8

Roman aimed for the heavy bag, thinking of the wolf that had torn into his life. Baron Corbin was going to feel his fists for what he did to his mate.

Erin wasn't his mate, not yet anyway. So while Baron Corbin was acting General Manager, being the asshole he actually was, Roman was able to be around Erin. At least from afar.

Take going to a gym on one of their few days off during the week. Roman could smell her even without seeing her. In the days that had passed since they had been apart, Erin begrudgingly followed Finn around, though Melanie never seemed to be that far away either. This time, the gym had only WWE superstars there, which included a few of the non-paranormal ones.

"See, it isn't that bad." Bayley said from where she was watching Erin walk on the treadmill in a leisurely fashion.

He heard Erin huff, though not from exhaustion. Bayley didn't know that Erin was a newly transformed werewolf, nor was she aware of the heat that Erin seemed to still be going through.

Erin just needed to mate and get it out of her system. If he had his way, Roman would have taken care of her needs at the full moon.

"When do you guys go see the council?" Dean asked in a hushed tone so that no one but them heard.

"Tomorrow, they are coming to us. Thankfully." He said as he sidestepped the swinging heavy bag and then connected a punch when it swung back around towards him.

He looked over at Erin, hoping that she had seen what he'd done. Yeah, to show strength like that had always worked at proving that a male could protect the female. Roman smirked when the she-wolf watched him while she was on the treadmill, whatever Bayley had said went in one ear and out the other. Good, he'd gotten her attention.

"You're having a grand ole time, aren't you?" Seth asked from his striking bag, windmill punching the light bag with ease. "Going back to basic instincts?"

"What?"

"You're trying to prove to her something that she already knows. Don't go being a show off, we already have one of those." He nodded his head towards where Drew McIntyre was spotting Ziggler on the bench presses.

"It's the least I can do since I nearly got my tail burnt by Balor." He lost a good pair of jeans when the demon prince showcased his abilities in private.

The Fomorian demon prince was with some of the other guys working on cardio, but Roman was smart. Finn wasn't ignoring Erin. He had Melanie keeping an eye on her, and with Bayley showing her the basics of a brisk pace on the treadmill, she was out of harm way. Mainly away from the two wolves vying to make her their mate.

Corbin was watching her from where he was working out in the corner of the gym, his face taking on a determined expression as he watched her.

The full figure goddess would be his, Roman would make damn sure that the Lone Wolf wasn't about to get his female.

Somewhere deep within him, his wolf stirred as Corbin stopped working out and strolled over towards where Erin was still working on the treadmill.

"You've suddenly become more active." Roman's delicate hearing picked up what Corbin had said. "I really appreciate that in a woman. It means she can keep up with what I can do."

Erin didn't even look at him, didn't bother to look at Corbin. She did look at Roman and then over at Bayley, who looked uncomfortable. Finn stalked up soon after, muttering a curse under his breath that only Corbin could hear.

"Don't give me that BS, Balor. I'm not threatened by you." Corbin said.

"Trips has made it absolutely clear what you can and cannot do. This is one of them that you can't."

Granted the majority of the WWE Raw roster were paranormal creatures, there was still a good chunk that weren't. It would have been foolish to start something in a public gym where there were cameras and humans around them. But Roman was holding onto his wolf by a thin thread as Corbin tried to touch Erin.

Erin stopped the treadmill and jumped off, walking in a different direction. Melanie had come into the gym, took one look around and went right up to Erin. Balor followed suit and before long the two women were leaving and Balor was heading towards the locker room. Roman decided to follow the demon.

"What's going on, man?" Roman asked.

"Like you don't know." The Irish Fomorian demon said as he peeled his shirt off and shoved it in his gym bag. "I'm getting Erin out of here before some dog decides to hump her."

"Hey, that was one mistake." Roman rubbed the back of his neck. "She came onto me."

"Look, Roman. I know she wants you. Of all the ones around us, you I have the most respect for and I know you would treat her right. But damn it, she dreams about you when she sleeps."

"Yeah?" Roman tilted his head when hearing that little bit of news. "What does she dream about?"

"What do you think?"

So she has sex dreams of him. Not that he didn't either, with Erin at least. His wolf made a mental note of that fact.

"You smell like stress. What's going on? Not with Erin, with you. Are you almost done healing Melanie?"

Finn didn't speak for a good long minute as he got himself dressed to leave the gym. Roman could wait.

There were things about Finn that made him different from other demonic beings. Sex with Finn Balor was like a battery. His insurmountable energy boosted the powers of others. So what may have looked like a relationship between Finn and the necromancer witch, it was more of Finn healing Melanie after getting her energy drained for so long by Dolph Ziggler.

"I like Melanie too much, that's the problem." Finn finally said. "Erin, luckily, doesn't talk about what she sees us doing, what I know she has heard us doing. She's respectful like that. But I know for a fact we're not helping her cause to claim you."

"I wouldn't object to that."

"Of course you wouldn't. But let the council decide that. No Doubt the Council Alpha will want to see old pack laws in play."

"If that Lone Wolf, a rogue who has killed two humans that we know of, gets his hands on my female I will rip him apart." Roman growled.

"You may have to do that anyway." Seth said as he approached them. "Some of the other wolves with Council connections have been contacting me. You may have a fight on your hands."

Seth opened his locker and pulled his backpack out that contained his street clothes. Roman decided to do the same, if it meant that he could see Erin again.

"If more than one wolf wants to claim the same female, law dictates a fight and usually the winner kills the other." Seth said.

Seth was born and bred into the wolf ways, pack laws he could understand. But seeing as Roman was only half wolf, he didn't have that much of a grasp for the rules. He did know to respect the rules or there would be consequences.

"Let's hope that it doesn't come to that, right?" Finn asked as he continued getting changed.

As the three of them left the gym, Roman saw Finn head out towards a car where the two females were leaning against the car waiting for him. Erin kept tugging at her shirt, looking around and when she looked up, their eyes met. The slow smile that spread out had her billowing her shirt collar even if it was a little nippy outside to begin with.

"Dude, really?" Seth thumped Roman in the back of the head.

He growled, but smirked. "What? I like how she reacts to me."

"We're downwind, I can smell what you're doing to her. Stop that."

"Why? What's got your boxers in a bunch?" Roman asked while watching Erin climb into the backseat of Finn's rental.

"I don't know. It's off putting."

If he had to smell Seth, it was as if he was jealous or something.

Erin sat back in her seat. After two red lights, Finn had turned off onto the main highway of the city they were in. They headed away from where she knew Roman was hanging out before the house show.

"Where are we going?" Erin asked.

"We're going to let you run for a little bit." Melanie said.

Finn stayed quiet, his gaze focusing on the act of driving. But there was something off, something that didn't seem right. Not bad right, but something seemed different as she looked at the backs of Finn's and Melanie's heads.

Melanie had been getting better since coming into Finn's care, she'd gotten healthier. Though from what she explained to Erin, her role was not just work for Dolph Ziggler but also be his food. Apparently there was more than one kind of vampire out there and Ziggler was the less threatening, but equally dangerous Psychic Vampire. He fed off of energy and seeing as Melanie was some kind of witch, her energy had sustained him for a long time until it started to slowly kill her. What Finn was doing, a lot of sex from the sounds she picked up from time to time, he was helping Melanie get back to being healthy.

They still looked good together.

No one spoke for a good long while as they went out to the forest just beyond the city. They entered a public park area, where Finn parked under the shade of a tree. As they got out of the car, Melanie pulled a bag from the back of the car.

"You're going for a run." Finn said.

"I know, Melanie said that."

"As a wolf." The witch said as she started down a path that led deeper into the woods.

"Why?" Erin asked as Finn followed the other woman.

"You need to get used to shape shifting. It will help with your desires." Melanie said.

"I'm fine." To which Finn huffed a laugh, or at least something that sounded like one. "Really, Finn. I'm okay."

"I don't need you and Roman mating before we get in front of the Paranormal Council tomorrow." He didn't even look back at her.

"I thought you weren't involved with it?"

"I'm not, but you're now a wolf and you have to follow the rules."

"I wouldn't be this way if Baron hadn't done what he did."

The sore feeling would forever be etched in her chest as she came to terms with her parents' deaths. Now that she was a wolf, a werewolf, she felt it harder than before. That red hot anger made her growl something awful under her breath as Erin kicked a rock. It bounced off the back of Finn's leg and he stopped in the middle of the path.

"When this is all over, Erin, you're not going to be my PA anymore." He glanced back over his shoulder at her, his perfectly shaped brow barely arched.

"What? Why?"

"You'll be working with whomever is your mate."

Her first thought was of Roman. She replayed everything that had happened between the two of them, especially after their full moon night together. It made her skin itch just thinking of his arms around her, his nakedness and hers melding together on the cold forest floor.

And then the cold chilly fingers of dread raked across her back as images of Baron seemed to shove their way into her head. Him as a wolf standing over her mother's body as her blood dribbled from his mouth. The utter fear she had mere months ago when she faced her own death. Erin rubbed her arms as she followed behind Finn with her head down.

They got to a section of the forest to a bit that didn't smell a lot like people. The path was a little overgrown and Erin tripped over a few tree roots.

"I miss this." Melanie said as she looked up at the branches of the trees overhead.

"Miss what?" Erin blinked as she looked towards the tops of the trees. "The forest and the woods?"

"I grew up in Washington State, the Evergreen State." Melanie sighed. "I miss it sometimes, especially the animals. My best friend and I would run with the dear, you know."

"The woods in Alaska were the same as this, unless you're in the winter months. You could almost feel the cold all the way to your bones."

Finn remained oddly quiet, he seemed to be looking at something off to the side of them. Erin followed his gaze but saw nothing.

"Just a woodland spirit." Melanie said. "Right, Finn?"

"Hmm, maybe." He mumbled and then waved his hand for them to continue on.

So they walked on, they walked further than even the last time Erin was in a forest. Considering it wasn't that long ago she had transformed under the light of a full moon and waking up in the arms of a man that called to her all the way to her soul.

They got to a place that Finn declared was good enough. They were in a clearing, Erin could hear the trickling of a small stream nearby but out of sight.

"Um, now what?" Erin asked.

"Undress and change into a wolf." Finn said as if he was ordering a to go bag from a fast food joint.

"I don't think I can."

"Finn, maybe it would be better if it were just me and Erin." Melanie said. "Go a ways away and don't look in this direction." She said.

He sighed, but nodded nonetheless. Finn looked at Erin one last time before he seemed to melt into the shadows and all but disappeared, but Erin knew he was still around somewhere.

"Okay, he's gone. Come on, get undressed." The witch said.

She looked down at herself but did as Melanie told her. She put her clothes in Melanie's arms, kicked off her shoes and stared at Melanie after she was bared to the wind.

"Now what?"

"You're supposed to change into a wolf."

"I don't know how." She rubbed her crossed arms. "It was forced out of me, by the moon."

"You can change whenever you want. You have to get to that state again. Okay, let's try this. You have to get a hold of your inner wolf. So think about what you look like as a wolf and trying to call it forward."

Erin sighed and tried to do that. She remembered what she looked like when she looked in the water as a wolf, sandy colored and blue eyes. She still had blue eyes as a wolf.

Come on out, please. She willed the wolf to come forward.

The crunching soon began. In her legs first, which caused her to drop to her knees. Erin felt hot all over again, but this was due to the hair sprouting out of her skin. Fur, it was fur. Then her face started popping and her jaw twisted into and out of joint as a snout started to form. Her human features were painfully replaced by her wolf half.

She sat panting from what seemed like a forever change, when it only took a few minutes.

"See, there you go." Melanie said as she draped Erin's clothes over a log. "Now, go for a run. I'll wait here for you."

Whining, Erin looked around. Her new wolf eyes took in the more detailed surroundings, the colors that seemed both vibrant and dull, the shadows under trees had her rooted to one spot before something caught her attention.

She caught movement on the other side of the clearing, a four legged thing. Curiosity got the best of her and she slowly rose up to all fours. At least this time, she was able to walk without face planting thanks to her oversized feet. Before long she was sort of running off into the underbrush to figure out what that four legged creature.

If only her nose worked, it would have warned her of what was to come.

Erin sniffed at the air, and then down at the ground where she thought she saw the creature. Huffing, her ears twitched at the sound of a twig snapping off in the distance. She turned one way or another and then figured out where the smell was the strongest and followed.

Birds skittered from the brush as she ran. Whatever she was chasing had obviously picked up some speed.

She skidded to a stop at a small area where a large wolf stood. Big, black, and staring at her with narrowed eyes. As the wind shifted, it's scent hit her in the face.

Erin yipped and stumbled back.

Baron Corbin had led her away from safety and right into danger.

Hope you liked it. I'll be back with another when I can.