"Ein Tausend Teile" - Kim Petras
🎵 Alles bricht mal entzwei / Doch ein Herz kann in eintausend Teile brechen / Verspreche es dir / Vorsicht was du anfasst denn / Alles bricht mal entzwei 🎵
"Im Namen der Lufthansa begrüßen wir Sie in Vancouver, Kanada," the flight attendant announced on the PA as soon as the plane's wheels touched down on the ground. "On behalf of Lufthansa, we would like to welcome you to Vancouver, Canada. Au nom de Lufthansa, nous vous souhaitons la bienvenue à Vancouver, au Canada."
It was a bittersweet feeling, being home.
Normally, when the summer came to end, and I was forced to go back home from Dad's, I was a mess. Usually, I was fighting back tears and trying not to bawl over being away from my father whom I've only gotten to see for three measly months out of the year. However, now, although I was definitely sad to be away from Dad, I was also so incredibly relieved to be away from Dominik.
It's stupid, I know, but I cannot deny the horrible way he'd made me feel about myself. I hated how he'd called me a nobody and how he'd made me feel useless and like nobody wanted to be around me. On the other hand, my heart also ached at how broken he'd looked before we'd driven away from the house.
No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get Dominik's hurt expression out of my mind.
And that was what made my throat feel dry and my eyes water more than not being able to see my father for a while.
And what was worse was that I think I'd made things worse by turning my back on Dominik.
"Emilia?" I asked, tugging on my sister's sleeve, waking her up from her nap.
"What? Huh?" she startled awake, fixing her hair real quick as soon as she saw that we'd landed after our nearly ten hour flight. Although she'll deny it until the day she dies, she wiped away a little drool from her lips.
Dominik's hopeful face and they way it'd fallen popped back into my head, and that hole in my chest grew in size and intensity, making me wince. "Am... am I a bad person?" I asked my sister.
Emilia rolled her tired eyes. "Yep," she muttered, grabbing her purse out from under the seat in front of her as the plane parked at the gate.
Oh...
Once the plane halted to a stop and all the whirring gears silenced and the fasten seatbelt lights turned off, all of the passengers quickly stood up and rushed to get off. I grabbed my rabbit backpack and put it on, sticking close to my sister as we walked down the aisle to get off the plane. We walked through the tunnel that connected the plane to the rest of the airport, and I couldn't help but note how much colder it was up here in the Great North. It may be a stereotype that Canada is cold all the time— but damn! It can be true sometimes!
Come to think of it, I was freezing!
I don't know if it was due to the temperature or maybe I was coming down with a cold, but I had a severe case of the chills. The tiny hairs on my legs were standing up straight, and I shivered as I wrapped my small arms around myself.
Trying to distract myself from the cold chilliness of the Canadian Coast, I turned on my phone—
"Oof," I grunted when I bumped into someone.
The man huffed and glared down at me with his yellow eyes. "Watch where you're going..." he growled, but his voice trailed off as his nostrils flared, and he deeply inhaled through his nose. His yellow eyes widened and he gulped. Immediately his red face paled and he took a large step away from me. "O-oh, I'm sorry."
The guy held his hands up in front of himself as he forced a smile onto his face.
Um, that was weird. "It's okay," I mumbled, getting closer to my sister.
Even Emilia thought it was strange as she gave the guy the up-down.
We didn't pay too much attention to the guy as we walked through the terminal. As we made our way through customs, my phone kept buzzing like crazy in my pocket as it rebooted. I was nowhere near being considered popular, hence, there was no reason as to why my phone was getting blown up with notifications.
I was puzzling over it so much that I barely registered the customs agent speaking to me as she looked over my passport.
"Sir," she huffed as she examined it, "we can't accept unofficial alterations to your passport."
"Huh?" I wondered, unsure what she was talking about.
Thank God, Emilia was waiting by my side after she'd gotten hers stamped. "What do you mean?" she asked for me.
The agent turned my passport around, showing off the page that had my picture on it along with all of my info. Next to my fabulous headshot was my full name which read out: Maximilian Cristobal Estrada.
However, Estrada was crossed out, and in blue pen was handwritten STUBBE in big, blocky letters.
Emilia turned to me and gave a look that read, "Really?"
"It wasn't me!" I hurriedly said, before turning to the agent. "Really! I didn't do it!" Who the hell would alter my passport? I mean, I knew that when Dad married Alaric, he changed his last name from Kaufmann to Stubbe; but Emilia and I had Mom's last name, which was Estrada. Plus, I didn't think that I needed to change my last name just because Dad did... right? I didn't know the laws surrounding European gay marriage! They didn't teach that in school!
But that didn't answer the question as to who scribbled in my passport. Not only had it gone missing before my flight, but now it was altered. It's a mystery.
"I'll accept it this time," the agent said as she stamped my passport, "but just know that you'll have to get a new one before you leave Canada."
"Th-thank you," I stuttered as I took my passport back from her, shoving it into my pocket.
Emilia gave me a disappointed look as we left customs, heading towards baggage claim.
"It wasn't me!" I repeated.
"Mm-hmm," she hummed, not believing me. "Maxie, if you wanted to stay in Germany that badly, all you had to do was tell Dad. I'm sure he'd be more than happy to have you live with him." She flipped her hair to punctuate her point.
Of course I'm sure Dad would love it if I lived with him. There were bound to be good tax benefits if I stayed with him year-round. That being said, if he really felt that way, he sure didn't act like it! Nor did he ever say it.
"I don't wanna stay in Germany!" I argued, although as soon as I said that, the hole in my chest ached again.
Before we could argue some more, my phone buzzed for the thousandth time, alerting me to another notification. What the hell?!
I snatched it out of my pocket and my eyes nearly fell out of my skull over the sheer amount of notifications that were on my home screen: 24 Missed Calls. 10 Unread Messages.
Holy crap!
Everything was from an unknown number that began with 49, letting me know that the caller was from Germany. Now, I have Dad's number saved in my phone, and he'd had me save Alaric's number too; hence, I knew that it wasn't either of them who were desperate to get a hold of me. Felix didn't have my personal phone number and he apparently preferred to wait until I was in the country to contact me, so it wasn't him.
I opened up my text message app, and rolled my eyes at the first message that popped up.
Hey its Dominik, it read.
Ugh, what the hell does he want?! My head rolled back in exhaustion over his weird back and forth attitude. For real, the dude needs to decide if he likes or hates me. I don't have time for his flip-flopping nonsense!
"Hey, Emilia?" I called out to my sister who was walking way too fast down the long terminal hallway.
"Hmm?" she grunted.
"Did Dominik try to text you, too?" I asked.
"Eww," she sneered. "Why would I give him my number?"
That's fair.
Although, come to think of it, I hadn't given him my phone number either. Maybe he'd asked Dad for it, and then my father, because he hates me, had given it to him. What a jerk. Still, I glanced over the rest of the messages, feeling an odd combination of guilt, sadness, excitement, and annoyance all at once. Weird.
Call me when you land
Are you there yet?
Where are you?
Hallo?
Call me
Look, I know that we had a little falling out before you left and I think we should talk about it
Will you at least call me?
Max
Ich vermisse dich
That was weird. For real, Dominik tended to act like I was that annoying little brother he couldn't wait to ditch... *cough, at the pier. Dominik hadn't come off as the kind of guy who would actually give a shit about somebody else other than himself. I mean, when I really thought about it, he'd pretended to be my friend, only to make me feel like crap.
The way he'd glared at me the night of the wedding when the other guys had been laughing at us was burned into my mind. No matter what I did, that hate-filled look that he'd casted my way made me feel so ugly and useless. It was impossible to ignore.
And I'll be damned if he ever makes me feel that way again.
Last year, Emilia had had some guy who kept bothering her, and she'd gotten so fed up with it that she'd blocked him on everything. It had worked for about a week, until she'd realized that she'd missed the attention and had unblocked him, but the point was still clear.
I held my breath as my thumb hovered over the "Block" button on my phone that was right next to Dominik's unsaved number—
Maybe I was being foolish. I mean, Dominik didn't owe me a damn thing. We barely knew each other, and even if we were now step-brothers, that didn't mean that we were supposed to have some sort of connection. It was quite possible that I'd put unreal expectations on the young man. I really should grow up.
Emilia eyed me, glancing down at my thumb that was hesitating. "Good Lord," she huffed, snatching my phone out of my grasp, only to block Dominik with a manicured finger. "There. Problem solved." She shoved my phone back at me.
Well, I guess that's that then.
Dominik was blocked and would no longer be able to contact me. I should happy... right?
But I'm not happy.
I haven't felt happy all summer. Although, the closest I'd been was when I was will Felix... and Dominik. Dare I say, I'd had an enjoyable time in Nordwestmecklenbug with Dominik. Hanging out on the pier, eating cotton candy, and taking pictures in the photo booth had been really fun. And that hole in my chest ached the more I thought about it.
But then I remembered the sneer on Dominik's face as he called me a nobody. I remembered the way he recoiled away from me as if I were diseased when the other boys caught us dancing together. I remembered the way he'd punched Felix in the face and had thrown away the gift he'd gotten me. I remembered every single glare and growl that he'd sent my way.
I remembered how he'd made me cry and feel all alone.
Blocking him was for the best.
Dominik was all the way in Germany, and I was all the way in Canada. I barely knew him, truth be told. Therefore, it was stupid of me to feel bad for him, to feel remorseful when I envisioned him standing in the driveway as we drove away.
I sniffled and quickly wiped my tears away before my sister could see them.
Mom and her boyfriend, Kyle, met us down in the baggage claim area. Like any other time whenever we'd come back home from Germany, Mom would excitedly ask me and Emilia about how our time with Dad was as we gathered our bags from the carousel. I gave her usual responses, claiming that I'd had a blast seeing all of the historical sites around Europe that I could.
I just left out the parts where I'd felt like I was the only person in the world with no one to be with.
Other than that, we followed our usual routine whenever we returned home: Mom drove us back to the apartment, stopping at Timmie's on the way back to give us a taste of home since we'd been away for so long.
After we got our food, Mom continued the drive back to the apartment. She eyed me moping in the backseat through the rearview mirror.
"Mijo, what's up?" she asked, snapping me out of my daze.
I'd been so focused on trying to distract myself from the angsty teenager who both got on my nerves and made me feel bad by staring at the raindrops on my window. The weather outside was grey and cloudy, which was the norm for Vancouver. Off in the distance, I could see the blue-green waves of the ocean, giving me a stark reminder of my time in Nordwestmecklenburg.
That hole in my chest throbbed, making me wince.
"Nothing," I lied, offering a small smile. "I think the time change is just getting to me." That technically wasn't one-hundred percent false, since Bedburg is nine hours ahead of Vancouver. Therefore, the nerdy part of me usually liked to say that I traveled back in time whenever I went home from Dad's.
Mom nodded, pursing her lips. "Well, just lie down when we get home," she said, before turning her attention to Emilia. "So, your father told me about Alaric. How's he with you two?"
Kyle snickered up in the passenger seat.
"He's fine," Emilia commented, her gaze glued to her phone as she was texting all of her friends that she was back in the country. "I think he owns like some kind of security company or something, so he's actually got a nice house."
"Okay," Mom nodded again, actually looking impressed. "But he's nice to you two, right?"
"Mm-hm," I hummed along with Emilia.
Yeah truth be told, Alaric seemed like a good guy. He and I hadn't really had a lot of interaction though because he seemed to be hyper focused on stealing all of Dad's attention away from me— and he was super good at it too, jerk. However, I couldn't bring myself to dislike the guy because he really did make Dad happy.
Shoot, maybe I should try to find my own version of Alaric— some kind of dude who will follow me around everywhere like a puppy. Then I'll never be cursed with crippling loneliness ever again! Man, if only...
"His son's weird though," Emilia piped up.
"He has a son?" Mom asked. "How old is he?"
"I think he's like ten or something."
"He's fourteen," I corrected for some reason.
Emilia rolled her eyes. "Yeah, he and Maxie are close friends," she sneered. "In fact, they spent the whole day at the beach together."
The glare I received from my salty sister made me sink further into my seat, and I briefly considered tucking and rolling out of the car onto the freeway. I'll take my chances with city traffic instead of dealing with my pissed off sister.
"Oh, how nice," Mom smiled. "Maxie, are you your new step-brother really getting along—"
"Oh hey, Mom," Emilia interrupted as soon as her phone pinged. "I'm gonna go out tonight with Tiffany."
Mom cocked her eyebrow. "Are you hanging out with Tiffany, or with Patrick?" she grilled, completely changing the subject.
Emilia threw her hands up into the air in exasperation. "What does it matter?" she cried. "I've been gone for three months, so I just wanna see my friends..."
The two of them went back and forth the rest of the drive to the apartment, their screaming voices even drowning out the music on the radio. Well, at least their argument managed to distract me long enough to not think about Dominik for about a half hour. Kudos to them.
When we finally arrived at the apartment, and Mom parked in the parking garage, me and Kyle eagerly rushed out of the car. I snatched my bags out of the trunk and scurried inside so that I could put as much space between Mom and Emilia, and me.
Mom's place is a little bit more higher end for an apartment in Vancouver: it was a three bedroom, two bath on the outskirts of Downtown, closer to the coast. The building we lived in was super tall, and Mom's apartment was all the way on the twentieth floor. It wasn't the very top, but it still gave us a nice view of the ocean from our living room ceiling-to-floor window.
The second I stepped foot inside the apartment, I made a beeline straight for my room so that I wouldn't have to listen to my mom and sister go at it (which was a common occurrence).
As I rolled my suitcase down the hall, I spotted Emilia's cat, Beyoncé, perched up on top of her cat tree. She spotted me with her big, blue eyes, her whiskers flicking to and fro as she sniffed at the air.
"Hey, Bebe," I cooed at her, reaching up to pet her calico-patterned fur.
As I approached, the hair on her back stood up, and she shot up onto all fours. She arched her back and let out a screeching hiss at me, her ears even folding back against her head as she stared me down.
I retracted my hand and took a large step back.
Maybe it was possible that Beyoncé just didn't recognize me immediately? I mean, I had been gone for three months. But she'd never acted that way whenever I'd returned in the past. I mean, she may technically be Emilia's cat, but I'm the one who feeds her and cleans her litter box— we have a bond!
Still, the cat hissed at me again, even going so far as to swipe one of her clawed paws in my direction.
I hurried into my bedroom, slamming the door shut so that I wouldn't get jumped by a frickin' cat. What the hell's her problem?
I tried not to think about it as I unzipped my suitcase so that I could put my stuff away. As soon as I flipped open the flap on the front of my luggage, I froze when I spotted the seal plushie that Dominik had bought for me at Nordwestmecklenburg sitting on the very top. Its sewn-on smile beamed right up at me, and looking at it made that hole in my chest hurt even more.
I tossed the plushie onto my bed along with the many others I'd collected over the years.
Returning to unpacking my suitcase, I blindly reached down for the first article of clothing so that I could put it away. However, when it unfurled in my grasp, I nearly gasped when I realized that it was Dominik's black hoodie that I'd worn during that ill fated trip!
I really didn't remember packing this, because I'd made sure to give Dominik his hoodie back once we'd gotten back to Bedburg and Dad had informed us that he and Alaric were getting married. Therefore, I have no clue how this oversized hoodie wound up in my suitcase. I just hope Dominik won't kill me when he realizes that I accidentally had it. I'll make sure to bring it back to Germany whenever I visit next!
Still...
Even I couldn't deny that the hoodie was really comfortable, so I couldn't resist tearing my own off of me and quickly replacing it with Dominik's.
Whatever fabric it was made of was really soft to the touch, and it warmed me up the smallest bit. I was still felt freezing, but instead of standing in Antartica, it felt more like I was in the freezer at Costco. The only downside was that it reeked just like Dominik, smelling of teen boy body spray and musk, with a hint of wet dog. Seriously, one of our neighbors would sometimes let me walk her dachshund, and the little puppy loved to play in the puddles. Whenever I brought it back, our neighbor would comment on how she needs to bathe the dog because he smells. And it's that same exact stench that I picked up on Dominik's hoodie.
Dude needs a bath, for real.
I kept the hoodie on, regardless, and went back to putting my clothes away. It was hard to ignore the blaring fact that Dominik's hoodie's smell must've been contagious, permeating all the way through my suitcase so that it could touch every single item packed inside it!
I shoved my nose into every piece of clothing, frowning when it smelt as if the douche had straight up rolled around on it!
This was getting really weird.
Dominik is all the way back in Germany, while I'm back home in Canada. I should be over the moon that he can no longer bug me. But at the end of the day, unfortunately, I couldn't seem to get him out of my head.
— — —
[Dominik POV]
Max is gone.
He left me— um, I mean, he left Deutschland to go back to Canada. He didn't leave me exactly because I didn't have an official claim on him... yet.
I couldn't prevent the earsplitting howl from escaping my mouth, throwing my head back as I unleashed it out of instinct.
Resolved to having mein Hase gone, I whimpered as I lied down on the forest floor, still in my wolf form. As soon as Paul had driven away Max in my father's van, I'd phased on the spot. I'd considered chasing after the van to get my boy back, but I knew in the end that that'd only make things worse. Paul already knew we're werewolves, but Max and the other one had no idea.
Unlike some of the movies on TV, whenever werewolves phase into their wolf forms, we look like actual wolves. The only difference is that we are a little bigger than the average wolf that one might come across in the wild. And since I'm my father's son, we both share the same jet black fur whenever we're in our wolf forms.
But still, I couldn't seem to ignore the worst fact in the whole world: Max was gone.
Holy shit, even though we'd only known each other for a small amount of time, he's my everything, and I'd give anything to have him back here. But he didn't want to be here with me at all. I'd asked him, I'd tried my best to swallow my pride, and had almost begged which is outside of the norm for an Alpha, and asked Max to stay here in Deutschland with me.
But he'd shot me down.
I howled again.
Worse was that I knew it was my fault in the end. I can't get the way my boy had looked so completely broken and torn down when I'd called him a nobody— something I'll regret for the rest of my life.
I can't even try to blame Anselm, Noah, or Leon. Those assholes had laughed at mein Hase and me as we'd danced together... and wow, it was impossible to describe how amazing it'd felt to hold Max to me under the starlight. The way his tiny body had molded into mine, it was perfect. He was made just for me, I know it. And I'm so incredibly stupid for trying to fight it.
I swear that the second Max returns to Deutschland, I'll do everything in my power to court him as an Alpha, so that he'll stay here... with me.
I used to think that the worst thing in the world was for people to look at me as less of a man for having a boy as my.... as my— damn it!
As my mate.
There, I finally said it: Max is my mate.
An immense weight felt like it was being lifted off of my chest as soon as I admitted that fact: Max is mine. Oh, um, I mean that Max is my mate. Well, and he's mine. Despite how amazing it felt to finally admit that to myself, it was annoying how late I was. If only I'd come to terms a few hours earlier, then maybe I could've persuaded Max to stay here with me. Then I wouldn't be feeling like my heart was caving in on itself.
If Max were here, the first thing I'd do would be to apologize, to beg for forgiveness over making him cry the night of the wedding. Scheiße, I'd literally get down on my knees and beg my boy to forgive me at this moment. As long as he'll stay by my side, I'll do anything.
But after that, if Max were here, I'd be the best man in the whole world for him. We're both young, so I'd be satisfied with being the best big brother and best friend that he could possibly want. He'd never ever be alone, because I'd always be right by his side, ready to make his day the greatest ever. And then, when he's older, I'll reveal that I'm desperately in love with him and that I'm an Alpha werewolf, and then we'll be together forever.
But if Max stays in Canada, then none of that will happen. And it's not like I can go and fly over to Canada to get him myself. Sure I can afford it (I've already looked up tickets and I have enough euro saved up); but as a soon-to-be Alpha werewolf, if I were to step foot into another Alpha's territory without permission, it would be seen as an act of war. I was just lucky enough that Deutschland's packs all have treaties with one another, allow free-roaming with minor restrictions.
But with Max in Canada, I'll never get the chance to make things up to him, I'll never get to court him, I'll never get to tell him that I love him, I'll never get to have him all to myself.
We'll never be together.
I threw my head back again and unleashed another loud, pitiful howl that was drenched with heartbreak.
"Son," Dad said in his wolf form as he trotted into the little clearing in the forest where I hid. His eyebrows were knitted together and his tail hung low between his hind legs, hating to see me this way. "He'll be back next summer."
Next summer? That's a whole year that I'll have to wait until I'll be able to see mein Hase! Three hundred sixty-five tortuous days of not being able to see my boy's face. His beautiful face that is full of light and which when he smiles, makes my heart flutter like crazy in my chest. A full year of not being able to hear his precious voice that is the sweetest song I've ever heard— a whole ass year of not getting to hold him in my arms, where he belongs!
"'Next summer'," I snorted, narrowing my eyes at my father.
I tried my best to be understanding and to respect my Alpha, but holy shit, he played a hand in my turmoil!
Dad had forbidden me from revealing our werewolf status to Max or Emilia— I didn't give two shits about Emilia, but it was extremely hard to hide my true self from Max. Every growl and every possessive urge I had around him had to be squished down to the ground. And despite never vocally confirming to my father that Max is my mate, he knew.
Scheiße, every werewolf in our pack had to know that I was head over heels for Paul's talkative son. The way I followed him all around Bedburg like a damn puppy had to be a giveaway.
But I wasn't allowed to reveal to Max that I was a werewolf or that he's mine without my Alpha's permission.
With that in mind, I felt my upper lip curl up over my teeth as I glared at Dad.
He huffed and straighten this posture. "You know why we couldn't tell them," he asserted.
"Because you didn't want Paul mad at you?" I growled.
Paul had taken it hard when he'd discovered his brand new boyfriend was really a werewolf, and he'd taken it extra hard when he'd found out about the mating process.
Meh, I guess I couldn't blame the guy one-hundred percent. After all, humans' instincts are really dull to the point of them being useless. With that in mind, they're incapable of feeling the mating pull, which is why the burden of courting is always placed upon the werewolf. Well, I suppose "Burden" isn't the right choice of words because, truth be told, I was excited at the prospect of wooing Max. (Werewolves really love the chase... and we love to enjoy our prize even more.)
At the end of the day, if I were in a human's shoes, I'd shoot myself for being a subpar species. But if that weren't an option, I suppose that it would make sense for them to feel stupid fear over being a werewolf's mate. An uneducated human could only rely on the horror movie tropes about werewolves that say that we're bloodthirsty, man-eaters. While that may be true for some packs, the Stubbe Pack hasn't had a human-eating incident in three years!
It really wasn't my problem. I mean, Felix isn't even part of the pack anymore.
Anyways, Dad was scared that Paul would have a negative reaction if he found out that Max was my mate. Therefore, he strictly prohibited me from revealing the truth to Max. And it all because of his selfish want to keep Paul, who has a shitty hairline that looks like the McDonald's logo, by his side!
Dad at least had the decency to look ashamed as his ears laid flat against his head. "Dominik," he muttered, unable to look me in the eye, "I understand that you're hurting right now—"
"Save it!" I snarled, even going so far as to take a threatening lurch towards Dad.
He didn't falter, but he did close his muzzle.
"Imagine if it were Paul who was leaving all the way to damn Canada!" I growled. "My mate's all the way on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean!"
There, I finally admitted to Dad that Max is my mate; although, that was more so akin to me telling him that the sky was blue. Still, it felt sort of good to get it off my chest. But my chest still ached from my mate's absence.
"Well, I'm not trying to make things worse, but Vancouver's on the Pacific Coast..."
I glared at Dad, shutting him up. Granted, I wasn't up to date with Canadian geography, but shit, I felt even worse knowing that my boy was going to be way on the farther side of North America. Could this day get any worse?!
My shoulders fell and my head began to droop. "I don't know what I'm going to do," I quietly admitted, a whimper audible in my wolfish voice.
Dad silently nodded, knowing exactly what I was referring to.
He and I both knew what happened to a wolf when their mate wasn't around: They went crazy.
When a werewolf knows their mate, their mate acts as a grounding rod, keeping them close to earth. However, when their mate was gone for long periods of time, the werewolf loses all sense of their humanity, and all they seem to be able to concentrate on is getting their mate back. This either results in them being a grumpy sad sack, going feral, or even going so far as to track down their mate to steal them away.
Damn it, I should've stolen Max when I had the chance...
Dad sighed loudly and took a step towards me. "Fine," he said, "when Max returns, you have my permission to tell him the truth... and you can mark him. That should be able to hold you over for a little while."
I scowled, but considered what Dad was offering. As much as it pained me to admit, the idea of being able to reveal my true self and my love to Max the next time he's in Deutschland did satiate my inner wolf by the smallest fraction. Plus, the thought of marking mein Hase did make my heart speed up in my chest and I instantly began to imagine how much cuter he'd look with my bite mark on his left shoulder so that every other werewolf would know that he belongs to me. That mark would be one step short of a tattoo that reads out: Property of Dominik Stubbe.
But it didn't solve one major problem.
"I suppose that'll work," I spat, side-eying my dad, "but also know that when Max does finally return, I'm not letting him leave."
Dad froze as he studied me with his yellow eyes, running them up and down my wolf form.
"Fine," he finally agreed.
My inner wolf and I smiled in tandem. All I had to do was bide my time until Max came back home, and then he'll be all mine. All mine.
Max will be all mine.