A Blessing or a Curse

Chapter Five:

“Damien, I honestly can’t remember a thing from last night. Please call me back. I’m sorry for doing whatever it is that I did. Please Damien…just answer your phone.” I pressed the end button and collapsed onto my bed. This was the 5th message I left him but he still didn’t answer or call back.
I stared at the pale pink ceiling of my room blankly. My mind could only recollect a few things from last night. Images of Darien, getting high for the first time, and watching the building burn flashed through my mind, but only in bits and pieces. I had called Ashelle but she hadn’t remembered any more than I did.
All I know is I woke up on the chair of my balcony this morning wearing the outfit I wore from yesterday’s party.

I sighed and made my way down the steps of my house quietly. It was Sunday afternoon and my aunt, uncle and cousin had gone to church leaving me behind after I faked sick. I poured some fresh, hot green tea into my purple and added three spoonfuls of sugar.
I made my way upstairs and placed the tea on my bedpost and just watched the cup intently. I watched as steam danced slowly out of the cup and waited for it to cool down. My eyes switched to my window where the weather outside was pretty hectic. Rain was pounding and clashing against my window and the sky was grey. Typical April weather.
I took a long sip of my hot tea savoring the scent and taste as it trickled down my throat slowly. Tea had always been my favorite thing in the world. Green tea, Jasmine tea, Chamomile tea, White tea, all tea was good tea.

I decided to run a bubble bath for myself while I awaited Damien’s answer. I made my way to my bathroom and filled the tub bout ¾ of the way and poured my lavender bath oil and my rose bath bubbles and let them mix together.
I turned on my Lana Del Rey Station on Pandora and slipped out of my clothes and into the tub letting loose and calming myself down. After a few minutes my loud and high ringtone went off and snapped me out of my trance.

“Hello?!” I sat up higher trying to avoid my phone getting wet.
“Lolita…” Damien’s voice was low and raspy, like he was in pain. “I’m glad you’re okay. I’m sorry I couldn’t answer you earlier. I had…umm pack business to tend to.”
I sighed in relief. “Merci mon dieu,” I murrmed to myself thanking God.
“What happened last night Damien? I can’t remember anything!”I was desperate to know. “How did I get home?”
“I don’t know what happened but when I found you and Ashelle my car was drowning in some lake and both your bodies were laid out on the ground in one piece. I brought you and her home and I set you on your balcony, you okay?” he asked.
“So you just found us there. Laying there?” I questioned him.
“Basically.” He answered. “Are you alright?”
“Yeah, but what happened with that fire?” I asked him
“Rouges. They set the warehouse of fire in an attempt to kill everyone. Most people got out, but a few lives were lost, plenty injured from all packs.” His voice was strained as if he was crying.
“Damien…are you okay?”
“My best friend died.” His voice cracked.
I gasped and my eyes widened. “Wh-what?” I sat there in shock. I couldn’t imagine the hurt and pain going through him at this moment. I would lose my mind if I ever lost Ashelle. “Damien, oh my God and I am so sorry. That’s horrible, absolutely horrific. If there is anything you need just let me know.”
“Lolita, Cory was my best friend. Cory Russell.” he basically ignored my words on comfort. “The Alpha’s son.”
“The alpha’s only son…” I mumbled to myself. “The alpha’s only child.”
“Not only did I lose my best friend but my future Alpha! Lolita Alpha Korlav is a mess! The Luna is just straight up depressed! A lot of the pack’s elder’s aren’t sure what to do. And you should see his mate Sophia…” he trailed off. I heard him sniffle over the line. “My entire fault.”
“Oh stop it Damien! You can’t possibly be blaming yourself for Cory’s death.” I tried to snap some reason into him. Damien can’t possibly fight off and save everyone.
“It was my fault though. After I put you and Ash in the car, Cory, a whole bunch of wolves and I went to go fight off some of the rogues. I was struggling with this one rogue…but he…he was to strong and Cory butted in…I tried to stop him but…I…”
“Damien I-” he cut me off.
“Look, I’ve got to go. I just need some time…okay? Bye” and with that he just hung up.
I just stared at my phone dumbfounded. He had hung up out of nowhere and I wanted to comfort him. Why would he even call back if he was just going to cut the conversation so short?
I placed my phone on the closed toilet seat next to the tub and sank further into the tub and sighed.
My wolf whimpered inside me as I pouted. Everything was so confusing. I shot up when I realized what Damien had said. He didn’t save Ash and I. He found us. That meant someone else had.
Who was this mysterious hero or heroine who kept saving Ash and I’s asses? Was it the same person both times? Was he or she following us? Did they belong to our pack? Were they even wolves?
“Maybe I should find out…” I muttered to myself.
It was warm out and my wolf hadn’t been out in a few days. A good run couldn’t harm me too bad, now could it?

I hopped out of the tub and let the water drain out. I hesitated for a moment. There were probably rogues on our land and I wasn’t aware of the chances of running into one or more. It could be a dangerous trip. But I decided I was willing to take the stupid risk.

I jumped off from my balcony my naked body fully exposed onto the ground with a white tank top and black Nike pros in my hand. I shifted into my small white wolf, picked my clothes up in my mouth and began to run. The rain was calming down a bit which was reassuring. Running in mud wasn’t exactly the best pastime.
I ran as fast as my legs could let me dodging and avoiding as many trees as I could. The forest was becoming greener every day as flowers blossomed on trees and grass popped out from the ground. Winter was long gone.
I kept my head forward but my sense alert as I sprinted through the forest.
I ran at this pace for around thirty minutes until I came to the clearing where the incident with the hunters had occurred. I sniffed out the area searching for an unfamiliar smell so I could track down my hero. My wolf and I were more than eager at this point to find him or her.

I kept searching and searching for around two hours before officially giving up. I was at the borders of my pack’s territory which I figured it wouldn’t be safe to be. I made my way to a stream, placed my clothes beside me and sipped the fresh cool water and sat alone in my thoughts.

Then something hit my nose; chocolate and spice, musky delicious spice. The smell made my head shoot up immediately and my head spin. Instinctively my wolf carelessly followed the scent. My common sense told me to be more cautious about this but my wolf was in full control but I didn’t care. I just wanted to find the owner of the mouth watering scent.
I felt the scent get closer and stronger by the second. For an odd reason my heart began to beat loudly and thump in my chest like crazy. I couldn’t help but howl lowly in glee. Whatever the smell was it was making my wolf excited and content. When I got close enough I realized the scent belonged to another wolf.
‘Could it be…?’ I had a hint why this scent was driving me insane which made me nervous and much more hesitant to see who it was.
But out of nowhere a humongous, ebony black wolf slowly appeared out of line of trees and made his way toward me. He stopped around three feet away from me and we just stood there and stared at each other.
It was him. My mate.