“Like… you know.”
Her eyes widened slightly. “Oh. That’s….” She squinted at me. “Equally?”
“What?”
“You like girls and guys. Equally? Or one more than the other?”
I shrugged. “Maybe the same? I can’t say for sure because I’ve never done anything with a guy.” I winced. “I really wish I hadn’t said that.”
She blushed. “Well. You’re eighteen. You can… you know. Do. That. As an adult.”
“Oh god,” I groaned.
“No, no. It’s okay!” She sounded nervous. “I just…. You always hear that parents just know these things about their kids. I… didn’t know.” She frowned. “Does that make me a bad mom?”
“No! Er. No. Nope. You’re… great. At. The mom thing.”
She sighed. “Ox.”
“Yeah?”
“I don’t care about stuff like that.”
“What stuff?”
“If you’re gay or whatever.”
“Bisexual,” I said as if that would make it any better.
“Bisexual,” she said. “Okay.”
“This is awkward.”
“Is it?”
“Isn’t it?”
“You look scared,” she said.
I looked down at the floor. “I didn’t want to make you mad,” I managed to get out.
&n
bsp; And then her arms were around my waist and her head was against my chest. I put my forehead on her shoulder and hugged her back.
“I could never be mad at you for being who you are,” she said quietly. “And I’m sorry if I ever made you think that.”
“So. It’s not. Weird? Or anything?”
She laughed. “Ox. You are a part of a pack of werewolves and you’re asking me if something like this is weird?”
“You’re pack too,” I said quickly.
And she was. To an extent. Ever since that moment when Thomas had touched her head and she’d become aware of just how strange the world could be, she’d been pack. It had taken her weeks to accept what she’d seen, and maybe a little longer to believe it down to her bones. Kelly told me that for a long while, she’d stunk of fear anytime she’d come into contact with the Bennetts. I told him not to take it personally, and he’d just laughed and put his arm around my shoulders and said that of course they wouldn’t.
She didn’t come with us on full moons most times, but Thomas had insisted that she train like the rest of us when she could. At first, she was quiet and awkward. At first, she did little.
I don’t know what changed. Maybe it was when Thomas took her on a walk through the forest and spoke with her about things I never asked about after. Maybe it was when Elizabeth took her to lunch and they drank peach wine and giggled like little girls. Maybe it was me and how she saw I needed this. Needed them.