The Wolf's Song

A Confused Mind

Diana

Robert drove faster than Michael, but I was grateful for that. My nerves eased the further away from town we got, but the edge seemed to stay with me always now. It wasn’t fear per se, but a constant mindfulness that not everything was as it seemed.

Having seen that werewolf turn back into a human stole a piece of a foothold, in reality, everything I knew before was being questioned. It was a war I couldn’t run from, for I had seen it with my own eyes, with no CGI, or filter.

I felt changed, and woke but also caught in the middle of fiction and legend meeting the present. I couldn’t call up Sandra and say hey, werewolves were real, for that I was glad I had Maya, but the divide between my old life and a new one was no longer hazy. It was definite now, a sharp visible line splitting the two in half.

The house came into view, and I sighed, glad we made it.

“Sorry, I’m not very talkative,” Robert said, trying to catch my eye, but shifting before I settled on him.

“No, it’s ok. I have a lot on my mind as well. Thank you for driving me,” I said.

He nodded, his boyish looks coming to the fore. Though I had seen him many times before, I hadn’t noticed how young he actually looked. His size was misleading; the stubble he tried to grow added to his deception, but in actuality, he was closer to my age than Michael’s. I grabbed my bag and headed inside.

I checked for Michael in the living room, but it was empty, as is his office. I knew he wouldn’t be in the room upstairs, he seemed to have resigned that as my room. The other room we frequent was the kitchen, so I headed there in the hopes of finding him.

As I made my way to the kitchen, a noise caught my attention. I followed it to a door and only then did I realize what I was standing at and registered what that sound was. It was the sound of rushing water, shower water. I froze as images of a wet and naked Michael flooded my thoughts. I tried to blink them away, but each blink only changed the images I was swirling in a sea of naughty thoughts, and my face flushed with heat.

Yet, my body commanded my hand without my brain’s permission and reached for the doorknob. If it weren’t for the cold metal jarring me from my fog of wanton thoughts, I could have gotten myself in deeper trouble than nearly being killed by a werewolf. I needed to calm down before he finished.

I rushed to the kitchen and grabbed a cup of water and guzzled it down, but I still felt aflame. Where did those thoughts come from? Wasn’t I just contemplating the very essence of having one’s world rocked at its core? There was no correlation from one topic to the other.

This water wasn’t working. I looked around the kitchen, before settling on the fridge. I opened the freezer and practically threw myself inside. The cold felt good on my flushed cheeks. I hadn’t actually seen inside his cabinets or fridge before, but he had a lot of meat in here, and not cheap meat either, T-bones, porterhouse than I could count, and three tomahawk steaks.

I always wanted to try one of those, but they were expensive and I lived that college lifestyle. My mother got paid well enough, but even if she brought it, neither of us could cook right for it to be worth it. My body started jiggling with excitement as I pictured Michael out on the grill cooking this for me.

“What are you doing?” Michael’s voice found me in the freezer. I stiffened, going off the theory that if I didn’t move, he couldn’t see me, also I hadn’t heard him enter, no sounds of socks sliding across the floor, pants ruffling, I gasped, what if he was naked?

“Diana?” He called me again, and I felt him moving toward me. I pulled out of the freezer and chuckled when I saw he was fully dressed--socks, pants, and a V-neck shirt. His chest hairs were distracting but nothing I couldn’t manage.

“You have a lot of meat,” I said. I nearly died when my eyes shifted over his body. “In the freezer,” I added to clarify. His smile was slow and sexy, and he closed the distance to kiss my forehead. I closed my eyes, mortified.

“Thank you?” he laughed.

I shoved him playfully away from me and tried frowning at him, but seeing his face displaying humor seemed so rare these days, I wanted to keep it on there for a bit longer.

“Yes, you’re welcome. But I do want to put in my request to the chef for the tomahawk,” I said, proving that I really did see what was in there and not just using it as an escape from my wayward thoughts.

“Consider it added to the menu,” he said. “How were your grandmother and Maya?” He asked, coming around me to open the fridge and grabbing water. I already knew my thoughts were on the dirtier side since returning so I didn’t even face him as he tossed that bottle back.

“Good. Maya might have a few nights there; she suffered a mild concussion. As for Martha, I am convinced she will be gone by tonight. If she doesn’t walk out, they most likely will kick her out. She’s fine, so I’m not worried either way,” I licked my dry lips and I debated on if I wanted to tell him what she and I discussed.

Clearly, he believed in werewolves and shifters. I had already picked his brain before, but having the facts made everything different. It was no longer according to legend, or the myth went…only truth now.

“They are calling him a murderer,” I ended up glancing over at him, trusting him as always. I didn’t so much need his support but rather another believer to help me accept this new world I stepped into.

“Yeah, I heard, but they wouldn’t very well call him a werewolf,” he said.

“That’s true, but it also means that once it dies down, it’ll become old news and people will go back to their lives, living obliviously, dangerously, and they won’t even realize it. There will be no one there to protect them beforehand, only to clean up the aftermath.” I vented.

This thought had been rattling around my head, especially after walking the halls of the hospital, so many innocent people were hurt, and I was powerless to help them. Somehow, knowing the truth about their ills wasn’t enough. Michael eyed me and leaned over the counter, bringing him closer into my space, and I didn’t mind it at all.

“What are you saying? You want to help?” he asked.

I shrugged. “I don’t know, I can’t do much. The police don’t even believe me. Even some of the victims want to chalk it up to too much drinking. I just wish there was someone out there trying to figure out how to keep them safe. And if there is, I wish I could find them and offer whatever I can. Surviving twice has to count for something, you know?” I had just come to terms with surviving the first attack and here I was again.

I caught his eyes and my breath fastened as his eyes spoke words into my heart.

“Why Ms. Diana Wolff,” he drew out. “I believe I’ve fallen for you all over again.” He stood and pulled me into his arms. He stared down at me almost in wonder, and I basked under his gawking.

I hadn’t said it out loud to him, but there was no denying it to myself anymore, I was head-over-heels, crazy in love with this man. I leaned into his arms, inhaling his fresh scent, feeling content to stay there all night, and if he had let me, forever.