Victim of Circumstances

Love stories bloom or end, thanks to the delicate or abrupt movements of everyday eventualities; that’s why I invite you to read this story; you’ll realize that sometimes we are simply victims of circumstances.

Chapter 1

Controlled Life

“Hi, my love” —Asdrúbal greeted me, my boyfriend of quite a few years. I felt very protected and loved by him; seeing him was always a reason for joy. I noticed what he was carrying: a bouquet of yellow tulips and a little box of chocolates.

“Hi, my love!” —I answered enthusiastically— “Happy four years and ten months, I love that you have these nice details.” —My gift was a grey sweater he’d liked a few days ago when we walked through the mall stores; I’d give it to him after we had dinner and made love.

It was hard to have an unpleasant day with him; everything was simple, we understood each other, and above all, neither of us handled problems driven by ego. Generally speaking, we got along very well.

“Are you going to university tomorrow? Because I feel like going to the movies.” —Asdrúbal smiled at me mischievously.

“Do you want to go to the movies, or do you want to turn your house into a movie theater?” —I laughed quietly, a little embarrassed, even though we were naked, wrapped in the sheets— “If you intend to do something, then I invite you not to leave for tomorrow what you can do today.”

“You can’t compare two days of action with a single encounter.”

“You always want more, you never get tired” —I teased him and gave him a short approving kiss; in the end I loved that he was like that.

“That’s the idea, don’t you think? Besides, I’d never get tired of you… you have something I can’t stop desiring; it’s inexplicable.” —The words echoed in my head, and my reaction was to frown; Asdrúbal noticed and looked worried—. “Hey, love, I’m not saying it’s something bad or that I’m only with you out of simple desire; I love you, it’s just that when I see you, I simply don’t want to move away.”

“You’re a budding romantic; come on, come on, get off” —I played—, “you’re too sweet.” —I got up and went into the bathroom to take a shower. Asdrúbal didn’t take long to follow me and take me as his again under the torrent of warm water falling on us from the showerhead.

After all that action between the two of us, he decided to rest a bit before going home. We both lived on the same campus, since that whole area was inhabited by students from different universities nearby. It was very gratifying for me to have that closeness, since I’d never had a family; I spent my whole childhood going from one orphanage to another, so I didn’t have enough time to get attached to anyone who wasn’t in my same situation, until I met him almost five years ago.

Asdrúbal missed his loved ones, who were miles away from us in the state of Barquisimeto, but coming to Zulia state and meeting me was an important pillar to bear his absences, as he himself said.

As soon as dawn broke, I found myself alone at home; I changed, fixed my hair and left on my way to the university. When I arrived, I walked straight to my classroom. I was always a very asocial person; I didn’t know how to approach people, much less get attached easily; in turn, whoever showed interest in me also gave up, since for my part I didn’t let myself be loved or appreciated by anyone.

I was clear about what I was; in my condition I’d read a lot about it; well, actually I read a lot, so I didn’t need anyone else.

I only took care of being someone in life by studying at the university; besides, I worked in a clothing store to pay my bills, and I took care of making my boyfriend happy… I didn’t need more… that’s how I felt good.

“Hi, is that seat taken?” —a dark-skinned man with intense brown eyes smiled at me, showing his perfect white teeth. —My God, he’s handsome —I froze—. “Sorry, can I sit with you?”

I just nodded and almost died of embarrassment when I felt my face heat up.

“I have to apologize; you looked so focused thinking that I think it was in very bad taste to interrupt you.”

“No” —I muttered; I cleared my throat as if that could give me willpower to speak well and not stay staring at him like a fool— “Don’t worry, it’s nothing.” —I settled into my seat and looked forward, trying to completely avoid any conversation.

I’d never seen him in this class; could he be an exchange student? And does that happen at this university? But my God, he smells so good! Wait, wait! How can a stranger make me feel like this?

The thoughts stunned me the whole class; I was uncomfortable. As soon as the professor ended the class, I left the classroom without saying goodbye to anyone and without looking back.

“Yes, yes, you’re running away” —I muttered, hugging my notebooks and walking even faster down the hallway— “That’s exactly what I felt when I met Asdrúbal; this isn’t right.”

Chapter 2

The Reckless Factor

The next class was more relaxed; that man wasn’t near me, so that was enough to be able to pay attention and understand everything they explained to me. When it ended, I stayed working on some exercises I was behind on in this subject; I was so focused that when I heard a kind tone addressing me, I did nothing but jump in my seat.

“Now it’s official, I have to apologize for interrupting you” —it was the same handsome guy from a few hours ago.

Is he following me? What is he doing here?

I tried to keep my face friendly while looking around to see if anyone else was with us, but to my growing anguish, it was only him and me.

“Tell me, what do you want?” —I blurted out, and well, those weren’t very kind words.

“Forgive me, please, it’s just that we’re only ten days away from Christmas break and I’m just starting to take this semester’s classes and I’m very behind; I wanted to ask you for your notes so I could catch up a bit.”

I felt relieved; apparently he wasn’t a potential stalker. Although I still felt very uncomfortable talking to him; I didn’t trust him; something about him unsettled me, and if that stayed that way I’d end up putting that emotional wall in front of me and be inaccessible to him.

“Do you have email? I could scan my notes and send them to you; I have no problem helping you” —something in me wanted him far away right this moment; his seductive smell had me spellbound, not to mention how he looked at me and smiled. He looked very comfortable standing there in front of me, confident.

“Yes, of course, it’s [email protected]; by the way, nice to meet you, I’m Gerald Ferrer.” —He extended his hand, and out of politeness, I felt obliged to take it. And that was a mistake! His touch sent bursts of electricity to places where I’d be ashamed to admit. And may I drown in the Caribbean Sea right now, something told me he’d noticed, because he didn’t let go of my hand; on the contrary, he came closer to me and sniffed me without any delicacy. I was stunned at his unusual behavior—. “Sorry to tell you, but your smell is exquisite.”

Yes, I only use coconut-scented body splash.

Before the awkward silence that enveloped us, he quickly stepped away, and I, dying of embarrassment, decided to overlook his compliment and answered him:

“My name is Ana Marisa, nice to meet you.” —I immediately focused my gaze on the exercise, which now looked to me like a bunch of numbers written in Chinese—. “During the afternoon or tomorrow I’ll send you the notes to your email; that’s settled. If you’d be so kind as to leave me alone, I need to finish this activity.”

“Don’t you have a last name?” —was his answer to my dismissal.

“That’s none of your business” —I replied with an angry face. He shrugged and blurted out:

“I intended to pay you to explain some classes to me.”

Shit, what does he want? And yes, I need more money to pay the bills and have something left for myself!

I stayed silent for a moment; seeing I didn’t answer him, he kept insisting:

“I have a lot of money; you’ll benefit greatly from this… Look at it this way: if you agree, we’ll both benefit.”

“I don’t need your money! How annoying you are!” —I answered arrogantly; it was hard not to be defensive about that aspect; it bothered me to have certain monetary needs, and even more that strange people noticed. Did I have a neon sign on my forehead that said: “I have no money and I have no parents to help me”?

“Then will you explain to me for free?” —he shrugged, smiling, and sat down in front of me. Those words didn’t offend me; it was obvious what he’d said before was just words testing the waters. He was indeed interested in advancing in his studies.

“Even if I didn’t want to help you, I admit my time is worth something, so in any case, you’ll have to pay me… just try not to be too clever with me.”

“It was just a joke, I didn’t say it intending to upset you… I think I have to go; I don’t want to keep screwing up; my first day of classes was completely awful. That’s settled, thank you for agreeing to help me and at least send me the notes by email.” —He got up and started heading for the door.

I noticed his expression was one of complete sorrow; I immediately felt empathy for him; I knew what it was to feel alone and have no one lift a finger to help you. When he was about to leave the classroom, I told him loudly:

“I’ll think it over; the email will have the answer on whether I’ll tutor you or not… but it’ll cost you; it’s not like I have time to spare.”

Gerald stopped and let me see his wide, pleased smile.

“Thank you, then I’ll wait for your email.” —Then he turned around, and I ended up watching his big, well-formed butt walk away from me.

But what’s wrong with me? —I scolded myself; Asdrúbal didn’t deserve me acting like this, but I couldn’t help it; I felt like… like helping, or maybe doing other things with my new acquaintance.

Chapter 3

Falling into the Void

When I got home, I started analyzing the matter; I needed the money; besides, I tried to convince myself that I had willpower… that had never been hard; I didn’t understand why I was even considering it right now. I deliberated all of this while scanning my notebooks, which took me about two hours.

Already decided, I sent him an email informing him that the only hours I had available to tutor him were from ten to twelve at night, that is, after leaving the university, since in the morning I slept around six hours and then went to work; then I had two free hours before going to my classes, since that time was for being with Asdrúbal. I also told him the price I’d charge per study hour.

I received an email in reply five minutes later that said:

“I’ll be eternally grateful to you; I agree with the price and the hours; see you tomorrow, sleep well.”

“Oh, how kind!” —I exclaimed, turning off my computer, then going to sleep.

The next day went by perfectly. I got up, had breakfast, and went to work. When I arrived at four, I met with Asdrúbal; we spent a while together and made love; I showered and left again for the university.

I was so immersed in my routine that when I found myself face to face with Gerald, I almost fainted from the shock.

My God, what was that!

“Are you okay?” —he touched my shoulder and looked worried.

“Yes, yes, I think I went up the stairs too fast; it’s nothing, don’t worry” —I lied, moving away from him, sitting in the seat farthest from people, as I always did.

“Ahh, you don’t like company; there are two of us; I don’t much like socializing either” —he commented, sitting beside me with a big smile.

A part of me accepted that I liked him better for the simple fact of being asocial. It was something in common that I liked.

“They’re very banal” —I murmured, not intending for him to hear me, but to my amazement he answered me:

“They’re banal with limited time, and that makes them worse.”

I kept silent at his reasoning; seconds later I narrowed my eyes and answered him:

“You talk in the third person; what, aren’t you banal? What makes you different from them?”

“That I don’t like wasting time and I always act for important things.”

“You’re very mature for your age; men on average think like that, if they’re lucky, at around forty.”

Oops, that wasn’t very flattering.

To my surprise he let out a laugh, and half the class turned around to stare at him. Embarrassed, I fixed my eyes on my notebook and pretended to be writing what the professor was writing on the blackboard.

“Sorry, we’d better keep talking when class is over” —I heard his murmur.

“Ok” —I limited myself to answering.

A few seconds later he asked me:

“Can I take you home?” —I looked at him angrily at his boldness—. “Don’t look at me like that; then better tell me where we’ll meet to study.”

Ah, right.

“You can take me, no problem” —it suited me very well to save the taxi money; I lived on the same university campus, but it was still gigantic.

“Perfect, that’s settled” —he nodded and focused on the class.

This time it wasn’t so disturbing to understand what the professor was explaining, but despite that, I took the liberty of looking at him several times out of the corner of my eye to be able to examine him in detail. He dressed quite well, though casual; from my point of view, it was very hard for anything to look bad on him; his build was perfect, his muscles showed a bit through his clothes; he was pure fiber; his face was fresh, with facial hair cut perfectly around his mouth and chin.

He didn’t have his hair like that yesterday… Ah no, but what are you thinking, if you were only looking at his butt. —I scolded myself, hiding a smile and concentrating on the class again.

I didn’t have the next two classes with him, but that wasn’t enough to stop feeling nervous and worried. First, because of being alone both inside his car and at my house; and second, apparently I was having a fucking uncontrollable hormonal attack, because I was afraid of screwing up with a stranger.

“This is completely a bad idea” —I murmured, walking toward the front of the university to take a taxi and flee from there; later I’d make an excuse to him.

“What’s your bad idea?” —Gerald spoke behind my back, and I let out a little yelp of fright at his imprudent appearance. —”Sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“You’ve got me on edge!” —I replied without thinking, and then I died of embarrassment.

“Are you afraid of me? You have no reason to be; I’m just very stealthy and I have good hearing; I apologize.”

I nodded, with nothing intelligent to say.

“My car is in the parking lot… are we studying today, or don’t you want to anymore?”

That face again.

I raised my face a bit out of inertia, trying to avoid him and not look into his eyes; and I came upon a beautiful full moon. The effect was immediate; for no apparent reason I began to feel a deep headache.

“Ow!” —I complained and brought my hands to my head, not noticing my notebooks would fall to the ground.

“Hey! What’s wrong with you, are you feeling sick?” —he closed the little space between us and put his arm around my back, keeping me from falling, since at that precise moment I experienced strong dizziness. —”Are you sick? Do you want me to take you home? Let me take you; tomorrow when you feel better we’ll study; I understand you’re not up to it right now” —as best he could, he picked up my notebooks, which were scattered on the asphalt, and then we started walking toward the parking lot.

His car was a lead-grey Mustang Cobra. I’d never ridden in one of them; now I understood how he could pay me quite well; apparently he had a lot of money.

The way home was silent, but that didn’t help my strong headache calm down; on the contrary, it intensified. I kept my eyes closed and only opened them when I figured I should give directions to get to my house.

“It’s here” —I murmured, and felt another stab in the right side of my head.

“I’ll help you to the door” —I don’t know if it was the pain or that I took too long opening and closing my eyes, but I thought I saw him in front of me and then beside me, opening the door for me. He helped me get out of the car, but I could barely take two steps before falling to my knees and starting to tremble.

“No, no, no… what the fuck, it started early!” —Gerald murmured, lifting me effortlessly. For a few moments my consciousness came and went, but I was sure I kept trembling violently, unable to control myself; I felt no pain from those involuntary movements; it was inexplicable. —”You weren’t supposed to experience this like this; I’m here with you, hold on” —he kept telling me while, surprisingly, he walked straight to my bedroom. For a moment I was awake, very alert, while my whole mind was trying to understand his words, but before I could ask him anything, I felt another stab in my head, added to a sharp pain that plunged me completely into the darkness of unconsciousness.

Chapter 4

Ruined Life

As soon as I woke up, it was a great relief to see Asdrúbal sitting beside my bed, but he was angry, I was sure, because I could feel it.

“Before you say a single word, I want you to know that I love you with every cell in my body, and that what you did to me is unspeakable… I’ll make it easy for you, because I’m no good at playing the wounded man, but you can go on with your lover; when you realize you don’t love him, you can look for me” —he paused before my face of amazement and bewilderment—, “I hope it won’t be too late when you decide to come back.”

“Asdrúbal! What the fuck are you saying?” —I tried to get up and I was naked; embarrassed and confused, I covered myself with the sheet and tried to find the logic in all of it.

“Let the man you had sex with a few hours ago explain it to you; for me it’s all clear… I’m getting out of here; from this moment I’m going to Barquisimeto to try to spend my Christmas break with the people who truly do value the love I’ve given them.”

My tears began to run down my face. What argument could I give him if I didn’t even know what had happened myself?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I don’t understand anything; last night I started feeling sick and a classmate I was going to tutor offered to bring me home, and when I got here I don’t remember anything… I don’t know, I don’t understand what you’re accusing me of.

“It’s better you shut your mouth; I saw you, I saw you making love and even heard you for two long hours until that bastard decided to go downstairs to get something to eat.”

“He drugged me, he must have done something to me” —I tried to defend myself.

“I doubt it; that was you, enjoying him; I know what drugged people look like; don’t take me for a fool” —raising his voice a bit and getting up from the chair, he concluded—. “Nobody deserves to be repaid like this after giving so much love; I hope someday you understand that falling in love is hormonal, and that loving is a decision.”

Asdrúbal left the bedroom with tears in his eyes, and I felt rage, an energy burning my whole body; my chest hurt, and again I began to feel those strong stabs in my head.

That bastard Gerald, I’ll kill him for what he did to me.

As best I could, after what felt like an hour, I got out of bed stumbling, holding on to the walls because I didn’t feel strong enough to support myself. I slowly went down the stairs, and to my amazement, Gerald was sitting on the sofa eating pizza. The smell threw me off balance; I didn’t know if it was the food or him; I just wished to have both things inside my mouth, and it didn’t matter which part of either it was.

“My little wolf, you woke up; I had to go out; thanks to the Moon goddess you’re okay” —his voice was alluring; it had calmed all annoyance in me.

“How long ago did you leave? Didn’t you run into my boyfriend here? Did you talk?”

“The truth is he was very upset; I’m sorry. What happened last night and this afternoon was something I didn’t expect; it wasn’t supposed to happen like that; he wasn’t supposed to find out that way… I didn’t think it was fair that he saw us making love; from how he behaved, I think he’s a good man; he didn’t deserve any of this. He was very diplomatic with me, but I’m sure he was destroyed inside.”

“I feel like killing you” —him telling me all of it so lightly made me feel anger inside.

“Fuck, no!” —He shrieked, jumping up from the sofa and going on guard—. “Everything is confusing, but I have an explanation.”

“You have two minutes to explain everything you have to tell me, because I don’t know how I’ll do it, but I’ll start hitting you until I fall down exhausted” —something in me told me I could hit him without much effort.

“I’m a wolf seeker; I help their change process not be traumatic, but I got to yours late; I couldn’t earn your trust and help you know what to do.”

“And that’s why, you bastard, you abused me; give me one reason not to kill you right this moment!” —the business about him being a wolf wasn’t important to me at that moment; deep down I saw it as something irrational or subjective.

“Wolves, when they change for the first time, frantically desire to have sex; it was a full moon and you’re beautiful; I like you; it wasn’t hard for me to let myself be carried away by your scent and your desire… this had never happened to me before; forgive me.”

He looked so sincere that I had to sit down, because for the first time I realized how delicate his words were.

“Are you fucking kidding me, right!? How is it that I’m a wolf? Please, if you told me you drugged me with something that increased my libido, it would be more believable.”

“No, no, seriously, I swear I’m not lying to you.”

“I feel like killing you again; you’re a goddamn ruiner of lives” —I shouted and felt a strong headache.

“Since I know you won’t believe me, then I’ll show you” —before my eyes, and still feeling very angry, with a contained anger warming my being… the idiot started undressing in front of me. I felt desire for him, but then visible amazement, because his body began to change; to tremble, to deform almost magically in front of me… his hair began to grow all over his skin, while his beautiful muscles deformed and changed until he became a big brown wolf in front of me.

By then I was hyperventilating; I couldn’t believe what was in front of my eyes; I was incredulous at Gerald’s supernatural condition.

“No-no-no… it can’t be” —I took two steps back and turned around quickly, ending up crashing and falling against a small glass table where I had several picture frames. The blood from my hands began to come out through the small wounds, but three seconds later the lacerations began to close before my amazed face— “This can’t be possible!” —I stammered, and immediately began to tremble uncontrollably; I couldn’t handle that situation; after a few seconds I was on all fours, all covered in black fur, my clothes torn around me.

I felt fear; I looked around, and everything was sharper, more overwhelming; my distress grew, but Gerald’s peaceful voice pulled me back to reality.

“In a few days you’ll learn to control it; I’m here for that” —by then he was in his human form, shamelessly naked in front of me. I felt desire, the urge to kiss him, to feel him closer.

As if he could sense it, he came closer to me and touched the fur on my neck; then he slowly went down to caress me at the level of my spine.

“Think about being human again, about what you want to do with that condition, and I’m sure you’ll take your usual form.”

I nodded, seeing there was no way he could understand me, and I concentrated. Since my clothes had been torn, when I became human again I was exposed, completely naked in front of him.

Gerald turned around and told me:

“What happened a few hours ago doesn’t have to happen again; that wasn’t right; it wasn’t correct” —he began to get dressed with the clothes he’d set aside before changing.

Blinded by uncontrollable desire, I didn’t let myself reason out his words. I walked toward him and turned him around so he was facing me. His scent hit me all at once, and I allowed myself to put my mouth just centimeters from his; the fact that we were naked was an incentive to want him inside me. There was nothing to stop us.

He touched every inch of my body as if my skin were his. Breathing and broken moans could be heard throughout the room. Licks interspersed with the occasional bite on our skin warmed every centimeter of it. All of that drew us both into uncontrolled thrusts; having him inside me was like touching heaven. And that was the only thing that kept me awake for three days. We only slept, and when we woke, we took each other as if it were the first time; I felt I needed more and more of him, but after those intense days, the body seemed to sink into a long, deep sleep.

Chapter 5

Updating Existence

With so many changes, this new and exciting reality wasn’t going to fool me; I missed Asdrúbal, but the more days passed, the more I realized he shouldn’t find out about anything and had to continue his life without me.

My world was upside down; every day I learned about my condition. Now I understood in part why I’d grown up in orphanages; my condition could push humans away without meaning to; maybe that’s why no couple ever wanted to stay with me and raise me. But even though I now understood that situation, all of it brought a stronger question to my mind: who were my parents? As far as I knew, they were immortals, so why had they abandoned me?

Today, December twenty-third, I do know who I am, but now, more than ever, I wanted to know: what was my origin? Where were my roots?

Thanks to my abrupt change of condition, I’d moved my break forward; after all, I was an excellent student; no subject would be left behind for me, and I already knew from Gerald that his being a student was all a farce, to get close to me… so neither of us would have problems missing almost two weeks before the eventual Christmas break.

For the moment I was alone at home, because Gerald had gone out to do some shopping. I avoided going out because I was afraid any abrupt mood might trigger the change, something I still didn’t know how to control very well, so until I knew how to master myself properly, going out and having contact with humans was counterproductive.

Gerald came back a while later with several bags of food; I helped him carry them, just to feel useful; I knew he could handle that and half a truck more.

I stayed quiet, and a somber expression settled on the face of my current partner.

“Are you depressed again? Are you thinking about that human again? About Asdrúbal? Am I not enough for you? Do you want to go with him to be happy for a few years and then watch him age and die?… No, my beloved, we weren’t born for that.”

“You’re a very cruel idiot! Why the bad mood? You know what, you should ask without judging me… or don’t you realize that before, I was a simple orphaned human and I was fine; I learned to live with that; I wouldn’t be the first or the last… but now I find out I’m a wolf, a supernatural being, just like that bullshit I always hated about Twilight” —he made a face at me—, “what? Don’t act innocent! Don’t tell me you didn’t watch the four movies in that saga?!” —He nodded with an amused face—. “Well, as I was saying, I just wondered: why did my parents abandon me? They’re immortals, and I imagine they have as much money as you, because it would be complete stupidity not to create an immense fortune with a few hundred years behind you” —I started getting worked up—, “so who am I? Where the fuck do I come from?”

“I’ve been investigating with all the information you gave me and the names of the orphanages where you lived; I’ve focused on seeing if anyone donated money for you or anything that connects to your parents; I already told you I’m going to help you; I’ll keep doing it; you deserve to know where you come from, and it’s up to me to help you and take care of you; I won’t let you down, much less now that we’re a couple” —he gave me a short but very intense kiss; right away I felt like having him take me roughly and leave me sunk in unconsciousness—. “That way you have of reacting overwhelms me; you can really tell you’re new to the change; I love you; I’m glad I found you, and above all, that you accepted me.”

At that moment I felt a deep pain in my chest; I remembered that Asdrúbal had said those same words to me when we completed a year as a couple. I immediately tried to hide my reaction with a half smile.

“I love you, little wolf; I wish I could never lose you, that you stay with me always.” —I couldn’t answer him anything; I felt a deep emptiness; I could only nod, and I concentrated on organizing the canned food he’d brought in the pantry—. “Forgive me for a moment ago; I shouldn’t have talked to you like that; I know that human was important to you, very good and loving, but now you live this different reality; you must accept who you are.”

How does he know that? I never told him anything about Asdrúbal.

From what I could see, I was only surrounded by half-truths; better to act smart.

“And I accept it, don’t worry… help me find my parents and I’ll be in your debt… I’ll see how I repay you for that!” —I said that last part in a deliberate tone.

“Always loving me and treating me as you do now, and I’ll consider myself paid.”

I nodded, gave him a short kiss, and went to the bedroom.

From what I see, Gerald feels quite comfortable with my silences. And to think Asdrúbal knew when I had doubts, and with all the patience in the world he looked for a way to get the information out of me and help me.

My life is a disaster, and I thought that by this time I’d be happy, just like the last three years.

I sat on the bed and tried not to cry, but that was impossible for me. I was more broken than ever; I felt incomplete, and the worst thing was I felt like a selfish person who wasn’t worth it.

Chapter 6

Incredible Surprise

The days passed, and I was starting to accept my reality. By then we were in the year-end holidays. Gerald behaved with me in a very beautiful way; he was attentive, helpful, very affectionate and chivalrous; between compliments, nice gifts and moments, he made me feel that I could indeed spend much longer by his side; he wasn’t a bad man or a bad catch, and best of all, we had the same condition of being immortals.

“I have a surprise for you, and I know it’ll be the best December of your entire existence” —he exclaimed, all excited, sure of himself.

I narrowed my eyes and gave him a smile.

“We haven’t even been a couple for a month, and you claim to give me the surprise of my existence… those are very big words for your big mouth, little wolf” —he let out a laugh while tucking his shirt into his dress pants. We were dressing up, because Gerald had gotten tickets to a black-tie party where only the richest people in the city gathered for the occasion.

“Don’t underestimate me, my love, don’t do it.”

I finished adjusting my long red dress, and a few minutes later we left for the gathering place. On the way we passed in front of Asdrúbal’s house, but as he’d said, the house was empty; the lights were off, and the front was covered in leaves; it was clear he’d indeed gone to his family’s house in Barquisimeto.

When we arrived at the ostentatious place, I marveled at seeing all those luxury cars and all those perfect, beautiful, very well-dressed people.

“So much beauty is irrational,” I complained in my mind, amazed by everything around me.

There was nothing out of place; some were more perfect than others; I felt in another world, as if everything were unreal.

“Who are these people?” —I asked, amazed by the rich scent, and many times I found it hard to take my eyes off their splendid faces.

“They’re wolves, like you and like me.”

Ah! It can’t be!

“Is this the surprise you were going to give me?” —I exclaimed, moved by the gesture; it hadn’t crossed my mind to have or be able to be in contact with more beings of our same condition.

“In part” —he raised his head, looking for someone among the crowd, and suddenly seemed to find who he was looking for.

We approached a table with two people who looked to be between thirty and thirty-five years old. A beautiful couple, and on the table there was a decoration written in what looked to me like gold simulating real gold: “Burton Hasstigano Family”

Gerald kissed my forehead and murmured in my ear.

“Surprise, dear Carla Elizabeth Burtón Hasstigano” —from the shock, I sat in the nearest chair; I felt the blood drain from my face and drop straight to my feet.

“Daughter, we’re your parents” —said the fair-skinned man with black hair and blue eyes.

“I’ll never be able to repay you for having found our precious daughter” —the woman intervened, looking at Gerald; she had pretty shoulder-length black hair and brown eyes.

“My love, she has the same eyes, that same look as you” —the man replied through tears, hugging his wife, full of visible happiness.

It’s not just that I only have her eyes; she’s identical to me, only she’s a bit more mature.

“I’m sure she’s their daughter, the one who was kidnapped and torn from her home when she was only five months old; I have proof of it; I’ve used my sources and investigated her whole life to find you; I found it incredible to realize I’m the son-in-law of one of the purest and most influential lineages of our race.” —Gerald looked happy with his achievement, but his words threw me off a bit; he was happier for himself than for me, or for us; his excitement was unmistakable.

But I did focus on myself, and without thinking, I opened my mouth, then felt like a fool.

“You’re too young! How is it that you look thirty-five and I’m only twenty-four?”

“We’re immortals; we age very slowly, and there comes a moment when it stops, and we stay like this forever.”

That’s when I felt like a fool, like a great ignoramus; of course, I’d been influenced all my life by human conditions. Besides, there was no way I could deny their parenthood; I was physically identical to the woman in front of me.

I couldn’t help it; as soon as my brain processed the information about what was really happening, I did nothing but smile and start crying. I looked at Gerald and felt grateful for his help; he was completely right about one thing… he’d given me the greatest surprise of my existence.

Chapter 7

Shifting Truths

After that night, my life had taken another direction, a different and very busy one. Two months had passed since my reunion with my parents, and I’d dedicated all that time to catching up on their lives, and they on mine.

The news among the families of our race had spread like wildfire, and they were happy about our family reunion.

My relationship with Gerald had waned a bit on my part; yes, he made me happy with his attentions and nice treatment, but he didn’t quite convince me; but in spite of that, he insisted on wanting to spend as much time as possible with me.

Because of my condition, I’d put the semester at the university on hold; I had to readjust my life before resuming my priorities, nor was I willing to expose myself. On the other hand, I split my time between spending moments with my parents, who had moved twenty minutes from the university campus; and Gerald, who at the moment was my official boyfriend before all the important people who made up our wolf lineage.

“Mom, tell me something.”

“Yes, daughter” —she answered while combing my straight hair.

“Did you never suspect who took us apart, who kidnapped me and made me live among humans as an orphan?”

“No, my girl; in fact, we investigated for more than twenty years, all the families, but no one could find a connection to you… whoever did it was very smart to put you in a human orphanage, and even more so by taking you away from us to another city where we hadn’t even chosen to live.”

“Sorry!? Another city? Don’t you live here since forever?”

“Of course not! Every few years, we must move, because our unchanging appearance would give us away to mortals.”

“What city did you live in when you gave birth to me?” —I asked, and a part of me didn’t want to hear the answer.

“You were born in Barquisimeto. When you were born, we’d been living in that city for ten years. After your disappearance, we looked for you under every stone, but the city is very big; faced with that, we were able to move within the same place several times while we continued your search. Although four years ago, I decided, dying of grief, to stop looking for you there and change cities; we had to change our names and our appearance a bit so as not to raise suspicions among humans; wolves always do that; you’ll get used to it” —she was a very kind and trusting woman; it showed in the nobility of her words.

They changed their names? It can’t be; that makes it much harder to know exactly who my parents were. How did Gerald do it, and in such a short time? This couldn’t have been like that, so easy… no-no-no… something really big is going on here.

“I have to go out, Mom, thank you for this conversation” —I hugged her and left quickly. I left my parents’ house with many questions in my head; I urgently needed to get to my house; I wanted to confront Gerald; I had a hunch; I was being moved entirely by my instinct.

They lived in Barquisimeto and moved away four years ago? Oh my God! Asdrúbal is also from that place, and he moved four years ago to this city; he also drove my senses completely crazy, although the feeling was different from the one Gerald made me feel.

Wrapped in a cloud of adrenaline and abandon, I decided to face the problem head-on, to make certain different decisions; so I sent my mother a text message:

“Mom, in an hour check my GPS and come to wherever I am; I’ll give you a surprise”

That’ll be enough in case something happens to me.

“Ok, my love” —she answered.

Without thinking twice, I braked abruptly the car my father had given me, a black Yaris; and I walked through the short garden, then knocked insistently on Asdrúbal’s front door. I was going to get the information out of him no matter what.

He opened the door, and at that very moment I sighed; my heart began to pound at a thousand miles an hour; and I wished with all my being to be able to hug him and stay like that for hours.

Concentrate, stupid —I shouted at myself in my mind.

“You’re a goddamn liar!” —I pushed him and went into my house; he only took two steps back despite all the force I exerted— “You’re a wolf, one like me, and you were stupid enough to hide it from me… You kidnapped me! God knows for what, and you made me believe you loved me; you took me away from my parents; you made me fall in love with you, and I don’t understand your motive” —I slapped him; at the moment, amid so many shouts, I trembled, and tears ran down my cheeks.

“You’re partly blaming the wrong man!” —his cheek was tight; he looked very angry.

“Whaaaat!? You admit what I’m blaming you for!”

“I only admit that I am a wolf, that I made you fall in love with me, and that I did love you… sorry, correction, I do love you… I bet you’d come back to my side because you’d realize you did love me, that those rolls in the hay with that guy were only hormonal actions… but I never imagined you’d come to my house to blame me for kidnapping; who do you take me for? I have no lineage; I’m of the lowest class there is within our species; besides, I’m only five years older than you; I’m already aware of the news that you turned out to be the missing daughter of the legendary Burton… Even if I’d wanted to kidnap you, I couldn’t have; I was just a child when you were born… and if you ask me, I suspected you were special, that you were one of us, because that very special attraction and understanding between us only happens between members of the same species; but I was too focused on loving you to spend day after day reviewing tragic news from twenty years ago in the supernatural world.”

“I-I-I don’t know what to say” —I stammered, embarrassed. And I wasn’t going to blame him for keeping the secret that he was a wolf; I was clear about the strict rules our pack had; besides, I hadn’t thought about the key point of his real age.

“Start by apologizing” —he sat down and rubbed his cheek, a clear gesture that he enjoyed what he saw, but in that I was also wrong, because with a half smile he concluded—. “You hit hard; my cheek still burns.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I don’t know what to tell you; forgive me; you don’t deserve this” —I begged him, all embarrassed.

“Don’t worry about that anymore; by the way, what about your boyfriend? How are things going with the lucky man?”

I felt a stab in my chest and felt like the stupidest woman in the world.

“You know what, after analyzing the situation, I need you to help me with something… I can’t trust anyone but you.”

“Thanks for the part that concerns me” —he settled on the sofa and looked at me attentively—, “I’ll gladly help you.”

Chapter 8

Reorganized Life

I got home, and Gerald was waiting for me with dinner ready.

“Hi, my love, you’re early; I just finished cooking; I was about to set the table and go take a shower.”

“Relax, my love; the important thing is I’m home now and I’m by your side” —I gave him a kiss and sat on the sofa—, “come here, I feel like hugging you.”

“Oh, you’re in a good mood; I’m glad you feel good today” —he sat down and lay on my legs; he stayed there while I stroked his hair.

“Love, I have a question to ask you; it’s just that you have so much experience making love, and I’d love to know when I’ll more or less keep up with you.”

He let out a very spontaneous laugh; he looked flattered.

“Ehhh, but don’t be scared, because I know you’re very influenced by many human prejudices.”

“I’m not a human; that became clear to me; I adapt well” —I answered, feeling uncomfortable when he mentioned the word “human.”

“I’m a hundred and thirty-five years old; I fully became a wolf when I turned twenty-four, like you, although there’s an age range between twenty-two and twenty-six.”

I took a deep breath; I had to calm down and not turn into a wolf; this was my chance to face the situation and clear up my doubts.

“Now can you tell me how you found my parents so fast, if everyone changes their name every so often and even their city… how did you find them so fast?”

I noticed when he tensed up, but he immediately relaxed.

“Love, I already explained to you; I’m an outstanding seeker; I’m accredited, I have contacts; I help the change among wolves be less traumatic; in itself, I help most of the individuals I know; and I also know influential people.”

“You’re lying! My parents know many more influential people than you, and they looked for me all this time and still couldn’t find me… but of course, you alone, in a few weeks, found them; that without thinking that you were so direct in contacting me; you knew who I was; something tells me so.”

“How are you going to prove all that? Nobody will believe you!” —he got up from my lap and looked me directly in the eyes.

“Simple math: you’re old enough to have hidden me since I was little; you watched all my movements and then you showed up and pretended to be a savior… logical moves… it all fits; now you’re the boyfriend of the daughter of a powerful family… Of course it suits you! But you didn’t count on me asking many questions and analyzing everything in detail; although I admit everything went perfectly for you, but I started doubting when you referred to me with such confidence, as if you’d known me forever, and you’d only known me for days, not to mention when you stated that Asdrúbal was very important to me and I never told you about him, and if you analyze it, I acted as if I didn’t care.”

“You talk about things nobody will believe you” —he raised an eyebrow and looked at me with contempt; his mask had just fallen.

“Whether they believe me or not, I want to end my relationship with you; I don’t feel comfortable, and I have many doubts; everything happened too fast, and I don’t trust you.”

“You can’t do this to me after everything I did for you!” —he shouted at me, getting up from the sofa while pulling me toward him to squeeze my shoulders and hold me face to face, roughly and uncomfortably.

“What did you do for me?! As I see it, you only gave me back what you took from me!” —I shouted at him too and pushed him to get away from him— “Why were you in such a hurry to show up? Why were you so careless and stupid? Did you think we were such idiots that we wouldn’t analyze the situation?” —I insisted; I wanted to get the information out of him no matter what.

“I couldn’t stand seeing you with that stupid wolf; when I realized his condition as an immortal, I decided to act; that bastard ruined my whole plan to be the owner of the entire Burton fortune. My only chance was to take advantage of your newly changed condition to entangle you and commit you to me.”

“So, do you admit what you did?” —I couldn’t help starting to cry; so much scheming wasn’t healthy or bearable for me.

“Let’s say you’re going to keep the secret of what I did, or I’ll kill everyone you love, and I’ll start with that lowlife Asdrúbal, alias the poor wolf. It won’t be very hard for me; I know how to act without leaving a trace.”

Asdrúbal came in smiling through the back door.

“Here I am; you can try to even touch a hair on me, because if you do, I won’t hesitate to tear your head off your neck; by the way” —he hung up the call— “you were on a conference call with the high wolf command; you officially declared yourself guilty of kidnapping, and you’ll die for treason against your own race.”

“No, if I escape first!” —he declared, running toward the front door; as soon as he opened it, he came face to face with five men I was seeing for the first time in my life.

“The house is surrounded, idiot; I’ll give you the chance to choose… Are you leaving walking, or are you leaving dead?” —Asdrúbal began to tremble; his words were serious; he fully intended to fight.

But he couldn’t act, because the men entered my house and grabbed the miserable bastard Gerald by force.

“Your mom followed your instructions to the letter; she arrived minutes after my friends surrounded the house; they explained the situation to her. She’s incredulous about everything that happened; it’s unbelievable how that guy’s greed tormented and damaged a family for years; and the low way he took advantage of you and your manipulable situation.”

“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to put you through all this; I didn’t really know what I was doing.”

“Wolves don’t know what we’re doing the first two years after our change; I would have acted from the first day you became one of us… but Gerald hid your change from me, and the smell of his body was in every corner of the house, and that dulled my sense of smell; he blinded me with jealousy; he told me he’d been your lover for months and regretted that I found out like that… I was too stupid not to investigate, to run away and go to my parents’ house; I needed space; I closed my eyes and only saw you in his arms” —he hugged me and kept talking—. “Many things fell into place today after our conversation; I admit I’d already found out weeks ago that you were the daughter of someone important and that you were indeed a she-wolf, but I preferred not to interrupt your apparent happiness, since you looked quite comfortable with your new partner.”

“I’m sorry” —I started crying; he matched my tears; he was always someone very emotional, and he came close to my ear and told me:

“I’m sorry too, although the important thing here is that you came back and that I still love you.”

“Those words coming from you make me happy” —I answered, almost hiccuping; I felt terrible, ashamed of everything.

“Don’t cry again, love; everything is fine again” —he went silent and corrected himself—, “To tell the truth, everything is better than before; now you know where you come from, who you are, and who you really love… as I see it, you were never better off; you were just a victim of circumstances. I admit, it all hurt me, but I think I’m strong.”

He’s always so optimistic.

“You’re amazing, my love, I love you!”

“We are; we’re supernatural beings” —he smiled, and his eyes shone with happiness—, “now I want you to accept that I can indeed take care of you and love you for all existence.”

“Finally, good news without negative undertones” —I answered, giving a short kiss to his chest at the height of his heart—. “I hope someday you forgive me for putting you through this.”

“I already did; that’s why I’m here” —I smiled when I heard him and started crying again— “I accepted that falling in love is hormonal, but loving is a decision, and I… I love you even when you weren’t with me these months, even after all this we lived through.”

“I-I… I love you too.”

The End

When people accept that loving is a day-by-day decision, the hormonal process called falling in love will stop increasing the breakup rates in promising relationships.