Chapter 2

I was finally on my own for the first time ever, I thought I was supposed to feel this overwhelming feeling of happiness and freedom, but I felt empty and alone for some reason. I had to fight the urge to call her and ask her to turn around and take me home with her, after my dad died when I was twelve, It was only my mom and me against it all.

“No, you have to grow up sometime”. My wolfs voice scolded me,

“You're right” I agreed, and I put the phone back in my pocket and walked back to my house.

I opened the door and the girls where all in their beds and giggling at something,

“what’s so funny?” I asked walking into the room, they giggled even more, and Lisa covered her head with the blanket,

“Lisa, do you want to tell her or should I?” Pam asked with an I dare you tone in her voice, this made Lisa cover herself up with the blankets even more.

“Okay now I’m curious, what’s going on?” I asked sitting on my bed.

“Well since Lisa is indisposed, I guess I will tell you” Pam said straightening up. I had a feeling that Pam was the leader of the Pack so to speak, I had noticed it earlier when we were all hanging out when mom was here, oh mom, I wonder if she is close to home now,

“snap out of it”, my wolfs voice brought me back to reality making me pay attention.

“She is in love” Pam said giggling again.

“What?” I said more shocked than I intended,

“I mean what?” I said clearing my throat and trying my best to be coy.

“She met David during registration this morning” Pam said in a matter-of-fact kind of way.

This was confusing to me, as a wolf I knew it was possible to fall in love just by looking in each other’s eyes, but for humans was it that easy as well? I thought to myself.

“How do you know its love?” I asked hoping to get more clarity on the subject, this is the first time I’ve been exposed to the human world, as wolves we lived in isolation, we mostly keep to what we know and what is familiar, it was for the best in order to preserve our secret. Unfortunately, this meant we had no clue what was happening in the human world. But one thing we know for sure is that humans find it hard to sort through their feelings.

“I mean you just met, was it what he said?, was it his body?, what was it?”, the curiosity was very clear in my voice, but I didn’t care.

“We just clicked” Lisa said with a muffed voice under the blankets, she poked her head out of the blankets, sat up straight and cleared her throat.

“I have never felt like that before” she continued, I listened in awe as I saw that glint in her eyes, I know it very well, I had seen it in other wolves when they found their mate, a feeling that I had been dreaming off since I was sixteen, you see when you turn 16 you get a scent of your mate, but that only happens if they are in the same pack as you, otherwise you will have to wait and see if you will meet them by chance. Some wolves that haven’t found their mates after looking for a long time end up giving up and shaking up together out of fear of never finding their mate and ending up alone, so they give up and settle. That was not going to be my fate, my mate is out there, and I will find him, I will travel the entire world going from pack to pack if I must.

“The way he looked at me gave me butterflies and sent chills flying up and down my spine, I got goosebumps from hearing his voice, and when he asked me out I felt like I was going to die” Lisa went on.

“When is your date?” I asked,

“Friday” the girls said in a sing song way.

“Okay, what will you wear?” Sarah asked clamping her hands together excitedly

“That’s the worst part, I don’t have anything to wear” Lisa said hanging her head.

“No worries” I said, “we will go to the mall tomorrow and find you something sexy to wear”.

“Yeah”, the girls cheered. We spent the rest of the night planning the perfect outfit.

The mall is only a twenty-minute walk from campus, so we decided to walk. I locked the door as the girls were already walking down the pathway towards the gate. It was a cloudy day, which was great for me I love weather like this it reminds me of home, with the woods and wide-open spaces, I took a deep breath I love how it smells just before it rains. I looked at the girls walking away with no care in the world, I bet they don’t even have their keys.

“I guess I’m the responsible one” I thought to myself shaking my head and smiling, I have never been one for friends, I always enjoyed my time alone which was unusual for a wolf, we live in packs after all, we live longer when we mate, we literally survive as a unit, I guess even though I was in a pack I never felt at home if you know what I mean, but these girls in just one day seem to have won me over or maybe I’m just getting soft.

“You’re Scarlett, right?” came a husky smooth voice brining me out of my thoughts, I looked up there stood this hunk of a guy, cheek bones looked like they were sculpted by the gods, he was wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans which made him look like an angel with the sun illuminating behind him.

“Yes” I replied with a shaky voice,

“how do you know my name?” I asked, my voice breaking, a small cool breeze blew by, and I caught a whiff of him, a wolf, I didn’t know that there were other wolfs here, a small smile formed on the corner of his mouth,

“how could I not notice the only other wolf here” he said looking expectantly at me, like he was waiting for me to jump up and down or something.

“Okay but that still doesn’t explain how you know my name though” I said furrowing my eyebrows.

“I heard your mom calling you yesterday when you were searching for your room” he said, his hands shooting up defensively.

Okay that makes sense but how come I didn’t sniff him,

“you have to pay more attention to your surroundings Scarlett; he is cute though” my wolf said making me blush.

“And you are?” I asked trying to hide the fact that I’m affected by him,

“How rude of me I’m Aiden” he said putting his hand on his head and revealing his biceps,

“Come to mama” my wolf snapped,

“Shut up” I said under my breath with clenched teeth,

“What was that, did you say something?” he asked looking at me curiously

“No…not you Aiden”. He looked confused as we were the only ones standing there in the middle of the courtyard. If I leave now I can still save face.

“I have to go, nice meeting you Aiden”

"Yeah you too, see you around” he said waiving in my direction as I raced to meet my friends who were waiting at the gate… I hoped… as I turned the corner I sighed in relief when I saw them waiting for me.

As soon as Pam spotted me, she flung her hands up in relief,

“Finally, where have you been?”

“I’m sorry guys I got held up”, I said trying to catch my breath.

“Got held up where?” Pam asked with a look of concern on her face, making me curse under my breath, I wasn’t in the mood of explaining myself at this point, I had to think of something quick.

“I had trouble with the key, old lock new key” I said shrugging my shoulders. I didn’t care if they bought it or not I gave an explanation and that’s that they can take it or leave it, I said to myself as I inserted my finger in the biometric scanner to unlock the gate.

The security at this school is tight, I think that’s the only reason why my mom agreed to me living on campus. As we walked to the mall I kept thinking

‘Aiden, Aiden’

where have I heard that name before? I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I knew I heard of a wolf named Aiden I just can’t remember which pack he belonged to.

“Are you okay, you seem distracted?” Pam asked with an annoyed tone, as if to say you are ruining our Sunday afternoon.

“No, no I’m okay, let’s go find that dress” I said forcing a smile. I thought I liked to shop but after the six dress shops and I don’t know how many dresses Lisa tried on I was completely rehabilitated, finally we found the perfect peach coloured dress for Lisa, it landed just above the knees, showed just enough cleavage, and had a lace back, perfect balance of classy and sexy.