The Lone wolf

Chapter Three

When I woke up the next morning the sound of footsteps filled the air. Climbing up out of my den, I look up at the sky and see that the sun has been up for about four or so hours.

"Hey, there wolfy," Blaine said as I turned to him. I walk up to Blaine slowly so as to not frighten him. Sniffing his hand, I give it a lick before rubbing my head on it. As I do this he sits down, letting me crawl up into his lap. My wolf is so big only my head and paws fit in his lap. He pets my head and I let out a small bark.

"Now what's your name," He asked, rubbing his chin,"lets see, John." I shake my head and show my teeth with my tongue sticking out in an attempt to make a face of disgust.

"Okay, umm, Blake," He replied, looking at me hopefully. I shake my head again, making a face.

"I know, you remind me of a friend of mine, so how about pollo," He stated, smiling down at me. It is close enough so we will go with it for now. I'll show myself soon anyway.

He grabs a stick and shows it to me. He then throws it while saying ,"go fetch." At that I jump up, chasing after it. Finding it, I snatch it up and carry it back to him. We continued till noon, when he realized that I still had not shown up. He looks around before sitting down on a rock.

"I guess he forgot about me," Blaine states with a sad expression. I let out a sad whimper and ran behind a tree. There, I shift and grab the clothes I hid out here. I then walk out from behind the tree. He sees me and jumps up before asking me," where were you?"

"I was here," I replied, walking over to him. I wrapped my arm around his shoulder and sat us down.

"No, you weren't," He states looking at me funny, "It was just me and the wolf." He has a sad look on his face that makes my chest hurt.

"I am the wolf," I say confidently, as I pull him close. I just told him something no human should know, but he is my mate so maybe it will be okay. It is too late now. I can just hope the town does not freak out.

"What no, that's not possible," He says, pushing away from me. By the look on his face I can tell he thinks I'm lying.

"I'm not lying," I say, moving closer to him as he steps back, " I can prove it." At this he looks up at me with eyes that show fear and curiosity.

"Then do it," He dares me, looking right into my eyes. I start to undress, when he stops me. With a confused look on his face, he questioned,"Why are you stripping?"

"Because if I don't my clothes will rip to shreds," I state, continuing to strip. Once I am done taking my clothes off, I step back to avoid knocking him over. I begin to shift, keeping my eyes on him the whole time. After a silent moment, I stand up on four furry paws. I shake out my long white coat, before walking over to him. Bumping my nose on his hand making him jump away in shock. He just stares at me for a long moment. sitting down I rub my head on his thigh, letting out a purr like noise.

"Wow, you really are the white wolf," He asked himself. I let out a snort in an attempt to laugh in wolf form. He sits down by me and begins to pet my fur. I lick his face, happy he did not freak out. We lay down together, him using me as a pillow. After a few minutes I hear light snoring come from the adorable man next to me. I soon Drift off into a quiet slumber.

When we finally woke up the sun was low in the sky. I bumped my nose against Blaine's head in an attempt to wake him for his slumber. Once he was awake I shifted back and quickly got dressed. We walk back down the trail until we get to town. We then stopped at a small dinner to grab something to eat. I open that door letting him walk in first. We were greeted by one of the waitresses before taking a seat at the nearest booth.

"Hello, my name is Brenda, and I'll be your server today," The waitress greets before taking our order of burgers, fries and apple pies with a lemon lime soda. She walks away to give the cook the order, then returns with our drinks.

"So, how long have you been a wolf ?," Blaine asked in a whispered tone, taking a sip of his drink.

"Since birth," I inform, sitting back on the booth when the waitress comes out with our food. As I put some ketchup on my plate, Blaine stated in shock, “wait, since you were born.”

“Yep, both Athena and me,” I state, before taking a bite of my burger. I look up at him as he just stares at me. That's when I begin to explain,"there's this curse, any and every person born in Stone Ridge is to be a wolf, you shift for the first time at thirteen."

"Wow, so everyone in town is one," He replied after taking a bite of his burger. I copied his actions before answering, "Yes, and you are my mate, your brother is Athena's mate."

"Wait, what do you mean by mate," He questioned, popping a fry into his mouth and looking up at me.

"Well, you see all supernatural beings have a mate," I state looking him in the eye, "it’s really just short for soulmate, like the one you are destined to be with. “Taking a bite of my burger I look down at my plate.

"Oh, that's cool," He questions, before sliding his hand over mine on the table. At this I look back up to see him smiling at me. I smile back and take his hand in mine. " So you're okay with it," I ask.

"Well, it is a bit strange but I'm willing to give it a try," Blaine replied with a gentle squeeze of my hand.

We continue to talk about me being a werewolf and him being my mate. I had gotten a cup of hot chocolate for him and coffee for me. My wolf grows more and more restless as he bites his lower lip. Right now he is playing with my fingers going on and on about his new life in Stone Ridge. I'm happy he is liking it here.

As the sun starts to set we leave the old dinner. I tuck Blaine under my arm to help keep him warm. That's one good thing about us wolves. We have extremely high body temperatures keeping us warm in the dead of winter.

"Can we sleep in your den?," Blaine asked looking up at me.

"What so you can freeze to death," I state, concern thick in my voice.

"Please I'm sure you can keep me warm," He begs, stopping to look at me with those puppy eyes. I sigh knowing I can't win this. Leading him back into the woods and in the direction of the den.

It's chilly out but in the den it should be warmer. As we enter the clearing I walk over to the intrents to the den. Letting him crawl in first I follow close behind directing him to go as deep as possible. Removing my jacket and throwing it around him.

"Are you sure about sleeping here," I ask, pulling him as close as possible into my side.

"Yes," He replied before kissing my cheek. I planted a kiss on his forehead. I lean back allowing him to rest his head on my chest. I can feel him shivering against me.

"It might be warmer if I shift," I say, pulling away before taking my clothes off, shifting into my wolf. Looking up at him, I see that he has turned his head away from the scene. I crawl over to him laying down so that he can use my belly as a pillow. After folding up my clothes he lays down curling up by my side. The thick fur of my coat acts as a blanket. Within minutes he is asleep and shortly after I’m dozing off as well.

Waking up the next morning to the sound of soft snores coming from my sleeping mate. Looking over I’m met with the most adorable sight. Blaine is curled into my side with his arms wrapped around my body. Licking him on the forehead in an attempt to wake him up, so that we can get somewhere warm. After a few moments he finally begins to stir awake. Rubbing his eyes and sitting up, he turns to me. He has this adorable pout and these big puppy eyes.

“Why did you wake me up?,” Blain asks, in a pouty way that makes me smile at his cuteness. I stand up and shift, before putting my clothes back on.

“Because it's freezing out here,” I answer, before crawling out with him behind me. Standing up I dust myself off and throw on my coat. We walk hand in hand back to the village. We walk down the trail heading towards my house.

Once we arrive at the small cabin, I let him shower while I fix us breakfast. After about fifteen minutes Blaine walks out of the bathroom in the clothes I gave him. He is wearing one of my shirts that is tied up. If not it looks like a dress on him, with that a pair of jeans borrowed from Athena. I just want to pinch his cheeks, he looks so cute.

"Here," I say, handing him a plate of eggs and bacon. He sits down and I take a seat as well. We eat, talking about the up-in coming weeks.

"I'll be back before dinner," Athena yells on her way out the door. More than likely heading to work and then to Robins. Ather hearing the door close we continued with our meal. Once done we clean the dishes and head up to my room. Taking a seat on the edge of the bed, I remove my jacket and shoes, Blaine doing the same.

We curled up together and watched movies till lunch. At that time, I went down to the kitchen to grab something for us to eat. Looking through the cabinets, I find some chips and make a couple of sandwiches. Before heading back up, I go to check on mom.

I walk down the hall. The old wood floor creaked with every step. Reaching the door to my mom's room, I softly knock before entering. She was laid out on the bed, peacefully sleeping, for what must be the first time in a long while. With that, I return to the kitchen collecting the sandwiches. Before retreating back to my room with the food in hand. There Blaine, hidden under a mountain of blankets, was waiting for my return.

Giving a little snicker I asked, "Where did you get all those blankets?" before crawling onto the mattress. I hand him one of the sandwiches, as he replies, “the chest at the end of the bed was full of them.”

"I had completely forgotten about all those blankets," I state before sitting back wrapping one of the thick wool blankets around myself. It was chilly out as winter has grown closer, as the snow now sticks late into the day.

After eating lunch I carry our plates back down to the kitchen, washing and putting them away. Looking out the window I see that it is beginning to snow again. I turn and head up the ladder to tell Blaine that it might be best if he were to head on home.

"The snow is coming down heavy now, it might be best if you were to head home soon," I inform him, wrapping my arms around his slender waist. He nods his head in agreement, placing a kiss along my jaw. Turning towards the bed, he begins folding the blankets placing them at the foot of the bed. We then make our way down the ladder. I handed his jacket to him, before putting on mine, before making our way outside. We walk hand in hand down the path.

Walking down the trail towards Blaine's house the snow starts coming down harder. I wrap my jacket around him so he won't freeze. As we near his house our steps pick up in speed. Once I reach the porch I say my goodbyes and promise to pick him up for college tomorrow. Heading back down the path I spot Athen and Robin saying their goodbyes for the evening. Robin then begins heading toward the house. Athen wait at the end of the path for me, before we head home.

Once inside the house, I go to start a fire to warm the house. Mother comes out of the kitchen, informing us dinner will be done in a few hours. I return to my room quickly changing into something warmer. I put the blankets back into the chest, leaving one out to use later on in the night. I head back down to the kitchen, pushing the ladder back up into the siling. I ask mama if she needs help with dinner, her reply being, a simple no and to go see if Athena needs help with anything.

I exit the kitchen and walk to the living room, where Athena sits on the couch. Taking a seat to her right, looking down at the coffee table, I see that she is going through old photo albums. A collection of old pictures lay spiraled out on the table. One picture is of our dad. Tristan James Wulf was a great man who stood at six foot four inches, he had black hair that was beginning to gray at the temple and sun kissed skin. Dad was one of the head loggers of the town working down at the Lumber yard.

The second photo is of Athena and me when we were around five years old. It was summer and our family was down by the river. Mom had dressed us in our swimsuits, so that we could play in the water. Uncle Robby had shifted and was shaking out his drenched fur after taking a swim. The water had splashed all over us kids making us scream and giggle.

The third was one of our parents' weddings. Mom had on a white wedding dress that had lace sleeves and a v-neck. Dad was wearing an old black and white suit with a rose pinned to the breast pocket of the blazer. They were smiling and I don't think I have ever seen them that happy.

We spent the next hour going through old photographs. Some were of us as kids with our brother, others were of family members and friends. Then there was one of dad's funeral. We all miss him. It's been ten years since he passed. He was mom's mate, I don't know how she has lived. If Blaine died, it wouldn't be long before I passed as well.

When we finished going through the photo albums, we put them all away in a cabinet. It was painted a white color, and had glass doors. On the top shelf were picture frames, and nicknacks dad gave mom. Every year for their anniversary he would give her wood figures he had carved by hand. The middle shelf is where we keep the albums as well as some jars of dried flowers, buttons and thread spindles. On the bottom most shelf there are books lined up neatly in a row. Some of them from our childhood, now just collecting dust. Mom likes to decorate the shelves with garland made from holly and burlap over the giving season. It’s intricately placed around the jars, candles, and figurines.

I walk back to the couch kicking my shoes off and to the side, before taking a seat. The living room is nothing special but mom has begun to decorate it with lights and garland. It won't be long until I have to bring home a tree. When we were young before dad died every year around the holidays we would go out into the forest and pick out a tree. Now, I just bring one home from work with me, it just brings back too many memories for mom's heart to handle.

"Dinner is almost done, you two hurry and get cleaned up," Mom states as she shoos us out of the living room. I walk down the narrow hall toward the bathroom. Stepping inside I flick the light on. I wash my hands before heading back down the hall and into the kitchen. There Mom has set the table with what looks to be a casserole in the center and a plate of dinner rolls to the side.

I take my seat at the left of the table, Athena sits down across from me, leaving a seat for Mom to my right. It's rare that we eat like this, with us all seated around the table. Mom is usually too sick to eat with us in the dining room. She has good days like today, but most days she is barely able to get out of bed. It's not a physical illness but a psychological one caused by the loss of a mate. It drives you crazy and then slowly the pain of them dying becomes too much to bear, and you die. Most die within a few years, but mom pulled through for us. We spined as much time with her as we could. It won't be long until she passes now that Athena and I have found our mates. As sad as it sounds, we all know it is coming and we have prepared.

“Alright, you may eat,” States Mom as she takes her seat. We eat and talk about today's events. Athena admitted to Robin that they are mates. Mom finished reading her book. Blaine and I's relationship is progressing well. Uncle Robby called and talked to mom, his family will be joining us for dinner tomorrow. Mom says it will be a picnic like the ones we all had before dad's death. It’s a final wish of sorts and we all know it.

After dinner was done we washed and put away the dishes before heading to our rooms. I climb up the ladder, change my clothes and cut out my light. Laying down on the bed I wrap the blankets around me. All that fills my mind is how time is running short for my mom and how we can make the most of it. With that, I fall asleep, hoping that our family won't fall apart.

Outside the snow covers everything like a blanket. The crescent moon sits high in the sky casting an eerie glow over the town. The woods surrounding the small town are quiet, all except a wolf’s howl. Flowing over the mountains and through the trees. It’s new but familiar. Feared by so many. A black wolf, gone for so long, returns.