I shifted early the next morning, taking in a breath of fresh air through my cold nose. I sniffed out a rabbit that bounded away at my presence, fleeing for its life. With a tilt of my head, I watched it go.
How cute.
Breakfast at home was in an hour or so, and I knew I couldn’t be late, but I wanted to enjoy this moment of freedom as much as I could. It wasn’t often I could roam outside the pack borders. In fact, it took forever to get Mom’s permission this time. She’d given me that look again. It was the look of disappointment. The furrowed brows. The frown. I begged for just an hour. She gave in eventually. It had only taken a week of constant pleading to wear her down this time, much to Josephine’s endless amusement. Though, I was glad someone found it funny.
I lifted my head to the sky, basking in the light of dawn, feeling the warmth in the patches of sunlight coming through the leaves of the trees above me, the dew from shadowed plants soaking into my fur. I closed my eyes, picking a direction randomly in my mind. Without much thought, I found my paws thudding on the dirt and plants headed East.
East.
My brain barely registered what was in that direction. Sure, friendly packs. But more importantly, my best friend, my crush… Will was in that direction. Funny how the mind works.
But those thoughts didn’t cross my mind as wind gloriously whipped through my hair. And then I smelled it, getting closer. I slowed down, my heartbeat pounding from the run. I stopped, staring determinedly in the direction that smell was coming from. Hardly able to hold myself back from moving closer, I waited with the most patience I had ever found in my life… because something was strange. My wolf registered it faster than my mind. My wolf… was excited. I, on the other hand, was confused and just really baffled by why just one enticing smell could–
I heard light footfalls and I felt myself creeping back within the clearing, headed backwards toward the direction I’d come from. Something was wrong.
Then, I saw the source of the enticing smell.
And I froze.
My heart started taking off for another reason when I caught their gaze.
Oh crap.
Crap. Crap.
Damn it all!
No.
No!
Despite growing up in a household of True Mates, despite being surrounded by couples who had found their destined other half… It’s not that I didn’t need one, though that remained true as well. I didn’t need one, but it was bigger than that.
It was that I didn’t want one.
I didn’t…
I felt fear race through me as this wolf, bigger and darker than my own stepped cautiously into the clearing, their gaze not leaving mine.
I didn’t want this.
But like, those eyes…
I don’t. A tremor shot through me.
And he was kind of pretty…
Really beautiful. His coat was shiny and–
I won’t accept this.
One more step had me spinning around and bolting faster than ever before, and despite the protests of my wolf, I ran. My wolf wasn’t the one in charge, not the one in control. I was in control. I fled like my life depended on it.
And in my head, it did.
Because a True Mate would complicate too many things. Everything, actually.
Because…
Because…
I recalled a set of cliffs I’d passed as I was frantically running away.
I didn’t need to look back to know he was hot on my trail. He was chasing me just like his life depended on it, and apparently, since he was bigger, he had a longer stride… and he got more exercise than I did.
Endurance was like a weakness of mine. Except when it came to talking. But this wasn’t talking. This was the opposite of that. No talking, while running and trying not to trip. If I tripped, it was game over for me.
But hell, I wasn’t about to give in. No way.
I spotted the cliff just ahead.
His footsteps were getting closer and I controlled my breathing as I glanced up, running to the edge of the rocks. I whipped myself around the corner and shifted while simultaneously using my ability over air.
I flew up, over the edge of the cliff and landed quietly, heaving… as quiet as I could. I peered over the edge to see the wolf down below.
He was… seriously beautiful. Like a statue people put up of the best versions of someone. This was the best version.
Fit.
Strong.
Probably a good guy.
Probably… nice.
My heart sunk in my chest, along with a fistful of pure guilt, as he lifted his head to howl for me, hoping to get a response. His eyes were closed as he did.
I flipped over onto my back, some small rocks jutting into the skin on my back, scratching me. I brushed the long strands of my hair out of my sweaty face and looked up at the brightening cloudless sky.
What the heck.
He howled again and I grimaced, clenching my hands into fists, willing myself not to reply.
This couldn’t be happening.
At all.
The one time! The one damn time I leave the pack border, and this is what transpires?! I cursed under my breath, only feeling secure in the fact that it was much harder to smell each other when we remained in human forms. I sat up, my mind reeling.
Wait.
Did this mean I had to walk home? If I shifted… would he follow me or find me?
Shifter wolves had excellent senses, but the whole ‘True Mates’ thing was mainly because of our wolf forms. It was easier to find each other if we shifted, because we’d be able to smell them from quite a distance away, not that we couldn’t as humans, but it was something special for that connection. It was different than just normal senses.
If one of us was human, though, the distance needed to be shorter in order to locate one another. And if both were in their human forms at the same time, you practically needed to be within sight of them.
I really didn’t want to have to walk home.
But, faintly, I felt him headed back the way he came. I didn’t know how or why, but I was grateful. I used my powers, floating down far enough away, staying up within the trees, until I was sure I was in the clear.
Then I was a wolf, and I was sprinting through the pack barrier, all the way to my family’s house, all the way into my room.
I shut the bathroom door behind me and sighed, sinking down onto the floor and putting my head in my hands.
Why couldn’t my True Mate have been on the other side of the country? Why did he have to be so close? What if he was Will’s friend? What if Will knew them? What if… What…
Thoughts came rushing to me faster and faster, sending me into a panic.
I crawled over into the shower, turning on the water, only to flinch at the ice-cold water that rained down on me. But I didn’t move out of the spray as it wiped away the sweat covering my body. Somehow, I needed this cold, even if I was now shivering, goosebumps covering every piece of my skin.
I stared at the wall, the biggest question thumping around in my head, chasing itself until it pushed every other thought I had into oblivion.
What was I going to do now?
Not ten seconds later, I found myself crouched in the shower, tears added to the water, my head in my hands as I shook for more than one reason.
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