My mate and my gift

Chapter three: Mira

Last night had turned out better than I thought. No one had made any comments about my clothes or the fact that I arrived late. Once I had gotten enough alcohol to get a little tipsy, I even started to make jokes about it myself, which had seemed to entertain a few of the party guests and I was pleased to know that people didn’t avoid me just because of my funny choice in party attire.

I looked at my alarm clock on the nightstand. 5:08 in the morning. Oh well. I wasn’t going to get any more sleep now.

I rolled out of bed and went to my closet, getting out a fresh set of clothes and a towel. I needed a shower after last night, but I had been too tired when I got back to my room.

Maybe I left the party a little early, but my head had been killing me from everything that had happened during the day.

I opened my door slowly and peeked out. I looked up and down the hall. No one was up yet. I shut the door behind me and made my way down the hall when I heard a door open. I froze where I stood.

The guy from yesterday was backing out of a room, carrying his shoes in one hand and carefully closed the door. He slowly backed away from the door, walking on tiptoes. I jumped around the corner to the shower hall, hoping he didn’t see me. After the two embarrassing episodes yesterday, I had decided to try and avoid him for a few days. I held my breath as I heard him walk down the hall. When I finally heard the sound of a door opening and closing, I let out my breath.

I stepped into one of the shower rooms and turned on the water. For a moment, I imagined the guy having turned around to spot me heading into the showers and following after me.

I slid down the wall and closed my eyes, enjoying the hot water wash over me. I let my imagination run wild for a while; I was running through the woods, chasing a rabbit. I had no intentions of killing it, I was just enjoying the thrill of the chase, the thicket under my paws and the wind in my fur. The smell of trees and leaves, the distant sound of my pack howling as they were chasing a buck. I felt like my legs would never get tired and my wolf howled in excitement.

I was brought up short by a big black wolf with dark eyes. He was looking at me with his head tilted to the side. I had never seen this wolf before, yet there was something familiar about him. Like he had been running next to me always. His fur was not actually black but gray, and the moonlight made it shine with a silver glow. It matched his eyes perfectly. They were welcoming me, like an old friend I hadn’t seen in a long time.

“Found you!” he spoke to my mind.

My skin was bright red, and my fingers were pruned when I woke up, still sitting on the floor in the shower.

I rubbed my eyes and got up, my knees almost giving in under my weight. They had been locked in the same position for too long and my feet were starting to experience the signature tingle of waking up.

I dried myself and got dressed while leaning against the wall, my legs still feeling weak. 

I got out and turned to head back to my room when I saw someone come into the shower hall. She had big golden-brown curls that fell just above her shoulders. Her hair was a mess, and it didn’t look like it was just from sleeping. She saw me and flashed me a smile. It wasn’t a superior or evil smile; it was a genuine one that I couldn’t help but respond to.

“Good morning” she said cheerfully. I nodded in response. This was a new and somewhat awkward situation for me.

“My name is Roxanne, but everyone calls me Roxy” she said, extending a hand. The other hand was grabbing the towel wrapped around her body. From her bare shoulders I suspected she was wearing nothing underneath.

I took her hand, and she shook it. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I just looked down.

“Sooo... What is your name?” she asked. The emphasis on the word ‘your’ made my cheeks redden.

“Oh! Uhm. Mira” I answered. Even more awkwardly I might add.

“Nice to meet you, Mira, and welcome to the mansion” she said with a sheepish smile “I don’t know what else to welcome you to. The Night pack is no more and technically we’re from the same pack now”

I couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, you’re right” I said.

“Brrr!” she said, rubbing her arms. “It’s cold out here! I’m gonna get in the shower” she said and went into one of the shower rooms.

I turned to walk away when I heard her call out “Hey!” I spun around.

The door was ajar, and she was peeking out.

“Do you wanna hang out later?” she asked

I was surprised, but I nodded, and she smiled at me before she closed the door again.

Back in my room I got out my laptop and booted up the music program, losing myself in beats I created.

I had published a few songs under an alias, not wanting any trace to lead back to me, in case anyone from my pack stumbled across them.

I was putting the finishing touches on a track I had called “Rebirth”, in honor of the new life I was going to lead in this new pack. Officially we still didn’t have a name.

I hit the submit button and closed the lid on my laptop, getting out of bed and standing up. I had been sitting in the same hunched-over position for hours and my back was not doing me any favors for it.

I put my hands on my back and stretched, feeling my spine crack all the way from the bottom to the top.

Coincidentally, someone knocked on my door and I figured it must be Roxy. I went to open the door when I remembered the laptop on my bed. I didn’t know the exact rules the Night pack had about electronic devices, but in the Luna pack you were not supposed to have your own private ones, except for a phone. Any other devices needed would be found in the electronics room and they were not to leave.

“Hurry up!” I heard her yell through the door, and I opened the door, trying to block her view of my bed.

“We’re going to watch a movie in the Cinema Room, come join!” she said, basically dragging me out the room. I didn’t want to risk her suspicion, so I followed her to a room with a big projection screen hanging from the ceiling. The bittersweet caramel scent burst from the room as soon as she opened the door, and I took an involuntary step back. Inside were six wolves, two males and four females. One of them had to be the source of the scent, and I felt myself crave it. I looked closer and saw the guy from this morning laying on a big beanbag. He looked our way and I turned towards Roxy, almost in a panic.

“I just remembered I forgot to eat breakfast and I am starving! You guys go ahead and start the movie without me. I will join you later”

The worried look on her face made me feel a little guilty, but it wasn’t a total lie; I really did skip breakfast and I really was hungry.

“Promise!” I heard myself say. s**t!

She smiled at me and I felt a warmth spread in my stomach. Maybe I could sit at the back of the room.

Down in the kitchen I was greeted by two wolves wearing aprons. Lunchtime was just about to end, but I managed to grab a sandwich from a serving dish and fill a bottle of water.

I walked back towards the Cinema Room when I literally bumped into a girl from my old pack. “Ow!” we both said upon impact and we both apologized. She looked at my sandwich and smiled, “Isn’t this amazing?” she asked me. She was referring to the kitchen staff that prepared our meals. In our old pack we would make our own food in the kitchen whenever we were hungry.

We spent a few minutes talking about the advantages of having people make food for you and clean the dishes for you. I invited her back with me to watch the movie, hoping that the more wolves that were in the room, the less notice anyone would pay me.

She agreed, and we climbed the stairs to the second floor. When I opened the room, the scent was as strong as before and I took a deep breath before entering.

The other wolves looked at us and I introduced my companion, “This is Sascha. She’s also from the Luna pack” I added, even though I was aware that they already knew.

Roxy was already on her feet and did the rest of the introductions; The girls were called Amira, Gina, Reina and Cameron. Gina and Reina were twins. The guys were called Shaun and Matthew. The latter was the guy from this morning. “This is Mira!” Roxy said and grabbed my free hand, pulling me in the direction of the others. I gave her an apologetic smile, pointed at my sandwich, and walked over to a table in the corner of the room. She looked at me, pouted her lips for a bit, then grabbed Sascha and dragged her until they were both seated on the pillows on the floor. A moment later Roxy was snuggling into Matthew and I felt a slight pinch in my stomach, suddenly not hungry anymore, but forced it down anyway.

The following days were spent with introductions into the new pack; routines, patrols, schedules, rules, classes etc.

Any free time was spent with Roxy and Sascha, sometimes accompanied by other girls as well. I learned that everyone knew and liked Roxy, and I was becoming popular by association.

Never before had I been in such demand, rarely having time to myself. At first, I hadn’t been too comfortable with the change in my life, but as the days passed, I started to enjoy the company of others.

Roxy insisted we take a dance class together. I had never danced before in my life, but I was too embarrassed to mention it.

So now I was standing in a room full of mirrors, trying to follow the moves the teacher were making.

As the class was coming to an end, the most surreal thing happened; the final song of our class was the new track I uploaded a week ago. I stood frozen until the teacher stopped the class and asked me what was wrong.

“This song…” I began, but never finished.

“Don’t you know the work of DJ Howl?!” One of the girls asked in disbelief.

Of course I knew the work of DJ Howl. I was DJ Howl. Instead, I shook my head.

“He’s only the hottest DJ out there!” She said

“I listen to his music every day” another said

“I hope he’s going to release another new song soon” Sascha said. I was speechless. Even someone from my own pack knew about my music - and I had only released a total of 5 songs.

I was both happy and disappointed that they assumed it was a guy who had made the music.

Later, back in my room, I turned on my laptop for the first time in days and looked at the stats of my songs.

They had a total of 2 million plays, over 200.000 likes and had been shared all across the world.

I fell back on my pillows, overwhelmed. I had never thought my music would take off like this, hence the reason I had never before looked at how my songs were doing. This was unbelievable, but it felt amazing. People liked what I did. There was no way I was going to let anyone know the truth about me.

I sat back up, inspired to make more music. I spent hour and hours, working late into the night on new tracks.

At 2 in the morning I collapsed on my bed, exhausted as never before, but ecstatic. The new beat I had made were full of a new kind of energy, a positive vibe. This time, I decided, I was not going to release before I had enough to make a whole album.