Chapter Twelve

 

 

THERE WAS something to be said about being from a family of Catholics. Leo didn’t personally identify with any religion, and neither did his father’s family, but his mom’s family? Hoo, boy.

His mom had always been the odd one out. She had five siblings, and each of them had produced similarly sized families of their own. Being an only child set Leo apart from his dozens of cousins.

He’d never really gotten a solid answer from his parents about why they’d never had more kids after him. His mom said all sorts of nice things, like how they’d achieved perfection with their first child and how could they possibly follow that? His dad said Leo had been a nightmare baby and that had put them off having any more. He thought the truth might lie somewhere in the middle.

With that many children, family gatherings got busy real quick. That had always suited Leo just fine. He blended into the background, catching up with the couple of uncles he really liked, occasionally dipping in to entertain the next generation of ankle-biters, and generally didn’t attract attention to himself.

At his aunt’s annual Friday-after-Thanksgiving wine-and-nibbles evening, he found himself stuck close to his mom.

“Are you okay?” she asked when he returned with two glasses of warm cider and a slice of pecan pie for them to share. She pushed his hair back and checked his eyes, searching for something.

“I’m good,” he said, pressing a kiss to her forehead.

That wasn’t going to fly. He let her take the armchair and sat on the floor at her feet, content to rest his head against her knee.

Leo took after his mom in a lot of ways. His love of music, his empathy, the intense need to care for other people, that all came from her. His father gave Leo his sense of humor and the ability to find fun in life. Fun had always been important in their house growing up.

“Who is he?” his mom demanded as they settled.

“A guy,” Leo said with a sigh he didn’t intend to slip out. “Just a fucking guy.”

She swatted his head for his language, then smoothed his hair out again.

“I don’t care if you are a grown man who dates other grown men; if someone hurts my baby, I’m going to hurt them right back.”

Leo laughed at that. Then he sobered. “I don’t think you’re going to like him very much.”

“Oh, Leo.”

It was time. She deserved to know.

“He’s a werewolf. And straight.”

He turned to rest his chin on her knee so he could look up at the blue eyes he’d inherited.

This was always going to be the hardest part of his relationship with Jackson, at least from Leo’s side: coming clean to his parents. Back in the eighties, before Leo was born, his father had been part of an antiwerewolf committee at college. That was where he’d met Leo’s mom. Despite werewolf segregation legislation being undone by the government generations earlier, there were still those who advocated for all werewolves to be neutralized as a matter of course.

Werewolf rights being enshrined in law was still a relatively recent event, with the biggest steps being taken in the time between the Civil Rights Movement and the decriminalization of LGBT people in the Western world. There were still people alive who could recount memories of public werewolf burnings, which was the most popular way of killing wolves back in the day. Pictures of old signs occasionally circulated on social media, reminding people of their very recent history: “No wolves, no Negroes, no Mexicans.”

Leo had never considered his parents bad people for their opinions. It was a different time, when safe spaces for wolves to run had yet to be implemented across America. With nowhere to go during the full moon, it was inevitable that wolves would encounter humans, and accidents could, and did, happen.

Things were different now. There was an effective antivenom, which could be administered even hours after a bite and prevent a human from turning. Many wolves still volunteered for the neutralization procedure, especially those who worked with vulnerable people or children. Society had moved on.

It didn’t change the fact that Leo’s parents had once wanted wolves to be prevented from breeding.

“He’s straight?” Her raised eyebrow held more question than her words.

“Yeah,” Leo said and took a deep breath. “I’m his soul mate.”

“Do you want to tell me about him?” she asked, her voice carefully neutral.

Leo considered that for a moment. “He’s a quiet sort of person. He lives on his own, way out on the outskirts of Nine Mile Falls. He’s alone a lot of the time, but he seems to prefer it that way. He likes his own space. And his business is out there too; he runs it on his own.”

“What does he look like?”

“Taller than me. Kind of average build. Light brown hair, brown eyes. I told Mitch he looks like Ryan Reynolds. Do you know who that is?”

“I’m not that old,” she said and lightly swatted his head again.

“I didn’t want to assume.” Leo laughed. “I guess, in my head, I can see how we would work together. It would be good, I think. But I think he’s struggling more than he’s letting on with me being a man. It’s like he’s scared to let himself just be with me.”

It had never been a big deal to Leo’s parents that he was gay, despite his mom’s Irish Catholic background. His extended family had been surprised, and his dad had fielded plenty of awkward questions about “do you wish you could go back and have more kids” and “do you want to try and get him some therapy to fix it?”

Leo felt infinitely fortunate that his parents were the sort of people who didn’t care one dot about his sexuality. He was pretty sure their liberal attitudes wouldn’t extend to him being the soul mate of a born wolf.

“What are you going to do?” his mom asked.

“We’re working through it. We’ve spent a lot of time together recently. It’s been good… getting to know him as a person. He can be grumpy and withdrawn sometimes, but he’s a sweetheart underneath.”

His mom wore a pained sort of expression. She wasn’t clutching her pearls… yet.

“Oh,” she said.

“You haven’t said anything about him being a wolf,” Leo added, feeling it was best to ask now.

“Oh, Leo.” She sighed. “It’s not something I would choose for you, I’ll admit. I don’t like the idea that wolves can just claim a soul mate and the person being claimed has so little say in the matter. I try to keep an open mind, but….”

“It’s not like that, Mom. He doesn’t choose. It just happens.”

He could tell by the set of her jaw that she didn’t believe him. “Leo.”

“I’m still learning about them. I mean, now it feels crazy that I didn’t know hardly anything. We should totally be taught about it in school and stuff—”

“Leo,” she said again, more insistently.

“What?”

“Is he… does he tell you to think these things?”

“No!” Leo exclaimed. “We don’t even really talk about it. I’m spending half my life reading up on stuff because I just don’t know and I sound like an ignorant idiot around him. It’s 2018, Mom; we live with the werewolves in the same communities. But we know almost nothing about them.”

“The werewolves segregated themselves.”

“You really think that?”

“I think there’s a clear delineation between humans and werewolves for a reason.”

Leo sighed heavily. “Would it help if you met him?”

His mom stared him down. “Do you think that’s a good idea?”

He shrugged. “He’s a person, Mom. Not a caricature, not a cartoon villain. Just a regular guy.”

“Has he been neutralized?”

“I haven’t asked,” he lied.

“Oh, Leo,” she sighed. “Your dad won’t like it.”

“He’ll get over it.”

“Don’t tell him,” she said, her eyes quietly begging. “Not yet. Give him some time.”

“Fine.”

She rolled her eyes and shook her head, like he was a rebellious teenager that she could eventually bring back to heel.

“Oh, I bought you something,” she said, neatly changing the subject as she leaned over to grab her purse. “I was doing some Christmas shopping the other day.”

The purse was huge, naturally, so it took a moment for her to dig through it. Then she pulled out a little paper bag and handed it over.

“Sure you don’t want to save it for Santa?” Leo asked.

“Behave and open it.”

He did, finding an intricately braided blue cord bracelet inside. It closed with a silver clasp that was delicately engraved.

“This is nice,” he said, pulling it out and twisting his wrist so he could put it on. “Thanks, Mom.”

“You’re welcome, honey. You wear a lot of blue, so I thought it would look nice.”

He leaned over to kiss her on the cheek, then wriggled his wrist to make the bracelet sit properly. The silver was cold against his skin, but he was sure it would soon warm up.

 

 

JACKSON PICKED him up at eight the next evening, waiting outside in the truck instead of coming up to the apartment. Leo rushed out, running late and frustrated with himself for it.

“Sorry,” he said, slipping into the passenger seat and leaning over to kiss Jackson’s cheek.

“It’s fine.” Jackson turned his head to get a proper kiss on the lips, then reversed out of the parking space. “I know we said we’d go out for dinner, but I’ve been invited to a thing.”

“A thing?”

Jackson rolled his eyes. “My cousin Celeste is having her annual Thanksmas party. It’s lame, but she’s my cousin, and she asked me to go.”

“Did that invitation include me? I don’t want to just gatecrash.”

“No, it definitely includes you.”

“Okay, because I’m nervous about meeting your family and a whole room of werewolves.”

Jackson grinned at him. “I’d be more concerned about the family thing than the werewolf thing if I were you.”

Leo smacked him on the arm. “Not helping, Jackson. Do I look okay?”

“You look good enough to eat.”

He couldn’t help but laugh at that. “You’re terrible.”

“So, we’re going? I mean, we can stop in for a half hour, then split, if you like.”

Leo nodded. This had to happen sooner or later. He couldn’t hide from Jackson’s family forever. It was better that he didn’t know in advance too. He would have worked himself into a total panic.

Eight, maybe ten vehicles were already parked haphazardly in the expansive front yard when Jackson pulled up in front of a huge house in a nice neighborhood. That was good, Leo decided. It meant hopefully their arrival wouldn’t be too noticeable.

“I practically grew up in this house,” he said as they walked up the long path to the front door. “We all lived in each other’s pockets when we were kids. Me and Brandon and Valerie, Celeste and her sister, Megan, Tegan and Corey.”

The music wasn’t obnoxiously loud—there was still an atmosphere, but it was low enough to be able to hear one another talk. There were plenty of people milling around, and they all seemed to know one another. Leo was pretty sure they didn’t know who he was either, which was more than a little disconcerting.

Jackson grabbed a pretty girl with dark hair and murmured something to her Leo didn’t hear. She laughed, then smiled at Leo.

“Hey, I’m Celeste.”

“Nice to meet you,” Leo said, nodding at her.

“Grab a seat,” Jackson said. “I’ll go find us drinks.”

“Okay.”

Celeste disappeared with Jackson, and Leo took a corner of the sofa, feeling awkward. Since there really wasn’t much seating, it didn’t take long for someone to squeeze in next to him. She was short, had long dark hair, and wore a red velvet party dress.

“Hi. I’m Valerie,” the young woman said with a smile. “Jackson’s sister.”

“Leo.”

Her expression changed immediately. “You’re him.”

“I… am?”

“You’re his soul mate.”

“Oh,” Leo said, only a little relieved. She still had an almost terrifying expression as she gulped from her glass of wine. “Yeah. I am.”

“Oh my God, tell me everything.”

Leo chuckled at that. “I don’t know what there is to tell.”

“You’re very handsome. But not at all his type.”

“I’d noticed,” Leo said drily, making her laugh.

“Don’t worry. Jackson is a sourpuss, but he’s a sweetheart underneath.”

Leo smiled. “Yeah, I’d noticed.”

“So you met my sister?”

They both jumped at the sound of Jackson’s voice, though Valerie recovered quicker. She stood, smoothing her dress over her knees, and gave Jackson a quick kiss on the cheek.

“I’m going to get a drink.”

Jackson raised an eyebrow as she strode away on ice-pick heels. “Everything okay?”

Leo plastered a smile on his face.

“Sure.”

 

 

LEO MET plenty of people, shaking hands and exchanging pleasantries with folks Jackson may or may not have been related to. He got into a conversation with one girl when Jackson disappeared to go use the bathroom, though she kept giving him strange looks that he couldn’t interpret.

When Jackson got back, he grabbed Leo’s wrist and dragged him outside.

“You okay?” Leo asked.

“What the hell?”

Leo recoiled. “I’m sorry?”

“Did you come out here to intentionally embarrass me?”

“Jackson, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Leo wrapped his arms around himself and shivered. It was cold out here.

Jackson grabbed Leo’s wrist and yanked at the blue bracelet.

“Where did you get this?”

“My mom gave it to me.”

Jackson laughed coldly and turned around, then walked away a few paces and back.

“Your mom gave it to you.”

“Yes!” Leo exclaimed. “And you’re being a total bastard right now. What’s going on?”

“I’m being a bastard? You have the audacity to walk into my family’s house wearing a HPL symbol—”

“What’s that?”

“Human Protection League,” Jackson said, his eyes narrowing. “They campaign against werewolf rights.”

Leo felt his stomach sink. “They approached me at work. Just after I met you.”

“So you’ve already been talking to them? Fucking great. Thanks, Leo.”

“I didn’t say that!” Leo forced himself to take a deep breath. Then he yanked the bracelet off and stuffed it into his pocket. “Two people came up to me when I finished my shift and said they could help me get out of an abusive relationship.”

“Am I an abusive partner?”

“You’re being an asshole right now!” Leo folded his arms over his chest to try to hide how much his hands were trembling. “I didn’t know, okay? I didn’t know what it was.”

“Well, now you do,” Jackson said coldly. “Have you been going behind my back this whole time? After everything I told you….” He trailed off and shook his head. “I trusted you.”

“I haven’t been going behind your back on anything,” Leo said. “I told my friends about you, my mother—”

“You told your mother about me. Then she gives you a HPL bracelet. You think that’s a coincidence?”

Leo hesitated. His mom wouldn’t, not anymore. He had to believe she’d changed.

The moment it took for Leo to come to this conclusion was apparently enough for Jackson to make up his own mind.

“Your parents don’t want you to be with me.”

“I’m a fucking adult, Jackson. I make my own decisions.”

“And I make mine,” Jackson snapped. “I should have listened to them. I never should have gotten involved with a human. With a fucking man.”

Leo recoiled. “Are you still hung up on that? Seriously?”

“You’re the one who showed up wearing a symbol from a fucking terrorist organization!”

Leo shook his head and started walking down to where they’d parked Jackson’s truck. His jacket was inside with his wallet; otherwise he would have just started walking.

“I’ll drive you home,” Jackson muttered.

“Fuck you,” Leo spat. “I just want my jacket.”

It felt colder out on the street, away from the house.

Jackson yanked the back door open and tossed Leo his jacket.

“You agree with them,” he said as Leo started to walk away. “Even if you don’t know it, your values align with theirs.”

“You don’t know me well enough to know what toppings I like on my pizza,” Leo snapped back. “Don’t try to tell me what my values are.”

“I’ve seen enough.”

“Yeah, because it’s easy for you to make judgments about me,” Leo said. “You didn’t need to know me as a person because as far as you were concerned, I’m your soul mate and I’m a man, so that’s your issue to overcome. Did you ever think that I needed time too? That I had to adjust and come to terms with being a werewolf’s soul mate?”

Jackson just stared at him.

“Exactly. I’ve tried so fucking hard to make this easy for you, Jackson, but you’re not willing to meet me halfway. You’re not helping me understand your family dynamics, or your friends, or what any of this really means to you. I’ve found out more from Mitch about being a soul mate than from you, and that sucks. It really sucks. It should have been something we worked out together, but you’re so fucking shortsighted and self-obsessed, it had to all be about you.”

Jackson shook his head. “I can’t handle this right now.”

“You can’t handle it at all!” Leo yelled. “Tell you what, you take all the time you need to figure it out. I’m done.”

He turned around, heart pounding, and started to walk. For the first few steps, he hoped Jackson would stop him. For the rest of the block, he convinced himself that he was glad Jackson didn’t.