Sleepwalker Wolf

Meeting the Fam

Valery

   Travis grabs my hand the second we settle in his truck. I can smell mostly him and Trevor in here along with a dominant masculine smell I don't recognize. Probably his dad. I lean across the center console and rest my cheek against his bicep.

   "It'll be fine, sweetness. Trev will tease both of us, but my sister and mother will love you."

   "I know. I'm more worried because things are changing. I was getting used to our little bubble, I guess. Now it's like real life is smacking me in the face," I mumble, taking a deep sniff of him.

   Trav squeezes my fingers. "I know it's different, especially since you weren't raised knowing this stuff. You have your natural instincts telling you one thing and the societal norms you were taught growing up telling you the opposite. It'll take time, but things will normalize, I promise."

   Will I ever figure out why I never shifted? Maybe if I could find my parents, they would know. All I know of them is the hospital I was left at when I was barely a year old with only my first name embroidered onto a blanket. Maybe someone there would have some idea as to who they are.

   The biggest question I have is why they left me. Did they not love me? Is there something wrong with me? If there is, will Trav leave me one day?

   "What're you thinking about so hard over there?"

   "My parents and why they abandoned me, if I'm just inherently unlovable," I grumble, hiding further in his arm.

   "Val, there's a lot of reasons they could have. Maybe it was to give you a shot at a better life or they needed to protect you. And I can guarantee you are very lovable," Trav assures, lifting my hand and pressing a kiss to it.

   We ride in silence for a while, trees flashing past us on the old country road. I roll down the window and inhale the fresh woodsy air. Trav keeps his grip on my hand constant, absently rubbing his thumb over my knuckles. Today is a beautifully warm fall day, the sun warming my skin through my light jacket and jeans.

   So many things in my life make sense now. Why my nose and ears are so sensitive, why I've always loved running, and why I always felt so different. I'm only different from the people I surrounded myself with. Trav and I are the same, he understands, which is why I'm falling so hard and so fast. The dimples help.

   Trav pulls off the asphalt and onto gravel. His truck makes it a smoother ride, but it must be impossible to go anywhere from late-October to April with all the snow. My little sedan would break from this drive.

   A few miles later, a fairly large cabin comes into view standing at the edge of a clearing. It's beautiful with two stories and the shutters and front door painted a deep green. A large garden, just starting to grow, sprawls beside the house. A large barn stands on the opposite side of the clearing. A woman is kneeling in the garden, Eli beside her. Hearing the sound of the truck pulling up, they turn.

   "And the embarrassment begins," Trav mutters with a soft growl.

   "It's only because she loves you. Consider yourself lucky, Travis Scott," I tell him as he parks the truck next to the delivery van I recognize.

   Trav turns to me with a grimace. "You're right and I'm sorry. That was insensitive."

   "I'll just sleep in sweatpants and a bra tonight so you can't cop a feel." I laugh when Trav whines like a wounded puppy.