There was a sound like a cry that came from Dante’s room. Andrei tried to ignore it at first. He knew nightmares. One could go as far as saying that they were old friends, or even, that he’d known them for his whole life. All two years of it. His ears were keen, sharp, Marius had made sure of it, and they heard Dante’s door creep open. They could hear the unevenness of his cadence, the manic in his step.
Andrei turned his chair around and closed his laptop blindly, leaving a chatroom of insects trying desperately to crawl their way upwards in the criminal ladder. What better way than to consult with the big man’s trigger finger? Andrei could think of a few. In all honesty, he was only toying with them. Manipulating their eager hands into murdering the easy pickings so that he wouldn’t have to.
He flinched when he heard another cry. He heard pain. He heard distress. Andrei’s fingers curled around the hilt of a blade in his desk. He rubbed his thumb against the serrated edge and followed the sound.
"Dante?" he started, "Dante are you alright? Dante-"
Crumpled on the floor, shuddering in discomfort, keening in pain. Andrei stepped towards him, stretching an arm out. He pulled it back suddenly and nearly tripped over his own feet when his skin split and dark fur sprouted from his back. Bones snapped and reshaped themselves, his skull- oh god.
Andrei wouldn’t run. He’d sooner attack a friend, no. No, Dante was, Dante was his. Dante was under his protection. He wouldn’t hurt him. He would protect himself though, whatever it took. Though loathe to say it, he was his own first priority.
Dante was a wolf. Unless he really was insane, Dante was a wolf. Andrei blinked and shook his head in disbelief. He’d been bitten by snakes before, hunted by hounds, but this was something different entirely. He stared at it and it stared back at him. It was as if its piercing eyes could stare directly through him.