Masked SheWolf

by Yara Gharios

  My heart is beating off the charts. I can't believe I'm doing this. Mary and I have been together for what feels like a lifetime. I've always considered her the light of my very existence. I'm not sure if I'm ready for that to end. Maybe that's why we've been fighting so much recently. I need to take that as a sign.

  My duffel bag strung over my shoulder, I hand the flight attendant my ticket and boarding pass, then step into the hallway leading to the plane. My anticipation is growing with every moment. I didn't think I would be this nervous, but I was fine an hour ago, when I lied to my parents about staying on campus for the weekend to study.

  Maybe it's the change that I'm scared about. It's a cheesy reason to be afraid, but it's true. We don't know what will happen to us in the future, but we somehow end up thinking of the worst possible scenario and start dreading it. The annoying 'what if' questions that just won't shut up are buzzing in my head. I try to calm them down by sleeping, but that's not so easy to do when your mind is on overdrive.

  This is going to be a long flight.

  Take-off provides a good distraction. I've always been fascinated by airplanes. I wanted to be a pilot before going for mechanical engineering. I know it seems like I've passed on a great opportunity for a lesser one, but if I can't handle a long distance relationship with my girlfriend in our current situation, how is being away all the time any better?

  And as long as I'm being honest, let's address the bigger problem that would ensue; where would that leave Dylan? If I go, the others will start wanting the same. There's no way I can do that to my only sister.

  Suddenly, I feel like a hypocrite because of what I'm about to do. Mary is the one who taught me to accept Dylan for who she is, and I'm about to change everything for all of us, for good.

  "She can't live like this forever," Marianna once told me. "She isn't ready yet, but one day, she's going to want to break out of that life, and when she does, you have to be there to support her. She will need you, all of you."

  I didn't understand it at first, but eventually, it sunk in on its own. Maybe it's a long way down the road, but Dylan is going to find her true mate one day. Mom and Dad always knew that was a possibility, but we've never lived close enough to another pack for us to have contact with other werewolves, and for the possibility that one of them is Dylan's mate to arise.

  Since our new neighbors moved in, that possibility became more real, and our parents have been more anxious than ever. If she finds a mate, that will be it, she won't have to keep her secret anymore. Mom and Dad are waiting for that day but at the same time dreading it, because it might mean that they will lose their little girl to love. Every parent's nightmare is when their children leave them for good. I still don't know whether I'm going to speed up the process or not.

  During the flight, I fidget in my seat a lot, until the lady next to me asks me to stay still. I watch a couple of movies to try and pass the time, but that's still not enough. I am relieved when I finally get some rest five hours after we've taken off. But it doesn't feel like I got a wink of sleep when I am shaken awake.

  "Excusez-moi, monsieur, vous devez attachez votre ceinture, nous allons atterrir."

  My French is not that great, but I understand that the attendant is telling me that we're about to land. I fasten my seatbelt and go back to sleep. There's a good half hour or so until we're allowed to move, and I can take advantage of that. I need to be fully awake by the time I get to Mary's apartment.

  As it turns out, I'm wide awake long before that, when I get a taxi. I give the driver the address and start rehearsing my speech in my mind. I must have repeated it at least five times, but after I'm dropped off, and I start knocking on her apartment door, I can't remember a single word.

  Her roommate Elise answers the door. She recognizes me, but she doesn't acknowledge me and instead immediately calls for Marianna, no doubt calling me the worst names in French. Elise never really liked me. Normally, I would be trying to get along with her, for Mary's sake, but I'm not in the mood right now.

  Seconds later, Marianna is at the door, dressed in the pink pajamas I got her for her birthday. Unlike Elise, who rolls her eyes and goes back inside, closing the door behind her, Mary is shocked to see me there. In a good way, of course. We could be having the worst fight we've ever had, we would still be happy to see each other.

  "Mason!" She jumps into my arms, and I wrap her in a close embrace, taking in her familiar scent that I've missed. "What are you doing here? Why didn't you tell me you were coming?"

  I can't drop the bomb immediately after getting here. I need to appreciate her presence first, because I don't know if she's going to want to do that in a few minutes. "I missed you so much," I whisper, nuzzling my head against her neck.

  She tilts her head up and kisses me, and for a while, I stop worrying about what's going to happen and just enjoy the moment with her. Somehow, we end up pressed up against the door, and I can't stop kissing her. I'm starting to get worked up in a different way, though, so I need to tell her now before we end up in her bed and I forget the next morning what this whole trip was about.

  "We need to talk," I whisper roughly, my mouth against hers.

  "About what?" Her voice sounds dazed.

  "Get dressed, and meet me downstairs," I tell her.

  I kiss her one last time before I pull away. She frowns at me, want burning in her eyes, before she blinks a couple of times and goes back inside to do as I said.

  As I wait for her downstairs, I move around restlessly, constantly rubbing my hands together. This is my nervous habit, and I can't contain it at a time like this. Minutes later, she walks out in jeans, a jacket and sneakers. Even in those, she is still very beautiful.

  The look on her face has been replaced by a wary one. "What is going on, Mason?" she asks.

  "I know what it would take for us to move in together," I assure her. "I do know that."

  "I know you do," she says. "But until you ask, I told you I am not having this conversation."

  "I am asking," I blurt out.

  Marianna stiffens. "What?"

  "I am asking you to marry me," I elaborate.

  She blinks, staring at me blankly. "No," she says.

  My spirits are entirely crushed. "No?" I repeat, dumbstruck. "Is that your answer?"

  She shakes her head. "No, you're not asking me," she specifies. "Not really. You don't mean it. This is a desperate attempt to get me to move to America."

  Is that what she thinks?!

  "It's not," I vehemently try to persuade her. "I really mean it. Marianna, I want to be with you, no matter where we are. If you don't want to move to America, I'm prepared to live right up there, in that tiny apartment with your roommate who hates me. All I ask is that you let me call you my wife."

  She looks at me uncertainly. "If you really mean it, why did you always avoid the subject?"

  "Because I was scared," I admit. "I was torn between choosing you or my family, and I wasn't sure if I was ready to leave them behind. I'm still not."

  She sighs. "Mason, I would have to leave my family behind, too," she points out, "but I was prepared to do that to be with you."

  "This decision is different for me," I remind her, "and you know that. There is something very important at stake that people don't normally have to consider in this situation. One person gone from the house, that's one less person to protect my sister. Marrying you would have made it final, because I can't keep living with them when I'm trying to build a life with you, and I was too afraid of what might happen to Dylan to ask you."

  A moment of silence passes. "And now?" she asks, her voice starting to quiver.

  My eyes look down in shame. This is the hard part, the part that could make or break our relationship, because Marianna cares about Dylan too, and she might not forgive me for deciding to abandon her.

  "Now... I think it's time for her to start taking care of herself," I confess. "We can't protect her forever... and I can't put my life on hold forever.
"

  I look up at her again, and I can't decide what to make of the tears beginning to brim in her eyes. "I don't care where we go, as long as I'm with you. So I'm going to ask you one more time, and no matter your answer, I won't bother you with it again. Marianna Bleue, will you please marry me?"

  One tear falls from between her eyelids and lands on her cheek. I want to hug her, or hold her hand, or do whatever it takes to make her smile again. But I need to know what she wants, first. If she doesn't want me, I lose my right to touch her.

  "It's not because you thought we're too young?" she finally speaks, on the verge of crying. "Or because you're not ready or... because I'm older than you?"

  I am so surprised by her assumptions that I forget for a moment what we're doing here, and all I can think about is making it clear how I feel about her. She's always so smart and self-assured, I forget sometimes that she has her own insecurities. I dare take a few tentative steps toward her until we're standing within touching distance.

  "Of course not," I strongly assure her. "You and I, we're not some teenagers playing at being in love. We have been ready for this since the moment we knew how we felt about each other. And what does it matter that you happened to be born before I was? You'll still be too good for me anyway."

  A sob escapes her lips at the same time that she smiles, and her tears continue to fall freely on her face. "You really want to marry me?"

  I smile back, hope flourishing deep within me. "I really want to marry you."

  Marianna zealously nods her head throwing her arms around my neck. "Yes."

  Chapter 23

  Michael

  It takes Cade a few days to get over the fact that I'm a girl, and to forgive Sadie and me for forgetting he was alone in the forest with no clothes on for almost an hour before we went back to him and brought him some. He wasn't too happy with me for keeping Sadie distracted, but there was already so much awkwardness that he didn't dare say anything.

  He only got over it when the pack, especially his brothers, started questioning him about forgiving me so fast. I was with Sadie in her room, which was right next to his, when it happened. The door was open and they didn't know I was listening in for the both of us.

  "Just last week, you were planning this guy's murder," Jared pointed out with irritation, "and now you're best buddies with him? It just doesn't make any sense!"

  "First Logan gives him the all-clear, then Reena and your mate are all loved up on him, and now you're telling me everything you thought was wrong with him before has now just vanished?" Sam demanded sarcastically. "This guy is brainwashing our pack one by one and winning them over somehow, and he's started from the top of the pyramid! Are we next?"

  "Enough with the conspiracy theory!" Cade ordered, raising his voice authoritatively. "Look, I was wrong about Michael. He's not after Sadie, and he's definitely not got anyone brainwashed. He's just like the rest of us; he's trying to fit in somewhere. And you know what? After the way we've been treating him, I can't really blame him for resenting us. I mean, his family's been nothing but respectful and friendly, yet we throw accusations at him left and right, like he's some kind of criminal, and he doesn't deserve that. So just do me a favor and lay off him, alright?"

  Beta Cade was in the house, ladies and gentlemen!

  If that's what second in command is like, what the hell is Logan like when he's truly going alpha? I sure as hell don't want to find that out.

  From then on, Cade is more willing to join us when Sadie and I hang out. I have to say that it's interesting having him around. The only real male company I ever had was my brothers, and even though they know my secret, they've always treated me as one of them, because of Dad's plan to keep up appearances even in the seclusion of our own home.

  Being around Cade is strange; I can't really say we're friends yet, but it feels like there's something brewing, at least.

  For instance, he's been better at helping me keep the secret than his girlfriend. Sadie likes to make comments out loud that somehow relate to my gender, when she thinks no one can hear. But we live among werewolves; there's always someone who can hear. Cade's the one who stops her from going too far and tries to talk her out of saying anything in the first place.

  This one time, we went to the movies with two of my brothers, Logan, Reena and Zoey. While Danny was talking to Zoey in the corner and Connor was taking Logan's advice on something I guessed was mate related, the three of us and Reena were in charge of picking out a movie for everyone to see, and Sadie wanted to watch a romantic comedy.

  "Reena and I want to see it, and I'm sure it's Dylan's type," she remarked.

  Cade gave her a look. "Why would Michael want to see a chick flick?" he hinted. "That stuff isn't for guys. Besides, we outnumber you five to three, so we get to say no on that one."

  Sadie didn't reply at the time, but she did apologize later on when it was just the two of us. Turns out, I took Marianna for granted all this time because it always seemed so easy for her to protect my secret.

  The fact that Sadie's having trouble with her choice of words is an indicator that even though I don't look like one, she certainly thinks of me as a girl, all the freaking time. I'm almost glad Cade found out at the same time, because he's always hanging out with us now, and he's keeping her in check when I suddenly get too quiet. They're both even helping me carry out pranks every Sunday.

  A week later, I wake up to the delightful jokes my brothers pull on me for War Day. I recognize who pulled what from catching their scents; my shoes smell like chicken eggs because Nate's stuffed a handful of his dirty socks inside them, and left them to rot all night. My face is heavily drawn on by Mason, who was last week's target. Connor has taped a giant poster of an underwear model on the roof above my bed; let me tell you, that's not a nice sight to wake up to.

  And finally, my phone has been taken out of its charger by Danny, and I can't find it anywhere. I need that phone; I was going to call my friends and see if they wanted to do something this afternoon. Guess I'm going to have to walk to their place, again. I hate walking when there's a perfectly good car in the driveway.

  On my way there, my feet stomp on the ground furiously, because I need an outlet for my annoyance at my twin, and I contemplate ways to get back at him. Obviously, he's my target, but what could possibly be the most humiliating comeback after what he's done?

  I'm hoping to get some help on that. Cade's got a very weird imagination, and I could use that for ideas on how to retaliate.

  My visits to the pack house have been so frequent lately that the guard is used to buzzing me in when he sees me coming. I don't even knock at the front door anymore. I just waltz right in and join them wherever they are. Today, I find them in the game room, having breakfast over a friendly game of Mortal Kombat 9.

  "Die! Die! Die!" Sadie is shouting.

  Just another day in the life of Sadie and Cade.

  Smirking, I lean against the door frame and watch them for a minute. This is one of the strangest things about their relationship that I admire and will never get used to. No matter how much they love each other, and how much they gross out everybody around them when they express that love, they are still so laid back with one another and so unafraid to be their true self that it just amazes me how much trust they have in their relationship. It must be pretty wonderful to be able to trust someone enough to let them into every part of your life that can include them.

  "Let me know when you freaks are done," I finally speak and make my presence known.

  "Dylan!" Sadie exclaims without taking her eyes off the screen or breaking her concentration. "Grab a chair; watch me beat my boyfriend to a pulp."

  "You wish, dummy," Cade replies dryly.

  I can definitely feel the love here.

  I chuckle at the intriguing dynamic of their relationship. "I'm not here on a social visit," I admit without moving. "I'm actually here because I need your help."

  Fingers continue clacking against the consoles an
d their eyes remain glued to the screen. "Sure, what's up?" Cade asks.

  "It's War Day and I've been targeted," I simply say.

  Almost instantaneously, they pause the game, lower the consoles and stare at me with mirroring expressions of excitement and anticipation. That is so freaky.

  "What did they do?" they ask in unison.

  Okay, that is freaky.

  They guess that Daniel's my target without me needing to specify after I tell them what they each did. We start brainstorming ideas together of how to get back at them. We're interrupted before we can come up with enough plans to cover everyone when Logan comes in searching for Cade. He looks so angry that I automatically try to make myself scarce. We're good friends, but there are still moments when he can intimidate me without even trying.

  "Hey," he stiffly says, giving a general nod of greeting to Sadie and me. "Got a minute? I need you to do me a favor."

  Immediately, Cade stands up. "Sure. What's up?"

  "There's something I have to get from the old house in Maine," Logan tells him. "Can you make the drive with me? We'll be back by tomorrow."

  "Yeah, of course," he immediately agrees. "What do you need?"

  Nervously, Logan brings his hand up to the back of his neck. "Uh, something of Reena's," he answers cryptically.

  Something's off about him, and I'm not the only one who notices it. "What's wrong?" Sadie asks with concern. "What happened?"

  "I sort of... forgot her birthday yesterday," he confesses, though he doesn't seem very ashamed of the fact, mostly still angry. They must have had a pretty huge fight about this.

  "Whoa," I hear myself say in shock. "How did that happen?"

  Suddenly, he gets defensive. "I don't know! It just slipped my mind!"

  "But... you weren't here all day," Sadie points out hesitantly.

  "I was busy," he snaps.

  Whoa! Someone's PMS-ing.

  "Calm down, man," Cade attempts to reason with him, and I sense he's fighting the urge to reproach his alpha while in this state for snapping at his mate. "I'm sure you two can solve this, whatever this is."