Page 20 of Wolf's Midlife Bite

She peered through the glasses and blinked. Was it possible that the font had gotten even smaller overnight with some cruel update? But everything on the screen was blurry, no matter how much she pulled her head back or pushed her face forward. Whipping the glasses off her face to clean them, Robin scowled at the offending computer screen.

But it was entirely clear.

Robin looked down at the glasses in her hand. Yes, these were absolutely the purple tortoiseshell frames she’d picked out. When she lifted her eyes back to the screen, it was still perfectly clear.

She set them aside. Of all the strange things that seemed to be happening to her lately, this wasn’t the hill to die on. Robin would let this one go for now.

But that was hard to do when she stepped out into the hallway and heard the cacophony of the entire office come crashing down on her ears. The high whizzing of a drill. The gargling of a patient, which Robin had long ago learned not to be bothered by, but that now made her want to gag. Both familiar and strange voices. The shrill beeping of the x-ray machine. It was a lot. Too much. How had she never noticed it before?

“You all right?” Maggie was standing behind her desk, leaning on the counter and peering at her curiously. “I can make some more coffee if you’d like.”

“No. I mean, no thank you.” Robin was starting to wonder if she’d had too many cups as it was. Or perhaps it was the combination of too much caffeine and too little sleep, with a heap of stress piled on top. “I’m just going to take a quick break. Would you mind covering for me?”

“Of course. Your next appointment hasn’t even checked in yet, and Watson has one of his specials, so you’ve got some time.”

“Thanks.” Robin didn’t have the room in her brain nor the energy in her body to even worry about who Watson was with or what he was doing. She stumbled into the employees-only bathroom and locked the door behind her, the sharp tick of metal on metal making her want to grind her teeth.

Closing the toilet seat lid, she slowly lowered herself down and buried her face in her hands. “Get a grip. You’re fine. You’re just stressed. People go through shit like this all the time. Okay, maybe not exactly like this. But they get stressed, and it makes them go a little nutty. How many patients have you seen come in for a cleaning who act like they’re being walked to the electric chair?”

But all the logic and reason in the world weren’t helping. It was one thing to talk herself through exhaustion, but that was the least of her problems. Was she really going to turn into a wolf? And what did that even mean? She couldn’t wrap her brain around it, no matter how hard she tried. She simply had no information and no basis to lay it down on.

“That’s because it’s bullshit,” she decided. “Brody played a trick on me. A really good trick, but a trick nevertheless. He’s an artist and probably has some oddball friends who do special effects or something. It was a shitty way to dump me, but I guess it worked.”

Anger moved in over the worry and tension. What an asshole! Brody had seemed so interested in her, but if something had made him change his mind, he could’ve been mature enough to just say so. At her age, the men she’d be dating should know how to handle things like that better. How old did she have to get before she found someone who’d actually grown up?

Slapping her hands on her thighs, Robin got up with renewed determination. She wasn’t going to let him get to her like this. Brody had taken up a small part of her time, and she’d gotten a great night of sex out of it. That didn’t mean he had any sort of control over her. He wasn’t even there to see what he was doing to her, so why should she let this bother her at all?

She moved to the sink and flicked on the cold water. Robin had been too drained that morning to bother with makeup, so at least she wouldn’t be ruining it. The chilly water felt fantastic on her hands. She gasped as it hit her face, but Robin splashed it on three more times. It was time to wake up, get over whatever she was letting happen to her, and move on.

But as she straightened up and looked in the mirror, her eyes landed on a dark hair that jutted out from her face. “No friggin’ way.” Robin leaned closer. It was just on the border between her upper lip and her cheek. It wasn’t the first time she’d had a random hair pop up somewhere, but this thing was already an inch long.

Some of that fear began to creep in again, but Robin shoved it back down. Okay, so she had an embarrassing hair on her face. That happened to people all the time, or there wouldn’t be so many hair removal products on the market. She turned to the small set of lockers behind her; one was labeled for each staff member so they could keep a few things there. Sifting past a box of granola bars and a zippered bag of tampons, she grabbed a little makeup bag and fished out a pair of tweezers. Quick and easy solution.

Turning back to the mirror, Robin stretched the skin around the hair tight. She clamped the tweezers down hard and gave them a good yank.

It almost sent her reeling to the floor as pain radiated through her face. A string of every expletive spilled from her mouth as she waited for the pain to go away. Tears blurred her eyes, the same kind that would’ve come if she’d yanked out a nose hair. What the hell was happening?

Leaning against the wall, Robin looked down at the tweezers still clutched in her hand. She’d managed to remove the hair, at least. It was thick and dark, and much longer than anything else she’d ever seen on her face. It was different than any hair she’d found anywhere else, for that matter. As much as she didn’t want it to be, Robin knew what it was. This wasn’t simply a sign of her getting older, and it didn’t mean she should book an appointment for a very thorough wax.

It was a wolf whisker.

Robin sank down the wall. Regret moved through her as she remembered how Brody had tried to keep her at his place. She could still see the pain and worry in his eyes—the pure sadness, even. He’d said they needed to talk, that there were things she should know, that she’d need help. She’d been too scared and hurt and confused to bother listening to him at the moment.

He was a wolf. She’d seen his teeth, and apparently, she’d already had one of them pierce her finger. It was just as real as it was terrifying. Robin swallowed. She wanted to be angry at him because it was the easiest thing to do, but she was frightened more than anything. Frightened for herself. Frightened of him.

Staring at that whisker in her hand, though, she knew what she needed to do.

Brody was the only person she could turn to.

11

The day had dragged on,and Robin was more than happy when it was time for her to go home. She was going to take a long, hot bath and then fall into bed with meditation music on. The emotional roller coaster she’d been on since the night before had gotten to be far too much to handle, and she was done with it.

But when she was finally at home alone, she found that sitting still in a tub of water was the last thing she wanted to do. Everything smelled intensely strong. Even the giant bottle of lavender bubble bath she’d bought at Costco and had used a million times was far too perfumy. Ignoring that, she felt a restlessness inside that wouldn’t let her sit back and relax. With the tub drained and clean sweats on, she couldn’t do anything but pace through the house, pretending to tidy up.

Her mind was busy, too. She could call Brody or go by his house. She could even stop in at his shop, but that would be too dramatic. Then again, did she have to get a hold of him right away. Maybe she should give herself some time to think, then sleep, and then think it all over again when she was feeling more rational. There was no point in rushing things, after all.

The ding from her phone had her pulling it out of her pocket. It was a text from Brody.

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