^Gif is of my bae Ezra James. Love. Him....... :) 

Once we all had our food we met Liv at the table. I placed the salad and mineral water in front of her and she barely acknowledged it. 

I hissed, "Eat it."

She rolled her eyes but popped the lid off and skewered a piece of chicken. I unloaded my own burger and fries and sat in between the wall and Kaycee. 

Aaron lowered his voice and asked, "So how much longer until Walla Walla?"

"We still have another five hours on the road," Ezra replied, "We will get there by midnight so we can set up the tents. But Aaron, you and I will be exploring the woods around there, okay?"

Aaron nodded tiredly, "How long?"

"A few hours at least," Ezra said, "Because tomorrow afternoon we need to start making our way back up towards Crowdy Head."

Jeremy cut in, "Are you planning to get any sleep Ezra?"

Ezra shrugged, "I'll survive without it."

"Not really," Kaycee winced, "You're definitely not driving tomorrow, at least."

Ezra nodded slowly, "That's fine."

Liv spoke up, "What do you mean by set up tents?"

I sighed slightly. Kaycee burst out laughing, "We can't exactly afford a hotel room, Liv..."

Liv winced and sulked back into her seat, "So we're camping... great."

Ezra stared at my sister for a long moment before replying to her sarcasm, "You have two werewolves to protect you. I doubt anything will go wrong, Olivia."

She threw him a small smile and then bit into a piece of lettuce. 

There's my girl. I ate my own dinner as she quietly ate hers, almost oblivious to realising she actually was eating. We all made idle chat about school, avoiding the major talk of werewolves. 

Which I still couldn't get over the fact that they were there. 

It was more like it hadn't even clicked yet. They were werewolves, I knew that, but it didn't feel real. 

***

Around ten-thirty, Kaycee complained that she couldn't drive any longer or we'd end up wound around a tree so she pulled over. Kaycee stepped out onto the side of the highway she'd pulled out on and I got out myself, followed by Ezra. Jeremy and Kaycee moved into the back so they could lean back and sleep in the backseats. Aaron and Liv were both already fast asleep in the very back, rugged up. 

I climbed into the passenger seat and Ezra walked around the car to get ready to drive. I turned the radio onto SmoothFM, which played relaxing night time music. Ezra pulled back onto the road in silence and, soon enough, faint snores hit the rest of the car. 

The song wasn't one I recognised but Ezra definitely did. I watched him as his lips moved to sing the words quietly. It was out of tune but still entrancing in his deep, rumbling voice. 

"Desperado," he sang along in a deep whisper, "Why don't you come to your senses?" 

The voice was so entrancing. Not in that he could sing well, he really wasn't trying, but that he was singing with other people around. When I first met him he couldn't even utter two words. I reached for my phone and quickly began taking a video as he kept singing. 

"Don't you draw the Queen of Diamonds, boy," he flicked a glance in my direction and then did a double-take, "Oi!"

I began giggling hysterically as I closed the video. 

Ezra frowned slightly at me but didn't argue. I reminded him, "Eyes on the road, Ezzie."

Ezra obediently put his eyes back on the long highway we were travelling on. 

We sat in comfortable silence until ten minutes later when I sighed, "I need a bathroom."

Ezra began reading the information on the signs we passed, "There's a truck stop in another two kilometres."

"Ta."

He pulled over to it when we almost passed it but we saw the massive, blinding white lights glowing over the truck stop. Quite a few bulky men were drinking by a truck with a few sleeping bags set up. Another woman was giving them nervous glances as she rushed back to her car, making it to security. 

Ezra cut the engine and we slid out. He sighed loudly, "I need some fresh air."

He propped himself up onto the hood of Kaycee's mum's car as I walked quickly to the grimy-looking bathroom. We couldn't have stopped at a Macca's, could we've? 

I did my business quickly and washed my hair. I glanced up at myself in the dust-coated mirror and sighed. I ran some water through my hair and scooped it up into a ponytail. Stepping away from the mirror, I turned to the door handle. I pulled on it and stepped back out into the night air. The moon was almost full overhead, not quite yet. It shone brightly down on the gravel beneath my feet. 

I watched Ezra's eyes glow a faint red as they focused on the moon, watching its brilliant lustre and the craters etched into its surface. 

I walked to him and his eyes zoned back on me with the ghost of a smile, "Ready to get back on the road?"

I nodded once, "I can drive if you want?"

He nodded, "I'd appreciate it." 

Ezra tossed the keys to me but as I caught them, his head snapped to one side. His now narrowed eyes were intensely glaring at the bush behind the truck stop. 

He took one cautious step towards it with a cocked head and I felt the entire mood around us shift. Ezra murmured, "Stay here."

He began walking towards the bush. 

Of course, I disobeyed. I wasn't a complete idiot to let an unstable werewolf walk into the bush alone at night. 

"Ezra?!" I called after him, jogging to reach where he was standing at the bush line. 

He muttered, "I told you to stay there."

"And now I'm here," I switched from watching him to searching the woods, "What are you looking at?"

Ezra was silent a moment longer before taking a step back, cocking his head towards the car, "Come on."

I followed him but continued, "What was it?"

"I thought I smelt a wolf."

"Smelt a... wolf? Like a werewolf?"

"No," he shook his head, "No, a wolf."

"Do wolves exist in Australia?" I winced.

Ezra shook his head and opened the driver seat door for me, "No. But not even that is why I'm so confused."

"Wolves don't exist in Australia yet your werewolf nose smelt one? Pretty confusing to me," I raised my hands in mock surrender, before hopping into the driver's seat. I closed the door and Ezra walked around the car, in deep thought. 

He hopped into his respective side before turning to me, "No. I'm confused because the wolf I smelt, smelt like you and Liv."

"Me and Liv?"

Ezra glared silently out the windscreen and then confirmed, "It had the marahaja spice both you and Liv smell like but not the cinnamon you and Liv also carry."

"We smell like marahaja and cinnamon?" I thought aloud. What a strange combination...

"Your mum smells like cinnamon and apple, so I see where you got the cinnamon pheromone from... but the marahaja. Have you studied pheromones in class?"

I shook my head honestly.

"Indian spices are supposed to be the rarest forms of pheromones in the world, right... so marahaja - the rarest of them all - is a pheromone which wouldn't be common at all."

We both let this information sink in.

I whispered with slight fear, "Are you saying that the wolf you smelt out there has to... has to..."

Ezra looked at me with saddened eyes before continuing, "Maybe not, though. It's possible that rather than that possibility that it was just breeze wafting from your hair on something."

But we both knew the true answer... because there was no wind blowing. 

***

It was about twelve-thirty in the morning when Ezra directed me to drive into the bush at Walla Walla. It was a thick bush around the small town that seemed to stretch on for kilometres. I drove out into the thicket of it, him guiding me, before we came to a small clearing near a shallow river. I stopped at the edge of it and we both hopped out. I honked the car horn, making everyone in the back of the car jump awake before I closed the door. 

It took a little while but soon enough we had several tents set up in the clearing with sleeping bags and pillows. Liv and Kaycee collapsed immediately into their own sleeping bags, downright exhausted. 

Ezra clapped his hands together and then pointed to Aaron, "Come on, little guy. We're going to go for a run."

Aaron groaned a little but they both walked off back in towards the bush. 

Jeremy let out a loud yawn, "Night, Vi..."

"Night, Jeremy," I sent him a small smile before heading to the tent Liv had gone in. 

It was my first time sleeping out in the bush since I was a little girl. Mum and Dad used to take me when I was barely a toddler before Liv was born. 

That all stopped when Liv was born and Dad took off. 

The only memory I have of the bush from when I was that little was waking up in the middle of the night, freezing cold. I'd wandered out of the small tent I had to myself and crawled into Mum and Dad's. Dad wasn't there and Mum was fast asleep. 

I'd crawled back out into the bush but he wasn't anywhere to be seen. 

But that's when I saw my first wolf. 

At least, I thought I had. When I'd addressed it with Mum that morning and for countless years after she had always said the same thing: There haven't been any wolves in the UK since 1680.

***

A howl. 

A long, tortured, resonating howl. 

That's what woke me up and chilled me to the bones. 

***

Song: Desperado - The Eagles

I'm sick and currently watching Rock of Ages... gosh, I love the soundtrack. 

xx Sharky.