by Lou Grimes
“Yes, but he wasn’t there against his own will like I hoped he was,” Louvette admitted with heartache. Louvette struggled to maintain her composure with the topic of Declan. Keeping herself busy had helped her avoid breaking down again.
“I’m sorry. I know all about disappointing fathers,” Cara said gently. “I can’t thank you enough for taking me. I started my real life that day. A life I was meant to live from birth, but was robbed of. I’ve gained a mother, a half-sister, and a sister from friendship,” Cara added.
“I feel the same way,” Louvette said, giving Cara’s hand a squeeze. The two of them hugged hard.
“There is something that I need to apologize for other than risking your life,” Louvette added.
“What is it?” Cara asked as her eyes narrowed and she waited for whatever else Louvette was going to drop on her life.
“I used my Gift on you to keep you at the hotel when I went to search for Declan,” she confessed.
“I did have this weird feeling that I spent way too much time picking El Tajin,” Cara revealed. She was unreadable at first, though that in itself was strange because Cara had always been easy to read since Louvette had met her. No hurt eyes, flinch of betrayal, or even a frown took place as it should have.
“I’m sorry. I was only trying to keep you safe as possible without breaking your father’s wishes. I should have told you before we went to Mexico,” Louvette said. Cara shrugged it off as if it was nothing in the grand scheme of things compared to her own flesh and blood hiding the world she had been born into.
“You didn’t know, though. It’s all good,” she promised with soft eyes.
As soon as Cara left, a weight was lifted from Louvette after Cara forgave her. The burden of her missing father had been removed as well, though it hadn’t been as she had hoped. That was life, though.
Louvette spent the remainder of her day finishing her project and submitted it according to the Art Institute of Chicago’s standards. It was one of the most satisfying and anxiety-causing things she had done in her life as the post office mailer took it from her hands. She’d tell her mother about it after the holidays, so she wasn’t too stressed out to enjoy them.
It was stressful indeed, but one of the wonderful kinds of stressful. Now, she had to wait and see if she was going to get to go to college with her sister.
***
Feeling bold, Louvette shifted right outside her back door. They had no neighbors for miles and her mother was gone at work. Louvette had no idea why she hadn’t gone on runs more; maybe it was fear. Fear that someone or something might be watching her, and she would lead them right back to her and her mother. Leaving her house was a freeing experience.
Opening the door, the cold winter wind tried to force its way in before she slammed the back door shut.
Moving through the snow-covered forest at leisure was much more fun than purpose-driven. Louvette was just enjoying herself, though she had a general direction of where she was heading. She didn’t care if it took her half the day to get there.
The sound of a river hummed in her ears long before she came to it. It was odd because she knew the river had frozen, so she decided to investigate it. When she came to the edge of the tall, snow-topped evergreen trees that lined the majestic frozen river, the mountains towered above the trees and the river. The birds darted through the trees and the sky, relishing the wind on their wings. The humming was from the water slowly traveling at the bottom of the thick ice.
A foolish impulse to race alongside the hardened river danced across her mind, inviting her like the river was a temptress. Running down the side of it, she chased the river for miles. Never once did she grow tired or find her feet faltering. Though the snow was deep and hard to run in, Louvette still did her best to win her race.
Coming to a large waterfall that had been frozen for the remainder of winter, Louvette stopped on a rock on its edge. Staring at where the river went, the desire to follow it and never stop following it came over her. It led to somewhere she belonged. The timelessness of the land was what mesmerized Louvette because it was the same as it had been the day the first human set eyes upon it.
Her heartbeat thundered against her white fur-covered torso at the escape it offered, and it was her choice. A place where nature and natural things were the only ones that sought to kill or use her. There was no entire book of supernatural beings trying to eliminate her. That included her own.
Taking a baby step forward, Louvette’s wolf lowered its body, preparing to jump down the side of the rocks that had created the ice waterfall.
Releasing the crouch, she turned away from that world. She had only walked a few steps when she heard it. Ears perking up, she searched for what was coming.
Twigs broke and hardened snow crunched as something sizable came toward her from the dark recesses of the forest. Whatever it was, it was fast. It was downwind, so Louvette received no warning of scent.
A hulking grey wolf burst through the tree, hurtling her direction. Louvette didn’t once shy out of the way. If Arsen knocked her onto the river that was now similar to black ice, she was going to get him back a thousand times more once she quit sliding. Instead, he skidded to a stop right beside her and gave her a sweet bump with his salt and pepper body, snow powdering her as he did.
The two of them frolicked and hunted all day until the sun started dropping from the sky. Their run ended up close to the cabin like Louvette planned.
They shifted on the edge of a cliff to revel in the tranquility of it all.
Arsen had changed a few seconds before her because she got caught up in being able to watch the shift when she wasn’t under attack. The bones twisted and moved resembling nothing Louvette had seen before.
The wind rippled his brown curls around. He stood in front of her in a leather jacket lined with wool, a red flannel button up, jeans, and a pair of hiking boots.
“What took you so long?” he asked once she became human.
“I got distracted by the river. I had the same desire to keep following it, but I didn’t,” Louvette admitted. Since the fiasco over her Gift, she had been forthcoming with everything to keep the extra chaos out of their relationship. Judging from the look of appreciation Arsen sent her, he noticed what she was doing. Arsen had been returning that favor as well.
“If you followed it, I’d come after you no matter what,” Arsen said.
“You have no idea how much I appreciate that,” she said.
“You look amazing, by the way,” he said, motioning toward her.
Louvette had changed into a wool-lined blue and red flannel jacket as well, with a fuzzy hat that had ear flaps. A scarf was wrapped around her neck a couple of times, loosely hanging. She had on blue jeans and hiking boots since she had planned this little expedition.
“Oh, in this outfit?” Louvette mocked.
“You always look great, but the flannel suits you,” he pointed out, nodding as if to prove his point.
“I love you, too.” Louvette declared a simple answer to his own declaration during the middle of their fight over her Gift and him keeping secrets from her. Though they were kept for her own good, that still didn’t make it right.
“That wasn’t so hard, now was it?” he asked.
“I’m going to take it back now,” Louvette said.
“There’s no taking that back,” Arsen declared.
“Have you used your Gift on me?” Arsen asked unexpectedly. It wasn’t a curious question. It was a humorless and loaded one Louvette was only happy to answer. Something hinged on this.
“Never,” Louvette promised. Arsen’s set face transformed into a sexy half-boy smirk.
“How does it work?” Arsen wondered.
“I found that visualizing gates work for me, and then I mentally try to press on them,” Louvette answered.
“What all can you do?” he asked.
“I can force someone to do what I want. I can put a suggestion in their mind that sometimes works
and sometimes doesn’t,” Louvette explained.
“How many can you do at a time?” Arsen interrogated.
“Right now, two– but I didn’t start out that way,” Louvette said.
“We are going to work on that,” Arsen declared. Louvette smirked.
“Are we now?” she asked, cocking her head to the side as if she was dubious of the fact. She was in control on this matter.
“It’s getting dark, are you ready to go home yet?” Arsen asked.
“Yeah, I am ready to go, but not home,” Louvette answered, staring anywhere else but at him.
“Where do you want to go?” he wondered.
“Let’s go to your cabin. I’m way overdue for an entire night of cuddling,” Louvette suggested before gazing at him. Arsen looked up sharply as if he hadn’t heard her right.
“If you’re sure you’re not going to get in trouble,” he murmured softly. Louvette had warned her mother that she might be staying at Cara’s for the night.
They stood up, stretching their tired muscles from their day of running.
“And our cabin, not mine,” he added, taking her hand.
The sky had become a dark golden color with a pale reflection of the honey moon out that night. Snow continued to coat the woods around them. In the sky, the clouds were splashed about as they gradually made their way to Arsen’s cabin.
***
Watching out of the balcony, she was transfixed as it snowed on Christmas morning. Snow hadn’t been common where she’d lived before. She had seen it, though not often on Christmas day, and never this thick.
Louvette could almost hear the snow falling. The forest settling was audible as snow settled everywhere it could, turning the land into a frozen foreign land, both beautiful and haunting.
Time flowed together to a point where Louvette didn’t realize how long she had been out there. She didn’t care, though. At first, it had been a teasing joke from Arsen. Now, she grasped the degree of how right he was. Winter was her element.
This Christmas was far different from the ones she’d had before. All the Christmases before had been solely her mother and her.
“Your mom said it’s time for guests to start arriving,” Arsen said behind her. Louvette turned her head toward him. His arms wrapped around her body from behind until his hands laced through her hands. Louvette breathed in his cedar scent she had fallen in love with.
Louvette turned in his embrace with overwhelming need. Arsen met her, experiencing the same desire. They kissed. It was a hunger that could not be satisfied.
The doorbell rang, breaking them up.
“Louvette, will you get the door?” her mother asked in a shout from the kitchen.
“Duty calls,” Arsen said mischievously.
Answering the door, Cara and Garrett were the first to arrive. Cara was her radiant normal self, wearing her short purple sweater dress, black boots, and tights. Since the big reveal, she and Cara had been closer than ever. Louvette had apologized on multiple occasions about not telling her from the start. She was too understanding, and it only made Louvette keep apologizing more because she felt so guilty.
“I’m so glad you two made it,” Louvette told them, beaming at them.
“Thanks for inviting us back,” Cara said, and then hugged Louvette as if she hadn’t seen her yesterday.
“Yeah, thank you,” Garrett responded in a tone meaning more than any spew of words could. He was thanking her for being able to be closer to his girlfriend because the blood witches had forced Louvette to tell her.
A ring tone Louvette had developed a hate for sounded beside her.
“Duty calls,” Louvette repeated, sighing.
When the horribly irritating ringtone never stopped, Louvette stared over at Arsen, perplexed.
“Aren’t you going to answer it?” she asked. The whole time they had been together, he had always answered his father’s calls.
“No, I don’t think I will. He can come find me if it’s important,” Arsen answered.
Reaching over, Louvette put her fingers to Arsen’s pulse. Upon finding a heartbeat, she remained baffled.
“What are you doing?” Arsen asked.
“I’m checking to make sure you’re still alive. Have you been body snatched lately? Is body-snatching a thing?” Louvette interrogated. Placing her hands on the sides of his face, she gazed deeply in his eyes.
“You’re more important,” he said. Louvette stilled. Arsen kissed her lips.
The doorbell rang again.
Louvette hurried to the door, smiling back at Arsen as she left. Quinn, Ian, and Matt all stood at the door, waiting for her to hostess them inside out of the snow.
The opportunity to torment them was a Christmas present placed in her lap.
“Invitations, please,” she said, extending her hand out as if she was expecting something.
Confused, they glanced at each other.
“We were supposed to have invitations?” Quinn asked gullibly.
“No, Quinn this party isn’t that formal,” Ian retorted.
“This is a formal casual party,” Louvette teased.
“We didn’t get any letters,” Matt stated. There was a kind of question in his voice like he wasn’t sure if he had or not.
“Only people who are invited get something in the mail,” Louvette said.
While the guys gathered their tumult of thoughts, there was a moment of silence where Louvette was astonished she couldn’t hear them. Quinn’s face was turning anxious. Matt’s was morphing into quizzical. Ian’s was distrustful because the weekend trip to Eureka revealed her sometimes evil side that enjoyed playing jokes on people.
“I’m kidding. Glad you guys made it. The brunch is set up if y’all are hungry,” Louvette mentioned, pointing them down the hall. They all visibly relaxed. Ian even cracked a conspiring smirk. Louvette acted like she was going to jab him, but stopped in the last second.
The truth was they had been invited through Arsen on her request, she just relished the idea of holding them up for no reason.
Since her hostess duties were partially done for the morning, she followed them to the dining room.
Walking in, they found a table laden with bacon, eggs, bagels, fruit, and all manner of other breakfast or brunch-themed food. The house aroma was similar to that of a breakfast restaurant with the bitterness of coffee laced through the air to top it off.
They had planned their Christmas dinner around everyone’s schedules. It had transformed their dinner into breakfast. An odd concept at first, but it soon grew on Louvette because of its lack of traditionality.
Louvette and her mother had had the same type of Christmas meal for as long as she could remember. It involved finding the closest store, restaurant, or fast food joint open during Christmas Day. There was no point in cooking a feast for only two people. Feeding a lot of people for Christmas was a different ball game altogether.
In a reflective state, Louvette sat down at the end of the table beside Arsen. Their table was packed with friends and family. There was nothing better than this. The ambiance of secrets had cleared, except for her mother for the time being.
“Dig in, everyone,” her mother called before sitting down to join them. Louvette grabbed a flakey croissant, and then passed the bowl over to Arsen. Everybody started getting their food and offering it to their neighbor.
Things were different. There were no longer any wolves in sheep’s clothing at her table. Louvette smirked at the thought before biting into a warm croissant tasting of buttery goodness. Catching her smirk, Arsen winked at her.
No matter what Louvette faced in the future, she knew she was not alone. She had found her home. Louvette had created a family through bonds, not blood. This was her pack.
Thanks For Reading!
Thank you for supporting me as an author and reading my novels. This is the second book that I have published, so it means so much to me that you made it this far and gave my book a chance. I spent about 2 y
ears of my life writing and trying to create this world, going on 3. I’m currently writing Book 3 of The Cursed Series. REVIEWS are golden for me because I know you enjoyed them, helps me grow as a writer, and supports me so that I can continue writing. Not to mention, I love reading the reviews too! Thanks to my amazing readers, I achieved my goal and am now writing full-time. My new goal is to complete my first series!
Book 3 of The Cursed Series is Coming Soon.
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Also by Lou Grimes
I am a Young Adult paranormal Author.
Winter’s Wolf
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0871NM9HL?ref_=dbs_m_mng_rwt_calw_tkin_0&storeType=ebooks
Louvette Blackwood got more than she bargained for when she took the opportunity of a fresh start in Whitefish, Montana.