feel guilty. He had never beaten her, he had never been aggressive to Mariel, even transformed. From inside, Rita cried.

Tears rolled down her eyes. She saw the red moon rising the very moment Alastair knocked Rick down. It happened before they realised it was happening. Their bodies hunched forward as thick, dark as coal hair burst from their skins and their mouths and fingers grew fangs and sharp as pitchforks claws. The two males howled and growled before pouncing on each other, forming a grotesque mass of hirsute hair. The last vision Mariel saw as a human was a figure by the entrance door. Still half woman, but her crazed yellow eyes burning like hell’s flames.

When Mariel woke up, she was half naked as usual after a transformation, her clothes torn and useless. She was in the woods, but she recognised the place. She wasn’t far from home. She sniffed the air. She couldn’t spot neither Rick nor Alastair. Where were they?

She got up in a haste and, trying to cover herself up with the rags hanging from her destroyed dress, she ran back home.

‘Rick? Alastair? Rita? Where are you?’

No reply. What if they had been caught and killed?

She got home only to find the door knocked down and a huge mess of shattered glass and wood on the floor. That’s when she saw it. And nothing could have prepared her for it. The scream formed in her throat as she kneeled before both Rick and Alastair’s dead bodies. Their throats were torn, they had killed each other.

‘No, please…’ she cried, touching both their still smooth faces.

‘It’s just us now, darling,’ she heard behind her.

She turned and saw her. No sign of the crazed, demented woman she had once been. Her clothes equally torn, displaying her round breasts, her eyes fixed on Mariel with… Mariel panted. It was desire. She had been desired by three people in the pack, not just two.

‘You’re not crazy,’ she mumbled, confused.

‘I indeed am not. Rick wanted me alive to control Alastair but to avoid questions and hide my love for you, I just acted crazy and helpless. As if the whole thing was such a shock that it left me insane. I was just waiting for an opportunity and took advantage of their fights. It was funny to see them fighting for you. It was funny to feel you liked it and I cannot blame you. Who wouldn’t? I must say I was jealous of Rick, but I managed to control myself all the time. Patience can take you far.’

‘Did you kill them?’

‘Sort of…’ Rita laughed. ‘They were killing each other. So, I used my deranged werewolf self to put an end to it. They never suspected that stupid little Rita would attack them. No more power fights now. It’s just the two of us, sweetheart.’

Mariel got up and faced her.

‘The others will find out,’ she said.

‘I don’t care.’ Rita replied, caressing Mariel’s face. ‘Let’s stick together, Mariel. If they come, I’ll act demented again and you’ll just say I lost it.’

Mariel sighed. There was something tempting in Rita’s voice. Something… Alastair. Or was she being hypnotised? She had never had lesbian tendencies, but she was feeling weak now. What was Rita doing to her?

‘Shall I shave half my head to convince you, honey?’ Rita laughed.

Mariel saw it. In her normal self, Rita’s smile was just like Alastair’s. Her scent was his. She was him. How had she never noticed? Had she only seen a crazed woman? The alpha female smiled and grabbed Rita’s hands.

‘No, you don’t need to. I see him in you and I will love you.’

And Rita took her hungry lips to Mariel’s as her hands reached for her naked waist.