My Possessive Werewolf Mate (Who is Also My Step-Brother...)

Tage wie diese

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[Photo of Max]

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"Tage wie diese" - Die Toten Hosen

🎵 Ich wart' seit Wochen / Auf diesen Tag / Und tanz' vor Freude, über den Asphalt / Als wär's ein Rhythmus / Als gäb's ein Lied / Dass mich immer weiter durch die Straßen zieht / Komm' dir entgegen 🎵

[Max, Age 9]

"Pay attention to where you're going, Max!" Dad hissed at me for the millionth time. "And hurry since we still need to pick up your inhaler at the pharmacy."

"'Kay," I muttered, my eyes still glued to my phone as I pushed the cart through the aisles of the Wasgau. I was resting my forearms on the handles, too busy focusing on the video of Mariah Carey's (my idol) diva-est moments.

The cart bumped into the side of the aisle, knocking over several boxes of crackers.

"Scheiße!" Dad groaned as he bent over to pick them up. "What did I just say?"

I honestly hadn't been listening. "Um," I wondered, "I love you too?"

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered as he rolled his eyes, opting to put one of the boxes that I'd knocked over into the cart, so I guess in a way I had kinda helped out.

I really hated grocery shopping, but at least it wasn't too bad with Dad. Unlike Mom, he didn't give two cares in the world about whether Emilia and I ate healthy or not. I could easily talk him into filling the entire basket up with crips, soda, and sweeties— and he'd throw in a few cases of beer. It was awesome! That's part of the reason why I always loved coming down to his house in Bedburg every summer. When I'm with Dad, I'm almost never lonely.

"Oof!" a deep voice grunted the second I accidentally (no lie) slammed the cart into some random body.

"Max!" Dad all but shouted as he rushed over to me and the dude whose ass I'd accidentally slammed into. In my defense... I can't think of anything at the moment, but it totally wasn't my fault! I swear!

The man I'd hit straightened his posture and rubbed at his rear a little bit, frowning as he darted a creepy yellow eye at me. The man was insanely tall, his head almost hovering over the items that were on the highest shelves! He was also crazy broad, making me think of the wresters that I've seen on TV. He stared me down with his powerful eyes, his lips pursed into a thin line which were a little hard to see behind his trimmed beard.

"Herr, es tut mir leid!" Dad hurriedly stammered, running up to me to yank me behind his body which looked puny in comparison to the random man's. "You know how distracted kids can be... right?"

I'm pretty sure that the man was about to beat up Dad and then me for brushing his butt, but the second he looked at my father, the man's eyes widened and I saw his mouth go from a straight line to a wide smile that made it look like he'd just been told that he didn't have to go to school on Monday (that is the best news). It was really weird. As Dad rambled on and on, completely unaware of the fact that no one was listening, the dude looked at him like he was a piece of meat. My dad isn't ugly, I can admit that, but the way the man stared at him looked like he was madly in love within just a few seconds. Emilia and her best friend, Sofia, would usually gush as they read romance novels, talking about how they believed in this phenomena called "Love at First Sight". Apparently, they subscribed to the idea that people have these things called soulmates and once they meet in person, then they instantly fall in love with one another.

I'd been under the impression that it was a marketing ploy designed to sell Biss zum Morgengrauen to teen girls, but now that I'm standing in the snack aisle of my local Wasgau, watching this random stranger stare at my dad like he was the reason for sunshine, I might actually believe it now.

"...mine..." the guy muttered under his breath, too low for me to quite make out what he was saying.

"What was that?" I asked him, noting the blush that formed on his face.

"Oh, uh, n-nothing," the man stuttered, refusing to take his eyes off of my dad, who was starting to look confused now.

"So, um, are you okay?" Dad asked him carefully, shooting me a judgmental glare from the side which let me know that I'd get an earful the entire car ride home. Darn it!

The man cleared his throat and chuckled a little bit, but it sounded forced. "Y-yeah," he breathed. "I'm all good. I'm Alaric, by the way." He even held out his large hand for Dad to take.

Dad looked a little confused but eventually shrugged and took the offered handshake. "Paul," he responded with his own name. "And this is my son, Maximilian. And I'm sure he'd like to apologize to you for hitting you with our shopping cart."

I mean, not really, but I suppose that it was the right thing to do.

"Es tut mir leid," I mumbled, averting my gaze from Alaric's eerie yellow eyes. They looked like the painted-on eyes on the rubber werewolf masks that they sell at the tourist shops. It was sort of scary, but apparently Dad didn't think so. In fact, I noticed that even he had a little grin forming on his face the longer the two of them seemed to look at one another.

What is going on around here?

"Don't worry about it," Alaric said, giving me a little look that actually let me know that he wasn't plotting my death. Cool. "I have a son too, and yeah, he doesn't pay attention to where he's goin' too."

The two adults laughed at that totally not funny joke, and I began to get antsy, ready to head home so that I could play some more video games.

Alaric looked at the junk food in our cart. Since Dad doesn't know how to cook, and Emilia and I refuse to learn, we usually buy microwaveable meals and crips. It may not be the healthiest, but it tastes delicious. I mean, I'm sure I'm not the only person in the world who would rather eat pizza than some crappy kale salad.

"Y'all having a party?" he asked, nodding at the three bags of crips that I'd tried to sneak into the cart.

It was Dad's turn to blush now, some pink forming on his cheeks as he shook his head. "No," he sheepishly admitted. "Um, ever since I got divorced, I haven't really gotten the hang of cooking."

I swear that at the mention of my parents' divorce, Alaric's smile stretched out even wider, taking up the entire lower half of his mountain man face. "Oh?" he said. "Yeah, I'm a single dad too— just me and my son." He nervously rubbed at the back of his neck, his bicep curling out of his t-shirt sleeve as he did so.

"Dad, you're starting to drool..." I pointed out, earning a hush from him.

"But," Alaric added, "i-if you'd be interested, m-maybe I could c-cook something for you sometime?"

I've never seen Dad smile that big before. Even when he and Mom were still together, he'd never looked as happy as he did now he speaking to Alaric, who had inadvertently asked him out on a date... which would've never happened had I not accidentally rammed into him with our shopping cart. Therefore, I don't think I should get in trouble, just saying.

"Th-that would be great," Dad gushed and I couldn't help but notice that Alaric started to bounce in place like an excited puppy.

Yep, I'm pretty sure I just witnessed the elusive "Love at First Sight". There was an initial spark of fear that Dad would start to ignore me like Mom did, but I quickly smushed it down. He wouldn't do that.

Besides, at the end of the day, Dad's so lucky. I hope that one day I can experience that too. That'd be so awesome— just straight up going about my day and then, BAM! Someone is head over heels in love with me. That sounds like all the joy of having someone thinking about you all the time without any of the hard work. I mean, with Mom being busy all the time and with Emilia hanging out with her friends more than me now, I was kind of alone a lot. Therefore, I figured that if I did happen to find somebody to love me instantly and with all of their heart, well, then I don't think that would be too terrible.

But what are the odds of that happening?