Chapter 24: The mountain

**Mateo**

We went to visit some mountains on Saturday, I particularly liked Mount Takao. There was more wildlife and fewer tourists. I felt a huge desire to make love to my girl in my second habitat, but it was also a crazy urge to run that my wolf, Shake, was feeling.

I didn't want to scare Nat. She was a little tired and we found a tree that would give us shade. I made sure there were no humans around, we We lay down for a while and soon she was on top of me. The attraction we had for each other was incredible.

I couldn't stop kissing her, but my body wanted more. I had to undress her and take her, staying on top so as not to expose her body. The smell of the earth and the trees, mixed with her scent of bamboo and jasmine, drove me crazy.

We went to the hotel to take a shower, because we looked like two animals. I really wanted to tell her everything. Would she accept me? Was what she felt for me a youthful crush or was she willing to change her whole life?

**Nat**

Mateo was very thoughtful. I must have been a problem in his life. Clearly his parents shouldn't know about me and if they did, I shouldn't be the type of girlfriend they wanted for their son.

I tried to relax him. I told him about college stories. It was funny how he was genuinely interested. He was so cute. After lunch we went to watch a movie, but he was restless and agitated. I asked him if he wanted to leave, and he said yes.

I put my hand on his forehead; his cheeks were very red. He must have a fever.

I asked him if he would like to meet someone who could help him. She was a former campus nurse I had met while volunteering at the orphanage. She lived a little further away. But she had teas and home remedies for everything. Her name was Hana. She must have been about 80 years old.

We went to her cabin; luckily, she was working in her garden. She welcomed us very well. She noticed that Mateo was feeling unwell.

She made some herbal tea. And asked me to lay him down in the hammock on the porch.

Mat asked me to take off his shirt. He was sweating a lot. Hana came to burn some herbal leaves near him and called him rou, which meant wolf in our language. I think it was because of the pendant I had given him.

Mat fell asleep. Hana called me to help her prepare dinner. We went to the kitchen.

When I came back to see him. The hammock was empty. He must have gone for a walk. I walked, trying to find him, but I didn't see him. When I turned Around to go back home, I saw a huge black wolf, just like the one in my dreams, and I was so scared that I thought I fainted.

I woke up in the hammock with Mat covered in leaves and dirt, looking at me scared.

" Are you okay? Do you need something? What happened?"

" I'm fine. I just got scared, I saw a wolf."

"Really? When I got there, you were lying on the floor, I was really worried."

"Mat, I saw a black wolf, the one from my dreams, but it was here, it seemed so real."

"That's impossible, isn't it? You told me that wolves are extinct here. Besides, a black wolf? You must have been delusional."

"I must be going crazy, like my mother. She said she had slept with a werewolf, she was in shock, horrified by the monster."

"Is your mother a werewolf?"

"Of course not, they are monsters, they don't exist, Mat. My mother used drugs. She must have had an episode."

**Mateo**

That was how she saw werewolves: monsters. That left me shaken. I needed to change the subject. I held Shake so long that he was sick, he had to go for a run, I transformed while I was sleeping, I didn't even notice, she only let me come back when she passed out from fear of him.

The lady came to get us. We had a wonderful venison stew for dinner and a peach jam for dessert.

It was getting dark and it was time to go back. I asked Nat to thank Hana for everything she had done for me. And we went to the hotel.

We took a shower and laid in bed watching a movie. She fits between my legs, leaning against my back. She made me feel like a pillow and I thought she was perfect there.

I kept thinking about everything Nat had said. I was convinced that her mother could have really known a werewolf. Now, could he be Nat's father? Did she have werewolf blood in her genes? Or was it just a coincidence?