Scarlett's Moon

Scarlett's Howl: Excerpt

Chapter 1:

Maybe this isn't such a good idea. I thought as Ricky and Ava worked around me in chaos. Well, I guess I should say that Ricky was chaotic. Ava was trying to do as much moving as she could, but with her ever growing baby bump, there wasn't many quick movements that she could do.

I watched as Ricky dropped the tube of lipstick that she had picked out for me to wear today and watched it roll under the armoire. I didn't have the voice to tell her where it went, instead I sighed. Yeah, probably isn't your brightest idea, Scar. What could I possibly be talking about? My wedding day. It had finally arrived and here I was dressed in a fancy gown with fancy hair, with hectic girls running their hands all over me to make sure I looked as perfect as possible. I was supposed to be excited. Glowing and radiant with joy. And while I was sure I was glowing and radiant, I was also sure that I wasn't full of joy. I was more nervous and scared and hesitant than anything. I had a really bad feeling about all of this. Was this cold feet? Perhaps, but it was more than just that. It was cold everything. Something was off. Something wasn't right.

Perhaps it was because I invited Ricky, Dylan, and Liam. The only three humans in this place that didn't even know they were the only three humans. Or worse, didn't know that they were surrounded by a bunch of living breathing werewolves. But what choice did I have? How could I not invite my friends to my wedding? While I had Chandler, Ava, and her husband, Eryk, Ricky and the others were family. More family than the one I was getting ready to step into now regardless of the fact that they saved me from that crazed Argentum guy.

Speaking of which, maybe that was why none of this felt right. We just defeated Argentum and his clan not too long ago. We lost a few wolves slowly during the first few days, and many that we didn't lose got severely hurt. Hell, Chandler was even recovering from the beating he had taken and wasn't all there yet. His healing had been slower than usual and didn't let anyone know how much pain he was in until days after the fight. We still had no clue why his healing was taking longer than usual. It made no sense and nobody had any answers.

I sighed again quietly. Barely letting out any air so that Ava and Rick wouldn't question me. I bit on my lip however, while Ricky was still looking for the tube of lipstick. Ava shook her head and rolled her eyes reminding Ricky of all the colors that she brought with her in her vanity that looked the same as the one she had chosen for me to wear on this day. Ricky huffed as she found her way onto her knees to look under the table and hysterically yelled to say that the color I needed to wear absolutely had to be this specific color.

I bet Clarke would have had all the answers that could have explained why Chandler was healing so slowly.

Clarke.

Yet, another reason why we shouldn't have been doing this. While he did betray me, and wasn't Chandler's favorite person in the world, Clarke was my friend. And I watched him die. It just felt too soon. Way too soon to be rejoicing with such a happy event when I felt like I, along with many others, were still in mourning. I was having such wishy washy emotions and my nights were becoming without sleep because of all that was on my mind. Clarke helped me realize so much about myself that I would not have been able to learn on my own. More than just being a werewolf. So much more. And I owed it to him for now knowing so much about my family history and striving to learn more about it within the last few days. No one else here could have helped me with that. And he wasn't even a part of this pack! He was a Rogue.

The Rogues. This list just keeps growing. They were still an issue and probably always will be one. But ever since Clarke died, I've had this gut feeling that we were not finished with them. And that they were certainly not finished with us. And why would they be? They lost one of their own with us on the premises of where he died, and they were a problem before then!

"Found it!" Rick yelled as she stood back up from looking underneath the armoire. She dusted off her dress even though nothing was visibly there. Luckily, I had chosen a darker color for my bridesmaids to wear. A deep plum color. Both of their dresses were different, but they were equally beautiful nonetheless. Ricky wore a form fitted, knee length satin dress with spaghetti straps. It was such a basic dress, but it was Ricky who had done it justice. Which is usually how it went. Her looks could make garbage bags looks stellar. She wore a simple black pump with her dress and her long blonde hair was in large bouncy waves with pearl-like beads running all throughout the strands. Ava on the other hand was in a plum colored empire waist dress to help complement her body while still flattering her baby bump. Her straps were thicker—she insisted on the thicker straps because she felt like her boobs were getting heavier by the day and needed the extra support—and the empire waist was bejeweled by tiny little rhinestones. Her dark red hair was in a simple slick back braided bun and she had the same little pearl beads pinned into her hair. While she was just the same age as I was, she looked very mature for her years. Perhaps, because she was already married and getting ready to have a baby.

"You both look stunning," I managed to say without realizing it. They both stopped what they were doing to look at me. Concerned just a bit. Perhaps because I haven't done much talking since we started to get ready.

Ava was the first to walk over. "Thank you, Scarlett." She grabbed my hands. "But you are the true stunner today. You look simply magnificent."

"Damn right she does," Ricky said as she strutted over and begin to dab my lips with the lip color she was so determined to find. It was a pretty color that matched their dresses. Ricky believed that I had to do a bold lip color while the rest of my face looked so eerily natural. I say eerily because while I know she stuck with a natural color palette, I knew that I would look too pristine to actual look like a normal human being. She added just a little bit more product on to my lips and I had the weird sense of déjà vu. I quickly recalled when she did my makeup for my 21st birthday—the day I met Chandler. She closed the tube and took a step back and smiled so hard that it touched her eyes and she squealed. "Alright! You are officially done! You can finally look at yourself! Oh wait!" She hurried over to the armoire, where her purse was sitting and fished something out of it. I couldn't see what it was until she came back and presented it to me with an even larger grin. It was my mother's hair clip. Encrusted with beautiful sapphires that managed to sparkle whether light was touching it or not.

"I had forgotten all about that," I whispered.

"Yeah, well, me too. I forgot you had let me borrow it and it's been sitting in my jewelry box ever since I wore it to that gala. So here's me returning it," she said as she lightly placed it into my hair. "Now, you finally look at yourself." 

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Hey guys! As you can see, this is the excerpt to Scarlett's Howl! It's been a while, but I have a lot in store for you guys! If you wish to check out the rest of this chapter, you're in luck! It's uploaded under it's actual book and will be there for you to read when you get done over here! Go check it out! You know you want to! ^_^

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~Sugar-N-Spice