Waindale

twenty-two. did you hear

I enter the house as I listen to Adam drive off. Immediately I'm bombarded by my mom. She comes out of nowhere and takes me down the hall, her hand gripped tightly on my arm as her eyes watch for grandma. I can hear her in the kitchen; it's nearly dinner time. My mom ignores my questioning whispers and brings me into her bedroom. She closes and locks the door behind us.

"Why did you leave?" She asks lowly. "Y-You went off with that guy without asking. You can't do that."

I straighten myself up. "I had to talk to him about everyone finding out. It's not that big of a deal. It's just Adam."

"It's not just Adam. I don't know Adam. For all I know, Adam is some freak monster luring you in to kill you and eat you."

"So you believe in werewolves?"

She sighs and sits down on the edge of her bed. "God, I don't know. Maybe? Tali can be very convincing."

"I suppose this is better than you not believing me at all. But you should know that he's not going to kill me."

"Since when were werewolves peaceful creatures? I could never picture Tali hurting anyone, but you know, the movies think otherwise," she mutters. "This is all insane. Should I expect to wake up tomorrow and realize that this has all been a weird dream?"

"It's a lot to process, but you're definitely not dreaming."

"The insane part isn't even the werewolves themselves, it's that your soul is connected to one of their souls. What does that even mean? Why you? If I could protect you from all of this, I would, Wren. I wish you told me sooner. What kind of mom am I? What mom doesn't know that her child is involved with werewolves?"

I sit beside her on the bed. "You don't have to protect me. I can handle it myself. I don't want you to worry about me; that was my mistake today. I shouldn't have scared you like that."

"I'd rather know," she assures me. "And I want to meet this Adam guy. I need to know his deal. I don't want you running off with him until I do, go it?"

My shoulders fall. "We've had enough of introductions for today. I met his mom and it didn't go well. She doesn't like me at all, and, well, it's complicated."

"Why wouldn't his mom like you? Doesn't she get the whole 'our souls are bonded' thing? Isn't she one of them?"

"Yeah, she is, and she knows that we're mates, but the issue is that I'm human. She, uh, doesn't like that at all."

"Oh," my mom says, trying to catch up. "Tali never seemed to have an issue with who I am."

"It's because we're mates. They can be friends with humans, just not involved in the other way, I guess."

"They can be friends, not lovers?" My mom clarifies, making my face scrunch up.

I get up from the bed and face her. "Don't—not like that. Adam and I aren't like that."

She brings her hands up. "Sorry. Didn't mean to assume. You didn't tell me that you two were just friends right now. The way Tali explained things, I thought you'd be ready to marry the guy."

"No, no not at all. We're just friends."

"Okay. I guess that's good. I didn't want to have to talk you out of teenage marriage anyway."

I nod a little, thinking that it's easier if she believes this. "Okay. Glad we're on the same page. I better go call Vivianne."

Before I leave she says, "Oh, Wren, I think it's best if your grandma doesn't know. Can we keep this between us, you think?"