3

The moon was getting fuller, the energy She exuded was pulling on Roman's wolf side. The wolf frenzy was even driving Seth to get a little antsy. Usually as the full moon was at its peak, they would escape out into the wilderness and go hunting for deer or rabbits, just to let their wolf sides loose. But the smell of a woman, his woman, was driving him nuts.

Blackberries mixed with sulfur was becoming a common scent around the arenas they went to. In the last two weeks that he had been around, showing up even when getting the Demon's glare, she'd gasp. Those little sounds drove Roman nuts when she did something like that around him.

Roman liked walking up on her silently, speak in her ear and have her jump.

"Stop that." She would hiss and shove him slightly. She could never budge him.

In the two weeks, Erin started smiling at him. In those two weeks, he'd tried and failed to get her to go out to eat with him.

This time Baron had beat him to his prize. Balor wasn't anywhere, he had something to do more than likely, and seeing as Bayley wasn't around either, it probably had to do with their mix match tag stuff.

Roman found Baron Corbin leaning on the wall looking down at Erin. She wasn't smiling, she was holding her well known iPad against her nice chest and looking at the floor. She was looking anywhere but at Corbin.

Seth's hand grabbed Roman's shoulder. "Don't do it, man. Don't start anything."

He growled at his friend, a warning to back off. Pulling away from Seth's grip, Roman headed over to where his girl was standing.

"You know, you could always come work for me." He heard Baron say. "I could treat you like a princess."

"Can you please stop?" She shifted away from him. "I like who I am working with."

"Erin, come here, please." Roman said. He tried to keep an even tone, but it was hard not to when it was blatantly obvious what Corbin was trying to do.

Baron Corbin's jaw clenched but the little woman, well short woman with the wanton curves, walked up to him.

"Um, yes, Roman?" She barely made eye contact with him as she stood in front of him.

"Follow me." He stepped aside and motioned for her to go in the direction of where Seth was standing.

Roman touched her for the first time, placing his hand on her back and pushing her down the hall. He shot Corbin one more glare before he guided Erin towards the curtain that led to the ramp.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to...I don't even know what I'm trying to say." She rubbed her face with her free hand. "He makes me uncomfortable."

"That's why I'm trying to get you away from him," Roman said as they passed Seth.

Seth fell in line after Roman. Two out of Three Shield brothers meant enough protection for this lone female, not that Seth was staking his claim with her. That went for someone else.

"Finn's match should be done about now, I'm taking you to meet up with him behind the stage."

The crowd was getting louder and louder, something must have happened out there and it was no wonder that Bayley came in first.

"Hi, Erin. I love your shirt. Did Finn talk you into getting the Spiderman shirt?" Bayley asked in her bubbly self.

"Yeah, well, it was his shirt first. I'm surprised it fit actually." Erin looked down at herself.

"Oh, you look just fine." The taller than average female superstar smiled at her. "Hi, Finn. You really do know how to stake your claim, don't you?"

Sweat dripped off the end of Finn's nose as he looked at the group. "Erin, what's the matter?"

"Baron Corbin, he kind of freaked me out. But Roman was nice enough to bring me to you."

Balor grasped her elbow, pulling her away from Roman. Though Roman was quite close to growling at the upsurge of sulfur, Seth nudged him in the ribs.

"Is everything all right around here?" Stephanie McMahon, Triple H's mate, asked.

"We're just fine, Steph." Finn said as he pulled Erin closer to him.

Erin's eyes began to glaze over, like the edge of sleep were starting to show up. She was being lulled into sleep no doubt by one of Balor's soothing spells. The man's pupils dilated, nearly filling the entirety of his eyes with black.

"I'll let you get back to it then. Roman, I need to talk to you about something." Stephanie said.

His jaw clenched but he didn't object. He didn't object when Finn took his tired assistant away.

"We need to talk about her." Stephanie said. "Look, we don't need fighting back here. Corbin's already bitching about wanting to claim her. Is she a wolf?"

"No, not that I know of. But I want her." He squared his shoulders up and looked at Triple H's human wife. "She calls to my wolf."

"Don't start shit, okay. That's the last thing my Dad wants right now." She narrowed her eyes and glanced back at Seth. "You're not having any problems are you?"

"No, just trying to keep the peace around here." He even offered a shrug in response.

"Good, now get your asses together and don't start shit." She turned and walked off, probably back to her husband.

Screw problems, the last thing Roman wanted was someone else's scent all over Erin.

When Erin woke up, she was back in the hotel room.

"What happened?" She looked down at herself, but she was wearing her clothes.

Finn's head appeared and then disappeared at the foot of the bed, only to show up again. Intrigued, Erin crawled to the end of the bed and looked down at him. Finn was doing sit ups, his rock hard abs flexing each time he came up. Being on the road prevented him from working out in a traditional manner so he did what he could in the time that he could.

"Finn? How did I get back to the hotel room?" She asked.

"I carried you."

"Yeah, right." Erin responded. She was sure he'd pulled a muscle if he even attempted to.

"You shouldn't say stuff like that." He responded in a huff.

"Say what?"

"You know what I'm talking about. Body shaming yourself isn't the way to a happy and healthy mentality."

Then she'd been mentally ill for a long time.

"I have a feeling the quietness is you saying you had something awful happen in the past. Do you want to talk about it?" He sat up and wrapped his arms around his knees as he made eye contact with her.

"No, I don't want to bother you with my size eighteen problems."

"Now you're measuring your problems?"

She shrugged and pushed some of her hair from her face. "I mean, look at me. I'm fat."

"You're healthy." He said. "You can't be shaped like one of the Bellas, or Alicia Fox, it would make your round face look weird."

"Finn," she looked at the rolls that bunched up the shirt she was wearing.

"Hawaiians, or just the whole of the Polynesian Islands in the South Pacific, believe that their women should be the shape of their islands. Even that children's movie Moana was round in stature."

"I never saw it. I didn't take you for a Disney Princess fan."

"Image is nothing to look at. Image is how you project yourself. And sometimes people know more about you at a first glance than you may think. They have a sense about a person." He leaned back on his hands and looked up at her.

Erin swung her legs over the end of the bed. "I feel like I need to go for a walk."

"It's late, Erin."

"Yeah well I slept longer than I should have. I need, I need to breathe, I need some air. Alone." She stood up and found her shoes next to the door. "I'm also hungry."

"Please take your phone, Erin." Finn didn't even turn around to watch her.

She did as she was told as she slipped her shoes on. She made sure that she also had her hotel keycard. She left shortly after.

Things were starting to get strange. She thought that working with Finn and in the WWE would get her mind off of everything going on in her life but that was a mistake. If anything she felt worse about herself and about where she was going. There didn't seem to be anything to look forward to.

Well, except for Roman. That was something she really enjoyed looking forward too, but she highly doubt he felt the same way. At least watching him, his arms bulging under the strain of his shirt was great to look at. The lines of his arm tattoo was too tempting not to try to touch. She wondered how his skin felt under her touch.

Before long, and long into her mental fantasies, she was outside the hotel in a city she didn't know anything about. They were on the east coast, where history was prevelent but it didn't satisfy her.

"Erin," she turned slightly at the baritone voice.

She gulped when seeing Dean Ambrose. He was outside smoking a cigarette.

"You know those things cause cancer, right?" She asked.

"So offering you a puff would get turned down, right?" He asked.

"Yeah, I don't smoke or do any of that medical marijuana stuff." She rubbed her forearm. "Where's Renee?"

"Out with some girls. Girls night out. You weren't asked?"

"I fell asleep. I still don't believe Finn when he said he carried me back to the hotel."

"He's full of surprises."

They didn't speak for a while. She stood to his right as he sucked on the rancid smoke from the small stick in his hand. He let it out through his nose, giving her the mental image of a dragon blowing smoke.

"Why are you out here?" She asked.

"I should ask you the same thing."

"I'm...trying to get some air."

"If you run into Roman and Seth let me know. They like going out for night time runs before the big guy falls asleep."

"Oh, okay."

She left Dean Ambrose with this cancer stick and headed towards the sidewalk that ran up a relatively busy street.

There weren't a lot of places, other than bars, that were open at that time of night. She did find a small market where she got a hot dog with onion, ketchup and mayonnaise with a soda in a bottle. She hated ice in any of her drinks. She didn't feel like walking and eating at the same time so she stood in front of the little market and ate her hot dog, making sure to toss her trash in the nearby trash can.

Something bumped up against her leg. Looking down there was a massive talk with pale blue eyes looking up at her. It was huge, almost wolf size. Like a Malamute or something. Black and white colored coat and it was not growling.

"Oh, okay. I'm sorry, I don't have anything." She shore her hands to him, backing up.

It whined, it's pointed ears swiveling slightly. The large dog sat down and wagged its tail while continuing to look up at her. Erin frowned, looked around for any possible owner who could have lost such a big beautiful dog.

Again it whined, and rubbed it's head against her leg. She tried to push it away, but the large dog growled. Well not menacingly, it was more like a grumble as it tried to get closer.

"Look, I don't have anything." She moved away only to trip.

She started to fall to the side but ended up face planting in the soft black and white fur of the dog, who had moved it's large frame between her and the cement. For all of her weight was on the dog, it held her up as if she were nothing.

When she finally sat, her ankle aching in mild pain, she found herself face to nose with the black nose of the dog. Then a wet tongue went up the side of her face before the dog sat down in front of her.

"Do you really have to be all up in my business? I'm, god, I have all sorts of problems going on." Erin said. "Now my ankle hurts thanks to you."

But this dog didn't get the hint. As she tried to stand up and head back to the hotel, it was with her. It kept really close, almost his, yes it was definitely male, his entire back reached well up over her waist as she walked. Maybe it was part Great Dane or Irish Wolfhound, but it was still pretty large. Not that she was tall to begin with.

"Short and fat." Erin said.

The dog huffed when she came to a stop at a red crosswalk.

"Well, look at me." She motioned to herself. "You see free food, I see too big for my breeches. I get reminded of it every day. You know my last boyfriend tried to force me on several diets."

The dog's head twisted to the side. Just as the red light turned green for her to cross, the dog continued to follow.

"Yeah, that happened. And then he broke up with me through text. That's one of the reasons why I took this job, so that I didn't have to move back to my folks' home. Still can't believe they're gone."

She nearly tripped over the dog as he came to stand in front of her. Someone was standing in the middle of the sidewalk in front of Erin. The dog growled, he growled so loud and so deep it vibrated against her legs.

"Baron?" Erin asked.

The buzzed headed man smiled at her, but it wasn't the nice smile he'd tried on her earlier in the day. He was dressed differently than how he tried to look during his show, with a black shirt with a wolf embossed on the front and some slightly baggy jeans with a pair of boots. He looked bigger than she had remembered.

The dog continued to growl as Baron walked up to her. There was something about his eyes that didn't look right, they were almost shiny in the near darkness because the section of sidewalk they were on had a few burnt out lights.

"I claim you." He stopped feet from her, the only thing preventing him from touching her was the large dog that had stood in front of Erin's legs.

"What? Are you drunk or something?" Erin asked.

"I've made my claim, no one can contest it."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Erin stepped back.

"I claim you for my mate." This time Baron growled, almost like an animal.

Erin shook her head but that didn't stop Baron from trying to reach out for her.

The dog lunged for Baron's hand, jaws snapped and actually sinking into his flesh. As Baron screamed obsenities at the dog Erin took her chance and ran.

A whole lot of should haves and shouldn't haves ran through her mind as she tried going back to the hotel. She shouldn't have drank soda, she should have just stayed at the hotel, and the worst was she shouldn't have been fat to begin with. It didn't take Baron long to run up on her from behind and wrap his arms around her.

"AHHH!" She screamed, only to have a baseball glove sized hand clamp down over her mouth.

"Shut up!" Baron hissed into her ear.

Erin's feet dangled in the air as he carried her towards a dark alley. She tried kicking, she even tried screaming though that was a useless attempt to contain some air in her aching chest. As he pushed her up against one wall, her head hit the wall and everything went black for a second time that day.

Yep, Baron went there. I'll be back again, not sure when but I will.