Page 21 of Her Eternal Mate

“Fair enough, but don’t think I’ve recovered mentally, emotionally, or spiritually from the shit that I’ve just seen,” Maliha snapped, rubbing her temples with her fingers. “I saw you shift. You were a wolf one second ago, and then you were a human. And you killed that soldier with your teeth. You bit his entire head off!”

“Again, I saved your life, so you’re welcome,” I said.

“What are you talking about? It was only because of you that my life was in danger in the first place!”

I didn’t know what to say to her. She was agitated and not in her right senses. I wouldn’t blame her. Given what she had been through, anyone would be rattled. Truth be told, she was processing it better than most.

“Do you want an explanation or not?” I asked calmly.

“First, I want ten shots of tequila and a rum and coke chaser to go with them,” Maliha said. “And then I want an explanation, not for how you can turn into a wolf and back, but for why you never told me. I thought we were besties.”

“And we are. We still are. It’s nothing like that. Imagine it from my perspective, will you? I’m a werewolf, and I belong to a pack of werewolves, all of whom have been sworn to secrecy to hide the ways of supernatural creatures from normal human beings. It’s an oath as old as time. That’s why your kind never sees dragons flying about in the air or fairies in the prairies. There’s a fine line that separates our worlds, the very same line that makes sure that when you sleep at night, you don’t have to worry about vampires. It's a whole world out there, a world filled with fantastical creatures.”

Maliha’s eyes had gone wide, even though I knew for a fact that alcohol had the opposite effect on her. “Ghouls are real?”

“Ghouls are real. And sprites too.”

“Just to be clear. You’re talking about sprites and not spirits. They’re different things,” Maliha clarified.

“Yes, sprites, spirits, they’re both real too. Vampires as well. All those folk tales that you used to hear growing up they’re all true. The world does have unicorns and magic. There are leprechauns and dwarves out there somewhere too. Probably,” I said, feeling overwhelmed by just telling her all this and wondering if she’d be able to keep this secret.

“That thing you said about trying to see things from your perspective, I get it. I’d have a hard time trusting anyone with this. I am glad you trusted me,” she said.

“Is this you or the booze talking?”

“Shut up, silly. It’s me talking. I wasn’t really mad or anything. I was just jittery from my life being in danger,” she said. “So, what else can you do? Are you like one of those classic wolves are shown in the movies? Are you weak to silver? Can you only turn on the full moon? Do you go crazy with bloodlust when you’re shifted into your wolf form?”

“Some of those are stereotypes, but yes, we’re somewhat weak to silver. Other than that, it’s all hogwash. But the moon does grant us some strength. We can shift pretty much as we want,” I said.

“Would you shift now, for me, please?” her eyes were as round as quarters as she asked this.

To placate her, I shifted in her room, filling up most of the space.

“Holy Mary, mother of Jesus!” Maliha gasped. Once the shock wore off, she came near me and patted me on the head. “Can you make sense of what I’m saying?”

I nodded in response.

“That’s so fucking cool!”

I promptly shifted back, seeing as I had my work cut out for me. “I figure I owe you an explanation, and so I’ll give you one,” I said. And then, I unpacked everything that had ever happened to me, starting with Will’s journey from Germany to my parents dying and ending with me rescuing Maliha today.

It took me a total of two hours to tell her everything.

***

“So how did she take it? You were there for quite a while,” Will asked, pouring himself some whiskey. He poured me one as well and handed me the glass. It was strange for me to see how disaffected he was by what had just happened. I wondered why he was being so calm about all this.

“Well, I told her everything, then made her swear that she’d never tell anyone anything and then explained to her why we needed her help. She’s in. She’s going to help us from now on,” I said somewhat happily. A huge weight had been lifted off my shoulders now that I knew that my best friend was in on my secret.

“I’m glad,” Will said, then gulped his whiskey down in one. “We’re tending to the wall right now. I told the pack to reinforce it with lead.”

“Lead, iron, silver, what does it matter? They’re just going to break in again whenever they want to,” I said.

“I don’t believe that’s true,” Will said. “They must have learned that attacking us on our home front will only result in countless casualties for them. Last I checked, we’re still on the winning side. Sixteen we killed earlier, and ten we killed later on. That’s twenty-six dead soldiers.”

“In the face of an army, twenty-six is barely a number. Didn’t you hear what they were saying? They have an army at their disposal. An army, Will! That’s hundreds of soldiers. How are we going to take on so many of them at once?” I slammed my glass down on the coffee table. Alcohol was the last thing I needed right now. I wanted my head to be as clear as it could be to process everything that was happening around me.

“Haven’t we faced worse odds?” Will asked quietly.

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