CHAPTER 5

I glanced up at everyone to see if there was anyone staring at me or playing with their phones. And a lot of them had their phones out, but they didn’t look suspicious to me. Not like they were sending cryptic messages to me or anything like that. But I wouldn’t know for sure who was sending me these messages. They could be pretending that it’s not them. 

I wasn’t sure if it was too much of a coincidence or not and I made sure that I kept my eye on everyone that was around me. My mother had always taught me to watch my surroundings. 

I didn’t think I would have to do so much of it here. But I guess I needed to watch my back more than ever now. 

By lunch time that day I went to my locker and I put my books in it and then I headed out the front of the school. 

I definitely wasn’t going to the cafeteria and I wanted to go somewhere where I knew that I could be alone. And I sat at the table out the front of the school. But I wasn’t alone for long. 

“Ava.” Someone said from beside me. So I turned my head and Wesley was standing there. 

“What do you want?” I asked. 

“I wanted to come and check up on you. I saw you come out here instead of going to the cafeteria.” 

“Do you really expect me to go back there again?” I asked, looking straight ahead. 

He slowly started walking around so that he was in front of me, and he leaned down slightly to look at me but he pulled his head back for a moment. 

“You don’t have a single mark on your face now.” He said, surprised. 

“I know.” I said. 

“I know that werewolves heal fast, but that is incredible.” He said. 

“I’ve always healed faster than normal. I don’t know why.” I said. 

“Do you want to get out of here?” He asked. 

“What?” I asked, looking at him skeptically. What the hell was he up to? 

“Let’s skip our last classes and go somewhere. I bet you haven’t let your wolf out since you’ve been here.” He said. 

“It’s a little hard to do when we’re in the middle of a city.” I said. 

“Yeah. It is. So, why don’t we go for a drive. I know the perfect place.” He said. 

“How many people are going to be there waiting for me?” I asked, looking away from him again. 

“You really don’t trust many people. Do you?” He asked.

“No one around here has exactly proven to me that they can be trusted.” I said.

“Well, maybe you should let me be the first. I promise that I am not going to do anything to hurt you. I just want to go for a run.” He said. So I hesitantly nodded my head and I went inside and grabbed my stuff without being seen by the teachers and met Wesley outside next to his car. 

We drove through the city without saying much to anyone. I could feel the tension between us and it felt like Wesley was trying to fill the silence with words, but he couldn’t think of anything to say. 

And I guess, I wasn’t really making it that easy on him either. I was just looking out the window, not too interested in making conversation. 

When we finally got outside of the city, Wesley pulled up in a carpark and we went into the national forest. 

“Alright. There are usually other animals in these woods, like bears, and they don’t like us. We just need to be careful of them.” He said. 

“Are they werebears?” I asked. And he looked at me confused. 

“We don’t get werebears around here.” He said. And I nodded at him.

“Will they be able to smell us before we smell them?” I asked.

“We’ll smell them before they even see us. Don’t worry about it.” He said. 

So we walked into the woods, and followed it down far enough so that we were away from the road. 

I made sure that I stood behind a tree where Wesley couldn’t see me and I took all of my clothes off and I heard my bones snapping and rearranging and before I knew it, I was standing on four silvery paws.

I came out from behind the tree and Wesley was standing there as his reddish colored wolf. 

“Oh my god. Your wolf is beautiful. She’s completely silver.” He said.

“I know. And she’s going off at me right now.” I said. 

“What’s her name?” 

“Kora. What about yours?”

“Drake.” 

“I hope you know where you’re going. Because I don’t.” I said. 

“Follow me.” Wesley said as his wolf started getting really excited, jumping up and down and playing around. 

“What is wrong with him?”

“Nothing. He’s just excited. We don’t get out much either.” He said. 

When he managed to calm his wolf down he started running off into the woods and I followed after him, right on his heels. 

He would look over his shoulder to see if I was still following and I was there the whole time. 

He started to slow down a little so that he could run next to me and as soon as we were in stride with each other, Drake started getting really excited again. 

He was trying to play around with me, but he was making me a little nervous. The only other wolf I had ever run through the woods with was my mother, and that was usually training. It was never just for fun. 

Drake started nipping at my heels and Kora took over. She charged into his side and laid him out flat on the ground and stood over him growling. 

“Wow. Calm down. Drake was just playing.” Wesley’s voice filtered into my head. 

I slowly started to back away from him.

“Sorry. She’s never had a wolf do that before.” I said. 

“What do you mean?” He asked. 

“She’s never had a wolf to play with.” I said, looking away from him. Embarrassed at the confession. 

Wesley got up and he slowly walked over to me and he nudged the side of my face with his. 

“It’s alright. We’re not hurt. You don’t have to worry. We’re not going to hold it against you. Come on, let’s keep running. I’ll keep Drake under control.” He assured me. 

So we started running again, but then I heard this strange noise in the distance and suddenly Drake started yelping and he fell to the ground of the woods. 

I walked over to him and he was slowly turning back into his human form, but he wasn’t doing it intentionally. I then saw the dart sticking in his side and the smell instantly hit my nose. Wolfsbane.