The quiet stretched just long enough for me to start thinking we were done for the night \u2014 until I heard the uneven rhythm of someone walking down the hall. Too slow to be Gabriel\u2019s dad, too heavy to be his grandma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nathan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gabriel heard it too. His eyes cut toward the door, that little half-smirk already curling at the corner of his mouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The footsteps got closer, hesitating outside the room. The handle twitched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I didn\u2019t move at first \u2014 then, on a sudden impulse, I let my bare foot shift just enough for the claws to slide free, hooked and sharp against the floorboards. Not full-wolf, but enough that they caught the dim light from the desk lamp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The door cracked open an inch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nathan\u2019s eyes landed on me, then immediately dropped \u2014 right to my feet. His face drained of color so fast I almost laughed. Without a word, he shut the door again. The retreating thump of his steps was quicker this time, almost a jog.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gabriel\u2019s laugh burst out first \u2014 loud, sharp, delighted. Mine followed a half-second later, lower and rougher, like gravel under tires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDo you practice<\/em> that?\u201d he asked between breaths.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I flexed my toes, claws catching the light one more time before sliding back in. \u201cNope. Comes naturally.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPoor guy\u2019s gonna start sleeping with a cross under his pillow,\u201d Gabriel said, grinning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I shrugged. \u201cCross won\u2019t help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He snorted, shaking his head, but there was something else in his expression now \u2014 that same surety I\u2019d seen before. The unspoken promise that whatever Nathan or anyone else thought, he was exactly where he wanted to be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The quiet stretched just long enough for me to start thinking we were done for the night \u2014 until I heard the uneven rhythm of someone walking down the hall. Too slow to be Gabriel\u2019s dad, too heavy to be his grandma. Nathan. Gabriel heard it too. His eyes cut toward the door, that little […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-61","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-high-school-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61\/revisions\/62"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/threewerewolves.com\/firstsemester\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}