Page 31 of Bred By the Wolfman

I bite my lip to keep from saying, I know. Instead, I offer her a radiant smile. “Congratulations. That’s wonderful news.”

She nods, but then her smile falls. “But it’s a weird situation,” she goes on.

“How is it weird?” I ask. “It’s amazing, what your body can do.”

This stuns her, and she turns her gaze away from the road to give me an unguarded smile. “Yeah, I guess it is,” she says as she turns back to her driving, much to my relief. “But it’s not my baby.”

I cringe. So that’s how she sees it. She’s not carrying our cub, she’s carrying mine. At least, in her mind.

“Oh?” I ask instead, trying to sound surprised rather than displeased. “You’re right, that is an unusual situation.”

I leave it there, hoping the door is open enough in case she wants to tell me more. I’d love to be that for her, someone she can talk to, and be honest with.

“I guess I don’t need to tell you my whole life story.” She gives a melancholy laugh.

“I want to hear whatever you’ll tell me.”

Dee glances at me from the corner of her eye. “You’re a cool guy, Russ,” she says. “But I don’t know if you would really understand.”

I give her a playful smirk. “Try me.”

With a deep inhale, she seems to decide to trust me, and starts talking.

“I did this program where... um...” Her face is already turning a cute pinkish-red. “...where I carry a monster’s baby. And it was, uh, a wolfman. Who picked me.”

She purses her lips together, like she already regrets saying it. I make sure to look appropriately amazed, but not horrified or judgmental.

“I haven’t heard of a program like that,” I say, falling easily into the lie. Shit. This would be the moment to say, Oh, DreamTogether? I did that, too. I wonder if I was that wolfman. Have you ever met Bill? But the words have already come out.

Besides, I don’t want to risk damaging this fragile thing between us, between the real Dee and the real Russ.

“And so that’s how you got pregnant?” I say instead. “Another wolfman, like me?”

I don’t mean it to come out almost... sultry, but I can’t help it. The smell in the car has changed, and I know exactly what it is.

She’s reacting to me, her body recognizing me.

“Yup,” she says, then abruptly falls silent again. I’m not sure what I did, but whatever it was, it stopped the conversation quickly.

After a while, I reach down to play with the radio.

“It doesn’t work,” Dee says. “Sorry.”

Soon we’re on the highway, and I wish I knew what I’d said to make her clam up. She’s fixated on the road, brow furrowed in concentration. Before long we’ve reached the hospital.

“Hey,” Dee says as I reach for the door handle. She takes a deep breath, and the creases in her face fade into a worn-out smile. “Thank you again. I know you asked me not to say that, but I’m going to say it anyway. You seriously saved us today. Especially Boomer.” She smiles. “Unfortunately, I have a boyfriend, or else I’d ask you to get coffee with me again. I really enjoyed getting to know you, Russ.”

I hover over the handle, then let it go and turn to face her.

“You’re going it alone,” I say. “Aren’t you?”

She frowns. “Well, I sort of have Robbie...”

“Right.” I should stop now, before I make an ass of myself. “But you’re going to go through a lot of changes, a lot of difficult moments, and I hope you have a support network around you to help you through it.”

When Dee blinks those huge blue eyes at me, I just want to ravage her. I want to lick her and stuff her full of me and fall asleep curled around her. I want to hold her forever, to love her and support her through all of this.

“If you ever need someone to talk to, someone with a little bit of experience in the field...” I grin, trying not to show too many of my teeth, “then please call me.” I open my wallet and fish a card out of it, then pass it to her. She looks down at it, and then back up at me with moisture on her lashes.

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