Unbroken

Okay.

“Pfffft Kai be serious,” I roll my eyes wishing she would just take me seriously for a second.

“Em I’m being serious.” Her face remained unchanged and her voice never wavered.

“A werewolf huh? More like TeenWolf or Twilight?” After an embarrassingly long silence I reply to myself,

“Your right, dumb first question I’ll circle back.” She let out a little chuckle under her breath.

“So your a human but your also .. a wolf?” I laugh still not getting where she was going with this.

“Emmaline I can’t explain to you the entire history of werewolves in one night but yes I am a human that can shift my into a wolf. We typically become fully connected to our inner wolves on the night of our 18th birthday, though my wolf, Thea, left me hanging until my 21st,” I thought I saw her eyes swirl between their usual shade of brown and a bright lilac purple as she snickered to herself. Weird. Must be the dim lighting and the street lamps messing with my eyes.

“Ok let’s say I believe you. Who is Dane in this werewolf wonderland?” I say with obvious sarcasm.

She reaches across the center console and takes my right hand into hers.

“Em he’s the KING of the largest werewolf territory in the northwest. I know it all sounds crazy, but it’s true. Trust me, I would never lie to you.” She tilted her head to the side only briefly curling the corner of her mouth into a smile.

Okay, this is a little too much for my brain to process right now. I just need to go inside shower and sleep off this insanity.

“Alright I believe you Kai, I think I need to go to bed and process.”

She leans over the console and does her best to squeeze me in a hug.

“I’ll answer any question you want tomorrow during our shift, deal?” she says while c*****g her left eyebrow up.

“Deal.” I climb out of her car and start heading towards the entrance to my apartment building. Just before I reach the door I hear her yell through the passenger window,

“Twilight!” She shouts with a huge smile plastered on her face.

“What?” I yell back looking and feeling confused.

“When we shift it’s more like Twilight than TeenWolf!”

We both laugh as she drives off.

As I walk towards the dimly lit doorway of The Woodland Trails Apartments, I notice a shadowy figure walking in my direction from the side of the building. I quickly punch in my code to unlock the door, I can hear my heart pounding in my ears. I open it just wide enough to squeeze inside and shut it hearing the automatic lock click in place. I decided to peek through the small glass window pane in the center of the door. The dark figure was just standing there a few meters from the entrance. By the tall stature and broad shoulders I would definitely say it’s a man. He was dressed in head to toe black with a black baseball cap and black hood pulled over it. He never lifted his gaze from the sidewalk and after a few brief seconds he moved on. I was probably just paranoid. To say my nerves were shot was an understatement.

As I turn to walk through the lobby, I spot Colby with a basket of clothes heading to the basement laundry room.

“Hey Em! Rough day at work?” He furrowed his brow as he looked me up and down.

“You could say that. Does it show?” I banter back.

“Nah gorgeous as always babe,” he winks as he heads towards the staircase with me.

As he takes his first few steps down and I take my first few up he turns to get my attention again.

“Wanna help me with this fluff and fold?”

“Ha, you wish buddy! I’m takin’ this ass straight to the shower then I’m burying myself under the covers for at least 8 hours.” That was undoubtedly the truth. I needed this day to be over. He rolled his eyes as he continued down the stairs out of my eye-line yelling ‘LOSER!’ as I hear him click open the stairwell door.

I can’t get to my apartment fast enough. As I stand in the shower, I try to recount my day in the twilight zone. I stood there so long steam began to overtake my tiny bathroom. One of these days I’ll ask the landlord to send someone to fix this damn fan. I quickly dry off and throw on an oversized T-shirt. I set my phone’s alarm for 7am knowing I have to be at work by 7:45 but not willing to deprive myself one ounce of sleep. I throw myself onto my bed before pulling down the soft oversized comforter. I didn’t even bother to turn the lights off before my eyes glued themselves shut.

That was the first night I dreamt of Dane.