LEN

     I chewed on my thumb's nail as the sound of the other line being dialed filled my ears. I stared out of the window in my room, swinging my legs from my seat on my bed as I waited for my mother to pick up on the other end.

     I was going to tell my mother about Adyen today.

     A piece of me wasn't sure why I had put it off for so long, but I was going to tell her about my mate today if it was the last thing I did. I've tried multiple times, trailing off and changing the topic whenever I panicked and decided it wasn't the right time, but I wasn't going to do that today. Summer was getting closer, and I did plan on taking Adyen back home with me after he was back from spring break at his mum's place.

     "Hello?"

     My mother's voice caught me off guard, and I almost dropped my phone. I managed to catch it, before bringing it to my ear and whispering a small greeting back.

     "How are you doing? You've been calling a lot lately."

     Yeah, because I keep postponing something I want to say. Of course, I didn't say that out loud; instead, I smiled and just muttered, "Yeah."

     "How are your exams going? I hope they're not too hard." I heard running tap water in the background, followed by the sound of ceramic plates. She was doing the dishes. Maybe also defrosting meat under the tap water. I smiled, realizing that she must be in the kitchen. It was about eight in the evening back in Alberta, so it would only be omega wolves on duty cleaning up the house and planning for the next day.

     "They're not hard. I quite like them," I said, looking away from my window and staring down at my toes instead. It was heading towards eleven at night, and I was starting to feel sleepy.

     "That's good to hear," she said, and I listened to the sound of her cleaning for a while before letting myself lie down on my back. I stared at the ceiling of my bedroom, preparing myself to tell my mother about Adyen, but my chest was heavy, and I was nervous.

     "M-um," I started, cursing under my breath at the fact that my voice shook. I was a bit worried that she would ask too many questions about Adyen—maybe not even like him. I knew that was me overreacting and my brain working overtime, but hey, paranoias were inherently illogical sometimes and I couldn't help getting scared about the very small potential that my family wouldn't like the person I was fated to.

     "Are you going to say something?"

     "Sorry!" I apologized, realizing that I had gone quiet on my end. I took in a deep breath and decided to just go for it. "Mum, there's something I want to tell you." My heart was pounding against my ribs, and I was starting to feel tense.

     "I—I've met my mate," I said. When she didn't reply immediately, I started to ramble. "He's the same age as me. We met months ago, but it'd only recently we started to get serious—"

     "Oh, that's wonderful!" My mum didn't wait for me to finish. She cut me off and made an exciting squealing sound. She seemed to have dropped her phone because she was clapping her hands.

     "What is he? A grey wolf too? Or maybe a red wolf maybe? That would be shocking to the rest, but I'm sure they'll loosen up about it—" My mother paused her excited rambling for a bit to let out a deep relieved sigh.

     "You know, I was getting worried when it wasn't someone in the pack. I thought they would be too far away for you to ever meet them," she went on, talking about how on my eighteenth better I had been both scared and relieved. Scared because I felt the mate tug, but relieved because it wasn't any of the pack members. Then I was still getting over my crush on Ahote, and my mother's worries hadn't been a big deal to me.

     "Anyway, how are they? What are they like?" my mother asked me, making me suck in my bottom lip as I tried to think of what to tell her.

     "His name's Adyen. He's also an architecture major, and he's in the track team," I said, hearing my mother hum in approval on the other end.

     "You know, I told you that you should try and join a sports team. We tend to be naturally good at these things," she said, making me bite down on my bottom lip.

     "I know, but I think it's cheating. It's an unnatural advantage don't you think?" I asked, making her snort. I heard a door creaking shut. She must have been heading to somewhere private.

     "Athletics is all about natural advantages. Are you going to cut down the legs of a tall basketballer?" I smiled at that, realizing that she was in the back patio due to the sound of howling and crickets.

     "No, but it's kind of different since people don't know what we are." I let out a sigh.

     "Have you told Adyen this? That you think he's cheating?" My mother's question made my stomach tie up in knots as I realized this was the perfect time to mention what kind of werewolf Adyen was, but my tongue felt numb and my lips didn't want to move.

     "Len?" my mother called out when I didn't say anything after a while. "Is everything okay?"

     "Yeah." I forced myself to speak up. "Everything's fine."

     "Mum," I said, trying one last time.

     "Yes?" Her voice had gone soft as if she now understood that I was trying to tell her something that was difficult for me too. "You can tell me anything, Len," she said, and I swallowed the spit in the back of my mouth before letting out a sigh.

      "Adyen's half-human," I explained to her, focusing my gaze on the light bulb on the wall. "He's recessive, and he's still getting used to this." For whatever reason, the words started coming more easily to me after I told her that Adyen was half-human. A weight had been lifted off my shoulders, and I felt lighter—less tense and paranoid.

     "I see." Her voice was flat. I couldn't guess how she felt about it. My mother's words were followed by silence since I didn't know how to respond to that. We stayed quiet for a bit. The only sound between us was the almost inaudible white noise.

     "Did he know that he was half-werewolf when you met?" My mother asked.

     "No," I said, rolling until I was lying down on my side. "He didn't know. I had to tell him."

     "Was that hard? Are you sure you two are okay?" she asked. She seemed more concerned about how difficult things must be between us, but that wasn't the case. She seemed worried, not abrasive, and against things, so that was a good sign.

     I picked on the lint of my duvet, thinking of what to say to her. "We've been dating for a while now, and it's been months since he found out. We're okay," I said, trying to calm her down.

     "If you say so," she said, and I smiled a bit.

     "I have one question though, how does the mating process work then?" my mother asked, making my face warm up. I knew what she was talking about. Gosh, why was everybody, and their dog asking me when I was going to and if I've had sex with Adyen properly?

     "We're still figuring that out. I don't want to hurt him," I managed to get out even though my face was as hot as an oven. "We're not thinking too much about that now, but I think we'll do that eventually," I was starting to ramble, but I think my words were enough to convince my mother because she just hummed to herself.

     "I see, I'll leave you two to it then, but if you need advice I could always ask around."

     I rolled my eyes, just wanting to end the conversation about my sex life. "I'll be sure to ask if I need help," I assured her, letting out a breath of relief when she let out a content sigh and started talking about how beautiful the night was.

     I indulged in her conversation for a bit, asking her about the garden and the river. It had frozen over during winter but had started to flow freely again sometime last week. My mouth watered as I craved smoked fish.

     I'm sure Adyen would like to eat that.

     Adyen.

    That's right, I still needed to tell my mother that he was tagging along with me.

     "You know, I was freaking out about telling you. I'm not sure why." I admitted, listening for my mother's response.

     "I think I understand," she said. "It was difficult to get the pack used to Zeke and Alek." She said, referring to Kaya's mate, and the person that ended up with Ahote.

     "We're a secluded people, and you know why self-preservation is so important to us," she went on, whispering now. I nodded my head even though she couldn't see me. I understood. Being werewolves, and us being indigenous people living close to oil reserves, we were in constant fear of being found out or being moved from our lands. I understood why the pack back in Alberta couldn't be like the rogue ones here in Toronto. I enjoyed the diversity and openness of packs like the one Georgiou ran, but I understood the need to self-preserve and keep our traditions and people back home together.

     The pack as a whole still hadn't forgiven Honon for running off with his human wife. Not only because he had neglected us, but he had also almost caused one of our own to die.

     A part of me started to wonder about how Adyen might be treated when I brought him over. He would stand out just like Alek, but he was my might and I was sure for that fact alone he would get the initial respect Alek was not afforded.

     I broke the silence, remembering that I was still stalling on telling her about my summer holiday plans. "I'm bringing Adyen over for summer if that's okay," I said in a small voice, hoping that she heard me.

     "Of course, it's okay!" The excitement from before was back, and soon, we were catching up. She talked about my father, Ahote, and the nice building projects the pack was conducting so that we could have more horses and a better greenhouse.

     The discussion made me nostalgic for home, and I couldn't wait to go back. I wondered if Adyen would enjoy being there. I'm sure he would enjoy seeing the river and the plains. I wondered if he would be the type to like hiking. A smile made its way to my face at that, and I promised myself to ask him before he left for Nova Scotia after his last exams.