Page 327 of His Hungry Wolf

I still didn’t know if I should, but I did. I told them what their mother had said to me and why.

“It was something I was hoping I could do for Nero. I thought knowing would help him. Now he’s just… I don’t know.”

“You didn’t know what she would say. Neither did I,” Quin said.

“But you had a feeling he wouldn’t like it?” I asked.

“I had a feeling.”

“What do I do now?” I asked looking between them.

“Nero’s been through a lot in his life. He’ll figure out how to deal with this. I just wish it wasn’t something that made him feel he wasn’t wanted. He has enough of those.”

“Yeah, he does,” I confirmed remembering the horror stories he had told me. “So, what do I do now?”

The two of them looked at each other. They didn’t have a clue. Neither did I. Did I stay outside waiting for him to come back? If he didn’t, did I sleep in my own room tonight? Or, did I climb into his bed and wait up for him hoping we could talk this out? I didn’t know.

Not wanting to decide, I stayed on the veranda. Grabbing drinks, Cage and Quin joined me. The fun time everyone had had beforehand was gone. But we continued to talk.

Quin told me about her experience as the mascot. Cage described what it was like running with such a large pack. And I told them everything I had learned about what I was.

Even if I hadn’t met Nero, I was pretty sure that I would have liked Quin and Cage. They were both great people. More than that, they were starting to feel like friends.

When they headed to bed, I did too. I wasn’t going to return to the guest bedroom. Nero might have needed space, but I didn’t want to create distance between us. I loved him. I wanted to be with him.

Entering his empty room, I undressed and crawled into bed. As I lied there I decided that if he got back after I fell asleep and wanted to use my body to feel better, I would be okay with it. But he didn’t. And when I woke up the next morning, there weren’t any signs he had slept there.

Getting dressed and going in search of him, I found him downstairs ready to leave. I was the last one down, so Quin and Nero were waiting on me.

“I’m sorry. You could have woken me,” I explained.

“That’s okay,” Quin said. “My first class is this afternoon.”

“Yours is at 8 AM, isn’t it?” Nero asked.

“Oh, Jesus! Yeah. What time is it?” I asked.

“6:15,” Nero said looking at me like we were strangers.

“Yeah, I guess we should go. Is your mother up? I should say goodbye.”

“She doesn’t usually get up until 7:30,” Cage told me. “And, she had a few drinks yesterday, so she might decide to sleep in.”

“Then I’ll get my stuff.”

I said goodbye to Cage letting him know how much fun I had had. And, driving back to campus, it was again Quin and I who did all of the talking.

“What building is your class in? I’ll drop you there.”

I told Nero and we pulled up in front of it. I was only ten minutes late.

“I had a lot of fun this weekend,” I told Quin who sat in the backseat. “Thank you so much for inviting me.”

“We’re all really glad you came.”

I looked over at Nero.

“This weekend was… nice!”