Dangerous Obsession

Shattered

  Dale felt like he had been punched in the gut. All of the air left his lungs and the pain he felt at Michele's question was tangible. 

"Mitch.... how could you think that?" he whispered. He stared deep into his wife's eyes. Her tortured expression actually made him weak in the knees. 

 "How could I not think that, Dale?" She snapped, jumping to her feet. She clenched one hand in a fist tightly by her side, the other she used to jab her husband in the chest.

"You disappear for an entire day without so much as a text" Jab. "Finally come home with a bunch of lame ass excuses" Jab. "You cant stand me to touch you" Jab. "Not to mention your new outfit!" Jab. Jab.

Gone was the stunned and hurt woman that sat on the bed moments before, and in her place was a very angry one. Dale slowly stepped back, retreating from his wife's probing finger. His mind was racing. He had to fix this, but Hell if he knew how. Telling Michelle the truth was obviously out of the question. He was just going to do a better job of lying to her. That realization hurt almost as much as the fact that his beloved wife questioned his fidelity, but there was no other way. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before once again meeting Michelle's gaze. 

"Michelle, I would never cheat on you." He stated firmly. Michelle opened her mouth to speak, but Dale cut her off quickly. "I know I've been acting strange, and I'll do my best to explain it all to you but first I need you to know that I have not been having an affair. I promise you that."

He prayed that she would see how sincere he was. He didn't know what he would do if she didn't. They stood there facing each other, Michelle studying Dale intensely. Suddenly, she began to sob and sank down to her knees on their bedroom floor. Dale quickly joined her and pulled her into his arms. His wolf protested loudly inside of his head at the physical contact. This upset and confused Dale, he did not understand why his wolf would react so strongly. Maybe werewolves just didn't like intimacy? He didn't have the time to analyze what was going on with his wolf now. Fixing this mess with Michelle was his first priority, so he pushed his protesting wolf to the farthest part of his mind and focused on soothing his wife. He held her and stroked her hair while she wept in his arms. Finally, her tears spent, Michelle looked up at him.

"Why are you acting so strange then, Dale. If there is no other woman, why are you acting so...so...guilty?"

Dale heaved a big sigh. "Because I do feel guilty Michelle" he answered softly, tucking a curl behind her ear.

Her brows furrowed. "For what"

"For the Hell I've put you and the boys through lately. I've been living and breathing for finding those wolves. All my energy, all my hopes, all my dreams... I gave it all to my twisted obsession. And for what? For a few muddy tracks."

They were leaning with their backs against the side of their bed now. Michelle was trying to process what she'd just heard. Dale looked so defeated. Her heart twinged with pity for her husband, but she couldn't bring herself to comfort him yet.

"I guess I just was terrified of telling you I failed... again..." 

Dale stared at the carpet in front of him. Nothing he had said so far had been a lie. It wasn't the whole truth, but it was much more convincing than his first attempt. He just hoped it would be enough to get him out of this. 

"Everything else you told me earlier??" 

Dale nodded, waiting for her to continue.

"Was all of that true?"

"Mostly. Except the part about my camera. I dropped it off the cliff when fell. It's gone."

"I don't understand why you would lie about that Dale? I don't care about your camera..." Michelle protested. 

"Honestly, Mitch? You already worry enough as it is, how do you expect me to feel about telling you that I almost fell off a cliff to my death? If you knew how close I was to dying last night, you'd refuse to let me go in those woods ever again, and... I'm not ready to give it up yet..." this explanation was partly true and the hint of truthfulness in Dale's words was enough to persuade Michelle... and terrify her.

"Why go back to the college then?" she wondered.

Dale shrugged, " I just wanted to clean up first, before I faced you. I was pretty beat up."

Michelle nodded. Maybe it was awful of her, but the thought of her husband almost dying was not nearly as unsettling as the thought of him with another woman. She looked back at the marks on his neck.

"And this?" she asked tracing it with her finger tips. Dale did not move away from her touch this time.

"Collateral damage from my little tumble" he chuckled.

"I don't see what's funny about that." Michelle frowned at him.

"You thought it was a bite! Like I'd survive a bite like that!" he teased. 

Michelle gave him a tight smile and shoved his shoulder. 

"I did not say it was a bite! I said it looked like a bite!" 

They laughed a little together and Dale put his arm around her shoulders. Michelle leaned into him before asking.

"So, you aren't giving it up then?" It was more of a statement than a question.

"Not yet, Mitch" Dale confirmed softly. "I can't"

She nodded against his chest. She'd figured as much. 

On his way back from the forest that evening, Dale had thought about that part a lot. Of course he didn't actually need to search for the wolves anymore. He'd confirmed their existence in the worst way. There was also no way he could ever present anything to the Dean. He knew that introducing more humans into the equation would be foolish. It occurred to him, however, that maybe no one else knowing that he'd actually been right about the wolves could work in his favor. He could use his supposed search for the wolves as a cover to continue visiting the Park. He figured that would be the least suspicious way to spend time with his new pack, something he sensed was very important to his wolf. Quickly he made a decision, and before he could second-guess it he said to Michelle.

"I'm not giving up, but I'm scaling back... a lot"

"What do you mean?" She asked with an arched brow.

"From now on, I'll go to the Park Monday and Wednesday evenings after work, and I'll spend one weekend a month out there." 

Michelle smiled at him. Her expression telling him that this new schedule pleased her.

"I'm still going to worry. Especially now." 

"I know. I'll be more careful. I promise." 

"I'm glad you'll have some weekends free now." 

"Oh, yeah?"

"Mmmhmm. Winter's almost over and I have a list of house projects for you a mile long" she explained smugly.

Dale groaned dramatically.

"Look on the bright side, you'll have plenty to keep your mind off of the wolves"

   Another groan from Dale, "I'd rather be bored." he muttered under his breath. Michelle laughed at this. There was a feeling that things were right in their world again. They were both still a little hurt from their earlier encounter. Those wounds would take time to heal. At least now they were willing to take the time they needed. They would be okay, they would make it through all of this together. Just like they always did.

  Sleep did not come easy for Dale that night. Not only was his mind absolutely racing, but his body still hummed with energy. Surprisingly, he actually felt great physically. He had to feign exhaustion for Michelle's sake, though. His newfound energy would be sure to raise her suspicions considering the day he told her he'd had. So he closed his eyes and did his best to pretend to be asleep until he heard her breathing softly beside him. After he was sure his wife was asleep, he stared at the ceiling and thought over all the recent developments in his life. He still wasn't sure how he felt about it all, not there was much that he could do about it anyway. The hours slipped by and eventually Dale did drift off into a fitful sleep.

 A casual observer would have thought he was having a nightmare. Sweat beaded on his forehead, he tossed and twitched, and occasionally he would let out a moan. How Michelle managed to sleep through all of his thrashing is a mystery. Suddenly Dale jerked awake, his breathing ragged. He hadn't been having a nightmare, but his left arm was coursing with a burning pain. Every beat of his heart felt like an electric shock all through his arm and straight to his heart. 

He managed to roll out of bed and stagger to the bathroom that joined the bedroom. He flipped on the light, not bothering to shut the door behind him. As soon as his eyes adjusted to the light he looked at his left hand, which seemed to be where the pain was originating. His mouth fell open in horror when he saw his ring finger. His finger was burned, badly. The worst of the burn was concentrated were the metal of his ring touched his flesh, fanning out from there in every direction. Underneath his skin dark purple fingers of blood poisoning were stretching their way to his heart. Dale didn't know what was happening, but he knew he had to get his ring off. This couldn't have come at a worse time! How was he supposed to explain the absence of his wedding ring to Michelle after what she'd accused him of?

 A fresh wave of pain washed over him. He felt bile rising in the back of his throat and ran to the toilet to relieve himself of it. He was still retching when Michelle sleepily entered the bathroom to check on him.  Not even she could sleep through the sounds of Dale violently emptying his stomach.

"Oh my God, Dale... are you okay?" 

Dale didn't answer. He just flung himself back against the wall, panting heavily. Suddenly he reached and grasped his wedding ring, jerking it off of his finger roughly and throwing it on the floor beside him. Dale moaned in pain as the ring scraped across his singed flesh. Michelle was beyond worried at this point and rushed to kneel down beside him. 

"Dale!" she cried, grabbing his left had. A terrified gasp escaped her as she took in the condition of his ring finger. 

Dale didn't respond. He was remembering something he had always heard about in the legends about werewolves. According to those old tales, there were two things that could destroy a werewolf; Wolfsbane and silver. Dale hadn't had time to ask Xavier about this, and honestly he hadn't even thought about it until that very moment. His breathing was starting to become more regular now, and the pain in his arm had drastically decreased. All that was left was a distinct feeling of being burned. A feeling Dale knew all too well.

Once, in college, Dale had spilled acid on his shoe during a chemistry experiment. He hadn't noticed his mistake, and while he was carrying on with his project, the acid was busily cutting through the leather of his shoe. Finally it reached the tender flesh on the top of Dale's foot burning it instantly. Luckily he had been in the lab at the time, and was able to apply a neutralizing agent before too much damage was done. Dale could still vividly remember the pain of that burn. The burn on his finger felt sickeningly similar. 

His brows creased as he tried hard to remember what the band of his wedding ring had been made of. He was pretty sure it was silver, but he wasn't certain. Slowly he turned to Michelle. She was clearly worried and very confused.

"Michelle... What are our wedding rings made of?" He asked confusing her even more.

She knitted her brows together.

"What does that have to do with anything?" she wondered aloud.

 Dale shook his head at her and repeated impatiently.

"What kind of metal is it, Mitch!?"

"I-it's silver" 

This confirmation made everything clear to Dale, and more confusing to Michelle. One didn't just suddenly become allergic to silver did they? And certainly not have such a violent reaction to it? One thing they both realized is that Dale would not be able to put that ring back on his finger. Of course, this saddened Michelle. No woman wants her husband running around without his wedding ring, but she could see with her own two eyes what the ring had done to him. She couldn't be upset with Dale for removing it after that.

While Michelle was a little upset, Dale was devastated. This was just one more thing to add to the growing list of things he would loose because of his turning. His whole world was shattered, and he had an ominous feeling that this was only the beginning. Before all of this was over, his life would be unrecognizable. And there wasn't one single thing that he could do about it.