Page 159 of Such Sharp Teeth

I stand up. “Hey.”

“Hey,” he says. He doesn’t make eye contact.

“I was looking for you,” I tell him. “I went everywhere. I’m glad you’re okay. You are okay, right? Are you okay?”

“I’ve been driving around, looking for you,” he says, his voice so low, I can barely hear him.

“You . . . you want to go for a walk?” I ask. “I’m not . . . It’s not a full moon. So . . .”

“Uh, yeah,” he says. “Okay.”

We walk along the sidewalk in complete silence for a few blocks.

“I would have called,” I say. “I didn’t have my phone.”

“It’s in my car.” He lights another cigarette. His hands are shaking.

“Look, I’ll just give you the out,” I say. “I understand. Nobody goes into a relationship thinking, ‘Hey, so what if they turn out to be a supernatural monster?’ So I just want you to know that if you don’t want to do this anymore, I get it. It’s not what you signed up for.”

“Signed up for?”

“I was planning on telling you,” I say. Now that I’ve started talking, I can’t seem to stop. “Well, not at first. That’s why I wasn’t being responsive. I thought maybe I’d just spare you, but then it was too hard for me to be away from you. It’s all new to me. I was back and then I saw you again and then I got bitten and then we kissed on Halloween and then I had my first full moon. And then—”

“Rory.”

“I’m trying to explain.”

He’s looking at me now. His eyes are bloodshot behind his glasses. “There’s no explaining. What happened last night, what I saw, there’s no explaining that. There’s no rational explanation.”

“I know there isn’t. I know that,” I say. “I know it makes no sense, Ian. But the logic doesn’t really matter. It’s real. It’s my reality. I have to live with it. And I don’t blame you if you don’t want to. Live with it. After last night, which, by the way, I’m really sorry about. I’ll pay for your glasses.”

“Let me just . . .” he starts. He takes a breath. “So you’re . . . ?”

“A werewolf.”

“Every-month-full-moon kind of deal?”

“Yep,” I say. “Every month, the night of the full moon. Yeah. Just that night.”

“I don’t . . . I can’t. I’m trying to . . .” He sighs.

“I’m sorry,” I say, scooping up a falling tear with my tongue. I’m too afraid to face him. Instead, I stare up at the black sky. “When I turn, when I’m the wolf, there’s just this violence. This hunger. And I’ve been trying to figure out how to control it. Manage it. And I did! I figured it out last night. I was in control. But I wasn’t prepared. I lost track of the days. I didn’t mean to put you in any danger. That’s the last thing I’d ever want. That’s not how you should have found out.”

“There was another one.”

“I didn’t invite her, trust me.”

“What? Invite who? Who was that?”

“It’s not important.”

“They tried to kill me.”

“I took care of it.”

“What do you mean, you took care of it?”

“She’s leaving and she’s not coming back. I’d never let anything happen to you.”