by Sara Summers
“I’m not leaving.” I said, matter-of-factly.
“Then I’ll call the cops on Tanner again and lock the door when you go to spring him out of jail.” My dad smiled sadly. “I’m sorry, but this is what’s best for both of us. You and I both need to move on with our lives.”
“My entire life is here.” I was starting to feel more than a little panicked that my dad was actually going to kick me out and sell the house.
“Your entire life should be with Tanner. I don’t know much about the soulmate thing, but I know it’s permanent and I know it means that boy will treat you like a queen, and that’s the life you deserve. You’ll be happier with him than you’ve ever been here.”
“Stop, dad. Just stop.” I covered my eyes with the palms of my hands for a second. “Everything is happening too fast. I need a few weeks to get used to the idea.”
“You’ve never liked change, Hallie. It would be just as difficult in a few days or weeks or even years, so we’re doing it now.” He wasn’t willing to budge. “I made waffles, they’re ready whenever you two are.”
He left my room, leaving me feeling like my entire world was crumbling.
Fifteen
Tanner came out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist and the short, dark hair on top of his head dripping little beads of water down his back. He pulled me into his arms and held on tight while tears welled up in my eyes.
“What am I going to do?” I choked on the words, burying my face against his neck.
“Whatever you want to do.” He said that like it was simple.
“I haven’t even thought about moving away from this house in months, Tanner. I don’t even know what options there are.” I shrugged hopelessly as I pulled away from him and walked to the couch, collapsing on it.
He followed me and sat next to me, draping his arm over my shoulder and using it to pull me closer.
“Well there’s always college.” He suggested.
“I don’t even know what I would go for, and I didn’t even graduate high school so there isn’t exactly a line of universities begging me to apply.”
“You could just get a job.” Was his next suggestion.
“Doing what? I have my teaching English job, but that’s only a few hours a week and I have no idea who else would hire me. The only real work experience I have is taking care of my dad and there’s no employer they can call to ask how well I did that.”
“So we’ll move into an affordable apartment in Mount Edge and move when you figure out what you want to do. There are construction companies everywhere.” Tanner told me.
That actually sounded like a decent plan, one that required zero commitment. The fact that I wasn’t committing to anything made it that much better.
“You didn’t tell me you’re a construction worker.” I said, meeting his gaze.
“That’s not something important about me.”
“I think it is. If you do construction it means you’re a hard worker, and that says a lot.” I told him.
“How does my plan sound?” Tanner checked, turning the conversation back to my upcoming move.
“It sounds like the best option.” I admitted. “But now I have less than 36 hours to pack up everything I want to take with me.”
“I guess it’s a good thing you have me then.” He pulled me closer.
“I guess so.” I rested my head against his bare skin, and it felt fantastic. “I just barely got him back and now it feels like I’m losing him all over again.” I said, my voice soft.
“Well you aren’t. He just wants the best for you.” Tanner promised.
“I know. It just doesn’t feel like it.” I yawned. “We’d better grab some food and get to work. It’s going to be a long few days.”
Sixteen
The next 33 hours flew by in a hurricane of boxes. I packed anything and everything that I even sort of cared about, and tossed a bunch of things I didn’t want. Tanner and I talked as we packed and tossed, telling each other stories about our childhoods. It was a lot of fun, getting to spend time with him.
The more I was around him, the more I realized why we were soulmates. He and I complimented each other in a way that’s hard to explain. It was almost as if we understood each other, which didn’t make sense so soon after meeting, but that was what it seemed like.
I didn’t even notice any pain in my shoulder after the first day or two it was injured, and I don’t know if that was because I had just become a shifter or because I was used feeling random aches and pains from injuries my dad inflicted.
Me, Tanner, and my dad gathered in the front yard after the company my dad paid showed up to take care of the rest of the stuff in the house.
“Are you sure you want to do this, dad?” I wasn’t sure at all.
“I’m sure, Hal. Stop worrying about me, I’m the one who’s supposed to worry about you.”
“Well maybe if you didn’t—“
He wrapped his arms around me, cutting me off with a big, tight hug.
“I love you, Hallie. Stop being such a grown up and go live a little.” He kissed my forehead. “You’ve always been the best thing that ever happened to me. Thanks for being my little girl.”
When he said that, my eyes started to fill with tears. It felt like he was saying more than just goodbye for a few weeks or months, it felt like he was saying goodbye for good.
“We’re going to see each other again, dad. I’ll be back in a month or two to see your new place, and we’ll text and talk on the phone. This isn’t goodbye.” I hugged him back, holding on fiercely tight.
“Of course it isn’t goodbye.” My dad let me go. “Now get out of here.” He shooed me toward Tanner’s truck, which was packed full of boxes and a few small pieces of furniture I wanted to keep.
Tanner and I got into his truck, which we’d already stocked with water bottles and few snacks we’d picked up from the grocery store the day before.
“Love you, dad.” I waved as we drove away.
I knew it was ridiculous, but some part of me felt like that goodbye was a permanent one.
It was twenty hour drive to Mount Edge from my tiny town in Nevada, but the time passed quickly. Tanner and I had plenty to talk about, and when we weren’t talking, it was fun just to listen to music together. We pulled over to sleep for a few hours before getting back to on the road so we would get there at 8 or 9 AM instead of 4.
The closer we got to Tanner’s home, the more nervous I got. I was terrified that I wouldn’t fit in with all of the shifters in his pack. Honestly, I was just as terrified that I would fit in.
We were about an hour from Mount Edge when we entered a large forest. There were trees surrounding us on every side, towering over us. Maybe that would’ve made some people feel trapped, but the further we got into the forest, the more I felt like I was home.
It was a strange thing to feel, because I had only ever visited forests a few times in my life.
As we drove, I felt something new inside of me start to emerge. It’s hard to describe the feeling, but the more trees we saw, the more I felt like I needed to be in them.
My heartrate picked up as we drove, that strange new feeling growing inside me. I needed to be in the forest, I needed to run, but I didn’t want to acknowledge that need.
My breathing quickened and Tanner looked over at me. I could tell he was getting concerned.
“Are you okay?” he checked.
“Fine.” I bit the inside of my cheek, hard. I could fight the feelings, I knew I could fight them.
Tanner focused on driving, but he kept glancing over at me.
It was a few more minutes before I realized what the feelings must’ve been. I was feeling like I needed to be in the forest because I was feeling like I needed to shift. And why would I try to fight that? My newfound shifterhood was what had brought Tanner to me.
“Pull over.” I said quickly, unbuckling my seatbelt.
Tanner hit the brakes (luckily there was no one on the highway behind us)
and pulled over onto the dirt beside the road.
Before the truck even stopped, I opened the door and jumped out of the vehicle.
I didn’t know why I was doing it, and the logic in me knew it was insane to throw myself out of a moving car, but that strange new part of me was sure that I would be fine.
So I leapt.
Something in me changed as I was flying through the air. I felt weird for a moment, shaky, almost, and when I landed on the dirt I landed on four paws.
As right as it felt to be a wolf, when I looked down and saw furry gray paws underneath me, I felt a little queasy.
“Hallie?” Tanner ran around the truck the second he got it into park, heading into the trees where I was standing, in wolf form. “No way.” He gaped at me, a slow grin stretching across his face.
I wasn’t sure why, but I ran toward him and launched myself at my soulmate. Tanner caught me and we hit the dirt together, him laughing as we rolled around. When I got back up on all fours a few minutes later, I looked off into the trees.
I wanted to run, more than I wanted anything.
“Go, I’ll catch up.”
He didn’t have to say anything else. I took off as he yanked his shirt over his head.
As I ran through the forest, past trees and bushes and rocks, I felt like there was some kind of painless, amazing fire burning inside me. It was like someone had flipped a light switch inside me that I’d never known was there.
But now that I’d shifted, I knew it was there and I never wanted to turn it off again.
I was a wolf.
And I had always been a wolf, I’d just never realized it before.
I felt the wind in my fur, heard the leaves rustling in the wind. The dirt beneath my feet was hard and unyielding, but the water in the air smelled and tasted as fresh as rain.
My heart seemed to grow as I ran, and I felt myself falling in love with the earth. Everything around me was so full of life it was practically bursting, and it made me feel like I was really, truly alive for the first time in my life.
I heard it when Tanner caught up to me, and I heard him following close behind me. He didn’t interrupt my run or try to pass me, he just let me run and explore.
The wolf in me loved him for that.
I got tired after a while and found a stream to drink from. If I thought about it too hard I felt a little strange for drinking from a stream, but then again, if I thought about it too hard I felt insane for seeing myself with paws instead of feet.
“What do you think?” Tanner’s voice sounded the same in my mind as it did when he spoke out loud.
“It’s incredible.” I would’ve smiled if I’d been in human form. “You didn’t tell me it was like this.”
“I think it’s something you have to experience yourself to understand.” He said.
“Yeah.”
I wanted to take a nap, but I thought that if we got there too much later than we’d told them, Tanner’s family might get worried.
“Should we go back to the truck?” I checked.
“It’s up to you.” Tanner was alright with anything I decided, which was nice.
“Let’s go.”
I started to run and Tanner caught up quickly. The wolf in me knew exactly where we were compared to the truck, so I wasn’t worried about getting back.
We ran together, side by side, a pair of soulmates whose world couldn’t have looked any brighter.
Seventeen
“Hallie, it’s so great to meet you.” Tanner’s mom pulled me in for a big hug. “I’m Leah.” The smile on her face was so large I almost wondered if it was fake. “We’re so excited for you to join our family.” She hugged me tightly for a few seconds before letting me go.
“I’m excited too.” I smiled back, being completely honest.
“I’m Ty.” Tanner’s dad shook my hand. He looked pretty serious, a large contrast to his mom, and I wondered why he was so straight-faced but didn’t say anything about it.
“Nice to meet you.” I wasn’t sure exactly what to say.
“Hey.” When I saw the smile on Cody’s face, I had to do a double-take. Tanner grinned when I looked at him.
“Hi.” When I looked to Cody again, I could see a few differences. Their noses were a little different, Cody’s hair was a little longer. Still, I didn’t have to wonder why Emma had told me that almost everyone thought they were identical.
It was a little weird, meeting someone who looked so much like my soulmate, even if he was Tanner’s brother.
Cody gave me a quick hug. They were a family of huggers, I guess. My family had never really been like that so it was kind of strange.
His little brother Artie was next. He was fifteen and was already at least as tall as I was with muscles as big as both of my arms put together.
“Are you going to stop Tanner from getting into fights? I’m tired of being his backup.” Artie checked.
I looked back at Tanner, lifting my eyebrows.
“You start fights?”
My soulmate’s face reddened and it was actually kind of cute when it did.
“I should be the one asking that question, Art. You’re only here for half of them.” Cody remarked, grinning when Tanner grimaced.
“What do you fight about? I thought dominance was supposed to keep everyone in line.” I looked to my soulmate for an answer. His expression was sheepish.
“Tanner doesn’t use his dominance.” Artie told me.
“Alright, let’s go have some lunch.” Leah, Tanner’s mom, changed the subject quickly. I figured that must’ve meant he wasn’t using his dominance so that he didn’t end up facing off with his dad.
Artie and Cody followed Tanner’s parents inside, giving me and Tanner a moment alone.
“There are a lot of shifters in the pack around my parents’ age who think we should let our species die out rather than mate with humans like you. I’ve gotten into a lot of fights with people who think we should just ignore it when our brains kick into gear and tell us where our soulmates are.” He explained quickly and quietly.
“And you could make it out of these fights unharmed if you used your dominance?” I folded my arms, not sure how to feel about what he’d just told me. I didn’t want to be at the center of some sort of shifter civil war.
“Probably. But if I use my dominance I’ll end up facing off with my dad, and neither of us wants to see how that ends.”
“Do you fight to the death or something?”
“No, nothing like that. If I beat him I’ll end up taking his place as Alpha, and I don’t want to be Alpha.”
“So why doesn’t your dad step in and take care of the fights? Why doesn’t he force them to accept that you’re allowed to find your soulmate if you want to?” I obviously didn’t understand how wolf packs worked, because the whole thing just sounded like a slow-motion car crash to me.
“Because the only people who agree with me are the kids of the ones who don’t. None of us are willing to fight our parents.” He explained. “You’ll understand when you meet the rest of the pack.”
“Well they aren’t going to try to attack me or anything, are they?” I wanted to know if I was in danger.
“Hallie, do you really think I would’ve brought you here if I thought you would be in danger?” he chided me, and I shook my head. “You’ll be safe, I swear. Everyone in the pack has seen me fight, they know that I always win even without dominance. They know that if any of them touches you they’re signing their own death sentence.”
“Wow, that makes me feel so much better.” I said, 100% sarcastic.
“We don’t have to stay here.” Tanner told me, and he was 100% serious. “You said you wanted to, but you say the word and we’ll leave. We can go anywhere you want.”
“Alright, let’s just talk about it after lunch. I’m sure your family has heard every word of this conversation.” I muttered, reaching for the door handle.
Tanner took my hand and pulled me backward, toward
him.
“Just one more thing…” he took my face between his hands. “You are the most beautiful woman and wolf that I’ve ever seen, and know that whatever happens, I’m always going to be here, next to you.” He pressed a kiss to my lips, soft and sweet.
I squeezed his hand and let him lead me into his childhood home.
His parents were in the kitchen finishing up the food, and his brothers were on the couch playing a video game. From the looks of it Artie was smoking Cody, but the loose grin Tanner’s twin was wearing said he didn’t mind.
We all sat down around the table a few minutes later, a massive bowl of chicken fettucine alfredo on the table with a few sides around it. Everyone put food on their plates, and we ate quietly for a few minutes.
“So Hallie, what do you do for work?” Leah asked me.
“I teach English to kids in other countries online.” It was the easiest answer, the one that didn’t involve explaining my dad’s tumors or his sudden recovery or the fact that I had no idea what I really wanted to do with my life.
“Wow. Do you like it?”
“Yeah.” It was the quickest answer. I didn’t like my job or hate it either, I just worked it because I needed some extra money and it was the only thing that fit into my schedule at the time. “What do you do?” I turned the conversation on Tanner’s mom.
“Oh, I’m the pack’s Omega so basically I just feed people and babysit for free.” She smiled.
“There’s more to being the Omega than that.” Ty protested.
“I know. That’s just my job description on paper.” She winked at me, and I wasn’t quite sure why. “The Omega holds the pack together. I make sure everyone is taken care of and if they aren’t, I take care of that.”
“Do you like it?” Once again, I turned her question on her.
She looked surprised by that.
“Most of the time, but it would be nice to have a day off every now and then.” She said.
I nodded.
“Do Emma and Logan come to visit a lot?” I didn’t want to talk about myself so I figured I needed to keep the conversation rolling about something other than me.