DANCING WITH LYCANS

CHAPTER 3: SERVING JOKES

I finish helping my mother with the preparation, fix my plate, and sit across the table from my mother. Dad sits at the head of the table as usual. He says it's cause he's the head of the home and should never have his back towards the door. He always shows his protective side in the choices he makes for the family. My father is strong and noble. Tall and ruggedly handsome with broad shoulders and a thick full beard that shapes his face to the thick dark brown head full of hair on his head and dark brown eyes to match his hair color.

I took after my father with my dark brown lox. I've always loved long hair and have chosen to grow it out. It reaches my upper thigh at this point and feels heavy and thick like a warm blanket.

I've always had naturally straight hair, so to give it some flare, I gave it some face framing layers to add to my style.

My mother is tall with fair skin and hazel eyes and long wavy dirty blonde colored hair.

Taking after my mom, I've been blessed with fair skin and hazel eyes that look like golden honey with specks of green in the center, like the forest resides within my very soul. What's that saying? The eyes are the windows to the soul, right? I almost feel like I belong here in this serene wilderness.

I've never been here before, but it just feels like I belong, and as the thought comes to mind, suddenly, I feel a ping of guilt like I've betrayed my friends.

I make a mental note to give them a call after dinner.

After eating for a while in silence and making several glances at my parents waiting for them to talk, like my dad mentioned they would and at dinner time no less, I notice that they are both deep in thought as they pick at their food.

Breaking the silence "What is weighing on your thoughts? I thought we were supposed to be having a talk during dinner. Are you guys okay? Did someone die?"

My mom sighs and looks at dad. "I'll let you start, Devon. I'm not so good at explaining these things. We should have told her a long time ago."

Dad is quick to respond with a look that halts mom in her words.

"Too much was said already." He places his silverware on the table and lets out a deep breath. "Alright, let's rip off the bandaid, shall we?"

"Wait! I'm not ready! Is the bandaid in a spot that has hair?" I ask dad, and his brows furrowed.

"What?" Mom pinches the bridge of her nose annoyed by my shenanigans, and I laugh.

"You guys know better than to ask a rhetorical question around me." I shrug my shoulders. "Sorry, dad, I had to lighten the mood. You and mom are too serious right now. It's our first meal in a new house. Serious is too strong of a vibe right now.."

"It is serious, Angelica!" Dad's voice booms across the table.

"I would appreciate you treating it as such. Your mother and I are trying to think of a way to convince you that the information we're about to give isn't "fake news," as you call it."

I raise my eyebrow. "Are you trying to prank me right now?"

"We have fun, sure, but this is not a joke. Angelica, what would you say if we told you that we live in a modern magical kingdom and all of the mythological creatures you've read in books were based on true stories?"

"I'd think you were making a joke." I respond and laugh, waiting for my dad's serious expression to falter, and it never did.

"That's exactly why it's taking us so long to come clean with you, Angelica. Because what you think was a joke is what we wanted to tell you. It's all true. Without going to drastic measures and transforming in front of you, scaring you away, we're trying to make the adult decision here, and it's not easy." He says as he releases the tension in his shoulders and sits back in his chair as if a burden had just been lifted.

I stare at my dad, waiting for some sort of punchline, and then look towards my mom.

"Mom? Do you have magical powers, too?" I snort with a laugh. "Yes. Would you like to see them, or would that be too much for you?" My mother replies, and my laughter dies down. I furrow my brows and look between my mother and father like they're crazy.

"Okay. Let me get this straight. Do you guys want me to believe we live in a magical place?"

"Yes." Mom and dad reply in unison.

"Well, mission accomplished! Mom, dad.. you guys have taught me to appreciate everything in life, to include nature and all of its glorious wonders and riches. The animals, the peaceful sound of a river, the rich colors in the sky. The life of a leaf as it falls to the ground having its own purpose. I'm grateful for all of it, and if that's your way of trying to get me to accept this place as my new home, then yes, I've already accepted. I'm just missing my friends. Everything was done in poor timing. ON MY END. I'm not saying that anything was done poorly on either of your parts in the move." I smile thinking that my parents got all worked up feeling guilt for the timing of the move. They are so thoughtful.

"Angelica, that's wonderful to hear, and I'm glad you're accepting your new home. I'm feeling like a crappy father right now knowing how the timing of everything has affected your friendships, but as I've said before, this is no joke. There is no scheme to get you to accept anything. Your mother and I didn't even have the choice in accepting our fate in bringing you here. We've never really been honest with you about what we do for a living. We run a pack, Angelica, we're werewolves." Dad grabs my hand on the table and gives it a squeeze like he just broke BIG news, and if I wasn't trying to hold back my laughter, maybe that would have been a special moment.

Alas, I can't hold back my facial expressions as they tell everyone in the room exactly how I'm feeling. I laugh so hard tears start forming the edges of my bottom lashes.

"Dad, for real, I can't deal with this anymore. It hurts to laugh. How you guys are saying all of this with a straight face is beyond me, haha." I wipe the tears from my eyelids. Dad huffs and pinches the bridge of his nose, wipes his face with his hands, and drops his hands to the table as if they were weights. "ANGELICA! Please, listen!

The only reason why we never told you sooner to prepare you for your coming of age and future responsibilities you have, is because we couldn't risk humans finding out we live amongst them. It's law in our world that if we expose our true selves to mortals that the punishment is death." Dads face is stern and unyielding as his eyes braze into mine.

"Angelica, there is much to explain. First is that there is a portal into our realm made by the spirit realm witches that guard all things supernatural." Mom finally speaks, and a frown starts to form on my face at how much this is starting to get out of hand.

I listen regardless of how absurd it sounds in order to avoid further upsetting my father.