I turned to Tyler, "Are we having dinner with your parents tonight?""Yeah, they want to celebrate the new car," he replied.A knot tightened in my stomach as I remembered our last dinner together.Tyler noticed my apprehension. "My parents promised it wouldn’t be a repeat of last time."I grimaced, but nodded, figuring I didn't exactly have a choice either way."How about we go for a run?" he suggested, wrapping his arm around my shoulder and pulling me closer so that he could kiss my cheek."I already went for a run this morning," I revealed, dismissing the idea."Yeah, but not with me," he said, smiling.I hesitated, feeling guilty. "I want to go for a run with you, I really do. But I’m really excited about the car and I want to check what the requirements are for getting my license here," I explained.Tyler chuckled. "Am I getting second place to a car here?" he teased, shaking his head. "It is a purple car..." I said, trying to justify it.He sighed and nodded, pulling me in for
It was Friday morning, and I woke up to Tyler gently stroking my cheek."Morning," he whispered as he saw my eyes beginning to flutter open."Morning," I replied with a groggy smile."Are you ready to get up?" he asked.I groaned and said, "Five more minutes," nuzzling into him.He played with my hair as I pretended to be asleep. "You excited to get some answers today?" he asked, referring to my meeting with his tutor this morning."I’m excited but also nervous," I sighed, opening my eyes. "I really hope he can help me with some answers. That’s my biggest fear at this point, that I never understand why this is happening.""Sometimes things happen that we can’t explain," Tyler said supportively. "If that’s the case, then you need to find your own meaning in it," he encouraged me, probably wanting to prepare me for potential disappointment in the gentlest way possible.I supposed he was right, but it was still frustrating.Groaning, I got up and stretched my arms above my head. "I’m gon
After our shower, we climbed out, and Tyler headed back to his own room to get dressed. "You’d better hurry, or we’re going to be late," he called out."Worth it!" I replied with a smile as I pulled on my panties.We met up in the kitchen where Tyler was pouring coffee into travel mugs for us. He handed me a protein bar and a sealed cup. "Let’s go," he said gesturing with his head towards the door."What? No bacon? No eggs? No hash browns? What kind of service is this?" I teased.He chuckled as he held the front door open for me. "I’ll get you a complaint card to fill in.""So where are we going?" I asked as we settled into his car and buckled our seatbelts."The Fortress," Tyler replied, looking back over his shoulder as he reversed down the driveway."The Fortress?!" I asked in surprise.Did they have some kind of castle or stronghold here that I wasn't aware of?Tyler smiled, probably knowing that the name would raise an eyebrow. "It's like a training center. My dad carries out a
I hesitated, nervous that he was going to think I was insane, but I knew I had to tell him. I'd searched for answers myself, but had come out empty handed."I... um... Well, do you know anything about werewolves and visions?" I asked, trying to sound as casual as possible.Shane looked at me curiously, his brow furrowed with deep lines. "What kind of visions?" he probed."Oh, you know... just the standard kind. Just visions of the past... the future," I went on with a shrug, still trying to sound nonchalant.He chuckled a little at that. "The 'standard' kind? In my experience, I can't really say that werewolves having visions is standard.""Um..." I looked over at Tyler nervously, but he nodded, encouraging me to go on."Who is experiencing these visions?" Shane asked, throwing me a lifeline."Me..." I said, my voice soft and filled with uncertainty.Shane looked at me apprehensively. I could see his mind working as he tried to establish whether I was being serious or not. After a mom
I gave Shane a reassuring rub on the shoulder, trying to anchor him after the emotional journey through his memory. Tyler watched, perplexed, his eyes darting between us.Shane took a moment to pull himself together, then looked at me with curiosity, his mind clearly working."So? Any ideas?" I asked tentatively.He pursed his lips as he thought, then headed over to the bookshelf at the back of the classroom. Tyler and I followed behind him, watching as he pulled a book off the shelf and began to page through it in search of something.Tyler gave me a questioning look, but I shook my head, indicating that now wasn’t the time to recount Shane's brief reunion with his deceased family.Shane skimmed through the book, but then closed it with a sigh and began his search for another. His fingers brushed over the spines as he searched for the title he was looking for. He pulled another one off the shelf and began to skim through it, all the while muttering to himself under his breath, "Visio
Tyler held me tightly as I struggled to process the bombshell that had just dropped on my life. My mother’s dismissive attitude along with her instruction to keep this revelation a secret cut me deeply, but it was the realization that my entire life had been built on a lie that truly shattered me.He rubbed my back soothingly, his warmth offering a small measure of comfort in the midst of my turmoil.“We’ll figure this out,” he repeated, his voice a steady anchor in the storm of my emotions.I pulled away slightly, looking up at him with tear-filled eyes. “I don’t even know where to start,” I admitted, feeling lost.“Well, let’s go see if Shane can tell us more about the Elysian Line,” Tyler suggested.But I wasn’t interested in that right now. Right now, all I could think about was the fact that the parents I had known my entire life were not really my parents. The life I had thought was mine wasn’t real. I was adopted. I was adopted, and Aunt Mara had known but hadn’t told me. It fe
I cried the whole way home while Ryder drove, his looks of concern growing more intense with every sob that racked my body."Are you okay?" he asked for the third time during the short drive, but I couldn’t bring myself to answer him. Instead, I just sobbed harder.Tyler hadn’t explained the situation to Ryder, he’d just asked him to come and pick me up, so that’s what he did. Now that I thought about it, it was probably a bit unfair on him, but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to say the words out loud right now. I was an absolute mess.Ryder pulled into the driveway and paused before getting out. He hesitantly asked, "Did something happen with Tyler?" but all I could do was shake my head while trying to find the buckle of my seatbelt through a blur of tears."I’m so worried about you," Ryder went on, sounding absolutely helpless. "Is it... Is it me?" he asked tentatively.I shook my head again as I opened the door to climb out. He rushed out of the car, making his way over to my side.
We were both quiet for a long while until Ryder finally spoke up, realizing that I wasn't going to repeat myself. "Did you say that you're adopted?" he asked tentatively.I nodded as another sob wracked my body."That's... that's crazy," he murmured in response, clearly surprised by the revelation. "I'm sorry, Kate. That's a lot..."I nodded again, wiping the tears from my eyes with the crumpled tissue I clutched in my hand."You didn't know?" he asked hesitantly.I shook my head.Obviously, I hadn't known! Ryder and I had spoken about my family life and my upbringing many times before. If I had known I was adopted, I would have told him! Or maybe I wouldn't have..."Well, maybe it's a good thing?" he went on to suggest. "Your parents sounded like shitty people. Maybe your real parents aren't like that," he considered with a thoughtful look.I scoffed. "Whoever they are, they clearly didn't want me. Not really sure how great they could be knowing that..." I replied bitterly.Ryder sho