The Hunt

Chapter 5

    Interaction between humans and werewolves should be monitored and kept to a minimum. Close relations between the two species will not be tolerated. Extreme action may need to be taken to prevent mixing of the species as well as awareness of our world to the common man. There will be no exceptions made.

Hunter's Codex, werewolf lifestyles pg. 674

    I woke up to the most annoying sound in the world, an alarm clock. “Ohhh.” I rolled over in bed and tried to hunt down my phone to shut off the noise. Five more minutes of sleep and then I would get up. I finally was able to hunt my phone down and shut off the alarm while just barely opening my eyes. 
    The peace didn’t last long, Cassy was at my door banging. “Michelle, get up. Michelle, get up.”
    “I’m up!” I swear one day she’ll regret waking me up like that. I rolled out of bed and looked at the time on my phone. Seven in the morning, plenty of time to fix my hair and have a little breakfast. It’s my first day back at school since the attack and I had honestly gotten too used to sleeping in. 
    I was just finishing off the milk from my bowl of cereal when Chris walked in, he shivered and shut the door quickly. Walking over to where I was standing he wrapped one of his arms around my waist, “The temperatures dropped out there today. You might want to wear a jacket.” He chuckled at what he thought was him teasing me, but it had no effect on me. If the temperature really did drop anymore then I would want a jacket.
    “Thanks for letting me know.” I moved to make my way up the stairs to grab a jacket out of my room when his arm around me held me back.
    “Are you walking off without even saying good morning? How rude.” He spun me around to face him.
    I pushed on his chest with my one good arm and leaned back before he was able to plant a kiss. “Your sister is literally in the other room and she could walk out at any moment.”
    “And? What’s it hurt for her to know?” 
    “I thought you didn’t want her to.” I eased off the pressure on his chest a bit and let him snuggle in a bit closer.
    “I’ve decided it doesn’t matter. I just really want to kiss you right now.” He smiled gently and leaned in closer, brushing my lips with his.
    I smiled and let out a little laugh, brushing my lips back in response. It was at that moment Cassy decided to walk out of her room. She froze where she was standing and just stared. Chris looked over my shoulder at her and I tried to put a little distance between us. 
    “Really you guys? Right under my roof? When were you both going to tell me?” She let out a disgusted noise and walked past us to the front door. “Just come on, we’re gonna be late for school.” 
    After she left Chris stole a real kiss, causing little shivers to run through my body. We left the apartment and climbed into his car. Chris decided he would drive us for the next couple weeks until we knew for sure my fracture was completely healed. Even though I can walk on it just fine he still insists on using it as little as possible.  
When we pulled into the campus parking lot I felt a little nervous. This would be the first time since leaving the hospital I was actually going to be alone and now that I actually had some sort of relationship with Chris I wanted to be around him more. 
    I started to walk to the building for my first class, when Chris called out to me. “Hey Michelle, be careful okay. Shoot me a text if you need anything.” 
    “Will do.” I gave him a short smile and then walked to class. 
    My first class was a couple hours long and was one of my music courses. Since my arm was still in its cast I wasn’t able to play my instrument but the director had me sight read throughout the entire practice. This was going to be a long month and if I didn’t do well during the few practices I have before our Fall Recital then I most likely wouldn’t keep my seat. I made sure to pay extra attention to the sheet music, all the stops, rests, and dynamics trying not to miss a single one. 
    Class finally let out and I was walking through a shortcut of mine to my science class, looking down at my phone to text Chris, when I ran right into someone. “Oh, I’m sorry…..” I felt a tingling all over my body where arms had caught me from going backwards. I looked up and saw my stalker just staring at me looking just as surprised as I was. He didn’t let go either, and I didn’t push him away. 
    “It’s fine, I should’ve been watching where I was going.” He spoke quietly, still holding my gaze and not moving his arms from my sides. It felt like my skin was on fire where he touched me and I couldn’t bring myself to look away from his eyes. Such a deep green, I could get lost in them for hours. 
    My phone dinged letting me know I had a message and I shook myself out of the weird trance I had just been in. I pulled myself out of his reach and looked down at my phone to see a response from Chris, telling me good luck in my science class. I immediately felt guilty at what was just going through my head about this stranger standing in front of me. 
    “I’m Will.” His deep voice cut right through my guilt and sent warmth through my body. I looked up at him again, having a hard time finding my voice. 
    “Michelle.”
    He smiled, and it was a cute little lopsided grin, making him appear younger than he probably was. I couldn’t help but smile back a little. 
    “I’m sorry by the way.” He shuffled his feet a bit looking down and kicked at the ground, obviously a little nervous. 
    “It’s okay, I was the one looking at my phone.”
    “No, I mean about a couple weeks ago. I saw you in town and you looked familiar.” He blushed a bit when he looked back up at me, his eyes peeking through his dark hair, shocking me with how familiar that looked. 
    “Oh, uh. Yeah, it’s okay.” I didn’t know what to say to that. It freaked me out thinking I had a stalker, and here he was, letting me know it was a misunderstanding. “Do you go to school here?” I remembered that day when I saw him as we were leaving campus. It was the last time I saw him but it seemed like too much of a coincidence at the time.
    “Sometimes. I take a few classes here and there, I’m not a full time student though.” Again the warmth in his voice just melted away everything I had been feeling. My nervousness for today, my anxiety about being alone and even my suspicions of him. That probably should register as a red flag but it didn’t. It’s almost as though I couldn’t properly complete a thought. 
    “Do you have some time to go grab a drink from the courtyard? As an apology, for both things.” He let out a short nervous laugh. 
    I couldn’t help myself and laughed back with a grin on my face. “I actually have a class right now.” I looked down at my phone, showing that I was already five minutes late and I still had a good way to walk before I reached my building. “Looks like I’m late though.”
    “Well then an apology for three things. I’ll buy.” 
    I looked at him and he looked a little anxious waiting for my answer. “Sure, why not.” The courtyard typically had a lot of people sitting at the cafe or the food court waiting in between their classes so it’s not like we would be alone. 
    If smiles could speak then I swear he would have been shouting from the rooftops with how big his grin was. It was still a little lopsided and the cuteness of it all made my heart skip a beat. Crap. I cannot fall for a strange stalker dude when I finally started an actual relationship with Chris.
    “Come on.” He started to walk in the direction of the courtyard and I fell in step beside him. “There’s an amazing chocolate flavored coffee they sell at the cafe. It’s to die for.” He kept talking about how amazing the coffee was with a dopey smile on his face. He must really like that coffee.
    That thought made me giggle a bit causing him to turn and look at me, still smiling. “You have to try it.” 
    “Okay. I’ll give it a shot.” I had a giant smile on my face that probably matched his and I didn’t know why. It made me smile even more to think about it though, this guy was infectious. 
    When we reached the cafe he had me sit at a small table while he ordered the drinks. With drinks in hand he sat down and slid one across to me. “Go on, try it.” He watched me take a sip and his smile grew when I let out a pleasant sound. The coffee WAS good. 
    “That’s amazing.” I looked up at him surprised.
    “See, I told you.” He took a drink out of his. 
    “What's it called?”
    He looked at me, thoughtful, for a moment. “Can’t say. If you want it again you’ll have to come back with me.” 
    “Well dang, what if I never see you again and then I’m left wondering for the rest of my life if I’ll ever get to taste this coffee ever again.”
    “Sorry, I guess you’ll just have to make it a point to find me.” He winked and took another drink. 
    Is it shameful to say I was enjoying his flirty comments, because I was. They made me smile even more.
    He leaned forward putting his elbows on the table. “So what happened to your arm? I don’t remember it being in a cast a couple weeks ago.” 
    It was strange to have this man I just met talking to me as though we’ve known each other for years. I was kind of enjoying the whole situation though so I went with it. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” 
    “Try me.” 
    “Well I went for a hike a little over a week ago in the woods behind my apartment and was mauled by a wolf. The thing was massive.” 
    Will’s expression changed for just a split second but was back to normal before I could tell what it was. “That’s crazy, how did you get away?” 
    “Well that’s where the story gets crazier. I actually didn’t, another wolf came out of nowhere and practically made dog food out of the other.”
    Will almost choked on his coffee he was drinking when went to laugh at my statement. “I’m serious, and the other wolf apparently didn’t find me appetizing I guess.”
    He let out a few coughs to clear his throat, “I believe you. Strange things happen sometimes.” He gave me a reassuring smile. 
    It dawned on me that this man I just met believed the story I told him. Just to test the waters I pushed a little further. “They were massive too. Well over six foot each and the wolf that rescued me made the other one look like a baby, it was so big.” I watched, waiting for Will’s reaction. 
    “That’s not normal, are you sure they were regular wolves?” He looked genuinely serious when he asked the question. 
    “I guess so, I don’t know what else they could have been except for maybe massive grizzly bears and I truly am going crazy.” I went to take a sip from the coffee and realized it was getting low. 
    “I doubt they were bears. That’s not bear behavior, in fact that’s not typical wolf behavior either. Did the doctors test to make sure they weren’t rabid?”
    “I assume so. I’m pretty sure that’s one of the first tests they do in a wild animal attack. I could be wrong but so far no strange fear of water.” 
    He laughed and his face lit up in a smile again. “It’s good to see you’ve taken it all so well.” 
    I laughed back thinking about how I just met Will and already he was trusting every word that came out of my mouth.
    “So where are you from? That accent is absolutely beautiful.” 
    I was a bit taken aback from his statement. I get a lot of people asking me where I’m from but I don’t think any of them have said it was beautiful. “I’m from the south. Like the heart of the south, once you think you’ve made it there, keep going, and eventually, you’ll find yourself in the middle of nowhere by a barn and some cows. That’s the south I’m from.”
    “You're far away from home, why come all the way up here?”
    “I don’t know, change of scenery. New experiences. Something like that.” I felt my phone buzz in my pocket and looked to see what it was. Cassy sent me a text asking where I was, we shared our next class together and apparently if I didn’t get a move on I would be late to this one as well. “Sorry, it looks like I’ve gotta go. I’ve got another class coming up.” 
    I stood up to leave and Will stood up with me. He gave me another one of his small lopsided smiles and said, “It was nice to meet you Michelle. Maybe we’ll run into each other again.” 
    I smiled back, “I hope so, you're the only way I can get this awesome coffee.” I turned and left, a little reluctantly. Will was too easy to talk to and he made me feel almost like I was back at home. I found myself smiling again on my way to Cassy. I don’t think I’ve smiled this much in a long time. I really did hope we would run into each other again, and not just for the coffee.