"So, where are you going to stay for the night?" He asks probably knowing my answer already.
"I'm just going to wander around here and there." I answer him nonchalantly. His expression seems to have turned grim.
"How about staying with my pack?" His tone is harsh, he's irritated by my answer.
But did he seriously just ask me to stay with him...?
"Who are you, to give me such a proposal...?" I question him, nervous, because come on, this guy could have a title like the leader and then I would feel really embarrassed, treating him like an equal. Of course, I know how the ranks work in a pack, I've been there myself.
He looks at me, taken aback by my question. "Me? I'm just the crazy cursed magical one. Every pack has one like that, right?" He's trying to cheer me up it seems. I don't know what I should be thinking about that, but I laugh anyway.
"My pack isn't a pack that would judge a book by its cover..." he trails off. "...They would do it to an actual book though." He adds mumbling, making me giggle. "Don't worry about them. They won't do anything to you." He reassures me. I nod, feeling a bit relieved.
Looking at the sky again, I think about his offer. Is it really a good choice? I really don't have anywhere to stay and I would seriously just wander around and who knows what could happen then.
What do I have to lose? I've lost everything already, but my life... I won't lose that, or at least not until I find the truth about everything.
"If they don't mind, then sure. I'll take you up on your offer." I say, looking at him with a stern expression, wondering if I made the right decision.
But before I can think twice, he's already standing on his four paws. "Come on!" He beams excited, already walking. I have no choice, but to follow. So I stand up and speed up to keep up with the wolf.
The walk to his house – where he was staying with his pack – was physically painful. It must be the bruises. Thankfully, it wasn't a long trip.
Already getting closer to his place, I started to feel nervous again. What if what he told me about his pack was a lie? What if they don't like me and throw me out or worse?!
He seems to have caught up on my nervousness, so he speaks up. "As I said before, you don't have to worry. They're sleeping anyways, if I'm not wrong." I look at him with wide eyes. "So you were lying?!" I almost shout, feeling betrayed.
He looks up to look at me. "No. I didn't lie. I just don't want you to feel pressured, because they are really curious people. They would probably ask you a ton of questions. And you are probably tired, aren't you?" He asks.
"I am tired." I say, looking reassured at him. "Thank you for your concern." He nods.
We walk up to the building that is supposed to be his house. I look it up and down with amazement, it's pretty huge. I wonder how I've never noticed this building from the city.
"How many are there in your pack?" I ask nervous and bewildered again.
He turns again to look at me. "The house may be big, but only seven people, including me, live here. The rest of the pack, which is a huge amount of people, live somewhere else." He says.
I'm confused. "Isn't it dangerous to only live with seven people? What if you get attacked?" I throw random questions that are swirling in my head at him.
Only one question stuck out to him though. "Seven people can easily protect themselves. The people who live here are the high ranks. Also, we aren't weak at all, we are one of the strongest packs in this forest!" He beams proudly.
I wonder... "If the high ranks live here... then are you also one of them?" He nervously avoids my gaze and let's out an awkward laugh. "Haha... No. I can't even control the shape shifting when it's full moon. Even if you can do that, you're still not even average."
Then why does he live with the high ranks, if he isn't even average...?
I don't know if he's being honest about everything he has said up until now. I still can't fully trust him on anything. "I'm honest, if you think that I'm lying." He says suddenly.
"Can you read my mind too?!" I ask shocked, feeling exposed if he really can.
He shakes his head. "No, I can't read your mind. You are just easy to read. You're like an open book."
His response let's a weird feeling flood over me.
Nostalgia?
He begins to walk towards the entrance of the building. "You're the first one who ever said that I'm like an open book. People can normally never tell what I think about or how I feel..." I trail off, confused at his comment. I slowly follow him with confusion written on my face.
"Open the door." He commands looking at me. I'm now even more confused then before. Why do I have to do it...? "What? Why me? It's your house!" I almost shout, but then I remember I have to hold my voice down, because the others are most likely sleeping.
"Do you see any hands?" He says while holding up his right paw. "I can't change into a human with the full moon. I'm still learning how to control it, remember?" He continues making me embarrassed.
I slowly stick out my hand to grab the doorknob – Like, who uses doorknobs nowadays? – I grab the cold metal, that makes shivers go down my spine. I hesitantly turn it and open the door, only to be welcomed by warmth and complete darkness.
The mystic creature, that was just beside me, is already inside. "Are you going to stand there like a rock?" He asks suddenly.
I was pulled out of my thoughts by his words and slowly step into the house. "Follow me." He says already walking. Quickly, I close the front door and everything I now see is black. It was really dark inside and there really weren't any windows or light sources nearby.
I try to adjust to it, but it only helps a bit. Seeing something, I slowly scan my surroundings and look to where I last saw him. I walk towards that spot and finally I find a source of light.
I walk into the room to find him waiting for me, while he was cutely seated and wagging his tail. "If you're hungry, you can take something to eat from the fridge if you're not feeling like eating something big, eat at least a fruit that's in the basket on the table. Not that you will find something big in the fridge anyway, it's probably empty." He says, mumbling the last part.
I begin to look around for the basket, as I was feeling like eating an apple. But just when I spotted it, he begins to talk again. "When you're done, you probably want to sleep. So go upstairs, to the right and the third door on your right will be your room. Also, if you want to freshen up, immediately in front of your room there's a bathroom. I'll leave some clothes of mine in the room, because your clothes are dirty." He says while looking me up and down and then walking off.
"Thank you-" I say in a hurry, but he's already gone. Strange. I'm actually hungry, my senses aren't working properly anymore – and to be honest I have almost no strength to stand up properly. Before I ran away, I also didn't eat anything proper. Neither did I take any food with me. "Only the things I need." I said to myself back then.
I walk towards the table where the fruit basket's placed, not wanting anything cold. I pick out a smooth red apple with slight hints of yellow and green out of the basket. I take a bite out of it, it's sweet. As I was slowly devouring the apple, I started to regain my senses again, but the energy, I lost over time, could only be restored by a proper sleep.
I sniff a bit, what makes me pick up a familiar scent, but I can't figure out what the scent is and where it's coming from. It's so familiar, that the answer's probably just at the end of my tongue. I can't get the hang of it, so I'll just let it be for now.
I finished eating the apple, so I walk towards the door I came from. I take out my phone – that I quickly grabbed from the bedside table when I ran out of that house – out of my backpack. I try to turn it on, but the luck isn't with me today, or maybe it is...
I sigh and put it into my back pocket. Looking around the hallway while the light from the kitchen lightens it up, I find the stairs. I then turn the light off concluding I won't be needing it anymore.
I try to adjust to the darkness again. When I can finally see something, I slowly walk up to the stairs, while slightly bumping into some stuff. The railings of the stairs are decorated with flowers made out of metal and the stairs self were made out of red wood.
I take every step carefully, self not knowing why. When I finally take the last step, I'm met with a small hallway, that has the walls painted a creamy color and the floor coated with a red carpet, just like a catwalk.
I follow the instructions the wolf gave me and turn to the right. I slowly walk up to the third door on my right and go inside, the room looks like something that you would only see in a five star hotel. It was very luxurious. A queen-sized bed is placed in the middle of the bedroom on a red carpet.
There's a lot of red in this house, I notice. The window had cushions in it where you could sit or even lie. There's a closet and 2 bedside tables. I place my backpack on the ground against the closet.
The bed looks like something fitting for a royalty. There's an oversized shirt and a pair of sweatpants placed on the bed. I walk towards it and pick it up. It looks comfortable, but obviously it's going to be very loose.
Wanting to freshen up, I take the clothes with me towards the room opposite. I open the door towards the bathroom, look for a light switch and turn it on.
I look around, shocked. Of course, it's luxurious too. Does a royalty live here or something? I don't know how I should feel about this.
I'll take a shower to get rid of all the dirt that I've collected while being in the forest. I close the door behind me, double-checking if I locked it. I strip out of my clothes and look at myself in the mirror. Anyone could've mistaken me for a ghost; pale and dark circles under my eyes and let's not forget the bruises that are all over my body.
I finally go into the shower. The water falling onto my skin burns. On any other day I would say it's soothing, but right now, it hurts.
After having done everything I had to do in there, I clean up after myself. The weirdest thing in this house is that it's somewhat clean. Do seven guys really live here? It's like no one has ever lived here.
I walk out of the bathroom, a bit careless on that part, I bump into a slender and fit body.
Well, I'm screwed.
His hair's black like the night sky and he himself is about 10 cm taller than me.
He looks at me like he sees a ghost. We lock eyes for a few seconds. He then quickly closes his eyes and begins to shake his head violently while covering his ears and silently mumbling prayers and 'no's under his breath.
I see that as a chance to escape the awkward encounter with this mysterious and weird guy. I slip through the door into the room that was mine for now and close the door behind noiseless.
I wait until I hear him go away. He walks into the bathroom and I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. I think for a second about my weird encounter. His eyes, his voice, they were all so familiar.
I sniff around again. That familiar scent again!
I walk towards the bed and lie down while putting the covers over myself. Being in such a warm and, right now, safe place, makes me drift away towards the dream land.
I have a dream about him again.
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A/N: I'm sorry if this whole story sounds rushed, because it's pretty much how I write. I'm always trying to learn more about how to write a good piece, but yeah. It doesn't always help.
Btw, do you guys now any good names for the mc?