A Wolfish Romance

Pitbulls. 

That’s what the park was full of. 

Great big, terrifying beasts. Everything from their tongues to their nails gave me shivers. Animals, in general, scared me. They were unpredictable in a way that made me hesitate to approach them. 

When I was young, I was shy, but curious. One day, my brother brought me to the park and I wanted to pet this huge, furry poodle that trotted by. But when it came close, it bit me with all the force in its jaw. I screamed so loudly, Georgie had to break away mid-kiss with his then girlfriend, Amy—something he rarely does. 

I received three stitches that cost $4000 in total, but I still got an infection and Georgie had to pay a further $3000 to save my life. 

Ever since, I’ve had severe cynophobia. Even looking at dogs on my screen horrifies me. 

It only worsened when Georgie overdosed last year. 

Maybe going to the park was a disastrous idea, especially a dog park. I didn’t even have a dog, but Lavender Mahogany was the closest park nearby. I didn’t have enough energy to walk anything more than a block. 

See, the thing was, I hadn’t left my house in three weeks. 

It wasn’t what it seemed. I would never have worn sweatpants, an oversized hoodie, slippers, and a fedora if there wasn’t an absolute tragedy.  

And being laid off from my architectural job of three years, in my opinion, was an absolute tragedy. 

I had nothing left in me anymore. 

Rent was overdue, plates were piled high in the sink, my bed wasn’t made, and the floors weren’t mopped. 

I didn’t have any family left either to tell me everything would be OK. My parents died in a car crash when I was a baby and both of them had no living relatives. No matter how much I wanted Georgie to stay, he wasn’t happy anymore. He wanted to leave and it was too late to stop him. That’s one of the things I regret most in my life. I could’ve saved Georgie, but I didn’t see the signs. I thought his depression isolated him from society, but really, he was just like the rest of us: drowning without any life vests. 

As for my friends, they had all either grown up, moved away, or lost touch. 

The only person I talked to anymore was the teenage boy who delivered my pizzas every Friday. 

I never thought I’d be twenty-five, loveless, broke, and unemployed. 

I was roaming around a dog park with my hands in my pockets and my head down low, after all. The sun was frying my body like an egg in a skillet, despite the large fedora I wore. My legs felt like jelly too, though I’d only been walking for a few minutes. 

I wanted to go home. There was too much sunlight and glee. Everywhere I looked, dog-owners were laughing with other dog-owners. How could they be so happy, when I was dying on the inside? 

Not to mention how petrified I was.

I had a miniature heart attack every time a dog barked, jumped, or dashed by me, which was pretty often. 

I’d made a colossal mistake trying to piece my life back together. Who needed a life when there were Star Wars reruns on TV and Domino's Pizza? 

As I was leaving though, I stopped dead in my tracks. 

Maybe it was because of his beautiful auburn hair, his Star Wars T-Shirt, or the fact that he was one of the only people—along with myself—not walking a dog, that made me do a double take. 

Something about myself—probably my atrocious smell—made him look back as well. 

The man who had stolen my breath wasn’t devilishly handsome or cute as I’d expected though. 

He was monstrous. 

Long canines gleamed in his blood-red mouth, ready to bite into my flabby flesh. His eyes were the color of his nails: obsidian. Scars mottled his face and his sideburns were dreadfully furry. He sported a perfectly human body, but his face was something right out of the Chronicles of Narnia. 

I started running before he even said a word. 

Time was not a concept as I ran. All I knew was that I had to get away from that . . . thing. 

But, my legs were unaccustomed to running and the beast easily caught me in his human-like arms. 

Did nobody else in the park see this behemoth? Maybe they mistook him for a pitbull?

I screamed, trying to break free of the iron cage he cast around me. 

“Shh, shh, it’s fine, I’m not here to hurt you,” the beast whispered in a surprisingly soft and deep voice, like melted caramel. “I’m Zenith.” 

***

A year later, we got married.

My brother always told me, “never trust people who look like monsters,” but what if someone looked like a monster, but deep down, was actually a humble, adorable, and sweet guy?  

Our wedding was a small affair that included me, the sole human, and Zenith’s entire extended werewolf family. 

After I got over my initial terror of Zenith, we became inseparable. We went on a couple of dates and we really got to know each other well. He liked warm summers and hated dogs. He worked as an English and werewolf translator. Only through Zenith, I was able to communicate with his family—or pack, I should say. 

Of course, they were skeptical of a human dating a werewolf, but overtime, they realized our love was one in a million. Like Romeo and Juliet, Mr.Darcy and Elizabeth, Bonnie and Clyde. 

He was my blessing from heaven. Sure, he ate a lot of raw meat and howled at the moon once in a while, but everyone was different. I got used to his “abnormalities.” I mean, in the eyes of his pack, he was completely normal. 

At first, I was surprised there was a whole monster world hiding amongst us, but I got used to it. There was a whole lot I ignored during my post-unemployment days. 

With Zenith’s support, I finally fixed my life and stopped feeling sorry for myself. And I got a new job at a new architectural firm that promised stable job security. 

I’d finally overcome my cynophobia as well. 

It wasn’t that hard after I realized that dogs were just another type of animal; another type of human. 

Zenith was just another type of animal too. He looked and behaved a bit differently, but don’t we all? Some of us eat rice with every meal while some of us eat burgers. Some of us love extreme sports, while some stare at their computer screens all day. 

Differences. 

That’s what the world is full of.