Run

I know what you are thinking, this is about to be some soap opera like love story about a weak little werewolf finding her mate. They fall quickly in love or he rejects her and the poor little weak werewolf gets a second chance mate. Was I close? Well I can say you are sort of right. My name is Aaya and this is the tale of how i found my mates, yes plural, sad right? No, I am not weak or wolf less, in fact I am a pretty decent fighter and my wolf is pretty strong. No this is the story of how I found out the most attractive, yet infuriatingly annoying boy of my pack is sadly my mate. Along with his equally infuriating nemesis. Yay me (insert eye roll). So let's get back on track here a bit so you can get the full, sappy and annoying story; Today is the day I, and all of my classmates, have been waiting for for twelve years; the last day of our senior year. A Lot of the humans at school are talking about how they are going to miss seeing everyone and how they hope to keep in touch during college. I roll my eyes and turn up the music blasting from my phone and into my headphones, trying to drown out their gushing at each other. Only humans cared to leave the sanctuary that is our small town, all of them hoping to make a name for themselves. The rest of us knew that leaving was pretty much signing our death warrants. The elders created a sanctuary for us here, away from the prying eyes of the rest of the world and the hunters. Everyone knows the supernatural exists, maybe not the same kind as in the fairy tales, but yeah we are completely real. Werewolves, demons, witches and warlocks, vampires, the stuff of nightmares, with of course, one huge difference; the only real difference between witches/warlocks and demons is demons are born damned. I mean literally, their souls come straight from Hades itself. They look and act just like the rest of us, they tend to be more pretentious, but I guess no one is perfect. Yes vampires can be in the sun, no they do not freaking sparkle. I swear that meyer woman must have been some pissed off ex-play thing of some vamp who dumped her sorry ass after getting their fill.  I opened my locker for the last time and groaned at the mess inside. Books and papers were shoved half haphazardly inside. I knew that somewhere in that mess was a bag of what used to be mini chocolate donuts from like the third week of the school year. Sighing I turned around and grabbed the nearest trash can, rolling it over so that I could start throwing s**t inside. With another overly dramatic sigh I pulled my phone out of my pocket and scrolled through my playlist. Randomly clicking on “lips of an angel” by hinder. The opening melody and lyrics blast into my ears, completely drowning out the other students around me. I shoved my phone back into my jeans pocket and began sorting through the disaster that is my locker.  I trashed all of the assignments I had “forgotten” to turn in from the year, stacking all of my personal books and textbooks on the floor at my feet. I smiled to myself as I found drawings and doodles from my bestfriend, jane. She loved to give me all of the art she deemed “awful”, knowing that I was gonna keep them and proudly display them on my bedroom walls. Jane could draw everything, from the most detailed, life-like portraits of people, to caricatures and chibis.  I couldn’t help but snort with laughter as I found the caricature Jane had drawn of Andy and jasper. The both of them had steam coming out of their ears and comical scowls on their faces. They stood in steaming piles of s**t, a donkey beside them with its tale in the air as if it was about to add to the pile.  Jane had drawn this one day when Andy and Jasper had gotten into a heated, testosterone filled fight in the middle of the lunch room. It has been six months andi still have no idea why they did.  Those idiots have always hated each other, and honestly it's pretty cliche. Jasper is the alpha’s son and will be taking the position next year. Andy’s dad runs the vampire coven in town. Yeah I know, can you get any more cliche than the head werewolf and head vamp hating each other?  I chuckled again and slipped the stack of papers into the front of my biology textbook, making a mental note to add them to my wall when I got home. I reached back in and kept going through the disaster that is my locker. Ok seriously i think it may be a biohazard to clean this thing out. I'm starting to smell rancid milk, causing me to gag and pull my sweatshirt up to cover my mouth and nose, hoping to block at least most of the smell. Finally finding the culprit near the bottom of the pile, it was the coffee thermos from my first day of school. Huh, I thought I had left this in my first period government class. The thing had been leaking and the coffee creamer had soured. I dropped the thing in a grocery bag I had found, tied it up tight and dropped it into the garbage can. Damn, I really like that thermos too.  I looked back in and, “oh s**t, there they are” at the bottom of the locker, covered in rancid coffee and creamer sat the infamous bag of mini chocolate donuts. I looked through the clear plastic window in the packaging, checking out the damage. Damn, they still looked edible. I pondered actually opening the bag and trying to eat one for like a second before I shrugged and tossed them in the trash. Ok, yeah, i know it sounds gross, but come on you cant tell me you wouldn’t have had the same thought cross your mind.  Looking around I found a  spray bottle full of cleaning solution and an almost empty roll of paper towels discarded on the floor across the hall. I walked over and grabbed them, then went back to scrub out the atrocity that is my locker. Why is it that i manage to do this every single f*****g year? I mean come on, how? I keep my room and car spotless all the time, yet every year my locker ends up looking like an episode of hoarders.  I was lost in my own little world when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I spun around, brandishing the spray bottle to face the culprit who had interrupted my mental rambling. Jane did not even flinch, just gave me an eye roll and look that said “really, a spray bottle”.  I took my headphones out and glared at my little demon bestfriend. “Lady, how many times do i have to tell you not to f*****g sneak up on me? I may be a werewolf but you sure as hell know i do not pay attention to anything”  “Are you done?” she asked, completely deadpan.  I narrowed my eyes at her “keep it up and im gonna force feed you year old donuts, turn you into a science experiment “  She scoffed “you and I both know that's not gonna happen, love. You would never do anything that would damage the merchandise” she waved her hand up and down gesturing at her perfect little petite body. “Besides you love me” she grinned. I rolled my eyes and turned back to my locker “whatever you say, crazy lady” I mumbled, earring me a sharp poke in the ribs. “Dude, is there a reason you are interrupting my mental scolding of myself?” “Scolding? Oh, s**t, did you really turn your locker into another hazardous waste dump?”  I shot her yet another glare over my shoulder “you know i did”  She laughed “why am i  not surprised? Anyways, I wanted to know if you planned on coming to the loft with me tonight for the graduation party?”  I had completely forgotten about the annual party held at the local club, the loft. It was supposed to be a teen friendly place, you know you get the club scene but no alcohol, but since most alcohol doesn't affect anyone here that didn't really work out well. They always had live shows with local bands and occasionally some semi famous ones too. Jane and I tended to go there at least once to twice a month to unwind, or for her to find her next hookup.  “Is this a courtesy request before you drag me off to the loft kicking and screaming?”  “Yep.” she grinned, popping the p. “Come on, babe, it is the last day of school, like forever for us, we have to celebrate. Not to mention you seriously need some d**k in your life, maybe then you wouldn't be so moody” Leave it up to Jane to be so annoyingly blunt about everything.  I finished scrubbing the last bit of coffee out of the bottom of the locker and threw the wad of paper towels away in the garbage can. I smiled, satisfied to finally be done, and closed my locker. I kicked the trash can so that it wheeled over to the middle of the hall. I looked down and mentally rolled my eyes, realizing I still had the damn spray bottle in my hand. I walked over and hung it on the edge of the can.  “Ok, fine, i will go willingly '' Jane clapped and started jumping up and down with glee. I stopped her by putting up a finger. “Wait,I have two conditions.” Jane rolled her eyes “I get to wear what I want, and you do not try to get me to hook up with anyone tonight. I just want to go and have fun, have a couple drinks and listen to music, got it”  The little demon looked at me, pouting to see if I would break on my stance. When she realized I was not going she huffed and put her hands on her hips, “fine, but you are not wearing that damn hoodie, got it?” she said, gesturing at the oversized black hoodie i was wearing. I just rolled my eyes. Jane hated my hoodie, but I loved it. It was like a comfort thing for me, like a shield to protect me from the rest of the world. The thing reached down to my mid thighs, the sleeves were way too long and way too wide. I had cut little holes near the end of the sleeves a long time ago for my thumbs, that way it always covered part of my hands. The thing was covered in ink stains and small paint splotches. Every chance I got I wore it, no matter the weather I always had my hoodie with me. Jane hated the thing because she said it hid my “rocking bod” from the rest of the world. I kept telling her that was pretty much the whole point, but demons really don't listen.  “Ok, fine, just this once I will leave it at home, but I get to drive and when I say it's time to leave, we leave '' Jane grinned and nodded. I huffed and looked down at the large stack of books on the floor. “Wanna help me take this s**t out to my car? I gotta get out of here something wreaks ``I added as the most amazing scent hit me, like pine trees and old paper. My wolf and my instincts were telling me to go and find the source of the scent but my brain was telling me to run the other way.  Jane groaned “I guess” We both grabbed half of the stack and started heading towards the student parking lot at the back of the school. My wolf was howling in my head and begging me to turn around and find the source of that delectable scent. Lacey, my wolf, never acted that way, she was just like me and preferred to avoid people as much as possible.  “Aaya, it’s him, it has to be! Oh please we have to go back and find him!” Lacey begged. “You do realize if that smell is what you think it is then we will have to deal with some annoying jackass around us constantly, right?” I snapped back at her. “Ok, but I can deal with our mate being around us all the time. Oh, please Aaya, I am dying to meet our mate!” my god was she dramatic sometimes.   Jane bumped my shoulder with her “hey, what’s wrong?” she asked, noticing that I was having a mental debate with my horny wolf.  I sigh and glance over at her. For a demon Jane was pretty short, standing at just 5’4. All supernatural beings tend to be on the tall and lean side. Jane had the lean part down but not the height. She had pixie-like features, a small nose, full lips and a narrow chin. She made up for the adorable and kiddush features with a rocking body, large full breasts, narrow waist, wide hips and strong legs. Honestly my best friend was hot, and I will freely admit that I had thought about tapping that ass many times.  “Lacey is going crazy in my head right now, she keeps swearing our mate is near by and wants me to go find him”  Jane snorts “does she know you at all?”  Lacey growled inside my head and i rolled my eyes “just like you demons us wolves are s*x crazed bastards” that earns me another very uinlady like snort from jane. We finally reached the double doors to the student parking lot, and pushed through them. I took in a deep breath of fresh air and froze. s**t! There was another scent in the air, this one was more like fresh ground coffee with a hint of caramel.  I groaned “seriously?”  Jane looked at me like I was crazy for a second before a knowing look came over her. She stabbrted scanning the busy student parking lot. The entire student body was coming on and out of the school right now, cleaning out their lockers and putting all of their personal stuff into their cars.  “Where?” she asked as she looked.  I shook my head, refusing to find the source of the mouth watering scent. With every bit of will power I had I marched towards my car, keeping my head down, even going as far as to pull my hood up so it shielded me from view. This was not happening. I was not going to find my mate today, no, absolutely not!  Jane ran to catch up to me just as I got to my little black Honda civic. I opened the door and chucked all of my books inside. Jane looked at me, raising an eyebrow as I leaned against the passenger side door and crossed my arms over my chest. Under normal circumstances I would never do something so horrendous as throw my books, but these were not normal circumstances.  She put her stack inside the back seat on the floor boards and shut the passenger door, leaning back against it. “You know, technically we can't get in any trouble today right? We can leave right now if you want and go get some sushi” “No, chili dogs” I grumbled, trying my hardest to hold back a smile and keep the scowl on my face.  She grinned, “there is my girl” I rolled my eyes at her for probably the hundredth time today.  She sobered for a second “you know you could just walk over and reject him-” “You and I both know that wherever that stench is coming from will not take rejection well” I scoffed at her.  I sniffed the air again and nearly ran, pine and old books, coffee and caramel. They were getting stronger, they were headed this way. My treacherous body moved and I looked up to scan my surroundings. “Oh for f***s sake” i snapped.  Jane whipped around and her jaw dropped. “No f*****g way!” Andy Harper and Jasper Bane were both headed in our direction, ten short yards separated the four of us.  I managed to snap my gaze away from the two hulking d**k bags and turned to Jane “get in the car” . I breathed out. She nodded and I ran around the car, yanking the door open and jumping into the driver seat. Jane hopped in the passenger seat and hit the automatic lock button. I frantically started searching my pockets until I found my keys. Looking up they were almost on top of us, twenty feet now separated Andy and Jasper from Jane and i. I gulped and shoved my key into the ignition, turning it and praying that my car didn't decide to throw a tantrum and not start.  By the grace of the goddess, the car roared to life. The guys froze, identical looks of confusion on their faces.  “Give 'em hell” Jane smirked. I grinned and stepped on the gas, putting up my right arm and flipping them off as I swerved around them and peeled out of the parking lot.  When we reached the main road I let out a small sigh of relief but did not lift my foot off the gas pedal. Knowing those two idiots they would be in their cars and trying to hunt me down very soon. “This can not be happening!” I groaned.  “How is this happening? Like ok you only get one mate, the gods don't give out multiple playthings. And why those two idiots? Why now? We have gone to school with them our whole lives and now you are just finding out they are your mates? I thought you dogs got your mate sense when you shifted for the first time?” Jane rattled off, not stopping to even take a breath as she showered me with questions.  I made a quick turn off of main street, down elizabeth road, and then jerked the car into an alley and parked, turning the car off. I slumped down in the driver seat “b***h how am i supposed to know?” i snapped at jane “like i don't even wanna deal with one possessive guy let alone two of them, and why those two neanderthals? Like the goddess couldnt give me some spineless little omega or something that i can tell to f**k off whenever i want peace and quiet? No, of course not, she has to give me two jackasses who will probably hunt me to the ends of the earth.” I threw my hands up in the air, exasperated.  The car was quiet for a few minutes and we listened, hoping and praying to the gods that we didn't hear Andy’s camaro or Jasper’s mustang. Finally Jane broke the silence “so what are you gonna do?” I groaned. What was I gonna do? I knew what Lacey, my wolf, wanted me to do. She wanted to be in the middle of a hotty sandwich right now (her words not mine). I on the other hand wanted nothing to do with either of those guys, ever. I am very good at staying under the radar, being seen but not really noticed. Ignoring everyone and everything, except Jane of course.  I have always been very adamant that I do not want a mate. Werewolf males tend to be very possessive and sometimes controlling over their mates, and while most women like that stuff and find it attractive, I don't. I don't want a guy standing over my shoulder constantly watching what I am doing or telling me what to do all the time. I like being able to do whatever I want when I want, well within reason. My parents have always told me that as long as I don't need bail money and don't end up in the ICU then I am good to go. They trust me to make the right decisions, I guess, or atleast to not get myself or others killed. If my own parents aren't going to try and control me then why would I let a man do that?  like , yeah i know that my parents are mates and they have the most perfect relationship ever, they love and respect each other amazingly well, but they are both omegas, just like me. The higher the ranking of werewolves, the worse things get. An omega wolf can watch you walk out the door and not worry that you will come right back, a gamma, beta, or alpha wolf? They are the ones who are more likely to chain you to the bed just so they know where you are at all times, or even chain you to them. There had actually been an alpha, in Arizona, who kept his mate on a leash, like an actual leash with a collar at all times. Yeah it may sound kinda kinky, until you find out that the collar was silver and because of that she ended up dying from the burns and pain it caused.  I do not listen, I do not take orders well, if Jasper is really my mate then I am going to end up just like that alpha’s mate because there is not a chance in hell that I will be a good little submissive she-wolf.  Oh and lets not forget f*****g Andy! How in the hell am I supposed to be with a vampire? Like, ok I know that all the supernatural beings mix, the gods regularly place vamps with werewolves, demons with vamps and so on, but the future coven leader? That is just as bad as an alpha! Lets not forget that vampire’s tend to prefer the taste of their mates blood over everything else. They say that when they find their mate, some will stop drinking blood and  eating, they will refuse all substances unless it comes from their mate. Like, what?! No! I honestly do not care if a vamp bites me to have some sexy time, it's a natural aphrodisiac, but I refuse to be someone's constant blood bag.  “Um, Aaya” I yanked myself out of my mental debate to look at Jane, who was staring at me wide eyed. It took a second before I realized what was wrong. I could hear the distinct sound of Andy’s camaro rumbling our way.   “s**t!” I gasped and resisted the urge to jump out of the car and run, knowing it wouldn’t do a damn bit of good. A sudden thought popped into my mind and i immediately voiced it, “hide us” i pleaded at my best friend.  Her eyes got impossibly wider before she nodded. She grabbed my hand in one of hers and touched the other to the door of the car. Closing her eyes, her face scrunched up in concentration as the sound of the camaro got impossibly closer to us.