© Amber Kalkes 2014
Song Of The Chapter: "Come A Little Closer" By Cage The Elephant
Seth------------}
Chapter Three: Meeting Tall Dark And Furry.
When I got home I was no longer in a good mood. Now reality started sinking in. I wasn’t allowed to date normal boys. I couldn’t. Not with a pack of werewolves to take care of. No guy would willingly come into this life. That was why the women of my family often just stuck with being single moms. People just didn’t get it and it was selfish of us to assume that anyone could.
These wolves were like our family. We loved them like they were our children. Sometimes my mom even treated them better than me. Grandma doted on them like they were feral pets. Both cleaned up their messes without a speck of questioning. Family always comes first, my grandmother would have reminded me.
After mom died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound I was with grandma full time. Then grandma died of cancer. Of course, she didn’t tell me. I assumed it was because she didn’t know. At least, that’s what I told myself. I didn’t want to think the old bat would lie to me but I also knew her better than that.
I sighed as I pulled the keys out of the ignition. Well, I thought regretfully, at least it was fun while it lasted. Grabbing my stuff from Penny I made my way to the front door when I heard claws scratching against the wood of the porch. Turning towards the sound I let out a gasp when I came face to face with the black wolf.
He was bleeding, I could tell from the metallic smell of it. He looked so exhausted as he tried to walk closer to him before slumping back onto the porch floor. I threw my stuff onto the porch swing quickly before kneeling down beside him. My hand hesitated before running itself through the black mane. God, it felt like velvet.
I went stock still when I thought I heard him groan. Could a wolf groan? Apparently this one could. As I petted his matted fur I could feel tingles shooting up my arms like veins of light. It was really odd but relaxing at the same time. Then something hit me like a ton of bricks.
“You're not a wolf are you? I mean not really.” I said close to his large ears.
I heard him whimper.
“Are you a…. werewolf?”
Again he whimpered then dug his face into my hand. I continued to pet him to let him know I wasn’t mad. This was weird, yes, but something felt right about this. Like I knew what he was long ago but I pushed it out of my mind in favor of comforting the wounded creature.
“Are you going to go change to a human or do I have to continue to ask you questions like this?” I ventured.
Slowly he lifted his still injured body up and limped down the porch stairs. I watched as he walked around toward the woods. Suddenly, fear hit me in the gut causing a million thoughts to run through my head. Thoughts like: Did he just leave? Was he going to come back? Why did I care? Oh my god did I have a crush on a wolf-human thingy? I’m hungry.
Some rustling drew my attention back to where I had seen the black wolf disappear into it. Then a man came into view. But not just any man, a beautiful man. He was dressed in jeans and...well that was about it. As he came closer I saw his dirty dark brown hair was disheveled and just as matted as his fur had been. But those eyes that evaded mine were the same. They were that same fathomless green that that looked like creamy jade. His body was toned and athletic but that was marked by bloody claw marks and bites all over his exposed torso. He seemed to still be dizzy as he walked back to me who was left stunned on the porch.
I mentally forced myself to reattach my jaw before licking my suddenly dry lips. God, this was wrong.
No lusting over the injured wolf-man. I scolded at myself.
Finally he came to a stop before me at porch’s stairs looking at me with sad eyes. Like he expected me to be freaked out and shoot him with a sliver bullet. Wait, I internally wondered, would that even work?
Focus!
Right, I have to focus now. I have to say something. Something…. soothing.
“Um…” was all I could manage.
Well, so much for soothing.
His head shot up and his eyes bore into mine. He stood there staring at me. Apparently my lackluster word vomit didn’t compel him to speak. So, I lowered my gaze to my hands in my lap, trying to ignore the voice in my head screaming for me to look up again. No can do, voice in my head, I needed to focus on a competent sentence. But all I could come up with was:
“So, that was unexpected.”
To my surprise I heard him chuckle. I looked up to see his eyes softened into amusement. Then pain as the movement seemed to remind him of his injuries.
“I am being a horrible bitch right now aren’t I?” I gasped.
“No.” he said, making me melt at the sound of his voice.
“You’re injured. You can sit down you know. I mean I don’t want to make you more in pain or anything. I’m sorry. You make me very nervous and I’m word vomiting everywhere.” I said so quick I almost doubt he heard it.
Again he chuckled and I peeked through my lashes to look at him. Suddenly the chuckling stopped and he groaned.
“Please don’t look at me like that.”
I immediately panicked and averted my eyes. “Uh, sorry.”
“No, it’s just you look so...god this is not how I pictured this going.” He sighed the last part and ran a hand over his face. “I’m sorry. I’ve been trying to thinking of a coherent thought and that look wasn’t helping.”
I suddenly felt a blush. “T-That’s forgivable.”
He gave me a smile. It was a breathtakingly charming smile. The kind of smile that could break a young girl’s heart or makes an old woman feel young again. The kind of smile that made my stomach jump in excitement. I was stunned dumb for a minute before I lowered my eyes again.
“So, are you going to ask my name?” he asked
Face meet palm. “I am seriously fucking this up aren’t I?”
He shook his head, still smiling. “This is a weird situation so I don’t blame you.”
“That’s kind of you.” I said offering a small smile. “So, what is your name?”
“Seth.”
“Sylvie.”
His eyebrows furrowed as he repeated my name. “Sylvie. I like it.”
I made a face. “I don’t.”
“Why?”
“Makes me sound like I’m eighty-five living a house full of cats.”
He chuckled again and I watched his abs contract and shake as he did it. Drool was very much a problem now. I was now aware how pervy I was becoming. He was only laughing and I wanted to jump him like a cat in heat. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
“Is something wrong?”
You have no idea. “No.”
“You sure? You seemed a bit…out of it.”
Totally. “Nah, I’m fine.”
“Okay.” He said totally not buying it.
“So…um, Seth, what do we do now?”
An eyebrow raised on his handsome face. “What do you mean?”
“Well now I know about this whole…. wolf-man thing. So I’m wondering what do we do now? Should I be scared of you?” I elaborated
He was suddenly in my face. His features contorted into worry. His hands were raised to cup my face as his palms rested on my cheeks. His eyes were alternating between looking at my eyes and my mouth. I was so caught up in the feel of him touching me I almost didn't catch his next words.
“I could never hurt you, Sylvie.”
“W-why?” I stuttered sounding stupider than I felt.
His teeth bit into his lower lip. “It’s hard to explain.”
“O-Okay?”
Seth breathed roughly out of his nose and dropped his hands from my face. Using the porch stairs as leverage he pushed himself away from me. His back was to me as he began tugging on his hair in what I assumed was frustration. If that was because of me or not, I couldn't really say. His position though gave me a view of his back and to say it was fucked up would be an understatement. It looked like a bear had attacked him. Jesus, had a bear attacked him?
“What happened to your back?” I blurted.
He looked at me for a minute then started to pace. “It was a bear.”
Whoa! One point to Sylvie!
“Sylvie?” Seth asked pulling me out of my self-back patting. “Do you know who that was I helped you bury yesterday?”
“No but it’s not my job to ask questions like that.”
He looked almost pained. “Well your going to need to know now.”
Well for shit’s sake.