“What did Davin decide about dinner on Saturday?”
“He said that sounds great.”
“Won’t Xander be here too? We can have a nice dinner party with both your boys.” She laughed at her joke.
That made me crack a small smile, even though it really wasn’t a laughing matter because quite frankly Xander most likely wasn’t a boy at all anymore. When I didn’t answer, she looked at me, cocking her head slightly to the side.
“He is still coming, isn’t he?”
I half nodded, unsure of how to really answer that question. “He’s supposed to be here tomorrow…night…sometime?” It came out as more of a question to myself, than an answer to her.
She sipped a little more tea answering with an “ahh,” while swallowing her drink.
My cell phone twinkled, alerting me that I had a new message from Davin.
Be home soon my love. Remember stay with Sully, no matter what that pesky devil on your shoulder tells you. I love you.
So that was it. Davin was on his way to Colorado to dig up some information on this curse, while I was left here to fend for myself in hopes that the werewolf didn’t catch wind of Davin’s departure, and pay me a visit while I was alone. The bastard had been in my house once before and was the one that received Xander’s letter before I did. How was Davin not worried that he would come into the house again?
My mom was engulfed in her reading now, so I decided to head up to my bedroom where I hadn’t been in almost a week. My room still had some light coming in through my slightly parted curtains. I instantly pulled them closed, that way I didn’t have to imagine someone -or something- peering in at me, or me accidentally peering out to something I really didn’t want to see.
I also decided that we needed to be extra protected by making sure all of the entries to the house were locked. So I started with the latch on my window, then made my rounds to the upstairs guest bedroom and my bathroom. The window in there was not even big enough to fit my body through, but I still wasn’t taking any chances. My dad came through the front door just as I was finishing up inspecting the downstairs windows and was making my way to the kitchen.
My mother hadn’t said anything more than, ‘Don’t forget our bedroom’ when she heard me clicking all the locks.
“Hey there, princess. Am I missing something?”
“No Dad, the news said to be extra careful and keep all windows and doors locked so that’s what I’m doing.”
“Hmm okay.” With that he turned, locking the deadbolt behind him.
I continued into the kitchen, opening the fridge to make myself a huge glass of chocolate milk and stealing a piece of chocolate cake from the cake stand that was on the kitchen counter. That was all I was going to do tonight, indulge in sweets, and watch my Roseanne reruns again. Something I hadn’t done since my first run-in with the wolf when I first moved to Hanover.
At that time, he was only a wolf to me. I hadn’t yet seen him morph into a creature that usually only existed in people’s worst imagination. My life was caught somewhere in between a horrific nightmare and a magical fairytale, but to me, being with Davin definitely made the bad seem so minute.
Once back upstairs, my show was on and I was ready to relax in my own bed, something that again hadn’t been done in a long time. My big fat ball of gray fur had been deprived of attention for some time now, and he showed it by the way he nestled immediately into my neck once I had gotten myself comfortable -- in my seemingly small bed compared to Davin’s -- quickly soothing himself back to sleep with his rumble of a purr.
The wind whistled outside, making the large tree outside my window lightly tap the glass every few minutes. I could hear the muffle from the TV in the living room downstairs, letting me know that my parents were still awake, and in some sense that comforted me.
Every twenty minutes or so the heater would click on, blowing wonderfully hot air about my room, adding more to the usual house sounds that told me I was home, and in normalcy for the time being. For just this moment I felt like my regular, insanely boring, eighteen-year-old self I had been only a few months ago.
When I lived in Highlands Ranch, this was about the time of night Xander would call to bug me about how I never get up in time in the mornings; so, he was going to call me an hour before the alarm just so that I didn’t make him miss out on our morning coffee routine. Damn, I missed him so much! What I wouldn’t give just to hear his voice again.
∗∗∗
“Are you ready to get out of here now?”
I blinked sleepily awake from the whisper that was next to my ear. Kneeling next to my bed was Xander. I could feel the breeze from his warm breath on my cheek while he anxiously waited for my reply.
“Xander…wha…where did you come from?”
He smiled a half-smirk. “Your door silly, where else?”
I blinked again at him. We were face to face, and I wondered how long he had been kneeling there. His smirk was still frozen in place except now some of the whites from his teeth were showing. “I told you I was coming, didn’t I? Now, let’s go.”
“Uhhh it’s in the middle of the night, Xan. Where could we possibly have to go at this time?” My heart
