Chapter 2

I watched the flames dance, slightly impatient that the biscuits were not ready yet, I wanted them to be finished before she returned from the garden but it was never the case, I always had terrible timing. I wanted to tell her not to go to the city tomorrow, that I had a bad feeling pooling in the pit of my stomach, but I didn’t know how to explain and I knew that we needed the trip. We were down to our last four tins of canned food and a bag of rice, the candles melting faster than they do in the summer months before of the longer nights.

As if hearing my internal battle, my mother smiled softly, “Riven, I know you hate it when I leave for human territory, but I will always come back to you, just as I have done every month from the time you could walk.”

I tucked my hair behind my ears and turned to face her, wishing that I wasn’t so special so that I could go with her to make sure that she was safe, but a human would see my unnatural amber pupils and purple iris’s and lock me away to be a experimented on and then they would know what we were, that werewolves existed in the world. I may not be part of a pack, but even I knew that humans realising we weren’t just a story in books, would be deadly for us all.

But even that wasn’t the worst part, when I shifted into Kayla my fur was the same shade of both mine and my mother’s hair, something else that she deemed unusual and unheard of. She said I was an anomaly among werewolves and while she never said it in a way that would scare me I wished constantly that I was normal, that I wasn’t special or different.

But then you wouldn’t have me. Kayla whispered to me softly, hurt present in her tone.

I didn’t mean it like that, Kayla. I just wish we were more like mother and other wolves, that we didn’t have to be so different, maybe then we could see where mother goes once a month. I sighed, I loved my wolf and she I, but we could agree that we were so different from them.

My mother was a brown wolf, she said that was a common colour and nothing special, that my father was black, like most Alpha’s. So why is it that I wasn’t? Why had the moon goddess bestowed the rare colour and abilities to me?

“Mum I just, I have a bad feeling.” I whispered, carefully using the old tick cloth to pull the biscuits out now that they were ready.

She chuckled, the sound instantly bringing warmth to my heart, “You mean the same bad feeling you’ve been having for over a year now? Riven you are seventeen in five days, and if I do not go tonight we will be out of food before that time, and I really don’t think that you’ll be able to make the Biscuits without matches or candles.”

I nodded, “I know mum, I just don’t like it is all.”

I placed the tray onto the floor and threw my arms around her neck, holding her close to me as I trembled, I didn’t know why but the need to hold her had encompassed me, as though it may be the last time I am able. She barley hesitated before she returned my embrace, whispering words of comfort in my ear as she stroked my tangled and frizzy curls. I don’t know how long we remained in the same position, watching the flames of the fire engulf the wood as it warmed our small cabin, the air thick with heat.

Eventually, mother leaned back, pushing the hair from my face and gently kissing both of my cheeks. “Riven it’s going to be dark soon, I must leave now.”

I nodded, fighting back tears that I knew would fall once she had gone. “I love you, may the moon goddess grace me with your safe return.”

She smiled, the sight truly a beauty to behold, as was my mother. “My dear, she has kept me safe at every turn and gifted me with a beautiful daughter.”

I smiled back, though mother said she was quite large for a female wolf, I knew that it wasn’t the case, I was just unnaturally small, even for seventeen; only just reaching the base of her nose. As always, I helped her get ready for the long trip, packing her some of the biscuits I had prepared, as well as fruit and bread. Yet sill, I hesitated when she walked towards the door, my heart beating unnaturally fast as she turned to me once last time and placed a lingering kiss on the top of my head.

“I will be back in two days.” She promised softly, and then; she was gone. Disappearing behind the trees at the end of the small clearing in which we lived.

I quietly ate my supper by the fire, watching as the cold night crept forward and engulfed the cabin into darkness, the once inviting sounds of the woods and owls now making me jump. My mind and body was on edge, and somewhere off in the distance I was certain I heard howls of other wolves. Kayla instantly alert. Yet, and the night drew on nothing happened, so I retreated to bed, placing enough wood on the fire the last the night.

Light crept through the window some hours later and though it felt as though I had barley closed my eyes before I was stretchy my achy body and quietly getting dressed into a dark purple cotton gown, the long sleeves and circular high collar enough to keep me warm. We had always made our own clothes for as long as I could remember, we had thin cotton for the summer and thick warm floor length dresses for the winter.

I combed my hair slowly, deciding to let it hang loosely today, having no desire to wrestle the curls into something presentable when it was only me. My hair reached the curve in the small of my back, the thick and vibrant mass almost uncontrollable. But I didn’t mind, I liked the messy hair that partially covered my face, it gaze both me and Kayla a sense of security.

After boiling the water for my coffee and eating a biscuit by the fire, I opened the door to the cabin and made my way to the small stream, filling the bucket and taking it back once I had done my business near the water. Then, it was the usual routine, place the water into a pot to boil away the germs whilst I tended to the garden, pulling weeds and picking the fruit that was ripe enough to eat.

I smiled when I remember that I had a single bag of flour left and quickly collected the eggs from the three chickens we had before rushing back inside with a few strawberries and apples, deciding to make a sweet pie for lunch.