Free A Family with His Werewolf Mate by Anya Byrne

"You're right. I should...umm... I'll probably follow your
advice."
    He didn't even know what he was saying, and he fled the
kitchen before George could reply. He ended up in the barn, hyperventilating
and not knowing why. And then all the food he'd eaten finally rebelled in his
stomach. A heavy sense of nausea flowed over him and he leaned over a stack of
hay and vomited. It wasn't pretty, but at least no one had seen him.
    If that had been the last of it, Will would have been very
relieved—but that wasn't the case. The lump grew bigger, and the nausea was
soon joined by dizziness. A niggling thought nudged at the back of Will's
consciousness, but he banished it because it simply made no sense. He took to
staying in bed and covering himself so that his parents wouldn't see the girth
he'd taken.
    Of course, it was only a matter of time until they'd notice,
but Will simply didn't know what to think and what to do. In the end, this
confusion and despair led him to go to the one place he'd sworn not to step
into again—the cabin.
    He put on the loosest clothes he had to disguise his growing
stomach. It worked, although Will suspected that wouldn't be the case if things
continued as they were. Still, he ambushed his mother when she was alone in the
kitchen and made sure she didn't have her glasses. "I'm going by uncle's
cabin. I think I need a breath of fresh air."
    She smiled at him, and Will felt a pang of guilt at
everything he'd been hiding from her. "That's a good idea, Will. You've been
cooped up in there for so long... We were getting worried about you, especially
since you refused to see the doctor again."
    "I'll be fine, I think," Will said. "It's
just..." He braced himself for what he was about to say, even if he'd been
planning it ahead of time. "It's hard for me to see Karl so happy with
Peggy."
    His mother's eyes widened. "Did you... Oh, dear. Don't
tell me you fancied her. I never realized..."
    Will shrugged. He hadn't actually wanted to say that, more
like to suggest he was in love with someone who didn't feel the same way—which
was true. But maybe this was better. "I didn't realize it either," he
told her. "But Karl loves her, and they make a good couple. I wouldn't
want to stand in their way."
    His voice grew a little choked as the image of Karl and Peggy
blurred into that of Dean and his unknown wife. His mother patted his hand. She
would have probably reached over to hug him, but Will had been careful to put
the table between them so that she couldn't do it. "You're a good boy. I'm
sure you'll find the right girl for you, even if Peggy wasn't the one."
    "Thanks, Mom. I'm off."
    She didn't ask for further explanations. Perhaps she was
relieved, because he'd been acting so strangely, and none of them knew how to
handle it. They hadn't even pressed him to do his chores, which was fortunate,
since he wouldn't have been capable of it. Finally having an explanation helped
her, even if it was one she hadn't particularly liked or wanted to hear. She
let him go without another word, and Will wondered if she would tell Karl, and
if so, what his brother would do.
    That was a problem for another day, though, as Will soon
learned that the trek to the cabin no longer seemed as effortless as before. By
the time he reached his destination, he was breathing hard, sweating and
exhausted. He collapsed on the very same loveseat where he'd once waited in
vain for his so-called mate to arrive.
    What was he doing here? What had he hoped to find? The cabin
reminded him so much of Dean it was painful to even breathe. Will got up and
went to one of the shelves, where he'd stashed the best gift he'd ever received
for his birthday.
    His copy of Animal Farm was waiting for him, but so
was the picture he and Dean had taken the night of the carnival. Will took in
his lover's face, immortalized in the image, and wondered how things could have
gone so wrong.
    He didn't have the heart to leave the cabin that day, and no
one came to find