Wolf Lake

Chapter 7

I hear her coming a few seconds before I feel her teeth come down on the hairs at the tip of my tail. 

Hey Wren. 

My best friend and fellow Brave runs up beside me, bumping shoulders as we race together in tandem. Her bright, ruddy undercoat is topped with grey guard hairs, darkening at her saddle. Her creamy cheeks, chest, belly and paws stand out distinctly against the rest of her coat. Her parents had moved to the territory from North Carolina when she was born, so her coloration was that of the rare red wolf. We have been friends for longer than I can remember, always looking out for and having each other's backs. She is wild and fierce and I love her immensely. 

We finish the run around the southern border of the territory before midnight as planned and Wren follows me back to the fence and the storage trunk with my clothes. I suppress a groan as my bones and other tissues make the slow changes back to my human form. I glance over at Wren as she puts a hand on her knee to stand. Our bodies are covered in a thick sweat that is almost closer to a mucus than saltwater. I open the trunk and toss her one of the small dry towels I keep in there before I beginning to dry myself off.

“I swear, that never stops sucking…” I lament, taking the towel back from her and handing her her clothes which she had placed on top of mine before she had made the change and joined us earlier--she must have been running late tonight.

“It’s nearly enough to make me want to just stay in my wolf form…” Wren groaned. We stiffly finished getting dressed in silence. “Is it okay if I crash with you tonight? I walked straight here after work tonight and I don’t feel like walking back to my car and driving back home.” I had guessed right. Wren worked at the bar in the center of town, she was still living with her parents who lived on the other side of the lake. It isn't a big lake, but driving when you are this bone tired is never a safe idea. 

“Of course you can. You know you don’t even have to ask.” I tell her, closing the lid on the trunk and grabbing the soiled towels to toss in the laundry. She responded with a small smile and nod. “I know… but it’s polite to ask.” Between slumber parties as kids and crashing at each other's places as we got older, I am m pretty sure we have spent more nights together than apart. 

While I use the second first-floor bedroom at the bungalow as a storage room right now while I am working on the house, Wren knows that it is hers if she ever wants it. But I know deep down that she wont. Wren has always been so restless, too restless to want to go through the hassle of moving just to change her mind a month later. Wren is always trying new things and losing interest in them almost as quickly. She seems to be good at everything she tries so she gets bored fast. 

She played every possible sport in high school and was a part of every extracurricular activity available. Wren would try out, do amazing, go to practices, play a few games…. Then she would decide she wanted to try out for the next sport or team or play or band or club. Her parents have an attic full of half-finished artwork and dozens of instruments. When we graduated, she went to one of the universities that was within 30 minutes from home, but dropped out before she finished her first semester. When she came back, she moved back in with her parents, got the job at the bar, and joined me with the Braves. Seven years later and she still seems to be happy--as happy a hummingbird in a mason jar can be. 

I know she wants to go out and explore the rest of the world, but I also know she’s afraid to leave her parents. They had her later in life and are getting up there in age. It’s also harder for a Wolf to simply up and leave their territory… There are protocols. Showing up randomly in another pack’s territory without prior permission can be dangerous, even deadly depending on who’s doorstep you end up on. I know Wolf Song is too small of a pack, too quiet with too small of a territory for her. She needs somewhere she can really let loose.

...

We stumble up the front porch stairs when we arrive back at the bungalow. I head straight for the master bath for another quick shower and Wren heads to the kitchen to see what she can raid from the fridge and pantry. I start to feel myself falling asleep standing under the stream of warm water, the deep breaths of cooling steam not helping me stay awake at all. I reach up and turn the shower head so the water pressure increases. I run my hands through my hair one last time before combing some leave-in conditioner through it and turning the water off. 

“Your snack selection has seriously gone down hill Penny.” Wren gives me a phony judgmental eyebrow over a half eaten apple from my parents orchard as she pokes her head in the door while I dry off. “I mean seriously…. How am I supposed to recover on apples and tomatoes?!? Where is the ice cream?” My smile turns into a guilty look, “.... back left corner of the freezer…. Behind the broccoli…. Under the ice cube trays….” I sigh, bad habits die hard. 

“Thank god!” she exclaims, leaving the remainder of the apple on the bathroom sink next to me and moving quickly back towards the kitchen. I can her here moving things around in the freezer, none too gently. “YES!” I hear her yell as I pull on some cotton shorts and a baggy t-shirt. “Oh yeah… Double-fudge brownie for the win!’ I grab another pair of shorts, a t-shirt, and a tank top from the dresser. I grab Wren’s shower and hair products and a clean towel from the hallway closet and set everything on the bathroom counter for her. I grab the apple and finish it in a few bites, core and all. My stomach growls angrily. “Hey, save me a couple bites of that ice cream.” 

I walk into the kitchen and open a drawer, pulling out a spoon. “I’m way ahead of you!” Wren replies with a smile, holding out a bowl with two scoops and a spoon to me. “I feel so much better now. I’m going to jump in the shower. Thanks for sharing your secret stash, I needed that.” I nod silently, my eyes closed as I savored the deep rich chocolate flavor of the frozen dessert. 

I finish up, rinsing the bowl and spoons in the sink before heading upstairs. I can hear the light creak from Wren climbing the stairs a few minutes later as I’m grabbing the extra pillows from the small chest at the foot of the bed. She is still scrunching the last of the water out of her short, tight curls in the t-shirt as she reaches the top of the stairs. Her mom taught us the trick when we were kids. It is very important to be gentle with curls like Wren’s since they can be brittle. 

We get into bed and I turn off the lamp on the bedside table. Wren climbs up close behind me, spooning my back. I don’t really know if it is a Wolf thing in particular or just a Wren-and-I thing, but we have always slept in what we lovingly call a “puppy pile”, affectionate and close. It has always been so calming and comforting to have each other there and to feel the physical closeness. It has never been more than that, never had any sort of s****l context, not even when Wren told me she’s attracted to some of the other girls in town. I wasn’t at all surprised and was the only person who officially knew for a long time until she finally told her parents that she’s bisexual our sophomore year in high school. 

Recently, during one of our late night talks in the dark after a long night of running, she told me she actually thinks she is more pansexual than strictly bisexual, but that it is easier to leave it in bisexual terms for her parents. I grew up in a pretty open and welcoming family, what with my uncle being openly gay years before it was widely accepted. Hawthorn and Dean were married shortly after I was born so I have always been surrounded by a family that believes that ‘love is love is love’. Wren’s parents, having grown up in the Baptist South… are a little more conservative and they are older. They love Wren and accept her for who she is, but they can sometimes struggle with changing social norms and terminology. 

My mind drifts off as I fall asleep with Wren’s soft caramel arm wrapped under mine. Peaceful and content.