Beware the Wolf, for he shall change you forever. 4, 5, 6, 7, 13, 666. Benny stared in horror at the fortune cookie in his hand. He swallowed the bile rising in his throat as fear coursed through his body. Trembling he reached for his cell phone to call his sister.

“Hey, Benny,” his sister’s soft voice reached across the connection to calm him somewhat.

“Ava, I was afraid I would miss you. I can’t go to the zoo today, I’m sorry. I saw a sign today. I just can’t go.” Benny whispered.

Ava sighed. Benny had extreme paranoia. He was always flinching from things and seeing “signs” that warned him of one danger or another. She had hoped he would get better, but so far nothing the doctors gave him helped.

After paying the waitress, saying goodbye to Ava, and promising her that he would go straight home, Benny almost ran from the Chinese restaurant in a blind panic. He couldn’t see anything as he rushed to his car.

Stumbling back away from the solid wall of a man that Benny had accidently run into. The man glared at Benny as he lurched away to the relative safety of his car. Terror made him clumsy and he dropped the keys before managing to get them in the ignition.

Wulfgar stared angrily at the scrawny rude man who had run into him and then away without even apologizing. It was a Full Moon tonight and it made him irritable. Turning away he started down the street, but then the Wolf inside him slammed against his conscience. Wulfgar’s head came up and he stared after the rude man. The little blue car that he had gotten into had reached the corner and was turning. Without even thinking he was running down the street after the car, the Wolf demanding compensation for the insult.

Wulfgar followed the man to a little ordinary house just outside the city limits. The small man climbed out of his car, locked it, then rushed inside and slammed the door shut, locking it as well. The Wolf chuckled, a slight barrier to keep out the big bad things of the night. Wulfgar settled down to wait for Moon Rise. The skinny rude man would pay.

Night fell and the moon peeked up over the horizon. Benny sat on the couch uneasy. He hadn’t gone to the zoo today, Ava would be so disappointed. He tried, he really did, but the Fear was still there, always there.

A noise outside brought his head up. Benny gulped as he huddled fearfully against the sofa. A huge shadow detached from the wall and came forward.

The Wolf stared down at the man cowering on the couch. He was even smaller and more pathetic than he remembered.

Benny whimpered as the monstrosity came closer. When it was just a few feet away he realized that it was a huge wolf. Beware the Wolf, for he shall change you forever. The fortune cookie’s fortune ran through his head as Benny stared at the huge wolf.

The Wolf bounded onto the man on the sofa, clawing and biting. The human screamed and tried to run away. After mauling the man, the Wolf stepped away then turned and left.

Benny lay on the floor covered in his own drying blood. A cloud shifted, and Moonlight spilled over him and he groaned as he felt Something ripple through him. He groaned again as that Something stretched inside him then began pushing out. Benny’s groans turned to screams as his new Werewolf self ripped out of him.

The new Werewolf lay panting on the blood soaked floor. He raised his head to howl at the Moon outside. Benny with the extreme paranoia was no more. Instead a new confident creature rose in his place. His sister, friends, and neighbors all wondered at the change, but they were all grateful. No one new the truth. No one but the new Benny, and he wasn’t going to tell anyone.