Chapter Two

                Humans were the most disgusting creatures that I had the unfortunate chance of meeting. Every part of their existence was inherently evil, selfish, and just foul. It never came to me as a surprise that once the mortals learned of our existence they would want us dead. We were a threat to their race, initially. But, their sadistic minds didn't stop there, it never did. Before they started killing us they were already killing the world around them. Everything that had to breathe the same air as them was under the same fate whether they liked it or not: eventual destruction.

                Their minds were one of the most magnificent things created. The things they were able to conjure up from just their thoughts was amazing. But, they used their gift in all the wrong ways. Their technology caused damage to the trees, to the sky, to space; almost everything on planet earth. But they didn't seem to care. As long as things were going at the speed and enjoyment they wanted, they didn't dwell on the aftermaths. For sport they took pleasure in ending the lives of other species. Not only werewolves but also the horses, the tigers, the lions, the bears, any animal that showed challenge they wanted dead or under their control.

                They even killed and tortured their own kind. And, it was over the dumbest reasons. Either they looked different, they thought different, or they simply just wanted to do it. Reason wasn't needed when it came to humans and it truly repulsed me. I hated them.

                And if the person whose neck I had under my tight grip ended up being a human I would make sure their death was violent and merciless- like they deserved.

                "Cyra!" The person gasped through the pain of having her throat almost closed off. Her voice was small and sweet, very familiar. Through the dark haze taking over my head I was able to connect the voice to a face. She was young, pretty, and definitely not human. It was Tatiana. Quickly, I moved my hands from her throat, finally allowing her to breathe. A part of me was disappointed that I wouldn't get to kill anyone. I deeply wanted the intruder to be human; I wanted my night to end with the death of a mortal. But, it seemed, tonight wasn't that night. In the future it would be. I knew it.

                "I almost ripped your head clean from your body. You would be dead right now." I informed her calmly. Tatiana rolled her eyes at my statement while rubbing her neck. The pain would pass in less than a minute. She was fine.

                "John would've been here in less than five seconds if you succeeded and your head would've joined mine." Tatiana warned me and a frown replaced my previously cold expression. Her mating didn't please me at all. Tatiana noticed my displeasure and a sad smile settled across her bronze face. She didn't want this, not this soon. "It's beyond my control, Cyra. I tried everything; there is no way to get around this." She paused, her blue eyes moving from mine and down to her fidgeting hands. "They said that since I'm so young they'll give m half a year before I will be expected to start conceiving. Only six months, Cyra. Just six!" Tatiana wasn't able to see the leniency in the decision but I was. The elders and our Alpha were being kind and sympathetic towards Tatiana. It was probably due to her close ties to them, along with her family's status. She came from a line of warriors who helped defend our pack when we desperately needed. She was almost royalty.

                Tatiana was special. If John wasn't her mate, and if she hadn't found one at all, she would've been one of our new warriors. She was gifted in the art of fighting. She would've been an amazing weapon against whoever dared to attack us, but all hopes for that was gone now. Her new future was to be a breeder. Breeders were not allowed to fight to defend our pack. Their male mates were no longer an option too.

                "They also said if I am able to bare ten children then I could resume my position in the pack as a fighter. But ten children are so many, and that would mean it would take me a decade if I chose to go by their suggested methods. I'm just doomed either way you look at it. Cyra, I don't want this." A lone tear fell from Tatiana's left eye before she furiously wiped it away. Tatiana hated to be showcased as weak. This would be the first time I've ever seen the girl cry. And she was allowed to; her life had taken such a depressing turn.

                "Maybe you'll end up with triplets during each pregnancy." I tried to joke but Tatiana's expression didn't budge. "You know there is nothing I can do. But, your position in our pack is one of the most important. You're helping fight our extinction." Another attempt to comfort her failed. I wasn't good with emotional situations. I had no clue why Tatiana decided to come to me. We were close friends but these types of matters weren't something I could assist in. I decided to just stay silent, maybe she just wanted someone to vent to. I was good at that.

                "You got lucky, Cyra. As long as you stay here, with our pack, you'll never find your mate. You'll never have to become a womb. My life now consists of getting fucked repeatedly and then pushing babies out of my vagina. That's not fun at all." She complained.

                "The first part is." I assured her and finally a small smile appeared on her face along with a faint redness on her cheeks. "Tell me about you and John," I suggested. "Was it as magical as the books try to make it seem." I spoke of the fiction the humans occupied themselves with creating. The mating of werewolves in their eyes was something spectacular. They made it seem like the whole purpose of having a mate was just to have someone love you unconditionally. That wasn't the truth; mates could very easily despise each other as much as they were attracted to one another.

                "It was weird, really. During my birthday celebration I felt like I always did towards John. He had been with me that whole night too, and nothing out of the ordinary had happened. It was during our training today that something had sparked. We were practicing fighting against weapons laced with wolfsbane like we usually do. Alpha Kenyon had thrown a laced knife and it was going to strike John. He hadn't noticed since he was so engrossed in dodging the bullets that were being shot at him. So he didn't catch it like he was supposed to. And for some weird reason my body had sensed his danger and I threw myself in front of him, taking the hit for John." I gasped at the revelation. Any wound from something that had wolfsbane on it or in it could be fatal to a werewolf.

                We usually healed very fast; it took only minutes for any cut, bruise, or broken bone to heal itself. But, if there was wolfsbane on the weapon it took an agonizingly long time. It was as if we were reduced to our human side of our self. If a human got stabbed with a knife it would take months to heal. If we got stabbed with a knife laced with wolfsbane it would take the same amount of time. Added to the toxins that were naturally in wolfsbane the wound turned from a regular wound to a fatal one. If our body lost the fight against the wolfsbane we would die. Tatiana risked her life for John's. The mate bond made her do that.

                "I had knocked the knife out of the way with my arm but it still managed to graze me. I got lucky; it's just a small cut." She pushed her sleeves up her arm and showed me the gash that she thought was "just a small cut."Her flesh was sliced open starting from her elbow all the way down to her wrist. It looked fresh; the pink of her muscles was plainly visible. The healing process had barely started. There was a thick, oily, salve that covered the wound. It smelled of herbs and fruit. It was probably a conjunction the witches had come up with it to help her heal and fight against the wolfsbane.               

                I was starting to question the leniency I detected by the elders earlier. They probably were giving her six months to heal for the health of any baby she managed to conceive while she still had the wound. A werewolf could easily lose her pregnancy if she is affected by wolfsbane during it.        

                "The witches said I should be able to survive this. I've endured worse." Which was true, she once took a stab in the abdomen by a sword laced with wolfsbane. It had taken her a whole year, she had even spent her 13th birthday in bed recovering, but she survived. This wound was superficial, she would be fine.

                "I'm glad you're ok." I commented, letting go of her arm that I had been inspecting. She gave me a knowing smile before continuing.

                "Anyway, after that John had become furious with me. It was the maddest I've ever seen him. He chastised and lectured me over making such a 'dumb' decision. The same decision that saved his life by the way. He had every right to be angry though, I could've died. But, I didn't get why he cared so much. We had spent years hating each other, we had our first fist fight when he was five and I only two years old, seeing him care was so foreign. But I guess the saying is true; there is a thin line between love and hate. And in one second we had crossed it and well...um." Tatiana broke eye contact once again and looked away sheepishly. She was adorable. "I don't know if it was because I was a virgin but Cyra it was amazing. And after the overwhelming urge to bite had passed and we marked each other it was confirmed. We were mates. We are mates. And now my life is over."

                "Sounds... theatrical." And with that we began to laugh. It was a true genuine laugh, something I hadn't done in a while and something I felt we both needed. Our world, our lives, everything was a mess. All we could do was find a way to survive in it. And that's what we were doing. Although Tatiana didn't like the way her life had turned now I was sure she would soon get accustomed to it and learn to enjoy it. Having children wasn't that bad. Maternally she would fall in love with it. Eventually.

~            

                There was someone new at my school. There hadn't been a formal announcement or anything of the sorts. I could just feel it. I made extensive effort to make sure I knew everyone who stepped into the school. Not personally, just physically. I had all of their scents registered in me, I could pin point anyone's identity just from how they smelled. It was one of the gifts of being a werewolf. This smell, this one wasn't one I knew. It smelled of pine, husk, and salt. It wasn't exactly pleasant but it wasn't bad either. I actually took a liking to it. Or I would have. Their scent was also mixed with that of wolfsbane. This new person had to be human. No werewolf could survive having that plant all over them. We would barely be able to function. With training we would be able to overcome and fight our urges for at most a week. But eventually the plant would win and we would die. This person had the scent infused into them. It was almost as if their body had become one with the plant. Definitely human, meaning they were dangerous and an immediate enemy.

                They weren't that far away and during lunch I would be able to detect them. My school only held around half a thousand students. Our cafeteria was big enough to hold all of them at one time. We were not allowed to leave school grounds during lunch hour since they did tests during those times. The student body wasn't supposed to be aware of the tests that were being unknowingly distributed to them, but I knew. They were tests to detect if there were werewolves in the building.

                The test differed depending on the day but it was often just the release of a gas filled with the only thing toxic to those of my kind, wolfsbane. Humans didn't have the scent registered into them and were not bothered by it in the least so they never detected it. If they noticed anyone uncomfortable during the tests they were taken and questioned. If it turned out the person was a werewolf they were immediately killed.

                My pack had trained each member to be able to take the presence of wolfsbane in the air for at least three days so the gas never bothered me thus I was never detected.

                When lunchtime rolled around the scent became stronger. They were close. I took my usual seat by the entrance and placed my food in front of me. It was a plain ham and cheese sandwich with some vegetables as a side and a cup of orange juice as a refresher. Werewolves preferred to eat raw meat but that wasn't normal behavior in the human world. Unless, the raw meat was in the form of sushi.

                In the midst of taking a bite of my sandwich the scent had completely engulfed me, almost attacked me. Looking to my right I watched as a young man made his way down the aisle. He held an apple in his hand and nothing else. I could tell he was tall and lean. His back was facing me so my perception was only minimal. His hand was large and his fingers were long as they wrapped tightly around the apple. There was obvious tension in his body; he must have felt uncomfortable at the moment. His hand was a dark mahogany brown. It was a beautiful color that shone under the sunlight reaching through the windows.

                My eyes trailed from his long strong legs that were covered by blue jeans up to his broad neck that his head rested on. His hair was cut short, very close to his head, and the rivets in it resembled the waves of an ocean. I didn't need to see his face to know he was attractive.

                "Aurelius!" The high pitched call came from Sarah. She was a popular mortal at my school. Everyone seemed very keen to her and mostly enchanted by her looks. I didn't know why, her appearance was quite underwhelming to me. She had auburn colored hair that touched the middle of her back in shiny ringlets. Her skin was a tan that could only achieved from lying out in the sun. She was short but curvy and had a heart shaped face with a button nose in the middle of it and bright cherry lips that matched the shape of her face. Her eyes were a dark brown framed with long dark lashes. At the moment they were gazing seductively at 'Aurelius'. She wanted him- that was obvious.

                "Aurelius," She called again, this time his attention went to her and a pleased smile reached her face. "Come sit here." She motioned to the empty space next to her and without hesitation the new student made his way over. Her seat was facing mine so his did the same. His face was even more gorgeous than I imagined. The structures were sharp and masculine. His jaw line was hard and defined and his cheekbones were strong and prominent. He had plump perfectly shaped lips that led to a quite normal nose but wonderfully narrow eyes. They resembled that of an Asians. His heritage must be mixed. Aurelius wasn't the first immensely attractive guy I had seen. He wasn't special. Not at all.

                "This is-" Sarah began introducing her mortal friends so I tuned out of their conversation. For some reason I just couldn't stop staring. Naturally, I was a very observing person. I liked to watch others. It sounded stalkerish, and it probably was. I didn't go to great lengths to watch them such as following them home but if a person was in my line of vision and they managed to spike my interest I would watch. Part of me felt it was just my animalistic nature, to study anything around me for potential danger. But, the other part of me knew I was just nosy.

                I casually ate my lunch and tried to make it seem like I was not watching Aurelius. But, my most recent glance let me know I wasn't the only nosy one. My hazel eyes found Aurelius' dark ones, he was staring at me. I could tell that he was deep in thought as he watched me, ignoring Sarah's words towards him. He was probably wondering if I was a werewolf. If I was a human in a new school I would think everyone around me was a werewolf. There were at least 20 werewolves in this school, me being one of them. If he watched close enough maybe he would be able to figure out. Or, maybe that wasn't what he was thinking. Maybe he caught me staring earlier and was checking me out. He was cute and he was a man, he could've been just assessing if he wanted to go after me or not. Either way, he was staring at me and I wanted him to stop. I shook my head so my curly bangs would slightly cover my face and partially hide me from his unwavering gaze. That was one of the good things about having a curly and poufy afro; it made a great shield.

                "Oh," Sarah had caught on to where his eyes had moved during their 'conversation'. A look of distaste took over her features and she waved her hand in a dismissive way. "Don't worry, she's not one of those freaky wolf people, she's just a bitch." Sarah's insult unintentionally was more disrespectful than she wanted it to be. She had called me a dog; I was nothing close to a fucking dog. My fist clenched tightly as I fought the urge to slap her head off her body. Looking down at my lap I tried to control the sudden anger pulsating within me. I didn't know why I was reacting like this. Sure, her insult was mean, but not mean enough for me to want to kill her.

                "A bitch?" Aurelius questioned, finally moving his eyes away from me. "Interesting." Then he took a bite of his apple and fully turned his body towards her. He had made his decision, if Sarah deemed me unworthy then he didn't want to go after me. The hottest girl in the school thought I was a dog so I was no longer wanted. Good.