➿ present ➿
  
  
  Daniel
  
  
  
  Laurie sprints towards Oliver like he’s running away from the big bad wolf (me), and Oliver picks him up to kiss him all over, rubbing his scent on him like he’s trying to reclaim our kid as his and only his. 
  
  I join Harry and Carolina at the table, trying to act normal, like having Oliver around me is just the most normal thing ever, even though it’s definitely not and I’m internally freaking out. 
  
  “Just so you guys know… I told Felix the truth. About all of us.” Oliver says and walks to the couch to sit next to Rosie, while Felix follows him slowly with a nervous smile on his stupid face, “He’s trustworthy, okay? I even showed him my wolf and he was fine with it.”
  
  I turn to Harry and we share a worried look. Trusting in humans is a big risk for us. Huge risk.
  
  They could try to expose us to the rest of their kind and that would be fatal for everyone involved. They would try to stick their head where it doesn’t belong, we would have to defend ourselves, probably killing a lot of them, and they would have to defend themselves, probably killing all of us. 
  
  “I hope he is, for his sake and ours.” Lucinda mutters, giving Felix the coldest stare possible. The human nods repeatedly.
  
  “I would never tell anyone. They wouldn’t believe me anyway.” he tries to joke, but no one laughs so he awkwardly sits next to Oliver on the couch.
   
  Fück. 
  
  Everything is so messed up already and now I have yet another security risk to worry about. This is why we keep to ourselves, it’s safer. And also, humans are stupid and gross and evil most of the time. And weak. And honestly not even that attractive.
  
  Also… I feel a little betrayed by Oliver’s wolf. I get that Oli the human hates my guts with a passion, but Oli the wolf is the one that’s supposed to love me. 
  
  He is the one who chose me immediately, who loved me since day one. So why would he show himself to that fücking human? My wolf refused for about two years to show himself around Clara because she wasn’t Oliver. This stings a lot more than I’d like to admit.
  
  Once I stop myself from thinking about Oliver for half a second, I join the conversation at the table and try to pay attention to what Carolina is saying, but I can feel the human looking at me.
  
  I let it pass the first time, but the fücker keeps looking at me. And every time I catch his eyes, the urge to punch him grows more and more powerful because he's touching Oliver. On his back, on his leg, on his neck.
  
  That feels like a direct attack on me and I want to retaliate, but I know I’ll just make everything worse. 
  
  Oliver, by the way, has been sitting on the couch this whole time talking to his sisters, pretending I don't exist. Letting another man touch him right in front of me. 
  
  “Are you ready to talk to Clara?” Harry asks all of a sudden. Since my eyes were on Oliver, I can see that he hears the question and turns towards us for a single second, until he realizes I'm looking at him and looks back. 
  
  “Yes," I answer, taking a big breath and letting my immature side come out a little, “I mean, it's always better to clear the air soon and communicate clearly, before the problem grows any bigger.” 
  
  Oliver frowns and clenches his fists on his legs, but the stupid human rushes to hug him.  
  
  “Oookay… come here," Harry stands up and pulls me by the arm. He walks with me until we go out to the backyard and we keep going until we’re as far away from the house as possible, “Now be honest, how are you feeling about this Oliver-Laurie thing? Lucinda hates you right now, but I'm just confused.”
  
  “Everyone hates me right now, the word is out," I complain, pointing towards the house. Even Rosie, the kindest, sweetest girl in the world gave me an icy stare as she passed me by, “Man, I don't know how I feel. My brain still hasn’t caught on to what's going on. I look at Laurie and I feel like I'm in an alternate universe.”
  
  We both turn to the kids running around the yard at the same time, lucinda’s twins and my son. 
  
  God, I have to look away. 
  
  “Why didn't you ever tell me?” Harry asks, sitting down on the floor and signaling me to do the same, "When Oliver left... you could have said something. You know I would have kept your secret.”
  
  “When Oliver left, I didn't know what to do with myself. I was lost," I admit, looking down at my hands and trying not to remember that time, "I was living on autopilot for a long time. We didn't just have a summer fling or something, Harry... Oliver and I are compatible to be mates. My wolf hated me when he left, I couldn't transform for a whole year. And he's hating me again for not doing something now that he's back.”
  
  “Do you want to do something now that he's back?” he asks with surprise on his eyes. I shake my head... then shrug, “What was that?”
  
  “I don't know, man,” I admit, hating how my eyes start to feel heavy, “I have to think about my wife, but... Oliver is still my perfect mate, according to mother nature. And now I have to deal with the fact that I have a son with him and we'll be connected forever.” 
  
  “If it weren't for Clara…”
  
  “If it weren't for Clara, that human would be dead right now for touching what's mine,” I state, letting myself fantasize just a little about going up to that human and ripping his head off, “But she doesn't deserve to be cast aside just like that for someone else.”
  
  “And Oli does?l Harry asks, looking confused and disappointed, "It's basically what you did to him, except it was even worse. You were literally fücking him when you dumped him to marry his sister. I can't imagine how hard it was for him.” 
  
  The knot in my stomach becomes painful with every word that comes out of his mouth. My wolf growls inside me, hating me for hurting Oli. 
  
  “I...” I sniffle, my voice cracking. My eyes getting more and more sore, until I can't take it anymore and let the pressure out, “I never meant to...”
  
  “I know, I'm sorry,” he takes it back and puts a hand on my shoulder as I cover my face and turn the other way, so as not to let him see my stupid tears, “Daniel, I'm sorry for say that.”
  
  “You shouldn't be sorry, it's what everyone thinks. It's the truth," I let go, "That makes it worse.”
  
  I never let myself think deeply about how Oliver might have felt because it was easy to pretend nothing happened and go about my life on autopilot, waiting for him to come back to deal with my feelings. 
   
  Except he never came back. 
  
  Years went by and I never had a chance to give the situation a second thought because he evaporated. And every time they talked about him, about my best friend... it was easy to pretend that everything was still the same. That he'd be back any minute, but he never did.
  
  Until now.
  
  “I want to beat myself up for what I did," I continued, still unable to look up at Harry, "I was an idiot. I let my father influence me and force me to focus only on Clara to such a degree that I ignored what I had with Oliver because it just simply wasn't part of the plan.”
  
  “Your father is the real idiot here," Harry mutters. And he is. Totally, “I hope he doesn't try to come back into your life once he hears about Laurie.”
  
  “Fück no," I growl, thinking of that vermin near my son, "I won't let that happen.”
  
  We stand out there for a while until I hear a car pulling into the driveway and I know the time has come. Clara is here. 
  
  
  
  
  Oliver
  
  
  
  
  As soon as Clara arrives, I grab Felix's hand and walk quickly to my room. It may look like I ran, but I didn't because I'm an adult. I just walked quickly. 
  
  After running in the woods for who knows how long, I returned to Felix and he was still there, trying not to lose his mind because of what he had just seen. 
  
  I went back to my human form and blurted out the whole story about Daniel. He didn't take it as badly as I thought, but that's maybe because he thinks he's dreaming.
  
  “What happened?” Felix asks when we're in my room.
  
  “Clara is here. Daniel is going to tell her about Laurie and us,” I tell him and his eyebrows raise with surprise, “I don't want to be accessible to her if she decides to come and attack me... You'll protect me if she does, right?”
  
  “Uh,” he thinks about it seriously, “I can try.”
  
  His innocence makes me laugh and I throw myself at him to hug him hard. 
  
  “I'm so grateful you didn't run away after finding out the truth. I couldn't do this alone.”
  
  “Oliver, you're my boyfriend," he reminds me, putting a hand on my back to calm me down, "You're not getting rid of me that easily. And know that I know how difficult this situation is for you, I can't leave you alone.”
  
  He’s so perfect.
  
  “Come here,” I whisper and bring his face close to mine to give him a very well deserved kiss. Felix responds immediately, “You are the best boyfriend in the world.”
  
  Felix sits on the bed and naturally, I follow him and sit on top of him, still kissing him.
  
   With Laurie in the room with us, we couldn't do anything but hold hands last night, but today I can't wait any longer. 
  
  Having Daniel around has always been a trigger for my sëx drive and it sucks to have to satiate the urge with someone else, but it's not like I have a choice. 
  
  Maybe I will close my eyes and imagine someone else underneath me, but Felix will enjoy himself too. I'll make it good for him.