Between Them

He could feel her everywhere, that little tug in his mind. He can tame it until her senses and emotions take over, then it takes over his. The need to protect, the need to comfort, all of these dominating emotions flood his system. He has to find her. She's there. Out of his reach, but there. Hopefully, that will quell his drive to find her for now. - The dusting of snow on the ground leaves my boot prints trailing behind me. I always loved the winters here, the soft snow piling on all the surfaces. I'd look across into the forest and see mounds of snow sitting on the pine trees, and yet, they never succumb to the weight. The Northeast Territory is the only place left that accumulates massive amounts of snow anymore. I watch the snowflakes gently fall around me, each one glittering a different color from the sunset behind me. ; I have to get home We have a curfew at sun down, it's been in place ever since our town, Melody, was taken over. Over a hundred years ago, the Wolves finally came out of hiding. Humans by day and Wolves by night. I remember learning about it in history class. They came out of hiding and demanded more land from humans. When humans offered to live among them, they wouldn't allow it. They wanted land for themselves. In the dead of night they snuck into towns and slaughtered people in their Wolf form. Humans couldn't keep up with them, even in human form, the Wolves were stronger and faster than any human. Eventually, they took over the land, leaving small cities for the remaining humans to find refuge in. Melody had been one of them, the city borders are surrounded by forests, stalked by Wolves. At night, once curfew is set, humans have to remain indoors. That's the Wolves time to inspect the city. I can hear their claws scraping the concrete outside my house most nights. I shudder at the memory of the large paws stomping in the streets the previous night as I opened the gate to the chain link fence that surrounds our house. Looking up at the two-story house floods my head with memories of my mom. She loved bright colors. That's why our house is a light blue, our door a bright yellow and the shutters are a cherry red. I smile, remembering walking home from school with my brother, Charlie, and seeing my mom and dad planting flowers in the front yard. We would always run from the corner to the house, her arms stretched out waiting for us to run into them. I can't believe a few weeks later we lost her. Dad said she ran away after she found out he was a Wolf, and realized she had hybrid babies with him. Said she couldn't stand to look at him or us. After a month or two, he left to look for her and never came back. Just leaving his 10 year old son to look after his 5 year old daughter. I pushed open the front door and took in the house. The walls were slightly dingy, the hall table had empty beer cans strung all over it. Papers and ripped magazines littered the floor. One of the more dilapidated houses that was inhabited in the town, for sure. It was had for Charlie to make any money for up keep and food when we were abandoned. The house fell due to our own needs, nothing I held against my brother. I could hear the laughs of Charlie's friends from the living room. Not today I couldn't face Charlie's friends. Well, one friend in particular, Matt. I still remember his alcohol-scented breath on the back of my neck as he pinned me in the upstairs hallways. He was obsessed with me for years, but I always thought it was harmless. I went out for a midnight snack, and he was in the shadows. I didn't see him in time. I should have been quicker. "Oak, what's wrong?" I jumped at Charlie's voice. "Nothing." I said, offering him a small smile. "Oakley, don't lie to me," he took a few steps closer. I knew I couldn't lie to him, he could always see right through me anyway. How was I supposed to lie to the person who knew me the best? "Who's all here?" I tilted my head to the doorway, wanting to deflect the conversation. I could see the turmoil going on in his head deciding whether he wanted to push it further. Eventually he sighed, "Its just Cindy, Brian and Matt tonight." "Ah." "You can join us if you want to? I know you don't come to hang out anymore, but I'm sure they would love to see you for a bit." I never told Charlie about Matt. More because I feared what Charlie would do to Matt, more than anything. If Charlie let his Wolf build up in him, it could release his primal instincts. Which would effectively tip off the town of our curse. I could only muster up a nod in reply and shuffled past him to get to the stairs. He knew I wouldn't be back down after I went up, but I don't think it surprised him anymore. I laid in bed, watching the night creep into my room. Thanks to my Wolf hearing, I could make out the whispers of everyone downstairs. Even though I never manifested anything else from my Wolf I was happy to have the hearing. "Heard they were cracking down on the rebellion." I could hear Brian's deep voice reverberate through the house. I could practically map out the entire house just listening to the way echos bounced off surfaces. "Well, what do you expect? They blew up the forest." I heard Cindy snort. "They take information from anyone." Matt's voice made my skin jump. I couldn't take anything that reminded me too much of him, of that night. The human rebellion has been rising in the city recently. They were just a bunch of crazy people my brother always told me. They acted crazy enough to me, with how they went about showing defiance. They blew up parts of the woods their guards would be stationed at. They could never make it into the capital, where the High Alpha was, but causing a panic outside the city was enough for them now. They wanted to lure the High Alpha out and into a trap to end him, was their ultimate goal. They have been striving for that goal for about a hundred years though, and so far no luck. I wouldn't want to lure the High Alpha out anyway. He recently took over the position and there have been stories about his brutality. Charlie keeps everything Wolf related to a minimum near me, to keep me safe. I still hear things and rumors, though. "How would you know about them getting information?" Brain said. "I just know," I could practically hear the smirk in Matt's voice. "Enough," Charlie's snarl broke through. I never heard Charlie snarl or growl much, but when you did hear him, it was a deep commanding noise. The three hybrids with him went deadly silent. "We will not talk about the rebellion, we will not associate with humans of the rebellion, and we will not cause the Wolves to come anywhere near us. You got it?" The reluctant grumbles were enough to tell me that they understood them. Being a Wolf meant you had heightened senses, hearing, smell and sight were most common. Essential to full Wolves, but hybrids rarely get all three of them, except for Charlie. He understood the Wolf behavior better than any hybrid we came across. He could always sniff them out before they got to us, he also understood a Wolf could sniff out our crossed blood as well. With the whispers downstairs dying out, I curled my green comforter around my neck and snuggled deeper into bed. My eyes were heavy, sleep was near impossible when you could hear claws scratching surfaces all over town. Eventually, I blinked and was whisked away into a deep sleep. - A sharp knock on the door jarred me from my sleep. I glanced to my window, but saw the moon was still high in the star sprinkled sky. It had to be the middle of the night. Clutching my blanket, I pulled it higher under my chin, cowering from the deep voices I heard downstairs. Charlie's abrupt growl woke me from my shock and I scrambled out of my bed, my fists remained in my green blanket.I could hear the growls and snarls from Charlies downstairs, the other three were up now and growling. Hard footsteps stomped up the stairs closer to me. With the sensations of everything around me happening so quickly, I found myself frozen in place. My brain was swimming with sounds I was unconsciously trying to map. My head was now gripped in one of my hands, my eyes squinted closed, trying to dampen the sounds. The door to my room swung open, revealing a towering figure. The opening increased the volume of the sounds downstairs, my eardrums were pulsing with my heartbeat. The sharp pain grew as another snarl ripped through the air. Unable to piece together my surroundings, I hardly noticed the shadowed figure moving closer to me. Breathe. A deep voice said clearly in my head. Or it could have been the figure in front of me. My eyes searched the room, half closing with each pulsing throb of my eyes. A heat pooled in them, causing me to lose focus. A prick stuck my arm. Looking down, I saw a needle sticking out of my arm. "W-What is that?" My voice was wobbly. "Sleep, Oakley." The deep voice said. I pushed the hand gripping my arm off me, only for their other one to reach out and grab me by the waist. I was starting to feel heavy, my limbs felt as if my blood was replaced with lead. "No, no, no" my voice was quiet, even as I tried to shout at my kidnapper. My eyelids fell closed once again.