Page 106 of His Hungry Wolf

His Caged Wolf

Chapter 1

Quin

I can’t believe Lou talked me into doing this. At one point he’s talking about how I’ll go feral if I don’t get out and meet somebody. And the next thing I know I’m yelling at him about how that’s not how going feral works. He then tells me that that is exactly how it works and makes up a story about a dog that went crazy because it was tied up all day.

As insulting as it was to compare me to a dog, I have to admit that he’s not entirely wrong. I’ve struggled figuring out who I am. Am I my father’s miracle son as my father always say? Or, am I the thing that the rest of the world sees me as and that I’m always trying to suppress?

Either way, my life sucks. I mean, I have everything in life anyone could ask for thanks to my father’s wildly successful genetics research company. But, it comes with a trade-off that makes it not worth it.

My father thought he was doing the world a service by curing infertility. And since my mom was infertile, she became the first test subject. I’m proof that it worked. But it had a side effect that no one could ever have imagined.

I lock myself away because of that side effect. And, because of it, I’m scared as hell of the full moon.

It’s not that I think anything is going to happen to me during a full moon. There’s been a lot of full moons since the first time, and I believe in science.

What terrifies me about it is what other people think will happen. If they’ve heard of me —and who hasn’t heard of me thanks to my showboating father — and they see me out in a full moon, every crazy story they’ve read turns me into a monster in their eyes.

I don’t want to feel their judgement or terror. What’s more, I don’t want to smell it. I’ve been told that I’m the only one who notices it, but people’s scents are overwhelming. That’s part of the reason I lock myself in my dorm room when I’m not attending class. Well, that and fact that no one at East Tennessee University has recognized me yet and I want it to stay that way.

The only one so far who knows about my condition is Louis, my roommate and first actual friend. I told him after the University matched us and I decided that this was the year I would attend.

Lou also happens to be the gayest guy I’ve ever met. Not only that, he has skills. He can scan a room full of boys with their girlfriends and have a date in 20 minutes. I thought I liked guys, but he is boy crazy.

I was far from that. Don’t get me wrong, I wanted sex. During a certain time of the month, it is all I can think about. The full moon might not turn me into a snarling, half-human beast. But, it makes me think of sex like I need it to breath. The older I get, the worse it gets.

Is there a chance not leaving my dorm will make me go feral like Lou casually suggested? I don’t think so. I’ve had a lot more control over things compared to when I was a kid. If this was an alcohol problem instead of what it is, I could say that I haven’t had a drink in years.

But, whether Lou was joking or not, I didn’t want him thinking that me going feral was a possibility. So, after some yelling and fighting, I looked up the only party on campus happening tonight, and dressed for it.

“Finally,” Lou said as I headed to the door.

What killed me was that after all of our arguing, as I left he had a smirk on his face. It was like this was his plan all along and I was the only one who actually got upset. He had manipulated me into going out and getting a life. That sneaking little bastard!

“And I want proof that you didn’t just go to a park and chase squirrels or something.”

“I don’t chase squirrels!” I protested strongly.

“Whatever! But, when I get back from my date, I want to see a naked guy in your bed and I want to see some shame, Mister. Plenty of it.”

“There will be! There will be plenty of shame, for you. Because of how wrong you were about me… and stuff.”

“Good.”

“Good.”

“I mean it, Quin.”

“Me too.”

So now, here I am marching across campus to the only party that my last-minute research turned up. East Tennessee University’s football team won against West Tennessee University their cross-state rivals earlier in the day and the football fraternity was throwing a party. Nothing about any of that sounded fun, but I’m going… because Lou tricked me into it.

Fine. I’ll go. I’ll get proof that I was there. Then I’ll go to a coffee shop and read a book on my phone.

I know he mentioned that thing about finding someone naked in my bed, but there’s no way that’s going to happen. I couldn’t lose my virginity in a pool full of dicks. Believe me, I’ve tried. But as soon as anyone gets a good look at me and realizes who I am, they either talk about leashing me in case I turn on them in the middle of sex, or they run for the hills.

Nope. It looks like I’ll just have to spend the rest of my life as a sad, lonely virgin. Did I just bum myself out? I think I did. Now I’m really not in the mood for a party.