Puppy Love
Bonus Chapter 6
Bonus Chapter 6: Puppy Love
2000
The warm glow of sunshine and birds twittering woke Wendell up the next morning. He felt a sense of deep peace and comfort that he hadn’t felt in years. It’s like what waking up on Christmas morning when he was a kid felt like, and that first bite of birthday cake on his 10th birthday.
He inhaled and exhaled deeply, basking in the warmth beating down on him from the glorious sun and the dawn breaking. It was all around him, really. It was even under him and on his neck.
Wait…hang on, Wendell thought as his eyes fluttered open. He was not only warm because of the sun. The heat was also emanating from his naked body, intertwined with Cayden’s. Deeply sleeping, Cayden breathed onto his neck.
Feeling like his whole body was on fire, Wendell squirmed away from Cayden, desperate not to wake him up.
Trying to stay as silent as possible, he inched his way, worm-like, across the grass, to the checkered picnic blanket Cayden transformed on. Curling onto his side on it, he partially wrapped the blanket around himself in a fetal position. Wendell felt the delicious pull of sleep dragging him back.
***
“Hey, Wen, are you awake?” Cayden said softly and gently touched Wendell’s shoulder.
Pretending that’s how he fell asleep all along, Wendell fluttered his eyes open, fighting to keep the redness off his face and out of his cheeks. “I am now,” he yawned.
As he rose to his feet, he wrapped the picnic blanket around him. Cayden was already dressed. Cayden tossed Wendell his duffel bag like it was as light as a bag of potato chips.
“Grab that. I have to show you something,” Cayden instructed. He led them to a log cabin.
“No way,” Wendell froze in front of it. “This was here the whole time?! Why didn’t you show me this place last night?!” Wendell cried.
“And have you wolf out here and destroy it all? Nuh-uh. Plus, if you had this, you would’ve fought even harder against the change! No. This is for after your moons, Wen.”
“After my moons,” Wendell grumbled.
Wendell didn’t wait for Cayden’s okay. He blazed into the cabin.
It had an open floor plan and had a couch and cozy armchair, a table with seating for four, a kitchenette, a full bathroom, and a bedroom with a king-sized bed with a homemade quilt spread across it.
“I’m showering first,” Wendell sprinted into the bathroom.
After they washed up, they returned to Cayden’s car. With the rate he was driving, they’d be back at campus in no time. Wendell was relieved. After waking up naked and entangled, he was eager to get away from Cayden.
“Hungry?” Cayden asked as he sped them down the highway. “I’m starving.”
“Not really,” Wendell said, and he meant it. He always felt awful during his moonset and rarely had an appetite.
“I’m about to pass by one of the best diners in Connecticut,” Cayden said enticingly.
“You’re the one driving. If you want to stop, stop,” Wendell said, hoping that Cayden would opt out and keep driving them back to school.
Instead, Cayden said, “You’ll love this place,” and pulled into a diner parking lot.
It was a retro diner, all square and aluminum.
“This looks like something out of a Jetson’s episode,” Wendell said as he slid into the red vinyl cushioned booth. “Is Rosie the robot going to serve us?”
Cayden laughed.
“Robots better not take my job from me, unless they want to be the ones feeding, clothing, and housing my kids,” a woman wearing an apron with an order pad and shiny plastic-covered menus said as she approached them. “What can I start you two off with? Water? Coffee? Tea?”
Cayden looked at Wendell and motioned for him to go first.
“Water is fine,” Wendell said.
“I’ll take a hazelnut coffee, iced, please,” Cayden smiled.
She passed the menus over, “Here, I’ll give you boys a minute to look things over, and I’ll be right back with those drinks.”
Wendell’s menu was sticky and had greasy fingerprints on it. He winced as he picked it up to read the extensive list of foods.
Cayden excitedly fired off all of his favorite foods. He gushed about practically everything on the menu.
When their waitress came back, Cayden practically ordered everything on the menu, too.
“And for you, hun?” the waitress asked Wendell.
Wendell stared at the same spot on the long menu before finally ordering, “Tea,” he said awkwardly.
“What kind, hun?”
“Anything without mint. It’s like drinking toothpaste,” Wendell cringed.
“Milk, cream, or sugar?”
“Just black,” Wendell said.
“Okay, I’ll put those orders in.”
“Wait! Actually, make that the vegetarian omelet, please,” Cayden said. He not so subtly eyed Wendell for his reaction.
“You got it, hun.”
She returned with Cayden’s feast and Wendell’s mug of tea in no time.
“Any food for you, hun?” She asked Wendell.
Wendell knew she wouldn’t go away until he did. “Toast.” He said.
“Butter? Jam?”
“On the side?” Wendell asked.
“Of course, hun.”
“She probably thinks I’m hungover or something,” Wendell groaned, hunching his shoulders and smushing his face into his cupped hands.
“Does what she thinks really matter?” Cayden hacked into his thick, cheesy omelet. “So how was last night?” He grinned devilishly at Wendell.
As Wendell thought back, he felt his face go on fire as small snatches of the night came back to him. Especially a moment where he turned on Cayden and mounted him.
“I think tonight will be even better,” Cayden grinned.
Wendell sputtered into his tea.
“What? Did I say something?” Cayden asked
“No! It’s just...Well, I was thinking… I think I want to do it alone this time.”
“What?” Cayden asked. The chunk of French toast he speared flopped off his fork and drowned in a pool of melted whipped cream and maple syrup on his plate.
“By myself. I want to be by myself, alone. For my next moons.” Wendell said, trying to convince himself he meant it.
“If that’s what you want,” Cayden said. “I just figured we’d do the whole moon set together.”
“I barely know you,” Wendell said before he could stop himself.
“Isn’t that friendship though? We all start barely knowing each other,” Cayden said.
“Friends,” Wendell repeated. Maybe Cayden wanted friendship, but their wolves wanted to be more than friends, and that was a problem.
“Please reconsider, Wen,” Cayden appealed. “It’s safer for everyone and better for you. One more night, and if you really can’t stand it, do your third and final moon alone. How does that sound?”
Wendell reluctantly nodded.
The next morning, Wendell woke up to sunshine and birdsong, naked and entangled with Cayden. Again.
This time, he couldn’t pretend it didn’t happen because Cayden woke up seconds later.
“Good morning,” Cayden yawned and sat up, completely unfazed by the positions their naked bodies were in. He stretched his arms behind his head and shook himself out.
“Good morning,” Wendell practically squeaked, eager to cover himself up.
“You were magnificent last night,” Cayden said.
Wendell’s face burned. He imagined he was chili pepper red.
“You looked happy. You looked free. You’re fast as hell, too,” Cayden marveled.
“Wait…you… you have memories from the nights of your moons?” Wendell gasped.
Well, this complicates things, Wendell thought.
”Mhm. Purebreds like the wolves in my pack keep their human mind. Well, our mostly-human minds, because none of us are fully human.”
“But the bitten lycs like me…” Wendell trailed off.
“Fugue states are common in a lot of bitten lycs. You’re not an unusual case, Wen.”
“But what if… I mean… is there a way that… does it always have to be like that? Will I ever be able to have what you do? A way to hold onto my humanity? To keep my mind and my thoughts and to … I don’t know… stay in control?”
“I dunno, Wen,” Cayden said. “I haven’t talked to a lot of bitten lycs. Most lycs I know are purebreds. They were born with their wolves a part of them, like me. I haven’t had any moons like yours. We’re raised to honor and care for our wolf. We don’t suppress him or try to beat him into submission. There’s no battle for control, because we share it. It’s like we’ve got both hands on the wheel… well, one hand and one paw. It drives everything we do. We’re together through it all, moons and otherwise.”
“Can you turn even when it’s not your moon set?” Wendell asked.
”No. We’re not shifters like werecats or werebears or some of the other animal shifters. Their conditions don’t come from a rush of hormones connected with planetary alignment. I’m pretty sure they can up and shift into whatever partial animal they are whenever they want,” Cayden said. “There is one way to transform into a wolf when it’s not the full moon, but it’s permanent. My parents are going to do that when they pass over the pack to me.”
“Pass over the pack to you?” Wendell said as it dawned on him. Oh no…
“Yeah. I’m the son of alphas. I’m next in line,” Cayden beamed.
So his wolf wasn’t having sex with an ordinary wolf. But a wolf destined to become alpha.
“So since you keep your memories… You know by now that our wolves are…” Wendell struggled to get out the sentence that was blazing in his head like it was lit up in flashing neon lights: our wolves are having sex.
“Hey, it’s all good,” Cayden said airily. “Our wolves get hungry, ravenous even. And not always for food. And I mean, you’re gay, right? It makes sense that your wolf would be gay too.”
“Are… you?” Wendell asked awkwardly.
“Uh huh,” Cayden nodded. “I knew since I was about five. So what do you think about having your last moon with me here tonight?”
Wendell’s face burned, and he smiled shyly. “I’d like that, Cayden.”
If you’ve been enjoying following along with all the murder and mayhem, I’d love it if you took a moment to like this chapter or leave a quick comment! 🖤🐺✨
Awwww 🥹