Page 14

Selene

M y alarm rings startling me awake after another restless night of sleep.

My eyes blink open as I stare at my ceiling.

Maybe I should ask my mom for a stronger sleep tonic because if I keep going at this rate, I’m going to fall asleep in the middle of class.

Those crystalline blue eyes chased me through the woods again, haunting my every step.

The woods felt familiar, almost like the ones that I walk through to my secret valley.

My phone vibrates with an incoming text.

Flipping it over, Odessa’s name pops up letting me know she’ll be here in twenty minutes to walk with me to school.

Throwing my comforter back, I slide my feet into my slippers.

My English assignment is still sitting on my laptop where I left it.

Maybe the stress of that assignment is why I’m feeling so unsettled.

My arms stretch over my head as I shift from side to side.

The muscles in my legs are tight this morning, almost like I ran a marathon last night instead of sleeping.

I grab my lotion and massage it into my calves hoping for a little relief.

After a few minutes of massaging the tight muscles, I can finally move them around without feeling like a rubber band about to snap.

Checking the time on my phone, I realize I’ve got less than ten minutes before Odessa will be howling on my front porch about how long it’s taking me.

Literally! She will stand outside yelling about how she is always waiting on a woman.

She can be a real drama queen sometimes.

As if I haven’t sat in her bedroom waiting an hour for her to finish her hair.

With no time to waste, I rush around my room throwing on the first outfit I find and running a brush through my long straight hair.

I have to say one benefit is it’s almost always ready to go for the day.

A quick brushing and I’m able to go out.

A few swipes of mascara to darken my eyelashes, a touch of lip gloss, a spritz of perfume and bam, I’m ready for school.

Pulling the strap of my bag over my head, I open the flap to throw in the three rolls of film that I need to develop, my homework from yesterday along with the English assignment, and my favorite pen.

I’ve just cracked my bedroom door open when I hear the first yell of Odessa from the front door.

Shaking my head, I pull my bedroom door closed behind me. This girl.

Outside, I can hear her beginning to sing the lyrics of the Brad Paisley song, “Waiting on a Woman.”

“I hope she takes her time, ‘cause I don’t mind. Waitin’ on a woman”

She’s completely unhinged and off-key.

I’m rushing past the kitchen where I find Mom and Dad laughing as they sip their morning coffees.

“Better hurry before she gets to the high-pitched part of that song,” my mom jokes as I grab an apple and my juice.

I smile and shake my head, remembering the time I was still asleep when Odessa showed up and she ended up singing the whole song.

I’m pretty sure the entire neighborhood was ready to drag me out of bed in hopes she would stop singing.

“Oh, hey before I leave for school. Mom, can you bring home something stronger to help with sleep? I’m feeling majorly wiped.”

She nods her head. “Of course sweetie. Are your nerves about graduation getting to you?”

“Yeah, sounds about right.”

Odessa has moved on to the next part of the song and my eyes bulge. I gotta go, we are getting closer to the high-pitched part.

“He said the weddin’ took a year to plan,” she sings from the front porch.

I wave to both of my parents before dashing to the door.

With her only living three cabins down from me, we usually walk to school together.

It’s going to be weird after graduation when that’s not part of my morning routine anymore.

As my soul match, Odessa and I’ve done practically everything together since we were young pups.

We discovered makeup, boys, our favorite ice cream flavor, the boy bands we love, and have binge-watched every show together.

With adulthood barking down the hall at us, I’m terrified that we won’t have this much time together anymore.

Odessa already has a place in the pack. She found that she loves baking and has taken up an internship with our baker to learn all the generational recipes, such as our honey cakes.

At least one of us knows what we are doing next.

The front door swings open to Odessa mid-note as she belts it to the ceiling of our porch.

Looking over to Mrs. Cranford’s house, our next door neighbor, who is almost ancient at this point, I’m grateful to see she isn’t outside this morning.

Her mate passed away a few years back and ever since then her attitude has only gotten worse, especially when it comes to us teenagers.

She can’t stand Odes singing and will make passive-aggressive comments as we walk down the path to the road.

“Girl, you sing like you are Mariah Carey but you sound more like a dying cat.”

She glares at me. “I’ll have you know, I sing beautifully.”

“Who lied to you?”

“Raiden,” she grumbles as we turn to walk down the path to the road.

My arm loops through hers. “That’s only because he is hoping that you will be his mate and he can finally taste that peach you’re carrying around.”

Her mouth drops open. “He said my voice could sing him to sleep each night and he would die a happy wolf.”

I can’t resist the urge to roll my eyes. “Yeah probably so he doesn’t have to hear it anymore.”

She swats my hand. “Anyways, we aren’t here to chat about me or Raiden. You’re supposed to tell me why you look like you knocked on Death’s door last night and he rejected you.”

Now it’s my turn to drop my mouth open. This bish. “Alright, but if I tell you this then you can’t tell anybody else. Not our parents, and especially not Raiden.”

She makes a cross over her heart before pretending to shoot herself and sticking her tongue out like she died. See what I mean about drama queen. “I promise not to say anything. Like I would anyways.” Her lip pops in a pout.

My head tilts to the side as I look at her out of the corner of my eye.

We both know that she would totally tell Raiden.

Normally, I wouldn’t care as I don’t normally have anything my parents don’t know about.

But, if ONE person finds out in this town, it will make it through the grapevine before I even walk in my home.

Joys of a small town, there is only one thing they love more than sun tea, a very popular Summer Solstice drink, and that is gossip.

“So, you obviously know that I’ve been taking photos, but you haven’t known where. Really that’s been because I wanted it to stay as my secret, my hideaway from everyone.”

Her hand comes to her chest in mock pain.

“Even from you. Love you, but I like my peace. Anyways, I’ve been going off pack land to this hidden gem in the mountains. For a while it’s only been me. That is until one day a wolf showed up. At first I thought it could be a wild wolf.”

“Girl, you know there aren't wild wolves around here. They stay away from the magic of this place.”

“Yeah well forgive me for thinking maybe I was far enough away that one might wander in. Anyways,” my eyes cut to her again.

“As I was saying, it didn’t take me long to figure out he def is one of us.

But, for the life of me, I can’t figure out who he is.

He has to be from our pack, but I’ve never seen him before or photographed him during pack runs.

I know we have a lot of wolves, but how have I never seen him before? ”

“Maybe he doesn’t want you to see him? Ever consider that?”

“Like he’s made sure he isn’t around me during pack runs?”

“Yeah, I mean it’s not that hard given the almost sixty wolves shifting for the run. But he could make sure he either doesn’t shift near you or waits till you’re far enough away. Either is possible. Do you have any guesses on who you think it is?”

My eyes stray to Caelon’s cabin as we walk by it.

Odessa’s eyes follow mine to the dark cabin.

I know he’s already left for work this morning.

This is why I say that I rarely see him.

He’s gone before I leave every morning and still not home when I come back for the day. Either that or he sits in a dark house.

“You think it’s Caelon?”

My eyes snap to hers as my head whips to the side. “What?”

“I asked who you thought it was and your eyes went to his cabin. I thought maybe that’s who you thought it was.”

“So here’s the thing. Gail gave me this clarity tea to drink and when I was sipping it last night, Caelon came home.

I couldn’t break my eye contact with him and I watched him walk up his stairs and into his house.

I’m talking as focused as we are when they bring out mozzarella sticks fresh out of the grease.

You couldn’t have gotten me to look away if you tried. ”

“Oh shit, that’s serious then. Have you felt that way towards him before?”

“I mean not really. He’s always been our neighbor from when he lived with his parents to moving across the street from us. I’ve never talked to him, so I can’t say I’ve really thought about him as more than my neighbor.”

“That’s fair. So what’s changed?”

“Well, on top of this wolf showing up when I go to my secret place, I’ve also been plagued with dreams about a pair of specific blue eyes on a shadowy male figure.

No matter how hard I try I can’t seem to catch him to figure out who it is.

Then while sipping the tea last night, those eyes appeared as I was watching Caelon go into his house.

It was almost like they were trying to tell me something. Something that should be so obvious.”

She squeals, “Oh this is juicy.”