Truce and Lies

Grant: with kittens

A week passed. Aidan got better at fighting, and the others had gotten a chance to train as well. Katie was much better than most of them, but she had grown up in a more violent pack than the others. It bothered Brian to no end. I had managed to send a couple of emails to my mother since I had rightly worried that my father wouldn't tell her what had happened to me. She was upset of course, and immediately wanted to come visit, but I told her that I wasn't ready for human visitors. I hadn't been around humans in the whole time I had turned except the visit from my father and I hadn't felt in control then.

My mother promised to wait but hoped she'd be able to come by for Christmas.

"Or," she wrote in one email; "you can always come here."

But I couldn't be out in public. I was unnaturally pale and barely in control of my new abilities. Drinking from regular pack members left me quick tempered, though that was putting it mildly. I had gotten into a fight with Keith over misplacing a book just yesterday. In my defense, he had started it.

"We should get to breakfast," I remarked on a particularly lazy morning.

Aidan tightened his grip around my body and nestled his head in the pillows.

"Kitten," I said sternly. "Mel isn't going to wait for me to pull you out of bed. And Keith will drink all the coffee. And if we're the last ones, we have to do dishes."

"That's okay." His voice was muffled by the pillows. "Kitten?"

Aidan sat up suddenly, looking down at me with a puzzled frown.

"Have you seen yourself and your pile of pillows? Kitten is as accurate a term as any." I gave him a slow smile, which widened when Aidan pouted.

"I'm a werewolf," he protested.

"That changes nothing," I replied and rolled out of bed to find a clean shirt.

I rummaged through the drawer, pulling on one of Conor's old flannels before tossing Aidan's shirt to him. We had just washed all the jeans so they were at the foot of the bed in a laundry basket. I dumped the basket on the bed and hunted through the pairs to find mine.

"You shouldn't have made such a big deal out of it," I told Aidan who was still muttering to himself as he dressed. "No way I'm calling you something else now."

"Grant," he complained.

I waggled my eyebrows and darted out the door without shoes. Aidan followed behind and I let him catch up, kissing his stubbly cheek.

"It's not easy to get you flustered," I remarked. "But it's cute. Like a kitten."

"I hate you," he grumbled.

Once we got to the porch, I patted his hair down and we entered the house.

"There you two are," Mel remarked. "Aidan, Phil called again. He's going to be by in twenty minutes to pick you and Brian up if that's all right."

Aidan glanced at me and moved around the table to be seated.

"I don't..."

"Go," I interrupted. "We can't let Brian go by himself, that will end in tragedy. I'll be fine."

"I won't end in tragedy," Brian protested.

Katie rolled her eyes, but didn't offer any support. I poured the rest of the coffee into a mug, tasting the odd flavor coffee was now. It had a lingering burnt smell, but underneath it was earthy and savory. I welcomed the change of liquid regardless.