Page 17 of Alpha Varsity

They shoot each other pleased looks. “That’s great honey,” my dad says. “I’ll bet it felt good.”

I force a smile. “It did. But it ramped up my metabolism. I slept hard, and now I’m starving.”

“Well!” My mom beams. “Let’s get some food into you. Set the table, hon. I’m almost finished with this beef stir fry.”

I hate that they’re happy about this. I don’t want to admit that my dad was right–it did feel good. The whole situation reeks of a told-you-so. For most of my upbringing, they’ve been telling me art is for humans. Cities are for humans.

When I chose to attend art school in a big city against their wishes, they told me how bad it was for me to never shift, how I would make myself sick, how my wolf might go dormant, or I might suffer from a human-like ailment like cancer.

They refused to help me with tuition or living expenses in hopes I would tuck tail and return.

For over four years, I’ve been trying to prove them wrong. So I really hate to make them right about anything. Especially anything that makes them share victorious smiles about me.

I guess that’s the trade-off for a home-cooked meal that will actually satisfy my ravenous wolf. I set the table and pour myself a glass of wine, drinking half the glass down in a few gulps to try to relax.

Not that the buzz from alcohol lasts very long for wolf shifters. We metabolize too quickly. Hopefully it will be enough to get through dinner.

My mom finishes and dishes out the meal onto the three plates I set.

I slide into a chair and put my napkin on my lap. My stomach gives a loud rumble.

“Coming,” my dad says before my mom tells him. He washes his hands and sits down at the table, searching my face with delight. “I didn’t see you on the run last night.”

I pick up my fork and dig in. It’s a simple dish–snap peas, tomatoes, and beef with cashews and some kind of plum sauce. It tastes like heaven. I gobble down a bite before I answer. “No. I wasn’t planning on joining. That’s why I didn’t go to the pack hall. But I heard the yips and howls from the school and…I guess I couldn’t resist.” I force a cheerful note into my voice like it was something I chose rather than something my wolf forced onto me.

“Did you find any of your old friends?”

I’m still shoveling food into my mouth. “Uh…I honestly don’t know who I was running with.” Heat crawls up my neck. I’m suddenly feverish again, remembering that male.

The things he did to me.

Is this what you needed, little wolf?

I haven’t been able to stop thinking about him all day. How much I crave his dominant touch again.

Need it.

How I’m afraid to find out who he is. I’d give anything to keep it in the realm of fantasy. A faceless man with an incredible, growly voice who I meet once a month on the full moon run.

Except I’m already dying to see him again. I don’t know how I will wait another twenty-seven days.

I even called Dr. Oakley’s office at lunch today and made an appointment to get birth control. I’m definitely planning on having sex with this guy again, and I can’trisk an unwanted pregnancy. Considering I had no control of myself last night when I was in wolf form, I need to take some precautions.

“But you enjoyed yourself?” my dad presses.

This ass belongs to me. It’s mine to do with what I want.

Oh, fate. I’m getting hot and squirmy right here at my parents’ dinner table. I shove another giant bite of food into my mouth and chew, nodding. “Uh huh.”

I don’t realize for a moment that my mom has stopped eating to stare at me.

I force myself to slow down. Purposely set down my fork.

“Youwerehungry, weren’t you?”

I pick up my wine glass and drain it. “Unexpectedly so. Sorry to come over here and barge in on your dinner, but I couldn’t even wait to fix myself something.”

“No, we’re delighted to have you any time, darling. I wonder if you’ll fill out a bit now that you’re shifting again.”

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