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howlin' for you. | chapter 3 - and away she ran

when pure fear hit, there was only one way to run. The Wolf Among Us - Bigby Wolf x reader

Click, click.

Left, right. Another left. And another click.

The familiar sound of your heels hitting the worn-out concrete blocks, a memorized rhythm that was etched onto your routine for the past years. The spritzes of perfume evaporating slowly off of the radiant, smooth skin, mixing in with the usual combination of cigarette smoke, back alley grease and the city air.

It was just another Friday at the job.

Freshly painted lips wrapped around the thin cigarette between your fingers - a hungry drag of the killer nicotine running down your throat, smoke exiting out in a huff as you exhaled. The dress of choice had been a relatively innocent white halter top that night, clearly contrasting the atmosphere in which you had to throw yourself in for the time being. The cleavage ran low, it always did. It was just the way they preferred it.

Now that you had thought of it, it made the pretty little ribbon stand out even more.

It made cold, ice cold shivers run down your spine in the heatwave that disipated off into the night.

Everything will be alright. In and out, only for half an hour.

The fading gleam of the city lights, apartments flickering back to darkness one by one at the ungodly hour turned themselves into the pink and purple hues. High streetlights beaming down over you, dark and purple shadows following your graceful stride, a practiced one after too many nights spent on those high stilettos.

Yet how many more nights would you have to spend like this, so that you could get out of that damned club's employee list? Find a way to untangle that bow and not face the consequences? It had been a question looming, rippling and bubbling in your mind for the past too many years - somewhat motivating you, and sometimes, simply draining any life that was left within you. But that night, that one particular night, there was something new within - some sort of indescribable feeling of anxiety combined by both the fear and excitement of the unknown.

Freedom.

The mere thought of it making shivers run down your spine, those of comfort and excitement all combined within. If only your legs could take you far, far away, far enough to get out of the confinements of the spells binding your tongue. So close, yet so far. Tied to the brink of your very being by a literal piece of thread - the pink bow.

You will be just fine.

This appointment was one that came out of nowhere, not that it had been unusual to have a couple of those sometimes - there were a lot of people willing to request services on a whim up in Fabletown, and frankly, while you had been relatively new to the hellhole of a club, it made good money. That must have been why you hesitated a bit less than usual when Vivian gave you a very rushed call asking you to go to the motel right away - not that you had a choice anyway.

The night was just starting as you stood in front of the decrepit motel, lit under the streetlights that threatened to give out into the purple hues of neon darkness any minute. The crackling sign over you as the cigarette was swiftly extinguished on the floor under the sole, the wooden door creaking as the six-inch heels carried you inside with accustomed ease.

Loud, ethereal music coming from up above surrounded your senses as you took confident steps towards the little front desk, the smell of cigarettes, flesh and potent perfume all around the wretched motel. The phone that had been broken for a damn long time with no one to fix it, was dangling off the holder as the metal cord swayed gently in the leftover air - almost mimicking your step’s rhythm. Moans resonated off of the walls when the friction of wood against metal joined - with Beauty appearing behind the space, her lovely and innocent face bearing a genuine smile a striking contrast with the nature of her occupation.

“Hey, love,” she would greet you in her usual choice of sisterly endearment as your lips held a soft smile, a carefully constructed one.

“Have a key?”

A hand swiftly reaching to the side of your bag, you clutched the single key with a label attached on it, clinks echoing. “I do - 207.”

With a small nod, as gracefully as she could in a place like that, let you advance up the stairs leading up to the rooms.

That night, it would later appear the insulation spell running through the walls and doors did their job better than expected.

Nothing could have prepared you for the sight that awaited behind the closed door.

Sheriff Wolf needed a goddamn drink.

There was a very limited handful of things the wolf could truly get to enjoy, leading his particularly demanding lifestyle. Such as the mere promise of the one current constant in his life that was awaiting for him at home, if the pig had not lapped up the last of it - bourbon.

It was no addiction, no, not many substances could induce that type of behavior on a willpower like his. He considered it an established routine if anything - something that he kept coming back to and that he knew would always be there, one that provided him the slightest of comfortable buzzes, lulled him to sleep when no one else would. Just two fingers of the amber liquid every now and then - the sheer feeling of temporary warmth that fell down his parched throat, the lingering taste of honey with notes of caramel and the inherent woody bitterness.

Nights where he got to spend sprawled over his wide-enough armchair, head thrown back in exhaustion, his little tabletop fan a sad excuse for air circulation, knuckes red in fresh cuts with his long fingers loosely wrapped around a questionably clean glass - he felt like he was the luckiest man in the world.

Even when there were tears in his signature faded off-white, once crisp shirt, and blood trickling down on his jaw.

Just another Friday at the job.

It had been a lingering thought of his that maybe the alcohol helped subdue the monster hidden deep within, with the very momentary relaxation sent all over his being in the form of sips. Some sort of a Placebo effect, like the Mundies liked to call it - taking in the drug that essentially did close to nothing to ail the body, and yet, the strong, constructed and desperate belief that it just might made them feel all the better. Something he never understood how until he got to experience it himself.

And now, the very act of the ritual reminded him of his humanity, of who he truly believed he was at the core - not what.

That night, where the moon was so bright in the lingering heatwave, he found himself downing his fifth cup of strong coffee instead of liquor.

Running a hand down his two-day stubble that made him look even more rough around the edges than he already was, a sigh filled out the stuffy air of his small yet functional office, the exact copy of the fan in his apartment not doing much good. That moment, he mentally swore to ask Snow into letting the Woodlands transition to air conditioning, sooner rather than later in that damned heatwave. A long shot by any means - he of all people knew how hard she could be to convince but not impossible, nonetheless.

His body burning like a furnace, a hand would move up to loosen his tie even more, the white fabric parting ever so slightly to liberate taut skin.

A quick glance to the clock would make him sigh once more, this time a more guttural sound - 2:32AM.

A swift rustle of papers and he would find his half-empty pack, tapping it lightly to get a single cigarette as he placed the filtered part in between his lips, the lighter following suit.

A long, hungry drag later, the gray smoke filled his lungs as a huff came next, finally leaning back into his desk chair with the other hand tracing through the numerous files covering his wooden workspace.

How many cases had he gone through for the day? It was a particularly busy one, with the everlasting line at the Business Office which got redirected to his office eventually, most cases of accounts brought in by the Fables demonstrating their innate pettiness - stolen personal artifacts from the Homelands, the usual bar fight over hustling some pool, complaints for the increasing rent at the Luxury Apartments.

Wish they stopped calling it that.

Yet, there was this one report that stood splayed open with the attached file that stood to his eye - not the most recent but new and urgent nonetheless, one that he had been meaning to get to for days.

One of us.

It had been one of them missing, and it killed him to the core that he had not been able to start investigating when it first landed on his desk. That was the way it should have been - a Fable goes missing in an almost alien city that was not theirs to begin with, it should have been the first priority. It would have to override every single other case he was on, making him dedicate anything and everything he had.

Instead, he had to deal with drunken Fables hitting each other as they fought over stupid poker games.

Taking in another drag as his cheeks hollowed with the poison, his amber eyes scanned the papers and clippings attached. Short summary of the police reports would also be included if there were any - their absence, like this one time, was usually a good sign that left Bigby with yet one less thing to worry about.

Among the pictures that Snow clipped neatly over the documents, was a glamored one next to a true form. A certain realization made Bigby’s eyebrows furrow as he instinctively leaned in closer to inspect, blowing the smoke out in a slow exhale. A common choice of accessory in both shots.

A purple ribbon tied tautly around the neck.

Warm liquor was not enough the satiate the worry emancipating in his soul, growing the urge to protect and to find out the truth.

He would have to do either, sooner or later.

As an unexpected knock echoed through his chambers, he wished he could do the latter before having to break someone’s neck.

One hand holding the almost finished cigarette with the last trails of smoke flowing, he opened the creaking door only to find a pair of terrified eyes staring right into his.

#it's been literally 3 years i updated this #twau #the wolf among us #bigby wolf x reader #bigby x reader #bigby wolf

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