The house was a light tan with a gray roof. Its porch had a bright yellow and white patio set. I noticed it was a complete contrast to the boy sitting in the bright chair. He had medium-length dark brown hair and gray eyes. The most eye-catching thing about the boy was his face. Aside from being well cute, he looked so peaceful while reading, almost like he lived for it.
"Carter, would you like some lunch?" I slowly backed up making sure to try and blend into the surrounding woods but now that winter was almost gone my wolf's cream pelt stuck out like a sore thumb. A woman, who I assumed was the boy's mother, came out with a plate of food. She was beautiful. Slender with blonde hair and bright clothes. I felt a pang of loss at seeing a mother showing such affection.
After she had set the plate down and slipped inside, I crept back forward to get a better look at the boy who I now knew was named Carter. He looked about my age. He seemed familiar. But it wasn't till he looked at the plate of food giving me a better view of his face that I realized he was a grade above me at school. I had seen him in the halls before but I never had any classes with him. None that I could remember at least.
Without noticing, I slowly moved even closer, stepping on a stick in the process. I froze, worried he would see me and be scared. But when I met Carter's gaze he was looking at me curiously almost sad. His gray eyes were skeptical but soft. I waited for him to slowly get up and go inside but he didn't. He sat there staring at me.
Suddenly, he threw his book over the arm of the chair and stood up. He was pretty tall, making me back up. I wasn't supposed to be this close to humans in wolf form.
We stared at each other curiously until he had reached onto his plate and grabbed a fry. Like hell, I'd eat that like a dog. I said to myself. But because I wanted to get closer I slowly walked up to him until I was three feet from the edge of the porch.
I sniffed once more, smelling the strange combination of scents from earlier. The scent was most definitely coming from him. I couldn't believe it had belonged to a boy. A rather handsome boy. I wanted to pinch myself.
Carter must have thought I was sniffing for the French fry and not him. He threw it toward me and I backed away in disgust. It's not that I didn't like fries but it seemed weird to eat them in this form.
I looked at his face once more. He seemed to be figuring me out. His dark brown hair was neatly parted and everything about him seemed to be exactly as he wished them to be.
"I've never seen wolves around here before." He said, talking to himself. I huffed a laughed but as a wolf, it came out as more of a sniff-like sound. I sat down wondering if he would approach me. He just stared. After a few minutes, he gave up on me approaching him. Wordlessly, he grabbed his book and retreated inside.
I sighed in disappointment then turned and padded back deeper into our territory. My heart beat wildly. How come I never knew of a house so close to our territory? All I knew as I walked back home was that I wanted to see him again.
Sunlight filtered through my room's curtains waking me up abruptly. It was Monday. It had been a week since the argument with my father and I still felt a bitter taste in my mouth at the thought of talking to him. I got up wiping the sleep from my eyes.
Monday meant another school day. School for our pack was like school was for humans. Since our territory was on the border of Wheaton people knew we lived out along the border and attended school like everyone else. What they didn't know was how long our families had been living there.
Martha, an older woman in our pack, homeschooled the pack's young until they were old enough to start sixth grade in the human town. I, unfortunately, wasn't allowed to go to school until I was in eighth. Now, as an eleventh grader, I was excited to almost be considered old enough to be independent. However, I would always belong to the pack. So much for independence.
I put on my leggings and a green sweatshirt. My hair was an absolute mess. I pulled half of it up and made sure to put on some mascara before grabbing my backpack and heading out the door. I made sure to bypass my father's study quietly to not disturb him. Leaving through the front door, I saw Max's black Acadia pull into the drive. I bounced up to the passenger side and hopped in. Max was my lifelong best friend whose's mother Elena was an old friend of my mother's. His curly black hair, brown eyes, and tanned brown skin are all qualities he got from Elena.
"Good morning, Ay, you look happy about something." Max mused as I fastened my seat belt. An image of Carter flashed to my mind making me pause. I had looked for him all last week at school but with no luck, I hadn't seen him yet. I hadn't been to visit him since the day I saw him reading on the porch. I was too scared to see him in my wolf form again in case he got suspicious.
"I'm not happy," I said after a bit. He gave me a suspecting sideways glance making me roll my eyes. I wasn't going to tell him about the marriage or that I broke the rules by approaching a human in lupine form. He was one of my best friends but it was too much. Especially with the tension with my father. If I hadn't fought with Avery I might have told her but the last week had been rough.
Truth was, the last week all I could think about was how much I did NOT want to go to the Festival. I was thinking of a plan to get out of it. Pretend to fall ill or go missing for a weekend. Every idea proved to be hopeless.
The Festival was a celebration of the coming new moon. The first new moon of Spring specifically. All the packs met together in their lupine forms on the first day when our instincts are at their most sensitive. On the second-day food and drinks are provided and a small ceremony is held.
Of course, the festival was an excuse for the Alpha's to drink and talk politics but most importantly it was the one time that any pack announcements could be made in front of all the other packs. The council would be there as well. This wasn't going to be good.
"I've never seen you thinking so hard. Did you hit your head or..." Max began but I glared at him sharply.
"Would you just focus on the road," I said but all he did was smile. We sat in silence as we finally pulled up to the school. He parked in our usual spot and I got out. We were in the first class together so he always walked with me. Humans at the school were pretty nice they didn't suspect we were any different than them other than us living in a neighborhood on the edge of town.
"You know, I have been getting close to Reese these past few days," Max said as we entered through the doors. An image of the sweet redhead flashed to my mind. She was a wolf from Owl Pack, the only other pack that went to Wheaton High aside from Shade Pack.
"Really? That's nice. Do you think she likes you?" I asked. He scratched his arm which was his nervous habit. I laughed a little to myself. Max being in love wasn't new but it was refreshing. He felt more like an older brother to me and it was always nice having him come to me with something like this. He hadn't found his Bond yet which made me feel pity for him. He deserved to find his soulmate.
"I don't know." He finally said. I smiled at him. I'm sure she does. I wanted to tell him but decided against it. She always stared at him when he wasn't looking and they'd make a great couple. But it wasn't my business to interfere. She was in his English class if I remembered correctly so hopefully, he made a move on his own.
We reached the classroom and I took my seat waiting for class to start. In my first class of the day, there were around twenty students including Max. Max always sat with some guys he befriended freshman year and unfortunately for me there were no girls I talked to in this class. Holly was the one friend that meant a lot to me but since I wasn't allowed to hang out with her outside of school our friendship was surface level. I pulled out my phone I barely used and texted her to meet me at our usual lockers.
Holly: sick today :(
I huffed. Of course, she was sick. I shoved my phone away before the teacher yelled and pretended I was paying attention.
The day went on as usual. Since Holly wasn't there I talked with some girls I had met freshman year and made sure to nod along with their gossip during lunch but as the day went on I was sucked more and more into thoughts of Carter. I looked for him in the halls in case he took the same routes I did but still nothing. It wasn't like I liked him or anything. I was just curious. At least that's what I kept telling myself throughout the day.