Lone Wolf.

"John, what the hell is going on? John?"
I was facing her dresser, hands gripping each side with my back to her. I could see her puzzled expression in her reflection. Her mother was alive. And she was a wolf. Is that why Serena got defensive when I brought up the idea of another wolf? Not because she could be one, but because she knew it was her mother and was trying to protect her? But why wouldn't she tell me if that was the case?
There was no way of telling whether she knew the truth.
Serena stands from the bed, face full of concern. She probably wondered what the hell was wrong with me for acting so strange.
Taking a steadying breath, I turn around, guiding her hand to my chest. "I'm...I'm okay. I saw it again."
Her eyes widen. "So there is another wolf? Did you get close, are you hurt?" She begins checking my body for injuries and I place my hand over hers. The most she'd find was a little dirt on my cheek.
"I'm okay," I repeat softly, my thoughts still swirling as I held her blue gaze. She couldn't have known. In her mind, her mother has passed into another life. To her, it would just be digging up a ghost from the past if she didn't know. I didn't want to overwhelm her with 1) the fact that her mom was alive and 2) her mother was a wolf.
After a moment, I sigh and sit on the edge of the bed, tugging her down with me. "We should talk."
She nods and drops down next to me. "I know I acted unreasonable. It's just that when you brought up the idea of mekeeping something like that from you...it hurt," she explains. "I tell you everything, John, and I trust you. And it felt like then that you didn't trust me."
I sigh, letting her explain and reach out about why she'd been upset. She was right to think that I was wrong to doubt her. I shouldn't have. But seeing her mother as a wolf had really messed with my mind and I'd thought of no possibility other than it being Serena.
"I'm really sorry," she mutters when she's finished, tucking a strand of her dark hair behind her here. I chuckle and move closer so that my shoulder was pressed against hers. "I'm sorry, too."
She smiles and I let my lips brush to her temple, feeling a weight lift off my shoulders and chest.
Serena looks up at me with a sigh. "So what are you going to do? About the wolf?"
I tense slightly as I wrap my arms around her, sighing. "I don't know honestly."
"Are you sure it's not a regular-"
"I've been going to those woods for years, Ser," I cut in quietly. "Not once have I run into a wolf before."
She furrows her eyebrows and pushes my hair out of my eyes. "Do you think you're going to track it down then?"
Looking down at her, I gaze at her soft innocent features, at the full acceptance in her sapphire eyes. I knew if I needed her support in discovering things about myself, even if I ended neck deep in revelations, I could count on those eyes to pull me out of the waters.
"I think so," I murmur, tucking her head beneath my chin. "I want to understand where I came from, or rather, how I came to be. I need answers, and if finding this person can give me that, I don't have to keep wondering why."
She nods under me and laces her fingers through mine. "You want to know. Of course you're going to chase down your one chance at someone who might have gone through the same thing you have." Her lips brush against the side of my neck before she gives me a pointed look. "Go after whatever your gut is telling you. You're a good man, John O'Callaghan; you deserve nothing more than to ask the questions you need answered and pursue them until you find what you're looking for."
My lips tilt up into a smile, watching her as she talks so sincerely. I could feel the adoration on my face. Serena was the only person that could fall in love with a half wolf and still treat like a real human being.
Pinning her arms over her head as we lay back on her bed, I press my lips softly to hers. "What would I do without you?"
She giggles. "Probably chase your tail all day."
I give her cheek a pinch and she squirms. "So wait." She grins. "Does that mean you're going to do it? Are you going to find this person?"
With a half hearted nod, I tuck her hair behind her ear. "Yes." After a brief pause, I smile and poke her nose. If I couldn't tell her, there was at least something I could do to try to help her figure it out on her own.
"But I'll need your help."
~
It was past late and dark as we sat by the creek, the sounds of the forest passing through the trees. Crickets chirped in the cool night, the two of us waiting patiently. Well, I was anyway.
Serena sighs, still pacing behind me with her arms crossed. Usually I was the one doing that. "Are you sure this is going to work?"
"I'm sure," I say, lax. If this really was her mother, she'd take any chance she could get to be by her daughter again.
And if I couldn't tell her just yet, at least I could bring them together and give her mom a connection with her again. A chance to be by her little girl.
Serena heaves a big sigh and I chuckle. "She'll come, quit worrying."
Her head tilts. "She? You got a chance to ask or did you have a good look?"
My cheeks warm with my mistake and I clear my throat. "Could just tell, I guess."
The hairs on the back of my neck begin to rise and I prick my ears to attention, standing from the rocks. Serena looks over at me as she gathers her hair in a ponytail. "What is it?" she muffles with the hair tie in her mouth.
"Shhhh." The sounds get slightly closer, though she couldn't know that. My hearing was much better and worked at a different wavelength. If I focused closely enough, I could hear the leaves and dirt shifting beneath paws.
I crouch slightly and listen for the branches again, sensing its presence. I didn't have to hear or see or smell to just know; Intuition told me.
She was here. She'd come.
The rustling gets louder, enough for Serena to hear now. She straightens and moves closer, her hand brushing against mine. Just then, the body emerges from the dark, cautious as it approached. The blue eyes shone bright, right through the night and stood out almost as bright as the stars. It was definitely her.
She seems to sense the same, spotting Serena behind me and walking up to us.
"It's okay," I say to the both of them. Serena walks in front of me slowly, as if in a daze, as if she were staring at the moon. She lets out a slow breath and blinks.
"Mom?"