Love Like Winter

Aurora ran. In a matter of minutes she had disappeared in the thickness of the woods surrounding her Uncle’s house and refused to look back. She may have only known Lucas for a short amount of time but she had gathered that things didn’t scare him very much, and if Aiden was considered scary by him she didn’t even want to know what he was capable of. So she ran, trying desperately to ignore the sounds of growls and howling and shredding. She didn’t want to imagine what possibly could be happening back there.

She ran until her breath felt like fire in her lungs and she couldn’t move anymore. Instead she held desperately onto a thin tree trunk, and clung over the side of it, peering toward where her Uncle’s cabin had been. Any moment now that monster from before would come pounding after her and she would be helpless to stop it.

What if Lucas was dead? A stranger she had only just met dying for her. If it were any other scenario she might find it romantic. But now, it was just sad. She clutched at her empty hand, wishing she hadn’t dropped the flute Lucas had given her.

Aurora stayed by that tree for a long time. By the time she felt brave enough to move again the sun had well disappeared behind the trees. She closed her eyes, bracing herself as she pushed her aching body away and began to steadily walk back to her Uncle’s house. Just as she made the first step however, a strong hand had grasped her upper arm and swung her around.

She couldn’t even get a scream out as the hand clasped around her mouth. Lucas stared down at her angrily, his eyes burning into hers. “Are you insane?” he hissed. “He could be waiting for you.”

Aurora then realized how true this could be and found herself deflating. He took his hand away and she stared at him apologetically. The red flannel he had been wearing earlier was gone and he now stood before her in a simple white tank top. The tank top had a long gash down the center of it and she caught sight of blood tainting the edges of the gashes but there was no visible wound on his skin aside from fading angry red lines.

Without thinking she traced the wounds, wonder on her face. “What happened?”

Lucas took her wrist then and pulled it away from his body. “What kind of shit have you gotten yourself mixed up in, girl?” He ignored her question and then began tugging her along. She had run a lot farther than she had originally though because he pulled her out of the woods and she found herself in the center of the town. The only bar in the town was the only thing open that late, and it was bustling with the small amount of town residents; she imagined her Uncle must be in there. Without thinking she began walking toward the bar forgetting Lucas’ hold on her.

“Where are you going?” She opened and closed her mouth like a fish out of water and pointed to the bar. Lucas’ gaze followed her finger and he stared at her bewildered. “If you need a drink that bad I’ll make you one back at my place,” he muttered before heading toward his truck that she hadn’t seen before and opened the door and nearly tossed her into the passenger side.

After he got into the car and they drove away she finally gathered the courage to ask him again what was going on. “Seriously, Lucas, what the hell happened back there?”

Lucas didn’t speak for a long while, merely keeping his eyes on the road. Finally, he ran his hands down the length of his face, wishing he could erase the past forty-eight hours. “You’ve got yourself into a hell of a lot of trouble,” he muttered as they pulled onto the hidden path that led to his cabin. “I’ll tell you about it over a beer. Sound good?”

“Okay,” Aurora sighed, not really thinking that telling him she was underage would be the best thing right now. She took a deep breath and waited until he was parked before following him into the cabin. For whatever reason she felt incredibly calm at that moment. There were no anger spikes like she normally got whenever she was put in a position such as this. Then again, she hadn’t exactly ever been in a position such as this so perhaps this reaction was completely normal.

She sat down across from Lucas at the table after he had grabbed two bottles of beer. He handed one to her and she waited until he had taken a swig to pester him some more. “Can you please tell me what’s going on now?” she said, her patience waning.

Lucas sighed, leaning back in his chair and staring at the ceiling before belching and taking another drink. Aurora blinked at him, eyebrows raised until finally he rolled his eyes and slammed his near empty drink on the table. “Alright, alright.”

He stood up then before grabbing a small picture frame and handed it to her as he sat back down. “What am I looking at?”

“Aiden,” he said, pointing to the familiar face at the front of the photo. He stood next to an elderly man who had a forbidding look on his face. “Then, there I am,” he muttered, pointing to a much happier looking man standing directly next to Aiden. Then came another familiar face.

“That’s Isabelle,” she breathed, pointing at the hot-tempered woman she had seen turn into a beast. “She works at Urban Culture…that’s Aiden’s girlfriend.”

“Not girlfriend,” Lucas said. “Mate.”

Aurora snorted then. “Mate? What are they penguins? You know how they mate for life or whatever?”

“Something like that,” Lucas said, his face never leaving that incredibly un-amused expression. “You know what you saw that day, Aurora. You know what Aiden is.”

“He’s a werewolf,” Aurora whispered, staring down at the portrait of him. “Fantastic.”