The Mating Games

Chapter. 8

I was well into my third steak, cheesy thing before I realized we were back on the road to Derek's house. I didn't want to go back, but as of right now, that seemed the way I was going. "Do we haaaave to go back to your place?" I wined, wiping at a stray bit of cheese dripping down my chin. I gave him my most pitiful puppy pout.

"I'm wanted. Remember?" He stated around a mouth full of taco.

"Yea, but that doesn't mean you have to stay in your miserably cold house." I reasoned. He glared at me before returning his eyes to the road. Well damn. We pulled onto his long dirt drive heading towards his house. I looked out the window to the bare trees. Dirty, colorless leaves coated the ground, flurries that wouldn't stick filtered through the air around us. I wondered what it would be like to live here. To run through these woods every full moon? To run with a mate and join in on the 'Moons Love Spell' as I called it. My pack was almost always involved in some sexual game on the full moon. Those that were single and even those that weren't. The three humans, Eli, Jo Ann, and Todd were all mated to one of the wolves who often drug their ass's home earlier to their mates too get in on the 'Moons Love Spell.' The other five, Kasey included, would stay out in the woods going at it, (Oh yea, werewolf orgies we're frequent in my screwed up family.) while I found a peaceful resting spot to relax and take in the beauty that the last of the night had to offer. Looking at the stars and watching the sun come up. Those where the moments I enjoyed most. I was alone with my thoughts. Sometimes they included thinking about my family from hell. What if I had stayed? Would I get to experience things like this? As soon the questions begun, I automatically squashed them, thanking my lucky stars for what I had been given. I'd doubt that my grandmother had ever watched the sun come up, or the stars shine. I doubted she ever listened to sounds of nature. She was too busy keeping 300 wolves in line, not to mention, she never really cared for nature. I was completely baffled when she had told me, "Autumn, nature is nasty, it's filthy, and it has no room in the expanding world." My reply had always been, "But, we come from wolves." To which I'd receive a slap to the face and a lecture on how improper I was, and that I never used my head.

Looking back, I know I'd never fit into her world, or even that they really wanted me too. She had never cared for me. I was a reminder of her daughter's indiscretion. One that had threatened the Harvelle name. No. She wanted me gone and was relieved when I decided to leave. But she didn't like feeling like she lost control either, so she sentenced me to make the deal. Why isn't it my mother's responsibility to carry on the pack? To produce an heir? Because my mother died when I was seven, depressed from loosing her beloved affair from another pack, (my father), who was brutally attacked by his own pack. They turned on him when they found out about me. He used to always sneak away and come visit us. My mother and I. His eyes where those same unusual hazel as mine. His hair was black, streaked with gray. He looked intimidating, but was the biggest puppy ever. He used to love to play hide and seek, forcing me to be creative and to use my senses. Then my grandmother had found out about his visits and promptly alerted his pack. I never seen him again after that and remembered the all too painful screams of my mother when she barricaded herself in her room, refusing visits, even from me. That same night, we found my mom, lying in her bed with nasty black spew all over her, before finding the bottle of liquefied wolfsbane. I still held a grudge against my mother for killing herself, leaving me to my grandmother's wrath. You know the bitch didn't even cry at her daughter's funeral? No, she was cold and professional, telling people it was a sad loss, but the pack would benefit and learn from her mistake.

I felt the wetness streak my cheek and wiped at it, turning my head away from Derek, trying to avoid his gaze. I opened the car door and ran out quickly, heading for the woods when I heard Derek's voice, "Autumn!" I stopped, keeping my back to him. I felt his hand on my shoulder as he tried to spin me around. I stood my ground, but that didn't stop him from coming around to meet me. "Autumn, what happened?" He asked concern laced in through his tone.