Upside Down (COMPLETE) Inside Out, Book 2 [BoyxBoy]

Keith

Theresa drove Keith in a convertible into the cold night, and above them shone the brightest full moon Keith had ever seen in his entire life. Suddenly his body felt different, and once in a while he sensed losing control of his lycanthropic side. Tessa kind of looked drunk; Keith had offered repetitively on driving but she refused.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked. Tessa could only nod, her fingers massaging her temples.

"Maybe you should join us for the hunt?" Keith added.

"Um, no thanks." Tessa sat up straighter as they started to enter an area out of town with forests at both of their sides.

"You know ... I heard you should hunt in your wolf form in the full moon to stay sane." Keith reached out a juice box he brought from Tessa's house in the compartment to his left and took a sip. When he glanced at the moon, he lost his breath again.

"Now you're talking like some wolf lad from a pack," Tessa said. "Think I don't know that?"

"I'm just saying," Keith said.

"Well, Keith ... you didn't look that happy when you returned to my place a few days ago. Just saying."

Keith winced as he'd been trying hard to forget about the incidents of the day during their stamina practice. Since that day, he vowed himself to believe that he was a different person. He'd tell himself that Nathan was a dream, that he was having some issues inside his head to be thinking about doing what he almost did ...

He was insane to be thinking about kissing Nathan ...

He brushed the thought away, telling himself again that it didn't happen. He hadn't tried to kiss Nathan; instead, they just happened to bump heads so close that their lips sort of touched. Nathan was just overreacting, like he usually did, when that happened.

It was not Keith's fault at all.

"So ..." Tessa continued, "I really thought you didn't enjoy your stay in the pack."

Well, it didn't hurt to let Tessa assume that way. "I'm trying my best to adapt."

"And I'm proud of you for it, honey," Tessa said. "I know it's not an easy job to do."

"Thank you." Keith bent to his side and lay his head on Tessa's shoulder. She patted his head gently; sometimes, he had more mother-to-son gestures with his aunty more than his own mother. Keith tried not to dwell around that too much, though.

They were already on the winding path that led up to La Cove. There weren't much street lamps here, the road was dim and eerie.

"Tessa," Keith said, "can you pull over somewhere here?"

"What?" That brought Tessa to a shock. "Why would I?"

"I just ... want to hike all the way up to the neighborhood." Keith unbuckled his seatbelts, tied his shoelaces tighter and swung his backpack to his back. "I want to gather up some stamina to ensure I'm strong when I shift later."

"But ... honey ... you worked out previously, didn't you?"

"I just don't feel I did enough." Keith turned to Tessa, clasping his hands. "Please, Tessa. I ... I'm also quite nervous. It's my first hunt."

Tessa slowed down on her driving, looking very concerned. "But you don't know how to navigate the woods on your own."

"I do," he lied. "The boys there have taught me the other day. It's not that hard and it won't be that far."

Tessa sighed, but she eventually drove to the side of the road and stopped the vehicle.

"Your mother won't approve of this," she said.