Filed to story: Tangled in Moonlight Unshifted Novel by Lenaleia
“I guess I’ll have to order some dog food and have it delivered.”
She groans, and I swear she’s sideeyeing me.
“What? You’re a dog. You eat dog food. I can’t feed you muffins and croissants for the rest of her life.”
Another groan, mixed with a bit of a whine. I throw up my hands. “I’m arguing with a dog. I’ve lost my mind. It’s official. Come on, Selene, let’s go home.”
Selene trots in front of me as I unlock the door to my apartment, her tail and ears perked in interest. I hang my purse and breathe in the musty smell of old boxes as she begins to sniff everywhere, her nose twitching in rapid shivers of movement as she investigates her new home.
Watching her explore warms my heart and settles something I didn’t even realize was unsettled deep inside me. “Make yourself at home, Selene.”
She wags her tail in response, her nose leading her into the bedroom. My sense of smell is only a little stronger than a normal human’s, and far inferior even to the domestic dog. I follow, curious to see what’s so interesting.
Selene’s intense snuffling centers around a pile of boxes I still haven’t sorted through, off to the side of the closet.
She paws at one of the boxes and glances at me with a questioning head tilt.
I shake my head. “No, girl. Those are offlimits. They were here before I moved in, and I still have to go through them.”
She whines and settles into another sniffing session around the boxes before returning to the living room. I watch as she hops onto the couch, circling a few times before settling down, her glacial eyes following my ever every move.
It’s nice to have a companion, even if she’s just a dog. A wolf should never be alone, after all.
I change into a comfortable oversized tshirt and a pair of shorts, going about my evening routine. I’m brushing my teeth when her head pokes through the bathroom door.
“You’re a curious one, aren’t you?” I mumble around a mouth full of toothpaste.
She woofs and ditches me for the couch. I can’t blame her. Who wants to watch someone brushing tooth scum?
I ringa mu mouth and roarot that I didn’t niak un anything for dinner. My fridge isn’t bare, but everything needs to be cooked. I don’t have the energy for that.
I settle beside Selene, settling in a feeling of completeness as she rests her head in my lap and closes her eyes.
“I guess it’s just you and me now, Selene. Two misfits trying to find our place in the world.”
She sighs, nuzzling closer. For the first time in a long time, I don’t feel so alone.
Waking up with a dog is both better and worse than waking to an alarm.
Selene starts with a cute little nose bumping against my hand. Then a head burrowing beneath it. Then her entire body on mine, as her dog breathwhich smelled particularly fishyassaults my nose.
She finishes it off with a low, mournful howl, and I open my eyes with a groan. “I’m up. I’m up. Come on, Selene. You couldn’t let me sleep for fifteen more minutes?”
Her huff sounds a lot like you slept for six hours, you’ll be fine to me, but I rub her ears and roll out of bed anyway, only to screech a few seconds later when something sharp tries to murder my foot.
“Shit! Ow, ow, ow. Fuck. Oh, my God. I’m dying. Holy shit.” I fall back onto the bed and check the bottom of my foot. Only a little bleeding where something sharp broke the skin, and a nice big scratch. I grab my glasses and peered at the floor, shocked to see a purple crystal there.
Selene must have gotten into something overnight, because that was not there last night.
I shoot her a dark look. “This is the thanks I get for giving you a home?”
My sweet little husky just tilts her head, staring at me like I’m stupid, and I sigh, tossing the crystal onto my night stand. For a second, I feel a tingle on my fingertips, but when I grab it again and hold it in my palm, there’s nothing.
Weird.
But that everpresent aching pain in my chest seems subdued, almost as if there’s some sort of barrier between it and my body.
I’ve heard of crystals having magical properties, but Dad always said it was human nonsense. Huh. Maybe not.
There’s some gold encasing one tip of the long crystal, as if it is meant to hang off a chain. I spin the crystal around, lifting it to the light to admire its colors. “Pretty. Think I should get a chain for this?” I ask, as if a husky would care if I carry something around my neck.
But then my eye catches the clock and I rush Selene out the door, telling her to find a place to potty as I get dressed in record time. She’s at my door again by the time I dash outside, finishing the messy bun I’d corralled my hair into. I’ve been pondering cutting and dyeing it to help hide my identity, but I figure if someone finds me, it’s probably not from being blonde.
I thud down the stairs on the side of The Novel Grind’s building, and a sign on the door has my pace slowing, before I stop, staring slackjawed at the message on the door.
Ava, you are hereby banned from the premises for the next 48 hours. This is to facilitate bonding with your new dog and to rest from your workaholic tendencies. Don’t worry, we’ve got everything covered. HAVE FUN! -Mrs. Elkins and Carlos
Selene yips, and I swear she sounds amused. I’ve learned in these past few days that I can’t stop attributing human emotions to her mannerisms. I think it’s a side effect of being raised with wolf shifters. They do have their human emotions when shifted into their wolf form, and it’s hard for me to disconnect from that.
Carlos opens the door and pokes his head out, grinning at me like a madman. He starts talking as soon as my mouth opens, holding up a hand to stop my torrent of mild outrage. “Don’t even think about it, Ava. Martha agrees. You’re banned. Go home, relax, get to know your new roommate. You haven’t had a day off since she hired you.”
I must look like a fish as my mouth opens and closes as all my arguments dissipate in the face of his loony smile and reasonable words.
Something cold nudges my hand, and I glance down to see Selene with her ears back and her eyes twice as large as normal. Or maybe it’s just in my head.
I sigh.
“Fine. But I’m going to hate every second of my forced rest.”
His grin, if possible, grew wider. “We figured. Martha said it’s paid time off, forum, I think she called it maternity leave.”
I open my mouth, then close it again. Yup, I’m for sure a fish face. “Oh. that’s…”
“Crazy, I know. Like you gave birth or something. But Mrs. Martha says fur babies are still babies, so get out.” He winks before slamming the door in my face.
The door doesn’t actually slam, of course. It has a builtin soft close, because banging doors doesn’t fit a bookstore cafe’s ambience. It’s just the overall sentiment of the moment.
A highpitched vocal melody pulls me out of my daze and I look at Selene, then the door again. “I guess we can just… go home?” Because what else am I going to do? I could go hiking, but I don’t know the area. With my luck, I’d get lost in the middle of miles of evergreens, with no access to any of the local rivers, and get eaten by a hungry bear. Does Washington even have bears? I should google this.
It occurs to me in that moment that I have no life outside of The Novel Grind. It isn’t like I’m unfamiliar with that fact. It’s just that I never had to worry about it. I’ve been in Cedarwood for only a few weeks, and working at The Novel Grind the whole time, working open to close to rack up as much money as I can. I have tuition to pay at a new college, and it’s expensive, because I’m out of state. Speaking of which, I’m going to need a new license. But if I get a new license, will that make it easier to find me?
Running away seemed so simple when I thought of just taking my money and starting somewhere new. But with college, and now a driver’s license, I’m beginning to realize that it might be impossible without some sort of shady connection. Like to Lisa’s people, who make fake IDs-
And, again, if I do that, will my college credits even stack? Will I put myself in some sort of shadyperson quagmire that affects my future because I didn’t do everything on the up and up?
My head’s already spinning, and it only stops when sharp pain blossoms in the tip of my right finger. I blink at Selene. “Did you just nip me?”
She tilts her head, flicking one ear back.
“I’m not sensing any remorse from you, you know that?”
Not a muscle moves, but I have the vague sense of a humanlike shrug emanating from her. Stupid shifter anthropomorphism. Dogs are dogs. Dogs aren’t shifters. Dogs feel dog feelings. I have to stop that.
“Come on, Selene. Let’s go home. Maybe you can get an extra bowl of kibble while I tackle some of these boxes.”
There we go. A solid plan for the day. Something that doesn’t throw me down a spiral of questions I have no answers for. Avoiding my future won’t work forever, but I’m grateful to do it for now.
Thunk.
That’s it. That’s the last book, tossed onto a pile of mystery novels. Fifteen boxes are now empty, and while it might appear that my apartment is little more than a haphazard pile of empty boxes and organized book piles, my heart breathes with the room I’ve created by tackling the monster that is everything Mrs. Elkins stored in this apartment for the last who knows how long.
The couch is soft and springy as I flop onto it, taking a welldeserved break. Selene’s ears perk up at my sudden display of enthusiasm, but she doesn’t move, content to rest by the front door, which happens to be one of the few places in the living room not covered in something.
“We did it, Selene! We’ve tackled the monster and unpacked it all!”
Well, everything that was in the living room. The kitchen still has a few boxes, and let’s not even talk about the bedroom. But the living room? The living room is done, and that’s what matters.
I survey the piles of books scattered around the room, separated by genre. There’s a stack of classics, a pile of contemporary fiction, a few biographies, and even a small collection of poetry. The biggest pile by far, though, is near and dear to my heart. Romance. Tantalizing little bodicerippers with bare male chests whispering to me, enticing me to flip them open and be drawn into a world of magical, mystical, perfect men.
I used to read them whenever I had a chance. The
White Peak library was full of them, and I was desperate for any happy ever after I could get my hands on.
They’re a lot less appealing these days.
I rub my chest, frustrated by the ache that likes to poke its head out in my weak moments, and snap a quick photo of the piles to send to Mrs. Elkins.
[AVA: What should I do with all these books?]
Selene seems to realize that I’m done moving for a while and slinks over on her silent paws, jumping beside me. She circles once, twice, then settles down, her head resting on my thigh. I scratch behind her soft ears as I wait for Mrs. Elkins’ response.
My phone buzzes.