Willow walked around the campus, muttering to herself. "Stupid Oz...'Oh, I'm going to play with the band...they have a good sound...' Right...they also have a lead singer... Who's like Faith...probably a slut like Faith too... Faith sleeps with Xander and treats him like crap...Veruca's trying to do the same to Oz.... But I won't let her. He's mine. Damn it." She sat on a bench and sighed. "And besides, what does she have that I don't?"
"For one thing, I'm not as annoying," a voice said behind her.
Willow turned around in surprise. Her eyes narrowed when she saw who was standing there. "Oh," she said crisply. "Veruca."
Veruca nodded. "Willow," she said in response. She looked down at the bench, a faint smile on her lips. "So, do you call all of Oz's friends 'sluts' or do you just reserve that for me?"
Willow straightened. "That was a private moment and you shouldn't have been eavesdropping," she said stiffly.
Veruca chuckled. "Oh...right...a private moment...so despite the fact that you're practically yelling about me in a public place, I should be ignoring you, right?" She grinned. "Sorry...werewolf hearing. It does that, you know." At Willow's surprised look, she nodded. "Oh, Oz didn't tell you? Yeah, I'm one too. Three nights a month, running around the woods..." She straddled the bench and sat down, facing Willow. "Actually...let me ask you something...you and Oz have been in Sunnydale for awhile, right?"
Willow looked at Veruca cautiously, but nodded. "I was born here, and Oz moved here around ten years ago..."
"And Oz has been a werewolf for how long?"
"Almost two years..."
Veruca frowned. "So what happens when he's a wolf? You don't lock him up in a cage somewhere do you?"
Willow's posture grew even straighter. "Of course we do," she said primly.
Veruca's eyes grew wide with disbelief. "Jesus Christ," she said in a whisper. "You actually lock him up?"
Willow looked at her in shock. "He could get killed!"
"He's a werewolf! He can take care of himself! Locking him up is just...just..." Veruca searched for the words. "Inhumane! He's not some...rabid puppy you can just lock up and forget!" She shook her head in disbelief.
"Oz understands!" Willow said, her voice rising. "He knows he has to be locked up and he understands!"
Veruca looked down at the ground. "Does he?" she asked, her voice quiet. Her eyes lifted, peering at Willow from underneath black eyeliner. "Have you asked him?"
Willow's mouth opened, then closed again. "I..." she finally said.
Veruca looked at Willow with pity. "That's what I thought..."
"But...but it doesn't matter..." Willow stammered. "He has to be locked up. To protect himself and others...I mean, you get locked up..." As Veruca's lips curved into a smile, Willow paled and stopped speaking. "You don't?"
Veruca's smile grew into a grin. "Never."
Willow scooted further away from Veruca.
Veruca chuckled. "Jesus, aren't we just too good to be around werewolves...they have to be locked up in order for us to play with them..." She paused for a moment, her smile getting wider. "Is he neutered too?"
Willow blushed, then glared at the other girl. "No!" she said indignantly. "And anything else is none of your business!"
Veruca chuckled again. "Right..." She leaned back, supporting herself on her palms, pressing against the cool stone of the bench. "You think you're his soulmate or something because you read that wolves mate for life, right?"
Willow just glared at her.
Veruca grinned. "Well, I hate to break it to you, sweetheart, but it's like this." She sat up. "Wolves pairbond with wolves, right?"
Willow looked at her suspiciously, but nodded.
"If a human had sex with a wolf, aside from being illegal, the wolf wouldn't pairbond with the human, right?"
Willow's eyes widened for a second as she realized Veruca's reasoning, then narrowed to little slits. "Right."
Veruca tilted her head slightly. "You already know what I'm going to say, don't you?"
Willow's eyes were burning through the narrow slits of her eyelids. "That a werewolf sleeping with a human doesn't mean a pairbond," she said in a clipped, harsh voice. "Werewolves can only pairbond with other werewolves."
Veruca leaned back, looking over Willow, then smiled slowly. "That's right," she purred. "And unless you're planning to get bit and be locked up in a kennel for three nights out of a month, you're never going to have a hold on him." She stood up. "All it'll take is for another of his kind to show up, and you're out of the picture..." One of her hands flittered up to the sky. "Gone. Just. Like. That."
"Is that what you are?" Willow spat out, her face filled with rage. "You just going to take him? Make him forget everything we had?"
Veruca smiled mockingly. "Willow, you're assuming too much..." At Willow's confused look, she grinned. She reached out with her hand, lifted up Willow's chin, and kissed her, sliding her tongue over Willow's closed lips before releasing her. Veruca stepped back, grinning like a cat. "It's not been about him...or you...it's just fun..."
Veruca walked away, humming a vague tune, disappearing into the night. Willow sat on the cold stone bench, shaking with rage, with fear, with untapped desire. Willow looked up at the nearly full moon, a trace of fear in her eyes, and wondered.
This Angel/Buffy the Vampire Slayer story was written by Kate Bolin. If you liked it, there's plenty more at http://www.dymphna.net/fanfic/. And you can feedback her at dymphna@dymphna.net.