Shit. I ran my hands down my face. My parents were going to kill us. Humans weren’t supposed to know about our kind. I don’t know how the hell we managed to keep it a secret for this long from our best friends, but now it’s all blown up! All because Kimi and I couldn’t keep Rose’s nose out of our business. Granted, she’s my dream girl, and if I had it my way she’d have found out before our wedding, but, still! Shit!
“Yes, we are,” Kimi stated, “and we’d appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone. Kam, go get a blanket for Mina. I’ll need to talk her through changing back, and I don’t think you want to see your baby sister naked.”
“She streaks around the house after she bathes,” I grumbled, but did what Kimi suggested. I grabbed Rose’s hand and dragged her to my house. I used the spare key in the bird feeder to get in. Kimi would need a few minutes to show Mina how to shift back. We can work on control after Mom and Dad get back.
Rose kept babbling behind me. She was pretty incoherent for the most part. She kept asking stupid questions about werewolves that probably came to her mind from her stupid web novels. I let her inquisition wash over me as I got a blanket for Mina. I figured Kimi wouldn’t need one. She usually stripped before shifting so she wouldn’t ruin her favorite clothes.
“So, are your parent’s true mates? Who is your Alpha? How the hell have you kept this a secret for so long? What is your wolf’s name? I bet it’s cute like Rex or Mario. How big is your pack?”
I sighed and turned to face her. “This is why we never told you.” I blurted. Rose immediately snapped her mouth shut. “There are no alpha wolves. There are no packs with set territories. The ‘mate bond from the moon goddess’ is crap. Our wolves are not separate from us. They ARE us. We don’t have little voices in our head telling us who we should love or obey. Yes, we can shift whenever we want after we hit puberty. No, we don’t go crazy during the full moon. Yes, we do have a little extra strength and agility, as well as heightened sight and smell. No, we can not turn other people into werewolves with a bite or blood transfusion. We are just like you otherwise. Now, I think Kimi has shown Mina how to shift back by now. I need to get them the blanket, sneak Mina back into your house and to Mal’s room without your parents and Mal noticing, and then we can deal with whatever more questions you have left.”
Rose looked stunned for the second time tonight. Her beautiful brown eyes were huge and she looked a little hurt. Shit. I had lost my patience with her. I brushed past her and back into the yard to my sisters, both wolves now. Mina looked a lot better. Her tail was wagging, and her muzzle was open in a grin. She looked a lot like Kimi and Rina, but more whitish gray. Kimi and I had more brown in our pelts than gray, but gray is the family color. I smiled at them both and tossed Mina the blanket. She immediately began to shift to her bipedal form, wrapping the blanket securely around her naked shoulders. Kimi had dashed off behind some bushes to change. She came out clothed with a few scratches.
“Do you guys have magical healing?” Rose’s voice came from behind me. Heaven help me! Normal people would be terrified if they saw one of their friends turn into a wolf. Nope. Not Rose! She just has to as a shit ton of stupid questions.
“What do you think,” Kimi glared at her. “Would I have spent six weeks with a cast on my leg last year if we did?”
Rose looked again at Kimi’s scratches. “That’s a no then?”
“You’re an idiot.” Kimi shook her head at Rose who grinned.
Mina looked at Rose with wide eyes. “You won’t tell anyone, will you?” Kimi and I looked at her, too.
Rose looked at each of us for a few seconds before answering. “No. Your secret is safe with me.”
“Good,” I grunted walking toward the trees between our houses. “I’d hate to have to kill you.”
Wait, what? Kill me? Kimia started giggling. “Kam’s being stupid. We wouldn’t kill you, you idiot.” I breathed a sigh of relief. “Humans taste disgusting.”“Kimi!” I stomped my foot as Kimia and Mina walked past me giggling. I followed behind them still a little bit in shock.My best friends are werewolves. My best friends are werewolves! How awesome is that? I tried to contain my excitement as we snuck back inside to get Mina’s pyjamas. I volunteered as tribute to distract my sister while the wolves snuck into her room.Mallory glanced at me when I plopped down in my favorite chair. “Everything okay?” she asked.“Yeah,
The weekend practically flew by, and Sunday came all too soon along with Rina and my parents. Since it was a school night, Mr. and Mrs. Braedon all but shoved us out the door and back home. I guess they were sick of their house swarming with teenagers. Besides, I knew my parents wanted a full update on their youngest pup in person. Mina had called them on Saturday to let them know she had shifted, but nothing beats my mother’s live reactions.“I can’t believe my baby is a young woman!” my mother exclaimed during Sunday dinner.“She did really well, for her first shift,” Kimi smiled at Mina.I smirked at my baby sister. “She only called for you once, Mom.”“
It’s a relief to go to school after a night around my unfiltered mom. Rose, Kimi, and I ride to school with Rina, but take the city bus home while Rina drives to her after school job. Of course, Rina, being Rina, thinks it’s funny to threaten Rose once she’s in the car.“I’ll eat you if you spill to anyone.”“I’ll just slather myself in Bath and Body Works lotion. Kimi says it tastes disgusting. Besides, what’s the point of broadcasting that you like to turn into a hairy beast and shit in the woods? Nobody would believe that someone as prissy as you would do that.” My Rose has guts, I’ll give her that.“I do not shit in the woods. I’m not like Ray or Kam. Besides, you have one thing right. I wouldn
“Whoah,” Kamron stopped in his tracks.“I smell it too,” Kimia said also stalled.“What? What do you smell?” I asked, wondering if it was me, but dismissing it almost immediately because they would have said something in the car.“I think there’s a new student, and that student is like us,” Kamron said with wide eyes.I almost couldn’t contain my excitement. More werewolves at my school! I could just squeal! “You can tell just by the smell?”“Yeah,” Kimia responded, “and he’s not related to us.”&l
Nate Mactire. From Boston. His mother doesn’t approve of his cousins’ vocations. He made my Rose blush. Okay, so she’s not my girlfriend, yet. I guess I can’t claim her as mine, but I really want to make her blush like that! And of course she smells amazing! Any wolf worth his salt can tell she’s ovulating. Her hormones are tantalizing. If I hadn’t spent years as her friend, and around other ovulating women, I wouldn’t have the control not to jump her! I’ve decided I don’t trust Nate. Despite what he said, I would bet my fortune he’s getting away from the Irish mobs. I have this theory that all mafias are run by wolves. They keep leadership and membership “in the family,” they get violent in big cities because they can’t shift whenever they need to, and really only listen to their leaders. Dad used to tell me bedtime stories abou
Nate is such a flirt! I loved it! Nobody has ever so blatantly flirted with me that way before. He and I had science together with Kimia. I had texted her from homeroom about Kamron’s behavior. She wasn’t surprised. Apparently, Kamron likes to be our favorite guy. Weirdo. She was already sitting in her seat when we arrived. I caught her checking out our new wolf in town, and smirked at her.“Nate, this is Kam’s sister, Kimia. Kimi, this is Nate.” They waved at each other. Nate chose to sit behind me, and I sat next to Kimia.“Rose texted me that you moved here from Boston,” Kimia started the conversation.“Yeah,” Nate raised an eyebrow at me. “Ma wanted to get me away from some family she thought were bad influences
PE is one of the few classes Kimia and I felt we could chat freely. Our teacher had us do stretches and laps for the first half hour before inflicting whatever sport is in season on the class. Kimia and I never felt very sporty, but we weren’t overweight either. Stretching and jogging was always fun with her. “So,” I began. “So,” Kimia encouraged. She was super annoying when she knew I wanted to talk about something but also didn’t want to talk about it. “What do you think of Nate?” “He seems nice. What do you think of him?” I blushed. “He seems very affectionate.” Kimia threw her head
The rest of the day went by fast. Thankfully I didn’t have any more classes with Nate Mactire. I was looking forward to going home. Rose was already waiting at our bus stop when Kimi and I got there. I don’t know how she makes it there so fast, but she is always the first one there. I signaled Kimi to keep quiet and snuck up behind Rose. She had her phone out and was looking way too engrossed to be just idling scrolling through social media. I peeked over her shoulder, and saw exactly what she was so focused on. It was one of her web novel apps. “The shift was more painful than I had imagined! I wished my mate would find me so I could survive this first transformation. My bones broke and rehealed themselves almost instantly in their new form, but the pain lingered. Where was my mate? What was he or she doing?