Two

He gently cupped her cheeks and kissed her sweetly on the forehead, eyes, nose, cheeks—lips. His lips lingered on hers as he emotionally declared his love for her. “How is it possible that I love you more today than yesterday? I’m sure tomorrow, I would love you even more.”

Aurora rolled her eyes and giggled at his saccharine words that never ceases to make her tummy churn with butterflies.

He didn’t stop. “My sweet Aurora, you are my everything. If I lose you…” He paused as his orbs darken with distress. He embraced her tightly as if afraid someone might snatch her away from his arms.

His eyes suddenly glowed eerily, ready to commit a bloody massacre. “If I lose you, I will bring this entire world to an eternal termination.”

He meant his words; she saw it in his eyes. It was funny to her. “Silly you, I am not going anywhere. I am yours and yours alone. Now kiss me like you’ve never did before.”

As if he was waiting, he cupped her cheeks again and joined their lips together in a tender yet frizzling kiss.

“AURORA! Wake up already!”

She felt the harsh pain in her arm when her body encountered the wooden floor. She mumbled a curse as she tried to register what was happening around her.

She had just realized it was all a dream that Azra absurdly interjected and made her fall off her bed. She looked up, rubbing her sore arm and grunted. “Why are you in my room? How did you get in?”

“No one was home and your door was unlocked, so I let myself in.” She shrugged it off and settled on Aurora’s bed.

Aurora heaved a sigh as she slumped back on her bed, her head throbbing and threatening to split in two. Thanks to her parents—her father, rather. She spent the whole night overthinking last night’s event and God knows when she finally managed to fall asleep after hours of brainstorming over Kendrix and his imprudent proposal.

“We heard the great news, congrats the new Luna of Umbris.”

Aurora snapped her head toward Azra and glared at her. Her orbs immediately changing from its usual blue color to blood red.

“Whoa… hey take it easy there. I… I just thought you…”

“I don’t know how or who told you guys already but I am sure it’s the Alpha. But just so you know, I rejected him. I don’t need to be a Luna for another Pack.”

Azra looked at her intensely as she sat up. Aurora faced her before she continued, “I don’t need my father to choose a mate for me. I don’t need anyone to. I’m not a small kid, Azra. I deserve to choose my happy ending and who I want to mate with not… him.”

Azra was mute for a moment—it wasn’t because she was reasoning. She was shocked that Aurora rejected Kendrix. Everyone knew him and who he was. His pack is ten times bigger than theirs’ and he could feed them for a year without going poverty-stricken.

“You are my best friend and I love you, but you are out of your mind for rejecting Alpha Kendrix. Do you know how powerful that man is? Do you know the good things that’d fall in Scuris if you accept him? Do you know what he might do if you keep on rejecting him?”

Aurora shrugged and got off her bed. “I don’t have all day for this.”

**

The water ways of the woods, the blues and white lace amid the earthy hues, amid the dance of green, come together as a visual form of poetry, one read by the naked soul.

She hugged her knees to chest as she gazed down at the lake from the moderate rock she was perched on. It felt serene to be out here despite knowing her father would be angry if he knew she comes out into the woods, close to the humans they’ve been warned about.

She has never encountered with one of them before, but by what she has heard, there were bad news. They’ve killed many of her kind.

She didn’t care…

She loved being out here, all by herself. Especially in her bad days. She needed to be alone and clear her mind from the chaos it has been for the past twenty-four hours.

She had another fight with her father before running out here. She was having a pep-talk with her mother when he overheard her bad-mouthing about Kendrix and the idea of being his mate.

They exchanged words that they didn’t mean to, to each other. She hates fighting with her father… but he was sometimes a pain in the neck with his policies and overprotectiveness. It was one of the many reasons why she wanted to become the leader of herself.

She was tired of being under the rule of Alpha Anakin, her father. She loves him so dearly but most of the times she hated how he was too domineering. It sometimes made her feel as if she wasn’t going to escape from his dungeon—as she called it.

She crossed her legs and took the worn-out book she came along with. It was given to her by her grandmother before she passed away. It was a diary about their descendants and how they evolved over the time.

Whenever she read it, she always wondered how they managed to survive every day, as they lived so close to the humans and they always get attacked, barely surviving after that.

She opened to the last few pages, her favorite part—where her grandmother met her grandad, the old Alpha of their pack, before her father was even born. Her grandmother’s pack were attacked and killed, leaving only her. He saved her and took her into his pack. He made her his Luna and together they became strong and undefeatable.

She would want to have someone like her grandfather. He was loving and caring. He was the definition of a dream husband. He loved her grandmother so dearly before he left for a war when she was pregnant with her father, Alpha Anakin. He never came back… he was killed by humans.

“Hey there.”

She snapped her head up and hugged the book to her chest. Terror sucked the very breath from her mouth as she stared back at the boy standing before her.

“I am so sorry to startle you like that. But I’ve been… standing here for almost a minute but you seemed distracted.”

Her eyes were still wide open and alerted. She tried to steady her breath and try to calm the panic but it was to avail. Her heart was pounding in her ears, blocking any other sound.

She has been out here so many times before but she has never encountered with a human until now. A male human. He looked familiar.

She stayed in her spot and alerted. Maybe if she didn’t move. Maybe if her eye color didn’t change, he’d never suspect a thing.

He stared at her quizzically for a moment by how terrified she looked. It was unusual. “I’m Blake. I just moved here with my parents and sister a couple of months ago.” He stretched out his hand to her but she never budged. She looked at his hand—it looked soft and welcoming but she wasn’t going to buy it.

What if she took it and he hurts her?

He cleared his throat as he shoved his hands into his pocket. She was weird, he could sense that.

“Do you live around here?” He asked, looking around. He didn’t feel like giving up yet.

She felt his voice in her stomach. That’s not good. Voices should stop at the ears but sometimes—not very often at all, actually—a voice would penetrate past her ears and reverberate straight down through her body. He has one of those voices. Deep, confident, and a little like butter.

She stood still without saying a word back. She only needed him to turn and she’d get the chance to run. Five seconds was enough for her to vanish from his sight.

She looked over his shoulder, skimming to see if he was with someone. Possibly they were waiting for her to make a move and they’d attack her. She didn’t expect to die this way. She hadn’t even said goodbye to her parents… her best friends, Azra and Skye. Their waterfall…

“Oh, don’t worry, I came out here alone. I mean… I’m not supposed to be out here… we’re not… are you allowed out here? This is actually the first time I’ve walked further into the woods. I always stayed by the edges.” He spoke breathlessly. He was nervous by how she has been staring at him without blinking and he could swear her orbs changes whenever he blinked. Or maybe it was him going insane over how beautiful she was.

She had the appearance of soul fire sparking against the ice. In the sunset, her silver hair long and loose, reflected the sunlight as well as the bonny lake wave. It made him wonder if she dyed it to that specific color or her hair was naturally silver.

Either way, it suited her and he would do anything to touch it and feel how soft and silky it was.

“Please leave,” she finally managed to speak. At first, she needn’t to say anything. But she was afraid if she took off, he might come after her and find out where she lives, reviling her factual self.

She wouldn’t want to risk her life or her family’s’.

“Your voice…” he blurted out. Her voice felt like water in the air, for it both quenched and cleansed the soul. “Sorry, I mean… I’m so sorry for making you feel uncomfortable…”

“Blake? Blake…”

He closed his eyes and heaved a sigh out of annoyance. It was his fifteen-year-old sister. He knew she was going to eventually come after him even after he had warned her not to come wandering into the woods.

“That’s my…” He halted when he noticed that she was gone. “F*ck…” he cursed under his breath. Just when he was about to get her name was the time his sister managed to show up and ruin it.

“What, Lily? I thought I’ve told you not to follow me out here? It’s too dangerous…”

“Well, you shouldn’t be out here too,” she cuts in, giving him a critic look. “I am old enough and I can protect myself. But you are still afraid of monsters under your bed.”

She pinched his torso as she grunted. “They exist,” she affirmed.

“Ouch… that’s not nice. And you scared my new friend away.”

“Who? You saw a dog? A cat? Oh, oh, a bunny?”” Lily spoke gleefully, waiting for an answer but never got one. He spotted a book laying on the dead leaves, beside the rock Aurora was sitting on. He took it and observed it.

“What’s that?” Lily asked but he still never gave her an answer.

“Let’s head home, Lily.” He clasped their hands together and find their way back to the farm house.

Aurora watched them from afar. They seemed unharmful to her. Possibly because she looked exactly like them and they have no clue she was half werewolf.

She watched as they disappeared out of the woods with Blake holding her book and checking it out.

She hopes he doesn’t find anything suspicious about her and have the thought that it was only a fantasy book. She sighed softly and also headed home.

That night, Blake spent the night reading the book Aurora had left. He read how wolves were the largest members of the dog family. Adaptable gray is by far the most common and were once found all over the Northern Hemisphere. Wolves almost never attack humans without a reason but they are always considered one of the world’s most fearsome natural villains.

What he read was so much different from what he was told and learned about them. They seem harmless unless you trespass their territory or try to harm them.

He spent half of the night reading and pouncing over the rumors of the werewolf pack were rampant somewhere in the woods and though he thought it was nonsense, he kept a modified cricket bat next to his bed always.

The next evening, Blake went back to the same spot, waiting to see if she’d show up so he’d return her journal like he made his mind to believe. But deep down, he only wanted to see her again, maybe this time she’d tell him more to leave her alone. Maybe she’d tell him her name and where she lives.

He had met so many girls, interacted with them. But never in his twenty years of life has he ever met a girl like her. There was something about her, something thrilling and enigmatic. She looked alarmed yet robust. He knew she was frightened probably as of the tales about the werewolves lurking somewhere in the woods.

He hopped onto the rock and rested on the spot she sat yesterday. He slowly exhaled, looking around the beautiful yet spine-chilling nature that was before him. He felt as though someone was watching him from afar—as if they were planning a death trap for him to fall into.

**

“Is he tall? Is he handsome? Does he look like us? He speaks like us? Did you touch him…”

“Shh, Azra!” Aurora hushed her as she looked around. “Keep it down. You might never know who’s watching and listening to us.” Azra rolled her eyes as she crossed her arms to her chest. “You’re over reacting, Aurora. It’s just the two of us here.”

“Yes, I know that. And yes, he’s tall, handsome, he is a human so, yes, he looks and speaks like us. Did I mention that he’s handsome? I mean so attractive.”

Azra squealed as she stumped her feet out of excitement. “This is so wrong yet so right. You must go see him again. I mean, we have to go see him.”

“No, Azra. We are not doing that. I’m not going out there ever again either, because we don’t know what those human beings are capable of. And do not under any circumstances tell anyone about this—not even Skye.”

“But,” Azra mumbled as she pursed her lips.

“No, Azra. You should understand that I trust you enough to tell you one of the most dangerous and darkest secrets, and I expect you to respect that and keep it to yourself.”

Azra nodded as she pressed her lips together.

“Whenever I’m ready to tell Skye, you’ll be the one to break it to him, I promise.” She gave her a side hug as they walked toward home.

If Skye would find out that she had gone out into the woods and met an actual human being, and they even spoke, he’d flip. He might not tell the Alpha but he’d scold her and keep an eye on her from going back into the woods.

She would.

She would go back out there again—she was afraid but it wasn’t going to stop her from getting back her journal again… and she feasibly wanted to see him again.

He seemed nothing like what the journal her grandmother wrote. He seemed kind, soft and composed.