Inevitably Yours

QUINN

Michael wanted to plan a short trip to see a lecture by a human occult studies professor. He was absolutely convinced she could answer all his questions about me and my powers. I didn’t feel compelled to find the answers. I looked at my powers like extra quirks I had. But Michael felt like he needed to know everything he could after I was threatened, so I agreed to go.

About a week before the lecture, we got an email notifying us that it was canceled due to the speaker having a personal matter to take care of. Michael was devastated. I was upset because we wouldn’t have two days alone together. When I called my mom to let her know they didn’t have to watch the kids, she offered for them to still stay with her so we could have some time together.

“Hey, M, guess what,” I said, coming into his office. He was staring at his computer with a frustrated grimace. “My mom said she would still keep the pups. Maybe we can have a date night instead of meeting this professor lady. It’s been ages since we did anything as us and not parents.”

Michael’s attention came back up to me. It took him a minute to process what I said. His face brightened slightly from his frustration. “That actually sounds like it could be fun. I could find something for us to do out in the city. We could also go to the office and check on things; you haven’t gotten to see it yet,” he agreed.

“Sounds good,” I smiled. “Wesley has been ducking my messages so we can drop in on him. What are you looking at your computer so mad about?” I stepped around the desk, coming to stand next to him. His email was open on the screen.

“Nothing, really. I’ve been trying to email this professor for a few weeks now to see if we could speak privately after her lecture. Now that she canceled it, I was trying to inquire about her schedule moving forward and setting up a conference call or something. Now, I am just getting form emails back apologizing that she’s unavailable,” Michael explained, winding his arm around my waist. He pulled me down onto his lap and kissed me.

“Well, it’ll all work out. I mean, I don’t exactly do anything extraordinary, and I barely control when any of it happens. Maybe that Fae guy had the wrong person,” I offered. Michael frowned, looking back at his computer screen.

“Maybe…” he trailed off.

–

“Q, you’re scaring me,” Michael complained from the passenger seat. He had been woken up to handle a group of rowdy teens on the outskirts of the pack the previous night, so he was too tired to drive that morning. Although I had stayed up, I slept decently and felt fine to drive. “You are basically crouched over the steering wheel!”

“M, it’s fine. I’m just trying to watch the traffic!” I shot back at him.

“Even wolf healing can’t stop everything. If we got hit and the airbag deployed, you are dead. Sit back for crying out loud,” he demanded.

“The windshield is too blurry if I sit further back. Plus, if I were to push the seat, I can’t reach the pedals,” I reasoned. I wasn’t that close to the steering wheel, but I could see his concern. I sat straighter and squinted my eyes, trying to see the cars in front of us.

“Q, you’re squinting a lot lately,” Michael pointed out.

“No, I’m not…” I denied.

“Yes, you are, and it’s not just when the sun is out. You squint at your computer, too,” he corrected. “I think we need to talk to the doctor again. Wolves don’t have eyesight problems.”

“Wolves don’t have blue hair either. I’ll be okay,” I said.

Michael sighed. I could feel his concern and annoyance with me. “Q, you aren’t like normal wolves, which is precisely why I want to know if anything is wrong with you. I don’t have to worry about myself the same way. Be honest, if you sit back normally and open your eyes, the cars and road signs are blurry, aren’t they?”

I shot him a side glance but kept my mouth closed. It was happening over time. I had to really focus sometimes to see things clearly. I thought it was just a product of not using my magic that much. Judy was doing most of the cooking these days, and I hadn’t blessed anything since I shattered the practice weapons. The only way I ever used any of my ‘magic’ was when the little lie detector in my brain went off.

Michael pulled out his phone and started texting someone. I continued driving, trying to keep the squinting and leaning forward to a minimum. When we got into the city, Michael gave me directions to our office. I quickly realized that I hated driving in such big places; there were too many cars and too many highway lanes. It stressed me out.

When we pulled into the parking lot, I was actually pleasantly surprised by how lovely the building was. We got a relatively low price on the office space, so I half expected it to be a dump. It was a 10-floor office building with half and whole-floor leasing options. We occupied half of the 6th floor; Wesley and Michael hoped to need the second half of our floor in the next few years.

Michael and I walked hand in hand into the building. I tugged at the collar of my new shirt with our company logo over the chest. We had bags in the car with clothes for later, but we thought it most appropriate to wear work shirts to the office.

As we entered the lobby, we checked in at the registration desk. Michael spoke with the desk person. Each lessee could designate those with regular access to have key cards made. If we were bringing in guests, they had to check-in. Michael had a pass, but I didn’t. While Michael talked with the desk person, I felt a weird pressure in my head.

“You okay?” he asked me silently.

“Yea, I just feel funny all of a sudden,” I told him, looking around. A woman in a business suit was sitting on a bench across the lobby from us. She was drinking a cup of coffee while she read some papers in her other hand.

“Maybe it was the drive or all the squinting,” Michael said. I rolled my eyes at him. My eyes went back to the businesswoman. Hers came up to mine briefly, then immediately lowered. She stood a moment later and collected her things. She rushed toward the elevator as I watched in curiosity.

“Okay, you’re official,” M said, turning to me. He handed me a badge with my name and a barcode on it. “Alright, Co-Chief, ready to see the full operation?” He smiled brightly, clearly excited by all of this.

“Yep,” I smiled back. We went toward the elevators, and I used my new badge to scan us in. As we waited for the elevator, I read the office listings on each floor. The pressure in my head seemed to thicken as we waited. “So, these are all the other occupants here?” I asked, pointing to the list.

“Yea, the other half of our floor is still empty. If we’re lucky, it’ll stay that way until we have the capital and need to expand. I haven’t met many of the other occupants, but Wesley has,” Michael explained. “He advised avoiding the law office. He said all the women there scare him.”

“They scare him?” I laughed as the elevator door opened. Three ladies stepped out, all in business attire. Michael and I stepped out of the way to let them pass us. The tall blonde smiled and nodded at us. The pressure in my head was practically buzzing now.

“Magic,” Sapphire said.

“What do you mean?” I g*****d. It was hard to even hear her.

“They are magic!” she shouted.

“You are exceedingly sure about this, aren’t you?” I questioned her.

“You okay?” M said in my ear. I nodded as we stepped into the elevator. The tall blonde woman gave me a fleeting look over her shoulder as the door closed.

“I think those women had some kind of magic about them,” I whispered to M as the elevator lurched into movement. The pressure in my had started to subside.

“Really? How could you tell?” he looked down at me skeptically. His nose twitched like he was trying to figure out if he smelled anything out of the ordinary.

“I just had this feeling. Sapphire is sure, too. I don’t know…”

The elevator came to a stop and opened to our floor. On one side was a doorway that read our company’s name and a blank door on the other side. We headed to our office. Michael gave me the tour and introduced me to some of the supervisors I hadn’t met or had only talked to over the phone. It was nice to see everyone so functional, and I felt a little accomplished even though I would only seldom be here.

We ended the tour at a small office in the back corner with Michael’s name on it. “It’s for both of us,” he smiled sweetly. I didn’t see a reason why I would spend enough time here that I needed an office, so I honestly didn’t care. Inside, Michael had a corned desk and some shelves set up to the side. There were files organized on the shelves, plus some waiting on chairs along the wall.

“So, no one mentioned Wesley? Shouldn’t he be here? He is managing the branch,” I noted.

“I’m more interested in this feeling you had about those women,” Michael said. I shrugged.

“Just something in my head was saying they are magic, I guess,” I told him. A knock on the door interrupted us.

“Come in,” Michael called. Someone stepped in that I wasn’t sure I had met before. He smelled of wolf. “Q, this is one of our first-level supervisors, Bradley. Bradley, this is the face behind the paychecks and billing, Quinn Galbraith.”

“Nice to meet you, ma’am,” he smiled warmly. He was younger but clean and professional looking. “Since Wes isn’t here, I wanted to let you know that we did the courtesy shift at that bar last night. I’m not entirely sure we should get involved.” Bradly held eye contact with Michael.

“Understood, thanks,” Michael said. I raised an eyebrow at Michael, but he continued talking to Bradley, “Hey, have you met any of the women who work down on the fourth flour?”

“Oh, uh, probably best to steer clear of them. They are eccentric…” Bradley trailed off. He mouthed a word I couldn’t quite make out. Michael nodded to him, and he left us alone.

“He smells-” I started.

Michael nodded. “Not one of ours, but yes, he is like us.”

“What did he…” I trailed off again.

“He said they are witches. Apparently, I was right. You can detect magic,” Michael informed me silently.

–

“Michael, we need to head home. We need to pick up the pups. I miss them. Where are you taking me?” I complained the next morning in the car. We had a lovely time at a musical, then walked around the scenic park at the center of the city before heading to the hotel.

“Well, I talked to your doctor yesterday. You aren’t normal, and she isn’t quite sure what to do with you anymore. So we are going to get your eyes checked,” Michael finally answered.

“My eyes checked? What does that even mean? I’m fine!” I insisted. Michael gave me a sideways look.

“These doctors specialize in eyes specifically. They will be able to tell us why you can’t see and what to do to fix it,” he said. I crossed my arms and leaned back into the seat. This was outrageous. Wolves didn’t have problems with their eyes unless they were old and their healing wasn’t working anymore.

Michael pulled into a parking lot and stopped the car, but we didn’t get out immediately. Instead, he turned to look at me. “Baby, please don’t fight me here. I just want to make sure you’re okay. If these human doctors can help you, then we should take the help. Whatever is making you squint probably isn’t your fault.”

“Well, we can’t let them take my b***d,” I reminded him.

“I know. But I don’t think that will be necessary for this. Let’s just see what they say,” Michael offered, holding out his hand. My shoulders loosened.

“Fine,” I sighed, giving in.

Michael got out of the car and came around to get my door. I secretly loved when he did that. When we went inside, they had us fill out a form asking about medical history and other things. It didn’t take long after that until we were headed back to a room where I was sat in a chair with a weird machine hanging to the side.

The optometrist came in and introduced himself, then explained the tests he was going to do. He asked me a bunch of questions, finding it very surprising that no one else in my family had eyesight problems. He used a lighted device to look closely into my eyes and then prepared the machine next to me. It reminded me of giant, clunky binoculars as he had me bring my face up to rest on them. Michael watched from the extra chair nervously the entire time.

“Alright, I am going to give you two options, and I want you to tell me which is better. If they are the same, just tell me that as well. Ready?” the doctor asked.

“Yep,” I answered.

“Alright, one,” he said, and an image illuminated in front of my right eye. “Or two?” Suddenly it was crisper. The lines formed a small farmhouse.

“Two!” I said, surprised.

We continued like that for a while; the image became clearer and more focused each time. Then the doctor switched eyes and did it to the left.

“Well, you definitely need some glasses. I’m a little surprised you waited so long to have your vision checked,” the doctor said, pulling the machine away. “I’m going to print you a prescription. You can go to our glasses shop and pick out something today if you want. They’ll be ready in just a few days.”

“Can they be shipped? We don’t live close,” Michael asked.

“Absolutely,” the doctor smiled.

–

“Stop laughing,” I grumbled.

“I’m not poking fun. You really do look adorable,” Nic said, biting her l*p.

“Luna Mommy, so pretty!” Judy agreed.

We were sitting in the kitchen as Judy made lunch when the package arrived. I looked at Michael. He just smiled, his cheeks slightly flushed. He’d helped me pick out a pair that looked good on me, and apparently, he liked them in person.

Michael came over to me and wrapped his arms around my waist, “You really do look beautiful,” he murmured, leaning down to peck my nose. “Now your inner nerd and outer nerd match.”

“I feel weird,” I told him.

“But you can see better,” he insisted. I nodded, then laid my head against his chest. The plastic frames shifted off my nose weirdly, and I pulled away, frowning. “You’ll get used to them,” M assured me, pretending to adjust them on my face.

“Mommy, who you?” Junior shouted as he and Diane raced into the kitchen. Michael and Nic laughed.

“Mommy’s a superhero. She needs glasses to hide her identity so she can keep us safe from bad guys,” Michael joked, scooping Junior up into his arms.

“I’ll beat them up!” Junior growled. That made us all laugh.