“Alright.”
The call ended with a loud click and Lyra put the phone away. She walked over to the fridge and pulled out some wine, slicing off the cork with her claws. She considered getting a glass, but gave up and fell to the couch, thinking of what it would be like to see Levi again.
He didn’t know about Adam, and Lyra could only guess what his reaction would be. Levi could try to take him away from her, to see if he was a dragon, as dragons were a lot fewer than werewolves. Whatever his reaction was, Lyra knew it wasn’t going to be good. It had been seven years, and as long as she didn’t say anything, he was not going to find out.
She took a long sip of wine and looked outside, at the woods that surrounded the backyard. The house was on the far end of the street, setting it off from the rest of the town. It allowed them to shift out in their backyard, hiding in the woods. It was the perfect place, one that she was glad to have grown up in.
Lyra could only imagine what it would be like for Adam. As he wasn’t a shifter, how would he live in a world that was full of them, surrounded by them? Lyra knew he would always be protected; everyone in the pack would give their life to protect one of their own. Lyra knew she’d easily die rather than hear something had gone wrong.
Her phone buzzed and she picked it up. Seeing it was the number of the young man who was in charge of the summer camp where she had dropped Adam off, she picked up the phone to the sound of heavy breathing, the man speaking gibberish.
“Hello? Is everything alright?” Lyra asked, quickly getting to her feet, feeling her pulse quicken.
“Yeah, no…uh, first of all, ma’am, maybe you should consider having your boy run track because…man, he is fast.”
Lyra blinked, trying to make sense of what he was saying. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”
“Uh, so…Adam ran away from camp, and I chased after him, but he just vanis—”
Lyra threw the phone in her pocket and quickly took off running. She left her car and cut through the woods, knowing she would be a lot faster on foot. She had Adam’s scent burned into her nostrils, and she knew she would be able to find him once she picked up on it.
Lyra’s heart raced as she wondered why he would run away. He had never done anything of the sort in the past, and Adam was a good kid. She quickly broke through the trees, getting as close to the road of the camp as she could. Lyra sniffed the air, and instantly picked up her son’s scent, running along the road, heading south toward the house.
She rushed back into the woods, running as quickly as she could, parallel to the road, until she heard him. Lyra jumped out on the road, seeing Adam running on the sidewalk. She could hear his heart beating quickly in his chest, and from the look on his face she could tell he was terrified. She ran across the road at human speed, so none of the cars driving by would notice anything.
But once she was in the clear, Lyra took off, quickly matching her son’s pace. Just as she reached out to grab him, Adam made a sharp left turn. Lyra slammed into a tree and fell on her butt, turning to see Adam rush into the woods. What stunned her the most was just how fast he had run. Adam had gone from running pretty fast, for a boy his age, to running almost as fast as Lyra. She gasped as she realized that he was starting to show his shifter powers, and got back up to continue the chase.
She quickly caught up to him, and jumped onto him, tackling him to the ground and using her body to cushion the impact. Adam tried to pull away, but Lyra held on to him, noticing just how strong his pushes were. She locked his arms behind her own, holding him firmly against her body as he screamed.
“Adam! Adam, it’s me! Adam! Look at me!” Lyra yelled, trying to get through to the boy as he screamed, but he didn’t listen. Lyra began to cry, still holding on to him as the screams began to die down.
In the middle of a scream, Adam turned and made eye contact with her and instantly stopped. “Mom?”
“Yes, baby, it’s me. It’s me, oh my God, you’re okay, alright?” Lyra repeated, rubbing his head as he finally relaxed, hugging her tightly. His hands moved around her, and for the first time, he actually squeezed her hard enough to hurt. Lyra realized that her seven-year-old son had just gotten a lot stronger. “It’s okay, baby, it’s alright. Don’t cry, okay? I’m here, I’m not going anywhere, it’s just me and you, okay?”
Adam remained silent, and refused to look up as they began to walk home. Everything Lyra did to make him speak fell on deaf ears, and he only responded in nods, looking around as though he expected someone to jump out from the streets beside them and attack.
“Are you worried about someone? I’ll take care of you, okay? I found you, and I’m going to make sure nothing happens, alright, Adam?” Lyra pressed on, but Adam didn’t seem to listen, focusing on the streets and the woods around them. Lyra pulled out her phone and called her dad. “Hey Dad, are you home yet?”
“No, still at the store. Want something?”
“No, I wanted to bring Adam over,” Lyra replied. “He ran away from camp.”
Orson chuckled. “Oh, come on. You never wanted to go to the camp either.”
“Dad, he ran so fast I had trouble catching up with him.”
Orson went silent. “I thought you said he had no—”
“He doesn’t. Adam’s never shown any…And, Dad, he’s so hot. Not even like a shifter fever hot, but like, he’s cooking hot.”
“How fast can you get here?” Orson asked, the sound of keys jangling already as he got ready to get into his car.
“We’re in town, we’ll be there in a few minutes,” Lyra replied, before turning to her son. “Hey, Adam. Would you mind if I carried you? So we can walk a little faster?”
“No,” Adam replied, his voice a little coarse. “I’m not a kid, Mom. I can walk faster.”
“Okay, let’s go a little faster. You want some water?” Lyra asked, but he shook his head.