LONE WOLF (On Hold)

Chapter 12 - This is not going well.

Chapter 12 – This is not going well.

Beck's POV

The last few leaves crinkle underfoot as I make my way out of the woods and back onto the concrete smoothness of the road. It's late Tuesday morning and I need to get back to the pub because, as Alex informed me yesterday, Jenny is officially coming back from her holiday today. Apparently she wants to sit down with me and have some kind of chat later but, as we're not too sure of what time she'll be arriving, I have no idea when 'later' is exactly.

It doesn't take too long to get to the main town centre and when I do, I find myself glancing over at Pete's shop as I pass it, thinking back to Saturday's journey back from my run. I don't know why I went over to wait for Alex when I saw her walk inside, my feet just started moving and before I realised what I was doing I was stood outside the shop. Maybe it was because she'd just looked so fed up and exhausted and I wanted to give her a chance to take a break. Anyone can see how much she does to help out her family, between that and work she barely ever gets time to herself, which can't be all that fun.

My lips form into a small smirk as I remember how freaked out she was when we snuck into the Cinema. I could tell that she enjoyed every single second of it... the exhilaration at the possibility of being caught makes the whole cinema experience much more fun than if you were to simply walk in and buy a ticket.

I'm not really one for movies, definitely being more of a book person myself. I mean, the idea of sitting down for an hour and a half to watch some people acting in front of a camera has never really made much sense to me. I do, however, enjoy watching other people watch movies. Am I weird? Probably. I don't care, though. Alex's reactions on Saturday were pure gold.

I was glad I'd spotted her outside Pete's; it made my day a lot more interesting. Although, to be fair, my morning before that hadn't exactly been boring. I've gotten into the routine of getting up at the crack of dawn so I can go on a run and let my wolf loose for a few hours. Usually it's pretty normal: dirt, trees, birds, rabbits, the occasional deer... that kind of thing. Saturday had been a little different, though, when I'd run across the scent of another werewolf. It was very faint, a barely there smell, but there it was. I thought I recognised it slightly but I wasn't completely sure, though I've met a lot of wolves throughout my life so it wouldn't be impossible. I followed it for a while, out past the perimeter of the town and down into a thicker set of woods before it eventually faded to nothing. My guess is that it's just another lone wolf on their way to find a place to settle, probably clearing off when they realised there was one already staying nearby. I've come across a few others of my kind before, most of them just wanting to stay out of trouble. Whether ex-rogue, banished from their Pack or something else, we all have our solitude in common, and so we usually just keep out of one another's way. Regardless, it was a nice change from the usual circuit I run.

When I get back up to the apartment I head straight for the bathroom, stripping off my clothes and throwing them into the corner to be washed later. I climb into the shower and switch the water on, it runs cold for a few seconds before warming up to the right temperature. I'm not going to lie, it's nice to have such easy access to a shower.

Growing up outside, I quickly became accustomed to washing in whatever water I could find. It was the same at the rogue camps, as well. Those of us who preferred to be clean, as opposed to smelling like sweat and blood all the time, would seek out nearby ponds or lakes whenever we got the chance. A shudder runs through my entire body as I think back on it now. It was horrendous. Not the water itself although, I'm not going to lie, it wasn't always the cleanest, but the fact that whenever you were washing you had to constantly be on watch for anyone trying to rip your throat out. It wasn't a rare occurrence, let me tell you. It almost happened to me once, some bitch thinking she could sink her teeth into me while my back was turned. She was a newbie and made the mistake of thinking she could prove herself to the others... she didn't get that chance again; I snapped her neck before she got so much as a scratch on me.