Page 10 of My Girlfriend is a Werewolf

“Have a great day, honey,” she chirped.

He snorted. “You too, sugarplum.”

She found herself grinning and shaking her head as he left.

Left her alone in his space.

The level of trust baffled. Then again, with her upbringing, everything seemed suspicious. Neighbor came knocking to say hello, Mom assumed they were being nosy. A car drove down their country road, and it had to be someone surveilling. In Mom’s defense, she worried about her kids. All three lycanthropes. Just like their dad, a man dead in his prime because someone shot him when he was out running during a full moon.

Unlike legends, the whole werewolf thing didn’t come via a bite or a virus. From what Athena had gleaned, it occurred at a genetic level, meaning you were either born with it or not. And it sometimes skipped a kid. Dad’s brother never got it, but his sister did.

Thinking of her family had her readying herself to go out. A shower was welcome, as was a scrub of her teeth with a finger and toothpaste. Delaying, but then again, a few extra minutes wouldn’t make a difference, given it had been weeks since she’d talked to them. God only knew what they thought.

Derek’s clothes hung loosely on her, which worked to conceal her figure. The ball cap hid her hair, and his sunglasses worked to cover her face. While Ottawa didn’t have a CCTV network like Britain, there were enough cameras watching that she worried Rogers and his vast resources would still be able to track her. She’d seen a show about how they could tap into security cameras and use a computer program to scan for specific faces.

It took a few blocks of walking—and glancing over her shoulder often, checking to see if anyone stared overly long—before she found a store with prepaid phones. On her way back to the apartment, her neck constantly prickling, despite no one seeming to pay her any mind, she hit the Salvation Army for some clothes and then a pharmacy for a toothbrush and other essentials. By the time she retraced her steps to Derek’s building, her pace rapid, as she felt exposed, she had three dollars and eleven cents left.

She dumped it into his cookie jar and made a note beside it how much she owed. A McMurray, like a Lannister, always paid their debts.

As she chewed on a buttered and toasted bagel, she got the prepaid phone ready, downloading an app that would allow her to call as well as set her location to wherever she liked. She chose Montreal. If Rogers monitored her family’s phone, then he’d think she fled the province.

It took a few deep breaths before she rang her mom.

“Hello, you’ve reached Beatrice’s Honey Bee Emporium, how can I help you?” chirped her mother.

“Hey, Mom.”

Dead silence.

“Mom?”

“OHMYGAWD!” Mom wailed. “I thought you were dead!”

“I’m not, but I might be deaf,” Athena muttered, holding the burner phone away from her head.

“Where have you been? Why haven’t you called?” Mom kept screeching.

“I kind of got kidnapped by an evil doctor who was convinced something was wrong with me.” A roundabout, but also to the point, way of telling what happened. If anyone listened, she’d not revealed anything, but Mom would understand.

A deep silence ended when her mom whispered, “Shit.” For a woman who never swore, it just went to show how hard the news hit.

“Are Selene and Ares okay?” Athena closed her eyes as she waited for a reply.

“Yes, but Ares says someone’s been watching our place the last couple of weeks.”

The blood in Athena’s veins turned cold. “Please tell me they’ve been careful.” Both her siblings loved to shift and run in the moonlight.

“They’ve barely left the house since you went missing. It was all I could do to keep them here instead of heading into the city to hunt you down. Good thing Barbara June told us you were okay.” Barbara June, their closest neighbor and a bit of a psychic. She made money reading people’s futures and was one of the few who knew their secret. Knew because the spirits told her. “Where are you? Is it safe?”

“I’m okay for now. I’m staying with a friend.”

“When are you coming home?”

She closed her eyes and sighed. “I don’t know.” Left unsaid: it would be too dangerous.

“I miss you, baby girl.”

“Miss you too, Mom.” Her throat tightened. She had to protect her family. Especially now. With Rogers having lost Athena, would he go after them next? “Are you guys still going on that trip to visit Uncle George?”

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