Abel gently dug his thumbs into my upper back, making me groan. He muttered a 'sorry' but didn't stop. He stopped to put more lotion on his fingers, rubbing it into my skin, making his fingers run smoother over it.

"How's this?" Abel asked, moving down to the middle of my back, gently smoothing his fingers in between my ribs.

I inhaled sharply. It wasn't like a massage was curing me, but it did distract me from the pain of shifting.

"How was the forest?" Abel asked softly, digging his fingers into my back.

I groaned into the pillow this time, balling my fingers into sheets. Abel repositioned a little on top of me, getting his fingers to dig deep into my lower back.

I whimpered this time.

"I'm sorry, am I hurting you?"

I sighed and looked back at him over my shoulder. "I can't even tell if it's you or just general pain at this point."

"I thought the massage worked a little at least?" He looked so sad.

"It distracts me."

Abel moved off me and laid down next to me in bed. I curled up to him, pulling the covers up to cover my chest. He kissed the top of my head, pulling me close.

"Does this distract you?"

"Yeah," I sighed, sinking into him.

The thing about having fun at a theme park is that it's really, really fun, but when you get home, you're so happy to be home. Where you can just toss yourself into bed and relax properly. Where everything was familiar and yours.

It was where Abel was, and he'd cuddle me and make me nice comfort food and massage my sore limbs. He'd kiss my hair and put the blanket all tight around me.

I absolutely adored Abel, and he made it so easy to come back from the forest. Especially when he'd place soft kisses on my forehead. He'd run his fingers over my back and whisper sweet things in my ear. Like literally what could've been better than that?

"Well, maybe I'm not the best at giving massages, but at least I'm a master at cuddling," Abel said after a while.

I snorted. "It's not that you're bad. It just hurts a lot and sometimes it relieves me of the pain, sometimes it doesn't. You're not doing anything wrong."

"That's good to hear." His voice vibrated through his body, and it made me run my fingers over his stomach. And then I snuck them under his shirt, feeling his soft skin.

He chuckled a little and twitched. He was a little ticklish. It was ridiculously cute. He was ridiculously cute.

"How was the forest?" he asked again.

"It was good. I'm really starting to enjoy it, you know? Like it's genuinely fun now."

"Makes sense. You've got someone to play with, out there now."

I laughed and nodded, running my hand further up, getting his shirt up too.

"Seems like you've got something to play with when you're home too, huh," he murmured softly, as I amused myself with just running my hands over his ribs and stomach.

"Uh huh."

"You no longer in pain?"

"Oh, I mean, I think this is actually curing me. If you just like... Ditch the shirt entirely."

"It'd only be fair, I reckon." He sighed and sat up, pulling his shirt over his head and tossed it aside. He lied back down, and I pulled the covers over him so he wouldn't be cold. Which he literally never was so I don't know what I was doing, but I liked it so whatever.

"Abel?" I asked, my face just a few centimetres from his chest.

"Hm?"

"Do you actually ever feel cold?"

He snorted and then full on laughed. "Actually no. My natural body temperature is 40 degrees. Like a bat."

"I'm surprised you didn't come up with something about fish and shellfish."

"They shift their body temperature depending on the temperature of their environment. Some retain their heat due to bigass shells." He ran his hand over my back and up in my hair, pressing my face to his chest as he inhaled sharply.

"I love you and your shellfish."

"Can I get an aquarium?" he asked then, his voice changing completely. Abel had this super hot bed-voice going on but now he sounded more like a child. And I couldn't really say no to that.

"Where would you put it?" I asked, pressing myself closer to him again.

"Here in the bedroom maybe?"

"Alright yeah, we can get an aquarium." I kissed his chest and hugged him close.

"So, what exactly did he want in that aquarium?" Fred asked as we walked towards the cafeteria.

"I dunno, probably some shellfish or something." I shrugged and hoisted up in my bag. It was filled to the brim with notebooks and paints. Taking up oil painting had been really fun, but oh god, it was too expensive to leave lying around in the studio, so I was hauling it everywhere with me.

"You've got the patience of an angel." Fred grabbed a tray for herself and handed me one as well as we made our way down the 'buffet'.

"Nah, it's Abel who's patient. He has wolves running in and out of the house all the time and he doesn't complain."

"He's also dating the king of wolves, which he probably finds really hot," Fred said and snorted, handing me a bottle of water from the fridge. I grabbed a bottle of fizzy drink as well. Fred thought I lived like a garbage bin and should drink more water. Problem was, I was thinking I had developed a much higher metabolism since getting the bite. I was constantly hungry, ate constantly and never gained any weight. Rather the opposite. The second I stopped eating all the time, I lost weight. It was getting annoying, but Abel packed my bag with snacks and got me to promise to drink lots of fizzy drinks.

"He's not dating the king of wolves. We've got no king."

"Booh. You being all humble is getting boring." Fred made a fart-noise with her mouth, and we found a table. "Tasha agrees."

"Tasha doesn't know what she's talking about."

"Tasha knows very well what she's talking about, always," Tasha said and sat down next to me.

I sent Fred a deadpan look. She had totally set me up there.

"What does Tasha know this time?" Tasha asked and winked at Fred.

"Oh, absolutely everything, I'm sure," I muttered and went to war with my massive amount of food.

"That's right. He's a fast learning one, isn't he?" Tasha asked and laughed.

I rolled my eyes and kept eating my food. No point in arguing with those two while they were in that mood. I was also desperately hoping Creek would join us soon. I kept scanning the cafeteria, but he didn't show up.

"Where's Creek?" I asked, frowning.

"At the hospital," Fred said all too casually. She saw the horror in my eyes and immediately followed up. "They needed their shot. Of T."

I must've looked like I didn't follow at all because Fred rolled her eyes.

"Testosterone. They get it at the hospital so they can monitor their blood levels every four or so months. It's their last time doing it at the hospital, and he'll be able to do it himself from now on. Also, why I wanted to meet up for lunch with both of you; Creek would love it if we could go for drinks and celebrate."

"Why didn't he tell me that?" I asked, frowning.

"I mean, he's going to get a needle in his ass. It's not like that's the coolest thing to tell your bros."

"You're not a bro?" Tasha asked, smirking at Fred.

"Listen, I'm his sister. We grew up together. I went to their first initial consultations at the clinic. I'm probably gonna help them with their first shots too. So, help me, help them, with shots tonight!"

"Alright, alright," I chuckled and shook my head.

"And invite River. Creek really wants him there," Fred added.

I groaned at that. "Why?"

"Because Creek asked me to ask you."

"What's wrong with River now?" Tasha asked, perfectly trimmed eyebrows arching.

"Nothing's wrong, I just don't want Creek around him. I don't think he's good for them," I tried but it sounded ridiculous. It was the real reason though. I could handle River, but I wasn't sure Creek could. River seemed like the guy who could be a real asshole. And I still had that very protective feeling of Creek. He was my friend. I wanted to yank them out of River's grasp and stick my tongue out at him.

"I think Creek is grown and can take care of their own self," Tasha said and smiled a sarcastic smile at me. I don't know where that whole attitude was coming from, but it just sprung out when she was with Fred. Those two had a bad influence on each other. They'd come up with these snassy one-liners and it was like being on a sit-com. I didn't know either had that kind of comeback talent. I was in awe and jealous. All my good comebacks came to me in the shower two days after I needed it.

I shook my head, shaking the whole feeling off me. I really didn't have any right to feel this way, considering Creek was a friend and so was River. Like I didn't have ownership or anything over either. Despite how I felt deep down.