Wolf Girl (Excerpt)

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

The sun shined brightly in the clear morning sky as Quan and I made our way through a field of grass. We were on our way to his home, which also sat in the middle of the woods. Despite the many birds chirping and the squirrels scampering up and down the trees, there was a sense of solitude between us. He asked me questions about what my life had been like over the years, what I did in my spare time.

Quan seemed fascinated by every little detail, but after a while I shifted the conversation to him, because I longed to know how werewolves lived. I found his life both interesting and strange as it was completely different from my own. Quan told me about school, which sounded familiar. He also told me that humans often held jobs to make money they needed to live and eat, which sounded strange to me. Why not just hunt? As far as I was concerned, everything we needed was provided by the earth. It all sounded so odd, yet fascinating at the same, and I found myself imagining what my life might have been like had my mom never gone missing.

Eventually we reached Quan's home, which was a little cottage made of wood and stone, nestled in between a multitude of trees.

"Well, this is it," he said as he removed a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked the door. Behind it was a small kitchen equipped with a fridge and stove. Despite the room's tiny size, they had still managed to fit a small table against the wall.

"Nice," I said, and Quan turned to give me a smile.

A young woman walked into the room. She was tall and appeared to be around twenty. Like Quan, she was also African American, only she had more of an olive brown complexion as opposed to Quan's medium brown. She wore her straight dusty brown hair in a ponytail that fell to the middle of her back.

"Oh, hey. I thought I heard someone. I'm Delilah, but you can just call me Lilah," she said with a smile as she held out her hand. I didn't understand the gesture.

"I'm Rachel," I said. She withdrew her hand, giving Quan a look.

"Sorry, she's not being rude," he said. Lilah looked at me, and then back to Quan. "Rachel's a werewolf, but she hasn't lived like us," he added.

"What do you mean?" she asked, and Quan turned to me.

"Is it okay if I tell her?"

"Sure," I said.

"Tell me what?" Lilah asked through narrowed eyes, and Quan told her my story. Her eyes widened as she listened, and she glanced at me several times as Quan talked. Then came the questions, and I answered each and every one of them as best I could. I had to admit, it was nice being around people who I didn't have to keep secrets from.

"So are you two mates?" I asked when Lilah had finished asking me about my life, and I felt a small pang of jealousy go through me. They both laughed, though I didn't understand why.

"Eww," Lilah said.

"What?" I asked.

"Lilah is my older sister," Quan said.

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said. "I assumed since you two were living together ..."

"I'm only living here until I finish college, then I figure I'll get my own place."

"Oh," I said. "So your parents live here too?"

"Yeah," Quan said. "And speaking of ..." The three of us turned around as a man and a woman walked through the door. They were both laughing, but they stopped when they saw me. Then they both gave me a chorus of hellos.