by Laura Fang
I had no idea what to do about it. Calling the police was the logical next step, and there was bound to be a shifter on the force who would recognize the implications. But I didn’t feel compelled to call them. I did know, however, that Cecelia would want to be informed about this.
I used the stick to poke the tail aside, wondering how I’d clean up the blood, and entered my house cautiously. I was sure she wasn’t lurking in here somewhere, but I felt suddenly paranoid. When I was certain I was safe, I called Cecelia.
“So, when I got to my house, I found a severed wolf tail on my doorstep,” I said, feeling guilty that I was scaring her again.
“Fuck,” said Cecelia.
“Yeah. I mean, I guess it’s Fiona’s doing, right?”
“Must be. Tess, you have to come stay with me until we get this sorted out. I don’t feel good about you being alone by yourself.”
“Has Fiona ever done anything this drastic before?”
Cecelia hesitated. “No.”
That made me feel worse. If she was just a crazy lady who sent letters, that was one thing, but this was on another level. I sighed. “I guess you’re right. I’ll bring my stuff tonight.”
“Good. I’m glad to hear that,” said Cecelia. “I guess I’ll see you later. Call me if you need anything at all.”
“Of course.”
I sat for a few minutes thinking about everything. I wasn’t going to break up with Cecelia over this, especially not when she was so willing to protect me. But this was getting scary. I didn’t even know what Fiona looked like—I would have to ask Cecelia if she still had any pictures around. And if she showed up as a wolf, I was screwed. I could hold my own in a wolf on wolf fight. But it was possible to do more damage that way, with our teeth and claws.
Well, there wasn’t anything I could do about it now, I told myself. I’d have to figure out a plan with Cecelia. Right now, I had to earn these extra few dollars doing these assignments. The only way to go was forward.
8
Cecelia
Tess and I had had a planning session to figure out what to do with the Fiona situation. I finally decided that we had to go to the police about it, if only to start a paper trail. Shifters, on the whole, had a strong inclination to take care of their problems in their own way, but it wasn’t always the smartest thing to do. If I really wanted to keep Tess safe, I had to be prudent.
The police hadn’t been able to do anything concrete, as I had predicted, but they were taking the threat seriously, which was a relief. I was handed off to an officer who was a shifter himself, so behind closed doors, I was able to talk frankly with him. That made me feel better. But it wasn’t enough. I had the strong feeling that if it came down to it, I was the one who was going to have to settle it once and for all.
It was nice to have Tess staying with me, though. We had sex quite frequently and spent all our time together. We started talking about ways she could help me with Solace, and she was quite clever. Already, I could tell that she was going to be a huge help in alleviating my workload. And Sally thought she was “cute as a button.”
I could tell that Tess felt uncomfortable accepting my help, though. She had made great strides in trusting me, but she had a powerful independent streak that she was going to have a hard time taming. I didn’t want to push her, because she was making progress, but I did feel frustrated that she was so reluctant to let me help her. At least I had won her over, for now.
It was late summer now, almost fall, and we spent a lot of time in my backyard, grilling various meats and working together. I was fortunate to have a relatively private yard—we even enjoyed having sex outside sometimes. The thrill of potentially being caught was genuinely exciting. We spent every evening having dinner in the yard and then loving each other. It was nice to be settling into a comfortable routine.
One of our work sessions had gone late and we sat outside, under the stars, enjoying our beers. “How’s Leo been treating you?” I asked, realizing that I had completely forgotten about her in light of the Fiona situation.
“Oh!” said Tess. “He’s been cold to me and giving me shitty assignments, but he hasn’t said anything. I don’t know what his deal is. I’m afraid he’s going to fire me any day now so I’m hoping to jump ship.”
“That’s not too bad,” I said. “Hopefully you can stick it out a little while longer.”
“I can. Now that I have you.” She gave me a kiss, making me fill up with warmth. I was so lucky.
We continued to sit and sip our beers when I heard a rustling from the alleyway behind the backyard. “Did you hear that?” I asked.
“No, what was it?”
“I thought I heard something in the alley. It could have been a stray cat, but it sounded a lot bigger. Keep your eyes peeled.”
I didn’t want to tell her that I was paranoid. I had a vivid image of Fiona skulking there in her wolf form, waiting to attack us while we were helpless in human form, relaxed and caught unaware…
Just then, a huge, pale gray wolf vaulted the fence and bounded up to Tess, knocking her out of her chair. I was so glad I had been able to trust my intuition. I quickly transformed into my own wolf form, which was larger than any omega’s, and tackled Fiona. I feared for Tess’ safety, but I wasn’t able to check on her. Fiona was a frightening enemy, crazed by whatever messed up thoughts were running through her mind. I knew that I would bite to kill if I absolutely had to. I wasn’t going to let anyone hurt Tess, least of all this nut.
It was hard to fight against someone who had nothing to lose. We rolled around the yard, knocking into the lawn furniture, bushes, and trees. Her savage growls reverberated in my ears, and her teeth and claws were sharp as knives. She managed to tear through my thick fur and into my skin several times, but she hadn’t been able to gain purchase and cause any more serious injuries.
From the corner of my eye I saw that Tess had transformed as well, which was smart. If she had been hurt in human form, her injuries would have been healed when she transformed. She was circling us, looking for an opportunity to join in. I wanted to tell her that I could handle this myself—I didn’t want her to get hurt further on account of me—but it was all I could do to concentrate on not getting killed.
Finally, I managed to get Fiona on her back, where I could make a go at her throat. I scored at her soft belly with my claws, causing red gashes to appear. When I went for her jugular, she stopped me with her foot, but the force of my bite broke it. I heard the crunching of her smaller foot bones and she yelped in pain. I didn’t care. I was fully willing to take her out.
After more struggling, I managed to catch her jaw and bite down hard. I could smell and taste her blood on my tongue, richly flavored and hot. She was weakening, I could tell. Bloodlust gave her energy, but she wasn’t thinking clearly. She had expended all her energy on her initial attack, and now I was winning because of my patience.
I caught hold of her windpipe and squeezed. She made a wheezing sound, then I heard her voice in my head.
Please, stop! Please! You’re going to kill me.
Just like you were going to kill Tess? I asked.
I’ll leave you alone, promise. Please don’t kill me!
I let up, but still kept her pinned down. There was no way to tell if she was being truthful. This could very well be a plot to get my guard down.
She relaxed. I’ll leave. Please let me go.
If I ever see you again, I’ll kill you, I said. Get a one way ticket far away from here. Leave this city. I never want to see you again. And I will report you to all the packs.
Fine. Fine, I will. I promise. But please don’t kill me.
You cowardly bitch. Get out of here, I growled. I got off of her and she gingerly stood up and walked towards the fence. With a last burst of energy, she jumped over the fence and left, yelping in pain. I sincerely hoped it was the last I’d be seeing of her.
Now I had to tend to Tess. If she was hurt because of her connection to me, I was going t
o be upset. I nuzzled her with my snout and sniffed around. Like I had thought, she was completely healed from her transformation. I pressed myself against her. Even though it had been under horrible circumstances, this was the first time we were seeing each other as wolves. It was a special moment.
Are you okay? I asked.
I’m fine. Are you okay?
I will be, I said darkly. It was going to take some time to get over this incident. Being attacked in one’s own backyard was intensely jarring.
We transformed back into our human forms and went inside. My heart sank when I saw that poor Tess was shivering a little. I came up behind her and gave her a big hug, enveloping her with my body. I could feel her relax a little, and felt her heart rate decrease as well.
I love you, you know that, right? she said.
I know, I replied.
It took me a while to get to bed, though she passed out pretty quickly. Funny. I had done most of the fighting and I felt exhausted, so I should have been the one who was able to fall asleep so fast. But I had a lot to think about.
Fiona’s sudden appearance had been so surreal. I had never expected to see her again. Now that I was safe in bed, I was able to reflect on the experience. She had looked haggard, a little manic. She was not in a good place. A small part of me felt sad about that. She had been a good person, when we started dating. What had happened? Had our break up affected her so severely? It was strange how these things turned out.
I thought about what my life had been like before I met her, and what it had been like when we had started dating. It felt like eons ago. It felt like someone else’s lifetime. There was no way it had been me that had made all those decisions.
Somewhere in the middle of all this contemplation, I fell into a dreamless sleep.
9
Tess
I wasn’t going to lie to myself; the incident with Fiona had freaked me the fuck out. I had never had to worry for my life before, and it had all come up so suddenly. I hadn’t thought that she would jump to attacking us in Cecelia’s own home, and neither had Cecelia, apparently. It was shocking, and we were going to have to take a while to recover from it. Fortunately, it was getting colder, so we didn’t have much incentive to spend time in the yard.
I worried that she’d be back, but Cecelia had promised that she’d reported her to all the local packs. If she was spotted in the area in either human or wolf form, they’d take care of her—in the pack way. That was not something I wanted to be involved with.
Even though it had been a traumatizing incident, I had been heartened to see that Cecelia was willing to protect me and provide for me. She really was a true alpha, the kind I had thought didn’t exist. I had always thought that kind, strong, beautiful alphas were something to aspire for, but completely fictional. That wasn’t true. I had my very own now and she was quite real.
I had decided to take on the job with Solace. Once Sally had discussed my starting salary with me, I wondered why I hadn’t taken on the job sooner. She had chosen it based on what everyone else in the company made, so I knew that Cecelia wasn’t bumping it up only for me. The benefits were better, too.
The one downside was that it wasn’t exactly what I wanted to be doing. While I was still working with journalists when I pitched stories, I wasn’t doing the actual writing. Drafting press releases wasn’t quite the same. And as much as I had come to believe in the app, I missed writing reviews and other interesting articles for the City Paper. I had come to the city with big dreams, and now it seemed like I was being shunted off course.
I sighed. I didn’t have much of a choice right now. And I was young; I could still try out other things after putting in time at Solace. I was lucky to have this opportunity; why couldn’t I see that?
I could tell that Cecelia was over the moon about having this chance to help me. She really was a great alpha—she was looking out for me and protecting me to the point where she had put her life in danger. And now she was bringing me into the fold of her company. It was hard for me to form the words to tell her how I appreciated all of it, but I was pretty sure she knew.
It wasn’t like I wasn’t doing her a favor as well—we had more time to spend together now that I was doing the bulk of the extra work she had had to do. I could tell that she was happier now that she wasn’t so busy all the time. She told me that thanks to me, she was able to enjoy a slower pace of life. I was glad to help. That’s what partners were for, she said—to help improve each others’ lives.
It was Friday and we had left the office for the weekend. We had plans to see a new exhibition at the science museum tomorrow, since Cecelia no longer had to work on Saturdays. I felt free and light, looking forward to a relaxing weekend. The work at Solace was challenging, and while I liked it, it was nice to be able to leave it at the office.
I was still living with her, even after she had defeated Fiona. It felt right. My lease was running out in a couple of months anyway, so I sublet it to a student and moved all my stuff over to Cecelia’s house, which had plenty of space. It was heavenly to wake up next to her, meet the day with her, and work with her.
We held hands on our walk home. The sun was shining and the sky was bright blue and cloudless. “Want to grab a coffee?” she asked, as she passed by our favorite coffee shop.
“Yes!” I said. I swung the heavy glass door open to let her inside, inhaling the rich smell of roasted coffee beans.
She ordered for both of us and we had a seat next to the window. It was really the perfect day—we saw people walking their dogs, children chattering as they tagged along behind their parents, babies being pushed in strollers. It was like everyone in the city was having a good day and I could feel it in the air.
When the third baby in a stroller went by, my thoughts turned to raising my own family. Now that I had a mate and a job and some semblance of stability, it was easier to imagine myself caring for children. I had always liked children and wanted them—but I had never thought that I’d find myself in a position to have them any time soon. It was crazy to think that before I had met Cecelia, I hadn’t even wanted to be in a relationship.
As the omega, I would traditionally be the one to carry the children. We would use a sperm donation from a male wolf. I knew that pregnancy was a difficult experience and took a toll on peoples’ bodies, but when I thought about having a baby that really was genetically related to me, I didn’t care. I’d endure any hardship to be able to enjoy that.
“Have you put much thought into raising a family?” I asked Cecelia, sipping my coffee. The ice cubes clinked against each other as I set the cup down.
“I have,” she said. There was a flicker of sadness in her voice, barely perceptible. “I mean, I was almost going to get married to Fiona. We would have had children. I had been looking forward to it.”
I reached out and put one of my hands on hers. “Looks like you have something new to look forward to, then.”
She smiled. “Yeah, I do.”
“I always wanted to have kids, but it’s only now that I feel like I’m in a position to do it, and to pull it off,” I said. “I’m going to be working with Solace and I have you. Seems like a good time.”
“I agree,” said Cecelia. A wide grin appeared on her face. “So we’re on the same page?”
“Yeah,” I said slowly. “I guess we are. I mean, we should let me get settled at Solace and help out for a few months, but after that…”
She flipped her hand over and squeezed mine. “There’s going to be a lot of planning to do. We have to discuss parenting styles, names, all that sort of stuff. How many hours of screen time is our kid going to get, how often are we going to force her to eat broccoli, and other important topics.”
I laughed. “We should discuss it. I’m sure there’s a lot we’ll figure out along the way, though.”
“We have to get married first,” said Cecelia.
“True, true.” I looked outside the window; the sunlight was so bright that it was blinding
.
“So you’d like to get married?”
I looked back at her. “Yes, I would. This is your cue to go ring shopping and all of that. And then we can plan our wedding.”
“I didn’t realize this little coffee shop outing was going to be so momentous,” said Cecelia.
“Me neither.”
We finished up our coffees and left, holding hands again. I had to admit to myself that I never thought I’d find myself in a situation like this. Part of me had thought that I’d been broken by my mother’s abuse, and that I’d never find love again. Sure, I had entertained thoughts of a brighter future, but they had seemed so distant and unattainable. It had seemed like I would be under my mother’s thumb for the rest of my life, regardless of whether she was present or not.
We ended up staying in that night and ordering pizza. I promised my friends that I’d hang out with them tomorrow night. A couple of people from the City Paper wanted to catch up with me too, so I’d have to pencil them in some time. My social life had remained robust, or improved even, after I left the paper.
The next morning I had the strange urge to get up early and get some household chores done. Cecelia was still snoozing in bed. I did a load of laundry, washed the dishes, and wiped down some surfaces. They were mundane chores, but the fact that I was helping to clean a space that I shared with Cecelia was delightful to think about.
I was interrupted from my work by a call from a phone number I didn’t recognize. I didn’t want anything to ruin my peaceful morning, so I let it ring.
A few minutes later, my phone rang again. It was the same number. I didn’t even know where the area code was from, which was odd. I picked it up and said “Hello?”