Fated From the Start

A Bad Dream

Harlow POV

I bolted upright in bed with a scream. I'd just dreamed that I was being chased through the woods by five towering wolves and I awoke just as one of them pounced towards me.

"THE f**k HARLOW, ITS 3 AM!" Will screamed across the loft with a groan. 

"Nightmare." I murmured back at her. 

She sleepily stumbled into my room wrapped in a blanket, a pint of salted caramel ice cream and a spoon in her hand. "Cedar texted me last night and told me I was to give this to you as soon as possible, he didn't say why. Did you and Ash break up?" 

How in the hell was I supposed to explain what had happened to Will without her thinking I'd gone off the deep end and committing my ass… 

"It’s a really long story," I sighed.

"Lucky for us I'm up for work an hour early," she teased back, letting me know I was not getting off the hook for this one. She plopped herself down on my bed and eyed me curiously. 

"What I'm about to tell you will make you think I'm legit crazy, but I swear to you it's the truth." I warned. 

"Are the guys in a cult? Cause I'm really not that surprised, it actually makes a lot of sense." She pondered, making the same assumption I did. We really were scarily similar sometimes. 

"I thought the same thing, but no. It's so much weirder." I was trying to lay an adequate amount of ground work for what I was about to tell her, not that I thought that was even possible. 

"Alright, hit me." She stated eagerly. 

"The guys are werewolves. Like straight from the storybooks, never would believe it's real. Big scary monster, werewolves. Except apparently the stories get it wrong and they can shift whenever they want" I breathed out with a heavy sigh, hoping Will would even consider believing me. 

"Seriously?" She gasped in disbelief.

"Cross my heart and hope to die, so serious." I swore to her. "When I questioned him Ash shifted for me, and then I passed out. It was terrifying."

"THAT'S… SO… AWESOME…" Will screamed. 

"What is wrong with you?! They're monsters!" I snapped back at her. 

"What makes you think they're monsters?" She questioned me with an eyebrow raised. 

"Werewolves are monsters, isn't that just a fact?" I questioned her back. 

"What's your source for this fact? Cause yesterday we both would have sworn it was a fact that werewolves were a myth." Damn her and her logic.

"Why are you being so cool about this?" I marveled.

"We just found out something everyone believes to be a myth is real, if that's not cool I don't know what is…" she mused back at me.

"Maybe it’s because you didn't literally come face to face with a 7 foot tall wolf…" I sighed.

"7 feet tall, no s**t…" Will was way too amazed by all of this for how terrified I was. "So you're going to keep seeing him right?" She implored as I shoveled a giant spoon of the ice cream into my mouth.

"Unclear, so very unclear" I mumbled, jabbing the spoon back into the carton for another spoonful.

"But Harlow, Ash makes you so happy… I've never seen you like this with a guy before, how can you give up on that?" She pleaded with me. 

"I don't want to, I'm pretty sure I love him, but my head is screaming at me to run away from the scary monster." I sighed. "How do I get over being literally terrified of such a huge part of who he is?" I inquired. If Will wanted to be so cool, calm, and collected then she could figure out the hard things.

"You have to get over it," she stated matter of factly. 

"Imma start by going back to bed," I groaned, pulling the comforter over my head as I fell back on my pillow. 

My phone chimed the second I woke up, *I love you Harlow* 

Ugh.

That night at work I found Cedar sitting in his usual spot as if nothing had happened the day before. 

"What are you doing here?" I almost growled as I approached him.

"The usual," he said with a smirk and a shrug. 

"I don't want you here," I hissed back at him. He winced like I'd slapped him.

"Totty, nothing has changed. We're still your guys. We still love you exactly the way we did a week ago. I'm still going to protect you like my life depends on it." He stated matter of factly, it almost sounded like he'd rehearsed it in his head half the day.

"I need to process Cedar" I responded solemnly. 

"Well, do it quickly, you're killing us smalls" he feigned a joke, but it didn't quite reach his eyes that were sad and pleading. "Can I stay please? We just need to know you're safe."

"I need some distance from wolves, I promise I'll be okay, but you need to go" I instructed.

With a groan he got up and retreated from the club. The boys were relentless and I had a feeling they'd still be keeping an eye on me, I just wouldn't know it as much. 

*I love you Harlow* the texts came every twelve hours like clock work. Like he was daring me to forget about him, or his love for me. Like he knew I'd have a hell of time making him into a monster in my head if he just kept reminding me of how sweet and doting he was and about the love we undeniably shared. 

But every night the nightmares came. Tracked down, chased, and attacked by giant towering wolves.