NayaI felt uneasy as I drove to Danika’s house to pick her up for training. I wouldn’t say I liked that I snapped at Reed, but I also hated the predicament he and Theron put me in with Kamari. Not only that, but I felt anxious driving to training this morning for some reason. Sienna must have felt whatever was happening in the air, too, because she was shifty this morning.“Somethings coming, Naya, I can feel it,” Sienna confessed to me on our drive to the other side of town to Danika’s.“I know, I feel it too. But what”? I asked Sienna through our mind link.“You think Kamari has to do with the tension rising around town? I hate to admit it, but things have shifted since she came.” I knew Sienna liked Kamari like I did, but something was off with her timing in coming here. There was something she wasn’t telling us. Plus, we were werewolves, and the pack came first. Always.“I don’t know, she’s just a human, but even Theron acts strange around her. We’ll find out some answers today a
KamariI woke up Saturday morning to no alarm, so the sun was already beaming in the window when I finally opened my eyes. I gave myself a long stretch, enjoying not having to rush anywhere or do anything. I had the dance tonight, but the day was mine. Mom was sleeping all day since she had another night shift tonight. I sat up to see the white stray was still sleeping at the end of my bed. I moved over to scratch behind his ear and under his neck.“Still sleeping, huh? Lazy little kitty, you sleep a lot. I guess there’s something to people wanting to die and come back as a house cat.” The stray just purred, keeping his eyes closed, enjoying the pet. He rolled over onto his back, exposing his belly so I could reach under his neck better.“You have no collar, so I don’t think you belong to anyone. You could stay here for as long as you like. What do I call you, though? Hmm... what about Maxwell?” The cat looked at me in what I swore was a “hell no” look. “Ha, okay, no Maxwell. Maybe...
KamariWow, this place was gorgeous. I’ve been to some fancy clubs in LA, but this place put them to shame. Whoever was responsible for the decorations here needed to come to my house and fix the old girl up. Instead of the usual sitting area, they had white table-clothed tables with gorgeous floral centerpieces surrounded by glowing tea light candles. The ceiling had a massive crystal chandelier in the center of the dance floor, with little lights dangling out in a cascade across the ceiling. The lights were all dimmed, making the candles on the wall pieces stand out more.If I hadn’t known any better, I would have thought I was in an ancient castle’s ballroom instead of the school auditorium. I looked over at the dressed-up bar fed with candlelight to see a wall of delicate decanter bottles in front of a mirror. The bartenders were all dressed in suits, and the light reflected off the candles, turning it into an intimate landscape. I scanned the bar, admiring the attention to detail
NayaGrabbing Lana’s hand, I gave her a twirl around the dance floor like we were a ballroom dance pair, and it was our final move. We obnoxiously took a bow to each other, laughing, before heading back toward our table. Oh man, I was buzzed. Looking at our table full of empty glasses and beer bottles, I made a mental note to let Sienna take me home tonight. I’ll have to call an Uber for Kamari. Kamari...where was Kamari? I had kept tabs on her since I saw Theron and my brother staring at her all night. I felt protective of my new friend and knew that she couldn’t be either of their mates since she was human. I didn’t want her to get her heart broken, so I made sure to try and keep them at arm’s length from her. But looking around now, I couldn’t see Kamari anywhere. Come to think of it, I didn’t see Theron either.“LANA! Come help me find Kamari!” I yelled over the music. We were both stumbling around like fools. Lana started singing the next song, which I loved, too. As we looked, w
TheronZale and Zane let out a howl, alerting the crowd we’re set to run. The whole dance party howled back as one as we all began to shift and run out the door. Theron nodded to me with a pained look, like he was still assessing all that just went down.“You alright, bro?” I asked, feigning ignorance of what I just witnessed.“Yeah, just...drunk. You got me wasted, you asshole,” he said, punching me in the shoulder, acting light-hearted.“Well, let Hoku take over for a bit; I know Arkyn is chomping at the bit, trying to get out.” I laughed, pulling Theron to the door.“I’ll chomp you if you don’t let me out!” Arkyn pushed forward, shifting and sprinting out into the full moonlit night. Hoku flew past me a minute later, and we were off, sprinting and passing through the trees. We quickly caught up to the pack and took the lead in front of Thorac and Thorr, the twin wolves. You could hear howling echo through the forest as the pack ran as fast as we could, thriving in the moonlit night
TheronThis female. THIS. FEMALE. We had eyes on each other all night in a silent flirting game only we knew about. I couldn’t help the heat rise within me as I watched her dance with Danika. This female completely enraptured me, and I had no clue why. All Hoku and I knew was she was ours. When Reed whispered in my ear about her, it took everything in me not to rip his throat out. It wasn’t like me to be that way with Reed; I knew this. So I stood still, barely able to nod, keeping my eyes on her and not the fact that Reed was watching her, too. When I saw her walk outside, I followed her as if I had no say in my movements. I didn’t even care who else noticed me chasing after her.I waited a moment to see what she would do, silently praying she was a wolf and shifted right here in the moonlight. But she didn’t; instead, she just gazed as if she, too, was drawn to its light. I had no idea what to say once I got to her, but I knew I had to speak to her. I told the first thing I could th
OrionWhen I woke up to the sound of rain, snuggled up to the human girl, I could finally feel a little strength return to my body. I vaguely remember moving up to sleep by her last night when I felt her jolt in her sleep, but that was only vague. I had been slumped here on the human’s bed for days while I slept off the poison. I knew it would be a few more days till I could shift back into my humanoid form, not that it would matter when I could. I was sent here by the priestess herself with specific details.“Protect the human,” she demanded. “at all cost. Don’t let yourself be known to her, but keep an eye on her and get rid of whatever it was that’s infiltrated the wall.” She knew something was placed but needed to figure out what. The extra layer of protection on the house alerted her of something foreign just outside the boundary. How it got there to begin with was still being looked into. When I arrived, I cursed at the old braud and my luck.The Raven-clawed bush was covered in
KamariI jolted awake with a scream, heaving air into my lungs. The dust particles slowly glided through the sunbeams in my window, glistening in the morning light as they floated down gently. Everything was still and quiet, Orion gazing at me snuggled up next to my leg as if I wasn’t just running for my life. I’ve had the same nightmare for two nights in a row. So real, yet it was just a dream. In it, I’m running in the same forest as before, this time looking for the glowing eyes that usually follow me, but I can’t see them, sense them.Instead, I felt something else behind me. I couldn’t see anything but knew there was something out there. As I ran, the fog got thicker and thicker until I couldn’t see where I was going. I was blind in an unknown forest with the predator beside me gone. There was only the sinking feeling something was chasing me. Then, both times, I wake up right as I feel something grab me from behind. I gave myself a minute to shake the eerie feeling from my bones