Relief

8- Tell All

I left my room to go to my mom's room. She was already up and making her bed. "Good morning Terra. Did you have fun yesterday?"

I did a recap of what happened in my head. "I did actually. It was really fun."

"I'm glad to hear it. Are you nervous about school starting tomorrow?"

 "Oh that's right. I completely forgot that school starts tomorrow."

"It's okay, honey. It will be a new environment for you. You were home-schooled practically your whole life. And now, you're going to an actual high school. . . but you mustn't let it get to you, okay sweetie." She looked about ready to break down and cry. She sat on the bed. "I'll be right here if you need me. Just shout and I'm there." I could see the tears forming in her eyes, glazing them over.

"Mom-" I started walking towards her.

Tears started to stream down her face, her voice barely above a whisper. "I just want to be able to protect you and now..."

I sat on the bed next to her. "Mom, it's going to be okay. Sure, I'm terrified that you're not going to be there with me. But I have Maggie and her mate seems really nice." There's also Collin. Right, I should tell her about Collin.

She smiled. "Daphne told me that Maggie found her mate." Daphne is Maggie's mom. "And I could tell they're happy by the smile on Maggie's face. She's practically glowing. Now, I don't mean to compare, darling, but that can be you, you know." She gave me a little playful shove.

Now is the best time to tell her. "Yeah, well can I tell you something without telling me I told you so?" I looked up at her, and I could tell by the squint in her eyes, she knows exactly what I'm talking about.

"Oh, Terra, honey, come here." She extended her arms out to me, and I gladly accepted. "I'm so happy for you!"

"I'm happy, too, Ma." I pulled away a bit to look at her. "I mean, we're just taking it slow at first. Being friends and then making it into something more."

"Is that even a thing?"

"I'm sure it can be. We're making it work." I responded.

"I mean, how long will that hold up? What, with all the raging werewolf hormones all running amok, how will you keep each others private parts off one anoth--"

"Maaa," I interrupted, hitting her with a pillow. God, I did not need to be hearing this from my mom. This is almost worse than the sex talk. Scratch that, nothing is worse than the sex talk with your parent.

She laughed and grabbed the pillow from me. "What! It's true. Only a matter of time, Terra. I'm telling you. Trust me, I know."

Her face grew from happy to unreadable, almost like she was in a daze. Probably thinking about... "Mom." I reached out to her, holding her hand in mine. "You all right? You went away for a minute there." I joked.

She looked at me, gave me a small smile, and nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." She gave my hand a pat. "But tell me more about your mate, sweetie. Who is he? Where did you meet him? And how good-looking is he?" She began to tickle me as she said the last part.

I smiled and pushed her away, softly. "Oh, mom, his name is Collin, I met him at the party yesterday. We talked for hours until I fell asleep and he is very, very good-looking. Too good-looking." I said, confidently, imagining what he'd look like under those clothes.

"Too good looking you won't be able to contain yourself and--"

"Mom!" I took the pillow again, and threw it at her.

"All right, all right. I'll stop. I'm just so glad you finally came to your senses and accepted him as a mate."

I smiled a smile to bug, it stretches from ear to ear. "Me too."