What Has Befallen Dakota

Five

"You really shouldn't have walked out like that," my mother scolded.

"Sorry," I said. I wasn't feeling up to arguing or explaining the situation to her. That was odd; I was a natural fighter, always defensive. I never let anyone - not even my mother - tell me that I was in the wrong.

I slung a band sweatshirt onto a clothing hanger and placed it aside to be put in the closet.

"Your father and I were in the middle of a conversation with you-"

Who was she going to have to chastise when I moved out? The wall?

"-and I understand that you were probably bored out of your mind, but at least let us respond."

"You could have mindlinked me," I rebutted halfheartedly, sliding another shirt onto a hanger.

"It wouldn't have made any difference," she said.

"Then why would you need to respond to me in the first place?"

Mom muttered something colorful about my attitude under her breath. She must have forgotten that I can easily hear her, being a werewolf with basically 'superhuman' hearing. "Whatever. We're going out to buy your things tomorrow, so be sure to get a shower. You smell like lavender," she tells me, wrinkling her nose. Lavender and my mother were like sodium and water; they didn't mix at all.

(Note: it took me a moment to realize she could only smell Dakota's artifical scent [she used lavender bath salts], not her natural cinnamony one.)

She walked out of my room, sighing, leaving me to hang laundry in peace.

🐾

I was up late that night. Dakota mindlinked me around midnight, saying she couldn't sleep well and just wanted to chat until she got tired. I obliged, but I found it odd that Dakota, of all people, would be up late. She loved sleep and was in bed by 8:30 every night and probably had to drink a gallon of coffee to wake herself up. A sleepless night for Dakota was like a male calico cat.

She went to sleep after about two hours, leaving me in silence with the darkness. My phone was turned off. The link I shared with Dakota was buzzing gently, like a boat on the calm seas. Her presence was the only one I could sense; she was a resting wildcat, a dangerous force that just happened to be asleep.

I'd been told my entire life how strong the pull of the mate bond could be, even before marking or mating, but I always saw it as something...alien, perhaps. I never believed it would, or could, effect me. Yet it was powerful. I couldn't escape it. I could only let it drag me deeper and deeper, like I was a mouse caught in the riptide. That's what I felt like; a small thing caught in a force so big and mighty that I couldn't even dream of escaping it.

I found it funny how something as simple as age could change the way we thought of each other.

At age six, we were sworn enemies, full of scowls and hate.

At age nine, we found that we had many things in common. She forgave me for stealing that item of hers, and I forgave her for being a - for lack of a better word - jerk.

At age eleven, we were the closest friends in the pack. We did everything together; ran in the forest, picked fights with uninterested sixteen-year-olds, went to parks and outtings and pack meetings with our parents - everything we could do.

Now, at age fourteen and fifteen, we were head-over-heels, perfectly matched. That object I had stolen from her in that game of finders, keepers when I was a youngster - an old, faded locket - was in my possesion. She gave it to me right after we worked everything out, seeing as we were, well, mates, and had to have some sort of connection. God, it was a little embarrasing to see that old piece of jewelry after realized my stupidity, but hey - I loved it.

I felt a little silly, wearing a locket, but I kept it on all the same.

🐾

A/N -

Sorry this took so long to upload.

Thank you for reading, and be sure to leave a comment - anything I can improve on or change, I'll be sure to do.

Ciao!

-Mercy