by Tiki Kos
I blinked, then looked towards Sho, who was merrily shovelling a chocolate cupcake into his mouth. My dad was the only one in my entire life to call me that.
“You need to try these,” Sho mumbled. “I feel like I died and ascended to chocolate heaven.” He grabbed another cupcake off the tray and waved it in front of my face. In one swift motion, I grabbed a bite.
He chuckled. “See? I told you so.”
“You’re so right.” I laughed, then took another bite. Sho quickly shoved the rest of the cupcake in his mouth, wiped his hands, and pulled me into the dance floor. The DJ spun an upbeat mix of pop songs and oldies, then called out to the guests to welcome them to the floor.
Sho rolled me closely into his chest. I was overwhelmed by how good he smelled—of chocolate, meat, and something spicy. With a flick of his wrist, he twirled me again and again. An older couple dancing laughed at us and mimicked the twirls.
The music slowed down as Sho drew me into his body and wrapped his hands against my lower back.
“Are you having fun?” he whispered.
“I am.”
“Good,” Sho said proudly. “That’s all I wanted for you tonight. A good night without any worries and not a single Disciple in sight.”
“Is that all you wanted?” I looked at him in surprise and teasingly waggled my eyebrows.
“I guess not.” To my surprise, he leaned in and kissed me. The taste of sweetness overwhelmed my mouth. His kissed me again. This time, it was hard and more urgent, before turning soft. My heart hammered against my chest. I had the overpowering urge to run my hands through his thick black hair, but reminded myself that we were still in public.
Sho drew away from the kiss and slowly pushed back the fallen piece of hair that clung to my cheek.
“Thank you for the lovely dance, Miss Armstrong.” He wrapped his hands around the bottom of his suit jacket and curtsied.
“It’s been my pleasure, Mr. Sweetwater.”
As the DJ took a much needed break and played some background music, the old couple from the dance floor approached us.
“What a lovely young couple you make.” The woman smiled at us, her hand tightly woven with her husband’s. “Have you been together long?”
Just as I was about to correct her, Sho towed me into a half hug and I could see the flicker of mischief in his eyes. “Yes, it’s been five years, and we’ll be getting married this September.”
The woman yelped with joy. “Did you hear that, Ronnie?”
“I did, dear. Where are you two lovebirds getting married?”
“Spain,” Sho answered.
“Japan,” I answered.
The couple’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
“Japan,” Sho answered.
I laughed. “We are getting married in Spain, then going to Japan for our honeymoon.”
“Well, you two enjoy your evening, and the rest of your lives.” Ronnie gave an approving nod, and pulled his wife away from the dance floor.
Sho and I looked at each other. He had a smirk across his face and a snicker of laughter spilled from my lips.
He let a long, breathy whistle. “Our cover was almost blown.”
“It was so close. I guess we should come up with a wedding plan in case this happens again.”
“At least we’ve got one thing in common…”
“And what was that, Mr. Sweetwater?”
“Well Mrs. soon-to-be Sweetwater, we would both prefer a destination wedding.”
I sighed. “You got that right.”
Sho looked at his watch and frowned. “I think this evening has to come to an end.”
It was already midnight, and it would take two hours to get back home. I didn’t want to cut it too close to when Mom would be getting home.
As we said our goodbyes to the elders and Paytah, Sho grabbed a handful of white roses and placed them in my hands.
“You should dry these so you can have a little reminder of tonight.”
“I will.”
Chapter Ten
By the time I woke up the next day around 11, Mom was nowhere to be found. There was no note or anything to indicate where she’d gone. How could I be surprised? She was never here when I needed her. But it didn’t matter—once I figured who’d killed Dad, I was going to bounce out of this town before anyone could remember I used to live here.
I made a mean scrambled egg lunch with all the fixings I could manage to throw in—bacon, sausage, green onions, eggs, and three different types of cheese. I served the scramble on tiny grilled crostini bread. Sho was impressed with my cooking skills and ate more than half. I liked it, but my taste buds still remembered the freshly hunted meat of the other nights. But seeing as I couldn’t bring myself to hunt and eat raw animals while I was in my human form, this was as good as it was going to get. After all the food had been savagely eaten and the dishes just as savagely cleaned, I grabbed my bag of spare clothes and followed Sho out the back door. He was smart and parked in the alley, where the chances of him running into anyone were slim.
The birds were chirping away, but by the time we reached the clearing, the animals had scattered. I didn’t know if they knew something shady was going to happen, or if they knew we were predators.
Sho placed the bag with the spare clothing on top of a patch of grass that stuck out against the white snow.
“So the first thing I need you to do is relax.” Sho rolled his arms around in circles and took a deep breath in.
“Okay, I can do this.” I mimicked his moves, all the while keeping up with his breathing.
“Just focus on the wolf and the feel of the air through your fur. Imagine how it felt the other night, when we were racing through the forest.”
My skin prickled.
Okay, wolf. We got this. We can do it. Like, really, how hard can it be?
The muscles in my shoulders stretched and pulled, then creaked like an old door.
“Remember what it felt like to run up that mountain.”
My body tensed as sweat trickled down both sides of my cheeks. I could feel my lips tighten into a straight line. My heart was pounding. I wanted this to work, but now that I was awake and aware of how painful the change was, I was a little scared.
“It’s okay. It’s going to hurt, but then it will all be over.”
I half closed my eyes. I tried to think of things that made me happy. Coffee, peanut butter cups and a full day television binge. It seemed to work for a minute, until Dad’s picture popped into my head. Not only Dad, but that wolf…The black wolf with blue and green eyes.
A growl escaped my lips and my breathing changed into short, rapid bursts.
“Take deep breaths.”
“I-I-I-I can’t.” The change was coming quicker than I expected. I could feel pin pricks in my neck. My fingers rubbed the spots of pain, only to find thick, coarse hair.
“Oh my god. How did I change when I was sleeping without even knowing?”
“You were completely relaxed. If you let the change take over, everything will go effortlessly.”
The pain quickened and shot down to my legs. It hurt so bad, I fell to the ground. My fingers and toes dug into the soft melting snow.
I twisted and writhed.
“I can’t do this. I don’t want to.”
“That’s just your fear talking. Believe in the process.”
The convulsions started. I tried wrapping my arms against my chest to stop them, but it didn’t do a thing. They were too powerful.
My brain was shouting at me, telling me that this wasn’t natural, and I was going to die.
“Stop!” I screamed. I slouched down, and my butt thumped onto the soggy ground. The wetness absorbed into my thick cotton sweatpants. “I can’t do this.”
Maybe this was the best thing for me. Maybe I should just forget about changing, and focus on something else.
Sho wrapped his fingers between mine and pulled me into a standing position. Then, he pulled again, and this
time our bodies were firm against each other. I could hear his heartbeat quickening. He squeezed his arms around me, meeting each other in the center of my back. “It’s going to be okay. You just need to learn to relax a little. The change isn’t so scary once you get used to it.”
“Okay.” I felt my body tense, and a weird fluttery feeling swirled around in my stomach. This wasn’t the first time I’d felt like this when he touched me. I wondered if he felt the same way.
“Is this hug a little weird?” Sho said. He had a goofy smile across his face.
“Just a little.” I swallowed back the laughter. Our eyes met, and his arms slowly dropped back to his sides.
“Well, one day you’ll get used to the change…and maybe you’ll also get used to me.”
“Maybe. It’s just going to take a lot of work. Especially with you.” I smirked, watching Sho smooth his hair to the side.
“Hey now! That’s not encouraging. I’m a very easy guy to get along with.”
“Yeah, says you.”
He wasn’t wrong, and it didn’t hurt that he was kinda hot. I wouldn’t let him know that; not yet, at least.
“Would you like to have some dinner with me?”
“Sure, but we’d better go somewhere where we won’t run into any Disciples.”
“I have just the perfect place, and I think you’ll love it as much as I do.”
“Great. I’m just going to change my clothes first; then, we can get going.”
When Sho picked me up, I had shoved a backpack of extra clothes into the backseat of his truck. I was getting used to lugging around extras now. If this kept up, I really needed to think about getting a job. There was no way in hell I was going to ask my mom for money and have to deal with the questions.
Since I didn’t know what type of restaurant Sho was taking me to and who I would meet there, I slipped on a long sleeve royal blue shirt and the nicest jeans I had packed with my pair of lived in black high tops. I looked at myself in the side view mirror. My red hair was faded into a dark pink from the extremely hot showers, but the orange had stayed the same. I looked different, maybe older—or maybe I was just being paranoid.
“Are you coming, or what?” Sho called from the driver’s seat.
“Yeah.” I folded the soaked clothes into a pile and placed them down on the foot mat. I didn’t want to wreck his seats more.
Sho took the long way around Wolfmere, and ended up in a neighbourhood on the north side. Even though the town wasn’t the biggest, I hadn’t spent much time on this side. The melting snow on the driveways revealed cracked cement, and most of the houses had wired fencing with holes in it. Rusted beater cars were parked on either side of the road.
“Are you sure you know where you’re going?” I looked around, and nothing resembled anything remotely close to a restaurant.
“Absolutely. There’s a fantastic Chinese not too far from here.”
“Oh, I’ve never really hung out that much on the north side.”
“You should. The Disciples don’t come around that often, and there are a lot of hidden gems. My dad’s always around here shopping, eating, and meeting people.”
“So I hear. He’s been bringing a lot of money back into the community and trying to clean up the streets.”
“His heart is in the right place.” Sho cleared his throat. I got the distinct feeling Sho didn’t want to talk about his dad anymore. I sure as hell wasn’t going to push the topic.
We were quiet again for at least another ten minutes, until we arrived at a big red building that looked very rundown from the outside, but when we reached the inside, everything was clean and orderly. There were beautiful golden Chinese characters painted across the walls, with pictures of china and mountains. The smell of cooking meat made my stomach rumble, and soothing sounds came from their indoor water fixture.
“I wasn’t expecting it to look so nice in here.”
“Just wait until you try their ginger beef and the chicken balls.” Sho smacked his lips together. “The food is to die for. Just thinking about it makes my mouth salivate.”
“You sure know the way to girl’s heart.”
“Food is always the answer.” We both laughed.
Since we were the only customers, we picked a booth nearest to the water fountain. It was dark and cozy. There was a mirror on the table with three glass vases, almost filled to the rim with water. Each had red rose petals floating underneath a flickering tea light.
A young Chinese woman in a traditional silk blue dress with silver cherry blossoms greeted us and handed two menus before scurrying towards the kitchen. Sho left his menu closed on top of the wooden table.
“I already know what I’m getting,” he announced proudly.
When I pulled open the plastic menu, I was instantly overwhelmed with the number of dishes. I was terrible at making choices, especially when it came to food. Everything sounded amazing.
“Do you do this often?” Sho asked. His eyes twinkled with amusement.
I kept my finger on the list, just in case I lost my spot. “What? Eat? I eat all the time. Especially now I’m a wolf…I’m just—"
Sho let out a rumbling laugh, the kind that made everyone around you smile.
“No, not eating. Do you go on a lot of dates?”
“Is that what this is? A date?” My heart began to pound against my chest. The room felt instantly warmer than before.
“Do you always answer questions with more questions?”
“Maybe?”
He laughed again. “You’re one interesting girl…you know that?”
“Your question just kinda threw me a bit.” I bit down on my lower lip. I wanted to crawl away and hide in the bathroom.
“So why don’t you date a lot?” Sho placed his hand on top of mine. “You’re pretty, funny, and a little weird.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I had a boyfriend, but it didn’t really lead anywhere. We just weren’t on the same page.”
“You mean that Disciple kid…what’s his name again?”
“Ryan? How did you know that?” I was so distracted by his question that I pulled my finger off the menu and lost my spot.
“I might have asked around to see if anyone knew who you were. And I might have looked at your Facebook profile,” he mumbled.
“You cyber stalked me?” I sucked in a deep breath and let out a flamboyant gasp.
Sho placed his hands in the air. “I tried sending you a friend request, but you never replied.”
“I don’t go on Facebook much, unless I want to feel better about myself and see what fun things people are saying about me.”
“Make sense, but I don’t see why anyone would say anything bad about you.”
Look at him go, throwing me compliments left, right and center. I didn’t want to burst his imaginary bubble. Plus, I was pretty sure it wasn’t smart to tell a prospective boyfriend that everyone at your school pretty much hated your guts. Or thought you were a slut. Even though I was still a virgin and never once did any naked business with Ryan.
“Well, I guess you wanted to make sure I wasn’t a complete psychopath.”
He entwined his fingers with mine and gave them a little squeeze. “I would never think that. You’re too cute to be a psycho.”
“Isn’t that sweet,” I muttered.
“I could do this all night,” Sho announced.
My cheeks began to burn and warmth rose in my stomach. In the three years of dating Ryan, I had never once felt like this. It was exactly how people explained what having a crush was like—butterflies in my stomach, or little balls of flames bouncing around.
The young woman came back with two glasses of lemon ice water. I slammed mine down in one big gulp. The waitress’ mouth formed the perfect ‘o’ as she grabbed the glass and began to write down what we wanted. I was so distracted by Sho that I didn’t even pick a single item. I was going to be brave and let him be chivalrous and order for the both of us.
“You must
trust me a lot if you let me order your food for you,” Sho chuckled.
My fingers made their way towards my mouth, and I had to resist the urge to bite down on my nails. “I guess I do. So when you’re not flying in the sky or training scary cat wolves, what do you like to do?”
“I like to help my dad with some of his paperwork, and help around the reservation with odd jobs. What about you?”
“I used to help my dad with his accounting business, and I watch a lot of Netflix.”
“Learn anything interesting with your dad?” His dark eyebrows shot up and his face focused on mine.
“Interesting and accounting don’t mix. They’re just a bunch of numbers and boring stuffy old people.”
“Oh, I thought maybe he would’ve told you about corruption, or launderers.”
“No.” I shook my head. “Nothing like that.”
As the server brought the first dish of sizzling meat, the glass door swung open and I got a whiff of something familiar. It made its way down my throat. A shudder crossed my shoulders and went down the center of my back. Something bad was going to happen. I could feel it in my bones.
A loud click sounded and bounced off the walls towards us.
“This is a hold up,” a woman’s shrill voice called out. “Everyone put your wallets on the tables and place your hands up in the air.”
A trio stepped into the restaurant, each wearing a black ski mask blocking out their faces, and inconspicuous black clothing. They had no gang tags, or anything else that would identify them.
“No one needs to get hurt.”
The woman stepped towards us and pointed the gun at the server, then motioned for the third person to follow the woman. “Go with her to the cash register.”
The person nodded and pointed their gun towards the woman. The server was sniffling, tears streaming down her face as she begged the masked intruder not to kill her.
“Please, I have baby at home,” the woman sobbed. “Please don’t kill me.”
“Shut up,” the man called out. “No one is going to kill you.”