THE WOLF OF MY DREAMS

That night I got into bed and turned off the lights when a huge wolf appeared out of nowhere and stepped onto my bed. I sat up immediately and pushed myself as far back away from it as I could, but it continued growling and coming closer, its weight dipping the bed on either side of me as it approach.

It was a dark brown wolf, almost chocolate in color, with matching eyes. The white of its huge and very sharp teeth gleamed even in the light of the full moon outside.

Ooooh... So scary. My heart beat like the wings of a humming bird. I was terrified.

It growled low, it's wolf head was now inches from mine.

I was so scared, I couldn't even scream.

Then my tears just started sprouting out of my eyes. Scary!

And then my bedroom door opened and mum popped in, "Chrissie, you dad and I are going out for drinks... Chrissie? CHRISSIE?"

Mum turned on the lights, "Chrissie? Chrissie!"

I blinked at my mum sitting on the side of my bed. I looked around, "Where is the wolf?"

"What wolf, honey?" Mum asked, "Did you have a bad dream? When I came in, you were just sitting there crying..."

"Darling, are you ready to leave?" Dad paused at the door, "What happened?"

"I think she had a bad dream again." Mum said.

"Again?" I asked.

"Not again." Dad said.

Oh right... Suddenly I remembered. Ever since I was young, maybe not that young, like in my first year of highschool maybe, I had these nightmares about a big bad wolf.

Like I would be running in a forest, and no matter which direction I ran, I would run into a terrifying dark brown wolf. It would growl at me and I would run away as fast as I could, but it would catch me under his large paw in two seconds flat, knocking me onto the ground, eyes like chocolate lava, sharp fangs and snarling like thunder whipping above me. And I would scream and cry and wake up a blubbering mess.

It happened quite frequently for a while, and then summer came, and it stopped. Mum and dad wrote it down to stress. I mean starting highschool was tough and all. Maybe it was a stress dream.

Yeah, I was getting stress dreams all over again. I guess meeting your mate was a stressful thing. But tonight was different. I wasn't running in the forest. I was in my bed. And the wolf... It was the same wolf.

Plus tonight, I didn't dare to say it to my parents, but I don't think I was dreaming. My eyes were opened throughout.

My wolf was coming to get me!

What a terrifying thought.

Mum frowned, "Maybe we should stay with her tonight."

Oh yeah, mum wanted to go out with dad. I quickly shook my head and forced a little laugh, "It's okay mum. I'm not a kid anymore. It's just a dream."

"Are you sure?" Mum asked.

"Yeah. It's just a dream, Mum." I said. Waving my parents off. I got out of bed and walked them to the door.

After they left, I crawled back under my sheets. I didn't turn off any of the lights. I was freakin scared.

I know it probably might sound dumb to you. My friends at highschool laughed till they were dead on the floor when I told them.

"So you dreamed of a chocolate wolf. Why was that scary?" Someone asked.

"I guess it wasn't that scary." I admitted now in the light of day, surrounded by my friends, "But it wasn't that funny either."

"Christa is little red riding hood." Someone else decided. And that became my moniker for the rest of highschool. On my birthday, they bought me a red hooded jacket. I wore it to school throughout spring.

I mean it was kind of funny.

Just like it was funny when I hid behind my bag for almost the whole scary movie when we went out. Or when a big scary theme park mascot tapped me on my shoulder and I screamed bloody murder and burst into tears.

It was funny. My friends laughed till they couldn't stand upright. And then I would laugh too because I knew the movie, the mascot, the bad dreams... They were all not real.

It's a lot less funny right now. I was still scared. It's not funny when I'm still scared.

Someone rang the doorbell. Oh, did mum and dad forget something? Like their keycard? I checked my phone. Nothing. It was 11.45pm.

The doorbell rang again. I got out of bed and went to check the door. There was dad's keycard sitting on the shelf by the door, with his phone. I grabbed the door and tugged it open with a grin.

"Hi Dad, you forgot your..." I froze. It wasn't Dad or Mum. It was Henry.

He appeared hair tousled in a black t-shirt and grey joggers, surrounded in a cloud of autumn leaf scent. It looked like he just got out of bed. Which was what I probably looked like too, since that was exactly what I did.

I tugged self consciously at the hem of my sweatshirt. I had taking to wearing sweat suits to sleep since I started campus living. I figured it was something warm and comfortable, and that I didn't mind Sam and her betas and Luna catching me in whenever they entered.

"Are you alright?" Henry asked. He didn't enter the apartment. The lift lobby was somewhat cold, but I didn't dare to invite him in.

Keep cool headed, calm, polite.

I nodded, "Yes, thank you."

Henry lifted a brow at me, "You sure? I could feel your fear through... through the mate bond."

"Oh, haha, just a nightmare. Sorry about that." I quickly brushed it off, "I get scared easily so you can just ignore it next time too. Sorry in advance."

Then I decided to quickly end it, "Thanks for checking. Sorry for the trouble. Goodnight."

And I shut the door on his handsome face before the smell of autumn leaves totally knocked me off my feet.

Once the door was shut I took a deep breath. I could still smell the autumn leaves. I checked the view finder, he was still there. I sat down on the floor, back against the door. Flicking on my phone screen, I texted my mum, "Dad's phone and card key are still here."

Mum texted back, "Don't worry, I have my purse with me. Go back to bed. "

So I did just that. I had a feeling Henry was still behind the door, but I didn't dare to check the view finder. I know it was silly, but I was kind of scared to look in case he was angry.

So I quickly ran back into my bed, without turning off any of the lights.

But I had to admit, I felt much less scared now. It was probably just a stress dream, the chocolate wolf.

I remembered the smell of autumn leaves and calmed down and fell asleep.

The next morning, I woke up late. Mum and Dad had already eaten breakfast and Dad had already left for work.

"Beta Peter's mother and his mate will be taking us shopping today." Mum told me.

"Beta Peter has a mate?" I had no idea.

Mum laughed, "Of course he does! Most wolves are mated before the age of 20."

Oh, yeah, I knew that, but I always assumed that beta wolves were always single... I mean Sam's three betas acted like they were permanently single.

I was turning 19 this year. Henry too. Did that mean we were at mating age? I made a face at that.

"What is it?" Mum asked.

"I'm too young to get mated." I said.

"Let love grow naturally, Chrissie. There is no rush." Mum smiled reassuringly at me.

The doorbell rang.

Not Henry!

"Will you please go get that?" Mum asked.

I nodded and carefully went to check the door. Whew, it was just two ladies. I opened the door for them.

"Good morning!" The older one said, "My, you must be our new Luna. Such a sweet girl! I'm Peter's Mum, Portia. My daughter in law, Mackenzie."

I did a quick polite bow, "Nice to meet you."

"So polite too!" Portia tutted as we entered our apartment.

Mum had come over to meet them too.

"Good morning, Mrs Laurel. I'm Peter's Mum, Portia. This is Peter's mate, Mackenzie."

"What unique names! I love them." Mum enthused, "Please call me Ariel, would you like some tea?"

"No thank you, Ariel. But we best get going. The shops are best if we go now, before the lunch crowd sets in."

"Oh yes! You are absolutely right." Mum agreed, "Let me just grab my purse."

And then mum looked at me, "Hurry and change, Chrissie!"

So I hurried. I went back into my room to grab the right clothes. Mackenzie looked around my age. She was wearing a leather mini skirt and leggings. I couldn't see what else because she had her jacket on.

I tried to grab something similar. Urm... Were jeans inappropriate? I don't know? Just to be safe, I pulled a white a-line skirt and a pale pink knit top. I wished I had something cooler, but I was never the cool type of girl.

Then very quickly, I brushed my hair, grabbed my best cream colored cardigan and jacket and scarf and headed to the door.

I didn't want to keep everyone waiting, so I had planned to pulled on the layers as we walked down to the car, but Portia immediately grabbed the clothes from my hand and started holding them out for me to wear, "You're a human! Best dress warmly, Luna. Don't want you to catch a cold! I heard it's terrible for humans."

Mackenzie shrugged, "Mum, don't smoother her."

"She's our Luna. She will be smoothered whether she likes it or not." Portia replied.

Mackenzie smiled at me a little apologetically, "Sorry about that, Mum's pretty excited to meet you."

I liked Mackenzie at once. It was exactly like how mum had described it. Something zinged out of my heart and went to her. I smiled at her, "It's ok. I don't mind it."

"Such a sweet and gentle luna. Thank goddess! We were about to think our young alpha wasn't going to get mated." Portia said.

"Mum..." Mackenzie warned.

"How old is Alpha Henry?" Mum asked.

"19 this year." Portia said, "I probably shouldn't be saying this..."

"No, you shouldn't." Mackenzie told her mother.

But Portia dropped her voice and continued, "Our young alpha dreamed of his mate when he first shifted... He said she was a human, and dreamed of her every night, and then the dreams suddenly stopped. We had feared that he had lost her. Humans are rather frail in nature, you know. There are some who'd even go as far as to say she had died. Because he is still unmated, the Alpha title could not be passed down, even though the young Alpha is already shouldering most of the pack. Some of the upper families have been pressuring Alpha George to arrange another mate for Alpha Henry."

"Really?" Mum said, "But they are so young! Not yet 20!"

"That's exactly what Alpha George said. Still it is a relief that our Luna has appeared, safe and sound. Thank Goddess!" Portia happily praised as she led us to the porch where a car was waiting.

"If you don't mind, Mackenzie will drive. Don't worry. She is a trained warrior. One of the two female warriors in our pack!" Portia boasted.

We all got into the car. I'm not sure what being a trained warrior had got to do with driving, but it sounded impressive.

"Female warriors are so rare." Mum said, "I've only met a few others besides you Mackenzie! And I've visited so many packlands with my husband."

"Oh, you must have seen the whole world!" Portia agreed. "I heard your husband consulted alphas from the next continent, and even Alpha Kingsley?"

"Yes, we visited the green packlands last year." Mum said.

"It was impressive, I'm sure. Was it as impressive as our Silver Moon Pack?" Portia wanted to know.

"I'm not sure how to compare, it's quite different. But I have to say I had never seen any packhouse grander than yours." Mum confided to Portia, which turned out to be the right answer.

Portia clapped her hands and exclaimed, "Oh, so it's true! I was told that our packhouse was the grandest in this continent!"

"In the other continent too - at least as far as I visited." Mum assured Portia.

"If you keep this up Mrs Laurel, Mum's head is going to explode in the car." Mackenzie said.

The rest of the day was pretty fun. Mackenzie and I hit off immediately. We were really different, but I think if I had a sister, she would have been like this.

"I feel like I've suddenly found a little sister!" Mackenzie grinned at me when the two of us stopped for ice cream.

I grinned back, "Cool. I thought we we more like twins though. Opposite twins."

I held up my cone. It had a vanilla mountain on it. Mackenzie held up a dark chocolate cone in comparison. We laughed.

Mum and Portia found another shop on sale. Portia was very impressed by my mum's ability to keep shopping. My mum had inhuman endurance when it came to shopping and superb hunting skills when it came down to a bargain. Unfortunately, I didn't inherit her superpower.

Mackenzie was laughing at my fear of chocolate. I told her that when I was a kid I ate so much chocolate that it came back to hunt me as a huge chocolate wolf.

I did want to amuse her, but Mackenzie laughed so hard, there were tears in her eyes, "Luna, you are the funniest girl I've ever met."

It wasn't that funny.

"That's why I think you'd be good for our young Alpha." Mackenzie decided while wiping her tears away.

"Because I'm funny?" I asked.

"And sweet and gentle..." Mackenzie said.

And then she started growling. I froze. What? Mackenzie stepped in front of me just as a few girls sashayed over. The one in front was a tall girl with her blond hair tied up in a high pony tail.

I don't mean to be judgemental or anything, but they looked like cheerleaders straight out of a TV show. They beautiful and mean type.

"Hi Kenken." The blond girl said.

"Hi Charbear." Mackenzie answered. Despite the cute nicknames, she didn't sound happy. Not one bit.

"Who's that?" Charbear asked, lifting a perfectly arched brow at me.

"Our Luna, Christa." Mackenzie said.

"Luna? This human?" Charbear scoffed. She said the word human like it was something bad.

"Hi." I forced a smile. Diplomacy is the key.

Charbead returned it with a very brief and plastic looking smile.

"She doesn't look like anything special." Charbear decided, "Not Henry's type at all. And what is she going to do when he flares up?"

Charbear looked me in the eye. I actually stepped further back behind Mackenzie. Alert! Wolf in cheerleader clothing! And I realised that this was quite literally true.

Charbear smirked, "Have you ever seen Henry in a rage? It's not pretty. I bet you'd be running home in tears in an instant."

Charbear snapped her fingers and the girls behind her struck a pose before they sashayed off.

"Wow. I felt like I just stepped into a highschool drama back there." I told Mackenzie.

She laughed, "I was going to ask if you were okay, but I'm going to take that as a yes."

Now I laughed, "Why wouldn't I be okay?"

"Henry's temper can be scary. But you're his Luna, he would never hurt you." Mackenzie promised.

I nodded, "Don't worry, Kenken. Even if I cry, I won't run home in an instant. I'm not a werewolf, so I can't run that fast."

Mackenzie was soon laughing again. And I decided to just brush meeting Charbear and her backup cheerleaders off as just another nightmare.

It's not real. Werewolf romances are not real. I mean if it were, Charbear would be bad news, but this isn't a webnovel, right?