A Werewolf Valentine's

by C. M. Stunich

  Are you saying you want to break up with me? was Linc's next text. I kept reading.

  Is that what YOU'RE saying? If you don't want me, let's end this and I'll find someone that does.

  Dang. That was pretty harsh. I gave Deb a look, but she was still staring earnestly at me so I went on. It seemed a little like maybe hurt feelings, misunderstandings and poor word choices had contributed to this break up.

  Seriously? Then if that's how you feel, by all means, let's end this and you can go date someone better.

  Fine.

  FINE!

  FINE!!!!!!!

  And then there were, like, ten or so texts from each of them filled with angry emojis and kind of screwed up Valentine's Day stuff like a cartoon dude ripping a heart in half. Oh, and Deb also managed to get the last word in by sending a meme with some celebrity dude I didn't recognize. I think he was in a boy band or something. But the words were pretty clear: Sad about being alone on Valentine's Day? Guess what? Nobody loves you the rest of the year either.

  Yikes.

  I set the phone down.

  “This was my fault, wasn't it?” Deb whispered as I glanced over at Lincoln and found him staring at us, his blue eyes wide and sort of shiny, like a deer facing down a pack of wolves. Heh. How's that for a werewolf metaphor? He probably saw Deb's phone on my side of the table—it was hard to miss in the bright pink case with all the ugly cartoon cherub dudes on it. Yep. Like I said, we go all out here for V-Day. Even our phones are tricked out for the holiday.

  “I think it was both your faults,” I told her honestly. “Hurt feelings sometimes lead to … misunderstandings. That, and a healthy dollop of embarrassment.” At least in this field, I knew I was the consummate expert. Embarrassment, pish, I knew that like the back of my hand. Now, werewolves, magic spells, hunters, and … sexual intercourse, not so much.

  “You're so right,” Deb drawled, sliding her hands over her face and dropping them into her lap. “I overreacted, I know. It's just … Linc and I were kissing and we decided to go all the way, and we got naked, and then … he couldn't figure out how to put the condom on.”

  I pinched my lips tight, like I'd just bitten into one of mom's sour lemon Valentine's Day tarts.

  Um, TMI much? But I couldn't shut Deb down without making her feel bad, so I let her keep talking.

  “I know we went over it in health and safety, but a penis”—this word was whispered at basically zero volume—“isn't really like a cucumber …”

  Oh god, please stop talking, I wished inside my head, but Deb needed to get this out, so I sat there and listened because that's what friends do. And yeah, sex was weird and messy and strange and sometimes, you just needed to talk to somebody about it. I think all the trying-to-not-talk-about-it that people did was bizarre and honestly, probably part of the problem.

  “Then I … I was embarrassed and I snapped at Linc and then he snapped back, and then he just … got dressed and left. The texts were from the next morning.”

  I nodded because, you know, nodding seemed to indicate some sort of mature understanding of the situation.

  “Then we just need to clear this up. Why not just talk to Linc? I mean, you know the entire school calls you guys DebLin. Debra, he bought you six dozen roses last year for Valentine's Day—in three different colors!”

  “Ugh,” Deb moaned, dropping her arms to the table and leaning her forehead onto them.

  “It's as simple as talking to him,” I told her, reaching over to poke her in scalp. She ignored me. “You know, sometimes it's the easiest solution that's the most efficient. If you're too embarrassed to do it now, then text him as soon as you get home.” I shrugged. “Either that or forgo the diamond earrings that Josiah told me Lincoln bought you.”

  Now that caught Deb's attention and she lifted her head. Hey, if calm, rational explanation doesn't fix a situation then, well, it was Valentine's Day and diamonds definitely would.

  When I got home, I was exhausted. All that drama with DebLin, and all that worrying about Josiah … ugh. I just wished I could call and talk to him, just get one text from him telling me that he was okay. But when I got home, there was nobody and nothing—even Dad and Edwin had gone somewhere.

  “Just me, myself, and I,” I said to nobody and nothing, heading into the kitchen and snagging some of Mom's famous V-Day lemonade. Really, it was just strawberry lemonade with some extra food coloring to make it super pink, but it was fun anyway. My parents had even broken out the Valentine's Day glassware so I made myself feel real fancy by pouring my drink in a champagne flute with the words Together Forever etched into the surface.

  I took that and a pair of frosted cookies painted like rose blossoms upstairs and settled down to wait for the demons to get home. Then I realized that it was Thursday and they weren't coming home via bus today; they had a permanent playdate with one of my mom's friend's sons and she was picking them up.

  I sighed.

  “For once in my life, when I want them here, they don't show up,” I said, stuffing a cookie in my mouth and pausing at the sound of the doorbell downstairs. My heart started pounding immediately, of course, because you know, I was just hoping and praying that it was Josiah. Not much chance of that happening, huh? I was probably ten times as likely to find his mom, complete with hideous knitted sweater and silver weaponry, waiting on my doorstep.

  I bounded down the stairs anyway, a cookie half hanging out of my mouth and flung the door open to find …

  A vase of red roses sitting on my doorstep.

  Within two point three seconds, I was as red as they were.

  “Hey.”

  I jumped and dropped the cookie from my mouth. With crazy fast werewolf reflexes, Josiah snatched it out of the air and took a bite. The a-hole had been hiding around the corner and popped out at me when I opened the door. And as usual, he was smiling.

  “I was going to wait until you'd picked them up and gone inside before I knocked again, but I'm really bad at keeping secrets I want to tell.”

  “I see,” I said, pretending not to be ridiculously excited at his presence, the flowers, or the adorable sleeveless hoodie he was wearing. It showed off his arms which, you know, I'd never really noticed before, but was so noticing right now. “Thank you for the flowers.”

  The words came out in an embarrassed mumble as I bent down and picked up the white vase, holding it close and sniffing the vibrant bouquet. Even with my wolf senses working on overdrive, I enjoyed the scent of the roses. They smelled sweet and natural, but not too overpowering.

  I ended up hugging the vase and staring up at Josiah from under my lashes.

  “You're the best boyfriend ever,” I told him, and I meant that completely and utterly.

  “You're the best girlfriend ever,” he said, in typical Josiah fashion. And you know what? I think he meant that, too.

  “Why?” I retorted, trying to be silly to take some of the pressure off the situation. “You gave me roses and all I gave you was an STD passed down with my mother's genetics.” Josiah tossed his head back and laughed, the hideous scarf I'd knitted him for Christmas wrapped around his neck. He seemed to be in a good mood, so I was hoping beyond all hope that nothing more had happened when he'd gotten home last night. Unfortunately, one of the very few, very tiny negative things about Josiah was that he could hide his sadness or his fear or his anger behind all of that happy, so it could be hard to tell when he was hurting.

  “Look, you're even funny, too,” he said as I narrowed my eyes on him and stepped aside so he could come in. “How was your day?” he asked as he followed me up the stairs to my room and made me all too aware that here we were, completely and utterly alone. No parents. No siblings. Just … us.

  “How was yours?” I asked, because I was scared and I needed to know if my boyfriend was going to be shipped across the country to be fed to a whole school of werewolf murderers.

  “Honestly? Mom tried to cast another spell on me. Again, didn't work, but when I woke up,
my bed was surrounded by black candles and she was chanting something totally weird. Oh, and also, she stuffed fresh holly between my sheets. I even had berries between my toes.”

  “Um, that's completely weird and totally creepy,” I said as I sat the vase down on my desk and then felt Josiah's arms go around me. To say I melted would be an understatement. I was straight up liquid from my head to my toes. “How did you get over here then?”

  “Linc,” he said, his breath warm against my ear, making me shiver. “He wanted to talk about the whole Deb thing.”

  “Did he tell you the full story?” I asked and then wondered why I would ask about that with Josiah wrapped around me the way he was. First, it was embarrassing as hell. Second, who cares about that when we were alone together. And maybe he was going to Connecticut and maybe I'd never see him again and ugh … I was being overdramatic. Time to put on the big girl panties.

  “Yeah. Did Deb tell you? I mean, about the whole condom debacle. Like it's that hard to get it on. We managed, didn't we?”

  “Josiah Edric Wakeham,” I whispered, but I turned in his arms anyway and wrapped mine around his neck.

  “I told him that he and Deb are good together, really good, and maybe they're just not ready for sex yet. There's no rush; they can wait. It's not like it's a race or anything. There's plenty of time for that later.”

  Good advice. Sage advice, really. And awfully practical.

  “Josiah,” I said and my heart was pounding like crazy inside my chest as I looked up into his eyes. “That's exactly what DebLin needed to hear.” A pause as I glanced over at my desk where the two condoms were stashed. My eyes flicked back to Josiah's. He looked down at me with a neutral expression for a moment and then, as if it had just clicked in his mind, he grinned at me.

  “Are you sure?” he asked, but I knew myself well enough to know that I was. Not everybody is, and that's okay. Sex wasn't a race or a goal to be met, but there was also nothing wrong with it if you were safe and honest with yourself about what—and whom—you wanted to do it with.

  And I wanted to do it with Josiah.

  “I'm sure,” I said, and let him pull me onto the bed with him.

  “I wish I didn't have to go,” Josiah said, holding me against his chest. I could feel his wolf again, but he wasn't so frustrated today, wasn't pacing or growling, just resting contentedly against my own. Or at least that's what it felt like. I knew instinctively that my wolf and Josiah's wolves were just us, but however the magic worked made it seem like they were inside of us, just waiting to pop out and go for a run. “I feel like I'm always running out on you after … you know, this.”

  “You didn't run out last time. You heard Dad's minivan pull into the driveway and we both panicked.”

  “Too true,” he said with a grin and then we both paused at the sound of the front door opening and closing.

  “Sylvia!”

  It was Mom.

  Holy crapping crap.

  Josiah and I bolted out of bed, frantically dragging our clothes on. I got caught up trying to find my panties and then just gave up and snatched a new pair from my drawer only to turn around and find Josiah with them in his hand, examining the heart shaped handcuffs on the front.

  “Jo!” I whisper-yelled, snatching the underwear from his fingers as he grinned at me and then paused at the sound of my mother's footsteps coming up the stairs. Before she could open the door—why the heck did I never lock it?—Josiah ducked into the bathroom and hid behind the shower curtain.

  “Honey,” she said, throwing the door open as I stood there panting and praying she wouldn't know anything was up. Mom glanced at the rumpled bed, the roses on the desk, my mussed up hair. “He's here, isn't he?”

  “Ms. Noe,” Josiah said, sliding back the curtain and smiling at her with that stupidly charming face of his. His brown hair was just as mussed as mine was. Such a total giveaway. If I could've leapt out the window without dying—which I might be able to do with my new werewolf powers but wasn't willing to test out at the moment—then trust me, I'd have been halfway to Deb's by now.

  Mom just … sighed and gave me a look.

  “You know I hate lying,” was all she said and then when I thought maybe things wouldn't get any worse, she kept going, “and if you guys are going to … well, I just hope you used a condom.”

  “Mom!” I snapped, but she wasn't done, crossing her arms over her chest as Josiah stepped out of the shower and came to stand next to me, slightly chagrined but not nearly as embarrassed as he was the last time we got caught.

  “Do you want to go to the clinic and start the pill? Josiah can come with us and learn something about birth control. It's not just the woman's job to worry about that, you know. It's up to both partners to be responsible.”

  “Mom!” I said again and she finally paused, focusing the famous Noe Family amber eyed glare on me.

  “Does Josiah's mother know he's here?”

  “She doesn't,” he admitted, sounding slightly sheepish. “Linc's supposed to pick me up in a few and take me home before she gets back and realizes I left.”

  “Any news to report?” Mom asked and Josiah sighed.

  “She tried to cast another spell on me.”

  “With black candles and holly berries,” I added, just in case that was important somehow.

  Mom cocked an eyebrow, and I kind of wished she'd go away for a minute so I could collect myself. Getting caught just after the act like this … it was pretty much the worst thing in the entire world.

  “Well, if worst comes to worst, your father and I have made a decision on the matter.”

  “And that is?” I asked as Mom looked between the two of us and smiled slightly, that embarrassing Mom smile she did when she thought I was doing some new adult-like thing. It was terrible.

  “We invoke pack law and take Josiah into our custody.”

  Josiah and I exchanged a glance and then flicked our attention back to Mom. The last few weeks had been complete craziness, what with school starting back up again, dealing with Josiah's family, and all of that, so my mother hadn't quite gotten the chance to go over werewolf politics with me. I had no idea what invoke pack law meant.

  “Pack law?” Josiah asked before I could.

  “Pack law,” Mom repeated with a long, drawn-out sigh. “Since you turned Josiah and he's your mate, that means he belongs to our pack. And pack law always trumps human law—even hunters know that.”

  “And that means what exactly?” I asked cautiously, because I didn't want to jump too far ahead of the game.

  “It means,” Mom said, looking between the two of us with a very serious expression on her face, “that Josiah would move in with us.”

  Holy. Werewolf. Hell.

  Neither Josiah or I knew quite what to say to that one.

  The next morning, I woke up feeling like it was Christmas Day. Only, this was even better because it was Friday and tonight was the dance, the one everyone in the school looked forward to, bigger even than senior prom. The community center would be drenched in pink and white and red balloons, and there'd be lanterns and fairy lights strung up in the old rafters. Most of the tables would be set for two, draped in white cloths with real candles and bottles of sparkling cider to make up for the lack of champagne.

  Last year, I'd gone with a group of girlfriends and had a great time. But this year, I was thrilled to be going with my boyfriend … with my mate.

  I flushed as I climbed out of bed, remembering the feel of Josiah laying next to me in it, how warm his skin was, how soft his mouth was, how deftly skilled his hands were … yikes. Okay, no more romance novels. Nope. I was taking, like, a three month break from the darn things.

  “Happy Valentine's Day!” I said as I appeared in the kitchen and found everyone in my family present and accounted for, dressed in their holiday best. Mom had on this fabulous pair of red leggings with silhouettes of dancing couples and Dad had this black and white striped tie with a red heart on the end that said B
e Mine. The three boys were dressed in identical tees that matched my own—pale pink with the words Total Sweetheart and a cluster of colored candy hearts. Dad had really wanted to get the red ones that said I'm A Love Child! on the front, but Mom had firmly put her foot down with a hell no.

  “Morning honey,” Dad said in a ridiculously good mood—as usual. I had yet to see him look anything but ecstatic on Valentine's Day. He pulled a chair out of the table for me and I sat down, letting him push me in and present me with a cup of pink hot chocolate and a plate of heart shaped toast with strawberry jam. It was totally cute.

  “Eat up,” Mom said, pointing at Trevor's barely touched plate. The kid never did handle mornings well. He looked like he was about to pass out. Usually, he slept on the bus on his way into school. “We have to set up for the party and I don't want to be late. Sylv,” I glanced up and Mom handed me a small plate with bacon on it, “we've got party duty with the boys until three, and then we're sending them all over to the Morley's for a V-Day sleepover. Do you need help getting ready for the dance?”

  “Nope,” I said, wanting my parents to go out and enjoy their date night without having to even think about me. Of course, Mom had already given me this really embarrassing lecture about school dances and doing it afterward and how I didn't have to if I didn't want to, but if I did, I should just remember to be safe, etcetera, etcetera, and so on and so forth. “Josiah's picking me up at six and then we'll be at the community center until around ten.”

  “And after that?” Dad asked with a wary note in his voice as he tried to get Edwin to eat something other than sugar cookies and cupcakes with red lips frosted on the top. He shoved his glasses up his nose and I noticed they were already getting fogged with embarrassment. Great.

  “I don't know,” I said, flushing and glancing at Mom. I'd also gotten a second lecture after Josiah had left about lying and how I shouldn't do it, and if I wanted something, I should just ask her—even if what I wanted was alone time with my mate. “I thought we could come back here and watch a movie.” A long pause as Dad stared at me. “You know, about werewolves.” More staring. “Maybe werewolves who go to Siempre National Park and run for a while?”