When Rhett got home, even though the only thing he wanted to do was go to bed and even though Link kept insisting that he rest - Rhett, with Link's assistance, managed to get out of his clothes and set up a research station on the couch, curling up with his laptop while Link offered to make him some soup. Rhett didn't have the heart, or the courage, to tell Link what he was really craving wasn't soup or anything normal. Rhett wanted steak - raw, bloody, uncooked steak. And that thought was unnerving. Sure, Rhett loved his meat like any true, hot-blooded man - and yeah, he liked it more on the rare side, but he always at least wanted it cooked.

He licked his lips and brought up a trusty search engine, starting by one-handedly typing in the generic keyword 'werewolves.' The only results that showed was werewolves in popular media - from movies to books to old lore. Rhett revised his search several times, trying to find something on the subject. But as he scrolled through the list of offered websites, there was absolutely nothing confirming werewolves being real or how to treat a bite. It was crazy to think they existed. Rhett knew this, but for some reason, he couldn't shake the thought.

Link walked out of the kitchen with a steaming bowl of soup in hand as well as a glass of water. "Here. I don't know if it'll help any, but it's something. And it's the least I could do..."

"Thanks. You're doing way too much already. And I know I shouldn't ask you to do anything more, but I'm gonna anyway. I need you to look things up for me. I'm trying to, but it's painstakingly slow doing this with one hand."

"Anything, man." Link turned toward him, sincerity bright in his eyes.

"Okay. Before I give you the computer, I need you to hear me out. I know it's gonna sound crazy. For all I know, I am going crazy. But you need to promise this stays between you and me. Don't tell Jessie. Don't tell the doctors. Got it?"

"Of course. You can trust me. You know that. You should know that by now, anyway. I don't know how many more years I need to prove it to you if you don't know already."

Rhett licked his lips. He knew the words were going to sound insane before he even spoke them aloud. He just hoped Link wouldn't judge him too harshly. "So I think I might have been bitten by a werewolf."

Link raised a brow, and then he started to laugh uncertainly. "C'mon now..."

"I'm serious, Link."

"No way." He dismissed it with another uneasy laugh - this one even weaker as though every minute Rhett didn't laugh along with him made him more uncomfortable.

Rhett didn't say anything. He remained stonefaced to show it wasn't a joke.

Finally, Link frowned. "A werewolf? Really? You know they're not real, right? They're just made up. Man, that fever sure is doing a number on you. I told you, you should've rested. Or you should've postponed the wedding. It was way too much activity after getting attacked. And attacked by a regular wolf. Not a werewolf."

"Goddamnit, Link! Listen to what I'm saying!" Rhett's frustrations exploded from him. How could he make him see? It stunned Link to silence, and Rhett drew in a deep breath - pressing on. "I don't believe it myself. We grew up on the same planet, you know. Werewolves aren't real. And yet, I can't shake this feeling that something is really wrong with me and it ain't something the doctors can fix. I'm getting these thoughts, feelings, and desires that I've never had before. And it's not just me being delirious. These stem from a deeper place."

When Link didn't respond, Rhett was sure he had blown his one chance to convince him. He started to think of ways to do damage control, raking his mind for the right words. He ran his good hand over his face in an attempt to wipe away his frustration, and after a moment, Link broke the awkward silence.

"What kind of feelings? What's going on? Talk to me, Rhett..."

Rhett sighed, leaning back against the couch. "It started at the wedding. And it's just impulses, really. Like I wanted to strip down naked and run through the woods - which might have been a normal thought if I was drunk and might even still be a normal thought with the medication I'm on. But I couldn't stop thinking about the moon, wanting to be under its glow - sitting with other wolves as we howl at the sky. The thought of eating your soup makes me sick, which is weird because you don't make a bad soup. But the only thing that seems satisfying is a rare steak. And I'm not talking restaurant rare. I mean, straight out of the grocery store package rare. Maybe even better if it's still attached to the animal rare."

Link frowned in thought. "I'm still not sure if this is an elaborate joke or not. But I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt right now and just say you're being honest."

"I am being honest."

"Okay. So you're being honest. And you don't think this is just some side-effect from the trauma you went through? Like maybe the infection is getting to your brain and we need to get you back to the doctor?"

"No. No more doctors. There ain't a damn thing the doctor can do at this point because it's beyond their control. I'm telling you."

"You don't know, Rhett! And quite frankly, you're scaring me with this."

"I should've kept my mouth shut. I was an idiot, thinking you'd help me out..."

"Hold on, hold on. I didn't say I wasn't going to help you. I'll look it up and do all the research you need. I'd even go try to track that wolf you shot if that'd solve anything. But you admitted that it sounds crazy, and I'm trying to think of a logical solution to this."

"There isn't one, Link."

"There has to be." Link's words were short and clipped. "We're just not seeing it yet."

"Then if there's a logical reason, it's gonna show up after we start searching." Rhett pinched the bridge of his nose. "We have to start..." He sat forward, trying to summon up the strength to use the computer again.

Link reached out, pushing Rhett down onto the couch, hovering over him. "You need to rest. I'll look. You just rest. Got it?"

Link was so close, Rhett could feel the heat of Link's body searing his. It burned even stronger than his fever and filled him with an ache that went beyond the pain from his broken arm. Rhett wanted Link. It was deeply ingrained in him for all the years they had known each other, and even more now - now that having Link was forbidden, now that Rhett had made a vow to love and to cherish Jessie. But Link was moving away before Rhett could make the move - his heat was gone, leaving only the burning embers that tingled behind on his skin and deep down to his groin. Funny thing, that. Link had been close to him like that before, but Rhett's body never reacted in such a way. Maybe he was more delirious than he originally thought? Maybe Link was right and he needed to rest.

"Right..." Rhett licked his dry lips. "I'm exhausted. Too tired to move from this spot."

"So don't move. I'll do all the moving for you."

Rhett closed his eyes, but they snapped open as soon as he felt Link's hands unbuttoning his pants. He jumped in surprise, and his crotch jumped to attention - causing him to try and brush Link's hands away. "What're ya doing?"

"I, um, I thought I'd help you get more comfortable..." Link's eyes were focused on the bulge before he looked away sheepishly. "Rhett, I ain't part of your wedding night. But it's, uh, good to see all things are working..."

Rhett groaned, grabbing a cushion and shoving it over his crotch. "It's not for you..." he lied. "The medication has me all kinds of...the werewolf thing's got weird side-effects is all."

"Right..." Link sounded amused. "Well. I won't tell Jessie either way. Let me get you a blanket so you can be comfortable."

Rhett heard Link get up and leave before he closed his eyes in embarrassment. Seriously - what the hell had that been? It felt like an awkward, teenage boner - uncontrollable and mind-consuming. If his body kept responding like this, it was going to be insanely difficult to keep his secret.

Over the course of the next couple days, Rhett got much worse. If he wasn't hovering over the toilet throwing up, he was huddling up in his bed, freezing and sweating. His body was racked with constant pain, and the only thing the medication managed to do was knock him out from time to time until he woke up and had to face it all again tenfold. Jessie insisted that he return to the hospital, but Rhett managed to talk his way out of it, claiming it was a common reaction to the medication, or so his doctor said, and he would return to normal in no time - that he just needed to let things run their course. It was probably Jessie's desire to believe everything would turn out okay that made her listen, but Rhett was grateful she did. It made it easier to keep in touch with Link.

Link kept up his end of the bargain, doing as much research as he could on werewolves. He didn't have much luck either, but he did manage to find one website that was about allegedly real werewolves - from where they frequented to moon behaviors and what to do if you came into contact with one. Rhett thought that was all the confirmation they needed, but Link was skeptical.

That afternoon, Rhett was laying around in his sweatpants on the couch, wiping the sweat off his brow with the edge of his stained t-shirt when his door opened and Link walked in, carrying a pile of books. He dumped them on the table before Rhett, dusting his hands off.

"There."

Rhett raised a brow. "There what?"

"There..." Link gestured his hand toward the pile. "All of the information I could find about werewolves at the library. I sure hope you're ready to read it all up 'cause it's gonna be a long car ride." He headed toward the stairs.

"Car ride? Wait, what? What's going on here, Link?" Rhett turned to face him, only to be overcome by a dizzy spell.

"You just sit there. I'll pack your things. We'll...we'll figure out what to tell Jessie. But I figure, if we drive fast enough - we should be able to get to California in 30 hours straight. That still gives us enough time..."

"Time? California? What are you talking about? You're not making any sense."

"This whole goddamn thing doesn't make any sense, Rhett!" Link burst out, staring at him with a fear filled mania. After a few seconds, he shook his head - calming down. "We're wasting time here. I'll pack your things and we can just go from there."

"At least explain to me why we're going to California and what you hope to accomplish there?" Rhett furrowed his brows.

"I don't know, Rhett. I don't know! But what I do know is the person that created that one werewolf website we found lives out there. I did my research. I found her. Ruby Barton. And if anyone has answers or a way to reverse this or just answers in general, well, it's her, right?"

"I guess so. But couldn't we just call her up? Do we really have to go to all of this effort? Traveling all that way seems like a challenge with the way I feel is all I'm saying."

Link's expression crumbled and he could barely find his voice, clutching the stairway rail so tightly Rhett thought it would be crushed beneath his bony fingers. "You're dying, Rhett. If there's one chance we can save you, even if it's one in a million...well, I'd rather do that. It's all I can think of - and if all those books I read are right, you have four days tops before you become, well, one of them. And if you become one of them, then I lose you forever. Humans and wolves don't coexist." Link shrugged weakly. "That's why we didn't know about them until now, until you stupidly shot one of them."

Rhett fell into guilt-ridden silence. He chewed the skin on the back of his lip before he sighed. "Link, I..."

"Look. There's plenty of time for this shit on the road. I'm just gonna get your things, and we'll go..."

Rhett wanted to protest. How could either of them uproot their lives and head to California on a whim? There was a very slim chance they were chasing a dead end. But the look on Link's face and the defeated devastation in his voice made it impossible to say no. Who knew. Maybe this was the answer both of them had been waiting for. Maybe they would be able to come out of this and go back to their lives as normal. It never hurt to hope, right? Meeting this Ruby Barton would do one thing at least - confirm whether werewolves existed or not.

Rhett shut off the television and groaned as he got up to his feet. It took a great deal of strength and resolve to remain standing. and once he was sure he wasn't going to fall on his face, he gathered up the books as best as he could. There was one thing and one thing only that Rhett knew for certain. He wasn't going anywhere without the blanket that was wrapped around his shoulders or the pillow from his bed. As long as he had those two items, he would go with Link anywhere he needed to go on this demented road trip.