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“I don’t know. I just buried it all and tried not to think about it.” She’s pitching the cup in the trash; this time it makes it. “You know, I never thought I’d have kids. Since I’m latent, I didn’t know if I could risktrying to have a family. What if I settled for some guy back in Shadow Falls? Obviously he would’ve been human. I peel back the lid slowly, taking my time and letting Lizzie say whatever’s on her mind.
“If I settled down with some guy, I never could’ve told him about what I am. Heck … I couldn’t even tell you. And then if we had a baby, and that baby was a werewolf …” She shakes her head as she trails off, the rose gold and moonstone earrings I gifted her gently chiming. Lizzie retakes her seat and spins on her stool. She bites her lip, obviously thinking about something. Finally she stops and looks at me as I take the seat next to her. “I always wanted to tell you, but I just couldn’t. I didn’t want to believe it was true. Some days I’d actually convince myself it was just a nightmare. It was so much easier living like that.” She leans in and lays her head on my shoulder. “You’re not mad at me, are you?”
Resting my head on top of hers, I answer honestly, “I could never be mad at you, babe. Besides, I knew you went through something and when you were ready, you’d tell me.”
“I didn’t think I would have ever been ready, though. I never wanted to deal with it, you know?”She leans back to look me in the eyes while I swirl the spoon in yogurt I don’t even want to eat.
Setting it down on the counter with finality I nod slightly and tell her, “I know. I really do get it. You don’t have to be worried about me. You know I still love you.”
“I love you too.” She kisses my cheek before going back to spinning on her seat.
All this heavy talk is making a lump form in my throat. My whole world is nothing like it was before. It’s as if I’m living in a completely different reality and so much is out of my control.
I decide to change the subject to something I’ve been wondering about and something I’m certain Lizzie will want to hash out. “Are werewolf babies born human, or like …” I trail off as I think about getting pregnant with Devin’spups.
“Do you remember in biology when we talked about the difference between altricial and whatever the fuck the other word is?”
I just blink at her before stating flatly, “I fucking hated bio.” My comment grants me a belly laugh from Lizzie that lights up her face and I’m forced to smile in return.
When she recovers, she starts one of her little tidbit tangents she’s known for.
“Some babies are born and they’re completely dependent on their mother, like humans and dogs, whereas other species give birth and the babies go on their merry way, fully independent, like”—she scrunches her nose in thought—“like sharks, I think.”
“You’re such a dork.” My cheeks hurt from grinning at her. My best friend appears to be back to her usual happy-go-lucky self. For a moment, it all feels normal. For a moment, the smallest moment, I forget everything has changed.
“The first one is called altricial and that’s what werewolves are.”
“That doesn’t really answer my question.”
She stares blankly at me. How does she not get this?
“So your baby may be a werewolf, or definitely will be? And … importantly, do they look like human when they’re born or …” I let the question hang between us, not wanting to imagine the alternative.
Her sarcastic smirk tells me she pities me for my complete lack of knowledge. “This form, as humans, is how they’re delivered.” I let out a deep breath at that statement. Her next, though, has me tensing rightback up. “They’ll be werewolf. So will yours, by the way.” Lizzie raises her eyebrows at me before continuing. “I just don’t know if they’ll be latent like me or if they’ll be normal.”
Latent.My heart sinks as I watch her shoulders hunch. I don’t fucking like her getting down on herself. “But you said you felt her, right? Your wolf?”
“Just the once since we’ve been here. I don’t know why she left me.” Her somber statement dampens her mood as she spins slowly on the stool.
“What brought her back?” Lizzie blushes at my question, which makes me really want to know what happened. Yes! This is a much better conversation to have. My cheeks burn and I lean in to whisper, “Was it the sex?”
She bites her lip again, looking shy. It’s an odd look for her to give me when she tells me, “We didn’t have sex, just did other stuff.” She shakes her head and composes herself. “But we’ve had sex since then and she didn’t come back. Unless—” Her eyes brighten and she takes a quick inhale.
“What? What was it that brought her back?” I love the hopeful light in her blue eyes.
“Caleb punished me with a belt—”
“What the fuck!” I jump out of my seat, causing itto fly backward and crash on the tile floor.Punished?My head spins as the word registers.
Every hair on my body stands on end as adrenaline has me seeing nearly red.
I practically scream as my body burns with anger. “I’ll fucking kill him. Where the fuck is Dom?” My heart races as my hands ball into tight fists at my sides.How the fuck could he hit her?
“Knock it off, Grace!” Lizzie’s quick to tug at my arm while scowling. “And shut your mouth about Dom.” She hushes me with a tone I’m not used to and a hurt in her doe eyes that I don’t understand. “He didn’t do a damn thing to me.” I step back, the wind taken out of my sails by her offended reaction.
“He hit you.” Staring at her wide eyed with disbelief, I don’t understand how she could possibly be defending him.
“First of all, Dom has never laid a finger on me.” Her voice cracks as she speaks. “Dom loves me and so does Caleb. Caleb’s the one who used a belt to get me to open up to him. And I fucking loved it.” She points her finger at me and pushes out each choked-up word with a tone that brooks no disagreement. “You better not fucking judge me for it, Grace.”
