Page 97 of Fangs with Benefits

Mother squeezes my fingers then pats my shoulder.

I do as she says, retreating with Evangeline to our rooms upstairs. Dylan calls just after the start of the party, and I excuse myself to take it after the third missed call. I assume he’s found my note.

‘I’m sorry I haven’t called sooner,’ I tell him as soon as the line connects. I speak quietly in a guest room upstairs, as far from the partygoers as I could get while still staying inside.

‘Oh thank God you picked up, dude, I’m freaking out.’

‘Because… I left?’ I ask, feeling his reaction disproportionate to the circumstances.

Dylan pauses so long on the other side of the line that I check to see that it’s still connected.

‘Because you what?’ he finally asks.

‘I thought you saw my note. I–I had to leave. I’m with my family now.’

‘In fucking England?!’ Dylan sounds increasingly panicked at the discovery. Again, not the emotion I was anticipating from him at this news.

‘Dylan, what happened?’ I ask as directly as I can.

He sighs heavily into the receiver. ‘Last night was the full moon and—’ Dylan cuts off again.

I can imagine his phone clutched in his palm, face screwed up. I don’t know what happened, but he’s rarely so intense, so severe.

‘What is it?’

‘The retreat was going great, I was schmoozing like you wouldn’t believe, promotion locked in. But the full moon was rising so I did my fake sick thing, but then Luke Lemming fucking kissed me.’

‘Oh?’ Not exactly where I thought the story was going, but I’m not necessarily surprised that Luke and Dylan kissed. Not when Dylan talks about Luke with such annoyance and barely veiled desire. I wasn’t going to be the one to tell Dylan that he wanted the guy, though.

‘The shift was coming on fast all of a sudden and I was running and Luke just kept following me, and then, I… he…’

I breathe in sharply. ‘Oh shit.’

‘I’ve never shifted so fast. I usually have time, but as soon as I was at the edge of the forest, I was going wolf and Luke chased me outside trying to apologise or something, I don’t know.’

‘Dylan, did you… bite him?’

Dylan is quiet, but I can hear him breathing through the line.

‘Yeah,’ he says finally. ‘I bit him. Fuck.’

The news knocks me sideways. I have to sit down on the ornate four-poster bed to process this. Turning a werewolf isn’t unlike turning a vampire–the being responsible for the change is expected to assist with the onboarding, so to speak. Dylan will have to teach Luke everything he needs to know for this very permanent condition that will affect nearly every aspect of his (now extended) life.

‘Fuck,’ I agree. ‘What are you going to do?’

‘Only thing I can, I guess. Help him? We’ll both have to take the rest of December off, which our boss is going to just love. The pack said they’ll help up north for the first month. I was going to ask if you’ll be okay to hold down the apartment until then but seems like you just left?’

‘It was… urgent. I had to leave.’

‘To protect Molly or yourself?’ he asks.

I don’t think he intended the question to feel as cutting as it does. The answer is Molly. Isn’t it? And myself in a way? Expediting present discomfort to avoid further, future pain?

‘I didn’t know what else to do,’ I tell him. ‘If there was another way, I…’

A loud knock sounds on the door. Evangeline pushes it open while putting in a pair of hoop earrings.

‘Come on then,’ she says. ‘Mother’s about seven seconds from freaking out if you don’t get downstairs for your party.’