So restaurant it was.
I gently pulled him over to the side where our boots were, and once we were off the ice, Dain surprised me by giving my hand a gentle squeeze and nodding at me before he let go.
We switched our skates for our boots, and I pulled out the extra bag I’d packed, plus some blade covers, passing them over to him. “This is for your skates. Oh, and don’t put the blade covers on without wiping the ice off first.” I handed over a small towel after I wiped my own skate blades off.
“Thank you.” He seemed hesitant to use the extra items I’d given him, but after a few beats, he sighed and went about wiping the blades and putting the skates away.
Once we were all packed up, we headed back to Dain’s car. I really wanted to take his hand again, but I wasn’t sure it’d be welcomed, so I refrained and climbed into the passenger’s seat once we made it there.
“Where to?”
“There’s a nice place on the outskirts of the city. Ever been to Polar Paradise?”
“Oh! I’ve heard of that place. Everyone says it’s really good, but I’ve never been there.”
I nodded. “I haven’t either, but everyone says it’s very… romantic.” I felt my cheeks flush at that.
Dain glanced at me and hummed. I couldn’t tell if it was in agreement or only in acknowledgement, and he didn’t say anything to help clarify.
I entered the information into the GPS, and Dain drove.
After a few kind of awkward minutes, he said, “I didn’t even realize anyone lived out here in the, uh, trees.”
The fact that he was trying to talk and learn more about me made me smile to myself. “I think it’s mostly yetis and some polar bear shifters, but I’ve lived out in the woods my whole life.”
“Oh, your parents live nearby too?”
“Yep. You would’ve passed their place when you picked me up. They’re technically my next-door neighbors, although I can’t even see their house from mine.”
“You like living that close to your parents?” He seemed surprised by this, and I wasn’t shocked by his opinion. I knew most people didn’t live as close to their family members as I did, especially those that came from a human family.
“I do. All my siblings are nearby too. We kind of share our land, I guess, although we all have our own small territories.”
He was quiet for a moment before he asked, “Are yetis territorial?”
“Not in the way you mean. We like having our own space, but I’m not going to grumble if my brother or sisters all decided to run around on my land or anything. And I don’t actually care if other people come onto my property as long as they’re respectful to it and the animals that call it home. But it’s nice to have a dwelling of my own to come home to at night.”
“That makes sense.”
“What about you? Are you close with your family?”
“Uh… not really. I have a younger brother who I see on occasion, but our parents aren’t really… present. They never have been.”
My heart felt sad at hearing that. No wonder he seemed grouchy so often. He didn’t have a family.
“How did they feel when they found out, um, that you’re a werewolf?”
He thought for a while before he answered. “My parents didn’t really say anything. Like I said, they’ve never been present, and finding out what happened to me wasn’t actually on their list of things they care about.”
“And your brother?”
He sighed. “He was upset, to say the least. He was worried about me, worried I wouldn’t learn to control it since so many weres are put down these days. He was… scared.” He paused and cleared his throat. “Once I was able to control myself during my shifts, he was relieved, but…”
“But what?”
“I think he might be jealous. Not really of the actual werewolf part, but of my longer lifespan. And to be honest, it’s something I’ve worried about too. I don’t want to outlive my brother, you know?”
I couldn’t even imagine thinking—knowing—I was going to outlive one of my siblings. That was a horrible fate. “What about Anton? Or Jed? Couldn’t they turn him?”
