One Night

Chapter 4

When I got home I noticed my mother wasn't home. Not a big surprise she's never home. I walked into the house and set my stuff down. When I got to the kitchen I saw a note on the counter.

'Won't be home for like a week.'

This was never a shock to me anymore. I practically raised myself at this point. But I can't complain too much. She did buy me my jeep. I also have a credit card she gave me, that I can use whenever, for whatever I need. Most of the time I only used it on gas and food. I was never the materialistic type, sure I had some nice clothes and a couple of pairs of nice shoes and leather jackets but that was the extent of it, besides my jeep.

I threw the note away and headed outside. I walked up the trail that led to my favorite spot. When I arrived I gave a once over of the surrounding area with my new wolf hearing and smell. When I heard only the normal forest noises and didn't smell anything out of the ordinary, I began to strip out of my clothes. Hanging my clothes up on one of the branches I then began my shift.

I felt my bones start to c***k and rearrange into their new form. Pretty soon I was standing there as a wolf. My shifts kept getting faster every time. Shaking out my fur I started running through the forest. I was dodging trees and jumping over fallen logs as I ran. Stopping occasionally to smell the forest.

I felt so free. It was quite possibly the best feeling ever, running through the forest.

It felt like I was always meant to do this. Like I was born to be a wolf. I've always had a weird connection to the forest.

**

It felt like I ran for hours. Oddly enough I never really felt tired, I must have run miles though. So I headed back home. When I reached where I left my clothes, I started my shift. My shift happened in seconds this time, I was a little surprised but I shrugged it off since, Hell for all I know that could finally be normal speed. Looking down, I examined my body making sure I wasn't too dirty. I did try to not lay in the dirt when I was shifting. I was trying to get used to shifting in general and still keeping up the appearance that I'm just a human girl. Plus I would like to put on my clothes not walk back to the house naked because I was too dirty to get dressed.

I got dressed seeing as I only had dirty hands and feet, but I could feel some dirt on my face too. Oh well.

Walking back to the house I caught a whiff of something that smelt like the perfect combination of cedarwood and sage.

It smelt amazing!

I took another deep breath to see if I could smell where it was coming from but when I sniffed again it was gone. I scanned the surrounding area seeing if I saw anything. But I couldn't find where the scent came from.

I let it go. Maybe it was just some random whiff of the forest. I continued walking to the house.

The house I live in now is the same house I grew up in. It's on the outskirts of town, technically my address is Arlington. Our road is semi-private, surrounded by trees and very few neighbors. There's a dirt embankment behind the house that stretches the whole length of the yard and then some. It's covered in all sorts of greenery there's; ferns, wild cherry trees, Huckleberry bushes, little maple trees all over, and salmonberry bushes everywhere. I always pick the huckleberries and salmonberries when they're in season. The trail I take to my special spot leads up the embankment in a special hidden spot then it flattens out at the top and turns into what looks like a deer trail. I think it started out that way until I started using it too.

Anyway, when I got to the yard I used the grass to wipe off most of the dirt on my feet as I walked to the backdoor. It's too rural out here so I left it unlocked. I wiped my feet off some more with a towel when I got inside. I went to the bathroom to wash the dirt off my face and hands. Finally clean I made myself a decent size sub sandwich. My metabolism has gotten extremely fast, I can't stop eating. Before I hardly ate at all. Oh, well I liked the new me. Sitting down in the living room I put on one of my favorite movies, Practical Magic.

When I finished my sandwich I just relaxed thinking about the last couple of days. I suddenly remembered the note that was tucked in my jeep door. I got up and grabbed my jacket, remembering that the note was in my pocket. I unfolded it and read its contents.

'Hey, Sorry I disappeared today. I had some things I needed to take care of. I hope to see you this weekend, It'd be nice to know the town better. Anyway, I got bored third period and drew this. Don't know why but I felt like I should give it to you.'

Write below his writing was a sketched picture of my jeep next to his car, in very good detail might I add. The guy can seriously draw. I hated to admit it but he was starting to grow on me. I folded the note so just the drawing was showing then went and hung it on my wall in my room. I grabbed my phone and sent him a message.

'Let me know when you want me to show you around.' I went back to watching my movie waiting for his reply. A few minutes later my phone went off.

'How bout I pick you up tomorrow say 10 o'clock?' Well, he responded quickly.

I messaged back, 'Pick me up? How do you know where I live?' He replied almost immediately.

' I have my ways. So is that a yes?' I could practically see the smirk on his face. Just thinking about that smirk of his gave me the shivers, since I was alone I didn't hide them this time.

' I guess. You're going to tell me how you know where I live though.' I replied back. All he said back was, 'See you at ten.' He is annoyingly confident. But it's oddly intriguing. I didn't reply back after that. I was still trying to figure out how he knows where I live if he needs me to show him around town. He was way too mysterious. I finished my movie and decided to go to bed.

**

The next morning I woke up around seven o'clock in the morning. I guess if my body is gonna wake me up this early I might as well take advantage of the extra time and go for a run. Getting out of bed I decided I'd do my run in human form today, So I threw on a sports bra and leggings along with my Nike air max 270's. I threw my hair into a ponytail as I walked out the back door. I thought it'd be good to do a few stretches before just jumping into it.

I did a couple of hamstring and calf stretches then some lunges and felt like that was good enough. I took off starting at a jog headed up my trail. Kicking it up to a run, I ran for what felt like quite a few miles. When I finally felt winded I decided to turn back and head home. I jogged up the back porch steps headed inside. I glanced at the clock in the kitchen on my way to my room. It was almost 9 o'clock in the morning. That means I have an hour to get ready.

Taking off my shoes and clothes I headed to the bathroom for a shower. I had built up a Small sweat on my run today and hadn't taken one after my run yesterday. Looking in the mirror I noticed my body itself was changing more every day. My breasts seemed fuller, my hips were curvier, my arms were looking more toned, along with my shoulders, and legs. My stomach actually had abs. My body looked strong. Each day I'd noticed my muscles getting bigger and more toned. I chalked it up to it had to be a wolf thing.

Getting out of the shower I towel dried my hair then began to blow dry it. Once my hair was dried I headed to my room and threw on some flared low rise jeans, a plain black low cut crew neck t-shirt, finishing off my look with my signature lifted Doc Martens and my leather jacket. I glanced at the clock and realized I still had thirty minutes so I put on some light eye makeup, just enough to make them pop. Then curled my hair slightly. By the time I was done with my hair I started to hear a rumble coming down the road.

He decided to bring his bike, Really?

I'm sure he had figured out I'm not a person who likes to be touched but yet he brought a vehicle I literally have to hang on to him on. I wasn't too keen on this whole idea.

I grabbed my phone and keys and walked out the back door. He was just taking off his helmet when I rounded the corner of my house. He had parked in front of the house but we never used the front door.

So thanks to my wolf hearing I was able to get outside before he walked up to knock, and just in time to watch the muscles in his legs flex and glide under his jeans as he threw his leg over his bike, getting off it. I was mesmerized by his movement but put on a blank expression as he turned around. When our eyes met he looked surprised to see me outside already. I caught a slight whiff of that cedarwood and sage smell again. I took an involuntary deep breath in through my nose trying to smell that wonderful smell again. But once again it was gone. His eyes became more intense suddenly. I shrugged very slightly more to myself than anything.

Walking up to him I said, "Good morning." His eyes seemed to lighten up at that.

"Morning..." He drawled out the word as he rubbed his hand against the back of his neck.

"Did you uh...Get my note?" He sounded kind of nervous, which was very odd for him. The demeanor he usually gave off, radiated confidence.

I raised my eyebrow at him while taking a few steps forward and grabbed the other helmet that was hooked to the side of his bike.

"Yup." I said popping the 'P' Then I put on the helmet. He just looked at me. I think he was expecting me to make a comment on the picture. I didn't care to elaborate on the subject any further instead I said,

"Are we going? Or standing around all day?" That seemed to bring him out of his daze and he put his helmet back on. He then got on his bike and gave me the 'ok' to get on as well. I grabbed his shoulder and felt him tense at the same time, tingles erupted across my hand that was touching him. I definitely felt the tingles but I continued to not show any sign of it. Bracing myself on his shoulder I got on the bike behind him. As he started the bike up I wrapped my arms around his waist. Tingles erupted everywhere we touched, he was still tense but I was trying to be calm, the rumble from the bike masked my shivers which helped.

After a few minutes of riding, he seemed to relax some. The tingles never went away however, we both seemed to have relaxed completely by the time we got to town. I showed him the basics; Main street, city hall, skate park/kids playground, library, grocery, etc. When our tour was coming to an end he asked,

"You hungry?" All I could do was nod.

I wasn't ready to go home yet. As much as I hated to admit it to myself I liked his company. He pulled into the local restaurant. I knew it wouldn't be long before us being seen together would circle the town and school.

Oh, well.

We walked in and sat at a booth. As he picked up the menu I began to close my eyes and listen to everything around me. I could hear his heartbeat which was steady but slightly elevated, I could hear people whispering about us and I could feel eyes on us as well.

"Are you going to eat?" he asked all of a sudden. I raised my eyebrow at him in question as I opened my eyes.

"Yes. I already know what I want." He made what sounded like 'Oh' under his breath and went back to looking at the menu.

The waitress arrived to take our drink orders just then. "What can I get for you?" She drawled out while angling herself at Luke with her boobs hanging out like I was completely invisible. To be honest I didn't like it but I also didn't show that it bothered me. I acted like I didn't notice.

He ordered a Coke not paying any attention to her attempts at flirting, he didn't even look up from the menu. I smiled internally while I ordered a Shirley Temple, to which the waitress scoffed slightly. I could care less, I always ordered a Shirley Temple when I went out.

He continued looking over the menu while I continued to observe my surroundings. Every now and then I would feel his gaze drift to me then back to his menu. There was silence between us but oddly it wasn't very awkward. He finally set down his menu, when the waitress arrived with our drinks. She set mine down with just a little too much aggression but once again I ignored it. When she set his drink down however she did it gently and a little too close to him. She was really pushing the flirtatious act but he wasn't showing any interest.

Grabbing my drink to take a sip I noticed she didn't put cherries in it. I felt myself be disappointed for a second before pushing it away and taking a sip anyway. Luke was just staring at me.

"Are you ready to order?" She asked, but again it was mainly directed at him. She was facing him with her back basically turned to me.

"I'd like a double bacon cheeseburger with fries." He slowly turned his blank gaze on her and I swear I could hear her pulse spike in fear. She turned her attention to me but didn't say anything.

"I'll have the same thing he's having." Her eyes widened but she didn't question it. Right as she was about to walk away he spoke up.

"And a side of Maraschino cherries." I saw her back stiffen even straighter. She gave a nod and went to put our order in. All of her flirting had vanished when he made eye contact with her.

I guess people really did find him intimidating. I wasn't one of them.

I was shocked that he had even noticed that she didn't put cherries in my drink. I felt a slightly warm feeling in the pit of my stomach. I could still feel his gaze on me. After he basically told her off I felt it fair to give him something in return.

So breaking the silence I asked him, "Where did you learn to draw?" I took him by surprise, judging by the raise in his eyebrows. He shrugged, taking a sip of his drink. I thought he was going to leave it at that but setting his drink down he said,

"I don't really know I've been drawing since I was a kid. For as long as I can remember. It's kind of my escape from reality when I draw." He seemed lost in thought as he said that.

"Well, you got some serious talent." Was all I said.

The waitress showed up with our orders then. Since we ordered the same thing she just set a plate down in front of each of us but the side of cherries on my side of the table. As she was walking away I popped a cherry in my mouth with a slight smirk. I was about to pour them into my drink when he reached across the table and swiped one so fast if I wasn't a wolf I wasn't sure I'd have seen him do it. I looked up at him right as he was popping it in his mouth. He had the nerve to smirk at me. I secretly loved that smirk of his. I'd have gone weak in the knees if I wasn't already sitting down.

I scoffed at him, rolling my eyes. Digging into his food he asked, "Were you really gonna order that from the beginning?"

I chuckled, "Yeah. I like food." Was all I said as I began to pick the tomatoes and pickles off my burger. He raised his eyebrows at me in surprise again.

"You sure can eat a lot." It wasn't a question rather a statement. He went back to his food and so did I. When we were finished eating The waitress came back cleared the table and left the check. I went to grab money to pay but Luke snagged the whole check before I could grab my wallet.

"What the hell are you doing?" My voice came out more light-hearted than I wanted. What was happening to me? I was losing my edge.

"Uhh, paying obviously. You don't let a lady pay when you take her out." He said with a smirk in his voice. I couldn't help it I smiled back at him. It took him by surprise which left me satisfied. After paying we headed out the door together and accidentally bumped shoulders. I felt the tingles in full force and caught another whiff of the sage and cedarwood again. He stiffened when our shoulders touched and I saw him glance at me out of the corner of his eye. I continued pretending I didn't feel anything and kept walking to the bike. Once my helmet was on the smell went away. It lasted longer this time.

What the hell is it? It smells so good.

He was already sitting on the bike putting his helmet on when I turned around. He didn't tense when I braced my hand on his shoulder to get on this time. But he did look back at me. I couldn't see his eyes through the visor of his helmet and that frustrated me. Once I was situated he started her up and he took off headed back to my house.

I didn't realize how much time had passed since he picked me up till I saw the sun just beginning to set over the hills.

When we arrived at my house he pulled into the driveway and parked next to my jeep, which was located on the side of the house, instead of parking in the front like the first time. I took my helmet off as I got off the bike and shook my hair out. I saw him tense taking a deep breath in, out of the corner of my eye briefly.

I turned to face him as I hooked the helmet back on the side of the bike, where I took it from earlier.

"Wanna come in?" I asked him on impulse. I didn't even mean for that to come out. All he gave was a nod indicating 'yes'. He still had his helmet on so I couldn't see his face but I had a pretty good feeling he was smirking underneath that visor. I could just feel it. He got off the bike while taking his helmet off and setting it on the seat.

'What was I doing, bringing him in the house?'

Turning on my heel I led the way into the house. I could feel his breath on the back of my neck and felt goosebumps run down my arms as I unlocked the door. Once again thankful for long sleeves.

Finally, through the door, I was able to put a little space between us as I led him to the living room. He helped himself to a seat on the couch. I sat on the other side of the couch and took my boots off, then tucked my legs up under me. I handed him the tv remote after I turned it on. He just stared at it then stared at me.

"You're not gonna show me around?" He sounded somewhat shocked.

"Well you already saw the kitchen walking through to the living room, I'm not showing you my mom's room and there's just old junk in the spare bedroom." I said taking the tv remote back and putting on 'The Goonies' movie. He just stared at me before saying, "What about your room?" I rolled my eyes. I knew he'd catch on to the fact I didn't say anything about my room.

"It's the door down the hall on the left if you're so curious." I made no move to get up just kept watching my movie. To my surprise, he actually got up walked down the hall, and I heard my bedroom door open. I didn't have anything to hide. My room was always clean and organized. I had a few band posters on my dark olive green walls, featuring H.I.M, Halestorm, and a few others. I had a four-poster bed that was black with sheer black chiffon curtains hanging down the sides. My bedspread and pillows were almost the same color as the walls. I also had a black desk and black victorian vanity.

I like dark colors.

I heard my bedroom door close again and I heard him start walking down the hall. I kept my eyes on the tv as he entered the living room again. He sat down on the couch closer to me than he was the first time. I looked down at our close proximity, he seemed unfazed.

"So the picture I drew you is hanging on your wall?" He asked with zero emotion in his voice. I turned my body to face him.

"Yeah, your point?" I said raising my eyebrow at him. He smiled. He actually smiled at what I said. I was taken aback. He just stared at me with that smile.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" I raised my eyebrow at him.

"It's just a breath of fresh air to find someone not intimidated by me." He turned back to the tv and I was left just staring at the back of his head in shock. Why was he so mysterious? I felt like every time he said something it was a glimpse into who he is but I never felt less confused. My mind was twirling around everything. Why was I drawn to him? Why did I give him the time of day? I've never given anyone attention other than Skye. Like I said before I'm not a people person.

I was so lost in thought I didn't notice my body had relaxed so much that I could now feel the heat coming off his thigh onto mine. I pulled my leg back up, away from his. He looked at me with furrowed eyebrows, feeling my movement. At that moment the movie ended but he kept staring.

"What?" My voice came out more irritated than I anticipated. His eyebrows furrowed even more.

"Why do you always do that?" Now it was my turn to furrow my brows.

"Do what?" I asked getting up from the couch. I headed to the fridge for something to drink. He followed leaning against the far counter.

He breathed out a sigh, " Every time you start to relax around me you tense back up. Why?" I could have sworn, I heard a hint of sadness in his voice. When I turned around his head was down slightly and he was looking up at me through his eyelashes. He didn't look like the confident guy that I always saw at school. I started to feel bad for him, taking a step forward that smell hit me in the face again. That sweet but musky scent of sage and cedarwood. I took another cautious step forward, The smell got a little stronger. I took a couple more steps until I was right in front of him. I took a visible deep breath through my nose. Looking up I met his eyes, it was like I was seeing him for the first time.

"Why do you smell like that?" I asked him still in a trance-like state. He was staring at me just as intently as I was staring at him. He lifted his hand, twirling a strand of my hair around his finger.

"Smell like what?" His voice was slightly huskier than before. I blinked a couple of times clearing my daze I stepped away from him. Shaking my head I looked up at him in disbelief.

"Wait a second I've smelt the scent coming off of you before. Here. At my house. Are you stalking me?" I continued stepping back with every word. He pushed away from the counter and took a step towards me, "Don't come near me." I said getting into a defensive pose. Stopping abruptly he raised his eyebrows at me.

"You're going to fight me?" He asked incredulously crossing his arms over his chest. "If I have to I will." was all I said. He shook his head walking towards me but he just kept walking out the back door. I stayed where I was but when I didn't hear his bike startup curiosity won over. Walking out on the back porch, I saw him standing in my backyard facing the forest. His boots were off and so was his jacket and shirt.

"What the f**k are you doing?" I half yelled at him. He turned his head to glance at me then back to the forest. I started walking down the stairs. Turning around he finally faced me in all his shirtless glory. He looked like a demi-god I swear.

"I need to show you something. Then some of this will all make sense." Crossing my arms I waited, I had little patience at that moment. He closed his eyes and pretty soon I heard what sounded like a shift starting. But I wasn't the one shifting.

His shift took longer than mine. But before I knew it a huge black wolf was standing in front of me. He took a cautious step forward but I wasn't scared anymore. He took another step forward and I saw a white mark on the right side of his ribs. He was the wolf that saved me.