Beast

Wolfsbane

"What do you mean, he was creepily staring at you?" Phoenix says. "Like while he was kissing your mom? Weird..."

"Yeah it was like he was telling me to back off..." I say. 

"There's got to be something up with him..." She thinks for a second. "What does he smell like?" She asks suddenly. 

"What? His smell? I don't know... Wolfish? And this other weird mixture of smells..." I say. 

"Like..?" Phoenix urges me on. 

      I think for a second. We are being as quiet as possible, speaking as we are sitting in a public Starbucks. I went to Phoenix  because I know Logan would be too worried and Tristan would go all angry wolf on me. 

"I don't know, I have never smelled it before... Lavender, maybe? And kind of dusty. It was wierd and almost made me feel lightheaded."

      Phoenix stares at me, her mouth a bit open. She is wearing no makeup, and her curly hair is pulled into a messy ponytail. She takes a sip of her hot choclate and her eyes widen. 

"Wolfsbane... That's what it smells like, lavender."  She turns to the door. "We need to go find Tristan and Logan. Now."

                                                                                   ***

"He smelled like wolfsbane?" Tristan asks, concerned.

"From the smell Cody described, yes." Phoenix replies. "What could he possibly be up to?" She asks. 

       Tristan shifts from one foot to the other, and brings a fist up to his face to rest his chin on. He sits back on my bedroom desk and thinks about something. I watch his face. His dark eyebrows pull together and he lifts his head up to look at me. 

"Maybe he knows that she's a full wolf somehow. He could be trying to get her power."

"He could do that?" I break in the conversation. "He could steal my power?" Look between them.

"Only if he killed you." I hear Logan say behind me. I turn around and look at him sitting on my ber.

"How do you know that?"

"He told me a few years ago." He replies simply.  

"But I thought you said that you thought full wolves were only myths..." I say. This makes him tilt his head to the side a  bit, as if trying to remember something.

"And, If he is a werewolf, how could he possibly be carrying Wolfsbane?"

                                                                                      ***

"Cody," My mom says cheerfully, motioning with her hands to her boss. "This is Mr. Abbey." She smiles, and the man, Mr. Abbey sticks out his hand to shake. We are standing in the waiting room of the animal clinic. It has a living room feel to it, an off white couch placed across from the main desk next to a coffee table full of magazines.    

"Please, call me Erik." He smiles. Mr. Abby, Erik, is probably in his late forties. He has light brown skin and seems to be about five foot eight. He has a bright smile and cheery eyes. 

      I shake hands with Erik, and can't help but smile back. He has that kind of personality that is just one hundred percent contagious. 

 "So," Erik says. "Your mom tells me you were looking for a job..."

I smile. "Yes! But I was thinking it might be a little weird to work at the same place as my mom." 

     I hear my mom laugh behind me. "Oh, Cody, I forgot to tell you. I got a job offer somewhere else. Erik says I should take it."