Toby

Vicky

The two friends leave the room for the pantry and a large breakfast table is set. They sit at the table and eat while remembering the past.

"This apartment is still the one above the club" — Toby doesn't even remember how he got there.

"Yes. And I'm going to go down to the office, I'll get your contract ready. Do you want to rehearse with Petry? He is a great choreographer and costume designer. Who character do you want to play? Fireman? Lumberjack?"

"Do you need this?"

" Yes, I work with women's fetishes, what they look for most are police officers, lifeguards, gangsters, priests..."

"How crazy, I'm going to become a werewolf!"

"No transformations Toby, you know the rules! Lycans do not allow humans to know about the existence of other beings."

"I know, I know, but I've never seen a lycan either."

"Things are what they are, I don't want to risk it and see something."

" You can leave it, boss! Me, would you like a free sample?"

" No, for love... Drunk I can grab you, sober you look like I'm kissing my brother, argh"

" You almost swallowed me yesterday, naughty girl."

" I missed you, and then, I don't mix work with dating. Now you're one of my bady boys, hahaha."

Toby

In my own way, I loved Vitória. Of course, we mixed up our relationship a bit. We were like that ever since we started to see each other as more than just kids raised in a nightclub. Her adoptive mother and my human mother were prostitutes, but they never wanted us to follow that path.

I didn't know who my father or mother was. But when I transformed at 16, my mother figured out who I was. I didn't know anything about wolves, other than knowing they existed. But my father found out as soon as I transformed and came to get me. He was from the Rio Verde pack. He came to the capital on a mission, got drunk, had sex with my mother, and left. Seven months later I was born, and 16 years later, he came back to take me.

I thought that was nice of him, but living with his partner and his legitimate, pure-blood children was a pain. I went to live alone in the pack's house, and even though I was a gamma, my father trained me as a warrior. My big problem is that I'm addicted to gambling and betting, and I've lost a few and got into debt, but I'll get out of this soon, especially if Vicky pays me back for all of it.

It's good to be back here, my mother has also passed away, but Aunt Madonna would be shocked to see Vicky taking over her role at the nightclub. She always told her to sell everything and buy apartments and live off the rental income. But Vicky is making a lot of money and has taken the business to the next level. I thought I'd come to the wrong place when I walked through the doors, the name is the same, Pink Panther, but everything is luxurious, well decorated, well lit, almost like a tea room for ladies with shows.

But only women enter and only men work. And here the young ladies and ladies transform themselves. It is men who are used, harassed, objects of desire. I even feel embarrassed with so many horny ladies. I'm fine with the young women, but the ones in their 40s and 50s make me feel like I'm seducing my mother. I'm not a puritan, but it's a bit uncomfortable. What have the men taught the women! After years of oppression, now they are the ones who oppress us. Hahaha. Just kidding.

Yesterday I even thought I was entering a birthday party. If the security guard at the door, Mike, didn't know me from the past, I wouldn't even have been allowed in. It was only when I saw my hottie on the table, in a vodka-chugging competition, that I felt at home. When she saw me, she jumped into my arms and we drank them all. After we sang I will survive, our favorite song, I don't even know how she got me. Now I'm here, torn between asking her to marry me or waiting for my mate, if she even exists. The Moon Goddess could make up for it and help me find my mate. We werewolves have mates who are like soulmates. They complete us completely and we don't want anyone else. Usually, we recognize each other instantly and you can't refuse the person the goddess herself has destined for you. But sometimes, our mates die and we are blessed with a second chance mate.

At 18, werewolves can already recognize each other. And we go to parties held by other packs to see if our chosen ones are from there, or even to the annual party that the werewolf king throws so that all the packs can get together and get rid of those who haven't found their mate yet.

This year we haven't had this big party yet. The king is new and, perhaps, doesn't want to continue the tradition. This event was my last hope of mating. But, if nothing worked out, I had promised Vicky that I would marry her. And I didn't care about us getting married, just like on paper, but I did care about taking care of Vicky until she died and she knew that.

Because we werewolves last much, much longer than humans and my loving friend wasn't going to end her life alone like she, cowardly, had to start. She was wonderful, sweet, gentle, authentic, good-humored, but she carried the sadness of having been rejected by her own mother and father. She was put in a bag in the trash. You can imagine that there is a huge void inside her.

And I will never let that void swallow her. Even if I find my mate. She will have to accept Vicky as her sister-in-law or nothing will happen. She is my family as much as my father.

I spent years convincing him of this and we are waiting for Alpha Edy's authorization to take her to the pack, and he is very careful about the people he lets in to visit. Because one day, maybe, I would marry her or take her to live with my family until she dies and everyone would accept and respect her as my sister and a member of Rio Verde. That was my plan.

Unless she married someone, but she runs away from that. She has a lot of trouble getting into a serious relationship. For now, she may think she's happy like this, but one day, things will be different. And I can't leave her alone, because she only has me.

Thinking about poor Vicky, I open the door to her office without knocking. And I see a guy giving her a foot massage, another one on her back, another one handing her a drink. And another one dancing for her. That's right... Poor Vicky, but not really, right?

She was drooling over the guy when she saw me and even choked in fright.