"What are you doing to him? I've seen you do it a couple times over the years, but I haven't figured it out." 

I look to the cree- I mean Simon- and see him watching with mild interest. I'd stopped drinking Josh's blood a bit ago - the slow burn of the blood high making me very relaxed - and was now just combing his hair with my fingers and probing around his mind.

"Josh is a werewolf."

He nods at me in encouragement to continue.

"The only one we know about so far, which means he doesn't have a mentor or someone to guide him through this. Basically, he can't control his shifts. The shit about a full moon is bogus, it just makes them a bit stronger. So none of us know how to teach him since Tobi's shift is a bit different."

"Tobi?"

"Wait till I'm done. Anyway, we discovered that being calm fights the shift and he can stay human till the next itch to shift. However, Josh is a little ball of anxiety and is barely in a state of calm."

"That's where you come in."

I glare at him and he shrinks back a bit. Ha! Score one for me.

"Yes, that's where I help. I can somewhat manipulate minds and my bite has a calming effect on Josh instead of an erotic one. Both help calm him down and stop him from shifting."

"Doesn't he need to shift? Like won't this hurt him in the long run?"

I give him a loopy smile as he shows concern for my friend.

"We go on monthly camping trips so he can run around. He has the urge to shift about three times a month, but he hasn't seen me in over two weeks and we had to cancel our last camping trip."

He nods a bit and looks as if he's pondering something. While he does, I start to pull back from Josh, allowing him to float is this sort of limbo.