I took a deep breath. I had managed to relax a little bit while I was at work, but all the feelings of being tense and upset came back as I started to walk home.
This wasn’t exactly the life I had in mind when I left college. I had dropped out to move in with Matthew, thinking I was a fairy tale princess or something. He had promised me a life of luxury and excitement when he met me in a college bar, and I had stupidly believed him.
Maybe I had been young and dumb and mesmerized by his yellow eyes.
It didn’t take me long to figure out that he wasn’t quite human. He was a wolf shifter, and it was a secret that I had to swear to take to the grave. If I left him, I’d be a human walking around with a secret that I wasn’t supposed to know. If I had that secret and I wasn’t actively with a shifter, then there was a chance that the shifter council could hurt me or worse.
I was terrified of leaving him. I was terrified of a lot in life. People might think that this should have been simple, but there I was, after he threw a plate at me that morning, walking back home with a smile on my face.
When I unlocked the door, I very carefully listened before I pushed my way in. I wasn’t sure whether he was alone, or whether he was in a good mood or a bad mood. He wasn’t talking on the phone, and I wasn’t sure whether he was home at all.
My hope of having a peaceful afternoon was shattered when I saw him standing in the center of the room.
“Hey,” I said, hoping that perhaps he would just let me go straight for the shower. It had been incredibly hot at work, and I often worked without air conditioning, so maybe I’d get lucky today.
“Sit down,” Matthew said, and I winced.
“Is it OK if I take a shower first?” I asked, and he glanced at me. I knew better than to continue to argue, so I went and sat down on the couch. The couch was uncomfortable and lumpy and I wanted to stand up and head for the nearest window.
How had this happened? How had this wonderful, tall, handsome man, this mysterious wolf shifter, turned into someone that I loathed so much.
“I got a bill today,” he said, and I paused.
“OK,” I replied. “What bill is it?”
“The AMEX bill,” he said. “And I see that you’ve been doing a little online shopping.”
I paused as I racked my brain trying to think of what I had bought. I certainly hadn't bought anything frivolously or without need. It had been months since I had bought anything for me.
In addition, I thought it was sort of ironic that he was calling me out on that when he was the one who had charged that AMEX card almost up to the limit. I didn’t even know credit cards could have limits until I went to buy groceries one day and it hadn't worked. I had managed to get it a little bit below the limit since then, but there certainly wasn’t room to buy anything new.
“I can’t think of what I bought?” I asked. “Maybe we got hacked? I haven't…”
“You liar!” he screamed at me, and I winced. “You didn't buy something on Amazon for $5.23?”
I paused, and then my eyes widened.
“Oh,” I said. “I bought that big thing of dish soap. It was on super sale and I had a coupon code and everything. We won’t need to buy dish soap for like a year. It was a really good deal, and we were running out. And also, that is the same price as a small thing—”
“Shut up,” he said to me. “Did you ask my permission to buy it?”
“Well...no,” I said.
He leaned in so that he was just inches from my face.
“That’s right, Jenny,” he said. “You did not ask my permission to buy it. Therefore, you should not have bought it. Do you not understand that concept?”
“I’m sorry, it’s just you weren’t—”
He slammed the table beside me.
“I do not want to hear another word out of you,” he said. “You did not ask my permission to buy it and you shouldn’t have bought it. How are we going to pay for it?”
Even though it was only a five-dollar purchase, he was right to ask that question. We barely had enough