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We pushed our way to the door, and the light breeze hit us. I shivered a little, just because it had been overly warm in the pizza place.

“Are you afraid that our life will be boring now? We still have our curses to research,” I reminded him.

“Maybe, I’m not the best at all that stuff. It’s hard to concentrate when you shift forms at random,” he told me as he kicked a rock that was on the sidewalk. It hit the mailbox that was on the corner and flew back at his leg. He tried to dodge it but the grunt he let out told me all I needed to know.

“You okay?” I asked, much more gentle this time. It was clear my mate was struggling and I wanted to make sure he knew he could trust me with his vulnerable side.

“Yeah, just not sure where to go from here,” he answered honestly. “I shift less but I still live in fear it will happen a lot. I’ve never really found my place in Moonlit Grove.”

“You are always welcome to work at my place, you never have to ask,” I said. “It would give us more time together and maybe I could sleep in once in a while if you were up to opening it for me.”

“We can alternate days,” he suggested, perking up a bit. “I’ve got a good head for numbers and organization."

“Perfect. Because I don’t,” I admitted. “Most of the time I put them in any free space I can find. It’s pretty cluttered in there and I’ve been meaning to put more effort into fixing that. Instead, I’ve been researching curses. But… from what my brother said, that’s useless now.”

“Not useless. He didn’t know everything,” Merrick said firmly, refusing to believe that. “Any curse can be broken, we just have to find out how.”

“In the meantime, it’s time for us to embrace who we are now, with our curses and flaws,” I said pointedly. A reminder to both of us.

“Agreed,” he said, relaxing enough for me to change the subject to something lighter. We all needed sleep and time to be a pack.

“Any movies that you want to watch? I know when we get back to my place, our place,” I corrected myself, “Rook and Dorian will be all Alpha and try to control the remote. So, I want to get your suggestions now.”

“‘Our place,’ huh? I like the sound of that,” he smiled to himself, losing the rest of the tension. “I didn’t really watch much TV growing up. Halloween was out of the question in my house. Anything that you think that I should watch?”

“There are so many great ones, Practical Magic is a favorite of mine. Hocus Pocus or for TV shows, there’s Charmed,” I blurted out and he laughed.

“What? You asked.”

“I did but from the sound of it they all have a theme, witchling,” he pointed out.

“Well, I may be a little biased,” I said before sending up a spark of magic in the air. My magic responded on instinct this time, doing exactly as I intended. Even with the chaos, that was a little easier than before.

“Any of the three are fine,” Merrick said just as a horn honked behind us. We startled before turning around to find Rook and Dorian pulling up next to us. Rook stuck his head out of the passenger window, grinning at us. Every single one of us was lighter now.

“Get in, losers, we’re going home before the ice cream can melt. You two walk too slow,” Rook teased. His hands went out to take our load from us.

“Fine, but I get the first say in what we watch,” I called out and shot a wink at Merrick. I was going to make sure we watched all three movies before I fell asleep in a junk food coma so they could enjoy my favorites with me.

Sometimes, it felt like I was falling behind the alphas. Their personalities were so dominant. It wasn’t necessarily jealousy. I just felt like I needed to make sure Prue knew that I felt the same as they did. That I could take care of her, too.

Before the incident with her brother, most of our solo time was spent bent over books about curses and experimenting with potion blends that never really worked.

Now, I spent my days at her shop. In just a week we’ve turned around most of the disarray and had dedicated shelves and some rhyme and reason to it all. She loved it and we all liked having someone nearby.

I loved those moments with her. They were quiet and comfortable. But I wanted something different, something more intimate. Not just companionship.

If I wanted to take her out it had to be something romantic and thoughtful. A date that would make her see me in a different light.

I was so nervous as I thought over what to pick that I could feel my form flickering. No one else was around this time, at least.

Until about the fifth anxious circle around the living room when I was suddenly on all fours, fur spreading all over my body.

I tried to curse, but the only thing that came out was a little wolfy whine.

Great.

Dorian must be home now. He was absolutely going to give me shit for this, too.