Page 36 of Cursed Wolfsbane

I get to spend my birthday lunch with my only family left, other than Ava, next to an angsty Xander.

Awesome.

This won’t be awkward or anything.

Luckily, we don’t have to sit in charged silence for too long. Everyone else files in, each carrying at least one dish. In addition to lobster rolls and fries, there’s Caesar salad, coleslaw, corn on the cob, fresh fruit, potato salad, and pickles.

Once they put the food on the table, everyone else sits down. Saint sits across from me, with Emmy opposite Malachi, Kit across from Bastian, and Fi opposite Xander. James sits next to Xander, and Molly sits next to Fi.

Everything looks so good that I don’t know where to start. Deciding to try a bit of everything, I pile my plate high with food. I’m just tucking into a delicious lobster roll when Fi asks, “So, how’d you meet your wolf mates?”

I choke on my bite of food at the question. Heat rushes to my face as I try to figure out how to answer that question. My aunt and uncle likely wouldn’t approve of them being my professors. Or approve of the probably inappropriate stuff I did with them, like sleep in their bed, before I even knew they were my mates.

When I stop coughing, I squeak, “School.”

Fi’s eyebrows almost reach her hairline at my response. A slow smile curves her mouth as she realizes there’s somethingI’m not saying. “That’s definitely not the whole story, Bri. Ooh, you’re as red as a tomato. That means there are some juicy details.”

I shake my head at her and stare at my plate. There’s no way in hell I’m sharing any of the “juicy details.”

While I’m racking my brain to figure out what to say, Xander answers for me. “We’re her professors.”

Jesus fucking Christ.

Really, dude? Are you kidding me?

You can’t just blurt that out!

I turn my head slowly to give Xander a death glare, but he’s not even looking at me. He’s gazing blankly at his plate, not having touched much of his food.

Everyone, other than the Wyldharts, is staring at me in shock. Molly’s and Emmy’s mouths are opening and closing in surprise. Kit stares at me with wide eyes. Saint raises an eyebrow as he looks between my other mates and me. I can’t see James, which is probably for the best. Out of everyone here, I think he’d be the most upset about it.

“Um, well, that’s nice,” Aunt Molly stammers, unsure how to respond.

Understandable. It’s not every day your niece comes home after fourteen years and announces she plans to bang her teachers.

Now would be an excellent time for a sinkhole to open up just under my chair. Then I could avoid this conversation and not embarrass myself in front of anyone else. If I get lonely in the abyss, I’m sure there are some nice mole people I can befriend. Hopefully they’re at least a fraction of how awkward as I am. It’s a win-win, really.

Fi grins at me. “Get it, girl! Get. It.”

Emmy smiles and waggles her eyebrows. A laugh bubbles up at Emmy and Fi, but I force it down. I glance over at UncleJames to see him wearing a bemused smile. He notices me looking at him and gives me a shrug. “At least you all have an interesting story.”

I snort. That is true. I’m not sure how many other people can say they met their professor mates while being a student to all three of them, all while having no idea mates exist because their memories were taken for a still unknown reason.

My shoulders slump in relief when the conversation turns to something other than my mates and me. I happily eat my food as everyone talks, occasionally contributing to the conversation. I enjoy soaking up time with my family after so long away from them. My heart feels a little bruised that Mama and Papa aren’t here for this, but I’m trying not to let it drag me down.

Once we finish eating, Aunt Molly hops up. “I’ll be right back!” She returns a moment later with a homemade chocolate cake decorated with various shades of blue buttercream flowers in a half wreath. The cake also has “happy birthday” written in Molly’s cursive. She sets it down in front of me and wrings her hands anxiously. “It’s chocolate cake with a strawberry filling. I took a gamble, hoping you still liked the same sweets. If not, I can make another one.”

“It’s perfect, Aunt Molly. Thank you.” I give her a genuine smile. While I feel a little overwhelmed by how much effort she put into my birthday lunch, I really appreciate it. And I still love chocolate anything, especially when it’s paired with strawberry.

It’s been a while since I had a parent to care about things like birthdays. My birthday has just been another day for years. Ava would try to make it special when she could, but I haven’t had a birthday cake since Mama died. Now, I’ve had two birthday celebrations in a week with two sets of parental figures. It’s a huge change, but a good one for once.

I get the first slice of cake. I groan when I taste the bright strawberry jam and butter cream filling contrasting therich chocolate of the cake and outer buttercream. It’s delicious. Everyone else tucks into the cake. It’s a hit, as pretty much all of Aunt Molly’s baking has always been.

“Where are you planning to stay while you’re in town, Briar?” Molly asks when she finishes her slice of cake. “You can stay here. We have spare rooms for everyone, or I have the key for your house if you’d rather stay there.”

I honestly hadn’t thought much about where we’d stay. I’ve just been nervous as hell about my memories and meeting my family again. It’s all gone a lot better than I dared to hope.

One thing I do know is that I don’t really feel up to staying in my old house. There are too many memories there. I open my mouth to accept her offer to stay here when Saint beats me to it. “They’re staying with me. I have plenty of room.”

---