Secrets of the Wolves

Chapter 4: We're All Dogs Here

Chapter 4: We’re All Dogs Here

 

I was minding my own business on Thursday morning when someone decided to ruin it. There I was, walking timidly through the halls towards French, when my wolf stirred and started pacing, her ears erect. That could only mean one thing, especially when her reaction caused my heart to race.

“Morning,” Theo said, walking up beside me.

I peeked into his green eyes. “Hi,” I said softly and I turned back to face in front of me again. I hadn’t meant to do that! Every glimpse into his green eyes made me yearn to be closer to him!

His hand moved behind his back and when he brought it in front of us again, he had my favorite red fruit in his knobbly fingers. I was more captivated by his hands than the fruit. His fingers were long and knobbly and spidery, but they looked strong, too. I could imagine them easily shoving me up against a wall--

Oh my God! Where did that come from?! I thought and my cheeks flamed red. My wolf, the bloody traitor, was whining, as if that mental picture set her blood afire. Embarrassed, I returned my eyes to the ground, ignoring the pomegranate.

“You can have it if you agree to go on a date with me,” he proposed and my head whipped around to blaringly glare at him.

“What?”

He smirked. He had the gall to smirk. “You can have the pomegranate if you go on a date with me.” He wiggled it in front of my face. All I could think of was holding those hands on a walk in the park.

I mentally kicked myself. I looked into his electric green eyes--fused with gold--and I felt my knees wobble like Jell-O.

Taking a deep breath and stomping on my pining wolf, I said flatly, “No thank you.”

Theo’s bright eyes widened and his face went blank. Had I been too mean? The last time I had refused a date . . . well, let’s just say that had ended too swimmingly for my liking, especially since I moved all the time. That boy had not taken ‘no’ easily.

He didn’t speak. He literally just stared at me and my wolf howled in longing. I swore I heard an answer in my own mind, but it was faint. Theo’s eyes permeated my soul when the strange wolf sang and I got shivers.

“Goodbye, Theo,” I said and I sped past my classmates, ignoring my trembling heart and the fact that someone else had just been in my mind.

…………….

In French class, my resolve to avoid all human interaction continued to fail. I was sitting peacefully in my seat in the back, working on crosswords, when Miss Ethiopia walked up next to me.

“Hey, Sigrid,” Raylor said.

I glanced up. “Hi,” I said, feeling as small as a ladybug.

She smiled down at me. “Do you wanna hang out after school today?”

My lips trembled with the desire to say yes. But if I said yes, I’d only be hurting everyone when I moved. And if I said no, I’d hurt her now instead of later. “I have work,” I forced out.

She shrugged. “After then.”

My throat pinched. How long had I yearned for anyone to see me as a friend and take me under their wing? How long had I dreamed of a situation like this, when someone would see me as friend potential and take a liking to me? In fact, the last time that had happened, I think I’d hurt myself more than my friend.