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Yes, I realized I was acting like a teenager and not like a woman who just turned thirty. We were both sporting gnarly green mud masks on our faces and had deep conditioning treatments on our hair. We also had boob masks beneath our wrap around towels, had to get the girls looking all perky, and my toenails were currently sporting a brand-new coat of hot pink polish.
We looked like a couple of extras for the Go-Go’sBeauty and the Beatalbum cover Sybil framed and hung on her side of the room years ago. It was still there, and I adored the cover and the tracks. The nostalgia of being home kinda, sorta wrecked me, but still, I felt better than I had in months.
“Marti! Something came through,” Nova screeched, looking over my shoulder.
“Ouch! Wolf ears,” I growled and pulled back abruptly.
Of course, I dropped my phone and accidentally kicked it under the couch. We both dove for it, giggling and snorting as we tried to get to the thing before it stopped buzzing. Too late.
It stopped vibrating, but I finally got to it. I tried to catch my breath as I read the flirty little message.
“Well?” she asked.
“He’s asking me out,” I said.
Yes, I wore a huge grin by then. My Wolf was growling softly, and my magic was pulsing gently inside me. Sick or not, that was the best I’d felt, the most at peace I’d been with both sides of myself in a very long time.
But was it fair to start something with the man if I might not be able to finish? I told no one about my suspicions yet. That something was wrong with my Wolf or my magic, or both. The idea of it filled me with dread. What if something was really wrong with me? I frowned hard. Thirty wasn’t old enough. But I was just being overly cautious. At least, I hoped that was the case.
“Hello, Martina? I said where does he want to take you?”
“Oh, um, dinner and a movie.”
“Oh my god, that is so high school,” she snarked, but I just shrugged.
It was kind of high school, But to a girl who didn’t get out that much back then, it was sort of perfect. My animal had been much harder to contain when I was a teenager, and while Nova and Sybil enjoyed things like cheering and dating, I was always working on hiding what I was. It was imperative the local Wolves didn’t see me lose control.
The rules had changed for the Pack somewhere down the line, but I was wary and uncertain. If I dated Mitch, did I tell him what I really was? How much of myself was I supposed to reveal? Especially when something was wrong. It was all very confusing. I popped a grape in my mouth and chewed, looking at the photo Mitch sent. I remembered when he took it last night. How good it felt to snuggle close to him and let his warmth seep through my chilled bones.
The party Erryn and Davi threw for us was wild. I hadn’t had a night like that in a long time, if ever. People I never expected to see at a birthday party for me and the girls wished me well, raised their glasses, and ate cake to celebrate our collective birthday. It was surreal.
“Are you going to go, Ti?” she asked, using one of the many horrible nicknames we gave each other as kids.
“Yeah, Doc, I think I am going to go out with him,” I said, surprising myself with my answer and pissing her off by using the name she hated most.
“Don’t call me Doc. Anyway, you know he’s a contractor, right?”
“And? I’m not a snob like you, Nova,” I said, narrowing my eyes at her.
“I am not a snob! But you’ve lived in New York for a while now, Marti. And Jersey boys are a different breed.”
“Please, Doc. I grew up here the same as you. Besides, I like him. He’s different.”
“Different how?”
“I don’t know, I just felt good hanging out with him.”
“Fine. You can go out with him,” she began.
“Gee thanks. I didn’t know I needed your permission.”
“Well, you have it. But be careful, okay? I don’t want you rushing into anything. Especially since you feel so,” she started, scrunching up her nose. “I don’t know, it’s like I see your energy but it’s off. When are you going to talk to me?”
“I will, Doc. I promise. And don’t worry, I won’t have sex with him on the first date?—”
“Oh, no, have sex with him. Have lots of sex with him. Like buckets of bowchickawowow boinking time! I just meant don’t fall for him,” Nova clarified.
“Oh my God, you are the worst sister,” I said, jaw hitting the floor when she started twerking in the middle of the living room singing Nikki Minaj way off key.
