I understood his reasons, but I wanted to experience the other side of him. Wild and unrestrained, like how he was in my dream.
A thrill ran through me at the thought.
“Tegan,” Dec shouted. “The drinks? We’re about to lose Selene over here.”
“Coming,” I said, snapping out of it.
I took one last glance out the window before I filled their glasses and joined them in the living room. Someone, likely Dec, had already queued up the movie. A recently released rom-com that wasn’t on streaming services yet, so I’d have to cough up $5.99 to rent it.
“About time,” Dec said when I passed them their drinks.
I replied by flipping him off, making him burst into a fit of laughter that seemed to momentarily rouse Selene.
She yawned, murmuring a sleepy “Thank you.”
We really were losing her. If I had to guess, she’d be asleep in the next fifteen minutes.
“You’re welcome. As in you,Selene. Not you,” I said, giving Dec a look.
I plopped down on the couch, tugging my blanket onto my lap and making sure my phone was within reach—just in case I received a last-minute text from Atlas.
We started the movie, and while I was thankful for my friends and their company, there was no way I was going to be able to concentrate. Not with a certain wolven running through the woods and through my mind.
Twenty-Nine
Atlas
“Hi, Mom!” I said, staringinto the tiny phone screen. Every evening on the night of the full moon, I had a video call with my parents just to catch up on what had been going on in our lives. Sometimes my brothers joined us, but tonight they had plans with some other wolven in the city. A sort of makeshift pack that they’d run with. As the only wolven in Briar Glenn, I longed for something like that.
“Hi, honey!” My mom waved back. My dad wasn’t in frame; all I could see was the flannel shirt covering his broad chest.
“Down here, Zeus,” she said, giving Dad’s arm a tug, pulling him down to where I could see him.
Both of my parents were starting to show their age. Their dark gray fur was streaked with tiny threads of silver, and their eyes were starting to look less vibrant. My brothers and I had been trying for years to convince them to retire and sell off the hardware store, but they showed no signs of slowing down. As much as I loved the hardware store, I wanted to take a different path in life. It was never expected that one of us would take over the familybusiness. Our parents had always encouraged us to follow our passions, and I was thankful for that because it had landed me here in Briar Glenn. It had brought me to Tegan.
“Happy full moon, son,” Dad said, his voice gravelly and deep.
“Happy full moon to you, too, Dad.”
“Running by yourself again, sweetie?” my mom asked, a hint of sadness—or was it sympathy?—in her voice.
“Yep.”
“You know, you can always come visit and run with your father and me,” she suggested. “We can get your brothers to join. It’ll be just like it was when you were pups.”
“I might come visit soon. I’m just really busy with work—” I paused for a second, wondering if I should mention Tegan. I know they didn’t have any animosity about my breakup with Jade—they were my parents, after all—but it was sort of fast, I guessed. Ultimately, I decided to tell them. “And I, uh, I started seeing someone.”
“You’re seeing someone?” Mom gasped. Her eyes lit up, her excitement making me smile. “Since when?”
“It’s pretty new,” I said shyly.
“Why don’t you have her run with you?” she asked.
“Well—” I hesitated. Mixed-species relationships were common, and there was never any expectation that I would settle down with another wolven…
My dad understood immediately. “She’s human.”
I nodded.
