Chapter 10

"Hey, sorry I'm late," I breathe as I make my way around the counter. With few customers in the café, Kiki follows me back, standing in the doorway to the break room as I hang up my jacket in exchange for an apron.

"I don't think you've ever been late," Kiki says. "What happened? Car trouble?"

"No — I was with a friend and we lost track of time."

"Well, you're only late by like five minutes, so don't worry about it. I don't go on break for another fifteen minutes anyway."

"So, I haven't seen you since you mentioned helping your boyfriend move? How did it go?"

Kiki and I return to the counter as I tie my hair up. She uses the rag in her hand to wipe around the machines. "He called me the day after I came back from his new place — we don't usually call each other; we text and Facetime, so I was surprised — but he said he needed time to adjust and grow roots and whatever other bullshit he spewed. He said he wasn't breaking up with me but putting us on hold. I broke three nails carrying his crap up two stories to his apartment. I was pissed, so I broke up with him and blocked his number."

"Oh."

"I swear the guys in this town suck," she mutters and leans against the counter.

"Yeah," I murmur. "Why don't you go on break now, and I'll handle things here. Take the extra fifteen."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. It's slow. Go ahead."

Kiki brings the strap of her apron over her head. "Thanks."

I work for thirty minutes alone, two hours with Kiki, and again by myself until closing. Other than one or two customers drifting in at a time, the café is quiet until I lock the main doors and prep for tomorrow's opener. The clean-up goes quickly as I replay the day's events in my head, picturing myself on Abby's wolf as she leaps through the forest.

At first, I was too focused on holding on to comprehend what was happening, but she was right; once I was brave enough to open my eyes, I enjoyed it. Riding her wolf was like riding a hairy racehorse, and when I jumped off, it took a moment for my adrenaline to calm down.

Abby said she could take me again sometime, and my endorsement left my mouth before my head caught up. But I will go. Today felt like Abby and I were thirteen again, except we didn't need to use our imaginations to play with the supernatural. In a way, thirteen-year-old me's dreams have come true because I wanted the world to be magical so badly when I was young, and now I know it is.

I finish closing down the café for the night, but just as I reach for the main lights, a knock sounds on the door's window. I peer over my shoulder and see Harvey outside with my jacket that my mom forgot to recover from the laboratory.

Without thinking, I point to the back side of the building, and Harvey walks past the windows towards the café parking lot. I flick off the lights and rush into the break room as my heart drums. I take off my apron and grab my bag and jacket, throwing on the jacket but squeezing my bag in my hands. My heart only beats harder, so I force a deep breath and open the back door while simultaneously shutting off the last light.

Harvey is waiting for me. My heart squeezes, but if our last sliver of a conversation is any gauge of how this one will go, we won't be here very long.

"Hi," he says and steps off the wall, holding my jacket and wearing the effortlessly charming face the Society women eat up.

I shut the door and lock it while side-eyeing him. "Why are you here?"

"Can we talk?"

I cross my arms and face him. "I haven't said anything to anyone."

"I'm not here to scare you into silence. You don't have to worry." He hands me my jacket, so I take it and fold it over my arm. "You forgot it in the Lab basement."

"Harvey, I know why you want to talk — you don't trust me. Abby broke some rule when she exposed herself, and now I'm a liability."

"You're right, she shouldn't have shifted in front of you, and I was angry when I found out. Despite that, I'm not worried you're going to tell — even if you did, it could end up hurting you more than it does us. I don't want you to face any consequences from Abby telling you what she is. Finding out something like this can have bad effects on people. Most are better off not knowing."

"I'm not...like that. I'm not better off in the dark. Abby said I took it well."

Harvey nods. "Okay. If you're doing well, I'm—"

"But I know something else is going on. She shifted, but she didn't reveal everything, and now she talks to me like she's speaking in code — like she's been silenced."

He says nothing, so I click my fob and unlock my car. "I have to go."

I step to my driver's door and pop it open. Harvey holds the door in place by the top rim as I lower inside, so when I reach to shut it, I drop my hand and look up at him instead. Then the question spills past my lips: "Why won't you just tell me?"

"It can be hard for people to understand and accept something they don't feel."

My eyes are fixed on his. Crickets sing in the trees against the parking lot, and suddenly they seem louder. I ask, "Did you tell Abby not to tell me?"

He says, "Yes. I'm sorry."

I look ahead. "I have to get home."

Harvey releases the door and says, "Drive safe," before shutting it for me. I press my body against my seat as a million more questions are bubbling and rising, ready to word vomit, but I know he won't indulge me. He steps back when I reverse and turn to leave. I know I can't stay.

Driving down the two-lane road home, I contemplate circling back, so I turn on the radio instead and huff while my fingers tap away at the steering wheel. I glance into my rearview mirror and wonder what would happen if I turned around. What would I say? Nothing I actually want to say, probably. The truth is too big to get out of my throat, and besides, Harvey is...unreachable.

When I get home, I go right to my bedroom and close the door behind me. I unbutton my pants, pull them off, and finish changing at my dresser. As I pull a sweatshirt over my head, I peer out the window to my right, and without any warning, a pair of yellow eyes stare back from the tree line. I stumble to the window and touch the glass for a better look, but the glowing eyes are already gone.

I jump when my bedroom door opens. Harper barges in and walks to my closet. "Hello?" I say, laced with attitude. "You can't just come in here and take my clothes whenever you want."

"I don't." She shuffles through my hangers and glances at me. "What's got you all flustered?"

I sit on my bed. "Nothing. What do you need?"

"Just a shirt to wear tonight. Nothing l have looks right."

"For what?"

She pauses then admits, "A date."

"A date?" I question. "With who?"

"A guy."

"What guy?"

She takes out a black top and lays it against herself. "You don't know him. He's a senior."

"A senior? What's his name?"

"Delsin." Harper takes the top off its hander and heads for the door. "I'm wearing this, thanks."

"Wait. Where are you going? Do you have plans?"

She stops in the doorway and shrugs. "Yeah."

Like pulling teeth, I ask, "What are you doing? I mean, it's already late."

"We're hanging out."

"Does Mom or Dad know?"

"They know I'm going out."

"With a boy?"

Harper sighs. "Can you just be on my side for once, Mia? Obviously, they don't, so don't say anything. Just because you didn't date in high school doesn't mean I shouldn't."

My lips part, but she leaves before I can rebuttal, shutting my bedroom door with a finalizing thud. I fall against my pillows and ponder: just because I didn't date... But it's not like I date now either. Does Harper think I'm a prude? Or something worse?

Am I a prude?

I take a pillow and squeeze it against my chest, but my realization cuts short once I remember the glowing eyes. I abandon the pillow and scoot off my mattress to stand at the window and examine the tree line, yet nothing crops up.

Abby said the thing I saw behind the café — the shadow with yellow eyes — was an Alpha wolf, so what I just spotted now must be that same wolf. Instantaneously, I think about it being Harvey's, and I wonder what makes an Alpha different in terms of werewolves.

"Stop thinking about him," I scold myself and return to my bed.

I lie awake for some time on my laptop, well into the night and past everyone's bedtimes, and around one in the morning, I hear a car pull up outside. I set my computer to the side and slip out of bed to peek out the window above my desk. From here I can just see Harper getting out of the passenger seat, but she dips back into the car for a moment before reeling back, shutting the door, and hurrying towards the house.

It's too dark to see anyone in the driver's seat. I step back and cross my arms; Harper is two hours past curfew, but mom nor dad is up to catch her, and Harper couldn't care less about an honor code. I'm supposed to report to Mom about this — or, at least, Mom believes I would — yet Harper's comment about me makes me second guess myself.

Should I have been staying out past curfew, living my life in high school instead of hiding away in my room? And I've hardly made any progress. I'm still spending my Friday night in bed, swamped in sweats, trying not to get popcorn crumbs in my sheets, and googling werewolves isn't an excuse. All that is Abby's life — Harvey's life — not mine.

I look around my bedroom now and think: should I be away at university, roughing it in a dorm, going to parties, and having fun?

My shoulders sink, and I lower to the edge of my bed.