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"I promise that whatever you saw was just a nightmare," he said before bringing his cigarette to his lips and inhaling. "It's not real."
Tommy Shelby looked at his wife with soft eyes, watching her intently as she shuddered beside him. Their son played in the garden in front of them as they sat on the bench.
He reached for her shoulder and felt her muscles contact beneath his finger tips. He touched her chin to raise her gaze and meet her eyes.
"What did you think you saw?"
She felt Thomas rise out of bed.
He had been on edge all day, like something was crawling beneath his skin or a high-pitched noise had rattled in his brain the entire time. Something inside her said he was acting strange again and this time she should follow him. So she did.
Arrow House had been their home long enough that they both knew every creaking board and groan of the house. It breathed. They had simply learned the best rhythm to keep time with it.
She followed Tommy, her bare feet deftly missing every loose board. Tommy was also making no sound along his journey, his bare chest glowing in the moonlight through the various windows. Her skin prickled at the chill of wandering in just her nightgown, but she doesn't dare to take the time to get dressed.
Tommy finally made the tiniest noise as he opened the side door to the garden, and she held her breath as he froze for a moment. He looked behind him in her direction and she dipped from the door frame to stay out of view. She shut her eyes tight as she waited to be found, certain that Tommy would take a few silent steps back to find her hidden against the wall.
Instead, she heard nothing. With all the bravery she could compile, she opened her eyes and leaned over to peek through the doorway. All she found was a cracked door.
She dipped through the doorway and crouched near a bush, scuttling along from greenery to greenery as she searched for her husband's form in the moonlight. She found the back large, six-foot garden gate swinging in the harsh wind that was calling the storm they had been warned was coming. She found herself numb to the cold as she walked through the threshold and into the nearby woods.
She could hear Tommy stomping through the woods, no longer careful about the sound. She tried her best to walk in time with him to muffle herself. Tommy seemed completely oblivious to her at all at this point. He seemed off, stomping and agitated as he whispered to himself and pulled at his arms.
She stopped and hid herself behind a tree once Tommy stopped in front of her. He paced back and forth, muttering to himself and occasionally looking up to the treetops as if he could see something.
As the wind blew, the clouds parted. Tommy doubled over, groaning in pain as the moonlight broke through the branches.
Tommy dug at his skin, his nails extending and leaving deep red marks along his arms. His shoulder blades heaved as his hands grasped at his back and he hissed in pain. He fell onto all fours and his hands grabbed the forest floor as his head went back and a howl erupted from his lips.
His skin fell away in slouched pieces. Blood fell like rain as the winds blew harder at your back. A wolf remained where the man had been, his nose raised to the wind. His glowing blue eyes shone as his head lowered to look straight at you. His lips curled as a growl rolled through every muscle in her body, screaming for her to run while whispering for her to not move for fear of provoking him.
This was not the man she knew.
She stayed still, refusing to breathe as she waited to see the wolf's response to her presence.
And then everything happened all at once.
They both took off at the same time, the fear bubbling through her bloodstream as the wolf chased her. Both crashing through the trees, no qualms with the sound echoing along the quiet tree tops. The air burned in her lungs and she tasted the very blood she was trying to save.
She bounded across the opening between the wooded area and the garden, too busy running for her life to articulate a plea of help to any deity that could be listening.
She slammed the garden gate behind her as she heard the wolf slam into it, the growl erupting into a squeal of pain.
She fell to her hands and knees on the stone walkway, her body convulsing from the deep breaths she attempted. She turned and looked up through her hair to see the garden gate bent, but keeping the beast out. His blue eyes glowed in the dark.
"Nothing," she said, her throat dry as she tried to muster up a smile as she patted her husband's hand. "It was just a nightmare."
She winced as her scuffed hand stuck to his coat fabric.
She could not find her breath as she noticed Tommy's eyes glow a brighter blue.