My Girlfriend Bites (Young Adult Paranormal Werewolf Romance)

Chapter 17

Bree

Aiden wants to check me out naked tonight...as a wolf. I was blown away when he asked because this was the same boy who ran away like a chicken with his head bitten off when we tried this before. Aiden acted so silly that night. Barricading his bedroom door? Really? I, like, only wanted to vent and let my friend know that he pissed me off. I did come super close to killing Aiden that morning. Really close. Within a stack of pancakes close. Oh my Goddess, those pancakes were so yummy. The grease from the sausage links mixed with maple syrup...it's like the best. Totally serious. It's like my one guilty pleasure in the world. Human girls have ice cream or chocolate. I have pancakes smothered in syrup and sausage grease.

What was I talking about? I so have to stop obsessing about food.

Aiden. That's right. Tonight I bring him to a remote place called the Buffalo Mountain Wilderness Area, which is only a hill full of trees on the west side of the Arkansas River. The park's closed, but some kids from another school chill in the parking lot and smoke weed. I should mess with their heads by shifting, jumping on their car, and howling. They would so freak and scatter like deer, and the weed would make them so out of it they would stumble around the forest bumping into trees. So hilarious.

I giggle to myself. Wish I could do something fun like that, but if I did, Dad would chop my tail off.

"What are you laughing about?" Aiden's green eyes blink as they watch me under his mop of red hair.

I tell him my plan for the weed smokers, and the boy cracks this nervous laugh. Poor guy is so uptight. He better not skate on me again. Better take the keys to the car and slip them inside my shoes in case Aiden bails.

That's super negative, Bree. Think good thoughts instead, all right? Like the fact that Aiden's trusting you again. He's gotta be serious about me, right? Why else would he ask me to do this again? He likes you. He said you were pretty.

Aiden's right. I am pretty. As in...pretty awesome.

Oh, there's a good place. I steer the car off the lonely road into this small dirt turnout and kill the engine and lights. Darkness drops over the trees. Fall ravaged their leaves and turned them into these prickly skeletons of sad wood. The north wind teases the branches, which scrape against each other. The air is scented with rabbits, a raccoon, and...mmmm, deer. A fawn, I think.

But I'm so not hungry. The large, double-decker meat pie this afternoon gave my stomach some much-needed love. This girl should be good for another hour or so. Lucky my metabolism is like a V-12 engine with the pedal stuck to the floor. Food, like, evaporates inside me. Same with my parents. It's how we werewolves roll. If I was a human girl, I'm convinced that all this eating would make me weigh like 500 pounds easy.

Aiden's nervous eyes scan the dark trees, and I smell sweat on his skin. My ears pick up his hand twisting the leather handle on the door. Wish this boy would relax. How many times can I say, "I won't hurt you," before he believes me?

I slip out of the car, and Aiden follows, staying close to the fender, running his hand against the steel like a blind man without a cane. What's up with that? Oh, piss on the sun. I forgot to bring a light. Humans can't see five inches in front of their face in the dark. It's so laughable how blind they are without their artificial lights.

Almost forgot. I twist my key in the lock and lift the trunk lid. Dad put an emergency road kit in my car, and I think there's a...yes! I dig enough and score a battery-operated lantern. So glad Dad splurged for the deluxe emergency kit. I grip the lantern in my left hand and lightly squeeze Aiden's hand with my right as we move into the dark forest. I snake through the trees and prickly bushes, blazing my own path. I know where I want to go, but since the parking lot is full of pot-heads, we'll have to go a different route. No biggie, though.