That night Hadley dreamt of a wolf howling as she stood in front of the Jones's home. She looked around frantically trying to find anyone as she walked into the house. The howling only seemed to get louder as she climbed the staircase. The feeling she had when she heard the sound was as if this creature was lonely, she was drawn to the sound as she walked to the end of the upstairs hall. Opening the door she saw the shadow of a wolf howling to the moon but soon the sound stopped and the wolf changed to a boy.
"Hadley. Wake up."
Hadley's eyes shot open and looked around the room. Rina sat there looking worried, Miley being used to Hadley's dreams since they were children, and stayed sound asleep.
"You were mumbling in your sleep, I didn't know if I should wake you but you seemed scared." Rina frowned
"I'm sorry, I'm okay now, just a strange dream."
Rina nodded but then laid back down, closing her eyes to sleep.
Hadley stood slipping on her sneakers and grabbing a jacket, her phone before walking outside into the woods. As she walked deeper into the woods she felt as though there were eyes watching her. She didn't know what she was looking for; she turned to walk back only to freeze when she saw a light brown Wolf standing in her path. Only this wolf was taller than her. It's teeth were bared as she started to back up only to trip falling onto her back.
"She smells different than other humans." She heard a voice say and her eyes widened as she looked at the wolf who was now just watching her
"Did you just talk?" Her voice came out as a breathless whisper.
"You can hear me?" It cocked it's head slightly to the side it's ears perking up on his head as it stared at her.
"I think I'm going crazy." She mumbled "I don't know how but I know what you're saying."
"What are you!" The voice boomed causing her to jump
"I don't know what you mean." She whimpered, her eyes beginning to water as the wolf growled it's ears flat on its head. She shut her eyes as she heard the leaves crunching as it walked towards her. When she felt it closer she started shaking tears falling from her eyes. Her eyes opened quickly when she felt something touch her face.
Her eyes locked with stormy blues. Aiden was crouching in front of her, his hand cupping her cheek wiping the tears with his thumb.
"I didn't mean to scare you."
Hadley gasped, "you, you're the wolf but- how?" She stumbled over her words
"That's a very long story, first how about we start with how you can understand me." His voice was soft, before it seemed angry, and yet now it was calm.
"I don't know, I just could please don't kill me, I won't come here anymore or tell anyone." She sobbed out having finally realized that if this wasn't a dream then she was in danger.
Aiden's heart clenched watching her cry, he never wanted to scare her in fact he didn't realize that the scent he had picked up was human. The scent to him was new, something that smelled intoxicating and yet dangerous and unknown all at once. So like he was trained he followed it to eliminate a possible threat.
"I won't hurt you. I promise, I'm sorry l don't mean to startle you. I'll explain everything you want, just stop crying please."
After he said that Hadley broke into another round of tears though this time in relief after hearing his words.
He sighed moving so he could lift Hadley into his arms. She was light so it was easy, automatically her arms were around his neck holding on as she cried into his T-shirt.
By the time they reached his home she was done crying only sniffles.
"I'm sorry, I know you said to stop crying, I just couldn't." She shivered and moved so she could get closer to him.
Aiden stayed silent, going into his house he realized it was empty much to his relief. He walked up the steps to his room and set her down on the bed. Hadley shivered keeping her eyes on her lap still trying to absorb what happened when her body was rocked by a giant shiver. Her pajama pants were damp from sitting on the moist ground, and her jacket was light and after being in the cold so long didn't help fight against it. Even though the boy in front of her didn't seem to mean any harm she was still in shock over what she had seen and was half expecting it to be a dream.
"Here you can wear these." Aiden laid a pair of his sweatpants and a sweatshirt on her lap "there's a bathroom right there you can use."
Hadley stood walking to the bathroom and changing. She rolled the sweatpants a few times so they wouldn't fall. The sweatshirt she noticed smelled like him. A woodsy smell, with a hint of some kind of cologne, the smell was good and calmed her. She walked out of the bathroom nervously playing with the hem of the sweatshirt.
"I would like to go home." She mumbled
Aiden smiled "don't worry, I'll take you. I wanted you to calm down and change first, you know you got pretty far from your house." He chuckled as he patted the bed next to him.
She sat down, her back stiff.
"I'm Aiden, do you possibly have a name?"
"Hadley." She whispered, not meeting his eyes "what are you?" Was what came out next still looking at her hands in her lap.
"I guess you could say my family and I are Werewolves." He sighed "now what are you? Humans can't hear us in wolf form, in that form we talk with thoughts and you heard mine."
"I'm human." Hadley whispered "I don't know what that was, now can I please go home." Her eyes started to water
"Don't cry again please." He lifted her chin "I'll take you home."
"Thank you" she sniffed standing wrapping her arms around herself.
"Is the house you came from yours?" He asked
"No, mine is close to that though."
The rest of the walk was silent. A few times Aiden would help Hadley climb over some fallen trees, but as soon as she was over she would move away, her whole body shaking. She knew Miley would be worried but she was afraid if she went back and saw Rina she would start to ask questions and something told her that they didn't want people to know.
Getting to her back yard Aiden sighed
"You promised, you will tell no one. And I suggest you stay out of the woods if you know what's good for you."
When he said this he leaned closer whispering it low in a dangerous voice into her ear causing her to tense and shiver.
"I promise." She whimpered, her body shaking as she walked to her house.
Aiden didn't leave until he saw she made it into her house.
After getting inside and up to her room Hadley laid on her bed curled in a ball. She didn't bother to change too much in shock. Standing she grabbed her sketch pad, easily drawing the wolf she had seen. Then she drew Aiden, she made sure that both the eyes of the wolf and Aiden matched.
The next week in school Aiden made sure to give her more warnings. Both verbal and non. Hadley would've swore that his looks could kill. Rina and Miley asked about what happened the other night, she never told them, just let their questions drop as if it were nothing. Hadley could barely look Rina in the eye let alone answer questions about what happened.
The next Saturday Hadley found herself walking into the woods again. She was terrified of Aiden but she wanted to know more. He was the reason for the strange dreams she was sure of and she wanted to know why she was having them.
As she got farther into the woods she froze when she heard growling in the trees. Before she could think she took off running in the opposite direction. Although she was stopped short when she ran into someone, before she could fall to the cold ground that person wrapped their arms around her waist. Looking up she saw Aiden and almost sighed in relief as she tried to catch her breath. Then quickly realized that whatever was chasing her wasn't him, so that meant there was another one around. He was looking into the trees, his gaze angry and his jaw tense.
"Don't kill me for what I'm about to do." He whispered into her ear softly before looking into her eyes. Her hands were fisting the cotton shirt he wore not sure what to be more scared off, the thing following her or the boy in front of her.
Before she could say anything his hands were cupping her cheeks and his lips were on hers. Her eyes slid shut as she kissed him back, stepping closer to him as his hand cupped the back of her neck making the kiss deeper. She felt his sharp K-9's graze her lower lip then tasted blood. His tongue immediately swiped across her lip over the small wound wiping the blood away.
Behind her she heard the growl again, this time closer. Aiden pulled away and looked past her head briefly before leaning down grazing his sharp fangs across her neck lightly nipping at the junction where her neck and shoulder met causing her to gasp, her breath catching in her throat. He moved back up leaving butterfly kisses until he was kissing her again.
Hadley heard the growling behind her stop and footsteps walking away from the two of them. When Aiden was sure he was gone he pulled away from her. His eyes searched the wood still but his hands still held her closely to him.
"W-what was that?" She said her breathing labored
"I told you to stay out of here." He said looking down at her.
Hadley looked at the ground "I wanted to talk to you. I'm sorry." She whispered, causing him to sigh.
"My family isn't the only ones. There are others who won't hesitate to kill you, among other things." He muttered the last part "I'm sorry about kissing you."
"Why did you?" She asked, looking up at him.
"I was showing the other one that you were mine, wolves are very territorial, normally it's easier to show but he wasn't convinced. Sorry about your lip." His thumb came up lightly tracing the small cut on her bottom lip "I had to go a little further then what I was planning."
Hadley looked up at him, neither of them had moved away from the other, the October wind had picked up so she wasn't planning on moving away from his warmth. Something about him was intoxicating, her body definitely wasnt complaining about the kiss or their close proximity.
"So you just saved my life?" She whispered
"I guess I did." He mumbled "normally when others wander out here we let the others do what they want, when people come on their turf they tend to hunt them."
Hadley's gaze became confused "so then why save me?"
"I told you before, you are different, you don't smell like a regular human girl, and you could hear me when I spoke" he sighed tucking a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "Let's get you home."
"But, I don't want to go home yet!" She said suddenly remembering why she was there. "I wanted to talk to you."
Aiden looked down at her confused "fine but how about we do that at your house? It's safer for you there." He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, keeping her pressed against his side as they started to walk. "it's safer if you stay close, they won't smell you as easily."
She nodded but stayed quiet as they walked to her house. As usual when they got there her house was empty, he followed her up to her room. Like Miley her room was big although the one side had a wall made of glass looking out into the woods. There were curtains which she normally had closed , today they were open. On the floor was scattered unused canvas, as well as sketchbooks, tubes of paint, and pencils. The wall that her bed was against there was paintings and drawings hanging everywhere. The opposite wall was the mural of the woods at night, and although some may think it would be creepy, it was actually something beautiful, and calming. The art side of the room was covered with a white fluffy rug, which had spots in it from paint but it made the room seem more comfortable.
The bed was a full size bed, with white bed clothes, she had a mirror door for her closet and a connecting bathroom.
"You draw all this?" Aiden asked as he walked to the wall staring at all the sketches. Hadley blushed when his eyes landed on the group of pictures that were of him, in both wolf and human form.
"I draw what fascinates me, as well as things I dream about." She walked over and pointed to one of the wolves "a few months ago I dreamt this."
The wolf was Aiden, all the other ones matched it perfectly except for the eyes. The one from the dream had no depth, they looked lifeless, in the others they looked like his real stormy blue, gray eyes.
"You're very good." He mumbled then looked at her "what did you want to talk about?"
"You, I want to know about what you are, I mean these other wolves weren't around before you got here. Are they following you? Are you following them?" She said quickly
Aiden laughed "we are following them, my parents don't want them to get out of control. We can't stop them but we can keep them from murdering uncontrollably. "
Hadley sat on her bed taking in what he said.
"So all the recent missing people?" She muttered
"Yes it was them."
"Why?"
"They live by the old code for protecting their pack. It stated that anyone who came close to them or in their territory they killed so our secret stayed safe. My family hasn't lived by that in a long time, since modern times and technology, also since people actually notice when others go missing now, so we make sure the other pack moves on before it becomes a massacre of the whole town.
She felt the bed dip next to her as he sat. They sat in silence as they both looked out the window. The light from outside was fading as night came.
"I don't know the reason for my strange dreams." Hadley mumbled "I just don't understand them."
"I wish I could help Hadley, I don't understand how you understand me, I feel like the two could be connected."
There was another round of silence. Hadley sighed, pulling her legs up so she was hugging her knees to her chest.
"So you think I'm not human?" She frowned "that I'm something like you?"
"I honestly do think you're something, however like I said I don't know what."
"I looked it up. No one has lived in that house for over two hundred years." She looked over at him searching his face.
"Yes, I know." He nodded
"Rina said your grandparents left your father the house that he lived in."
"He did. My father lived here two hundred and fifty years ago. My grandparents died fifty years after he left."
Hadley's eyes were wide after his explanation.
"So how old does that make you?"
"Well in my years I'm eighteen, in your years about fifty five." He shrugged like it was no big deal.
"Fifty five." She muttered "and your parents?"
"my father is about three hundred, my mother about two hundred. Cole is sixty before you ask."
Her eyes were wide with shock as she processed the fact that the person sitting next to her who seemed normal was anything but.
"So your grandparents must have been old too?"
"Nine hundred years give or take a few." He shrugged "they could have lived longer if they kept phasing, when we stop we start to age quickly, not as quick as humans but quicker than usual. My grandparents decided together it was their time to stop to just be, all their friends had either left or were gone and my father and mother decided to take their pack and hopefully protect people who needed it of course our cause gets a lot of our kind killed."
"Do you and your family know" she took a shaky breath "kill people?"
"No, we don't ever." His face was serious "when people see us or find out about it they are either too scared to tell, or they tell and people call them crazy."
"You practically threatened me a week ago!" She yelled
"No, I was warning you about the others without telling you there were others." He shrugged
"Will you sit still?" Hadley scolded Aiden "if you don't I can't get it right."
Aiden whined "you've been doing this for an hour."
He was currently sitting on her floor in his wolf form as she painted him onto her wall.
"Well I'm sorry your very big, and there is a lot of detail, no put your tail back where it was!"
He groaned before flopping his tail back to where he had it,
"I have an itch on my ear." He growled but didn't move.
Hadley laughed and walked over to him and even though her hand had paint on it he let her scratch the spot where his ear met his head causing his tail to thumb on the hardwood floor. She giggled "that's just cute."
"Don't laugh at me." He barked "I am a wolf not some common house pup I'm not cute."
She rolled her eyes and went back to the painting. After another hour it was finished. When he phased back Hadley winced at the popping noises his bones made as they went back into place.
"Doesn't that hurt?"
"Like hell." He shrugged "you get used to it though" he looked at the painting and smiled.
She had painted him laying down with his ears alert on his head which was held high in the air. His fur, which was a sandy brown color, looked so real that he wanted to reach out and touch it.
"I've painted wolves a lot, and drawn them." She shrugged as she cleaned up her paints
"Why?"
"I don't know, I guess I've just always had a fascination with them, my friends think it's cool, when I was younger though I had some scary dreams about them my parents were worried, although not about the dreams now that I think of it." She wrinkled her eyebrows in thought "they seemed worried I would figure out something I shouldn't."
"They could've known. Your last name is Wilson. That name has been around for centuries. Some people know about us your family could." He shrugged.
Hadley laughed "you have paint on your ear, and in your hair." She walked closer to him and reached up, picking the dried paint out of his hair.
"Hadley, oh hello." Hadley turned to see her mother standing in the door.
"Mom, what are you doing home so early?" Hadley asked, stepping away from Aiden.
"Well your father was finishing up business in New York so I thought I would come home." She smiled "I'm Mrs. Wilson you can call me Holly,"
"Hello." He walked over shaking her hand "I'm Aiden Jones."
Her mothers eyes flashed briefly but she smiled "nice to meet you, Hadley seeing the wolves in your dreams again? You've added new things to your room." Her mother looked at the wall with a frown on her face as she saw the painting.
"Just something I'm interested in." Hadley smiled and looked at Aiden.
There was an awkward silence as her mother seemed to think about what she said.
"What are you doing tonight?"
"Aiden and I were going to go for a walk." Hadley said quickly "we were actually just about to leave."
"Well be home later or call if your staying out past your curfew." She turned her black stiletto heels clacking against the floor.
"So where are you taking me on this walk?" Hadley smiled shyly and Aiden sighed
"First you should change into something warmer"
"Fine, face that way." She said as she walked to her closet.
She pulled on dark skinny jeans, a long sleeved light blue shirt, a scarf and a sweater. She then put on her sneakers.
"Okay let's go." She slipped her phone into her pocket and pulled her hair up
Aiden cleared his throat "I have the perfect place."
Hadley smiled "good. I won't get eaten will I?" She joked as they walked down the stairs and into her backyard.
"We will see." He laughed and nudged her.
She nudged him back and then without thinking ran into the woods "you can't catch me!"
Hadley ran straight, being sure that if she did get too far from Aiden she would not get lost. Eventually she stopped when she could not hear footsteps behind and she started looking around the woods.
"Aiden! This isn't funny!" She yelled looking around her. She screamed when she felt something collide with her body she fell, and whatever had her started rolling down the small hill that was behind her.
When they stopped she finally heard Aiden laughing as she tried to catch her breath.
"That wasn't funny!" She slapped his chest trying to stop the smile that was coming to her face.
"Sorry," Aiden laughed leaning over her "don't run off like that though" he gave her a small smile
"I thought since I was with you all afternoon they would smell me on you?" She furrowed her eyebrows
"You changed your clothes, remember?" He smirked
She nodded and her breath caught in her throat as he leaned down brushing his nose along her neck before capturing her lips with his. He leaned down so he was putting slight pressure on her as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
The kiss lasted shorter than their first one, as he pulled away he pulled them both to their feet.
"Now where is it you are taking me?" She whispered as they walked deeper into the woods. He wanted to ask if kissing her was necessary or if he just enjoyed it.
"When I first visited here I found this place, I'm surprised it's still around." He smiled and put his hands on her waist "now close your eyes." He whispered into her ear as she squeezed her eyes shut as she was walking in front of him as she heard leaves rustle.
"Okay you can open them."
When Hadley opened her eyes she gasped. They were in a clearing where you could see the stars and the moon, although that wasn't what was so beautiful about it.
Fireflies danced in the sky, millions of them flying and blinking as if trying to put the stars to shame.
The squeal that escaped her lips at the sight echoed through the clearing as she started twirling with the fireflies. Aiden watched with a smile on his face. She giggled as she kept spinning before she stopped and looked at him with a smile on her face.
"Are you just going to stand there?" She laughed
Aiden's smile widened as he walked towards her grabbing her hands placing one on his shoulder and holding the other on his own. His other hand he placed on her lower back, pulling her close so that the distance between them was almost non-existent.
Hadley's face burned red at how close he was. He smiled and they started to dance slowly. Every few minutes or so he would twirl her out and then pull her back in effortlessly. She laid her head on his chest listening to the strong 'thump-thump' of his heart beat.
"So what is it exactly your parents do exactly?" He whispered
"They own restaurants all over the place. Something my father inherited it's been around for a very long time."
She smiled a sad smile "ever since I can remember I was left at home alone, or with a nanny either way though I was alone."
He leaned his head on top of hers and gave a sigh "I know the feeling." He muttered
"What about Rina? And your parents? Cole?" She asked her voice sad
"My parents were around before now all they worry about is the other wolves, Cole is worried about Rina, Rina's in love with Cole, and then there's me."
After he said that they were both silent. Not an awkward one, but one that was comfortable for them both.
"You should call your mom. It's almost one in the morning." He muttered, making her sigh. She was two hours late.
"Can I stay with you? My mom will give me a lecture, if that's okay?" She pouted her lower lip, the cut from earlier still there.
"Okay." He nodded
She smiled, taking out her phone and quickly telling her mother that she was staying over Rina's house, and that she had forgotten to call.
On the walk to Aidens, Hadley couldn't help but jump at almost every sound the forest made. Although she knew Aiden would protect her, she couldn't keep her eyes from darting everywhere in the darkness.
When they finally reached the front door of his house he paused to listen.
"Okay everyone's asleep, be quiet okay?" He whispered.
Hadley nodded as Aiden opened the door. The house looked like it was an old Victorian house with some modern day touches, the staircase was spiral, which she remembered from before. They walked to the end of the hallway where he opened the last door and closed It quietly after they walked in.
"You can talk now." He smiled "the walls are soundproof. We may have very good hearing but even this stuff blocks most noise." He shrugged as he handed her another pair of sweatpants and sweatshirt.
"You can take the bed, I'll sleep on the couch."
"Aiden you don't have to do that, I can take the couch." She said
"Don't worry, I sleep on the couch a lot. It's where I fall asleep while trying to do homework." He laughed
Looking around the room she saw that the couch did have books on it as if someone had been studying. The full bed which was pushed against the far wall was covered in black and gray bed clothes, hardly looking as if someone slept in it at all. For a boys room it was clean with a few shirts on the floor and nothing on the dark blue walls except for a calendar. Which showed the cycles of the moon. The windows had gray curtains which matched the gray in the bed clothes. The carpet was black as wall and soft under her now bare feet.
"You can change in the bathroom." He smiled
She walked into the bathroom and changed quickly taking a deep breath taking in the smell imprinted on the sweatshirt before folding her clothes and walking out into the bedroom.
She froze when she saw a half naked Aiden pulling blankets out of his closet. He wore dark plaid pajama pants his back muscles flexing as he moved. He turned his muscled abdomen into view. She bit her lip and blushed, looking away quickly hoping she hadn't got caught staring.
"Are you tired?" He asked as he threw the blankets on the back if the couch
"Not really no." She shook her head.
They both took a seat on the couch. Looking up at him she gasped. Up close she could see the odd scars that littered his arms and torso. Reaching she traced one on his arm and he looked down.
"Nothing serious." He muttered moving his arm away.
Hurt flashed on her face, instead she just changed the subject.
"I think my mother knows something, when you told her your name, the look on her face."
He nodded, throwing his arm on the back of the couch.
"She might know, or she might have just recognized my last name as an old name like yours." He shrugged
As they talked through the night they gradually moved closer until Hadley was asleep on his shoulder. Aiden picked her up and laid her on the bed, tucking the covers around her securely before kissing her cheek.
"Good night Hadley." He whispered as he laid on the couch.
Sleep never came for him however he simply watched the girl sleep. He could just imagine Cole laughing and calling him a creeper if he ever found out. However, he didn't care, something about this girl made him calm especially now.
"Aiden honey." A woman's voice came through the door with a slight knock when it came to be around eight in the morning.
He muttered curses under his breath as he got up, opening the door enough for him to slide out and shut it before his mother could see Hadley.
"Yeah?" He asked softly
Anya Jones looked just as sweet as she was. Her light sandy brown hair curled in natural curls framing her heart shaped face. Her features were just barely showing signs of aging. Her wide gray blue eyes gave her an innocent appearance but looking into them deeply you could see that they held wisdom.
"Where were you last night?" She asked, a concerned look on her face as she looked over her son as if analyzing him.
"Just out in the forest like usual, don't worry I was staying out of trouble." He assured her and she sighed in relief.
"Your father and I really appreciate that you are trying here, Aiden." She put her hand in his arm "thank you."
Aiden gave a small smile but didn't say anything as she started walking down the hall and then down the steps she stopped briefly taking in a deep breath smelling the air, her face looking focused before shrugging it off and walking down the stairs.
Aiden let out a sigh of relief then went back into his room walking over to Hadley shaking her slightly.
"Hadley, you need to get up."
She frowned and groaned before opening eyes.
"We have to get you out of here before they realize you are here."
She sighed before sitting up and stretching. Standing she walked to the bathroom changing into her jeans leaving on the sweatshirt.
Getting back into the room Aiden was already wearing dark jeans, a white T-shirt and a black jacket.
"Ready." He opened his one window which was on the side of his house.
"What are you doing?" Hadley frowned looking between him and the opened window.
"We have to go this way, don't worry it's safe."
Wrapping his arms around her waist he pulled her so he was holding her bridal style.
"Close your eyes and don't scream." He whispered in her ear as he leapt from the window landing easily then running into the woods before setting her on her feet.
"Thank you for yesterday." Hadley smiled, holding his hand "hopefully we can hang out more."
"I'm sure we can."
Getting to the end of her back yard they exchanged phone numbers. Before she walked away he leaned down and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, closing the distance between them.
He put his hand on her neck bending her head back so he could deepen the kiss. Her hands played with the hair at the nape of his neck, his other hand gripping her waist tightly.
Across the yard they heard someone clear their throats making them pull away quickly. Looking they saw Hadley's father standing there with his arms crossed across his chest.
"I'll see you later." Aiden whispered in her ear, pecking her cheek. Before walking back into the woods.
Hadley walked up to her dad and gave him a small smile. As they walked inside her mother immediately started talking about how irresponsible it was to stay out so late and not call. Through the entire speech all Hadley could do was think of telling Miley about how good a kisser Aiden Jones was.