Finding the Wolf Within

Chapter 14

Another day, another chapter...

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My life fell into a pattern over the next two weeks. School and tutoring continued on as normal, with two major exceptions – Eddie and I were friendlier while Amber and her minions were more hostile.

The first was really nice. We weren’t affectionate in public or anything, but we now smiled whenever we saw each other and talked during gym and sometimes lunch. Our classmates eventually got used to it, although I did get a lot of stares during the first week.

The second was annoying since I had to constantly be aware of my surroundings. After the confrontation at the football game, Amber amped up her physical “threats” against me. All really juvenile stuff – the kind of pranks that immature kids pull – which I guess suited her perfectly. I was getting tired of it though. Eddie and my friends were being protective of me, perhaps even a bit too much, and I’m pretty sure Eddie got some of his friends to help.

I didn’t realize it for the first couple of days, but I soon became aware that I was never alone anywhere on school grounds. I now even had escorts to and from homeroom, which is the only class I have by myself. Both Ryan and Jack, two of Eddie’s friends, walked with me. Initially, they just happened to be going in the same direction as me every morning, but after a couple of days, they began walking on either side of me and starting conversations. They were entertaining and quite nice, now that they were no longer making crude jokes and hitting on me.

Of course, I didn’t ask for any explanation, and Eddie certainly didn’t say anything outright to me. I did think though that he was overreacting a bit. It wasn’t like Amber could really do anything to me, especially during school. But I guess it was Eddie’s way of watching over his mate. And I couldn’t fault him for that, no matter how claustrophobic I might get now that I didn’t have a single moment to myself.

I fell into a pattern with my free time too. I went for a run in the woods every day before dinner. Sometimes Matt and Lindy would join me, sometimes Eddie would. Even if I were by myself however, I would practice honing my ability on Fria and Maple or the other animals that I befriended. It was better if I had were company though since I was learning how to control my extra hearing. It had been frustrating the first couple of days because I couldn’t always grasp my friends’ thoughts, especially if I was in human form. But now I could understand them clearly in both human and wolf forms and I no longer had to concentrate for as long in order for my extra hearing to actually kick in.

Runs with Eddie were the best though. He devised games to strengthen my ability – he would make me have entire conversations with him just in our heads or he would hide somewhere deep in the woods and I would have to find him using only my hearing. Of course, we also spent a lot of time just playing. We were both more carefree in our wolf forms – which meant lots of nuzzling, licking and all around touching.

It was always hard to part from him after our romps in the woods. Even though we talked every night on the phone before going to sleep, it still didn’t feel like enough. It wasn’t just the mating bond either. I had already liked him, albeit grudgingly, before my birthday, and now that attachment was stronger. He was a trustworthy person through and through, not because he was my mate but because that’s who he was naturally. I was glad that I had begun to recognize his good qualities before I turned wolf because now I knew that my feelings for him were true and honest.

All in all, my life was pretty good. I was still plagued by doubts and insecurities, but I’ve also come to just accept them as parts of my personality. However, the feeling of being watched hadn’t gone away, even though it was now close to three months since the sensations first began. I wasn’t spooked out in a scary way, since it didn’t feel evil, but it was disconcerting nevertheless. If I believed in fairy godmothers or guardian angels, I would be tempted to attribute the sensations to them. But since I didn’t, I was just stuck with a tingling awareness on my arms and neck once or twice a day.