Winter's Wolf (The Cursed Book 1)

by Lou Grimes

  “Good night, Louvette. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Arsen told her as he left her shocked to the core at her doorway.

  Her mother showed up soon after that.

  “Well, how did it go?” She wanted to know about her daughter’s smile.

  “It was amazing. I really like this guy,” Louvette responded.

  “Good, I hope like him too,” her mother said.

  Later in her room, Louvette thought of Cara.

  Louvette: How did your night go?

  Cara: I was so bored they had to resurrect me twice. How did your date go?

  Louvette: So amazing. He packed a picnic. We watched the sun set and the stars come out. It was the most romantic thing ever.

  Cara: Great, now we have to find me a great guy so we can go on double dates!

  Louvette: Tell me all about your love interest tomorrow and we will start Project Cara’s Care Bear. Night!

  Cara: Sounds perfect to me! Good night.

  Satisfied, she fell on to her bed, smiling. Her arms stretched out to relax. Louvette couldn’t wait for whatever tomorrow held.

  Chapter 9

  Her phone vibrating woke Louvette with a rough start. She scrambled to grab it from her bedside table, nearly knocking off everything else in the process. The alarm crashed to the ground while she checked her phone.

  Arsen: Good morning, Beautiful.

  Her heart sputtered for a second at those three little thoughtful words, but her happiness was short lived. Her heart sunk just thinking about getting rejected at school. She didn’t want to know, but she needed to prepare herself for reality.

  Louvette: Good morning. I have a question. Are you going to acknowledge me today at school or not?

  She quit breathing as the knots in her stomach began to form like an old stale pretzel that had sat under the heat lamp all day long at the fair. Her mental state was taking a drastic toll.

  Arsen: Look outside your window.

  Louvette stumbled in the dark to the window in confusion, as graceful as a newborn foal. The view outside of the window spread a smile on her face. Arsen was leaning up against the passenger window of his car, staring up at her. He had a coffee in one hand and his phone in the other. His cocky stance proved that he knew he was the best for bringing her a caffeine fix and a ride.

  She threw open the window and decided to ruin a good moment.

  “When do you start to glitter?” Louvette half shouted to rag on him, unsure if he’d be able to hear her. Arsen let out one laugh, shaking his head.

  “Why do I like you again?” he asked back when she went to shut the window.

  She could barely contain her grin as she rushed to get dressed. Louvette stumbled clumsily around the room, dragging on clothes while simultaneously throwing other articles away from her. She ran down the stairs to her mom’s room and then opened her mother’s door to the sound of the alarm going off.

  “Don’t get up. Arsen going to take me to school,” she said to her mother, who blinked at her sluggishly, barely comprehending her daughter’s words. The small sliver of light coming through the door illuminated her eyes, giving her a raccoon-like façade.

  “Thank gosh. Tell him I said thank you and to drive safe,” Sarah responded before rolling herself like a cocooning caterpillar, not yet ready to burst out into the world. Not at least without a cup or twelve. She continued to mumble stuff as Louvette slipped out of her bedroom door like a cat burglar, avoiding the painful creaks of the old house that had been worn in from generations of Blackwoods filling its rooms.

  Louvette snagged her bag before she left to contain the mess that was inside. Once in his car, she bombarded Arsen. She asked question after question while they drove to school. She was interested in when the actual shift was going to take place since this wasn’t Hollywood and she wasn’t just going to sprout fur and howl at the moon against her will. Any sane person would wonder as much as possible and borderline dread what was to come. Each question he answered reduced the dread to a certain degree.

  “So, about that shifting thing? When are we going to do that, and does it hurt?” She wanted be prepared for her shift.

  “In a rush, are we? You should be. It’s one of the most exhilarating things you will ever do, and no, it doesn’t hurt usually. Does Saturday sound good to you?” he answered, reminiscing about his first shift like it was still as fresh as the day it happened. Her excitement rose temporarily at his words.

  “Sounds perfect. Will we be at risk of anyone catching us?” she asked since she wanted to come out on her own terms. Louvette didn’t want to be told what to do, especially by a group of people she didn’t even know.

  “No, I know for a fact everyone will be hunting over in Clearwater National Forest. It ends up being one big party really. There’s food, music, and the hunt, which of course is the best part,” he assured her.

  “How did your first shift happen?” Louvette wondered, wanting to glean each tiny detail about him and the regular method that Lupine shifted.

  “Yours is taking an alternate route, but it wouldn’t be good if we followed tradition with you. Everyone would see and right now everyone seeing isn’t a good thing. It would make you a target for some very powerful people that might try to steal you. Every member of the pack’s first full shift is a celebration. There’s a big cookout and then we all run together. It makes shifting easier because all the elders are there in case there is a problem,” Arsen explained as if he didn’t want to finish the last portion of his reply.

  Louvette frowned at the loss of her coming out party, but she knew the reasons. On top of that, the thought of shifting in front of everyone was nerve wracking. All the pack would be focused on that one wolf. She zeroed in on that last word, eyes narrowed toward Arsen like he had failed to reveal this earlier.

  “A problem? What kind of problems happen?” Louvette’s voice almost cracked at the thought of being furry for the rest of her life.

  “People sometimes get stuck in transition. The elders either talk them through the correct method or give them some shot that will force them to shift fully,” Arsen said.

  “That’s terrible. What happens if I get stuck when we try it Friday?” Louvette said, realizing if anyone got stuck, it would most likely be her. The clumsy apple didn’t fall far from the matriarchal tree that had spawned her.

  Arsen turned into the school and parked. He grabbed her hand and looked her in the eyes so Louvette could see the truth.

  “You won’t. It’s really rare and mostly happens with sons whose families have a ton of human blood in them. Blackwood is one of the purest lines. I think your mother was one of the first in seven generations that didn’t come from another original family. It won’t happen to you,” Arsen reassured her. Louvette was slightly skeptical, but who could blame her? If she got stuck, then they would have to tell someone, and there was no way to guarantee that someone wouldn’t tell someone else.

  Arsen opened her door and the two of them walked together toward the school. Louvette spotted Emily glaring daggers at her. The bad idea added another con to the list.

  Cara stood near the entrance, beaming like a proud mother hen watching her chick walk for the very first time. It didn’t help that Cara was decked out in a mustard yellow tunic that cut high up her neck and came to cascading ruffles at her waist, giving her an even more chickenlike appearance. Her bun was high as well, evoking the image of a chicken comb.

  “Hey, Cara,” Arsen greeted her. Her eyes that were tinted like an imp narrowed. She went straight for the kill. She knew what she wanted, and she approached her prey like a ravenous lioness.

  “Hey, Arsen. You can thank me for the cause of your magical night out,” she replied, causing Louvette’s face to go a red so deep the color didn’t even have a name. She tried to look anywhere else but at Arsen. He gently tugged her toward him to get a better look at her embarrassment with a kind of soft charming smile.

  “Thank you, Cara. I appreciate it. If there’s ever any
thing I can do, feel free to let me know,” he said, smirking at Louvette’s blushing face. No one could miss that twelve-car pile-up.

  “Just send some hot brothers my direction and we are even,” she settled more amicably than any queen in history of the world could ever have.

  “All my brothers are under thirteen, but I’m sure Tate would love to be your boyfriend if you still want me to ask,” he joked, his face lit amusedly at the mere thought of that traveling side show.

  “No, that won’t do. Thirteen is the age of a sidekick or a slave, not a boyfriend. Speaking of sidekicks, where are all your friends? I’ll take one of them.” Cara attempted to barter around the new development, fake desperation leaking into her voice. Her world was crashing down around her from the tone of her voice.

  “They are getting ready for a family camping trip. We were going to meet at MacKenzie’s tonight for some pizza if you two wanted to meet them,” he proposed like the perfect matchmaker. Louvette realized he was looking more over at her as he waited for their answer.

  “Sure, I’d love to meet them. Do you think they will like me?” Louvette gushed, feeling honored that she was actually going to meet his friends after spending so much energy on them not noticing her. The whiplash could be felt for miles from this sudden development. A development that she was grateful for.

  The bell rang, causing them to migrate indoors as kids ran past them trying to avoid their teachers’ wrath.

  “They’d better or that might be the last time you meet them and the last time I see them,” he confessed to her. Louvette sent him a thankful smile for his unwavering support.

  “Tell me about them so I can decide who would be best to go for and who would be better to avoid,” Cara asked playfully, but seriously at the same time.

  “There is no one that I hang out with that anyone who matters should avoid. Besides, you’ve met all of them.” Arsen pointed that fact out to her.

  “All I have are their names and what other people say. I don’t know what their best friend knows,” Cara corrected him.

  “Ian Valleys is the brain. Garrett Hollows is the muscle. Matt Bonesteel is the funny one. Quinn Redbears is the nice one.” He broke it down like it was a warped version of the Seven Dwarves. That made Cara a shoe-in for Snow White.

  “This is going to be difficult. I like all of those qualities. I can’t pick one, so I’ll just date them all,” Cara muttered to herself as if she was talking about desserts and not boyfriends. Things that were meant to be sampled, not chosen.

  Louvette and Arsen burst out laughing. Cara giggled as they entered the class, no doubt already planning an evening with each of the guys.

  “So, what does that make you?” Louvette teased, grinning. She was intensely curious what his description would be, but she had a few ideas.

  “I’m the neutral. I keep everyone from fighting each other,” he said as he exposed himself as their leader without being cocky about it. Louvette didn’t think she could like him more, but he kept unknowingly proving her wrong.

  “You’re not going on the camping trip because of our date Friday? I don’t want to hold you back from something that you like to do,” Louvette confessed.

  “Trust me when I say that our date Friday will be infinitely better than the same trip I’ve been going on for the last five years,” he promised, giving her a confident look.

  “If you say so,” she murmured, still as skeptical as ever.

  ***

  The school bell dinging forcefully tore Louvette out of her borderline sinful daydreams about Arsen. She was amazed that she didn’t land in the aisle between the desks. Louvette hoped that no one saw the drool. She headed to lunch solo since they didn’t have the same lunch. Up until this period, Arsen had walked her to every class. Cara had left to help a teacher and planned to meet her at the lunchroom.

  She rounded the corner in no hurry when something slammed her hip into the corner of the lockers. Tears threatened to fill her eyes as the pain blossomed down her side.

  “Stay away from him. He’s mine,” a voice hissed in her ear.

  Smoke shot out of her ears when she realized who the voice belonged to. One very fake bottled blonde sashayed down the hall. In another world, Louvette would have grabbed her hair and slammed her head into the locker. A flash of happiness went through her when she realized that she had stopped her wolf from acting out.

  “You have got to be kidding me,” Louvette yelled down the hall when she stood up straight once the pain was bearable.

  “Are you okay?” Cara asked, reaching out to her while she glared at the offender’s backside. She had witnessed the whole thing when she tried to catch up with Louvette.

  “She doesn’t even understand how lucky she is right now,” Louvette seethed, breathing through her temper like Buddha, her mother, and Arsen would probably want her to. She wasn’t about to mess this up because of Emily Bonesteel.

  “Yeah, that was pretty terrible, even for her. What if you had broken something? Did you? We can go tell the nurse and she will tell the principal, then she’d get in trouble,” Cara asked questioned wildly.

  “Nope, karma will take care of her eventually,” Louvette told her.

  “How do you know it will?” Cara wondered. She was bewildered by Louvette’s statement.

  “I don’t, I just hope it will because I can’t do anything about it right now,” she said.

  “Why can’t you?” Cara asked, leaning in.

  “I promised my mother I wouldn’t get kicked out,” Louvette said. Her face showed her shame at having to make such a promise and admit it.

  “You can’t do anything, but I can,” Cara reminded her.

  “Don’t get yourself in trouble over me. It’s not worth it,” she chided Cara.

  “I’ll decide what’s worth it for myself. Besides, no one will catch me if you’re my scout,” Cara said like the sneaky little minx that she was.

  “Okay,” Louvette caved, knowing that convincing Cara otherwise was a waste of time.

  “Let’s mess with her pride and joy,” Cara decided.

  “What’s her pride and joy?” Louvette asked.

  ***

  Cara believed showing was better than telling, which in this case meant watching Louvette’s reaction to a Range Rover the shade of Pepto Bismol that had two black steps extending low.

  Louvette would like to think that her mouth didn’t drop open at the sight of it, but it did. Abdominal-aching laughter erupted between the two.

  “What are you going to do to it?” Louvette asked.

  “I don’t know, what do you think I should do? I don’t want it to be permanent. I also don’t really have anything to work with, like enough sticky notes to cover it,” Cara said. The two of them were quiet as their minds churned.

  Louvette started digging through her backpack, brow furrowed.

  “What are you looking for?” Cara asked, watching her friend like she was going to pull a wild animal out of her purse.

  “Found it,” Louvette cried. She pulled out her item like it was a prize and handed it to Cara.

  “Vaseline? What is Vaseline going to do to her car?” Cara pondered out loud.

  “Put it all over her entire windshield. It’s going to piss her off because it will take forever to get it off. She won’t be able to drive home,” Louvette said, an evil grin plastered across her face.

  “Throw me the jar,” Cara demanded, sticking her hand out.

  “I’ll help,” Louvette said.

  “No, you’re the lookout, Vette. Can I call you Vette?” Cara persisted, snagging the jar to her, frowning. She didn’t want to get Louvette in trouble, and someone did need to make sure no one came stumbling in on their prank.

  “Sure, if that’s what you want to call me.” Louvette laughed. She turned toward the doors and positioned her body in an attempt to hide Cara’s actions from the world

  Cara started her work of art.

  ***

  Thankfully, the res
t of the day flowed much more smoothly after that. Louvette was excited to see the response Emily would have to their joke. Neither of the girls told Arsen about the events so Louvette hoped his reaction would be golden as well.

  The three of them met up after class and headed to the door. They had barely exited the school when a whining voice met their ears.

  Louvette could barely contain her glee at the sound. She tried not to smirk as they walked out onto the scene of their crime. Cara and she shared a conspiratorial glance with each other behind Arsen’s rather large back.

  “Thank you,” Louvette mouthed while Cara’s pearly whites resembling primordial shark teeth bared at her.

  They stepped around Arsen just in time to see Emily Bonesteel’s hands on her hips as she took in her pride and joy’s new state. Several guys tried help clean some off. There was a small crowd of spectators circling the area like buzzards.

  Emily walked around her Range Rover only for her feet to slip out from underneath her from a chunk of Vaseline on the ground.

  Louvette got the idea that the mean girl wasn’t well liked from the number of smiles that were on her fellow students’ faces. She really couldn’t blame them. Bonesteel was a vicious snake and right now the snake was making a fool out of itself.

  Emily finally hauled herself up unsteadily on her feet.

  “Don’t touch me,” she snapped when a football player reached out to steady her. The poor guy drew his hands back so fast that he looked like he had avoided a lethal bite.

  “It’s all over my car. I can’t drive it home like this. Megan, take me home,” she snapped when found her sacrificial victim. Megan, a willowy dirty blonde lackey of Emily’s, was unfortunately standing nearby.

  However, judging from Megan’s grimace, she was far from happy to fulfill Emily’s wishes, especially in her current mood.

  Louvette peeked out of the corner of her eye at Arsen’s face and could barely contain her glee that he was biting his lip and looking off in another direction in an effort to conceal his smirk.

  “So, I’ll see you all after school.” Arsen reminded them of their dinner date.