Love Like Winter

Aurora stared at Lucas with wide eyes. The werewolf let out a short, frustrated growl at her apparent indifference and turned away, stalking over to the chest of drawers that sat at the furthermost corner of the cabin. Ripping open drawers with little care, he began to throw items of clothing onto the floor, seeming to be searching for something, and when it couldn’t be found he stopped to pause and ran his fingers anxiously through his hair.

“Where is it…” he muttered, ripping open the second drawer. “Where is it… where is it?”

Aurora blinked, wondering if the huntsman had some sort of anger problem that he’d failed to mention to her. It would be just my luck, she thought to herself, rolling her eyes and sighing, to meet two cute guys in the space of a week and have them both either be an animal or a complete and utter madman. “Look; Lucas,” she said, eyes widening slightly as she watched him pace across the room. “They won’t come for me. I mean, Isabelle may look slightly on the meaner side, but I’m sure that once I explain that Aiden and I were out just as friends she’ll l-“

Lucas barked out a loud laugh, shooting her a toothy smile. “Darling, I don’t think you quite get how unhuman werewolves can be. We might look like you in our human form, but some of us can tear you to pieces and not feel a damn thing. We’re not all that fond of humans.” He turned away, pulling out the third drawer. “Now get ready to run.”

Aurora flushed a furious red. “Don’t call me that. “ The huntsman laughed again and began sorting through the drawer, not seeming to mind the fact that the entire floor was covered in large shirts and pants. Aurora looked disgustedly at a pair of large, black underwear as it fell to the floor in front of her feet.

“Choose a shirt and put it over your clothes. We’re going to be ripping through a lot of foliage and branches to get away from pack territory, and you wouldn’t want to damage those clothes of yours,” he said, glancing back to eye her amusedly.

Uncrossing her arms and letting out a groan, Aurora reluctantly reached down and picked up a plain white t-shirt, holding it out at arm’s length and examining it. She hesitantly brought it to her nose to smell it, glad to find that it smelt like grass and not like it hadn’t been washed in weeks. Sighing, she placed it over her body, frowning in frustration when it swamped her body.

Lucas had paused, holding something through his fingers and staring at it with hauntingly nostalgic eyes. He looked soft in that moment, and Aurora found herself looking at him uncertainly, not quite sure what to say to him or whether to say anything to him at all.

Her decision, however, was made when he let out a soft sigh and walked over to her, reaching down for her hand and placing something in it. She flinched away at first, giving him a slight glare before looking at the object.

It was a necklace. Just simple – made of black string and with a small, white stone crescent moon dangling from its centre. It was… hideous and old, she thought to herself.

“Put it on,” Lucas said softly. “Don’t take it off.”

Aurora glared. “You can’t expect me t-“

“Put it on,” Lucas said more fiercely, snatching it out of her hand and walking behind her to lift it over her head. Aurora glared at the wall. “Don’t lose this. Don’t ever lose this,” he ordered her, his hand brushing against the bare skin of her neck as he settled it around her neck.

There was something in his voice that made her stop.

It was silent for a few short moments before a howl sounded in the distance, and Lucas went stiff behind her. “It’s time to go. They’ll be coming for you,” he said hastily, reaching out to grab her by the arm. His hand was thick and tight against her skin and she flinched slightly as he began to pull her out the door. “Hurry up. We have to move quickly if we don’t want them to catch us. Wolves are faster than we will be.”

Aurora tried to pull her arm out of his grip. “Is that really all we’re taking? We’re going to run away from a pack of wolves and presumably we’ll be on the run for a while, and all you’re taking is a measly necklace?” Lucas turned back to look at her darkly, and she began to stumble as the ground below them got for coarse. “Water, maybe?” she grumbled. “Food? You’d think for a bloody runaway you’d have a little more brai-“

Lucas stopped abruptly, Aurora crashing against his back. Her heart raced as she wondered if she’d finally upset him, but he placed his hand over her mouth when she went to speak. “You need to run,” he whispered, and she stared at him with wide eyes, reading to protest when he tightened his grip over her mouth. “You need to run as far as you can and as quickly as possible. I’ll be able to find you later.”

He pulled away, looking at her with an unreadable expression which strangely looked a lot like fear. Aurora backed up slightly, staring at him in defiance. “Absolutely not. You can’t take me this far and then expe-“

A howl cut her off; sounding terrifying closer to them than expected. “Run!” Lucas shouted, and Aurora found her legs taking off for her, panting as she looked back to glance at him in terror.

She watched as a black blur shot out of nowhere, landing against Lucas’ chest as he let out a deafening howl and fell backwards. Rabid green eyes looked up at her, a thick snout snarling as the werewolf snapped its jaws. Spit dribbled down through bared teeth, the wolf crouching down as though ready to pounce on her.

She was ready to let out a scream when a large, brown wolf latched onto the black one out of nowhere and ripped at its neck, snapping and tearing through the skin as its claws latched onto the black wolf’s side. Aurora took this as her cue to run, and began to take off, her eyes beginning to well up with tears as she tried to avoid all the roots and stones beneath her feet.

She had no idea where she was going, or what she was supposed to do. How had she been dragged into all of this? How had her life gone from moving in with her Uncle to running away from creatures that should not exist?

She let out a soft cry as she smashed into something thick, stumbling backwards. With terrified, teary eyes she looked up to see a thick, sculpted chest and snarling dark eyes. It was the last person she wanted to see.

Aiden.