Oliver
    
    
     Nobody told me. Nobody warned me. 
    
     I hear heavy footsteps on the stairs and I turn around, trying to shake my nose to get rid of the annoying smell of Daniel that stupid Clara is carrying around on her.
    
     And then I see him. For the first time in four years. Daniel. 
    
     He's twenty-seven now and has grown a beard lately. His body was always massive, but now he's even more muscular than before and maybe even taller. He's like a tank that smells like heaven and I want to kill him. 
    
     Our gazes connect for a second and it's like someone punching me in the chest and knocking all the air out of me. That's how I want to feel when I look at Felix. Like I could die happily right now because I have everything I need when his eyes are on me. 
    
     A sea of butterflies pass all over my body and I can feel the animal inside me circling impatiently, begging me to get up and go with him. Our alpha. Our man. 
    
     But that will never happen. 
    
     I tear my eyes from him and meet Lucinda's gaze, who immediately understands what I mean.
    
     Daniel finishes coming down the stairs and takes a couple of steps towards me, without breaking contact even once, directly to talk to me as if he has the right to do so, but fortunately Lucinda intercepts him.
    
     “You look a lot better than last night, buddy," she tells him and taps his shoulder sharply several times, trying to get his attention. And even though I'm not looking at him anymore, I can feel that he still hasn’t taken his eyes off me.
    
     “That's your friend, isn't it?” Felix asks, "The one in your pictures. Hello, good morning.”
    
     Felix's voice is ignored by everyone. Daniel opens his mouth to say something, but Lucinda grabs his arm and pulls that gigantic body without much difficulty towards the corridor that leads to the laundry room. 
    
     And only then I relax, though not for long, because I know what's coming. A sea of drama I don't want to deal with.
    
     “Felix, I need to talk to you," I whisper and my boyfriend looks at me for a few seconds before nodding. He sets his cup on the coffee table and stands when I do, "We'll be back in a moment, can you watch Laurie?”
    
     “Sure," Carolina replies with a sweet smile, looking down at the pups lying near her feet, playing, "I'll take care of him.”
    
     Felix and I leave the house and head to my car because the truth is I want to be as far away from this place as I can while Daniel finds out I hid his son for three and a half years, and while he gets to know him. 
    
    I know I'm being a coward, but I don't want to see that first meeting. I couldn't bear it. 
    
     “Where are we going? You're acting kind of weird... since we got here, if I'm honest," Felix says as I start the car and start driving aimlessly.
     
    “I'm sorry, baby, it's just that there's something important I have to tell you about my family, but I didn't want to tell you until you met them.”
    
     “What is it?”
    
     “It's hard to explain," I begin, driving towards the main street, "What do you think of my family? Of the people you've met in Fallonmore?”
    
     “Uhhhh, well," he thinks for a few seconds, trying to understand where I'm going with this, "I don't know, I think they're nice. Good people, a little fancy. Kind of... well, now that I think about it more, I think they're kind of weird about the whole smelling thing. You guys smell each other all the time.”
    
     “Yeah, it's something we do a lot. It's part of our culture.”
    
     “Aha... you also say some things that don't make a lot of sense. Like when your sister's son said I smelled like a human and nobody corrected him. They just laughed.”
    
     “That's what I wanted to tell you,” I start and I feel Felix's eyes on me, “We're not exactly human. And the people you've met are my direct family, but this whole town is my clan. We are... werewolves.”
    
     Felix listens carefully until that last word and lets out an incredulous laugh.
    
     “Yes, of course... Do you transform into a half-man, half-wolf on the full moon?”
    
     “No. We turn into a full wolf whenever we want," I answer and he laughs again, "Do you want to see?”
    
     “Oli, stop playing games. Tell me what you wanted to tell me.”
    
     “I'm not playing, Felix. I didn't want to tell you before because I was afraid you would think I was a crazy person making up weird things or that you would be too scared to meet my family," I say and I can feel him slowly start to believe me and get nervous, "There is nothing weird about these people, about my family. We are good, we care about each other, we go to work, we go to school and we know how to live with humans without any problem.”
    
     “That's impossible, Oliver. Maybe that's what you think, but...”
    
     “No, Felix. It's true. I can teach you if you promise not to be scared. There's a wolf inside me, all the time. It's an omega wolf, it's brown and white. He likes to run for hours and hunt and eat squirrels. The squirrel thing is a little disgusting but I literally cannot stop him.” 
    
     And he's also in love with Daniel. He yearns for him all the fücking time. 
    
     “What?” He asks again, but this time he's talking to himself, trying to rationalize the truth inside his human head where nothing interesting ever happens, “Is this true?”
     
    “Yes. My wolf helps me with certain things. He makes my senses sharper, my condition higher and my body stronger than a human is," I continue to explain, driving around my old school, watching all the kids trough the windows, taking classes, "All the people of Fallonmore have a wolf inside. We're from the same clan, but we're not the only one that exists. Just here in Ontario are four big clans, one of them is us. And some savage from another clan attacked my dad yesterday, they tried to rip his throat out. That's why we're here.”
    
     That makes him look at me with more attention and more credibility. This morning he listened while we were talking about that, about my father's neck injury. 
    
     “If this is true... everything I believe in and have believed in all my life would be a lie," he mutters, as if talking to himself again.
    
     “Not necessarily, Felix. One doesn't exclude the other. I know you believe in god," I tell him and put a hand on his leg, "We do too. We believe that god presents through mother nature, who gave us the power of the wolf thousands of years ago.”
    
     “Does that mean there are other things, like vampires?”
    
     “I have no idea," I answer with a laugh because he's not taking it as badly as I thought he would, "Maybe.”
    
     “Fück," he curses and leans back against the seat, bringing his hands to his head to tousle his hair, "I can't help but think you're pulling a joke on me.”
    
     “I swear I’m not. I can show you my wolf any time.”
    
     “Okay," he agrees, as if it's a challenge, "Show me.”
    
     I change the trajectory to the forest. When we arrive to this open place where my wolf can run, I stop the car.
    
     Felix gets out of the car with me and when I start to take off my clothes, he looks around.
    
     “Oli... Can you undress in public?”
    
     “Only if I’m planning to shift. Nudity is necessary if I don't want to destroy my clothes," I announce and when I'm naked, I connect my eyes with his, "My wolf has never hurt a person. He’s not dangerous. You don't have to be scared.”
    
    Felix doesn't even believe me, but nods anyway and I move a little away from him. I close my eyes and connect with my wolf, waking him up and calling him to come out. When he wakes up and takes over, my bones make a horrible sound that make Felix gasp in fear and move closer to me, but I back up again when I feel my legs change to long ones. 
    
    It's been years since I've done this, so it feels a little more painful than usual. Felix is yelling something, but I don't hear him, I just surrender my body and let my bones settle. Letting my skin hide to give him an outlet. 
    
    “Holy shït. Oh, god. Holy shït," Felix exclaims and falls to the ground on his äss, rolling backwards in fear even though I warned him I'm not bad. My wolf gets excited to be outside after so long and starts pacing around, testing to see if his legs still work.
    
    Before he wants to bolt, I force him to come over to Felix and give his leg a couple of licks, like he's a big friendly dog. That calms my boyfriend down a bit, but that's the last I know because my wolf takes over and runs off into the woods.
    
    For the first time in a long time, I feel like myself.