18 Years old
Jué

I was sitting in the unbearably long grass, my ankles placed on my knees as I just breathed. The sharp scent of salt tinged my nose, the crashing of the ocean waving over my body.

My heart slowed and thoughts left my mind as I melded into nature. The Birds songs melting into the background as I really became one. Breathing in through my nose, I really felt the movement around me. The natural world was beautiful when you saw it with senses other than the sight of our eyes.

I could feel the earths movement around me, it lulled me into a place where I could put any negative emotion aside. A place where I could reconnect with the broken parts of my soul and just be. Meditation was a place where I could put Eliza's twitching at my side to the back of my brain and just be. Meditation was-

-"What. In the gods. Name. Is thhaaaaat" my eyes shot open just as Eliza barrelled into me. Her arms flapping about as she squealed and pointed at something in the grass. Big pools of water drizzling down her face as she hyperventilated.

Pushing her clingy arms from around my neck and moving her to the side, I climbed to my feet to have a closer look at what all the ruckus was about.

"Oh it's just a bumblebee," the thing had clipped one of its wings and was wriggling around in disorientation.

I could understand why she was scared of it. The bug was discernibly big. Apparently the nuclear warfare had done more than just alter the wolf population, wipe out most of humanity and wreck the earth. It had also affected the wild life. A tonne loads of animals and bugs had become extinct whilst others had evolved and modified into different species.

This thing was triple the size of what it used to be, it was just a bit smaller than a baby robin. It was big and its stripes were more of a reddish orange than the traditional yellow it had been.

It was so much bigger and popular this far down south, mostly because the climate was much warmer and there were all kinds of large flowers. By large I meant the size of Eliza, which was probably why the bees had grown in size. It was a reality shock for me and Eliza.

We had come from a compound that was relatively tame and mundane, so it had been easy for us forget the horrors of the past. Not this far down south. This far down south there was all kinds of distortions of what the human world once knew. They were odd to us but it showed that nature would always find a way.

"It's harmless" chided Manal, her eyes still closed as she breathed in and out. Her hands were gathered on her knees, mouth whispering tiny incoherent chants to the gods.

"Yeah it's harmless. I'm sure that being stabbed to death by a large venom riddled bug is totally fine. Never mind me, I'm just exaggerating"

Her face was blotchy as she shouted at my still calm mentor. Manal was hardly ever fazed by Eliza's sarcasm and wild behaviour. I secretly think she enjoyed it.

Eliza was wild and untamed, she was boisterous and volatile while Manal was calm and patient. It was a match made in the fiery pits of hell but it was oh so entertaining to watch.

"I'm glad you have finally acknowledge your faults, young Eliza."

Her eyes still closed but a smirk rising along her lips. Her bronze skin glimmered under the sun as if she were a goddess.While mine was already turning a light pink and Eliza's was slightly darkening. Eliza's Asian genes meant that the sun wasn't her enemy as much as it was mine.

"Oh whatever, you old goat," she huffed, falling to the grass and burying her chin into her palm.

She glared into the back of Manal's head but she couldn't see that her hateful glare only made Manal smile wider.

Her thick black lashes flickered and then her amber eyes met mine. Full of humour as she held back the urge to laugh.

"There are still many improvements yet to be made" her eyes alight with mirth as she goaded Eliza further. Holding her breath, Manal's all knowing eyes stared into mine. Her teeth sinking into her wide thin lips.

"Well fuck you, granny!" Frothed Eliza, climbing to her feet before she marched off towards the compound.

Side stepping around the big bee, all the while mumbling under her breath and pushing the over grown blades of grass from her face.

I could practically see the trail of steam coming from her ears and circling around her head.

Gods she was hilarious.

Wiping at my tears I let the full belly laugh roll out of my mouth, "Why do you do that."

She snickered at me, her head twisting to the trail that Eliza's body left through the grass. A smile was spread across her face but it didn't quite reach her eyes. They looked pensive, as if she could see something or understand something I couldn't.

Manal often wore that look. She was an insightful female. She was in-tuned with the universe around us. She had heightened senses from a genetic throwback to some rogue wolf that had mated to one of her ancestors. She was 100% human but she was enhanced, she moved faster, heard better and saw deeper. She was a rarity in this world and her personality highlighted it more so.

Eliza called her the plant whisperer because we would often catch her talking to the plants. Stroking them like a lover before she unplanted them from the earth. She was a healer in the old medicines. Medicines that not only borrowed from nature to heal but encouraged the soul to heal alongside the body.

She often told me that the first step to healing was to see it. We had to believe that we would get better before we could ever be better. She spoke of how negative energies often rotted the body. Some things she spoke of were complex and way above my understandings but her teachings resonated with some deeper part inside me. So I listened to her words and was guided under her tutelage.

Dusting off her loose fitting trousers, she climbed to her feet "Walk with me," her head bobbing as she gestured for me to climb up.

I wiped my hands against the skirt of my floral dress, rearranged the material and then followed Manal into the grass.

Her hair cascaded down her back in loose waves. The dark grey locks shimmering and glistening, silver streaks glimmering in her hair. She was relatively young to get grey hair but she told me it had been this way since she was 15.

She had been teased for her hair by the kids her age, it was so bad that she had cut it off in a fit of rage. It had only grown back with lighter shades of grey and silver in it. Their bullying was what had pushed her on her life journey.

She had said to me that 'the hardest points in our lives are often what carves our greatest moments'. Being bullied had made her into the unique soul that she was, so how could I doubt the gods plans?

"You asked, why do I provoke Eliza?" her face contemplative as she stroked her finger against a flopping leaf that was damp with water.

"I see her anger. Anger that she refuses to release."

She looked over her shoulder to face me even as she continued to pet the large leaf of the Rosa Arvensis.

"What better way to release it than on a third party, who is "stealing" her friends time?"

"You are not stealing my time. I willingly give it." I huffed, exasperated at the two females.

"But still, you must understand that Eliza feels slighted." Her eyebrows raised to the sky as she stared me down.

"It's hard because I want to do this for me but I'm also trying to be there for her."

"Yes, well, perhaps you should acknowledge her feelings instead of pretending they don't exist." She was so blasé, not even paying me any attention as she continued to prune the the plant.

"Confronting one's issues helps much more than running from them."

She wasn't even looking at me but I somehow knew her words went beyond this situation with Eliza.

//--//

"Oh hey there stranger," Eliza's fingers wiggled as she waved at me before throwing herself down into the seat in front of me. Our knees slapping together underneath the table.

"I'm ever so grateful that you could pull away from your sorceress to make some time for little old me" her tone snarky as she leaned her chest across the table.

"What does she even do? Throw rocks and stones about hoping that one of the gods will answer." Eliza scoffed, a smirk splattered across her face as she mocked Manal.

"Be careful what you say, I might just throw a rock against you" Manal murmured appearing from nowhere with a warning on her tongue.

Her long silky skirt swished in the air as she strode past Eliza. "And the gods always answer" she threw over her shoulder.

Her long hair swaying across her back and splaying against her bronze skin.

Eliza's eyes narrowed on her retreating back, curses whispered under her breath as she stared balefully at Manal's back. I caught small snippets, something about old toothless hags or saggy boobed nags. I didn't know but whatever it was, it was rude and 100 percent Eliza.

My snickers were hidden behind the backs of my hands but Eliza still heard them, her eyes cutting as she glared at me.

"Ughhh, I can't with that woman!"

"I swear if she comes at me one more time," her finger wagging in the air as she gestured her displeasure.

"One more time and I'm going to rip out her perfect, silky hair and hang it on my wall as an ornament."

"Oh gods, I can't."

I clutched my stomach in pain, tears gushing from my face at the imagery. I knew o was turning g pink from lack of air, I was gasping and coughing all the while Eliza was still mumbling under her breath.

"Oh that's right, laugh at me. The mateless wonder. Sure make me feel even better than I already fucking do."

Her fury shut me up quick, it was tangible and choked the air in the room. My lips pinched as I looked at her, a sour expression splattered all of my face.

"Seriously, Eliza lighten up."

My eyes rolling to the back of my head as I straightened my back in my chair. Her sarcasm was hilarious to laugh at but it quickly became morbid when her bitterness leaked through.

Her chair clambered to the floor as she abruptly climbed to her feet.

"I'm sorry that I can't skip around throwing rocks and gems at the fucking grass, mumbling to the godamn gods to heal my insides."

Her hands thudded on the table in front of me. "I'm sorry that I don't believe in all that mumbo jumbo bullshit!"

"Well maybe you should because that mumbo jumbo shit as you call it, is what makes being around you bearable." I fumed back at her, leaning forwards in my chair so we were in each other's face.

I know this wasn't what Manal meant when she encouraged me to discuss Eliza's emotions but damn she was vexing.

Her hands flew in the air, her head nodding back, "Oh wow, way to be a great friend. Just kick me while I'm down."

Her face shuttered in pain, "It isn't bad enough that my mate rejected me but now my best friend is throwing me away for some tree hugging, spell chanting, sorceress." Her long hair was flapping about her face, her cheeks pink with anger.

"Well damn my year is just getting better and better."

Eyes rolling and rolling as her sarcasm came back with full force.

"Seriously Eliza?" My tone was dry.

"What?" She mumbled self-consciously. Her anger disappearing into thin air.

"Seriously? You are not right" she was crazy, absolutely crazy. She just had a mental breakdown and then acted as if nothing had happened.

"I was just having a moment." She sighed closing her eyes and breathing in through her nose. My eyes raised quizzically as she started using the breathing exercises Manal encouraged us to use. I don't even think she realised what she was doing.

Her eyes fluttered open and her big brown eyes met mine, "Okay I'm better now."

"You sure?" Her head bobbed vigorously at me. I studied her deeply, my eyes hardly blinking as I watched her every move. 

"Good. Now tell me what the hell was that all about." My arms crossing over my chest as I stared her down.

Her eyes did that little cross over thing that they do whenever she's nervous. "It's just-" her lips twisting in thought "-You are going home soon and I know I'm not ready to come with you."

"But I'm turning 18 soon so I'm going to have to return if only to tell Sam to piss off." Her head sunk into her arms as she bent over the table, her arms creating a cradle for her head.

"But I don't know if that's even what I want to do." Her lips were squished up against her arm, and her long hair was spun across the table covering half her face.

I lightly yanked at her long hair, physically pulling her from her morbid thoughts.

"I'm returning in two weeks. I'll be back before you know it but until then, you have my undivided attention."

My hand twisting in the air as I have her my regalest wave. When she didn't smile at me I dropped the fancy act and focussed on her properly.

"Just take your time Eliza, you have enough time." I murmured stroking against her deep brown hair.

Eliza was turning 18 in Augus and if by then Samyuri hadn't made it clear that he was going to claim her then she was legally allowed to move on. It was a small clause that not many humans knew about but having Neema in my life meant that I knew my rights.

There were rules to these things, they couldn't just keep us on a string for the rest of our lives. If a wolf didn't show intention to mate, then we could mate or marry a human. Normally we were forbidden to marry another human until we were both 21 which was the official date a werewolf had no first right claims over their mate.

However, if the human was found in the few underground villages left, their mate had first claim over them regardless of age because they hadn't been present in wolf society.

That was where the mate trials came in, no human wanted to ever enter those trials and so we all waited for the fateful day we turned 21. Only the lucky few like me and potentially Eliza could actually mate or see other males before then. A rejected human was no mans land.

We had free reign.

It was why I was pushing Eliza so hard. She had to make decisions, she was either going to go back to Samyuri and hear him out or stay in hiding and live the rest of her life without him. She had to make a decision because her birthday was soon approaching and I would be returning home shortly after in time for Jana's 8th birthday.

We had a few months to get this right, I only hoped that her outcome would be so much more positive than mine had been.

18th birthdays were not always the dream inspired days we hoped for. Sometimes 18th birthdays were just morbid reality ridden days. I hoped that Eliza's was everything she dreamed of but with the way the two were going, I couldn't see it ending positively.