My Own Destiny

Alone

As I began to wake, I stretched and could tell right away I was not in my comfy bed. I

stretched my arms above my head and squinted my eyes at the bright light coming in from the window.

Instantly, I noticed the glaring white walls with the sun shining brightly through the large windows.

It took me a moment to get my bearings, but it all quickly came back to me.

I was lying on a grey couch in a stranger's condo.

Well, not a complete stranger, we had a late dinner together last night and hit it off rather well.

‘Stranger?’ Mia chimed in my head, ‘The two of you seemed pretty chummy last night.’

‘What are you talking about? We just hung out and talked over dinner.’ I said in defense.

I could see Mia in my head, giving me that look, like, ah ha, sure.

‘You were awake, you know nothing happened.’ I said dismissing her, making her growl at me.

‘Yeah, maybe not physically, but he likes you, like really, really likes you.’

I rolled my eyes at her as I sat up and took in my surroundings.

I must have fallen asleep on the couch when he went to get me stuff for a shower and clean sheets for his spare room.

There was a piece of paper tented on the coffee table in front of the couch. It had my name on it so I picked it up.

Aurora – I had to go to work today but will try to stop home for lunch. Please help yourself to anything you need. There are towels and everything you need for a shower in the bathroom.

Seth

He also left his phone number.

I frowned at the paper; I was all alone in a stranger’s home. I sighed as I heard Mia in my head. Yes, never truly alone, we always had our wolves to keep us company or irritate us.

‘Hey, I heard that!’

‘Sorry Mia, no offense, but sometimes it would be nice to have a thought without you disagreeing or coming up with some sort of smart mouth response.’

Mia laid down and rested her chin on the imaginary floor in my mind as she pouted.

‘I can’t help that I have a lot of personality.’ She mumbled, making me almost feel bad.

‘What do you say we shower?’ I asked, getting her to perk up.

‘Yes, a long hot shower.’ She rolled on her back, letting her tongue hang out.

I gathered fresh clothing; I only had a hand full of outfits that I fit into my large backpack type bag I used for my travels.

I chose a pair of black leggings and an oversized comfy t-shirt, something I would rarely wear at home. We always dressed nicely as the females of the Alpha’s family.

I wore leggings and a t-shirt or tank top to work out, but that was all. This t-shirt I would never have worn to spare with Lucian, it was too loose fitting.

I wandered in the condo for a little bit. The main living area was open, showing the small kitchen that had a breakfast bar that divided the two spaces with two stools.

I ventured towards the hallway and saw three doors and another that was obviously a closet.

The first door looked to be the bathroom. I ventured further down the hallway. The next door, which was almost across from the bathroom but just down a bit, was a bedroom.

I peeked inside at first. It did not have a personal feel, so I figured it was the guest room. I walked inside, there was a decent sized bed. It was made but with the blankets turned down, as if he was expecting me to sleep there last night.

At least until I conked out on the couch.

I was so tired from my long day of travelling. I faintly remember not being able to keep my eyes open as I sat on the couch last night.

The room was white like the rest of the place but with a baby blue comforter on the bed. I let my hand drag across the soft material as I walked further into the room.

It was a smaller room than I was used to at home. The room was very clean but looked unused.

Leaving the small bedroom, I was about to enter the bathroom when my eyes were again drawn to the door at the end of the hallway.

I was sure that was Seth’s bedroom. I hesitated but my curiosity got the better of me.

Glancing around, I felt silly, I knew I was alone in the condo. I would have been able to hear if another being was with me.

Maybe it was more out of guilt for invading his privacy that made me hesitate, but my curiosity won in the tug of war.

The door was already partially open, but I gave it a gentle push to open it further, letting out a small creaking sound.

His scent was stronger here. The whole condo smelled like him, but his scent in his bedroom was stronger.

Even humans have different scents to them. Yes, they have the scents of shampoos, deodorant, soaps, perfumes but they also had a natural scent. Humans just were not as in tune with each other scents as werewolves are.

Our sense of smell was a million times better than a human's.

Seth had an earthy scent, it reminded me of autumn leaves. His room was different.

It was certainly larger than the other bedroom. It had a large bed with a deep blue thick comforter, with matching pillows.

The walls were a light grey, unlike the rest of the walls of the condo that remained off white.

In the far corner he had a couple of guitars standing straight up on stands.

There was a deep red one and a black one with thicker strings, maybe a bass guitar.

His room was tidy, he had a pair of jeans and a top from the previous night on a small chair that was in the other corner of the room. Other than that, his room was clean.

I worked my way further into his room. There was a picture on his tall dresser. I made my way over and picked it up.

It was a picture of Seth and a female with long deep brown waves and pale brown eyes. They stood side by side with big smiles and Seth’s arm draped over the female's shoulder.

I could not help the small pang of jealousy that ate at my chest.

‘He is human, we cannot think like that.’ Mia reminded me.

‘I know, but I cannot help it.’

Last night, I instantly grew to like Seth. He was unlike the males I knew from my pack.

He was sweet and kind to others. Lucian was always a sweetheart but that was because he liked me. If he didn’t have a crush on me would he be so sweet?

He was always nice to Natalia, but it wasn’t the same.

Seth was different and it was not like he was the only human male I had ever had contact with. When we would go into town, Natalia and I often had local males come over and talk with us…Seth was just different.

I placed the picture frame back where I had found it and moved on deeper into the room. There was a shelf above his guitars with a few more pictures.

Another of him and the same female but they looked younger, teenagers maybe. Then there was also another picture frame that had Seth and the female along with two other males on either side of them. Seeing them all together, I would guess they were siblings.

It made me look at the other photo again….did Seth say he had a sister?

‘He did, silly. Getting jealous of his sister.’ Mia snickered at me.

‘Thought you were against my getting jealous at all?’ I teased her.

She gave me that look like I had hit a nerve.

Yeah, Mia kept reminding me Seth was human, but I think that was partially to remind herself as well. As we sat talking with him last night, she grew to like him almost as much as I did.

‘Aurora, you have to stop thinking like that, he is human. We cannot be with him.’ Mia pulled me from my thoughts.

As much as Mia loved teasing me and had a rebellious side, she was a wolf through and through.

She believed in finding our mate and living the life a werewolf was supposed to live.

‘Would living among humans be so horrible?’ I could not help but ask.

‘Yes!’ Mia paused; I could see her thinking. ‘I could see us growing comfortable here with someone like Seth, but I need to be able to run, and we would always be looking over our shoulders, never mind putting Seth and his family in danger.’

Mia gave me a sad look, ‘You know we eventually have to go back and face everyone.’

‘I know, once I turn twenty-one.’

Mia brightened at the mention of my coming of age, ‘Yes and we will find our fated mate!’ She howled excitedly.

This made me frown, ‘Hopefully we will find our mate.’

‘We will, have faith in the Moon Goddess.’ Mia added, then laid down in my mind, crossing her front paws, laying her head on top and closing her eyes.

Guess she was done talking with me.

I left Seth’s room, closed the door to about where it was before I had entered and made my way to the bathroom.

The bathroom was also clean. I wondered if Seth cleaned everything himself or if he had someone come in. The bathroom was grey, darker than his room but still on the light side.

The towels all matched, they were a mix of dark and light grey. The fixtures were all a shiny silver.

There was a small plush matt outside the shower that felt nice on my still slightly sore feet. I had done a great deal of walking yesterday and last night, so even with my healing speed my feet had a slight ache.

I started to undress and noticed my shoes had been removed. I could not remember if I removed them myself or not. I was so tired last night when we got here.

As I began to remove my clothing, I decided to lock the bathroom door. I knew I was still alone in the condo and pretty much trusted Seth, but I decided better to be safe.

I opened the shower door, and it was huge.

Grey and white marbled looking tile. It could easily fit three or four people. There was a large shower head and a small bench at both ends of the shower area.

I turned the water on and let it run to heat up. I finished undressing and entered the shower.

As soon as the hot water hit, my muscles began to relax. I stayed standing under the hot spray of water for a long time, just enjoying the water pounding down on me.

There was a bottle of shampoo, conditioner and even body wash which made me wonder if Seth had a girlfriend after all.

‘I am sure she would not be pleased at us staying here.’ Mia chimed in my head.

‘No. But as you said, we cannot think of Seth in that way. He is human and as tempting as it may be to stay with him while in hiding, I cannot put him in danger. Besides, I slept on the couch and was going to sleep in the guest room, not in his bed.’

Mia rolled her eyes. ‘Girlfriends would still be jealous, just by our sleeping under the same roof.’

I just shrugged her words off as I shampooed my hair with the yummy smelling shampoo.

Whoever they were had good taste in bathing products.

I stayed in the shower until the water began to lose its warmth, then reluctantly turned it off. I had no idea of the time but figured I had best get dried off and dressed in case Seth did make it home for lunch.