Red Mark of Fate
"What's that smell?" Taiga asked her brusquely cutting her off. "What?" She could tell her brother was angry. This surprised her. He almost never got angry with her. What was his problem she thought. "Also where did you get this sweater. I don't remember ever seeing you wearing it." He asked again. Megumi could feel her heart beating out of her chest. She started to panic but quickly composed herself, putting on a poker face. "A friend let me borrow it okay, its not a big deal, get off my case." She said shrugging him off. But his grip on her arm got tighter. "No, that smell. It doesn't smell like Rin and I know you don't have any other friend's so who is it?" "What? Rude! I have other friends!" She said feeling offended, despite his words being the truth. " I swear to God Megumi, don't lie to me. Who gave this to you because the smell coming out of you is the scent of a prey, and a deer no less." Megumi cursed inwardly. She forgot how good her brother's sense of smell was. It almost rivalled her own. Megumi didn't bother trying to hide it, she couldn't lie to her brother anyway. "So what if it is? Where's the problem in that?" Her words seemed to anger her brother even more. "Where's the problem in that?! Megumi are you serious?" "Do you not realize how dangerous this is?" Megumi looked at him confused. Taira couldn't help sighing seeing how genuinely lost his sister was. "Having a deer's scent on you is a form of marking Megumi. It's a form of submission for wolves!" This revelation shocked Megumi almost beyond repair. "How can a wolf submit to its prey?!" In what world did that make sense? ************************************************************************************************** Megumi Ahane, born into a wealthy family and blessed with wolf genes resents the life she has to live. In a world where you are either prey or predator, Megumi finds herself in a conflicting position where she has to choose between rejecting the genes she was born with or giving in to fate. ************************************************************************************************** Note: This story takes place in a modern setting but has some fantastical elements to it. There are a couple of twists and turns as well as some betrayal but overall there's not too much toxicity between the protagonist and the male lead. This story is both short and sweet.
38. Okiru = To wake up
"Nee-chan!" Reo jumped into Megumi's arms as he greeted her.
Megumi stumbled back with the sudden impact. She was going to fall over but Beaux quickly caught her. She shot him a grateful look before letting go of Reo.
"You came to pick me up today." Reo said smiling brightly at her.
"Yes I did." Against my will.
"Yay, I'm so happy. You never come to pick me up."
"Yeah sorry about that. You know I have things to do after school so I never have the time. Nee-chan is sorry." She said while patting his cute little head.
She had a nice expression on her face. Warm and welcoming which scared Beaux a little bit since her face was always unreadable. It was scary but also refreshing to see.
"So you're human after all." He said in sardonic tone.
Megumi glared at him before taking her brother's hand and leaving.
"Let's go home Reo."
The rest of the evening was uneventful. With the Kazekami's having dinner with the Ahane's and then going home.
That night, Megumi had a peaceful and dreamless night for the first time in weeks.
She had been plagued with strange dreams, images she couldn't quite understand and the dream would always consist of her running towards something but never reaching her destination. All she could remember was the huge black wolf blocking her path every time she got close and she would wake up in a sweat, the side of her neck throbbing.
Tonight however wasn't the case. She woke up feeling refreshed and well-rested. Megumi got out of bed and got ready for the day.
When arriving at school, she could see Rin and Beaux conversing with each other. They acted like they were the best of friends and this sight seemed to weird Megumi out.
She still couldn't get quite a grip on Beaux' attitude. He seemed cold and distant one minute, and super friendly and welcoming the next. He was ready to divulge his secrets to you but also put up walls, only spilling the one's that were safe to share.
It was confusing and Megumi didn't know how to keep up with the boy's mood swings. She did know one thing, he wasn't a bad guy so it was hard to dislike him.
They had a shared a nice heart-to-heart the other night and had a rather peaceful dinner as well. She couldn't find any faults in him expect for his hot and cold attitude. He wasn't high strung nor overbearing and she felt weirdly comfortable with him. The same feeling she got whenever she was with Rin, like she could be herself around him.
Megumi could almost see herself becoming friends with him.
"Why are standing there looking like an idiot." Beaux' deep voice brought her back to reality.
She sighed. Yeah, almost.
The rest of the day went by in a blur and it was finally the end of the day. Megumi was getting ready to pack her stuff when she felt the buzzing of her phone. Frowning, she took her phone out of her pocket and checked her notifications.
Right there on the screen was a notification from line. Clicking on the screen, she opened the messaging app and saw she had received a text from Kanae.
She instantly felt her heart sink. Crap. She had forgotten that they made plans to finish their project today.
The message read:
I'll be waiting outside the school gate.
The message was simple and to the point. It didn't leave her any room to rethink her decision and run away.
She sighed out loud before sending a quick message in agreement. She turned off her phone and took a deep breath.
It would be fine. They would finish everything in less than an hour, and she would go home. Nothing would happen. Absolutely nothing.
She then left the classroom her legs feeling heavier than usual.
...
Standing outside the school gate was Kanae. Megumi spotted him right away, it was hard for her not too. He stood out so much among the crowd of students making their way out of the school.
His soft brown locks swayed in the wind and his big brown eyes were moving back and forth as if he was looking for someone. His eyes finally caught sight of her and stayed strained on her.
Megumi could feel her heartbeat accelerating and her mouth turn dry. She couldn't take her eyes off of him either. She didn't know why, but the way he gazed at her made her entire body tremble and she could feel her blood rushing to her face. She could feel this invisible pull drawing her closer and closer to the boy she wanted so desperately to run away from. But her body wouldn't let her run, no in fact, her body made sure she couldn't run. She kept walking forward until she reached him.
"Ready to go?" He asked when she was within ear shot. She simply nodded her head. She couldn't bring herself to open her mouth because told her she would say something she'd end up regretting later.
Walking next to him, she could smell a sweet scent coming from him. It wasn't an overbearingly sweet smell but more subtle. The sweet scent was mixed with the smell of wood after the rain making her feel at ease. The two smells mixed together was intoxicating making her almost fall in a trance.
Luckily she kept her wits about her and was able to walk next to him without falling over. The entire time they walked, Kanae remained silent.
And she was extremely grateful for his silence.