Jeff and Mitzy entered the enclosure and immediately began interacting with April and Dad. Stunned, I walked a few feet into the enclosure. I couldn’t process what I was seeing.

From the tip of their quivering black snouted noses to their furred wagging tail, the two wolves acted exactly like the animals they were. Mitzy cooed over April and stroked her soft pelt around her head as Jeff petted the Wolf that had originally been Pete Vargas’s body.

I’d expected to see two feral werewolves like they’d been yesterday. Burning eyes, fingers into claws, and a mix of human and wolf into a deadly killer form.

Pete tried to interest the male wolf in a chew toy. It regarded Pete with a steely blue eye, and walked toward me.

“Dad?” I said, looking into the wolf’s face. “It’s me. It’s Seth.”

The wolf started sniffing me, and apparently understood what I was trying to say. It sat in front of me, regarding me quietly with Dad’s stare.

“April?” I said, looking at the other wolf. Her tail began to wag and she turned around and around in a circle, wanting me to pet her. I stroked her soft fur, and she licked my hand.

How could this have happened to you? I felt like weeping again.
…
April? I sent. Can you hear me?
…
There was something there. It wasn’t words, but something…I decided on a different tack. I sent an image of us playing on the monkeybars, laughing.

An image came back. I could see myself on the bars, but it was in black and white, and I couldn’t see April at all.

I sent an image of her as a young child, chubby cheeks with a little upturned nose.

This time what came back was the girl transforming into a little puppy in black and white.

April? I sent. Please tell me you can see this…

Nothing came back except a strange feeling.

I wondered if April’s original body would be able to communicate with her. I decided I’d try to bring the new April out here and—

“Hey, can we take them back with us?” I said to the attendant.

The man frowned. “I’m not sure. I’d have to check with my manager.”

“Can you, please?” I said.

“You won’t do anything stupid like let them out of the pen?”

“We promise,” Mitzy said. She’d found a ball and tossed it. April scrambled after it, plucking it up with her mouth and running back to place it at Mitzy’s feet.

“I’m kinda surprised she’s okay with you…considering.”

“Yeah, me too!” Mitzy said. “I figured she’d try to rip my face off.”

“You can understand me, though, right Dad?” I said looking into Dad’s stoic face.

The wolf raised it’s paw and set it down again.

“Wow, I think that’s how it might say yes,” Jeff said.

“One paw for yes, two for no,” I said.

The wolf regarded me quietly.

“Ask him something he would say no,” Jeff said.

“Will you dance an irish jig for me, Dad?” I said.

The wolf blinked, and yawned. It raised it’s left paw once, then twice.

“Yep, that’s my dad.” I said, smiling.

“April, can you understand me?” Mitzy said.

April’s wolf head turned in a quizzical manner and she gave a soft chuff.

“One bark for yes, two for no?” Mitzy said.

Again the wolf turned it’s head.

“You were a blonde in real life, right?” Mitzy said.

April turned her head again and chuffed, wagging her tail.

“I don’t think she really understands you.”

“I’ve been able to send images in greyspace, but she hasn’t been able to send normal speech,” I said. “I wonder if it’s related?”

The employee returned with a man dressed in a long-sleeved shirt and tie. “This is my manager,” the original employee said.

“Hello friends!” the manager said. “My name is Dale Berkson and I’m the manager here at Jonesburg wolf rescue,” he said.

“Hello, I’m…uh…Sadie, and these are my friends Jeff and Mitzy.”

He nodded to us all. “I understand you’re wanting to adopt this pair?”

“They were…well,” I said. I shrugged, no use in pretending. “This one was my father and that one was my ex-girlfriend.”

He nodded. “Yes, quite an exceptional case. We don’t usually see feral werewolves adjust to a fully canine form.”

“Any idea how it happened?” I said.

“We’ve watched the camera footage…” Dale said. “If you’d like to come inside, I can show it to you.”

“That would be wonderful, Dale,” I said.

Jeff and I followed the manager into the main office area. Mitzy decided to stay outside with the wolves.

“That would be wonderful, Dale.” Jeff said as we walked behind him. “Jesus, man get ahold of yourself, you're starting to sound like her.”

I winced and nodded, following the manager into his office. He stood in front of a monitors. An array of camera output stretched across the large monitor screen, clearing every few seconds and showing a different set of cameras.

“Let’s see, they were brought in last night around 4 pm…” He sped through the cameras, until he found the one where Pete’s body and my body were brought in animal crates. The crates were placed with their mouth to the pen, then the gate to the crate was triggered electronically. Pete and April leaped out of their crate into the pen as the iron bars of the werewolf enclosure slammed shut.

We could see them in feral mode, running and snarling around. They weren’t fully bipeds but they also weren’t true quadrupeds, able to walk or run on two or four limbs interchangeably.

“Yes, this is what we expected to see today.”

“Yep, the fun stuff doesn’t happen until right about…” he sped up the playback until it read 11 pm. “Here.”

The two werewolves had settled down. They were in adjoining pens, and they lay against the iron wall of the pen, with their backs to each other. They lay panting and huffing, their eyes closed, but it felt like they could come alive at any moment.

A soft glow enveloped April’s form, shortly after it stretched to encompass Dad’s body. We could see the changes happening, the shifting, the arms becoming true forelegs, the pelt filling in areas of the face, claws retracting into true paws, tails extending, and the face slowly adjusting from the feral monster into the familiar wolf face they now possessed.

They awoke, and immediately began pawing at each other through the enclosure walls. April whined, and attempted to lick my Dad, and my dad tried to use his shoulder against the wall to no avail, so he sat close and tight to her through the rest of the night.

“We felt so bad for them, we decided to allow them in one of the wolf pens early this morning.”

Collars were buckled around each animal, and they were leashed and led to their new enclosure in the wolf area. They pranced around each other, licking and pawing, obviously excited to be with each other. After a few moments, Dad bit the nape of April’s neck and…well, the rest of the footage was a bit x-rated.

“Okay, we get the idea,” I said.

“Wolves mate for life,” the manager said. “It would be cruel to separate those two now.”

I swallowed at that. “So…she could have…”

The manager nodded. “Yes, she’s a fully functional female canis lupus. We won’t know for a few days if she’ll have a litter, but the longer they are together…”

I swallowed.

“I’d like to keep an eye on them for a few weeks. Maybe a month to make sure the moon doesn’t initiate any changes back to their feral nature. I’d hate for you to take them home then be forced to put them down when the moon causes them to become feral again.”

I figured as much. I nodded.

“Plus, if the bitch is expecting, it would be far more humane to let them loose in the wild.

Furious, I was about to say something about that word, but then the door opened.

“Uh, sir?” an employee stuck his head in.

“What is it?” Dale said.

“There’s someone here who also wants to see the pair from last night.”

I got up and looked out into the main entry.

Ernie Langmore stood there with April.

"This is about to get interesting,” Jeff said, as we left the manager’s office.