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“What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing …” She let the words linger in the air as if she meant to say something else, but in the end, she brushed it off. She moved to the empty study table in the corner of my room and picked up the jacket draped over the chair. She donned it before taking a peek inside the white kennel at the foot of the table, grinning wide as soon as she found Howli chewing on a squeaky toy. “Howli! There you are. How about walking me home?” She knelt down, tickled our little ball of fur’s belly, and got an affectionate lick in return. She must have felt my eyes on her as she rose and asked, “What now?”
Without words, I got up and approached her with purposeful steps. Aera kept on retreating away until she hit the hard wall, allowing me to cage her in. I lowered my face so I was at her eye level. I examined every inch of her face, which had turned as red as the apples I had for breakfast earlier that day.
A slow smirk began forming on my lips.
In her search for a way to put some distance between us, Aera attempted to duck under my arms, but I was able to seize a hold of her slender waist and pull her close before she could get away. “You’re not mad at me, are you?” I asked. “I mean, you don’t have to go home now. You can stay if you’d like, and then we can have Aunt Suzy call your mom?”
“Would you please stop talking about my mom?” Aera snapped. Obviously, that answered my first question. “I can take care of myself. I don’t need her watching my back all the time—”
I cut her off with my lips pressed against hers. Despite the initial shock, Aera kissed me back, our tongues danced around each other in a unique rhythm. I lifted her shirt halfway, my fingers trailing over her soft, bare skin. She shuddered. It was either from the electricity running through her spine or something else.
I wanted to take her back to my bed where she could feel more comfortable. I wanted us to deepen our kiss and not hold back anymore. I needed her so badly.
Then a knock came at the door.
Startled, we immediately pulled away from each other, eyes wide and frantic as we gaped at the door and prayed it wouldn’t suddenly open.
“Gray, dinner’s ready!” Aunt Suzy called.
Still breathless from the excitement, I barely managed to respond, “Coming, Aunt Suzy.”
We waited until the footsteps receded before either of us spoke.
I turned back to Aera and kissed her forehead, smiling. “Let’s go.”
“Wait, no more?” Aera’s whisper held a hint of disappointment as she set herself on the floor, pouting like a child whose fun had to be cut short against her will. “Can’t I just stay here with you forever?”
“That’s very sweet of you, small bean. Let’s go have steak first. Then Howli and I will walk you home.” I went over to my dresser and pulled the last drawer open for a shirt. I put it on as quickly as possible.
“A dinner and a walk don’t sound like forever,” Aera grumbled as she spun me around and kissed me, stunning me with her tongue gliding against mine, igniting my desire for her all over again. And then she withdrew, just when I’d managed to recover from the trance she had unwittingly put me under.
“That was … a pleasant surprise.”
“Shut up,” she muttered, crossing her arms like a teacher warning her students. “You better come back to me tomorrow and promise me forever. I’ll be expecting you. For now, let’s go feast on that steak. I’m sure your inner wolf can’t wait for real food.”
Prom or No Prom?
“Honey,it’s your prom tonight, right? Just so you know, I prepared a dress for you. It’s in my room,” Mom said during lunch the next day. Despite the awkward atmosphere surrounding us since our last conversation a few days ago, she still managed to wake me up and cook my favorite peanut stew with rice.
“I’m not going,” I replied.
“But you’ve always wanted to be prom queen. Shouldn’t you prepare?”
“That was back in sixth grade. People change, Eomma. Becoming prom queen is no longer my goal. In fact, my goals have changedsignificantlythese past few weeks,” I said as I ate a mouthful of the stew, my other hand pretending to scroll on my phone screen in hopes that it would give her the hint to leave me alone.
“What about Gray?” I paused as soon as she uttered his name. She sounded so cold. I had this urge to fight with her, but then she stood up, wiped the side of her lips with a napkin, and started for the door with a black purse. “Forget it, you don’t have to answer. I’m going to work. I have a lot of paperwork at the office today.”
“Paperwork?” I dared, wanting to annoy her or at least make her feel a tad bit of guilt. The suit she always wore wasn’t going to fool me anymore. “Or werewolves?”
She turned her head sideways without looking me in the eyes. “Did you have a vision?” she asked nonchalantly.
“No. Of course not,” I lied. I figured she didn’t have to know anymore, not after what she’d done. I couldn’t even look Gray straight in the eyes without stressing over how I’d come clean to him about his parents. All those times I thought they just went on a trip and never returned. What was I supposed to tell him? ‘Hey, I know we just started dating, but oh no, my mom apparently murdered your parents’?’ And then what? Drown myself in alcohol and self-hatred for being clueless? Live the rest of my life as a criminal’s daughter? Watch the man I love and my mother attack each other in court? Be torn between them? Watch Gray go through grief again, except this time the pain is tripled? The list could go on.
The last vision had more than one body count. Forty something dead, ten injured. All students. Some were bitten to death, and others were shot.
Gray was among them.
