Just A Small Wolf

“You’re the best,” Adam laughed as we sat on my bed, remembering old times. By this time, Hunter had left my mind. We were so happy, laughing and reminiscing. “I don’t know why I didn’t realize my feelings for you earlier,” he said to himself with a half-smile. It honestly did give me butterflies. I was so happy that I was finally with him. He looked up at me with admiration in his eyes, and bit his lip ever so gently. A silence fell, but it was strange. The silence was not at all awkward; all we needed was to stare into one another’s eyes. It was a simple, clichéd event, but it just worked.
A fist slammed into the wooden door downstairs making me flinch as Adam’s eyes darted to my bedroom floor. “Can I?” I asked, knowing I did not have to finish the sentence. He nodded quickly as I ran downstairs in wonder. My immediate thought was that my family was home, but then I realized they would not need to knock. I opened the door slowly to find a shady and unexpected figure.

“Cassandra, we need to-“ he began looking up to me with shy eyes.

“Hunter, you can’t be here,” I whispered. His sentence stopped immediately as anger struck into his eyes.

“He’s there, isn’t he?” he asked with disappointment. I nodded slowly as he gently pushed his fist into the door frame. In that moment, something changed. Something was different about him. I actually saw him as a real person. A person like Adam. His hair was not edgy anymore, but now it made him appear to have insecurities. His eyes changed from misleading to worried and his stance changed from manipulative to gentle. I was not sure what to do but before I got to think Adam was downstairs.

“Who is this?” he laughed clueless, although a hint of jealousy was at the edge of his tone.

“Uh, Adam… this is Hunter,” I said without making eye contact. Hunter’s eye shot up to see his ‘competition’, I suppose you could say. “And yeah, Hunter this is… Adam…” I awkwardly introduced.

“Ah, I’ve heard much about you,” Hunter said to Adam trying to be as charming as possible. My heart began to race as I realized the conflict that could so easily arise at that moment. I was not sure if I could handle such stress but Adam shook Hunter’s hand with a friendly smile. I let out a sigh of relief as they gladly made acquaintances. “Yes, I’m also crushing on your girlfriend,” Hunter said in a just as charming voice. And with that comment my jaw dropped.

Adam’s hand broke from the gesture and he stood back for a second. “What?” he asked in a fierce voice.

“Yeah, she’s also a very good kisser,” he commented, making me remember he was not really as human as I thought.

“You kissed her?” Adam questioned with anger as he looked between Hunter and I. My heart began to race again as stress overcame my body. I tried to explain that Hunter did not exactly ask permission, it was more to prove a point. But no words came out of my mouth.

“Several times,” Hunter said with a soft smile.

“Cassandra, what the FUCK?” Adam shouted, resulting in me stepping back a few steps. I was not sure what I was supposed to do. I couldn’t speak. It was like my voice box was broken. My heart was almost jumping out of my chest as both sets of eyes burnt into me. Everything seemed dizzy, as I felt like I was about to faint. “Well?” Adam pushed rudely.

“I need some air,” I finally said, with much difficulty. I had to push passed Hunter to get out as I felt his hand brush on my arm. I didn’t want Adam to start a fight, and leaving them alone scared me, but I didn’t know what else to do. I began walking down the footpath before Hunter’s voice called behind me. I was surprised it wasn’t Adam but, I guess that didn’t matter. “What?” I said with tears beginning to form in my eyes.

“Cassandra, listen, we need to tal-“ he attempted once more as I cut him off. He has positioned himself infront of my by now and has his hands placed gently on my arms.

“No, we don’t!” I yelled, pushing him away. Hunter stopped walking and let me pass as my words hit him. After he cruel words in the house, I did not care that he was upset. At all. I just kept walking, back to the forest, where all the bad memories came from, unfortunately.

“He cheated on you,” I heard from a distance. This time I was the one who was stopped in their tracks. No. He couldn’t have. He wouldn’t have. I turned around a death stared Hunter as he walked over to me. “I’m sorry Little Wolf,” he said sympathetically. Even though he used that stupid nickname and I barely believed him, his words seemed so sincere. My eyes began fixated on his, as they appeared so trustworthy. And then he did that thing again. He seemed human again, well, not necessarily human, I mean, he’s a werewolf but he seemed to have real emotions. He seemed like a real person.

“No, he couldn’t have…” I mumbled, disregarding all the thoughts that just ran through my head. He gave me a disappointed half smile and leant over me, embracing me in a hug. He didn’t need to say any more to tell me that what he said had been true. From then, that’s when I knew. I realized why’d he had been such a jerk to me, telling Adam that he was crushing on me. I realized he truly did care about me. And it was all because of the way he hugged me. The way he rested his hands on my waist, then the way he gently pulled me closer. The way he buried his face in my hair, and the way he gently moved his thumb back and forth against my spine.

That's how I knew.