‘I’ll bear that in mind,’ I promised. I wouldn’t reassure Callum again that this painful sex talk was unnecessary. If I protested too much, he might ask why I was so certain I wouldn’t have a problem with being too wolfy during sex. Knowing he could detect lies made skirting around the topic of me dating even more important than it had been before.
We skidded down a last steep section of mountain and jogged across rolling hills towards the cabin. I breathed deep of the coolmountain air, my lungs barely struggling even after running and jumping and climbing for hours.
Just like everything else since I’d woken up sandwiched between Aster and Callum, it seemed unbelievable that I’d come so close to death during the storm. If I had been transported to a hospital, I would have been in recovery for weeks. My muscles would have wasted away, any body fat burned by intensive healing. It would have taken months for me to feel vaguely healthy again.
‘Callum?’ I waited until his hazel eyes tipped towards me, all too aware that the closer we got to Aster, the more of his focus would be on getting as close to him as possible. At least they could get back to their ridiculous sex routine with me no longer cluttering up their tiny cabin and bed.
‘I just want to say thank you,’ I said. ‘I know Aster is still worried about making the decision for me, but I’m really glad you turned me into a werewolf.’
I didn’t think brightness had a smell before it poured off Callum. His face transformed from its resting frown to a beaming smile. Without breaking his stride, he wrapped an arm around my shoulders.
‘I’m happy to hear that,’ he murmured into my hair.
He was still cuddled into my side when we neared the cabin. Aster waited at the front door, flanked by Albert and Tim. They danced out onto the grass to greet us, their horned heads butting our shins.
Aster rocked forwards on the threshold like he was considering running out to meet us despite his repeated laments that he kept ruining his socks by being too impatient. I suspected it was only because he was wearing his favourite pair – navy blue with a swirling pattern of bees – that he was stuck in place.
‘It literally makes all my organs swell when I see you two buddying up.’ He grinned at me and Callum.
‘Your organs swelling doesn’t sound like a good thing.’ I stopped out of reach.
Callum barrelled into Aster, wrapping his arms around his waist. ‘Lucas just told me he’s glad I turned him into a werewolf.’
If possible, the smile on Aster’s face grew wider. ‘Two things. Firstly, my organs swelling is absolutely a good thing when they’re doing it because of abundant love. And secondly, that is the best news I’ve ever heard ever.’
Callum released him and nudged past into the cabin. I took his place in Aster’s arms.
‘You don’t need to feel guilty about any of this.’ I nudged my nose into his scalp and breathed in of his lavender shampoo. ‘I like being a werewolf. You saved my life and turned me into something really fucking cool.’
‘Werewolves are cool.’ Aster pulled back and scrunched his nose. ‘Callum tries to argue that being a witch is just as cool, but until I can do more than grow loads of flowers and cause a bit of static electricity, I’m not convinced.’
‘You don’t need magic to be cool. You’d be the coolest person I know even if you were a plain old human.’
My desire to defend my best friend, even from himself, was always strong. I wondered if his cheeks were hurting as they bunched with another blinding smile.
‘You’re the bestest of best friends.’ His eyes widened and he flailed at the front pocket of his hoodie. His elbow cracked into my ribs, which would have left a bruise if I didn’t have accelerated healing powers. ‘I am also the bestest of best friends,’ he said as he struggled to free something from the folds of butter yellow fabric. ‘I put your phone into Callum’s biggest bag of rice and it actually made it work again but the reason I’m the best is because I powered it up before you got here and I took the liberty of deleting all the messages and voicemails from your sperm doner.’
My heart, which had been skipping along in a field of multicoloured tulips since Callum’s confirmation that I was ready to head down the mountains, slammed into a brick wall. Numb, I took my phone from Aster.
‘He stopped a week ago.’ Aster stepped into my space and gave me a one armed hug while I stared at my phone. ‘You don’t have to talk to him or contact him, and you certainly don’t owe him anything.’
Aster was of the same opinion as my mum, although he didn’t often express himself quite as calmly as she did about my continued support of my father. Despite Aster’s restrained words, the air around him grew sharp, like when Callum used too much pepper in one of his stews.
I thumbed at the screen. Aster had ruthlessly deleted all traces of my dad. The only messages waiting for a response were from Mum. She’d been told I was doing research in the island’s mountains and might not be contactable for a while. Bonnie had agreed to me telling her I was now a wolf-boy, but she’d said it was best done face-to-face when I could better manage the inevitable freak out.
‘Don’t contact him.’ Aster squeezed me. ‘Please. I don’t like how sad he makes you.’
I couldn’t disagree with that. Nothing but misery swirled inside me.
I shoved my phone into my pocket. Whether Dad had stopped calling and leaving horrible messages because he assumed he’d been given the wrong number or because he’d gotten whatever money he needed some other way, he had stopped. For now, I could relegate him to the darkest corner of my mind where he belonged.
‘Here.’ Callum appeared behind Aster, my backpack hanging from his hand. ‘You can go now, unless you want to stay for dinner?’
‘No. No no no no no. No.’ Any reply I might have made was drowned out by Aster’s increasingly pitiful cries. ‘Lukey doesn’t want to leave, do you? You want to stay here forever.’
I winced. ‘You live in a one bedroom cabin, Aster.’
‘For now.’ He tangled his hands in the straps of my backpack. ‘But Callum can build a bedroom for you and then you can stay in the mountains with us.’
