Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 64392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64392 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 322(@200wpm)___ 258(@250wpm)___ 215(@300wpm)
We land on the roof of the mansion, and I start to become tense as I realize that there are already quite a number of people waiting to greet us.
The excitement as the rotors stop and the door of the helicopter slides open is palpable. It is almost like being greeted by a horde of over-excited puppies ever so pleased to see us. Well, pleased to see Cain, anyway. I smile politely and mumble a few hellos, but for the most part, I find myself practically hiding behind Cain. He answers those he wishes to answer and masterfully turns away those he does not wish to interact with.
I am introduced to a few people, but the night is dark, and I really don’t know that I will remember them in the morning. I am tired again, worn out by the shifting, I think, and the strangeness of the situation. I can handle myself in work contexts because I know how to be professional. But this is different. I am meeting Cain’s family. That makes it personal, and I don’t know how to be personable.
“We are tired,” Cain says, sweeping me up into his arms. “More tomorrow.”
“Your room has been prepared,” someone says in a tone of perfectly loving obsequiousness. I can’t tell if they are male or female, only that they are elderly and clearly care for Cain very much. Not a parent, though, probably. More like an old faithful servant.
I am carried through the halls much like a baby. People keep looking at me, hoping for an introduction, but he does not give them one, or me one. He moves through the throng like an ice breaker ship moving through an icefloe. The energy of excitement does not abate until we reach a large, heavy door with iron fittings. It looks like the entrance to a dungeon, though it is located rather high up in the castle-fortress-place.
The room that belongs to him is more like a medieval king’s suite than any normally furnished boudoir. He sets me down on my feet among velvet and gilt edging and lets me take a few cautious, exploratory steps.
“Am I going to meet your parents at this event?”
“No,” he says. “Unfortunately, my parents both passed when I was young.”
“I am sorry,” I say, filling with horror as I realize how callous that sounds. I should have known that. I think I did know that. I read his Wikipedia page. I should never have said something so thoughtless…
“Don’t beat yourself up about it,” he says. “You didn’t do it.”
“I know, but I’m sorry to bring up such a painful memory for you,” I stammer. “I’ve been such an idiot, between being afraid of the plane, and afraid of myself, and afraid of you, and now I’m saying too much, and none of it is good…”
“You’re tired,” he says. “And you’re going to bed. I have to handle pack business, so I will not be able to nap with you yet, and I am going to lock this door, because I do not want anyone coming in to see you without me, and I certainly do not want you getting out.”
“Is it not safe here?”
“It is safe enough, but this is a place of powerful forces for our kind. There is history in the terrain, and in the pack themselves that you have no knowledge of. I want you by my side when we are in public until you properly understand the lay of the land. Understood?”
I nod quickly. “Understood.”
Left to my own devices, I go to bed.
It’s the easiest way to avoid having to think about what is happening to me, or where I am, or who I am or anything of that nature. I hope that by the time I wake up, he will be there with me and I won’t feel so odd or out of place.
My plan fails.
When I wake up, I’m not entirely sure what time of day or night it is. There’s a lot of light coming in the window, but it’s not a warm glow. It is more of a silvery shine. It must be late at night. I sit up and look around. Cain is not in the room.
A pang of loneliness and anxiety gets me out of bed. I don’t like being alone in an environment this strange. Day before last, I was hoping to make enough money to not have to sleep in my car. Now, I’m alone in the grandest bedroom I’ve ever imagined. I should be thrilled, but it’s all so strange. Everything has happened so swiftly that I barely know what to think about it. It would have been one thing to date my boss, but I fucked him on the first day and then turned into a wolf, and… wait. Am I just having some kind of meltdown? Like a mental break? Did the stress of being fired snap something inside me that has been pulled taut for years?