The Winter's Howl

Chapter 5

I was in my room catching up with some TV shows when I heard Mom scream. I ignored her screams and yelling , used to her and dad fighting all the time that is why I moved in with my best friend Heather. I seriously love that girl so much. The tranquil silence was interrupted by

BANG BANG CRASH .

I got up and rushed downstairs to see what happened. I stopped in front of the  black and white couch which was in the living room to see my parents who were in the middle, still arguing over something stupid. I removed my gaze from them and scanned the room: the coffee table was broken and the glass pieces were everywhere on the floor; the books were also scattered on the floor and the 36" LED television set was broken, as was the  vase. Basically, the whole living room was a mess. I looked at them and they were still oblivious to my presence. Soon their voices got louder and louder.

"STOP! FOR THE LOVE OF GOD STOP!" I screamed as loud as I could. They both stopped and looked at me, Mom's grey eyes widening in shock  and Dad's face expressionless .

"Please stop," I said, my voice cracking. For my entire life, I had been  seeing my parents fight and let me tell you it's not easy. You have sleepless nights and  those nights when the whole neighborhood  could hear your parents scream.

I looked at them and shook my head. I grabbed my jacket and my car keys, slamming the door behind me.

I decided to drive around for a bit in order to let off steam. Getting into my black Chevrolet Impala, I revved the engine to life and set out towards the highway.

As I reached the outskirts of Woodpine, it started pouring very hard, making the sky dark with clouds. For a minute I kept my hands on the steering and realized- not for the first time- that my life was messed up. I turned on the radio and a sad song played. Great! The perfect time to play a song like this. Recalling what had happened would not make me feel any better so I switched off the  radio and started driving away from my problems. Maybe I would reach some place without problems. Ah, Utopia. . . .

I had been driving for an hour now and I didn't know where to go. It was pretty dark on the roads and  it was still pouring  very hard outside.

The only thing I remember before my blackout is seeing a the silhouette of something huge into which my car crashed. Might've been a tree. Might've been an animal. Might've been a freaking unicorn. I wanted to see a unicorn. . . .

Being the Beta of the second largest pack in the American continent has its responsibilities, so most of my life was spent in seriousness. Especially the past four years, after our Luna- Aiden's mother- passed away, I lost my partner in crime to responsibilities and life became dull as ditchwater. Still, I managed to find some ways to stop my life from becoming absolutely and unbelievably boring. My most favourite way: annoy the crap out of Aiden's 19-year-old sister, Lucinda, my current task.

She wanted to go for a run, but her overprotective brother was uncomfortable with the idea of letting her go alone (you know, the unpredictable species of homo sapiens could strike any time), so I decided to go with her. Luce's sadness was written on her face when Aiden agreed.

We were hacking our way through the tangle of dry branches in the woods with me reciting all of the lamest jokes I 'd ever heard when this amazing smell hit me. It smelled like apples and strawberries. It was definitely weird that I could smell fresh fruits in the middle of winter so my senses perked up, contemplating that something was wrong. I suppose Luce noticed my actions because she stopped too.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

I was surprised. It smells of freaking strawberries and this werewolf cannot smell it. Is her nose like numb? "Can't you smell it?"

"Smell what?" Are you sure you're a werewolf, girl?!

"That sme-" I was cut off when another smell hit me. A familiar one. Blood.

Something was definitely wrong. I raced off in the direction of the odor with Luce running behind me, our feet splashing in the puddles the recent rain had made. We skidded to a stop at the edge of the woods. I finally located the source of both fragrances: a Chevrolet Impala crashed into the tree at a horrible angle.

"Oh my God," Luce whispered. "Let's check inside, in case there's someone." I nod agreeing with her.

She went to the car and tried opening the door but in vain. Don't ask me why but that irritated me. My wolf was going mental as well. I punched the window and it shattered, a few pieces embedding themselves in my knuckles. I roughly pulled them out to let the cuts heal themselves before turning my gaze up to see who was inside the car.

It was a girl with wavy blonde hair that flowed down her leather-clad shoulders. Her head was on the steering wheel. There was a line of blood trickling down her forehead.

I think Luce said something. I couldn't hear her. All I could hear was my wolf howling in joy while I tried to make sense of the situation.

And then, there was one word on my mind.

"Mate."