"HARLOW, ARE YOU DONE?" Her nan asked, and she turned, smiling.
"Yes. Has the Alpha left?" Harlow asked, standing up and plopping a Rolo in her mouth. Since last night, there was extensive damage to the town. House was crumpled down, and trees remained damaged from the fire, and the conclusion as to why it was it was, was still being figured out. Michael had left a great deal of damage, but her nan's house was left untouched. It seemed he had missed this part entirely, and Harlow couldn't help but wonder why?
"Yes, and I'm glad. We didn't need all this negative energy in the house." Her nan smiled, leading her into the house. "You need to go to bed; you have school tomorrow."
"Do I have to, nan?" She grumbled slightly, but her nan only gave her a look that told her it wasn't up for debate. The sheer thought of going to school after such a day was the least pleasant thing ever to cross her mind; Harlow's mind w
WAKING UP THAT MORNING WAS CONFUSING, her body didn't feel rested as it should have done. Her mind was fluttering with the dreams she dreamt of last night; it didn't come as a surprise to her that it was of him. That's all her mind obsessed over, Michael, Michael, Michael. Harlow wished she could think of anything else, but it seemed nearly impossible at this point. After their encounter that night, she felt disgusted with herself for dreaming of him in such away. She'd dreamt he had broken into her room, and she couldn't even believe that her mind was creating these weird scenarios that seemed too far fetched for her; Michael was defiantly not the type to do such a thing. "Harlow, what do you think? Is 2 pm okay for you?" Mia questioned, waiting for her reply patiently. Although Harlow was so focused on her mind that she couldn't pay attention anymore even to know what she was talking about, "What do you think?" She continued.
"WHAT ABOUT THIS ONE?" Mia asked her, pointing to yet another dress. "You have to try it on." Harlow had never met someone more persistent than anyone she has ever met in her life, which didn't consist of many people. Sighing, "Fine." Taking the dress in her hands as she walked to yet, another changing room with Mia trailing behind. Taking the strapless dress as she examined the fabric of the dress. It was a strapless black dress that ended just before her knees. Sequins decorated the side of it, making it look fancy. Yet, Harlow had never felt so uncomfortable with what she was wearing in her life. She looked like a hooker in this dress; it just looked awful. "That looks amazing on you. You have to buy this one." Mia though disagreed with Harlow's negative thoughts towards the dress. "Hey, Matt," Mia called. The worse part about this shopping experience was that Ryan had decided
"WHO IS HE?" He asked, looking away as he ran a hand through his hair, messing it up even more than it already was. After a while of awkward silence where she had no idea what to say or do, he looked up at her again. "Who is he?" He repeated, his voice laced with the anger that seemed to want to splurge out. "Who is who?" She wondered out loud. Harlow had never said anything without analysing it a thousand time over and over again in her mind. Still, for whatever reason, her brain decided not to this time, and it couldn't have been the most inconvenient time of all time. Indeed, she regretted it as he growled in response. His canines are extending before her vast eyes. The darkness within them seemed to wither away as they held a murderous red. Like blazing fire, they were infused with rage. Mentally, she prayed to God that he would save her from him. Michael was someone who she didn't want to mess with, at least not intentionally.
FOR THE HUNDREDTH TIME, Harlow twisted and turned. The night went by with the comfortability that had arisen from seeing him; all her mind could concentrate on was the image of him, and it kept her brain fully active. 'Damn him.' Although her body craved proper rest, her mind seemed to reject the request. She pulled the covers further up, feeling the light coolness of the room; she huffed and puffed infrustration. Just go to sleep!But her mind still didn't listen. Harlow eventually closed her aching eyes. Somehow her mind felt reluctant; it pondered on the past pain she felt during these nights. Would it happen again? She got her answer as it fluttered back; it was like her mind knew what was coming. Her eyes shot wide open as she remembered the growing pain from the nights before. Was it happening again? Why? Yet, this time, it
HARLOW WALKED INTO SCHOOL WITH A HEAVINESS INSIDE HER, a dark cloud weighed her down, and she couldn't help but feel on edge like something was approaching, but she hoped it wasn't the sticking pain. "Harlow! Hey, wait up!" Someone called out to her, a familiar voice that always seemed to send her feeling a little nauseous whenever he was around. She turned, only to see Matt rushing his way to her. It wasn't that he was a bad guy, but she didn't feel right about being around him; there was something about his presence that screamed, 'he wants something more,' Harlow was not that type of girl. Although, at this point, she didn't even know where she stood in this Pack. Within her old Pack, she wasn't seen as anybody; she was seen here. Harlow forced a smile on her lips; it never seemed to reach her eyes. The dark cloud inside her didn't like it too. "Oh, hey." It was her lame way of greeting him. "What's up?" She asked as he
MICHAEL STOOD THERE, frozen in place. Harlow couldn't help but notice how troubled she looked; if it was possible, the darkness within his eyes darkened even more. The urge to ease his trouble state was strong, but she stayed put. Michael Collins wasn't someone Harlow could trust, ever. Even if he was her Mate, there was something about him that resulted in conflict within her mind, and she couldn't help but feel like it was toxic. Silence, that's all that stood between them—a slicing silence. It was so abnormal for werewolves who identified themselves as Mates to act in such away. Usually, they couldn't stay away from each other; they couldn't keep their hands off one another. Yet, she and Michael didn't even come close to being normal; he was...far from ordinary. They both went against the natural nature of Bonding Mates; both seemed to resist it more than the other. "What are you doing here?" Harlow asked. Finally, curiosity got
HARLOW STOOD FROZEN TO THE SPOT; she could not comprehend the person staring back at her. At first, she thought it might be her imagination. Harlow was missing him so much to the point that she was imagining him standing there. The thing was, her imagination didn't look this real, which meant he was there in flesh and bones. "Hey," he greeted. Yep, not her imagination! Her thoughts were jumbled up in her brain, and she couldn't obtain a proper reply back. Harlow just stood there, mouth wide open and eyes broad as saucers. He raised an eyebrow, wondering what she was doing. She must have looked like a retarded fish because she was staring at him like he was the only being left on earth. It wasn't my fault though, how was she supposed to react when they're in a situation like this? "Can I come in?" He asked, scratching the back of his neck gently while searching her face for any respon
"HARLOW?" "Nan, I'm getting changed. Can you give me a second?" Mentally, Harlow patted herself on the quick reply she seemed to come up with, but the guilty feeling for lying to the people she loved left a bitter taste in her mouth. It seemed that Michael was rubbing off on her, influencing her lying self, and the funny thing about it is, she hadn't even spent that much time with him. She groaned, "Okay, but hurry up. I want to talk to you about something." Harlow couldn't help but mentally stop, as the 'something' must've had been severe enough if her nan was so hung up on talking to her about it now rather than leave it for later. She brought her fingers to her lips, motioning for Michael to be quiet. Straight after, she pushed him- or at least she tried to push him near her closet, but he was heavy and reluctant. He wouldn't budge. "Michael," she hissed. "Get in."
FOR A SECOND, Harlow couldn't understand why Michael looked so panicked. She felt fine, so why was he so worried? "I'm so sorry," He continued to say for the fifth time, "I didn't mean to." What was he talking about? "Michael, it's fine." She spoke. She leaned slightly up, feeling so aware of her body being bare. "Look," she grasped his shoulder, "I'm fine." His head shook, looking disorientated and shocked. "Michael, I'm fine." But he wasn't listening; he stepped away from her, seeming to be in a bizarre state of mind. Wherever his mind was, she knew Michael wasn't mentally there. As soon as she blicked, he disappeared and vanished into thin air. She was used to his disappearing acts, which he always did whenever things would get real; as soon as they became close, she couldn't figure out why and why he constantly pushed her away. A heavy sigh left her, feeling tired. Tired of life, this time, no matter how much it hurt her, Michael leaving was the last thing she was worried abou
"What did you do to him?!" Harlow couldn't understand or get her mind around what she was seeing. The instinct to run to him and help me was strong, and that's was she intended to do, but Sabin stopped her. "You need to keep your distance, Mate or not; if you get too close, he will shred you to pieces in this state," Sabin told her firmly. His eyes were dark; shadows lingered in them. "Let him wake up first, and then you can talk to him." 'Michael, what the hell did he do to you?' Harlow's thoughts run wild with theories, but Sabin doesn't waste time answering them. "Maybe it's not my place to inform you, but I know damn well Michael won't do it. My brother has a habit of running away from his problems." "Yeah, no kidding." Harlow couldn't help but say, but the look that Sabin gave didn't leave room for anything more than those three words to escape. "I'm pretty sure Michael told you that we are cursed. Him more than us, if you don't know." Yeah, she'd figured that part out. "
HARLOW KNEW SHE'D FAINT WHEN HER STOMACH GAVE OUT. Micheal's teeth sank deeper into her skin, engraving her flesh with his essence. It felt like her insides were being replaced by some black hole, and then nausea crept from her abdomen to her head; that's when the world went black. She didn't know what happened after she fainted; it didn't seem necessary to her because everything was better than what awaited her when she woke up, but just like every time she had fainted in the past, she woke up.However, there was no Michael's insight. The person who had claimed her for the rest of her life, who had stolen that choice away from her, was nowhere to be seen. The only comfort was the unfamiliar white walls surrounding her; they weren't hers. Harlow was no longer in her room; the sheets on top of her body were silky soft, and dark in their appearance. They were much better quality than the plain white covers her mother had gotten her, but the luxury covers did nothing to ease the pain sh
"I'M SORRY...?" Harlow remained confused; had she heard him correctly. Did he say what she thought he said? If so, then...it was much weirder than what she had imagined him to say. "That's not possible."Michael released a strained chuckle, "Why is it impossible for you?""Because it is." That inkling of craziness within Micheal's voice rang in her head, that slight possibility that he'd known him before; maybe that's why her mother wasn't so pleased about him. Still, then again, that could also have been the fact that he was a crazed murderer that destroyed people's lives for absolutely no reason. It didn't change the fact that it sounded beyond crazy...and not to mention weird. To think that even when she was daydreaming about the time when she would meet him, it turns out she had known him since the day she was born.Surely she couldn't have missed the most significant part of her life. The thing she had always dreamt of had already happened, and
"GET OUT." With no hesitation, the words flew out of her mouth, and there was nothing Michael could have done to persuade her otherwise. That sickening feeling settled inside her, that feeling of deja vu, knowing precisely what he was doing here. It always was the same. The game Michael played with her head was never-ending; if only she could flip it around and play with his instead, too bad, she didn't have that power over someone like Michael. Michael's eyes were as dark as she had ever seen them, and there was a multitude of emotions swirling in them. His eyes watched her with a pang of sadness, a destress, and they scanned every inch of her body; the action had her a little uncomfortable. For someone who enjoyed hurting her, his emotions sure were fickle. The feeling felt so foreign on his face like it didn't belong there. Michael sat on her bed with the silence surrounding them. However, his eyes bored through her; they stared without ever wavering
HARLOW STOOD THERE NUMB, with shock, as she watched the last vestiges of life leave the small body. Seconds passed flew by, Harlow knew that her Wolf was howling at her, urging her to snap out of her trance, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from the grotesque sight. As a werewolf, she had seen plenty of violence in her life, even heard about it. However, she has never witnessed something like this; the brutal slaying of a boy that was but a child. Death was something she was familiar with, but she had never experienced it; she had never seen what it was like to watch another person's soul leave their body. Judging by the size of the hole in his chest, his heart had been ripped clean from his body; that was one of the only ways to kill a werewolf. The more Harlow stared at the boy, the more her mother's face appeared in the forefront of her mind. Was this how she died? Was this how her heart was ripped out of her chest? Had Michael done this too? She didn't s
"Right, right. Yes, yes, we need to get home." The alarmed look on Mia's face didn't go unnoticed; both of them were startled. Hearing about another death wasn't something to take lightly. However, Harlow couldn't help her brain from questioning whether or not it was Michael's doing. He killed her mother; what's stopping him from Killing anyone else within this Pack? "And, quickly," Mia said. Harlow didn't waste any time; she stood up fast. Mia did the same, dusting herself off. "Let's go." Her mind didn't question the fact that it might have been Michael, she knew he had no heart, and it took her mother's death to realise it properly. Everything tragic that happened around here, Michael was the cause. At the corner of her eye, Harlow saw mia slowing her pace to match hers. It was no secret that she couldn't shift, and probably that's why everyone gave her those looks all the time, a look of curiosity but also a look that coul
"WHEN DID THE PAIN START?" Mia asked as she listened attentively. Her eyes at times would widen, and her eyebrows would scrunch up into anger whenever she heard what Harlow told her, and Harlow made sure to inform her of every detail, making sure she didn't leave any points out. Why would she? Mia Knew the most important secret she had tried to hide, so what else did she have to lose. "A few days after meeting him."Her eyes lowered, whispering cruse after curse words before her eyes met Harlow's. "He seems like a real joy." Sarcasm laced every single word.Harlow let out an uneasy laugh; she had to agree, he was the most harmful person she'd ever met, but it wasn't like Harlow could do anything about it, at least she had thought that until now. "Yeah, a real keeper. Don't you think?" Harlow replied."Oh, most certainly." With her own form of sarcasm, Mia said, "When did the dreams start?"Harlow wrinkled her eyebrows in co
THAT MORNING SHE ENTERED THE SCHOOL, it was different, and everything felt foreign. Harlow's gut couldn't help but think of what her Nan had said, 'I don't need history to repeat itself once again.' Harlow wondered what it meant, what did that have to do with her? "Hey." Mia's cheery voice made her jump. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." Breathlessly, Harlow greeted her. "Hey." "You seem on edge today; you okay?" Mia asked genuinely, but Harlow didn't know what was genuine or what wasn't. So she chose to ignore her question, maybe because she didn't know what to say. What would she say? When she looked at Mia curiously, it suddenly clicked; Mia had been in this Pack her whole life. She must know something; Mia was the most knowledgeable and the nosiest person here, Harlow had come to realise. Her father was close with the Alpha and Beta, and she must've heard something about what was going on. So Harlow couldn't help herself; she needed t