Chapter 4

Five Years Later

“Oh, and Mommy, guess what! Today I’m gonna do something so great. Guess what I’m gonna do!” Gabriel, his little hand tucked in mine, beamed up at me and nearly stumbled over his own feet as he bounced in excitement.

I beamed back at him while waving to the crossing guard as we crossed the street to his preschool. “I don’t know, what is it?”

“I’m gonna draw more picters for your shop!” Picture was still a hard word for his little four-year-old mouth. “And then, and then you can put the picters in the window. So then all the people know my mommy’s shop is the best-ever shop, cause she can make you smell so-o-o good!”

The love and happiness in his face when he looked up at me filled my heart with light. I was his whole world, and he was mine. He was best thing that ever happened to me.

“Aww, thank you, baby, I’d love that!” I hoisted him up on one hip and planted kisses all over his curly dark hair.

Gabriel squealed in delight. “Not a baby!”

“You’re my baby,” I said, grinning, swinging him upside down and back up again till he shrieked with laughter.

Plopping Gabriel back down, I smoothed down the messy curls always falling over his face. Just like his father’s – but I shoved that memory away.

“Okay, not-a-baby Gabe, Mommy’s got to get to her shop, so you have a great day, all right? I can’t wait to see your pictures. Remember, who is it that picks you up from school?”

“You or Uncle Gavin. ‘Cause you’re my safe grownups if there are ‘mergencies. And ‘mergencies are like if a big storm happens, or a bad guy comes, or maybe if we all gotta fight a big monster!”

I laughed; fighting a big monster together wasn’t part of the safety rules I drilled him in, but Gabriel was my child through-and-through. I’d been just the same as a pup.

As we waved goodbye and he ran happily through the door of the preschool, Gabriel turned back one last time to give me a warm, sweet smile, like sunshine itself. He lit up my world.

That day in the clinic when Gavin showed me the ultrasound, I had decided to have a future. I’d lost everything, but I glimpsed the faint light of a new life I could build for myself.

I’d stayed with Gavin for my first months in the human world. I couldn’t have done it without Gavin. He’d truly meant his offer of help. Though he’d been born to a wealthy corporate family, his shame at their treatment of others drove him to study law and help regular people defend themselves in court. Most of his work now was pro bono, and we joked that I’d been his first case.

With his legal knowledge, I was able to create identification papers for myself. That let me cobble together enough savings, between welfare and part-time jobs, to survive on after the baby came.

For months, I wasn’t able to cry. I couldn’t let myself feel the pain I had endured. I had to focus on building a new life for myself and my child.I couldn’t let myself imagine what might have been.

But then my son was born. As soon as I held him in my arms and felt his tiny body curl into my warmth, the dam broke. I cried alongside my newborn son for all my months of pain and grief, the world that was torn away from me, the father my baby couldn’t know, and the family and pack we’d both lost.

I kissed the dark swirls of hair on his head. I knew what I’d call him – Gabriel. A name that echoed and honoured both my sister Bria and my brother-like friend Gavin, only concerning them.

That was the day our new life really began.

Now, five years later, I shared that quiet，happy life in the human world with Gabriel– it was almost perfect.

As I walked to my shop, the sunlight on my face felt like a reflection of Gabriel’s smile.

I couldn’t wait to put his new picter in the window – customers loved seeing my little son’s art. A perfume shop called Lykos Street Boutique Scents might not seem like a place with a kid-loving clientele – nor the kind of business that the hard-training warrior I once was would’ve considered opening.

But Gabriel warmed everyone’s heart. And I’d found that my powerful sense of smell, always keener than any werewolf’s, made me an expert with fragrances. I could easily tell what perfumes would best suit someone, and it had brought me surprising success.

I didn’t like remembering that I owed that success to one of my Lycan abilities. But I tried not to think about it, or about any part of my wolf nature.

I called myself Mica Lobos now, not Michaela Lee. The pun of my new surname was my only nod to my old identity. I was determined to live like a human in the human world, putting my past, my pack, and my wolf form behind me.

But why…why was there a crowd swarming the front of my shop?

I stopped in my tracks, my blood running cold. Not even the brightest sun could chase away the shadows devouring my soul from within.

A living nightmare.

Every week I woke smothering cries from midnight nightmares. Memories of my parents killed in front of me by the man I loved, Andreas bloody-fanged as he screamed for our pack to chase me down, the utter hatred and betrayal in my former best friend’s eyes.

Or worse – nightmares of that night, but with Gabriel in my parents’ place. Seeing my baby boy ripped apart in front of me by his father’s claws.

Maybe one day Andreas would find us.

That was why seeing a crowd gathered at the entrance to my shop threw me into a panic.

It’s all over – they’ve found us.

Without hesitation, I whipped around and began to flee – only to collide directly with a man.

“Mica?” he laughed confusedly, as the slightly herbal scent of a familiar human filled my nose. Thank goodness – it was just Gavin.

The thin-faced law student I’d met years ago was now a successful lawyer, well-respected for his legal aid to our community. Not only was Gavin our neighbour, in and out of our apartment almost every day, but he’d also become my closest friend.

Gavin grinned at me. “Hey, you’re running in the wrong direction! That crowd’s actually a surprise I have for you.”

Now it was my turn to laugh in confusion. “A surprise crowd? What are you talking about, Gav?”

“Well, I’d heard the local news wanted to run a feature on small businesses in the community, so I recommended they report on your shop! The broadcast ran over the weekend and it was really successful – they even showed a picture of you I sent in, from when we visited the city park for Gabriel’s birthday–”

I went cold. A picture of me, in a recognisable location, broadcast on TV.

Something Andreas could use to find me.

“I thought you wanted that picture for your scrapbook,” I said numbly.

“Well, that too,” said Gavin. “Look, I might not be some corporate schmuck like my parents, but I understand publicity. You can’t be too reserved when you’ve got the best perfume shop in the country to promote!”

Before I could protest, Gavin pulled me towards the crowd and called, “She’s here! This is the owner of Lykos Street Boutique Scents!”

The crowd at my shop door let out a cheer. Suddenly I was greeting eager customers, people who had driven in from all around the area to visit my shop when it opened for the week. Pasting on a smile, I unlocked the shop door, releasing a wash of fragrances from inside.

As people flooded into Lykos Street Boutique Scents, I grabbed Gavin by the arm and whispered frantically in his ear, “You have to get them to take down the photo. The whole news feature. Please, Gavin, I’m begging you.”