Claws (Rewritten)

Twenty Seven

Caleb

A cool winter wind whipped around me as I walked down the lanes, hands shoved deep into my jacket pockets to find some warmth. My thoughts should've been on the exam I'd just done, or the endless list of essays I had yet to finish that were due soon, or at the very least, on where I was going.

But no. My thoughts were occupied. I was thinking about the vacation, about how real life had really kicked us in the ass upon our return and about how much I longed to go back to those days. The days where all I had to worry about was keeping our group together and stopping Markus from buying every souvenir he set his eyes upon.

Now, not only had Damien dared to venture close to the pack several times (I'll be honest, his unusual behaviour was a little unnerving-- perhaps he was scouting out the area ready to take on the entire pack all by himself. It was exactly the type of suicide-mission a crazed rogue like him would attempt, and I dreaded to think who he planned to take down with him) but now the hunters in the city, who my father, Daniel and I had been convinced were of no harm to us, had almost killed Markus and sent the rest of us a message of revenge. My patience was running incredibly thin, with my mind split worrying about a rogue and hunters. I needed to work out some of this frustration. Get back into a decent mindframe.

In fact, there was only one good thing to come out of all this mess. Noah. Markus' mate. And though I was happy for them both - after all, finding a mate was sacred to werewolves, and I was glad that Markus had finally found his - it brought forth yet another issue. Noah was a beta wolf in a pack all the way in Alaska - he'd told us so, and it was difficult to ignore the waves of power rolling off him. He had duties there, which meant that, eventually, he would have to return. Which meant that Markus would go with him.

I'd miss him. A shit tonne. The arrival of Noah brought those days ever closer-- the days where I'd once again be alone. The days when Lyn returned to her coven, Chloe went home to her father and Markus left his pack. The days where my friends were all getting on with their lives, and I was frozen. Lost.

My gaze hardened, the church on the horizon bearing the full force of a new type of frustration. Anger at myself. There was no point worrying about that just yet, and with everything else going on, I couldn't afford to waste any energy or time thinking about things I had no control over. Plus, it was incredibly selfish to want to keep them all frozen in time just for my own sake. They all had their own lives. Get it together, get in the right frame of mind, and remove the threats, or none of us would be around to go anywhere. Besides, I was destined to be stuck with that annoying werewolf for all eternity, anyway. That's how immortality works.

I tailed a woman, who looked to be in her early thirties and immaculately dressed. For a job interview, maybe. Daniel was forced to quit his latest job in favour of devoting more of his time to the hunters and Damien, so hopefully this woman had more luck with the whole job thing.

Judging from her jaunty walk and the grin on her face when she looked both ways to cross the street, whatever she'd done today had gone well. Good for her.

And I was about to drink her blood, and ruin her day. Temporarily.

"Excuse me?" I called out, jogging to catch up to her and putting on my best lost-student look.

She turned to face me and smiled politely, her eyes still brimming with excitement. "Yes?"

"I'm so sorry to bother you, but do you know how I can get to the library from here?"

Her face lit up. "Oh, not at all. You'll want to head up that way and take a right at the--" Her expression faded into a blank mask.

"Show me," I requested politely, gesturing for her to carry on walking.