“What is a date?” Ally inquired.
“Not sure,” I muttered, a frown filling my lips.
I nibbled nervously on my bottom lip as Wendy sat across from me. I’m not sure why but I have a feeling this dating thing is highly important.
“A date is just time you spend with someone you’re romantically involved with. Have you and Devon kissed?” she explained, throwing a question at the end.
“Yeah,” I answered.
“Have you two, never mine,” she decided.
My lips frowned again and my eyebrows furrowed at the unanswered question,
“Doesn’t matter sweetie, we need to get you ready, it’s time for shopping!”
Oh no!
By the time we had left the store, I was exhausted. All I wanted was my bed, I swear it was calling my name; it’s like a quiet whisper in the breeze.
“Come on Ella, keep up, we’re running out time,” Wendy called in an order.
“Ella don’t you just love your dress,” Ally gushed, jumping up and down in excitement.
In all honesty, I was glad we went with the first dress. The second dress was too tight and it would be like spring all over again with the constant itching. The first dress was beautiful; it reminded me off an event I witnessed on my first arrival in the city.
Lights blared in the night sky and streamers and balloons swayed in the breeze. Stretched cars approached the buildings and I had a strange urge to chase them. I refrained as people climbed out, realising they were probably safe. Girls in long dresses clung to men in black. But my eyes laid on this one dress and I promise that I stopped breathing at that moment. The top half was tight and a ribbon marked the waist. From the waist down, the material was loose and ruffled into layers. It reminded me of home in many ways. The layers showed the many branches, covering each other, laying one over the other. And the colour was aqua blue, the colour of my favourite fresh water stream. I became excited by the prospect of home but the doors to the building shut, engulfing me in darkness. Once again, I was alone.
The memory played clearly in my mind and a faint smile tugged at the corners of my lips. Once we arrived back, Wendy shoved me in the shower before saying she needed a stern word with Devon. I shook the towel before wrapping it around myself like Wendy had shown me. The room was steamy from the shower and it was scented with Jasmin and jojoba oil. It still smelled chemically enhanced but almost all human things do to me.
I wringed my wet hair into the bath before going next-door to my shared room. Ally sat perched on the stool as a wolf and I stared into her yellow eyes, she seemed to be searching for something unknown to me. I ruffed the fur on her head and pulled her pointed ears playfully. Her head suddenly turned to me and she slowly bared her pointed teeth at me.
“Ally?”
Suddenly, she took a deep intake of breath then lowered her ears. I frowned as she shifted back to her human shape.
“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I just…” she trailed off and shook her head.
“Ally, I can smell your agitation, there’s something bothering you, so what is it?
“I-“she looked outside again then turned to me, an unreadable expression in her eyes, “I do like it here, I really do but I miss the pack.”
I knew what she meant; the pack that raised us.
“So do I but they would be happy that we found our own,” I sympathised despite my own thought returning.
“They don’t even know we’re alive Ella Mae or Howl 2 or whatever your name is now!”
A mask of shame suddenly overtook Ally’s face and bowed her head slightly, exposing her neck in submission.
“I need to see them, at least so they know we’re alive. I feel so guilty for being away for so long. I was never meant to return with you.”
“But we can’t just leave, especially after everything they’ve done for us.”
“I know but, we wouldn’t stay for long, maybe a few days. Wendy and Devon and Maisie could come with us?”
“I don’t know Ally.”
“Don’t forget that you’re a human who can shift into a wolf, I’m a wolf that can shift human.”
“I know Ally, I know.”
Ally sighed. I dropped my towel and took the dress that Wendy had bought for my date- which I still didn’t understand what it was. I knew a date was a series of letters and numbers because the teachers at the school told us to write them at the beginning of each lesson but somehow. I thought that it was different to that. I mean, how on earth could you go to some writing?
The dress fit like a glove and flowed out around my knees. The top part had an array of sparkles that reflected the light cast by the bare light-bulb. I finger-combed my thick wet hair and stared at myself in the mirror.
“Oh guess what!” Ally announced suddenly.
“What?” I asked confused.
“Megan’s asked us to her birthday sleepover!”
“What?!” I turned to face her.
“I know! It’s only me and you sleeping over but Devon is coming over to watch some films with us till ten!”
“When is it?”
“Friday night!”
“What is it today?”
“Thursday,” Ally smiled.
“How many moons?”
“One.”
“Damn.”
“What’s that mean?” Ally looked at me; her eyes searched my face for an explanation.
“I don’t know, it’s something Wendy said when she burnt herself the other day.”
“So it’s a curse.”
The human languages are so much more complex than wolf. They use sound more then body language to explain things and pass on messages. I shifted to wolf form and nudged Ally’s hand. She petted my head affectionately so I licked it. Ally giggled as it tickled her fingers.
“Want to go for a run?”
I yipped a yes as she shifted into her wolf form before leaping out the open window and escaping into the woods.
YOU ARE READING
Raised By Wolves
Werewolf"I was raised by wolves, not werewolves, proper wolves." A girl raised by pack of grey wolves in the forest of North America, stumbles into the human world naked and alone. Taken in by one of her own, she takes a journey that would change her w...
