Lone Werewolf Duology (bxb)

5. His Mother's Secret

May 2017, Moscow, Russia

Flying turned out to be annoyingly uneventful once the first heart-stopping jump into the air was behind Volya. The afternoon hours rose and fell into the evening like sea waves, before spitting him onto a gigantic bed. A multi-lane bridge dotted with the headlights of the speeding cars stretched beyond the window. Farther down, the Kremlin's wall was backlit, its towers topped with the golden eagles. He was far away from home, in Moscow.

Volya collapsed, his mind too sluggish to think. Too much had happened in one day. Sleep claimed him as soon as his head hit the pillow, both deep and restless from the emotional depletion. And what could he possibly dream about after a day like this? Nothing his imagination could conjure beat his reality.

The next day, however, was dedicated to gritty realism.

Marina dragged him away from coffee and seared veal to the hallowed halls of Russian bureaucracy.

Every façade downtown spotted fresh coat of paint, but inside the buildings were indistinguishable from his orphanage. The familiar teal shade shared the walls with the off-white. The furniture was sturdy and shabby. The faucets leaked, leaving a rusty trail on the porcelain. Leaking must have been part of the design specifications for the faucets nation-wide.

If only Marina didn't push the iPad into his hands whenever there was a lull in the proceedings, he'd feel right at home here. And there was lots of waiting, punctuated by Marina's clipped orders.

Wolkov, pick this form. Sign your name there.

Look up. They're taking your passport photo. Sign your name.

Don't squirm. Did you finish Unit 4? Sign your name.

The sheer number of forms should have numbed him to the emptiness that confronted him from every piece of paper slipped in front of him.

Father: unknown.

As far as the family trees went, Volya's was not a bushy one.

Full Name: Volya Pavlovich Wolkov.

Mother: Taina Pavlovna Wolkova. Maiden Name: Wolkova. They shared the patronymic name, so he might have had a grandfather named Pavel. Women often did that when the father was unknown. The custom to include the name of the father into the person's name added a spoonful of bitter medicine for a fatherless kid like him... and motherless too.

Well, Tatiana Pavlovna, wherever you are—wait a minute!

Volya did a double take and his neck sweated under his collar. Things had been going so smoothly so far, but the stupid spell check must have screwed up his mother's name on the form.

Should he keep his mouth shut? Would anyone even notice the tiny error like that?

Of course, they would, and it would come to bite him in the ass at the worst possible moment. Everything else always did.

"Marina, I think there is a typo," Volya said with a resigned sigh. Better suffer now than later. "My mother's name is misspelled. It should be Tatiana here, not Taina."

He tapped his finger on the misprint. Tania, short for Tatiana, was a common name. It sounded close enough to be mixed up with taina but why the heck did the document use the short version in the first place?

Taina wasn't even a proper name, just a word that meant secret.

The corner of Marina's contoured lips lifted as she scanned the form.

"Oh, no, Volya. This one is filled correctly. Your mother's name is T-AI-na Wolkova, not Tatiana."

"Oh." Volya stared at Marina.