Chapter Thirty-One #2
Callum regarded me for long seconds during which I refused to squirm in case it was another test, before he set off at a jog down the mountain. Despite his pace being way beyond what I could have managed for more than half a minute as a human, I easily fell into step beside him.
‘I think you’re ready,’ he said.
I had to resist leaping ten feet into the air and yelling. I wasn’t sure how conditional my release from the mountains was. I didn’t want it immediately revoked because I’d acted in a way no human could when giddy.
‘Cool. Cool cool cool.’ I’d packed my bag every morning for the past week. ‘Can I go as soon as we get back to the cabin?’
‘Sure.’ Callum squinted, which couldn’t be a sign that he was struggling to see something. His eyes were even more super-powered than mine. ‘There’s one last thing I need to discuss with you before you leave.’
‘Yeah?’ Hopefully whatever it was could be covered before we got to the cabin.
Then I could say a tearful goodbye to Aster, grab my stuff, and be down with Kit before dinner.
My mouth watered at the thought of devouring his lasagne.
Callum was a good cook, but he leaned towards stews and soups unless Aster demanded hash browns. I craved pasta and mountains of cheese.
Callum’s beard twitched as he clenched his jaw. He didn’t look at me when he said, ‘You need to be careful when you have sex.’
My foot caught on a jutting tree root. Before I could throw my arms out, the ground slammed into my chest.
‘Ow.’
Callum’s hand landed on my shoulder. ‘Lucas? Are you alright?’
‘I’m fine.’ I quickly picked myself up and dusted the worst of the grass from my front. ‘Please don’t take away my pass to leave the mountains.’
Callum half rolled his eyes before setting off at a more sedate jog. ‘You can leave soon.’
Right. After the birds and the bees talk: werewolf edition.
‘We can’t contract or pass on sexually transmitted diseases but when you orgasm, there’s a chance your claws will appear. Your fangs might pop and your eyes glow.’
‘I, um.’ I cringed and kept my gaze on the grass both so I didn’t have to look at Callum and so that I wouldn’t fall over again. ‘I already knew all that.’
Aster’s detailed recounting of his and Callum’s sexy times should have prepared me for this final aspect of my wolf tutoring.
Callum’s cheeks above his thick beard reddened. ‘Of course you do.’
‘It’s not going to be a problem,’ I reassured him. ‘I don’t plan on having sex any time soon.’
I didn’t know if that was a sad statement for a twenty-three-year-old to make, but it was true.
My heart didn’t miss a beat. My aims on leaving the mountains were to get to Kit as soon as possible and not let him go until an animal crisis called me away.
I didn’t have anyone I was planning on humping, since it wasn’t like turning into a wolf would make sex any more enjoyable.
My inability to fancy anyone wasn’t something a werewolf bite could fix.
Callum nodded. ‘Just be aware that we’re generally very fertile, so always use a condom when having sex with a woman. You might have new urges to bite and sniff your partners.’
I forcibly did not think of the love bites Aster had shown me this morning on his inner thighs. I’d tried to focus on his dancing cookie boxers rather than the imprints of teeth on his freckled skin.
‘I’ll bear that in mind,’ I promised. I wouldn’t reassure Callum again that this painful sex talk was unnecessary.
If I protested too much, he might ask why I was so certain I wouldn’t have a problem with being too wolfy during sex.
Knowing he could detect lies made skirting around the topic of me dating even more important than it had been before.
We skidded down a last steep section of mountain and jogged across rolling hills towards the cabin. I breathed deep of the cool mountain air, my lungs barely struggling even after running and jumping and climbing for hours.
Just like everything else since I’d woken up sandwiched between Aster and Callum, it seemed unbelievable that I’d come so close to death during the storm.
If I had been transported to a hospital, I would have been in recovery for weeks.
My muscles would have wasted away, any body fat burned by intensive healing.
It would have taken months for me to feel vaguely healthy again.
‘Callum?’ I waited until his hazel eyes tipped towards me, all too aware that the closer we got to Aster, the more of his focus would be on getting as close to him as possible. At least they could get back to their ridiculous sex routine with me no longer cluttering up their tiny cabin and bed.
‘I just want to say thank you,’ I said. ‘I know Aster is still worried about making the decision for me, but I’m really glad you turned me into a werewolf.’
I didn’t think brightness had a smell before it poured off Callum. His face transformed from its resting frown to a beaming smile. Without breaking his stride, he wrapped an arm around my shoulders.
‘I’m happy to hear that,’ he murmured into my hair.
He was still cuddled into my side when we neared the cabin. Aster waited at the front door, flanked by Albert and Tim. They danced out onto the grass to greet us, their horned heads butting our shins.
Aster rocked forwards on the threshold like he was considering running out to meet us despite his repeated laments that he kept ruining his socks by being too impatient.
I suspected it was only because he was wearing his favourite pair – navy blue with a swirling pattern of bees – that he was stuck in place.
‘It literally makes all my organs swell when I see you two buddying up.’ He grinned at me and Callum.
‘Your organs swelling doesn’t sound like a good thing.’ I stopped out of reach.
Callum barrelled into Aster, wrapping his arms around his waist. ‘Lucas just told me he’s glad I turned him into a werewolf.’
If possible, the smile on Aster’s face grew wider. ‘Two things. Firstly, my organs swelling is absolutely a good thing when they’re doing it because of abundant love. And secondly, that is the best news I’ve ever heard ever.’
Callum released him and nudged past into the cabin. I took his place in Aster’s arms.
‘You don’t need to feel guilty about any of this.’ I nudged my nose into his scalp and breathed in of his lavender shampoo. ‘I like being a werewolf. You saved my life and turned me into something really fucking cool.’
‘Werewolves are cool.’ Aster pulled back and scrunched his nose. ‘Callum tries to argue that being a witch is just as cool, but until I can do more than grow loads of flowers and cause a bit of static electricity, I’m not convinced.’
‘You don’t need magic to be cool. You’d be the coolest person I know even if you were a plain old human.’
My desire to defend my best friend, even from himself, was always strong. I wondered if his cheeks were hurting as they bunched with another blinding smile.
‘You’re the bestest of best friends.’ His eyes widened and he flailed at the front pocket of his hoodie.
His elbow cracked into my ribs, which would have left a bruise if I didn’t have accelerated healing powers.
‘I am also the bestest of best friends,’ he said as he struggled to free something from the folds of butter yellow fabric.
‘I put your phone into Callum’s biggest bag of rice and it actually made it work again but the reason I’m the best is because I powered it up before you got here and I took the liberty of deleting all the messages and voicemails from your sperm doner. ’
My heart, which had been skipping along in a field of multicoloured tulips since Callum’s confirmation that I was ready to head down the mountains, slammed into a brick wall. Numb, I took my phone from Aster.
‘He stopped a week ago.’ Aster stepped into my space and gave me a one armed hug while I stared at my phone. ‘You don’t have to talk to him or contact him, and you certainly don’t owe him anything.’
Aster was of the same opinion as my mum, although he didn’t often express himself quite as calmly as she did about my continued support of my father. Despite Aster’s restrained words, the air around him grew sharp, like when Callum used too much pepper in one of his stews.
I thumbed at the screen. Aster had ruthlessly deleted all traces of my dad.
The only messages waiting for a response were from Mum.
She’d been told I was doing research in the island’s mountains and might not be contactable for a while.
Bonnie had agreed to me telling her I was now a wolf-boy, but she’d said it was best done face-to-face when I could better manage the inevitable freak out.
‘Don’t contact him.’ Aster squeezed me. ‘Please. I don’t like how sad he makes you.’
I couldn’t disagree with that. Nothing but misery swirled inside me.
I shoved my phone into my pocket. Whether Dad had stopped calling and leaving horrible messages because he assumed he’d been given the wrong number or because he’d gotten whatever money he needed some other way, he had stopped.
For now, I could relegate him to the darkest corner of my mind where he belonged.
‘Here.’ Callum appeared behind Aster, my backpack hanging from his hand. ‘You can go now, unless you want to stay for dinner?’
‘No. No no no no no. No.’ Any reply I might have made was drowned out by Aster’s increasingly pitiful cries. ‘Lukey doesn’t want to leave, do you? You want to stay here forever.’
I winced. ‘You live in a one bedroom cabin, Aster.’
‘For now.’ He tangled his hands in the straps of my backpack. ‘But Callum can build a bedroom for you and then you can stay in the mountains with us.’
Guilt squished around inside my ribcage. I hated leaving Aster, but I didn’t want to stay here. I loved my best friend, would always care for him deeply, but there was someone else calling to me. I needed to go down to the village, to see and hold and live with Kit.
‘Aster.’ Callum gently eased his boyfriend’s arms away from my backpack, then passed it to me. ‘Lucas has a life down in the village. You can’t demand that he stay here with us.’
‘How dare you.’ Aster huffed, then immediately deflated. ‘Okay, that was exactly what I was doing. But you don’t understand what I suffer with my best friend so many millions of miles away.’
I slung my bag onto my back, then pulled Aster into the tightest of hugs. ‘I love you and I’ll miss you, but remember; with me gone, you can have sex with Callum whenever you like again.’
Aster sniffed into my jumper. ‘That’s an excellent point. You’re lucky that humping Callum is such a glorious experience because it very much will distract me from you leaving.’
I pulled back. ‘Don’t tell me about it?’
Aster laughed as he leant into Callum’s broad chest. ‘I’ll call you tomorrow.’
‘Bye, Lucas.’ Callum smiled softly at me over the top of Aster’s head.
I raised a hand, then turned and set off at a jog down the mountains. Callum could have given me a lift on his quad bike, but they seemed no less terrifying now I was a mystical beast than when I’d been a puny human.
I breathed deep, my smile growing with every step that brought me closer to Kit. Dad being an arse and the sadness that had lingered on Aster as he’d waved goodbye faded as I sped along. Those concerns felt wildly secondary compared to the moment when I’d pull Kit into my arms drawing nearer.