Chapter 8

Collins

After a quick breakfast I was back in my room looking at the mess trying to decide what to do first. I could work on packing.. or start job hunting … or call Alan and see if he had time to talk.. or do my workout .. or practice dance … OR .. what I really wanted to do, which was curl up on the bed and watch a movie.

And dammit all.. guess what won.

I brought the popcorn I had popped and dramatically plopped on the bed. I turned on ‘The Conjuring…. One of my all time favorite movies, even though it still scared me to death after seeing it a million times. It was somehow comforting… weird quirk, I know.

Once it was over I told myself I was being lazy. So I got up… practiced a dance routine I had been working on… then went for a jog. After I made a lap around the entire pack line I was exhausted. This place was stupid big. Massive, actually. But I wanted to let my wolf out a while.

I went to the tree line and undressed. After everything happened with Garrett, this bothered me more than it used to. Sure, as a wolf it was a fairly normal thing to be naked but… it’s not like we ran a nudist camp. We always tried to be a little bit inconspicuous.

I shifted quickly and darted out into the woods. Goddess. There would never be anything better than this. The feeling of complete and utter freedom. The wind flowed through my fur as I ran. I ran faster and faster, jumping through the air, practically flying through the forest.

I stopped to drink from a stream, looking at my reflection. I didn’t have special abilities like Emily… I wasn’t huge in the way she was, or have the gorgeous silver white fur… but I was a beautiful wolf if I did say so myself.

My wolf was a light gray color… whereas the biggest percentage of us were brown. I liked that my coloring was a little different. It even matched Alan’s to a point.

His wolf form was breathtaking. He was a mixture of dark and light gray and white. I’d never seen anything more beautiful.

My favorite thing about my wolf was my fur. It was longer than most. I had no idea why, nor did my parents, or anyone for that matter. But it flowed beautifully as I ran.

And whereas most wolves had yellow or orange eyes.. well except for Emily and Lorenzo… mine stayed the same color when I changed.. they were a bright sparkling green.

Knowing I was about to be back at college and these runs would most likely be few and far between I ran until I physically couldn’t run anymore. Exhaustion was taking over. So I made my way back to where I had left my clothes, shifted, and got dressed again.

I decided to go home and shower… goddess knows I needed it after that. My hair was wet with sweat at this point. But when I walked in the house I heard laughter coming from the living room.

I walked around the corner and was surprised to see both Emily and Lauren talking to mom.

“Here she is..” Celly Manning said.

“Hey guys… what are y’all doing?” I replied.

“We came to see you ..” Lauren answered.

“Can we talk in your room? I don’t want to wake the little one.” Emily said.

So they all started towards the stairs when mom called out : “thanks again for the tea recipe Luna! I’m going to try it out tonight.”

“No problem Celly!” Emily yelled back at her.

“I wish your mom would just call me Emily.” The Luna herself told us on the way to to my bedroom.

I snorted. “Well you are indeed the Luna …”

“I know but.. we’re like best friends and literally almost related…” Emily told her.

I laughed as we sat down on my bed. “What’s up?” I asked them.. beginning to get suspicious as they both were looking at me grinning.

“We’re throwing you a going away party!” Lauren said excitedly while clapping her hands.

I smiled. “What?? Really?”

Emily held up a finger.

“Well .. sort of … we…” she motioned to the three of them. “Are going to get drunk. And later .. we have a surprise for you.” Emily grinned.

I grinned. I usually stayed away from alcohol, especially after what happened. It seemed my life was now split up into two parts. Before I was molested by my crazy ex and his friends, and now… after. But I would be perfectly safe with Emily and Lauren. There would be no going off with any boys… not this time… not ever again.

The girls were leaving to give me time to get ready when Emily pulled me to the side and whispered:

“I know what your thinking… but don’t worry we will be together the entire time. I’ve got your back.”

I smiled at my friend, my friend that I knew would go to the ends of the earth to protect me. Just as I would her… once you’ve shared the same horrors in your past, you have a certain bond that you don’t share with your other friends. “I know.” I said. “And right back at cha.”

A couple hours later the three of us were on our way to the little town about twenty minutes up the road from the territory. I had thrown on a tight short sleeve body suit with some chocolate colored leather pants and heels. I decided right then and there i would need to do some clothes shopping before leaving for college. I didn’t have enough warm clothes for this weather.

Even though it was technically summer here… it was still cool outside. Nothing compared to my old home in the west when it was hot eighty percent of the year. And in the new pack….the nights… they were down right cold.

The little bar/club in the town was a hole in the wall. But it was clean and cute.. and pretty full considering. There were booths and a dance floor and an actual bar with TVs scattered around. It was pretty comparable to the bar in the pack. But we wanted to go somewhere different tonight… for nothing else but a change of scenery.

I felt all the eyes from every male turn when we walked in. I suddenly felt my breathing picking up … my anxiety coming forward full blast.

Emily turned and looked at me. She grabbed my hand.

“It’s okay …” she told me. She had clearly picked up my chemo signals.

I smiled and nodded … slowly evening out my breathing.

This had to stop. The dreams… the anxiety…..

I have to get over my past. So I can finally get on with my future.