An Unexpected Mate

Chapter 7 - Supernatural Sh*t

Lily sighed as she looked out the window. It was getting late. She hated teaching these evening classes. Lily understood that this time of day worked better for some of her students, especially those with full-time jobs, but she liked to be home to get the kids in bed and a 6-8pm class was just ridiculous!

Plus, she had a new sitter tonight. Steve was late on getting back from his latest field job and she had to find a quick replacement for her regular sitter since she had not realized one was needed today. While her friend Shelby had volunteered, she didn't know if the kids would behave for the nightly routine with her. Shelby and her were more work acquaintances than actual close friends...maybe she should change that, Lily thought. 

With the class finally wrapping up, Lily quickly packed her work and jogged towards the bus stop. While the walk wasn't too far, she didn't like going through the woods as much at night. It wasn't that creepy, but it sometimes felt like she was being watched...and one could never be too careful as a woman walking alone at night, even though they lived in a more rural area.

As her mind wandered, Lily saw the bus pulling away. 

"Great...how can my night get any more crappy?" Lily muttered as she wondered whether she should just suck it up and walk or wait for the next bus.

Thinking of Shelby, Lily started down the wooded trail towards her side of town. It was the quicker path, instead of going through the town itself. Grasping her pepper spray, Lily tried not to let her mind wander to the b-movie horror she watched last weekend that involved woods and chainsaws...it was pretty ridiculous at the time, but she was tired and her imagination was vivid sometimes.

About halfway through, it was really only a 10-15 minute walk and the river nearby was peaceful during the day, Lily swore she felt something watching her and could sense movement to her left. Speeding up slightly, she tried to tell herself it was just her imagination.

As she went through a clearing near the end of the path, just before it broke out into her subdivision, she saw three wolves looking at her. The moon came out from behind a cloud and she could see that they were huge.

Oddly enough, instead of feeling more scared, she felt protected. The largest wolf was black, while the slightly smaller ones were shades of gray and brown. If she didn't know any better, they seemed to be watching her. As Lily felt a connection with the wolves, she shook her head to clear her thoughts. Looking back, the wolves were gone and she began to question how tired she was and if she had really seen such enormous beasts.

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Lily double checked herself in the mirror. Steve had gotten home the day after her late class and wanted to make it up to her by letting her go out with friends this weekend. She owed Shelby a drink or two for watching the kids and their other work friend Meredith (or Merry) was coming along too. The three of them weren't super close, but they did like to talk about work and complain about their supervisors and expectations.

As she walked out the door, Lily thought back to earlier in the week and her "run in" with the wolves. When she had gone back to the clearing in the morning, there weren't any noticeable tracks. Being a biologist, she should have been able to pick up any evidence of such large animals, but nothing was there. It must have been her imagination.

While they start out chatting about work, as the margaritas keep coming, Lily notices the talk turning to home and life as well. Lily always seems to open up a bit more when drinking and finds herself mentioning how she feels disconnected with Steve...is she only with him because of the kids? Does she still have Postpartum? Something else? Merry adds in her bit about how her long-term boyfriend still has commitment issues and she can't seem to get up the nerve to dump him.