Urban Wolf | ✓

13 | HE'S PISSED OFF

     I swallowed air, taking a deep breath before looking up at Leigh. Somewhere along the line, Adyen had shifted his attention to her, so he wasn't looking at me with those intense brown eyes anymore.

     "Oh, you were in foster care." Leigh leaned back on her seat. "I see, that makes sense." She nodded her head. I frowned, lost at what they were talking about since I had spaced out.

     "If your pack was on the move, they would have needed to shift cross borders or withstand the cold in winter," Leigh said, eyeing Adyen who was paying close attention to her. "Since we don't have any wolves, we don't shift, meaning we don't do well out in the streets," Leigh added.

     "Whoever dropped you off at the orphanage might have felt it was the best thing to do for you," Leigh muttered, letting out a sigh before covering her face. She had grown up out in the BC suburbs, so she hadn't had to worry about any of that. Being rejected from the pack or put up for adoption was something that recessive wolves had to go through often.

     "Enough of that now," Leigh said, removing her hands from her face. Her hand bangles giggled. She was pretty much the female version of Georgiou with her sleeve tattoos and face piercings. She also loved to wear lots of hand bangles. "There's no need to think of any of that now since this is your pack now," Leigh said, stretching her hands out as if trying to gesture at the whole Pizza Plaza.

I thought it was cheesy as fuck, but Adyen seemed to like it. He smiled and it reached his eyes.

     "Well, that's nice," he said, looking down at his fingers as he fidgeted with them. "But I'm still not sure what exactly a pack does," he let out, and Leigh reached out a hand, before squeezing it.

     "Think of the Alpha and the Luna as your mum and dad," Leigh said, smiling at him. "I'm like your mum and Georgiou's like your dad, so if you have any problems you can come to us," she said, and Adyen seemed taken aback. "Everyone close to your age is like your sibling or cousin. Those reasonably older than you are like your aunts and uncles," Leigh continued to say.

     "It's hard being a werewolf in the city. We protect each other," Leigh said, finishing her mini-intro to the group dynamics.

     Adyen still looked dazed, but he just nodded, and Leigh smiled, squeezing his hand.

     "You're going to bring him to Sunday pack meetings now, right?" Leigh asked, turning to look at me. I blinked, nodding my head before running my hand through my hair.

     "Yes, I suppose," I replied, and she hummed, looking away from me. The Pizza joint was packed with wolves now. Occasionally, the oblivious human would walk in to grab a pizza. Humans smelled a certain way, so it was an instant adjustment in the scene when one walked in. The wolves were less rowdy, and those of them drunk on each other's pheromones made it a point to hide their claws and glowing eyes.

     "You know, we've been talking about wolves a lot, but I'd like to see them—like, werewolves in wolf form," Adyen said when the pizza got to our table. Leigh looked over at Adyen, shrugging her shoulders. "Folks shift at night a lot. You can stick around the ally to catch a few if you don't mind the chance that you might get robbed. "

     Adyen looked over to me, and I nodded. "She's right," I said as Leigh took a sip of her drink. "Don't go out by yourself," I said, watching as Adyen rolled his eyes.

     "Are you guys going to treat me like a baby because I'm recessive?" he asked, and Leigh nodded.

     "Yes," she said in a matter of fact tone. "Also, it seems that knowing has triggered your body into remembering?" she said. Adyen looked confused, but his mouth opened up in a small circle as his eyes went wide.

     "I guess? I'm noticing things I didn't notice before, like other wolves," he said, bringing his hand to his chin. "Also, I'm having a lot of memories that aren't my memories?" he went on, and Leigh nodded her head.

     "Reincarnation," she said, taking another sip of her drink. "Everyone reincarnates. Even humans. Humans have one soul, and werewolves have two. Recessives have one and a half if that makes sense. Ours are more like foil memories. Memories of a past wolf life are just stronger in people that have things they have to remember." She stared Adyen in the eyes. "For instance, your body is remembering that you're a werewolf in the first place. Though, if these memory flashes keep happening months in, there's probably something else your mind is missing."

     Leigh kept talking to Adyen, and at a point, Georgiou came over to reintroduce himself to Adyen. The pizza joint grew busier as time passed, and when it was time for Adyen and me leave it was packed to the brim.

     I held Adyen's hand when we walked out into the street. The walk through the dimly lit street was silent in the night cold. We've been doing this a lot now—casually holding hands and sharing kisses. Adyen had invited me to his practice this coming Monday. I couldn't really picture him running or doing any sort of sport for that matter, so I'm sure I would be wowed. 

     "So, when are you going to show me your wolf form?" Adyen asked when we came into view of the main street.

     "I don't know. Whenever you want, but it has to be at my apartment," I said, looking at him. He had his hood up, and he was sucking on his lip. It was dry. I didn't blame him.

     "Why your apartment. Couldn't you just shift and have me walk you like a dog?" he asked, and I raised a brow at him, watching as he laughed.

     "Adyen have you seen a wolf?" I asked, and he shook his head, making the curls peeping from under his hood shake with the action. "We're two times bigger than dogs. At least grey wolves are. I don't know about the mutt breeds here." There were a lot of hybrids in cities. Coyote wolves, dog wolves and wolf dogs were relatively smaller than per breed werewolves.

     "Okay, I get it," Adyen said as the pedestrian lights came on. "At least tell me what your wolf looks like," he said as we crossed the road and made out way towards the bus stop.

     I shrugged my shoulders, not knowing what to say. "I look like a grey wolf, I'm not sure what else to say," I laughed, and Adyen pouted, resting his back on the transparent glass of the waiting area.

     I stared into his eyes, and I noticed a glint in them as a smile touched his face. It didn't last. His lips thinned out and a frown formed on his face.

     "Hey, that lady from before..." he trailed but paused. Maybe he was jogging his memory for her name.

     "Leigh?" I offered, and he shook his head.

"No, the one with blue hair," he said, and I could feel my blood run cold. "She said something about mates. She was convinced that you were mine," Adyen said. I froze, feeling like a deer caught in headlights.

     "I—" I started but paused. "There are lots of immigrants here. She meant like my pal," I said, rubbing the back of my neck. The wolf in me was stirring. It wanted to reach out to Adyen and tell him the truth. It wanted to touch him and embrace him, but I had to stay calm. If I freaked him out, he might reject me. I didn't want that.

     Adyen looked confused. "She sounded far from British—"

     "Well, people pick up slang," I said, cutting him off. Adyen didn't look convinced in the slightest, and it seemed I had only made him more suspicious of me. Holy shit, I was bad at lying.

     "You're hiding something from me," he said in a flat tone. My chest clenched, and the pit in my stomach seemed to sink deeper. I opened my mouth to say something, but I turned at the flash of light coming from behind. The bus was here.

     "We should get on the bus or we'll miss it," I said, not giving Adyen enough time to think before I made my way to the bus with my pass. He trailed behind me soon after, sitting next to me. He didn't look at me and instead, focused on the scenery as the bus moved through the streets.

     I dropped off before him without saying goodbye, and I had caught his gaze as I stepped down from the bus.

     He looked pissed.

     I've messed up. I thought to myself, sighing before heading to my apartment.