Wolves Without Teeth ── theodore nott ¹ ( UNDER EDITING )

chapter fifty three

   Her face is an array of blue and green when her seventeenth birthday greets her like an old friend, weary and with little comfort as it hugs her.

She awakes in the blinding light of a hospital wing, her bones aching and her forehead caught in a cold shiver. Winnie remembers little of the night before besides sleep greeting her as she curled up into a ball of white. The transformation was painless besides the breaking of her bones. There was no scratching or yelping. The bruise forming against her chest must've been from the shift back into a girl. Though she admits, she has little memory of both.

It is not the pain in her cheek. However, that surprises her the most. Cordelia sits next to her with a box in her lap and a soft smile on her face. Winnie hasn't seen a smile so sweet from her cousin in months. She thinks for a moment she may be dead. Then the aroma of medical supplies and herbs greets her nostrils, burning her throat as she swallows, and she knows she is not dead. Not with the aching in her bones and the warmth of her skin so feverous she feels as if she is burning.

"Happy birthday!" Cordelia greets, voice singing like a humming board as the redhead holds the brown box towards her. A light blue ribbon tied around its middle to form a boy, Winnie, who is never quite well enough in the mornings after a full moon, winches at her cousin's voice. "Oh, sorry. I should be quieter."

'No, no. It's okay," Winnie hummed through gritted teeth. She could use some more sleep and perhaps some potions to cure the achiness of her bone. She never thought turning seventeen would come with such an annoyance until now. 'Thank you," Winnie added lightly as she sat up, moving her feathered pillow up further against the metal headboard before she stuck out her hand for the box. Cordelia, whose face was coated with a flush, quickly handed her the box.

Winnie gently tugged the ribbon, nimble fingers slipping beneath the box fold to push the cover off. The smell hit her first, making her stomach hiss with hunger as sweetness drolled inside her mouth. Her heart, however, sank deep within the floorboards.

Inside the box sat nine perfectly shaped hearts, pink frosting covering the sugar cookies with black strikes surrounding it like a border. They were lovely, appearing similar to the ones her parents would send her on her birthday, only now, they did nothing but remind her of a boy who didn't know the difference between salt and sugar.

"Do you like them?" Cordelia's voice seemed a thousand miles away, while Winnie's throat grew thick with a lump and her fingers squeezed the corners of the box as if letting go would break the dampness in her eyes. Swallowing thickly, she blinked back the tears in her eyes as she forced her lips to turn upwards, clenching even tighter as she looked up at her cousin.

"They're lovely, Lia, thank you," Winnie did not lie, they were lovely, and she could see how much they meant to Cordelia without even asking. Cordelia's shoulders deflated with relief while Winnie's filled with sadness, one that she is afraid she will never actually be able to shake. "Would you like to try one?"

"It's your birthday! You have to have one first," Cordelia argued, addressing the box with a hand wave. Winnie glanced at the cookies again, her mouth watered with a hunger for the taste of the cookies, but her stomach and heart could not muster the courage to shove last year's thoughts down. Last year, Theo gifted her these cookies, and yes, they tasted horrid, but they came from him. With his smiling dimples and curly hair that dusted across his forehead, they danced in his eyes. Theo, who she once swore she hated, now she can't help but love him so deeply that it kills her inside to watch him with someone else.

So no, she can not eat these cookies.

"I can't eat right away after a full moon. I will only yurl into a waste pin. I wanna save myself from that distasteful fate," the lie slipped through her teeth like butter, far too sweet and genuine for anyone to question. Cordelia did not blink an eye, only frowned as she relaxed deeper into her chair.