WOLVES

CHAPTER TWO

From the earliest date I could recall, whether I was sleeping under the stars, tucked away in a secluded alleyway, or on a dusty mattress of a cheap motel, the fantasy I had of my mate whisking me away and saving me from all my trials and tribulations was my fantasy that kept me moving along.

Although I had lost so much I allowed myself to hope for that one thing, I had always been a sucker for love, allowing myself to indulge in movies and media and their portrayal of romance in it all. But I guess it only makes sense that the universe has eventually taken that away from me too.

I'm not even sure what all that perseverance was for anymore. All of the countless insults, persecution and beatings I've endured, for the most baffling of allocations; "All rouges are criminals, they're dangerous. You're dangerous." I thought their absurd abuse only made me stronger and their verbal thrashings only made me wiser and would eventually prepare me for something big; something great. I understand now that it all was preparing me for now, the rejection of my mate.

Although he hadn't physically rejected me yet, judging from my experiences with pack wolves, it was only a matter of time before I'd be forced out of their territories. In reality, what did I really have to offer? Everyone I had ever loved had either left or had been taken from me because of my incapability to keep or protect them.

"-Hey!"

I had been consumed in my own self-deprecation that I wasn't aware that I was no longer alone. Within that split second, I couldn't identify the voice I felt a surge of excitement within me, although that excitement was quickly replaced with fear when I realized I was being addressed by someone I was unfamiliar with. (when I realized the voice didn't belong to my mate)

I think Eddie could see how scared I was because he stepped away from his wife, no longer seeing me as a threat but rather a victim.

Hayley and Eddie were the owners of the sweet bakery on the outskirts of town. Alone in the woods, barefoot, covered in mud with matted hair and panda eyes, I can only imagine the sight they would have been shocked to see. But Haley made no delay, she moved towards me so quickly, looking me right in the eyes and telling me that she was going to help me. I tried brushing her off, wiping the dirt off of my hands onto my pants and pushing my hair out of my face. But telling her I was fine didn't suffice, she didn't believe me. But she listened, and simply suggested her own compromise.

"How about this then, we can either sit here all night, dirty, cold and hungry because I don't want to leave you out here all alone or if you'd like, you can walk back to town with us, let us get you cleaned up and get some food into you." She told me that she would leave me alone because that's clearly what I wanted if she could take care of me tonight. I pondered over her request, and my wolf and I didn't sense any danger in the situation and although I thought she made a strange request the loud rumble of my stomach answered for me.

So, I followed them back onto the trail, they didn't ask me why I was barefoot, they didn't ask why I was alone in the woods so far off the trail, but Haley then realized that they hadn't yet introduced themselves. She told me that they ran a humble bakery towards the opposite side of town from the high school, she shared how their location wasn't the best for business but because of the quality of her husband's loaves of bread and cakes people made the trip, she also shared how she was glad that they were comfortable enough in their sales that they didn't have to open up shop closer towards the town because she enjoyed the outdoors, they always took strolls together through the reserve at this time but she giggled trying to make light of the situation sharing how they had never seen any teenagers squatting underneath trees before. She then asked my name.

"My name is Evelyn, Evelyn Whitewood." She stopped for a second and looked me up and down, I assumed it was because I had the name of a Fifty-year-old librarian.

"Evelyn Whitewood." She repeated slowly. "I'm not sure that suits you."

****

Back at the bakery, I realized how I easily I had managed to lose track of time, I had no clue how long I had been perched under that tree: minutes, hours or days even.

I struggled to comprehend how kind Hayley and Eddie had been to me. We had been sitting in their little shop for hours, just before time rolled into the AMs Eddie excused himself, explaining how he needed at least a few hours of sleep so he wouldn't pass out in the flour the following morning. Although Haley stayed up with me, teaching me how to make her town renowned white-hot chocolate and filling the silence in her own way.

It was a little bit past three AM when I suggested that I should make my way back to my motel.

"You're staying in a motel?" She looked appalled, "No, no you're not, you can stay here."

"Why are you being so kind to me?"

It was a little bit past three AM when Hayley told me her story. She was fifteen when both her parents died, it was their twentieth wedding anniversary and her father gifted her mother with a trip back to France, back to her mother's hometown. She explained how it was a wrong time and place sort of situation, everyone, where they were staying, were killed, and the only four survivors remaining were the couple who executed her parents, their two-year-old daughter and the Nanny.

She shared the night she found out she found herself in a similar situation that I was in, alone, irrational and careless but she was lucky enough to have been taken in by her older brother's best friends family.

"I don't know your story, but I can tell you're a good egg. I just want to let you know that no matter what, tomorrow is always worth it. Everything will get better."

Hayley sat with me on one of the tables in the dining area of their café all night, filling the silence every now and then after, when the started to come up I began to open up more, sharing some of my own struggles, without giving away too much about my wolf identity.

"Do you have any family around here?" Hayley eventually asked. I did have a family I wanted to tell her, but I couldn't lie to the kindest woman I had ever known.

"No." I hesitantly responded.

"Well, now you do." She replied with a smile. "Anything you need Evie, what's ours is yours."