I feel like I'm starting to fall into darkness, it's too much for me. Everything that is happening now is too strong a shock for my psyche. Before my eyes, first my child turned into a wolf cub, and then an adult man turned into a huge forest predator. In reality, one single thought is holding me back, that if I lose consciousness now, the men will take my son away. And it is still unknown what they will do with it. I step over in place, breathe deeply, shake my head, trying not to pass out. I have to save Nicholas from them. I won't let it be taken from me. Only over my dead body.

Chapter 9

Silently we sit at the table with the whole company, we drink tea. We have nothing to say to each other, we still cannot reach an agreement. The only thing I allowed to do was give Nick some kind of herbal decoction to drink. With difficulty, but Alex, who turned out to be a good diplomat, convinced me that this was a necessity. This decoction is given to all little wolf cubs before their first treatment, in order to give them strength and facilitate this difficult process. I did not know that. Moreover, I did not suspect the existence of werewolves in the real world and could not even think that my adopted son would be one of them.

Brandon drills me with his gray eyes, his gaze heavy, penetrating. It scares me, making me shiver from the cold, from which even hot tea does not save. Alex long persuaded him to return to human form. As he later explained, in moments of rage, a wolf can take over a person, then the conversion occurs involuntarily, and it is more difficult to return human consciousness. Alex generally turned out to be a smart young man, my irritation from our first meeting disappeared, leaving room for gratitude and respect for smoothing out our conflict. I'm afraid that if not for Alex, Brandon would have taken the baby from me by force.

- How are we going to solve the current situation? Alex breaks the oppressive silence.

- And what is there to decide? - Brendon responds irritably, - Nicholas is my son. He is the future leader of the pack, I feel the power of the alpha in him. And he must grow up in his native world, among those like himself.

- I do not agree, - I object to him, - The boy needs maternal love and affection. With a father as domineering as you, he will grow up mentally unstable.

- Listen, woman, I'm not touching you, just because you helped save my son's life. But if you become impudent and throw such phrases, you will not live long.

- Don't scare me! I jump to my feet. He annoys me! There is so much complacency and arrogance in him that I want to bring him down from heaven to earth, - We lived perfectly together until you appeared.

- Calm down, - Alex throws up his hands in a conciliatory gesture, - Arina, I don't want to take sides, but now Brandon is right. You lived quietly until the first conversion, but now Nick is not just a small child, a wolf lives inside him, which will demand an exit. He needs to be brought up in a special way, taught to get along and negotiate with his wolf, he needs forest, hunting, freedom. You can't give him all that in the city. Especially since he's the only one here. He will feel like an outcast.

I understand that there is a reason in Alex's words. I won’t take my child out into the yard at night on a leash for a walk. Some wildness! Maybe move to a separate house, closer to the forest? Anyway, I work remotely. But Nick really needs to interact with his peers, I can't isolate him. What if he tells someone? And if he is recognized as mentally unstable because of this? Or even worse, they will be taken away for some experiments? Or will everyone around him be afraid of him? No, I can't risk my son's fate like that. But I don't want to agree with Brandon either. To agree is to fail, and I will not allow myself to be pushed around.

- Good. Where do you live? I can bring my son to you for the weekend or for the holidays, - I make my offer, to which this unfortunate dad immediately rolls his beautiful eyes.

Are you stupid or are you pretending? - he growls at me, - Yes, you understand that ...

- Calm down, Brandon, - Alex interrupts him, patting him on the shoulder, - Arina doesn't know much about our world that you know. Therefore, one should not draw premature conclusions about her mental abilities.

I smile gratefully at him, trying not to show that I was hurt by Brandon's hurtful words. I'm not stupid! I'm just looking for different options, while he only knows what to growl or turn into a wolf.

- Arin, - continues Alex, - Young wolves do not control the conversions for some time. Therefore, Nicholas cannot stay in your world, go to a human kindergarten. He can suddenly turn into a wolf cub, scare other children and caregivers. It is unknown where this will lead. Cleaners then hesitate to rake up the consequences.

- Cleaners? - I ask in bewilderment. - Who is it?

- This is a special race that can erase the memory of people and creatures. They are called when people accidentally witness some kind of magical incident. If you're interested, I can introduce you to a couple. Great guys, just a little boring. Too fond of rules and order. True, if you get them drunk ..

- That's enough, - Brandon violently hits the table with his fist, - I can set the cleaners on you too, if we don't agree on a good one. I'm taking my son.

- But...

- No "buts". He is mine. I have been looking for it for four years.

- Brandon, maybe we'll just take Arina with us? I am sure that she will find a place in our flock, - offers Alex.

- Why do I need her? - this impudent one is sincerely surprised, - I have a whole flock of females, and this one does not even smell of anything.

- By the way, just need to find out why. It's interesting and unusual, - Alex says thoughtfully. Their dialogue reminds me of joint interrogation, a method popularly called "good cop"/"bad cop".

- I'm not interested. I need my child, whom she stubbornly refuses to return to me. And I'm ready to take him by any means, - Brandon replies firmly.

I listen to how they discuss the fate of me and my child, as if I were not here. I feel my inner irritation build up, turning into rage.

- Listen, wolves, - insinuatingly, in a voice bubbling with barely restrained anger, I say, - I don’t know who you imagined yourself to be. Do you think that if you are magical creatures, then you can do anything?

I catch my breath.

- You, - I point my finger at Alex, - You decide for me that I should leave my whole life here and go to some of your flock to live in the forest, without the benefits of civilization. And you, - I'm already pointing at Brandon, - Don't you dare call me a female. I am a woman. And it doesn't matter to me that you are the alpha, on whom all the she-wolves of your pack flow. I am human. I don't care that you don't need me. If there are no other options, then I will go with my child anywhere, as long as he is comfortable and well. And your unwillingness won't stop me. Understandably?

I look at the brothers, trying to understand if my words have reached them.

- And by the way, - I proudly complete my monologue, - Don't sniff me, I'm not your girlfriend. In humans, such behavior is considered indecent. Only my man will sniff me. And not some "good boys" passing by.

I turn around and walk out of the kitchen. Let them decide whatever they want, but I need to sleep. Eyes stick together, the brain, which has experienced too much today, requires rest. I lie down in bed, pulling my son, who has again become an ordinary boy of four and a half years, to me, I wearily close my eyes. I hope they figure it out without me and lay themselves on the couch. It would be nice if the saying about morning and evening worked. In the morning I wake up from a nightmare in which my son was stolen by wolves. My face is in a cold sweat, I rummage along the other side of the bed with my hand and with relief I find a child sleeping peacefully next to me. I look at the clock, it's only 5 am. I stretch and decide to take a shower.

As I expected, the brothers settled down on the sofa in the living room, covered themselves with a blanket and are now sleeping peacefully. Here are the formidable forest predators for you. And in a dream they look so calm and sweet. Looking at Brandon, he's definitely an attractive man. Sensual lips, sharply defined cheekbones with a small stubble that makes him even more masculine. Without that frown on his forehead and menacing look, he seems even more beautiful to me. But Alex in a dream looks like a teenager who has just begun to learn about life. He lacks only a finger in his mouth, he seems so innocent and open.

I take a shower, already leaving, I understand that out of habit I didn’t take clothes with me, which means I’ll have to go out in a towel. Which is not a very good idea, given the presence of two strangers in my living room, which I will have to walk through with my bare feet flashing. However, do they sleep? So no one will know.

Stealthily, I leave the bathroom, trying not to make noise so as not to wake the guests. I quietly walk along the corridor, at the door I run into Brandon, who got up so at the wrong time. Well, could not wake up 10 minutes late? Annoyingly I stomp my foot, I catch his attentive, evaluating look on me. It passes over my bare legs, lingers on my hands, with which I press the towel to my chest, follows my neck and rests on my face. I blush. The situation is awkward for me. Brendon blinks a couple of times and returns his gaze to my chest.

- Where did you get that? - takes a couple of steps forward, literally slamming me into the wall with his powerful body. I feel my skin crawl from such close contact.

- What is it? I ask, not understanding what he means. My breathing quickens a little, I eagerly inhale the smell of a man, reminding me of a coniferous forest after a rain on a summer morning.

- This, - runs hot fingers along my neck, takes the medallion in my hand, which I have been wearing since childhood, without taking it off.

“I don’t remember, he is always with me,” for some reason I answer in a whisper, feeling some strange attraction and excitement that grow in my body. The proximity of this man excites, I don’t remember that I had such a powerful reaction to someone before, - Could you move away?

- What? - Brandon, who is examining the medallion, looks at my face with an uncomprehending look. His other hand is on my waist. Even through the towel I feel how hot fingers lightly stroke the skin.

- Move away. Could you not invade my personal space? I repeat, clearing my throat, “I don’t like this.

The man stands motionless for another minute, then, as if realizing what is happening, moves away from me. I exhale with relief. Yes, that's better. At least, the thought that only a towel and his shirt separates me from contact with this strong, hot male body almost ceases to flicker in my head.

- Take off the medallion, I want to see it, - he asks. But no, hurry up, Brandon orders.

- What for? - I ask him in bewilderment, - It's just a golden circle with some symbols. I consider it my mascot, so I never take it off. Sorry, I want to get dressed.

I slip into the living room, leaving the man in the hallway, go into my room and close the door. I dress quickly, check on the baby. There is no temperature, in a dream he smiles at something. Looks healthy. Yesterday, Alex said that after the first appeal, the wolf cub can sleep for a day, or even two, and this is absolutely normal. But this fact still confuses me, I'm not used to this fidget and perpetual motion machine sleeping for so long.

Something must be decided. Unfortunately, it didn’t get any easier in the morning, I’m still not going to give my son to my father, but at the same time I realize that we won’t be able to live the way we lived before. The involuntary conversions, the need to associate with fellow peers, and the need to learn how to communicate with one's own wolf all create a problem that only sending Nick to another world can solve. Where he was born, where his true home is. But I can't just let my child go with a man I don't trust. I can't stay without him. Looks like I'm going to have to pack my bags and move into the woods. For Nicholas's sake, I'll go for something else.

I go out into the living room again, noting that Alex has also stood up. The men are talking animatedly about something. Not otherwise, they are discussing how to push the child out from under my nose.

- Will you eat? I ask loudly, getting their attention.

- Good morning, Arina! - Smiling broadly, Alex says, - I would not refuse a steak. Does this house serve this?

- Meat? On breakfast? I wonder. Then I remember who is in front of me, - Well, your order is accepted. Let's go to the kitchen, I'll cook quickly.

- You are a miracle! - Alex continues to rejoice. I smile at him. Well, just like a child! But this openness is very conducive. I notice that Brandon is frowning again, looking from me to his brother.

In the kitchen I take out the meat that I bought so well the day before yesterday in the supermarket. I'm starting to prepare breakfast for the hungry werewolves. Who would have thought that something like this would happen to me.

- Arin, - the good brother calls me, I turn my head, - Brandon said that you have an unusual locket. Will you take a look?