“It’s fine, really, Shawn.”
Even if it’s still rocky between some of us, I’m happier than I’ve been in such a long time. I have a family with Shawn, Deanna, Laura, Aiden, and, whenever he gets back, Logan too. I’ve never had such a big family before or felt like I was at the center of it.
Laura has also gotten very wine drunk with me and is apologizing to me for getting carried away at the bar during the stag night that feels so distant now, and in the same breath giggling about the mystical tit-jobs line again. We’re never going to hear the end of that.
I look for Ava, but apparently Laura’s friend ended up leaving early; it sounds like Logan said something that pissed her off. I’m honestly not surprised, considering what I saw pass between them yesterday.
The only thing that feels amiss tonight is that Logan isn’t here. Shawn said it was better that he got some space after that fight. It wasn’t just the full moon’s frantic energy agitating them, clearly there were some deep-seated issues that they needed to talk about.
But there’s going to be time for them to figure it out, now that Shawn’s going to stay in Mystic Falls. I’m really happy he’s going to have the time.
Shawn drapes an arm around my shoulders, pulling me into his side. He nuzzles and kisses the crook of my neck, and it makes everything in me feel complete.
“We should probably wrap things up soon,” he murmurs into my skin.
“Tonight’s not going to be like last night, right?” I ask, and, as he starts to shake his head, I have to add on, “You guys weren’t going to go feral, were you?”
Everyone I’ve heard use that word this week has all but whispered it, grimacing around it like the very thought was repulsive.
His expression softens as he sees the trepidation in my expression. He shrugs, as if to say he doesn’t really know either.
“I have you, and that is worth making sure it doesn’t happen.”
I glance at the woods again. Shawn’s hand traces soothing shapes along my arm.
“He had enough of himself to choose to stop fighting me, I think he’ll be fine. Besides, what you saw wasn’t even that bad. Logan and me have done worse to each other before,” he says, and I frown at him, because that’s not reassuring in the least.
He catches my expression and rolls his eyes a little. “I can tell you didn’t grow up with brothers because no one your age tried to murder you constantly throughout your entire childhood.”
Before I can point out I do have stepsiblings, Aiden follows up with, “Elise, I can just tell you’ve never tried to reenact a Dragon Ball Z fight and then been sworn to secrecy about how Shawn broke his nose. It’s in your aura.”
Huh. I had just assumed it was naturally crooked.
“Yeah, alright, maybe.” I nod, briefly glad I didn’t grow up with siblings. At least, I’m glad to have siblings-in-pack when they’re past the roughhousing stage. I hope.
Shawn shoves lightly at Aiden’s shoulder. “Just because the statute of limitations is up, doesn’t mean we need to tell people about it.”
“The baby picture book is coming out first thing tomorrow morning,” is all Aiden bothers to reply, wearing a shit-eating grin.
–
The night is winding down, and most of the relatives have left. Evening creeps in, first with fireflies, cool humid air, and sunset around the horizon’s edges. I can see the wolfish shiftsstarting to light the edges of my new family, Laura’s teeth are a little longer, Aiden’s ears a little more pointed and tipped with fur. Deanna has started going around to the others and saying her goodnights.
It feels good in an exhausted sort of way. It feels utterly different from yesterday, when the energy of the crowd was tense and on edge. Everyone is much more relaxed.
The full moon lasts only one night technically, but I’m trying to think of an innocuous way to ask if we might have a repeat of last night, or is that only when it’s at its peak? Just curious, of course; there’s no particular reason.
The follow up question to that is if I can plausibly sneak off into the woods again with my mate, and I think I will never get tired of calling Shawn that. I’m working on figuring out how I want to ask it when Aiden knocks a playful shoulder into Laura’s.
“Oh, you wanna do a howl? It’s been forever.”
My eyes widen as I look at all of them. There’s still so much I don’t know, but I’m excited to learn. I nudge Shawn and ask, “You guys actually howl?”
“Yeah, I’ve been practicing too,” Aiden says, before taking a few steps back, the fur on his ears bristling before he opens his mouth. It sounds like an actual howl, not a human imitating one, but there’s clearly an extra element of control. The effect is almost musical, how smooth it carries his voice on the air.
And then it hits me that I’ve definitely heard this sound and this song before.
“It was YOU,” I blurt out a little too accusatorily, cutting him off. He looks at me in surprise. “I thought I was going crazy this week, hearing a wolf howling Bohemian-FUCKING-Rhapsody.God, I never would have thought the answer to that one was lycanthropy.”
