Chapter 63

Okay, even Dad would probably notice that. Sophia’s nostrils flared as she quickly shut her bedroom door behind her. It’s much stronger than last night; I’ll have to clean some of it up.

She glanced at the tiny puddle she had left at the base of her dresser before going to the kitchen. Its small size belied the thick pheromones it was giving off. With the door closed, the musk of a fertile and receptive part-wolf and part-human female saturated her bedroom.

Now, I have to figure out how to leave my mark everywhere else without drawing attention. She went over to her backpack and dropped the sandwich bag she was carrying next to it. As if dealing with two-leg hormones wasn’t already hard enough. Her mouth pulled into an embarrassed grin. The dreams aren’t all that different, though.

She self-consciously squeezed her thighs together as the night’s vivid dreams replayed themselves in her mind. Sometimes, she had fur and/or a tail, sometimes she didn’t. In a few, she had conversed with Shadow, although she could not remember what had been said. Mostly, it consisted of a lot of sensual cuddling and playing. Mostly. Unfortunately, every time her dreams skirted blossoming into something even more intimate, it would be interrupted by a rush of intense guilt. She’d wake up to wet sheets and painfully unsatisfiable desire.

Candice still hasn’t replied to me. Sophia’s chest tightened with anxiety as she pulled the phone up off her bedside table. I hope she’s doing okay.

She dropped it into the front pocket of her backpack and zipped it shut. Opening the main pocket, she slid in her books and haphazardly completed homework. In front of those, she slid in a sandwich bag with as much lunchmeat as she thought she could get away with. Her mouth watered at the salted meat despite having polished off several breakfast sausages just a short time before. Finished, she placed her hand on the main compartment’s zipper and started to zip it up.

Hmm, I have an idea.

Leaving her backpack open, she left her room and then came back a minute later with a paper towel. Kneeling next to the side of her bed, she rubbed the paper towel over the mostly dried pee. Leaning down, she sniffed at the spot.

Better, I can still smell it, but it shouldn’t be quite so obvious to Dad. Standing back up, she slipped the now fragrant paper towel into her backpack. And I won’t have to worry about leaving my locker unmarked.

Tugging on her backpack’s zipper, she finished shutting it.

That should do it; hopefully, I’ll be able to catch Candice before class.

Candice hasn’t been in school for two days or responded to any of my messages. Sophia anxiously chewed on her pen, the plastic already heavily pitted from nervous biting. Was it because of Monday? She never misses school!

The plastic case of the pen started to give way under her teeth, providing a welcome shot of satisfaction. Focusing on it, she continued to chew on the pen, enjoying the sensation of the pen plastic splitting.

“Sophia, dear,” Ms. Taylor’s gentle voice penetrated her thoughts. “Is everything alright?”

Sophia looked up from her blank notebook in surprise and was rather perturbed to find the pen’s destruction had been quite audible to the rest of the class. Trying and failing to fold her ears, she took her pen out of her mouth and set it down.

I’m running out of pens anyway.

“Sorry,” Sophia replied sheepishly, feeling queasy. “I’m okay.”

“Are you sure? You look ill,” Ms. Taylor replied with concern.

Sophia opened her mouth to insist she was okay, but closed it as she registered the smell of urine. Her tongue flicked up towards her nose as she tried to figure out why it smelled oddly lupine.

Oh, that’s me… and I really have to pee.

“Actually, would you mind if I used the restroom?” Sophia asked, glad for an excuse to escape, even for a few minutes.

“Of course, don’t forget the hall pass,” Ms. Taylor reminded her. “Try to be quick about it. There are only fifteen minutes left in class.”

Sophia stiffly got up from her desk and headed for the board, hoping the wet spot that was adding to her usual discomfort with clothing wasn’t visible through her jeans. Thankfully, Ms. Taylor resumed lecturing, drawing the attention of the class away from her. After grabbing the pass, she wasted no time in leaving the classroom.

At least I have a change of pants for work. She clenched her legs together and waddled towards the restroom. I just want Candice to tell me she’s okay and not mad at me!

Reaching the restroom, she hurried for a stall and gladly disappeared into it. Despite her hormones still going strong and the distinct lack of her musk in the bathroom, she felt little motivation to rectify its absence. Instead, she collapsed onto the toilet and let her bladder drain into it. 

She sat there for a bit, trying to distract herself from the dread that had consumed her over the last two days. Her tongue automatically flicked up towards her nose as she concentrated on her own musk. Picturing Shadow, she imagined how it felt when his fur touched her skin… losing herself in his intoxicating musk… Candice’s broken expression as she walked away outside the antique shop…

Sophia let out a plaintive lupine-like whine. I should get back before Ms. Taylor gets upset.

Leaning over to examine her underwear, she was relieved to see she had only leaked a little, and it hadn’t penetrated through her jeans. Standing, she pulled everything back into place, left the stall, washed up, and headed back to class.

“Could I talk to you a moment, Sophia?” Ms. Taylor asked from her desk as Sophia headed for the door after the bell rang.

What now?

Icy terror rose in Sophia’s chest, and she froze. The late-day human body odors from the other students filing past her only amplified her panic. If it hadn’t been for the class materials she was carrying, she would have dropped to all fours in preparation to either fight or flee.

“You’re not in trouble!” Ms. Taylor assured her quickly when she saw Sophia’s face. “I wanted to let you know I talked to Craig and Camden about New Year's. They agree it sounds like a big misunderstanding and feel really bad about it.”

“Oh,” Sophia replied simply, nearly collapsing in relief.

“Camden especially feels really bad with how everyone reacted and will talk to his parents. They’ll talk to the other members,” the teacher told her. “They also said they’d reach out later this week, and we all really hope you come to the meeting next Tuesday.”

“I… I’ll see…” Sophia stammered, her head swimming. “Thanks for talking to them.”

“Of course,” Ms. Taylor replied. “I knew something wasn’t right. A prank sounded very unlike the shy girl I’ve had in my class the last few months. Just remember, people don’t know how you’re feeling unless you tell them.”

I did, and it broke my best friend. 

Sophia’s face fell, and she felt queasy again, but she managed a nod before escaping to the hall.

“Um, what are you doing?” Rob’s nasally voice startled Sophia as she stood at her register later that night.

Her tongue froze against her hand, mid-lick. She could still faintly smell the steak juice that she had gotten on her hand from the last customer, but she snapped her arm to her side. Her face pulled into a grimace as she picked up the smells that always seemed to cling to the manager. His body odor had an unpleasant garlicky stink to it that night.

Got distracted. Oops.

“They not teaching hygiene in school these days?” Rob asked snidely as he put his clipboard down on her register and grabbed the bottle she had moved as far from her as possible. “There’s hand sanitizer at each register for a reason. Need me to show you how to work the pump?”

How is anyone supposed to stand the smell of that stuff?

“Sorry, I was thinking about something and just… did it,” Sophia admitted, meeting his eyes.

Her body tensed as Rob casually shifted his weight and partially leaned into the register’s exit. For a brief moment, she contemplated what it would feel like to sink her fangs into him.

Deep breath, I don’t want a repeat of Saturday. Not with Rob. She pivoted away from him and keyed her register open. Besides, judging by his smell, he’d probably taste terrible.

“What’s been going on with you the last couple nights?” he asked her suspiciously as he took out her till. “You’ve been acting real strange, and I had a customer say he could have sworn you were sniffing his groceries today. And why are you wearing those silly fangs and yellow contacts to work? That vampire craze still goin’ with you girls?”

“I was more team werewolf,” Sophia blurted out and turned beet red. “Ah… can I go?”

“Werewolf, eh?” Rob snorted after he finished counting. “I guess that explains the lower teeth.” He gestured dismissively towards the back of the store. “Don’t touch anything until you wash your hands… With soap.”

Sophia darted out from her register, the corners of her mouth not relaxing from a partial snarl until the weird, bitter, garlicky scent faded. Once he was out of sight, she sniffed her hand and defiantly licked up the last bit of meat smell.

I hate that two-leg. Her pace quickened and her stomach twisted into knots as her mind turned to what had been preoccupying her. What is going on with Candice? It’s been almost two days. I should stop by Candice’s house on the way home if she hasn’t gotten back to me. There’s no way I can go through another night like this.

In the break room, she headed straight for the locker where her backpack was before remembering she needed to punch out. By the time she got to her locker, her hands were shaking so badly that she flubbed the combination several times. When she finally got it unlocked, she practically tore open the front of her backpack and grabbed her phone. She tried to brace herself for disappointment as she flipped it open.

3 New Messages

Her heart leapt into her throat, and her legs nearly buckled. She staggered over to a nearby chair and collapsed into it. Clenching the phone so tightly her knuckles turned white, she opened up the messages app. She nearly dropped the phone when she saw who the first message was from and almost lost her nerve before opening it, relying more on muscle memory than conscious action:

I’m okay. Sorry to have worried you. I’ll be at school tomorrow. -Candy

A solitary tear rolled down Sophia’s cheek as she read the message several times. Muscles in her lower back twitched as relief flooded through her. Dropping her hands limply to her side, she sat there for a while, too weak to move. The phone fell out of her hand and clattered to the floor. After a couple of minutes, the wave of emotion passed, and she wiped her eyes. Bending down, she picked the phone off the floor and was surprised to see the second message was from Camden:

Hey Wolfgirl, its Cam. Ms T told me she talked to you about New Years and Im really sorry about what went down. You up for hanging this week?

Sophia looked up from her phone to stare at the breakroom door, unsure of how to feel. What am I going to do with Outdoor Club? It was honestly easier when they shunned me.

Shrugging inwardly, she looked back at her phone and moved to the final message. This one turned out to also be from Candice:

Did you take a urine test New Years? Dad was ranting about the lab somehow contaminating a sample with dog pee.

Urine test..? Oh, I completely forgot about that. An uneasy feeling settled into her stomach. They check for dog pee..? Am I in trouble? Wait, do they suspect I’m a werewolf now?

She didn’t consciously realize she had dialed Candice until the phone was touching her ear. Wrapping her feet around the chair legs and holding her breath, she waited as it started ringing. It rang once, twice, and then Candice’s familiar voicemail message started playing. Sophia blinked and ended the call, the sick feeling returning to her stomach. 

She sent me to voicemail??? Come on, Candy, this is really important!

Feeling panic setting in, she tried to call again. This time, it didn’t even finish the first ring before it was cut.

What did she mean it was contaminated? Are they going to arrest me?

A sharp pain in her lower lip surprised her, and she realized she had been chewing on it. Before she could check it for injury, her phone chimed with a new message:

Can’t talk now. Tomorrow.

Candy! This is important! She dashed off a quick message:

Wat abt the dog p? Is ur dad goig to arrest me?

Sophia waited, trying to avoid the urge to resume chewing on her lip. Luckily, she didn’t have to wait long.

I don't think so? Don't worry about it.

Don’t worry about it? That’s easy for her to say!

Before she could think of whether to respond, her ears twitched as she heard footsteps outside the breakroom door. Several seconds later, a stocker she didn’t know the name of came in. He smelled of cardboard and aluminum combined with numerous food smells that were too weak for her to identify. The young man gave her a shy smile and then did a double-take. Sophia tensed as he opened his mouth.

“Uh, your lip is bleeding.”

“Hey, Sophia,” her Dad said from the living room as she stepped into the front entry. “Work go okay?”

She scrunched her nose as it burned. Even after over a week, the house still reeked of cigarette smoke… and that was on top of the fresh alcohol her dad added to the air whenever he was home.

“Yeah, it went fine,” she told him and started taking off her boots. “How was your day?”

Please don’t ask about the urine test… Please don’t ask about the urine test…

“Getting into the swing of things,” he answered, and then muted the TV. “Say, you didn’t tell me they gave you a urine test on New Year's…”

Crap! Sophia’s heart started pounding as she froze in the middle of pulling off her last boot. Crap! Crap! Crap!

“Oh, uh, yeah,” she stammered. “It’s not like I was doing anything, so I didn’t consider it important. Why?”

“Well, sheriff’s office gave me a call today and told me the funniest shit,” he started laughing. “Somehow, they fucked it all up and somehow contaminated it with dog urine. Dumbasses.”

She gaped at him. He’s… he thinks it’s funny?

“Weird,” was all she could manage.

“Fucking dog piss!” he laughed harder. “They hitting the evidence locker over there or what?”

“Did they say I needed to do it again?” Sophia asked carefully.

“Nah, no point now,” he replied, his laughter dying down. “Said they was confident enough of it was from you to rule out drugs anyhow.” He cracked up again as he added, “Deputy said he’d never seen anything like it. ‘Parently, people try to cheat drug tests with animal piss occasionally, but he’d never seen one come back in between.”

Sophia let out a quiet sigh of relief. That was too close.

“Huh, I wonder how that happened,” she commented as she yanked her boot off.

“Like I said, they’re dumbasses,” he retorted, suddenly bitter. “Should never have been bothering you. Bowman, of all people, should know ain’t no way you doin’ drugs.”

Sophia moved her boots under the bench as her stomach had the temerity to start complaining about neglect after being twisted in knots the last two days.

“Anything else?” she asked tentatively. “I haven’t eaten and really need to get going on homework.”

I could really go for deer right now.

“There’s some mac’n’cheese I made in the fridge,” he told her. “Go ahead and finish it.”

That’s not even close to deer.

“Not feeling like mac’n’cheese tonight,” she declined. “Thanks, though, I’ll find something.”

“More for me then,” he answered and unmuted the TV.

Sophia couldn’t help letting out a wolfish chuff as she headed to her bedroom. Candice!After everything you’ve put me through the last two days, I’m going to bite you!