Hour of the Wolf (on hold)

Hour of the Wolf

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Dear Readers,

Looking up ‘werewolf’ on wattpad, there are a million stories written by teenagers and inspired no doubt by Teen Wolf, Twilight and similar.  There is only so much teenage drama and fantasy I can handle, so this story was inspired by a book I recently read and I wanted to do a grown-up version of a werewolf romance.

This is my first novella -longer than a short story but shorter than a novel.  The chapters are short as well, intended for a quick read rather than a lengthy journey.

Please note that this story is recommended for readers 16 and older.

As always, vote if you like it and let me know if you don’t!

Enjoy!

Stormy 

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"According to the ancient Romans, the Hour of the Wolf means the time between night and dawn, just before the light comes, and people believed it to be the time when demons had a heightened power and vitality, the hour when most people died and most children were born, and when nightmares came to one."

Prologue

From the day I turned 16, I’ve dreamt of him.  He comes to me when I’m happy or sad or lonely.  We sit by the waterfall and skip pebbles on the water.  When my parents died in that horrible accident, he held me while I cried.  When I got my first job, we talked about our dreams for the future. 

The psychiatrist I saw after my parents died attributed it to me being the only child.  I ‘invented’ a friend in my subconscious to help me deal with my life.  I stopped going to her after she gave me the pills that put me into a deep dreamless sleep.  I missed my friend, so I flushed the rest of them down the toilet.

After Mom and Dad died I moved in with my Dad’s younger brother, my only remaining family.  Uncle Duke was a bachelor and the coolest guy I knew.  He had a motorcycle, lived in this run-down place on the beach and went surfing every morning.  Contrary to popular belief, he didn’t mind his niece cramping his style.  He was my godfather and we just fell into this easy routine.

I loved living on the beach; the sound, the smell, the uninvited guests.  Duke’s friends –mostly surfers- dropped by whenever they wanted and appointed themselves as my guardians.  It was a fairly normal life; I finished school and three years of college and planned on moving out once I found steady employment, but somehow he convinced me to stay, ‘to keep him on the straight and narrow’.

Then he died.  Shark attack.  Life as I knew it once again changed and I was shattered.  The only thing keeping me alive was Jenny, one of the surfer-girls, who brought me food, bathed me and cleaned up the house when all I could do was focus on not falling off the side of the earth. 

And Dean, my imaginary made-up dream friend.  Each night he would hold my hand and watch me stare into the waterfall for hours. 

Before I awoke he would tell me about the Hour of the Wolf, that it is always the darkest just before sunrise.