Chapter One

Virginia stood before the large window, arms crossed, face set in a concerned frown.

"Where is he?" she muttered under her breath, staring hard into the darkness. When there was no reply, she let out an angry sigh. "I should've known better than to agree to let him take that walk. Who knows what he could be doing?!"

The door to her room closed loudly behind her, and she spun toward the sound hopefully—but came up short.

"Wolf?"

The man leaning against the door stared at her with listless eyes and swallowed hard. "I…think I need to…go to bed."

Virginia stared at him, wide-eyed. "Wolf, what happened? You're covered in blood!"

His eyes abruptly shifted from sickly to furious. "What of it?" He snarled, pushing himself off the door and stalking towards her. "What does it matter to you? Are you trying to control everything I do now?!"

Virginia's heartbeat sped up, but she kept a calm face. "Wolf, I was just concerned."

"Oh, concerned." His expression became angry. "You're not concerned about me—no, of course not, you never are. Prim, perfect Virginia, always brushing people aside." His eyes became wild. "You're just worried about yourself."

"I am not worried about myself—"

"You lie!" He leapt forward and grabbed her by the wrists, pulling her face close to his and whispering, "I can smell it, did you forget?" He stared at the throbbing jugular vein in her neck, and it took all Virginia's will power to stay still. Then Wolf breathed slowly, "You're afraid of me…"

Virginia remained motionless.

"Aren't you."

She didn't reply and his eyes blazed a fiery gold. "Aren't you!?!"

Abruptly he spun around, releasing his grip on her so suddenly that she nearly fell backward. He charged into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him.

His wife merely stood there for a moment, staring in silent shock at the now-closed door. Then slowly she walked to the door and knocked gently. She could hear whimpering coming from inside.

"Wolf…?"

The door burst open and a teary-eyed Wolf grabbed her hands and dropped to his knees.

"I'm sorry, oh I'm so sorry, Virginia. I don't now what came over me—I didn't mean it; I barely even remember what I said!" Tears ran unchecked down his face and Virginia freed a hand from his grip to run it over his hair.

"It's all right," she said quietly, stroking his dark, disheveled hair. "You'll be all right now."

"No…" He forced himself to look her in the face—humiliated because he knew he'd just done something terrible, but couldn't remember what it was. Then he saw the red marks on her wrist where he'd grabbed her.

"Oh no, no-wooooo!!" He howled, pulling away from her and leaping to his feet, running to the other side of the room. "I…" His voice choked. "I did that to you." He began to cry again and Virginia wanted nothing more than to hold him and tell him everything would be all right. He took a shuddering breath. "My dear…dainty, delicious Virginia…I hurt you!"

"No! No you didn't, it's just a mark, it'll go away!"

Wolf shook his head rapidly, throwing his usually impeccably combed hair even more out of place. "Tie me up."

"No!"

"Yes!" He yelled, running to the bed and ripping the sheets off, nearly tripping over them as he wrapped his arms around the tall bedpost. "The ropes we used last time didn't work, didn't hold me, I don't remember how but I got loose. You have to keep me from escaping! From—" His eyes flashed gold and he ground out through clenched teeth, "—hurting you again!"

"Wolf—"

"Now!"

Virginia obeyed, crossing the room to where he stood with his arms tight around the bedpost. She looked doubtfully at the twisted sheets as she picked them up and began to wrap them around her husband and the post. "Are you really sure these will hold you? Couldn't you just slip through them?"

He snarled. "Don't give the wolf ideas! Just—be silent! And get something to tie my hands!"

"We don't have anything else," Virginia snapped, starting to get angry in spite of herself. Why hadn't they prepared better for this? Did she think that just because she married him that his moon cycles would stop? They were going to have to go through this every full moon for the rest of their natural lives!

"Then go to Wendell and find something." Wolf muttered with obvious effort to keep himself under control. "He's the King, he should have some resources."

Virginia shook her head. "Oh, no. I am not leaving you alone again. You remember what happened last time?"

"Of course not!"

"Then let me refresh your memory. You ate a whole coop of chickens, Wolf. Do you seriously think I'm going to give you the chance of escaping and running loose in Wendell's castle?! Who knows what you would eat—or who!"

"If you don't find something for my hands soon, I'm going to get through these ties and get loose anyway." His eyes grew dark. "You should go."

Virginia crossed her arms and stared into his face defiantly. "No."

"Virginia…" He whined, trying to twist around so he could see her straight on. "You have to! I'll get loose—I know I will. And if you're here when that happens…" He whimpered. "I'll eat you." She didn't move, and Wolf threw his head back and howled loud at the ceiling. "Why do you tempt me this way?!" He yelled, squeezing his eyes shut. "Do you want to die?"

"No…I don't. But if we're going to be spending the rest of our lives together, we need to find a way to get through this." She took a slow breath. "And I don't believe that you would ever really eat me."

"I would!" He moaned, scratching his fingernails deep into the polished wooden post. "Oh, I would I would!"

"Have you ever eaten anyone you cared about before?"

Wolf whimpered. "No, but—"

"See?" Virginia let out a sigh of relief. "Then you won't eat me."

"But you are the only human I've ever cared for!" He winced as a painful spasm wracked his body, sweat pouring down his face. "All the others were wolves—we all went through this at the same time! We wouldn't eat our own kind!"

"You're half-human, Wolf. I'm part of your kind too!"

"It's different than that!" He suddenly let out an inhuman scream and Virginia watched in amazement as he seemed to suddenly transform before her eyes. His face seemed to become more angular, his teeth sharper, eyes blazing a malevolent red. His canines brushed his bottom lip when he clenched his teeth and gasped out in a low, gravelly voice— "Go."