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THIRTEEN | FOREST
I could hear Skye calling out for me, but I kept my eyes fixed on the pines and conifers as I ran. Eventually, I could no longer hear his footsteps or his cries, and I stumbled through the trees, reaching out for their ridged trunks to pull myself to a halt.
My nightmate couldn’t be a werewolf, could he? I shook my head, desperately trying to clear my blurred vision. I’d responded to him with tenderness, and closeness; I’d shown him the beginnings of an emotional bond that I’d not been able to trust anyone with, even my adopted family, since my death four years ago. And now, suddenly, I was able to show a stranger such faith, such… love? I shook my head again, and, feeling my dress swilling around my legs, and the crunch of dead leaves beneath my bare feet, I gave myself over to my most primal urges.
I needed to feed. That had to be it. I was confused; my guard was down. But I’d wanted to kiss hi
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She Runs with Wolves FOURTEEN | SONGBIRD
“Falmer?” I asked, very quietly.He was stood against the house, leaning back against the bricks. With his dark hair and all-black outfit, he blurred into the velvet cloak of the night. As I stepped closer, however, his sharp, crow-like features were clearly recognisable.“Ellis,” he said coolly, by way of greeting. His eyes were narrowed, no more than two dark slits dug into his face. Then his gaze dropped, and his eyes widened. “Are you okay?” He asked, his voice softening.“Fine,” I said, though my thigh throbbed and the scratches down my arm ached. “I was thirsty,” I added, by way of an explanation. “I – there’s no more human blood. The donors left.” I knew I was rambling, as I often did when I needed to cover up something that wasn’t the entire truth. The more detail I could give, the more convincing I thought I was being.
She Runs with Wolves FIFTEEN | STRAWBERRY
I showered quickly, not wanting anybody else to see my bandaged arm and leg. The hot water and the lather of the strawberry scented shampoo wound upwards together, misting the room in a thick, heady steam. I let my eyes drift shut, massaging my scalp – luxuriating in a human sensation – and reluctantly rinsed myself off far sooner than I would have liked. I let my long, wavy hair dry naturally, falling about my shoulders as I peeled off the cling film and towelled off my body. I stepped into a pair of faded black denim dungarees, and added a sage green jumper underneath before I clipped it together over my shoulders. The jumper was partly for aesthetics, partly to keep up appearances, but mostly to hide my bandaged arm.I didn’t even have time for so much as a power nap. Though my lack of sleep didn’t show up on me as obviously as it would on a human, there was a still a hint of purple beneath my eyes, and my lips looked pale pink, rather than their usual cherry red. Enjoying the scen
She Runs with Wolves SIXTEEN | ORANGE
I smoothed down the thighs of my dungarees, fidgeting uncomfortably in the corner of the room. I’d decided, at the last second, to wait in the doorway for Kathrena, so that the two of us could sit together. I was concerned that she hadn’t come to school with me today, and I’d found – to my utmost surprise – that I’d missed her.She seemed like she needed a friend at the moment. I’d always had Falmer to rely on, whereas Kathrena tended to keep to herself. Though she was open with Aradia and Ezrand, and, in fact, with the other Clan members, I didn’t think that there were any that she could call a close friend. She was open in all of the ways that I was not, but she seemed lonely. So I waited for her, my toe tapping in anticipation, in excitement, of finding out what the meeting was about.Besides, I thought, it was strange indeed that she’d missed school today. Kathrena had a neatly
She Runs with Wolves SEVENTEEN | DAYDREAMS
“What is it?” Kathrena asked. To the uneducated observer, I was sure that she looked calm, relaxed. But I’d been watching her lately, and I caught the slightly pinched look of her skin, and the way her shoulders hoisted up to brush against the ends of her hair.I had to admit that I was equally worried. Kathrena and I both had secrets to keep, and we were the only two being held back. But Aradia smiled warmly at us both, and I felt my chest unclench as I met her gaze.“I think,” she began, her words spilling out slowly as she watched us closely for our reactions, “it would be worth us… loosening the rules regarding your relationships at school. The teenage mind – it can draw links between people and events, often in a ruthless way. I worry that in the unfortunate event of more attacks, the two of you might be singled out as newcomers, and as loners.”My heart leapt,
She Runs with Wolves EIGHTEEN | SCARLET
I waited anxiously throughout the whole period, but Skye never showed. And it was the same the next day, and the day after that. I waited, but Skye had disappeared. I felt as though it was my fault, but there were other, deeper feelings that scared me now. I worried that he was injured, that he was hurt. Then I’d loop back around to worrying that I had been the one to hurt him, emotionally, at least, and I spent the next few days in a searing panic, dancing from one ledge to the next, my toes scraping at their edges and sending shards of rock tumbling down the myriad of cliff faces.I let myself slip backwards instead, closing up the walls around me as I fell. I was hard, indestructible; I was surrounded by steel and by stone, and my barricades held firm. I let them down, just a little, when Kathrena, Falmer, or Rowan tried to talk to me. It wasn’t their fault that I’d hurt Skye, and in doing so I didn’t want to continue the pattern by hurting each of them in turn, too.I let time was
She Runs with Wolves NINETEEN | FRACTURED
I couldn’t quell the hope that Skye might have returned to Aspen High by tomorrow, even as I laid out of the groundwork for my plan. Kathrena’s to-do list notepad, it turned out, was quite useful indeed.There were a few torn pages, which looked as though they’d been ripped out in a hurry – not Kathrena’s style at all. I’d once watched her folding along a line, and she’d used a ruler to do it. Hastily and inaccurately were not two words I would use to describe Kathrena, or any of her actions.My words were scrawled across the page, a series of wildly looping letters that just about formed legible shapes. The lamplight was dimmed, but I could still see what I’d written clearly.It was dark outside, now, and the strange, pointed edges of the pine trees loomed in the distance. I’d been out there earlier to hunt, as soon as my short patrol shift was finished. Aradia
She Runs with Wolves TWENTY | ON THE TRAIL
The drive home was silent. Kathrena seemed too embarrassed, too ashamed, to even look at me. I was too focused on my own plans to expend any excess energy worrying about her strange behaviour. The forest rolled by, the trees seeming to grow in stop-motion above us, inching higher and higher until they formed an oppressive archway, blocking out the sky.Then I blinked, and the trees had shrunk back down. I let out a tiny sigh, and gripped the steering wheel a little tighter.I knew what I needed to do. Now all that was left was to do it.Kathrena’s dark eyes followed me quizzically as I dropped her off at home. I’d left the engine running, and my fingers drummed out a staccato rhythm on the steering wheel as she gathered her bag and coat.“Are you sure you’re not coming in?” She asked, one hand on the truck door.“I’m sure,” I
She Runs with Wolves TWENTY-ONE | WATERCOLOURS
I pushed my way through the spiralling branches of a mother tree, and settled myself on a fallen log a little way behind it. I could still just about see the building through the sheet of greenery, but it was distorted, blurred.There were a number of tiny, speckled mushrooms growing beside me. I bounced my fingers along them, tapping each in turn, desperate to distract myself from the conversation that was surely about to happen. Skye’s expression loomed in my mind’s eye, and I felt my heart ache as I thought about the fear in his handsome face.The pillars of light stretched into the forest, tickling the damp toes of my once-white shoes. I stretched my legs out, and then jumped so hard that I almost fell off the log I was precariously balanced on. Skye was beside me, a finger held over his sinfully curved, full lips.He didn’t say anything, and I narrowed my eyes at him. My eyebrows pulled inwards, fu
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