Page 57 of The Wolf Professor

Still, it was nice to be in the family home, and to be around dear old Snuff, their fourteen-year-old Jack Russell. He slept on her bed every night, like when she was a little girl. Except he’d gotten so much fatter since she was last at home; now he needed her to pick him up and put him on the end of her bed.

She frowned as Snuff sat at her feet, clearly begging. “You’re feeding him too many scraps.”

Dad looked sheepish. “He’s got to have something to enjoy.”

Charlie frowned. “Dad, honestly—he looks like a fat little sausage.”

Snuff stared up at her. She resisted his sad, puppy-dog eyes.

“A walk for you after lunch,” she told him sternly. “Mylunch.”

Snuff gave the dog equivalent of a shrug and snuck off to the other side of the table.

To Dad.

Now the distraction of discussing Snuff’s portliness was out the way, Charlie steeled herself for the conversation she had to have with Mom. Tomorrow she would go back to Max. She could barely contain her excitement. She kept rereading his message on her phone, the one where he’d admitted that he missed her.

She was certain now that things between them would go to the next level, and that meant sooner or later, Mom would have to come to terms with her dating a wolf.

She couldn’t abide secrets. And her parents had kept the one about Eloise from her for way too long.

She toyed with her spoon as Mom brought out the apple crumble.

“Mom,” she burst out. “Dad told me the truth about Aunt Eloise.”

Her mom looked at her dad, who gave another sheepish grin. But for once, he didn’t try to placate Mom, or back down.

“Oh really?” her mom said airily, dividing crumble into bowls. “What version of the truth exactly?”

“That she chose to take part in a solstice rut.”

Mom handed out the dessert with pinched lips. “Choseis not a word I’d use for a young woman in that situation.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, we all knew she must have been forced into it. Coerced in some way.”

“She signed an agreement, gave her permission freely.”

Her mom sniffed.

“And afterward, Dad said her depression completely lifted.”

“That could just have been coincidental. Or maybe the medication kicked in,” her mom said.

Now her dad spoke up. “You know she never took the medication, Shirl. She said it made her feel like a zombie. It was running with the wolves that did it. And the rest of what happened that night…”

Mom looked like she’d just swallowed a lemon. “Not at the dinner table, please, Robert.”

Charlie clucked her tongue in exasperation.

“Mom, I did my master’s dissertation in human/monster relationships. Can you please stop treating me like a kid?”

Mom opened her mouth and shut it.

She flicked her napkin sharply and laid it on her lap. “I knew no good would come of you working for that wolf,” she muttered.

“It’s got nothing to do with the wolf.” That wasn’t true exactly; Max had surely liberated her wild spirit. But it had been inside her all along, waiting to be released.

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