“What do you mean by that?”
“I can’t explain exactly how it works, but basically we wolves only get our animal form during puberty. Before that, we’re basically identical to humans. No enhanced senses, no enhanced strength, no healing, and certainly no becoming a wolf.”
“Wait, you have all that?” Talk about a stacked deck.
I swore his smile grew the tiniest bit bigger. “Yeah. Even in our human bodies we can heal from most things that aren’t serious in just a couple of hours. Things that would lay up a human for months or even possibly years can be healed in a couple of weeks, provided we have enough food. The amount of calories our healing demands is actually quite insane.”
Well, now his appetite certainly made sense. Although he wasn’t injured, I imagined the basic caloric needs for someone who could randomly explode into a wolf at will was pretty high.
“So one day Benny will...”
“Be a shifter too, yes. But he’s not yet. In fact, if children get seriously injured or even get some type of scars, oftentimes even the great change won’t get rid of those. They carry those marks around for life.”
Whoa. That seemed so monumentally consequential, which was silly considering that it was the exact same for humans. But I couldn’t imagine living around other people who were all physically whole and healthy while I myself was horribly scarred. If I was a shifter, I would be a helicopter parent. The idea that a simple fall could mark my child apart from the rest of his community was pretty horrifying.
But then something hit me.
“Wait, when Benny told me to sit down...?”
“Yeah, I don’t have an explanation for that. He says he smelled something was off with you. He’s not supposed to have access to that skill yet.”
All of a sudden I was recontextualizing a lot that had happened over the past two weeks. Actually, scratch that, my brain was flicking through random memories of the entire school year like a rolodex, as if I would find other little juicy morsels of this werewolf backstory.
“What do you think that means?” I asked, my brain pausing in its replay long enough to realize that I was awfully chill about this whole revelation. Shouldn’t I be a little more dubious? A little more freaked out? While my heart was still thudding painfully, it had slowed down significantly. Now, it felt like I’d gone up a few too many flights of stairs instead of having a medical episode.
“I honestly have no idea. I could probably go ask some elders in the next territory over, but...” He trailed off and grimaced, a tortured look crossing over his eyes.
“But?” I prompted gently. I didn’t want to harass him, didn’t want to cross any boundaries, but there was still so much to learn. To understand. Was that entitled of me? I didn’t think so. After all, I’d been kidnapped, tossed around like a bag of potatoes, exposed to a world I was never supposed to know, and I’d lost my medical bracelet on top of everything else
Granted, I’d lost my medical bracelet because I stabbed someone in the eye with it.
Holy shit, I had really done that, hadn’t I? While I obviously knew it had happened, the full ramifications and meaning of it were just now hitting me.
In a fight with two giant, nearly rabid enchanted beasts fighting each other, I had not only gotten involved, but I had used my jewelry to blind the wolf attacking Ben. I would never forget how it felt when the silver plunged into the thick tissue of his eye. Never forget the sounds he made. Never forget how we both went flying to the side, and the air was driven from myback as he collapsed on top of me, bleeding everywhere as smoke billowed out from his body.
Therapy sure was going to be weird next Tuesday.
Could I even tell any of this to my therapist?
Something to worry about later.
“But I’ve kind of been avoiding them for the past year.”
“Why is that?”
“There used to be a lot more tension between the various packs and shifters in this area, but after my entire pack was murdered, all that kind of went away. Now, whenever I interact with them…” He grimaced again. “It’s like they pity me. I know that sounds stupid, but with everything else I’m dealing with, a lot of times it’s too much. It makes everything feel too…” He licked his lips nervously.
I was holding my breath as the puzzle pieces clicked together in my mind.
The home invasion that had taken Benny’s mother. Fuck. It seemed there was so much more to that story.
“Your wife,” I murmured before covering my mouth. Oh shit, that was probably not the most gracious way I could have brought it up.
Ben didn’t say anything for several beats. He gripped the kitchen counter and tipped his head to the ceiling as if he was going to find answers there.
I found myself holding my breath yet again and silently chastised myself for doing so. I was supposed to be calming down and steadying my heart, not making it worse. Kind of defeated the whole reason I’d taken my beta blockers.
“I was off at a diplomatic meeting with a herd that had been giving us a bit of trouble. One of their members had married into our pack after her herd rejected her for being infertile. No one would marry her, and her presence stopped her sister from having any suitable mates try to court her.
