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Caeden shrugged. “Yeah, but lately she’s on this health food craze. If she makes me eat one more bowl of organic spaghetti I’m
gonna
go all Alpha on her ass.” He looked up at my parents and blushed. “Butt I meant butt.”

“That’s not what you said,” my dad grinned and slapped Caeden on the back. He sipped his orange juice before saying, “You kids should do something fun today. Explore the town.”

I shrugged. “Sounds like fun.”

* * *

It was raining. No, raining was an understatement. This was a torrential downpour. I turned to Caeden. “I don’t think we’re going anywhere.”

“Me neither,” he said and took my hand. He pulled me to the couch and down beside him. “It’s too bad cause I
kinda
wanted to check out the town.” He scratched the back of his neck.

I stretched out and laid my head in his lap. “Maybe we can go out tomorrow.”

He threw one of his arms across the back of the couch and then played with my hair with the other.

“If you keep doing that,” I yawned, “I’m going to fall asleep.”

He chuckled. “Please don’t fall asleep. I’ll be bored out of my mind if you do.”

I sat up and rested my head on his shoulder. I nuzzled his neck and soaked in his unique smell. Pine,
cinnamon, citrus, and wood. It was the best smell in the whole world.

“What should we do then?” I asked.

He shrugged. “Do you think your parents have any board games?”

“I’m sure they do,” I said. “Let me ask.”

I hopped up from the couch and bounced into the kitchen where mom was cleaning up from breakfast.

“Mom?”

“Oh!” she jumped and put a hand to her chest. “I thought you two had left. You startled me.”

No dip. Her reaction totally hadn’t clued me into the whole startled thing.

“It’s raining wolfs and panthers out there so we decided to put off exploring until tomorrow. Do you have any board games?”

Were board games named board games because most of the time you played them when you were bored? Hmm.

“I don’t know. You know we usually don’t pack that kind of stuff when we move. If there are any they’ll be in the right draw
er of the entertainment center.”

“Thanks,” I said and kissed her cheek.

She smiled and swatted my backside with a dishtowel. I danced away and into the living room.

Caeden was leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees. He brightened when he saw me.

“She said if there were any they’d be in here,” I said and bent down on my knees to open the drawer. The tiles were hard against my knee. Mom had covered the white tiled floors in a fuzzy rug to add some softness.
Too bad the rug didn’t cover the whole room.

I yanked the drawer open and went sprawling on my backside
. “
Ow
,” I said and rubbed the spot.

Caeden cackled.

Old DVDs, magazines, and instructions to various items littered the drawer. I lifted them out and sorted them into neat little piles. At the bottom of the drawer was a
n
ou
i
jia
board. I pulled it out and looked at Caeden. “I guess this is it. You game?”

“I’m not going
to die if I mess with it right? A ghost isn’t going to attack me? I don’t do paranormal.”

I laughed so hard that I had to wipe tears from my eyes. “You don’t do paranormal? For lord’s sake Caeden you turn into a wolf. If that’s not paranormal then I don’t know what is.”

I set the
ouijia
board down on the floor.

“Sophie, put that thing away. I am not communicating with spirits.
Nuh
-uh. Not happening.
Ever
,” he said and slashed his arms back in forth in a no gesture.

“Fine,” I sighed and put it back in the bottom of the drawer. “No
ouijia
board.” I packed the other various items back on top. I placed my hands on my thighs and said, “What do you propose we do then?”

“Watch a movie and snuggle?” he grinned and waggled his eyebrows.

I laughed. “For someone that was dead-set against not touching or kissing me while we’re here you’ve really changed.”

“What can I say? You’re parents love me. I’m just
so
full of awesome sauce.”

I laughed and then launched myself at him so that we ended up a tangled mess of legs and arms. He kissed my nose before untangling us. 
He sat me down on the couch and then crawled over to the entertainment center. He shuffled through the movies and looked at me with a quirked brow.

“Looks like
it’s
either
Despicable Me
or
Up
? Unless you
wanna
watch these?” he held up a boxed set of movies on the Civil War.

“Despicable Me,” I said and sat Indian style on the couch and flipped my hair over my shoulder so it would be out of my way. “I am not in the mood to watch a grumpy old man with a penchant for balloons.”

Caeden laughed. “Little weird green men it is.”

He popped the DVD in and settled beside me on the couch. He shucked his shoes
before stretching out and pulling me against his warm body.

Caeden skipped the previews and pressed play. His hand gently rubbed my back in an up and down motion.
His warmth felt so good and I loved the feel of my cheek against his chest. I sighed in pleasure and snuggled even closer to him.

Mom poked her head in the doorway. “Do you want some popcorn? Cookies?”

“Both please,” Caeden said.

“No problem,” she twirled around and entered the kitchen.

I stifled another yawn and Caeden chuckled. “You act like you didn’t get any sleep last night.”

“I think I’m jetlagged and you know I hate planes so that whole traumatizing experience has probably added to my exhaustion.”

He laughed. “Or a flirty redhead.”

I smacked his chest as hard as I could.

“
Ow
,” he said and rubbed the spot where I had hit him.

“Do not bring up that whore-monkey again. She’s lucky I didn’t claw out her eyes.”

“Whore-monkey?” he laughed.

“It was the first thing that came to mind,” I snapped which only made him laugh harder. I was tempted to
hit
him again just for the fun of it.

Mom came into the living room with a big bowl of popcorn and two bottles of water. “Here you go,” she handed the popcorn to Caeden. “It will be a little while on the cookies. I decided to make them homemade.”

“You didn’t need to do that mommy,” I said.

She smiled. “I know baby girl but I wanted to. I don’t have you here much longer and I just want your stay to be special.”

“I’m just happy to see you guys. Homemade cookies are just a bonus.”

She started to leave but turned at the doorway. “And they’re snicker doodle,” she winked.

“I love you mommy! You’re the best!” I called after her. I turned back to Caeden, the movie being the last thing on my mind. “I swear, when I was still living with them she hardly ever cooked. Now she cooks all the time. I think she’s hoping I’ll never leave.”

Caeden played with my hair as a chuckle rumbled through his chest. “She misses you.”

“Who wouldn’t miss me?” I scoffed and feigned outrage.

Caeden wrapped his arms tightly around me and pulled me up so that I was lying on top of his chest instead of beside him. He framed my face with his hands so I had no choice but to stare into his cerulean blue orbs.
“Those days-” he swallowed, “while you were gone. It was the worst kind of miss anyone can ever experience. I’ve never missed someone so much in my life. Now, when you’re gone for a room
,
for not even a minute
,
I miss you.”

Just moments ago we had been joking but now his eyes were nothing but serious.

“Caeden-” I started.

He shook his head. “Don’t say anything.”

And so I didn’t.

The next morning the weather had cleared so Caeden and I went out to explore the town. We strolled hand in hand while he swung our arms back and forth like little kids tended to do.

“Caeden, you’re going to rip my arm right out of the socket,” I snapped.

He laughed. “Come on, let me have some fun.”

“Can you have fun that doesn’t include ripping my arm off?”

“
Sure, sure
,” he said and stopped swinging our arms.

The sky was gray and so covered with clouds that it was impossible for the sun to peek through. Luckily it was
n’t
raining. Despite the dreary weather
L
ü
beck was bustling. Boats zoomed around the port and people bustled in and out of the quaint little shops. All the buildings were centuries old and spires soared straight up into the sky. Several things that resembled castle turrets dotted the sky. Courtyards seemed to be on every corner
their
grass an insanely bright green.
I would’ve enjoyed taking the time to explore the courtyards but everything was so wet that I didn’t want to bother.

“Let’s go in here,” Caeden pointed to a store full of clothes.

I shrugged. “Why not.”

The store was full of cozy looking sweaters that were hand-made on site. An older man sat in the back working on one. He spoke a little English and tried his best to describe the process to us. I was fascinated.

After we finished speaking to the man we walked around the store. Caeden picked up a large cable knit cream sweater. He held it up to himself.

“Do you like it?”

“It would look great on you,” I fingered the soft fabric. “It’ll make all the ladies go wild,” I looked up and met his eye.

“All the ladies? There’s only one lady that I want to make go wild,” he grinned. His brown hair flopped over his forehead and he flicked it out of his eyes.

I giggled. “It would look great on you.”

“I’m going to buy it then. You want anything?”

“No,” I looked around. “It’s kind of an engrained habit not to buy needless items. I always had to get rid of so much stuff when we moved that I just learned not to buy
anything,” I shrugged and stuck my hands in my pockets, following him to pay the man.

“I’m going to have to change that,” he winked.

From there we ended up going in and out of the different little shops that lined the port.

As the day wore on the wind picked up and I found myself wrapping my jacket tighter around me as my teeth chattered. It wouldn’t be long until my jaw fell off.

“Cold?” Caeden asked as he threw his arm over me.

“Y-ye-ah,” came out of my mouth.

He smiled. “Let’s get you back then. I don’t want your parents to think I’m not taking care of you.”

“He-
av
-en for-or-b-b-id,” I chattered.

As we started the trek back to my parents’ house it started raining. I forced the hood of my jacket over my head and Caeden did the same. He took my hand and said, “Run!”

My converse
sneakers
quickly became soaked as we splashed through puddles of water. I’d be lucky if I didn’t end up with frostbite and an amputated toe or two.
We reached the back door and plowed into the house. Caeden shook his head and
raindrops
went everywhere.

“Caeden,” I giggled, “you look like a dog when you do that.”

He gave me a crooked grin and my heart skipped a beat. “Stop looking at me and get in a warm shower.”

“Okay, okay, bossy pants,” I said and put my hands in the air.

I took a quick but hot shower and the cold instantly seeped out of my bones. A normal human would be
sneezing their brains out by now
but with my freaky wolf mojo I couldn’t get sick. I pulled on plaid pajama pants, a t-shirt, and a pullover sweatshirt. This was supposed to be spring break but instead I was bundling
up like it was Christmas break.

By the time I came out of the guest room Caeden was in the shower. I could hear the clinking of glasses coming from the kitchen so I headed there.

With her back to me, mom said, “I thought you might enjoy some hot chocolate.”

Yeah, this definitely didn’t feel like spring break.

“That will be great,” I sat down at the table. It was no time before she was sliding a steaming mug in front of me. Before taking a sip I studied the familiar purple mug with a Rhino on it.
Rainforest Café
was emblazoned along the side. It was cracked and chipped in places and should’ve probably seen the trashcan years ago but I had always loved it. “I can’t believe you still have this.” I took a sip.

Mom smiled and sat down beside me with her own cup. It was white with a sunflower.

“It was always your favorite and I just never had the heart to get rid of it.”

“I’m glad,” I stared into the pale brown depth of the hot chocolate. A mini marshmallow floated at the top. I watched it float around the top before sinking a bit below the surface.

Footsteps sounded behind us and I turned to see Caeden standing there in only
a
white towel wrapped around his waist. Water droplets dripped down his bronze chest and disappeared into the band of the towel. I wanted to lick all those water droplets off of his delectable chest. But then my gaze ventured up from his stomach and chest to meet his eyes.

“Caeden,” I said and worry coated my words. “What’s wrong?”

He held his cellphone in one hand the look on his face could only be described as
something
between confusion and pain.
In moments like this
,
his dimple
completely disappeared.

“Bentley and
Logan
just discovered Peter Grimm’s body,” he said.

My mom made a strangled, half-painful, sound behind me. I could hear my dad coming out of his office.

“His body? He’s dead?”

“Murdered, apparently it’s pretty gruesome.”

Mom made a choking, gasping, sound. I could hear my dad come into the kitchen and speak to my mom in soothing tones.

“What does this mean?” I asked Caeden. I knew my eyes were wide with disbelief and my eyebrows had probably completely disappeared.

“It means that Travis is n
ow Alpha and we can expect war.”

* * *

After Caeden’s loaded statement we all just sort of stared at one another for a while.

Finally I stood and said, “We need to go home.”

“Yeah,” Caeden rubbed his face. “We do.”

“Get dressed and I’ll start packing my stuff. Dad can you call the airport and try to get us a flight out? I know you have some major finagling abilities.”

“Yeah, I can do that,” he said.

“Mom, please don’t cry. I hate to see you cry,” I hugged her.

She wiped her eyes and turned to my dad. “I’m fin
e
honey, really,” she patted his hand. “Call the airport and I’ll make some sandwiches for you to eat on the plane.”

“Thanks mom,” I said and hugged her again.
I wanted to argue with her on the whole sandwich making thing but I knew she just needed the distraction.

I pulled away and headed down the hallway to the guest room across from Caeden’s. Even though we had been sleeping in the same room I had left my bags in the other one. I just hadn’t felt like moving them.

I closed the door and quickly changed into regular clothes. Jeans and
a
white
t-shirt.
Archie was lying on the bed and snored softly. I swear that dog slept as often as a cat.

“Come on bud we’re going home,” I nudged him. He instantly became alert. I stuffed the last of my items in the suitcase and zipped it closed. I trudged out into the hallway and left it by the door. Dad was on the phone arguing with the airport and mom was sliding sandwiches into Ziploc
baggies
.
Her eyes were red and puffy and she kept rubbing incessantly at them.

Archie scampered around my feet making yipping noises.

I didn’t know what to say to comfort her so I just wrapped my arms around her and rested my head on her shoulder.

Caeden came down the hallway with his bag and Murphy.

“Did your dad get the airport?” he asked.

I shrugged my shoulders and rubbed my mom’s back as she sobbed. Caeden picked up his bag and went in search of my dad. Murphy followed behind him like an overgrown shadow.

“Mom,”
I
pulled away and took in her
tear stained
cheeks. “I’m sorry.”

She wiped her face and moaned, “I’m a horrible person. I’m not crying because my brother’s dead I’m crying because I’m relieved. He can’t hurt you anymore.”

I stood
,
flabbergasted
,
because what did one say to a comment like that
a
nd because Travis was just as much as a threat
to us as Peter had been.

Luckily
,
I was saved from making a comment
,
by my dad entering the kitchen
. He leaned his hip against the counter and rubbed hi
s face. He looked tired. “Your
flight leaves in two hours. You’ll have to leave now to make it in time.”

“Thank you daddy. I’m sorry that our time got cut short.” It suddenly hit me that I would be leaving my parents sooner than I had planned and tears misted my eyes. Three days. Only three was the time I had had with them.
That just didn’t seem fair.
Who knew when I’d get to see them again?
Even in death, Peter Grimm was causing me problems.

“We’ll see you again soon, baby girl,” he said and slung his arm over my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around his middle and leaned my head against his chest. He kissed the top of my head before ruffling my hair. “I’ll miss you squirt.”

“I’m going to miss you guys so much,” I said. I had said goodbye to my parents in August but now I had to go through it all again and for some reason this time felt more difficult.

“I need to make some calls
,
so I called for a cab to take you to the airport,” he said.