Moon flower

Chapter 2. Clouds

I awoke from a beautiful dream. I was laying in a field of wild flowers, with the long grasses tickling at my nose. A wolf laying by my side. His fur was the blue black of deep water, his eyes the colour of fresh honey, illuminated from within. Though I was in my human form in the dream I wasn’t scared of this huge wolf beside me. I was happy, feeling safe and protected and as the warm rays of the sun kissed my skin I felt I could lay there forever. I reached out my hand to stroke my fingers through the fur of the wolf. Just as my fingertips were about to touch, I was pulled from my sleep to the sound of rain against the window pane. Beating its drum against the glass so fearsomely that it could have been hail. The storm had done nothing to lower the temperature however and I realised that I was soaked in sweat from being wrapped in my blankets. Kicking myself free of their clammy embrace I swung my legs over the edge of my bed, letting my feet rest gently on the hard and creaking wooden floorboards.

As I walked to the shower to cool off my thoughts drifted to what had happened last night at the clearing. I didn’t know what had

happened in truth. I had felt… something and had smelt what? The rain washing in from the mountains? That was it. But that didn’t explain the extreme reaction my body had experienced the second that scent hit my nose, I could still faintly smell it. Just thinking back on it now caused a pleasurable shiver to travel over me, leaving goosebumps in its wake. What on earth was this? And why couldn’t I shake this tug I felt within me? It was a strange sensation to be sure. Like my insides were doing flips and trying to wiggle outwards, as if my body was trying to propel me forward. I shook my head as I turned on the shower and turned to the mirror. I glanced at my reflection and noticed that there was a faint trace of dirt on my left cheek, along my cheek bone. It looked as if someone with slightly dirty fingers had traced their thumb along my cheek. I looked down at my hands only to find them clean. Im sure I must have just not

noticed I had dirty hands when I returned from my late night walk, and the rest had rubbed off on my bedsheets.

I looked up again and met my own pale blue eyes gazing back at me in the mirror. My auburn hair falling in easy waves down to my mid back was tangled from last nights wind. My peach cheeks already shimmering with the sweat of what promised to be another hot day. I would never call myself ugly, but I didn’t think I was what people

would call beautiful. Freckles lightly dotted my cheeks, the pale brown specks a contrast to the lightness of my skin. My bottom lip

was fuller than my top one, giving me an uneven pout that I doubted anyone would find sexy. I wasn’t thin, but I wasn’t large ether. If I wore the right clothes I could look like I had an hourglass figure. A well placed belt could do wonders for a girls waist. All in all I thought of myself as pretty unassuming. Not really even the girl next door type. More like the girl two doors down.

I sighed at myself as I turned and stepped into the shower. The cool water washing away the remainder of last nights sweat from my body. I loved having cold showers. It reminds me of being stood in a heavy rain storm. I had been caught in one once a few years ago. I had been for a run in my wolf form and all of a sudden the rain was pouring from the sky in a torrent. I had been deep within the forest, away from prying eyes so I had shifted back to human and stood there until the rain past. The feel of the cold droplets hitting my body had been pure bliss. It was something I swore to myself I would do again if I ever got the chance, but I never had. There had been moments when I had wanted to but I had always been afraid that someone would see me stood there completely naked, my face turned up towards the rain. I would have looked half mad. So I let my fear of judgment override my desire to feel that again, nothing between me and the storm.

After I had finished rinsing my hair I grabbed a towel from the rack and wrapped it round myself. Barely noticing the old, scratchy fabric against my skin. Waking into my bedroom I pulled my hair up into a messy bun above my head, I’d let it dry naturally and then style it properly later before the party. Throwing on a miss matched bra and panties, I picked out some black leggings and my favourite T-shirt, it was pale purple in colour and was hand embroidered with a delicate leaf design hand sewn round the bottom. It had taken me hours to do. And although it was simple I was proud of my work once it was completed. I had never been one for sequins and glitter on my clothes. Much preferring more subtle, nature themed designs. Once I was dressed I glanced out the window, noticing the rain had faded somewhat, now only drizzling. I decided against taking my hoodie with me as I could tell that was probably about it for the storm for now. The sun was already peaking through the clouds, bringing the promise of another hot day with it. I slipped on my old faded white converse sneakers and grabbed a slice of toast before leaving the house. I still couldn’t stop thinking about last night.

Opening the door I jumped a little to see someone stood right in front of me, their arm raised about to knock.

“Oh Gods! Becca you scared me!”

I slapped at my best friends raised hand as she chuckled at my shocked expression. I had been so lost in my own thoughts that I hadn’t heard anyone approaching my cabin.

“Sorry babes”

she said with that annoying grin on her face. She was the only person in the world I’d let call me babes. I hated it but I loved her more, so I let it slide. She knew this and therefore used the term often. Becca was gorgeous, with short pixie cut blond hair that framed her eleven features. She looked like a character out of some fairytale movie. You know the ones, the ones where all the women were incredibly beautiful, always looked perfect and never had to be rescued by by a man, because they rescued themselves and were pretty handy with a bow and arrow. Yeah. She looked like that. I grinned back at her, it was nice to see her to be honest, I hadn’t been able to much recently as she had been busy working at the pack clinic and with her mate Callum. They had found each other about a year ago and had been inseparable ever since. Although I was happy to see her so happy and loved up it was difficult for me and she knew it.

“What’s up Becca? Don’t you have to work at the clinic today?”

I asked as I closed the door behind me and started walking. No one bothered locking their doors on pack land. The only people who lived here were other pack members and no one would ever consider stealing from another.

“Nah, it’s pretty quiet there at the moment so Doc Tellerson gave me the day off. I thought I could help you out instead, it feels like forever since we’ve spent some time together.”

She looked at me sheepishly, I knew she felt a little guilty for not making the time for me but I honestly couldn’t blame her. Everything changes when you find your mate. Life can’t just go on like it did before and your priorities shift. I smiled and crammed the last of my toast into my mouth,

“Aww, you miss me?”

I tease, showering her with crumbs. Becca just laughed, wrapping her arm around my shoulder and pulling me into her side,

“With such impeccable eating habits like yours how could I not miss you!”

I loved my best friend for that, it didn’t matter how much time had gone by without seeing each other, it always just fell back into the easy back and forth between us. Talking and acting like we’d never been apart.

“So…what delights are we going to be doing today?”

Becca asked curiously. Smiling, I grabbed a large, slightly damp wooden basket that I had left laying in the grass and held it out to her.

“Picking flowers.”