Three Wild Werewolf Tales by Calandra Hunter Read Free Book Online Page A

more careful.
    And the whole thing could’ve been a lot worse. He could’ve been hit by a hunter who figured he’d put Alex out of his misery and shoot him instead of treating him. He could’ve been hit by someone who had no idea how to handle animals.
    All in all, the vet hadn’t been that bad. Sure, he was still wearing his muzzle and stuck in a dog crate, but the vet had been as gentle as possible, talked soothingly and tried to take care of Alex to the best of his abilities. Hell, any other night Alex would’ve been happy to meet a nice, caring animal lover. He liked that sort of thing in a guy.
    He sighed, putting those thoughts out of his mind in favour of trying to get some sleep. He did his best to ignore the noise from the other animals and closed his eyes.
     
    ~*~
     
    Alex woke up at the start of his transformation back to being human, and as usual, it wasn’t exactly comfortable. It wasn’t as painful as the first few times, when Alex had felt like his skin was being torn in two while his bones were about to break. Now, it felt more like a persistent cramp in his legs and arms, with some lingering nausea and briefly being unable to breathe. He pushed and pulled against the crate as he thrashed, panting heavily as fur turned into bare skin. Some of the other dogs in the room let out panicked yelps.
    He lay curled up on his side for some time, resting. As usual, his body felt stiff and sore, as if he’d finished a gruelling work-out. His headache was gone, and while the leg that had been hit last night felt more sore than usual, he could move it freely, and Alex smiled, patting his thigh. That was one thing he wouldn’t have to worry about anymore.
    His senses were still heightened, and would be for the next few days, which made him all the more aware that he had spent the night in a dog crate, sleeping on a blanket usually meant for an actual dog. The scent was all over him by now, and once he got out and back to the other werewolves, they’d mock him for days.
    He slowly got up on his knees, thankful that the vet had put him in a large enough crate. He was able to kneel down, wincing as his right calf cramped up. It always took some time to recover after a transformation. Turning into a wolf was equally uncomfortable and disorienting.
    Alex curled both hands into fists, then stretched them a few times to get used to having fingers again. First things first, he had to get this ridiculous muzzle off. It was uncomfortable and painful now, and he fiddled impatiently with the straps on the back off his head, relieved when he was able to unbuckle them and slide the damn thing off. He ran his fingers through his shaggy blond hair, massaging his head briefly to get rid of the last remnants of pain.
    All right, time for his great escape. If only he could actually see the latch, as working with a metal plate in the way was annoying, and his fingers couldn’t entirely reach. He did feel a metal bar, and was that some of lever? He tried to push it up, then tried to push it down, but it wouldn’t budge. Okay, maybe that bit was supposed to stay where it was.
    He lay his head down and peered up through the bars to figure out what he had to do. The angle was awkward and told him there were two separate latches rather than just one. He should’ve paid more attention to the vet closing the crate last night.
    He sighed, then went back to fiddling with the latches, getting increasingly impatient. He’d managed to get something moving, but he couldn’t tell if it had been moving in the right direction or not. He glanced up at a clock on the wall underneath the window. 6:30 on a Saturday morning, he should still have a few hours before the vet got up. Everyone liked to sleep in during the weekend.
    “Morning, buddy, just thought I’d – what?!”
    It was the sound of something breaking that made Alex look up into the eyes of the guy who had hit him. His brown hair was standing up at an awkward angle, and the light