Whoever it was that was after Paul kicked my front door in. It slammed into me and flung me across the space I had kept between Paul and myself. We collided and fell backwards to the floor in a heap, then rolled into my living room. We ended up next to the wall with Paul's back to it and my back to the two guys coming in.

“It's him!” The guy closest to us said.

“Well, don't just stand there, knock him out before he gets up!” His buddy said.

I don't know what their problem was with Paul; but, no one breaks into my house and busts my door in! Paul showing up out of the blue made me angry enough as it was... and now I was pissed. I braced my hand against the wall and whispered to Paul to close his eyes. I put my leg over Paul's body and braced the toes of my right foot next to the wall, too. I felt the guy get closer, and when I figured he was just at the right spot, his shadow passed over me and I pushed away from the wall with all of my strength.

I couldn't remember the last time I had my floor waxed; but apparently, it was still quite slick because I flew across the floor like it was made of ice. I tripped the guy that was next to us and he hit the wall face first and bounced off onto the floor. I skidded into the other guy who must have seen me coming and braced himself, and I still pushed him back about a foot or so.

“We've got no beef with you, lady.” He said.

“You break into my house and you have no beef with me? Ha! You do now!” I snarled.

He reached down to grab me and I rolled away from his legs. He moved pretty fast while following me across the floor, so I grabbed the edge of the kitchen counter and flipped up into a crouched position. He just smiled at me and lunged. I didn't know what he thought he was expecting, because he definitely didn't expect me to stand up and sidestep him. I saw the look of astonishment on his face when I took his wrist and twisted it around.

He turned to me and was about to say something until I planted my fist into his cheekbone. I heard a nice resounding crack as his head snapped to the side and he dropped like a rock. He had a glass jaw, go figure. I turned towards the living room and saw the other guy starting to stir. I took the few steps I needed to get to Paul and hauled him up off the floor. He must have lost some weight, because I didn't think Paul was supposed to be so light.

Paul opened his eyes and looked at me like he thought I was going to kill him, until he realized that it was me and not one of the guys that were after him. I saw the relief pass over his face, at least until he heard the guy next to us stir. He glanced at the guy and then ran as fast as he could, just like that.

“Thanks a lot, jerk!” I yelled as Paul disappeared out through the hole that used to be my doorway.

I heard a short scuffle, a bang, and a soft growl. I turned just in time to see that Cerberus had joined the party and it looked like he had tackled the guy to get him back onto the floor. He now had his muzzle across the guy's neck. If the guy so much as twitched, Cerberus would have a brand new chew toy. The guy on the floor came to as he opened his eyes and looked me in surprise.

I moved closer and stood near him. I could see the thoughts pass over his face; fear, panic, desperation, and then hope. The last stumped me until I heard the guy behind me speak.

“We have to talk.” He said as he rubbed his face.

“Talk? You break in to my house and assault me, and now you want to talk? Get out of my house!” I yelled as I stepped away from the first guy and backed up towards the wall just enough to see the both of them at the same time.

“Look, we made a mistake, okay? We're sorry.”

“You're sorry? You might be sorry now, but you're definitely going to be sorry when the police get through with you.” I said, then the guy who was speaking had the gall to approached me.

“My name's Andrew, and this here's Colin.” Andrew said as he pointed to his accomplice.

“Hey.” Colin gurgled out as he tried to not move too much.

“This wasn't how it was supposed to go.” Andrew said and I laughed at him.

“Of course not. You were supposed to catch us completely by surprise and take Paul. Well, he's gone now. Good luck finding him.” I said and pointed to the door.

“He wasn't who we were looking for. We thought he was, but he's not.”

“Then who?” I said.

“We were looking for you.” Andrew said.

Cerberus growled menacingly and Colin whimpered as his neck was covered in drool.

I stood there for a full minute while I tried to discern what he meant. I didn't know these guys and I wasn't involved in anything that would even have guys like these involved in it. The guy stood there and just let me think about it. Of course, it wasn't like he could do anything to help his friend. Cerberus had him well in hand. Or in mouth.

“Why?” I asked when I couldn't think of anything.

“First contact isn't supposed to be like this.” Andrew said.

“What are you talking about? I'm not an alien!”

“No, no... that's not what I meant. When we meet new people it's called first contact. You know that old saying, 'first impressions are the most important' and all that stuff.”

“Well, you definitely made a memorable first impression, I'll give you that much.” I said.

Andrew smiled and motioned to the couch. Surprisingly it had survived our little tussle completely intact. I nodded, and he walked very slowly to the couch and sat down. I pulled over one of the kitchen chairs and sat down a good distance away.

Andrew tilted his head and nodded at Colin, who was still motionless on the floor with Cerberus holding his neck. I thought about it, and decided that even if they wanted to start up some trouble, Cerberus and I could handle them pretty easily now.

“It's okay. You can let him up.” I said to Cerberus.

Cerberus growled and shifted his weight, then bit down just a little. Colin made a satisfyingly high squeal of shock and then Cerberus let him go. Colin definitely knew who the boss was now. He got up from the floor and skittered around the end of the couch, closer to the door. If anything did start to happen, I knew exactly where Colin was headed and I smiled.

Cerberus came over to me and sat at my right side. I put my hand on his head and ruffled the fur between his ears. A low rumbling came from him, and if he were a cat, I would bet you that he would be purring. After a few moments of letting them sit in silence, I spoke.

“So, talk.” I said.

“Were you at a bar last night? The Playful Tides?” He asked.

“I don't see how that's any of your business.”

“Just answer the question. Please.”

“Yes, I was there, but so were a ton of other people. Why?”

“That's where we felt someone new was close by. We tracked it to a booth, but there were so many people there, we had to wait and see who it was that we were looking for.” Andrew said. “After we tracked everyone down, Paul was the last one on our list. We didn't know that it was you that we were supposed to be looking for... until now.”

Colin sucked in a deep breath when Andrew said that. “Andrew, you can't be serious!” He whispered out of the side of his mouth, thinking I wouldn't hear.

“It's the only explanation, isn't it?” Andrew whispered to Colin, and then turned to me. “So... how long have you known?” He asked me.

“Known what?” I said.

“What you are.”

“I've been a lawyer for several years.”

“That's not what I meant. How long have you been one of us?” Andrew asked.

“One of you? Ha! I'm not one of you. Do I even look like a criminal?”

“This isn't working. I'm just going to have to come right out and say it. How long have you been a werewolf?”

I recoiled from him and nearly fell off my chair. Cerberus growled at him and he put up his hands in a pleading gesture, palms up to show that he wasn't dangerous. Colin just sat there and tried not to draw attention to himself.

“What are you talking about? A werewolf? That's ridiculous. They don't exist.” I said.

“Of course they do. I'm right here. Colin is sitting right there. That's two. We thought it was that guy Paul, until you grabbed my arm and I felt the same thing I felt last night. I was going to say something about it but then you hit me. Just that little hit and you broke my jaw and knocked me out. That's not normal.”

“You just have a glass jaw.” I countered and he laughed.

“You hear that, Colin? She thinks I have a glass jaw!” He said and then they both laughed.

“Hey. Hey! I don't see what's funny here.” I said.

They finished laughing and looked at me.

“The only thing that can hurt a werewolf is another werewolf, or another supernatural creature. You barely hit me and it hurt. Most of us are pretty strong; stronger than a normal human at any rate, but you... I don't even want to think about what you could do to me if you let yourself go.” Andrew said, and shivered a little bit.

It sounded like he had both pride and fear mixed in equal parts with that last statement. I was a bit taken aback, but then I started to think about everything that had been happening. All the little things that I've seen and done over the last several weeks. Ever since... my accident. That was it! That wasn't a delusion brought on by overexposure. It really did happen like I remembered it. I sat back in my chair and let the shock show on my face.

Andrew saw it and nodded. “You understand. That's good. Accepting the truth is usually the hardest thing for us to do at first. The rest after that is just icing on the cake in comparison.” He said with aplomb.

I just nodded and didn't respond.

“We have to contact our pack leader and let him know what's going on and the situation we're in.” Andrew said and pointed to Colin and then himself.

I nodded again and he hit Colin on the arm and Colin reached into his coat pocket. Cerberus growled at him because he moved too fast for his liking. Colin stopped moving and said that he was just getting a cell phone. I scratched Cerberus's head again and he huffed.

Colin took that as an 'okay you can move' huff and dug the phone out of his pocket and then passed it to Andrew. A few moments passed and Andrew filled in whoever it was on the line with what had happened and got a liberal chewing out. I was smiling by the time he got off the phone.

“He said that he'd like to meet you.” Andrew said as he passed the phone back to Colin.

“Why?” I said, not really caring why, I was just trying to be polite.

“Every new wolf that comes into our territory is supposed to petition the local pack for permission.”

My anger bubbled to the surface again and Cerberus growled. What right did they have to tell me that I have to ask them for permission? Andrew saw the look on my face and put his hands up in a stop gesture.

“Ease down. I'm sorry, that's just pack rules.” He said.

“I've lived here all my life. I don't need anyone's permission to be here!” I nearly screamed at him as I stood.

Colin shrunk down into a ball and Andrew rolled off the couch and knelt in front of him.

“Whoa... whoa! Hold on, now. Take it easy, okay? We thought you were new in town. That's all. Honest mistake.” Andrew said as he shivered.

I looked down at them cowering on the floor and I didn't want to be the cause of that. I brought my anger back into check and sat back down.

“Oh, man... did you feel that? Her energy...” Colin whispered.

“Yeah. That was... really scary.” Andrew said in response.

“When does he want to meet?” I asked them and tried to sound normal and failed, because they cringed away when I spoke.

“Uh... tonight, at eight o'clock. Seaside restaurant on the boardwalk. It'll be closed so no one will disturb you.”

I nodded. He wanted to meet somewhere where there was no chance of someone coming in and discovering what was going on... or what could go on. They could kidnap me and no one would be the wiser. Well, what they don't know won't hurt me. I told them that I would be there right at eight o'clock and ushered them to the door. They were eager to go.

Cerberus gave them a cursory bark when they crossed the threshold and they jumped and made a run for it. I laughed as they scampered away like cockroaches in a New York apartment when you turned the light on. I turned away and grabbed the door that was still reasonably solid and propped it up against the door frame.

“How the hell am I supposed to lock this now?” I asked and Cerberus barked. “All right. I'll nail the thing shut for now.”