Five: Oliver

Oliver's P.O.V.

My stomach rolled as I sat with Maddie, fighting the internal battle to keep the contents of my stomach inside my body. The twisting of my organs made my eyes squeeze closed tighter as my mouth filled with saliva.

I could hear my mate muttering away as she went through the fridge and cabinets, but I didn't want to move just yet.

"You're going crazy, Lana. You're just paranoid." She mumbled as her footsteps got closer. I cracked one eye open to see her rummaging in the kitchen trash with her lips turned down with disgust. When she found nothing, she stood up straight with a sigh before moving to wash her hands.

I closed my eyes again, enjoying the feeling of my mate's pup as she ran a brush through my dirty fur. The drawing she had started for me this morning was long forgotten on the table in front of her.

Lana. My mate's name was Lana. It was a beautiful name that seemed to fit her perfectly.

I let out a sigh of contentment as Lana moved over and sat down next to us, her foot brushing against my side as she did so. This was it, right here. This was why the Goddess brought me back. This was my family.

My body stretched out further as Maddie moved to brush the matted fur of my belly, only for a sharp cramp in my stomach to make me whimper. Based on how Lana had inspected every item in the kitchen, I had been right not to eat any of their food. I would have just scared her more.

Unfortunately, I was so hungry that I couldn't focus on anything last night, other than the feeling of my empty insides and the loud whale calls it was letting out as it threatened to start eating the organs around it if I didn't fill it soon.

As soon as I had come back into the living room, the sight of a furry little rodent running out from under the couch seemed to be my only option. Its bald patches, snaggle-tooth, and bulging right eye made it the most unappealing prey of my life, but I was starving.

I had eaten raw animals thousands of times before in my wolf form. Unfortunately, this particular rat tasted about as right as it looked. My guts twisted at the memory of the critter's poisonous flavor.

"Maddie?" Lana called out as her daughter continued to brush through my hair, gently stroking my cheek with her other hand at my whimper. "Is that my hairbrush?"

Maddie froze, and I opened my eyes, picking my head up as I stared at her retreating hand, willing it to come back and chase this sickly feeling away with her soft touch as she combed my fur.

"He needed it, momma. You always brush my hair when I don't feel good." Maddie explained, but by the look on her face, she was not sorry at all. The innocent smile made me want to laugh, and I reached over, licking her hand in gratitude. She was going to be trouble when she was a teenager.

Lana let out a sigh, and I turned to look up at her, my nose bumping into her knee. "You're right, but I think he needs a bath first."

I could feel myself perking up at the thought of a nice long shower after. It would feel so good to let the hot water hit my knotted back muscles. I was mostly healed, but as she stood and walked down the hallway, I made sure to give a little extra drag to my leg and extenuate my limp, so she wouldn't know how fast I had recovered.

Lana looked back at me with her eyebrows pulled together. I stared at her skeptical face for a long moment in awe of how beautiful she was before I realized that I had reacted to her words as if I had understood her.

She had said she was going to give me a bath, and I had gotten up and followed her like a lost puppy. Lana shook her head as she spun back around and opened the bathroom door. Her spine straightened. I watched as goosebumps covered her arms, and I felt myself go on alert. Was there something she could sense that I couldn't?

"Maddie, come on in here. You wanted him, so you need to come and take care of him until it is time for him to go home. He's yours right now." She called out, glancing down the hallway like she was expecting the boogie man to pop out...or a naked version of myself.

The rushed scampering of little feet heading our way overpowered the disappointment I felt at Lana wanting me to leave.

As Maddie barreled down the hallway I stretched out, making sure I would be able to reach her if she were to trip and fall. The hallway was very narrow compared to my size, so it wouldn't have been hard to catch her before she collided with a wall, but my large frame would end up being a problem for the small bathtub I spied inside the room.

"He's not mine," Maddie mumbled as she ran her hand over my head. I leaned into her touch. "He's yours, and I'm yours. So, I'm his too."

I blinked a few times in stunned silence as I watched Maddie move past me and over to sit on the lid of the toilet seat. Children could be scary with how intuitive they were.

Lana rubbed her fingers on her eyebrows, her curly brown hair falling over her shoulder. "I don't even know what to do with that statement. I swear, I feel like I'm the only sane one in this house." My head tilted to the side as she dropped her hand and looked down at me. "And, now I'm talking to someone's giant pet wolf, so clearly I'm not doing too hot in the mental health category either."

My jaw tightened as I moved past her, annoyed by her referring to me as a pet once again.

'Although, I am acting like one.' I thought to myself as I brushed by her thighs and walked right into the bathtub, my fur hanging over the side of the tub as I squeezed to sit down.

As soon as she turned the water on, I ducked my head, trying to hide my embarrassment as I peed in the tub. It wasn't my fault though. I had been holding it for hours and didn't know when I would get another chance. Worse than that was that I had done the same in the kitchen sink last night, just seconds before she had walked in. I had used the thunder as my chance to rinse the basin because I couldn't risk using the toilet or opening the doors and waking her up.

"Oh, I'm sorry, buddy," Lana whispered, finally getting the courage up to pet the top of my head for the first time. "After this, we can go for a walk to dry you off, and you can do your business."

I appreciated that, but more so, I needed to use the opportunity outside to hunt for food. From what I had seen yesterday, they didn't have much left. It was mainly a large bag of rice and some cans of soup.

My pride was taking a beating as she sprayed me off. I didn't want to look at her. While her hands felt amazing as she rubbed them through my fur, not bothering to waste any of her shampoo on me, I still felt humiliated.

It was not helping anything.

One day, preferably soon, I was going to tell her the truth. It would in no way be romantic. I would shift into a human, tell her she was my soulmate, and she would think back on how she had to drag me in the house, listen to me whining and whimpering like a baby, clean my wounds, how I had scared her in the middle of the night by standing naked in her kitchen, and now I had peed in her bathtub.

It was like a constant onslaught of humiliation and emasculation, just one thing after another.

"Alright, big guy," She cooed in a baby voice as she lifted my chin slowly to spray the top of my head. Another spasm rushed through my guts, and I let out a whimper as my mouth began to water, the pain becoming too much.

I ripped my head away from her delicate hand, just in time to vomit into the bathtub, next to the drain. My throat burned, and my eyes watered as I emptied my stomach.

"Oh my god! Is that a rat tail?" Lana asked in disgust as she stared down at the mess I made.

“Ew!" Maddie cried out as she looked over her mom's shoulder.

Unable to face her, I looked in the opposite direction, dropping the top of my head against the shower wall with a resounding thud.

This day was just getting worse and worse.