"So, I mean, if you exist what other preternatural creatures exist?" Santana asked Charlie who was busy pulling together a couple of beanbag chairs so that they could get comfortable. Quinn seemed to be lurking and staring at her as if she was the odd one, but she ignored it. She had a million questions and Charlie wasn't answering them fast enough.

"Preternatural?" Charlie's face scrunched up slightly. Santana had already bombarded her with a million questions and now she was using words that she didn't really understand.

Quinn hummed impressed by Santana's vocabulary, "Preternatural is exceeding the natural or regular but not exceeding the laws of physics; a possibility however rare in nature," Quinn said crossing her arms over her chest. "You need to crack open a book sometimes."

Charlie scowled, "I'm not stupid—"

"Debatable," Quinn said before turning to Santana. "If you must know, shifters are common. Wolves, bears, panthers, each region has its own type of shifter. As for vampires and witches, the latter exists the former does not. We keep to the shadows because humanity—"

"Fears what it doesn't understand, of course. I read a lot of X-men," Santana nods. "I promise I won't tell a soul."

Quinn studies Santana for a moment, before shaking her head. "Your girlfriend is a nerd," she says finally waving Charlie off. "I'm going to tell mom that you somehow found someone who is trustworthy so she shouldn't worry. Guess you're not going to live with Pop-Pop after all. Shame, I was going to turn your room into a library. Well, there's still time."

Charlie rolled her eyes and pulled Santana on top of her as she flopped onto the comfortable bean bag chairs and nuzzled her gently, she would deal with Quinn later, right now she just wanted to be near her mate. "You're not, scared of me, are you?"

"I mean it was a surprise, and I think I'm still trying to wrap my mind around all of this," Santana admits. "I mean you're fuzz butt. I can't believe it, I mean it certainly explains the food—I guess you need all that energy." Charlie shoots her a wolfish grin and she can't help but laugh and kiss Charlie's cheek gently, the stitches were gone and the wound looked like it was already half healed. "It also explains why you healed from that gunshot—you were shot. How the hell did that happen."

"I don't remember, I just know that I was after a rabbit, and I was close and then I heard a bang and felt pain. So, I ran away, and sort of stumbled along until I found you. You smelled—nice. If that makes sense. Not a fan of the cage though, you were relatively safe with me."

"Relatively?" Santana asks her eyes widening.

"I thought about using Rachel as a chew toy a few times," Charlie admitted and smiled when Santana snorted. "I mean, the only time you were in any real danger was when I was disorientated and confused, I was stuck in that body until the next full moon basically or until my dad turned me back. I don't like being caged up either, I mean I can understand why your father insisted but when you were gone it was boring as fuck."

"I thought you slept all day."

"I mean I did, and then I raided your fridge when I got hungry. Also, I don't eat dog food, it smells disgusting, and I have no idea what it's going to do to my intestines," Charlie gives Santana a pointed look.

"I knew you were communicating with me," Santana grins. She hadn't been crazy, Charlie had understood her. But it causes her to stop for a moment and look at Charlie, "If I hadn't rescued you—would we still be together?"

"I don't know," Charlie admits. "I mean I know it seems weird, but I knew who you were and I knew that I liked you. Even if you were cruel and dressed me up in funny costumes and took pictures. I like you, you're my mate. My wolf chose you, and I agree with her choice. I'd like to think that my wolf would have chosen you without the fact that you saved me. I liked cuddling with you."

"I don't remember you cuddling with me so much as deciding the bed was yours and that I got a small corner," Santana reminded her. "Also, you owe me several burgers and milkshakes."

"You're the one that took your eyes off your food in front of me. I mean how was I supposed to know that you weren't sharing with me? Rule of the day, keep your eyes on your food at all times. I was hungry and burgers are my favorite."

"Everything is your favorite," Santana teases and gets a quick kiss from Charlie. She relaxes as Charlie's arm tightens around her waist, it's comfortable being like this with her. She had known that something was off with Charlie, but now that she knew the big secret she felt better. Charlie trusted her. "So, your wolf chose me as her mate? What does that mean?"

Charlie hesitates for a moment, she knew her father had insisted that she tell Santana everything—and it's not like she wanted to keep secrets from Santana but her girlfriend had just found out that she was a wolf. "Well—it's sort of—" Charlie frowns as she tries to think of the right words. "My wolf wants you and only you, it's a choice, it means that I can't be with anyone else just you. I mean it's this huge thing that happens between two wolves, but you're not a wolf so—for now it's not that important," Charlie promises.

"For now?" Santana frowns slightly wondering what that meant. "I mean the way you explained it—"

"We're animal people, I can bite you and you won't catch lycanthropy, your immune system is to robust and it would basically fight it off, you might get flu-like symptoms. No to turn a healthy human person they need to be very close to death, and most of them don't survive. Survival of the fittest, very few humans willingly make the decision to become one of us. It's not something that we have to deal with right now, if ever," Charlie rubs the back of her neck.

"Does that mean we're going to have to break up in the future because I'm human?" Santana presses.

"No. It doesn't, it means that we'll just have to work a bit harder at certain things. Also, it's not something that you should worry about, because my wolf won't form a mate bond with anyone else unless well—you die. So, don't do that."

Santana hesitates for a moment, maybe it was simply something she didn't understand and she certainly didn't want to seem ignorant. "It sort of sounds like marriage."

Charlie winces, this wasn't going well and she can hear something in Santana's voice that makes her heart hurt. Santana wasn't one of them she didn't understand, she wouldn't understand until she became like her. But she needed to be rational Santana had just turned sixteen, she wasn't thinking forever yet. "It is sort of like marriage. But you're not a wolf Santana, I'm dating you as a human. So—you know human rules apply." She could feel her wolf bristle at that but she ignored it, for now she needed to make sure that Santana was completely okay with the idea. At this moment, she thought it was cool, but that was now. Her father wasn't even home yet to sniff out Santana and she was unsure of how that was going to go.

"Is that why your parents don't like me?" Santana asks after a moment whispering to Charlie.

Charlie smiles, and lowers her voice, "My mom can probably still hear us," she whispers back watching as Santana's eyes widen and her cheeks flush. "We've got really good hearing and senses in general. Also, I don't think my mom hates you. Right mom?" Charlie asks. Her mom had stopped moving in the kitchen which probably meant that she was listening to the conversation. She heard her mom inhale slightly before she began to move grabbing what she assumed was a tray of snacks.

"Of course, I don't, it's just this is all new. It's not exactly common for one of our kind to bond with a human like this. We don't hate you, it's just that this is all so new." Judy says forcing a smile on her face. "We need to rethink the rules that we had for this, and we worry of course. All parents worry, your father is worried." Judy reminded Charlie putting a tray of bacon wrapped onion rings for the two of them to snack on. "It's very different from what we imagined."

"Oh," Santana shifts uncomfortably. "What type of rules?"

"You two can't have sex," Judy said bluntly watching as her daughter who had immediately tried to stuff her face with the food began to cough. "It's still hot dear," Judy informed her after a moment smiling as Santana pats Charlie on the back gently. "This union isn't common, we need to make sure you're both safe and protected and we can't do that until we find someone who is in the same unique situation that you find yourself in. Despite my daughter's assurances, this isn't something that's going to be as simple as dating a human."

"Oh," Santana said Charlie had seemed to be brushing everything under the rug.

"Mom."

"You asked the question dear, I merely answered," Judy reminded her. "Thank you though, for taking such good care of my Charlie. You have no idea how grateful we are that she's okay. Also, I heard about these pictures that you took with her all dressed up—"

"Mom!" Charlie repeats forcefully.

"Oh, they're on my phone I'll show them to you later," Santana grins. She really needed to stop putting so much thought into this. Charlie was different, and maybe she had different cultures, but her family seemed relatively normal and sure she hadn't met the patriarch something that she was dreading but things were going alright all things considered. Charlie loved her. She had a girlfriend who loved her not even Rachel could say that.