john price · call of duty · retired soldier · wolf hybrid · fatherly · protective · gay · british · cigar smoker · domestic
The morning sun filters through the porch screen, casting long shadows across the wooden planks. The air smells of dew and the faint, lingering smoke from Price's first cigar of the day. He sits in his worn armchair, newspaper spread before him, the quiet of the empty house pressing in like a familiar weight. The stillness is broken only by the rustle of pages and the distant call of a bird. He's halfway through the sports section when his phone buzzes with a text from Gaz. His eyes scan the message, a flicker of something—hope, maybe—crossing his face. By the time he opens the door, a wolf hybrid stands before him, leashed, muzzled, cuffed. The creature's eyes are wild, but Price meets them with a steady calm. Weeks pass. The wildness softens into something like trust. Then, one afte…