Chapter Seven

Friday – Southern Maryland

Finn

Fuck, Finn. You spent almost a year avoiding this woman to keep her from getting tangled up in your life, and now in less than ten days, she's figured it out.

I'm tense, still holding her in my arms. I try to relax, but I don't want to let her go. I know the second I do, she will run screaming from me, which will be the end of it. The loss will kill me, or I'll lose my hold on my humanity. I shouldn’t have trusted myself to try to be her Dom. I should have known I’d lose my control.

"Hey. Finn. Look at me." I focus back on her green eyes and am shocked by what I see in them. Acceptance, concern, love? What I don't see is the fear I'm expecting.

"I'm not going anywhere. I need answers, but I can wait until you're ready to give them to me. I know you're not going to hurt me. I feel safe with you and trust you, Finn. Honest." She reaches up on her tiptoes and gently kisses my cheek. "Please talk to me. I feel like the second I let go of you, you're going to run out of this house and not look back."

Slowly I shake my head.

"No, lass. I'm scared to let you go for the same reason." She exhales loudly and rests her head on my chest, squeezing me tightly.

"Good. Then it's settled, we're both fine with this. Whatever it is."

***

Melody Finn left this morning after whatever it was that happened was settled. He made his promises to be back promptly at five this evening for our date. Though, I’m not sure how to go forward with dinner and a movie when we seem to have crossed into a new level, both in our D/s relationship and our emotional one. I feel like we are traveling at warp speed towards a destiny that has already been predetermined for us, and I have no say in it and no clue where we are about to end up.

So now I’m sitting at the kitchen table in front of my laptop and have spent the last two hours researching wolves in Maryland, werewolves, Irish werewolves, legends of shapeshifters, among other crazy things. It all makes absolutely zero sense to my brain right now. I put my head in my hands, moaning loudly into the empty room, and then jump, nearly hitting the ceiling, when my phone rings.

“Hello! Fuck, my knee! Shit! Hello?” I didn’t even check the screen to see who was calling, and I hope it’s not Finn I’m cursing up a storm at right now.

“Mel! What’s wrong?” Summer says in my ear.

“Oh, sorry, Summer. The phone startled me, and I busted my knee on the table.” I’m still rubbing my knee as I check the time on my watch and see I only have an hour and fifteen minutes until Finn is supposed to pick me up. So, I close the computer and put it back into my bookbag. “What's up, hun?”

“Oh, well, I was just calling to see if you needed any help getting ready for your date with Finn. I can come over and—”

“Yes! Please, Summer, that would be amazing,” I cut her off before she can finish.

“Great, I'll be there in fifteen! See you soon!”

True to her word, Summer pulls into the driveway fifteen minutes later. We have an hour to get me date ready.

“So you got drunk, texted Finn like a crazy person. He came over. You threw up all over yourself in front of him. He spent the night, then this morning, you guys discussed hard and soft limits. He punished you, and now you’re going to dinner and a movie. Do I have that right?” Summer asks as she curls my hair with the curling iron.

“Except for the throwing up on myself part. I did make it to the bathroom. Don’t make it sound worse than it is, okay?” I sigh, rubbing my face with both hands. “Tell me, what now? How am I supposed to have some kind of normal first date conversation and not just sit awkwardly daydreaming, imagining him inside me while we’re at the movies? This seems impossible, Summer. How do you manage the D/s dynamic and a stable relationship?”

“I think you’re overthinking it. Which we both know you do with everything. You guys will have the same type of dating relationship you would without the D/s aspect. It’s up to you both to decide how much of your relationship you want D/s to be involved in. Do you think you’re an all-the-time 24/7 Master/slave couple? Is that something you guys talked about? Or something you want? It seems like you two are going to be just fine,” she says after answering her own questions before I get the chance to.

“Well, no. We didn’t discuss that. But I don’t get the feeling that is something that Finn is into, and I don’t think I would be either.” I sigh and finish up my mascara as she finishes my hair. We have about ten minutes to just enjoy some girl time before I expect Finn. “Summer, there’s something else.” I stop myself. I shouldn’t tell her, it’s not my secret to tell, and I’m not even sure what the secret is.

“Melody, look at me,” she takes my hands in hers, “you’re nervous. I get it. I was super nervous before my first date with Donnie, even more so once we experimented with the BDSM stuff. But I think you will realize that you two are just like any other couple. This will be like any other first date, just with a little spice.” She winks at me and wiggles her eyebrows. Oh, you have no idea, Summer. “Maybe you two should swing by the Munch at The Turtle tonight after dinner instead of a movie, give you the chance to talk to a few other couples and learn more about how they manage the dynamic.”

I’m shaking my head before she finishes the sentence.

“No, I really think we need some time to just be us and decompress from the intensity of last night. You know? Mellow out and get to know each other some. But I think I will suggest we skip the movie and maybe do drinks afterward instead.” I shrug as I pace the room. “Thanks again for coming over, Summer, I really needed this. How do I look?” I spin with my arms out to the side.

“I’d fuck you. But I think we have already established Finn will. So, hold still and let me get a good look at you.” She is giving me an exaggerated once over, “Perfect. You look perfect, Mel! Let me pack up this stuff and get out of here before your white knight shows up to sweep you off your feet.”

I’m not sure white knight is the best way to describe him. BDSM Werewolf is more like it. I roll my eyes, both at Summer’s comment and my own thoughts.

I help her pack up her makeup and hair products, and we kiss each other on the cheek. She wishes me luck one more time, then I watch her back out of the driveway and see her wave to Finn as they pass each other at the intersection. When Finn reaches the front door, I already have my coat on with my purse over my shoulder. I’m fiddling with my house keys in my hand, leaning up against the front door waiting for him to knock. The second he does, I take a deep breath and open the door.

“Hey there, sexy!” I smile wide at him and step out onto the porch. Before he has the chance to answer, I close the door and turn to put the key in the lock.

“Hey. You look great, Mel. Um, you’re ready to go?”

Great, and now we are back to being the awkward couple in The Sub Shoppe. Turns out Summer was right. This will be just like any other awkward and uncomfortable first date I’ve ever been on. I sigh and head down the stairs to his truck before Finn can say another word.

***

Finn Melody blows past me to the sidewalk and reaches the passenger side door of my truck before I even make it down her front steps. After this morning’s events, I have no idea how this date will go or how I’m even supposed to move forward with this relationship without one-hundred percent honesty. Which I’m not sure I’m ready for with Melody or with myself.

I jog down the sidewalk, hoping I’ll make it to open the door for her, but when I reach the driveway, she is already sitting in the passenger seat of my truck and buckling her seatbelt. We drive to The Steakhouse in total silence. I turn on the radio about fifteen minutes into our drive, but the winter storm rolling in is messing with the radio in my old truck, and it’s nothing but static. I turn it off. Another thirty minutes later and we are parked in the parking lot. She is unbuckling her seat belt when I reach over and put my hand over hers.

“Hey, lass. We need to talk. Do you mind if we sit here for a minute and get some things out in the open before dinner?” Oh God, Caomhanach. Don’t get nervous now. It’s time to tell her what’s going on, or you’re going to lose her. Get it together.

“I think you’re right. That’s probably for the best. Look, Finn, I don’t know what's going on, and if you’re not ready to tell me about how or why you seem to be some kind of BDSM werewolf, then I’m fine with–” She stops talking as I cough, trying to hide my laughter, but it's no use. BDSM werewolf? I burst out laughing.

“What did you call me?” I ask between fits of laughter. But I can tell from the look in her eyes, she clearly was serious and does not see the humor in it like I do. She folds her arms across her chest and turns away from me, glaring out the window. “Look at me, lass.” I put my hand on her knee and squeeze it, trying to lighten the mood between us. “Melody.” I’m stern when I say her name this time.

“Look at me. I wasn’t laughing at you. I was laughing at your use of the term, BDSM werewolf. Because you may have hit the nail on the head. Yes. I am.” Slowly, she turns to look at me. Her eyes are vast pools of green, but I don’t see any fear in them. I can’t explain what I see, and I’m not sure why, but I’m more terrified of what it means than if she had been scared of me.

***

Melody I’m looking at him and his eyes are filled with what I can only interpret as fear. I’m aware in an instant that this confession from him has made him positive that I will bolt from the truck screaming about how my boyfriend is a werewolf, like some bad teen horror movie. I have my seatbelt off in one quick motion and slide across the front seat towards him. I reach up and put my hand on his cheek.

“Finn, I am not afraid of you. I am not going anywhere. Do you understand that? This doesn’t change anything between us.”

He blinks and just stares into my eyes. We sit in silence, our eyes locked on one another. He pulls me to him and kisses me on the lips, cheeks, nose, and forehead. He is smothering me in kisses and squeezes me tightly to his chest. Then he is laughing. “How did I manage to get so lucky, lass. Tell me? Where have you been all my life?”

“Apparently, I’ve been right under your nose, and we just never realized it.” We both beam at one another, and I realize this is what we needed to get out in the open between us.

“Look, Finn. I don’t know all the facts, and as I said before, I don’t need them right now. You are what you are, and I accept that. We will figure this out together. What I do know is that I am crazy about you. I told you last night, I have been for months. We will find a way to make this work because I am not going anywhere, I promise.” I finish by kissing him again.

“Do you want to go inside and get something to eat? We can talk over dinner, but if you don’t mind, I have something else in mind for afterward?” he asks.

I smile and kiss him on the lips in response. Leaning into him, I soak up all of the warmth I can. I take a deep breath and pull back to look him in the eyes. “Of course. Let’s go.”

***

We are led to a high-backed booth by the hostess and settle in across from each other. After we place our orders and our drinks arrive, I pick at the roll on my plate and listen to Finn tell me about growing up in Ireland. About his family and learning the lore of the wolves from the time he was a toddler. Hearing the bedtime stories about the shifters and how they roamed their families' lands, protecting them from other predators. He tells me there was a full moon on his sixteenth birthday, and he shifted for the first time.

Confused and scared, he remembered the tales his grandma and grand da had told him. He spent the night curled under his bed, and the following day when he woke, he was back in his human form.

He tells me about the pack back in Ireland that his grandda, uncles, cousins, and second cousins are all a part of. But his dad brought them here to the states when his brother turned sixteen, hoping that being away from their family land, they wouldn’t shift. Our dinner arrives, and we eat in comfortable silence. He pays the bill afterwards, and we go out to the truck.

Back in the privacy of the truck, I ask him, “So after you moved here and you shifted for the first time, was your dad able to help you through things? How have you gotten on all of these years? I mean, do you, your brother, and dad always shift when it’s a full moon?”

He looks out the window. “Lass, my da died when I was seventeen.”

“Oh, Finn. I didn’t realize.” I reach across and hold his hand. “I’m so sorry.”

“It’s all right. You couldn’t have known. There was a car accident, and he didn’t make it. Colin was already twenty-three when it happened, and it was just my ma and me then.” I look down and notice him wringing his hands together. “Right after I shifted for the first time, I spoke with my da about it. He explained it all to me and told me the lore was true, all of what we’d heard when we were kids. He told me how we moved here to the states when Colin shifted for the first time because he was adamant that he wouldn’t become Alpha and be in charge when my grand da passes.” Finn’s eyes fill with unshed tears, and I reach out to hold his hand, stopping his fidgeting. “He wanted us to have a normal life. Because he believed our family was cursed.” He pauses and looks out the window then.

“I asked him to take me back. I wanted to be a part of the pack. I wanted to be with our family, but he refused.” When he turns back to face me, the tears are gone, and I’m not sure what emotion I’m seeing on his face. “When he died, I let it go. I couldn't leave Ma here. Colin and I are all she has. She won’t go back to Ireland, and I refuse to leave her alone.”

“Where is Colin now?”

“Here in the county, living with our ma. Helping to take care of the house and keeping an eye on her. He feels like it’s his duty as the man of the house since he is the oldest. He isn't as adjusted to what we are. He has never fully accepted it, and because of that, he struggles to make friends or have relationships.”

“But you embrace it?” I ask. “You enjoy being the wolf.” I know I’m right by the way he talks about it. The look in his eyes. Finn prefers to be the wolf more than a man.

“Yes, lass, I do. It’s why I go back to Ireland as much as I can. I learned to control it within the first year, shifting on command not shifting only for a full moon. My da wouldn’t teach me any more than that. Colin hasn’t been back to Ireland since we moved here. That’s it, lass, that’s everything. Now you know.”

I sit quietly for a few moments, just looking into his eyes, and it doesn’t change a thing.

“You are what you are, Finn. This is you. It doesn’t change how I feel about you. It doesn’t change what’s between us. I told you before dinner, I’m not going anywhere, and I stand by that. I’m not leaving unless you want me to.” I nuzzle into him further. “I want to be with you and see what this is between us. This, you, the truth about what you are. It doesn’t change that. We are what we are. I don’t see this as any different from accepting that we want to be in a D/s relationship. Yes, it’s not for everyone. Not everyone will understand, and not everyone will be okay with it, but it is who we are. You being a wolf is the same as that.” I smile, hoping he will too.

“How are you so amazing? Really, how did I get so lucky?” Finn asks, squeezing my hand.

“I think maybe I’m just relieved that I’m not crazy and that the wolf I have been hearing howl every night has just been you. The dreams have been my subcon—” I stop because the look in his eyes tells me I’m wrong.

“What wolves, Melody? You told me you had a bad dream. But I didn’t know… What the fuck is going on?” Finn is starting to yell, and I’m caught off guard now.

“It wasn’t you in the woods outside of my house this week?” I’m starting to panic because he is freaking me out.

“I was at your house,” he confesses, seeming to be embarrassed by his confession. “But that was only on Tuesday. Are you saying that someone was there other than that? When?” There is anger in his voice, he is pissed, and I’m not sure why. I start to recap the week.

“So, Monday, I had the dream about the wolves for the first time. I told you about that, then Tuesday night I was out on the deck—”

“Okay, that was me. I was there Tuesday. You went back into the house, and I left once I knew you were out of the cold,” he explains.

“I had the dream again on Tuesday, and I heard you again. It was late in the night, maybe three or four in the morning. Then Wednesday, I had the dream, but when I woke up in the night, I heard them that night too. Thursday, I came home from Sam’s house and, before the wine, when I was unlocking the door, you were across the street, right? In the trees?” I’m staring directly into his eyes, and I see them change from chocolate brown to amber and fill with barely contained anger.

“No, Melody. The only night I was at your house, the only night I shifted this week, was Tuesday. I wasn’t there after you went back inside or any other night. Are you sure of what you saw?” Finn replies, his eyes almost glowing now.

“Yes, Finn. I’m positive. What is going on? If it wasn’t you, then who has been at my house? Are there actual wolves in Calvert County?” I’m starting to panic. The idea of Finn being a wolf outside of my house doesn’t scare me. But the thought of there being other wolves, real wolves, or other werewolves we don’t know. It’s freaking me out.

“I don’t know. But I’m taking you home right now. I have a bad feeling about this, and I’m going to get to the bottom of it, lass.” He starts the truck, and we sit in silence as he pulls out onto the road.

***

Finn I decided to take her home with me before we even got out of the parking lot of The Steakhouse. I don’t know if she is going to go for the idea. I don’t have to work for the next two days, and I want to make sure she is safe, at home with me, and not at her house alone over the weekend. Until I find out who or what is hanging around outside of Melody’s house every night, I’m not letting her out of my sight.

***

Melody We drive out of town onto the highway back towards my house. I stare out the window into the dark woods passing by. Squinting, I try to see any sign of life. That’s when I zone out.

I’m back in the woods. I’m cold, my skin is damp, and I'm wearing only a lacy peach tank top with a pair of boy shorts. I’m surrounded. Eight sets of red eyes are focused on me. I can hear their footfalls and the crunching of leaves under their paws. The ground under me is soft with moss, and it sticks under my nails as I dig my fingers into the dirt. I smell the earthy scent of rotting leaves on the forest floor. Listening closely, I can hear them breathing, sniffing the air. I try to focus on a sound in the distance, waves? The ocean, maybe.

I take a breath and try to smell salt in the air. Suddenly a stick snaps, and he is there lunging at me from the wood line, the one wolf with amber eyes. He puts himself in front of me, crouching low to the ground, and snarls at the threat facing us. All eight wolves toss their heads back and howl in unison. Then each one adds his own melody to the song, and I’m taken back by how terrifyingly beautiful they sound. I cringe and squeeze my eyes closed as the first one leaps forward, and I hear rather than see the clashing of the two Alphas in front of me.

***

The sound of small pellets of ice bouncing off the roof of Finn's truck brings me back to reality with a jolt.

“Hey, lass. Where’d you go?” I turn to Finn, and a passing car's headlights light up his chocolate brown eyes. He looks tired, and I know he has something on his mind that he’s not telling me.

“Am I in danger, Finn?”

He sighs. “I don’t know, love. Honest. I wish I could tell you with absolute certainty that you’re not. But I have a feeling that I can’t quite put my finger on. I want you to stay with me for a few days, though, until we get to the bottom of it. Your parents are still going to be gone all of next week?”

I nod in agreement and sigh with relief. I was not looking forward to being home alone tonight, or any night for that matter.

“What about work?” I ask as I reach across the center console to hold his hand. “Don’t you have to start working nights this week?”

“I do, but not until Monday night. That gives me over forty-eight hours to try and get us some answers. Hopefully, by the time I head to work Monday afternoon, we will have this all figured out. First thing tomorrow, I will be calling a buddy of mine who works for the Department of Natural Resources. I have some questions before we start to get too much into other possibilities.” I nod again, still trying to put all of the pieces together. I’m exhausted from all of the night's events.

“I’ll take you back to your house to pack a bag before we head to my place, but can we make it quick?” he asks, squeezing my hand in his. “I don’t want to be out driving in this storm. It smells like it's gonna be a big one.”

“Yeah, I just need to grab a couple of changes of clothes. I’ll be fast.” Finn is squinting up at the sky through the windshield, and I can see the sleet is picking up as we make our way slowly down the now slush-covered road. I wrap my coat more tightly around myself and send up a silent prayer that we make it home safely. Winters in Southern Maryland aren’t known for their snow. They are known for ice storms that knock out power and shut down travel for days. From the looks of it, we may be spending the weekend iced in at Finn’s place.