Never Again – 38

 

"For God's sake will you just tell me? Whatever it is, it can't be as bad as you think. Not if Rawleigh accepted it." Cal frowned. "He did, didn't he?"

"Yes." Joseph smiled softly, remembering. "Yes, he did."

"Well damn it, if he could and he was just a kid, then so can I."

"About that," Joseph said, looking for any way to postpone the moment, "he wasn't exactly a kid."

"Oh. I thought, from the way you talked about him. So he was an older man? Older than you?"

"No, we were very close to the same age, just two years apart." He smiled slightly. "I was the older one."

"But he…he did die? I mean he's not going to show up someday and, well—"

"Yes. He died in the war."

"Hang on a second. Which war? Iraq? He was in the army?"

"No. He was a reporter and… damn it." Joseph's mouth tightened in anxiety. "All right, this is where my story gets strange, or it will seem like it is to you."

"How strange?" Cal looked up at him fearfully.

"I'll preface this in the same way I did with him, if you don't mind." Joseph began to pace again, never taking his eyes off Cal. "In this world there are many beings. Most are like you, human. A few, a very few—aren't. I'm one of them."

"Right. Sure. Look, Joe, whatever's going on with you, and it has to be bad, please don't take me for a fool and try to turn it into some sort of…of damned fairytale," Cal growled, anger now filling his face.

Joseph winced but didn't back away. "Myth, Cal, not a fairytale. Most people think, hope, we are just a myth and we let them. It would be more than our lives are worth to reveal ourselves."

"Yet according to you, that's what you're doing with me. What the hell do you think you are? What sort of delusion are you living under?"

As he replied, Joseph began to undress, staring at Cal as he did, willing him to understand. "I'm what's called a shifter. A human who can take another form. In my case, I become a wolf."

Cal snorted in disbelief. "Werewolves are things out of bad movies and TV shows, Joe. They don't exist in the real world." Then his eyes widened and he jumped to his feet, backing away, hands held out in front of him as if to ward off what he was seeing.

The wolf stood silently, its black tail partially erect, its head held high with its ears forward. It stared at Cal then, suddenly, it sat on its haunches, its tail slowly wagging.

"Okay," Cal said angrily, "what in damnation is going on here? What did you do, Joe, hypnotize me somehow or something? Enough with the fucking games."

Almost instantly Joseph stood in front of him again. "It's no game, Cal. The wolf is part of what I am."

"Like hell it is! That's not possible. What I just saw, it's not possible."

Joseph shifted again. And then back. "It is possible. Why can't you believe what you saw with your own two eyes?"

"Because… because…" Cal dropped down on the boulder again, burying his face in his hands as he whispered, "Because if I believe, then it means—"

"Means what, Cal?" Joseph asked quietly, kneeling in front of him. "Do you think I'm a different man now? I'm not."

Lifting his head, Cal stared at him. "I suppose that's true enough," he replied after a long moment. He chuckled suddenly, much to Joseph's surprise. "And here I thought keeping our relationship a secret was hard. Poor you, you have to deal with that and this."

Joseph smiled, patting his leg. "Now we both do."

"Yeah, I suppose so." Putting his hand over Joseph's, he smiled back. "I guess it means I'm important to you, since you trusted me enough to show me."

"Very important, in case this is the first time you realized it."

Cal nodded. "No, I knew that." Taking a deep breath he asked, "Would you telling me also have something to do with whatever your plan is?"

"Honestly, it made it more imperative to tell you now rather than wait until… until I thought it wouldn't send you running out of my life."

"You were willing to risk that in order to save what we're doing? To save Rebuild?"

Joseph nodded. "It was a calculated risk but I guess, deep in my heart, I knew you could handle it."

Cal snorted. "Like hell you did."

"Okay, yeah, you're right. I was scared stiff actually, but it had to be done."

"Speaking of stiff," Cal said with a grin, raking his glance over Joseph's naked body, "if you don't get dressed right now—"

"Good idea, at the moment." Joseph got to his feet and put on his jeans. "Better?"

"Marginally, but yeah. So what's this plan of yours?"