A trail of wolf footprints led all the way to Jeremy's tightly closed door. There were even two leaves resting on the floor.
"Finally!" Celeste whooped, a thrill burning in her eyes. She already formed an interrogation plan while Jeremy was gone. Now, the only thing she needed was to get her hands on the man and squeeze the answers out of him. She made a beeline to Jeremy's door and held her breath, a smile on her face. She knocked. One second… Two seconds… Three seconds… Ten seconds… "Have you shifted back?" she tried the doorknob. It was locked. He must have shifted back. Silence was the only answer she received. The smile vanished from her face, replaced by a frown. She leaned closer to the door and listened carefully. It was suspiciously quiet. "Stop pretending you're not there!" She banged on the door. This time, she detected a small hiss from the room. "Ah ha! I heard you!" She waited for a few seconds, and the door remained closed. "Open the door, puppy! Or I'll bust the door down!" She added when the man on the other side still pretended he was not there. "I'm not a puppy! And you wouldn't dare! Dad will kill you!" Celeste gasped, "Oh! He talks! Holy! It's a miracle! By the way, Dad will only be happy at the news since he's still mad you broke his favorite car." "He's still mad? Crap…" Celeste shook her head in glee. "Put away that smirk on your face." Celeste felt busted. "I do not smirk!" "Yeah, yeah… Just leave me alone." Jeremy heaved a long sigh. "Come on! Don't be an asshole. I won't pet you like a puppy this time, I promise! I'm just curious about your transformation!" "What do you want to know?" He sounded beaten. "I … actually got a question list for you. Hey, let me finish!" She already saw her twin brother's protest coming. As expected, a sigh came from the door. Celeste giggled and continued, "It won't take long! Just feed me some info so I'll be better prepared when my wolf sur…" "No!" Jeremy cut her off. "Why not? Come on! That's the only thing I ask! You've got your wolf today, and my wolf would probably jump out tonight! I just need to be prepared. You'll help me, right? We can even go hunting together after I transformed." She thought Jeremy would be touched by her speech and yanked the door open immediately for a friendly Q&A, so she stared at the door in anticipation. She heard the rustle from the room, and then Jeremy sighed again. "Can we do this later? I don't want to talk about it now. And I got this dirt all over me. Leave me for a shower, okay? You… If you transform tonight," he paused because his voice was somehow hoarse, "you will… you will know everything. And I don't think you'll go hunt with me after that." The last sentence was almost too low for her to hear. Celeste wanted to protest, but the man did sound exhausted. "Fine…" she breathed. Deep down, she was a little annoyed and even hurt when Jeremy decided just to shut her out, but the exhaustion in his voice worried her even more. "Are you okay, Jer? Do you have something on your mind? You can tell me, you know. I'm your twin sister! We shared a womb!" "I know very well that we shared a womb," he gritted that out from his teeth. "Thanks, by the way." Then he fell into dead silence again. Celeste was bewildered. This was not the Jeremy she knew. "You are not abducted by the aliens, are you? Speak the code if you're not." Since werewolves were real, why wouldn't the aliens be? Celeste was in no position to question the existence of other mysterious creatures. Jeremy cackled. "I'm fine, Cel. Just leave me for the shower. And to address your concerns, WOOFWOOF." "Copy that. See you at dinner, Woof Jeremy!" Celeste giggled. *** But Celeste didn't see Jeremy at dinner because he didn't even leave his room for a second. He said his wolf had hunted and he was not hungry. Celeste gritted her teeth. Curiosity was eating her alive now. After dinner, Celeste brought the cookies she had made to Jeremy's door. "I got you cookies, Jeremy. Would you at least open the door and take them?" She was welcomed by the familiar silence again. She had no idea what was troubling her twin brother, but after a long day, her patience was shot. She snorted, "Okay. I respect your request for some contactless delivery. I'll put the plate on the floor. You can collect it while I'm gone, shy puppy." When there was still no answer, Celeste grumbled in a low voice. "Asshole." "I'm leaving!" she raised her voice and closed her door loudly in case Jeremy didn't hear her. Then she quietly opened her door a little so she could bust Jeremy once he came out. She suddenly felt like she was trapping a stray puppy. About one hour later, when Jeremy still didn't get out of his room, Celeste snapped. Her patience had burnt out. She jumped to her feet, wrenched her door open, rushed to Jeremy's door, and snatched the plate of cookies from the floor. "You asshole!" she barked. In a heartbeat, she fled to her room. Her hand grabbed a cookie and automatically sent it to her mouth. After an angry bite, her face crumpled. Not sweet at all! She slammed her face into her pillow and screamed at it like a dramatic teenager.Celeste had no idea why she was suddenly so twitchy and grumpy. Maybe it was because she couldn't even feel her wolf. Or maybe Jeremy should be blamed for shutting her out. She didn't know. They argued a lot as all the siblings did. And it was not the first time Jeremy kept her out of his room. Hell, she had done the same to him, too. But this time, the fact that she couldn't see him annoyed and frustrated her like nothing else. She had no clue why it felt so different now. She should have been glad she didn't need to deal with her idiot brother. Finally, she gave in. Fuck! She didn't need him! She would probably shift tonight and had all the questions answered instantly. She puffed and lay on the bed. She heard the little noises the summer wind made when it ran between the leaves. A small part of it entered from her window and brought in the light scent of leaves and dirt, stirring the air of the room with the fragrance of the cookies. Celeste turned to her side, facing the
After a trip to the supermarket, Celeste drove to the place she worked. Her friend Sarah was chatting with Raymond. When the young lady laid eyes on Celeste and the jar of cookies in her hands, she cried in surprise and jumped at Celeste. Raymond rolled his eyes, "Yep… Like a monkey jumping at the sight of bananas." His voice was low, but Sarah didn't miss it. She shot him a dagger and returned her attention to Celeste. "Hey, Cel! I miss you!" Celeste chuckled, "I guess you miss my cookies even more. Here you go." Without a moment of delay, Sarah took the jar and picked up a cookie. She tossed it into her mouth and moaned in satisfaction, "You never let me down." Celeste smiled. She was always happy when her friends liked the food she made. She didn't make friends with too many humans, though. Not that she was racist or distrustful of humans. No. Or she wouldn't have taken this part-time job at the very beginning. It was just that humans grew old and died while werewolve
Celeste was a bit lost by the sudden change of topic. "I mean… You and Sarah have been curious about my secret, right? And now I'm offering it to you. So, let me ask again. Do you want to know my secret or not?" Weird as it sounded, she was intrigued. She shouldn't have cared about him since she no longer worked with him. But her instinct told her to say yes. She sensed something fishy, though. "Why? Why do you decide to tell your secret now?" she asked suspiciously. "Because I… I like you. I hope we can still be friends. I want to share a secret and earn a friend," Raymond answered, gaze fixed on her. That was a very strange reasoning. "Why on earth do you think I will be your friend after I find out your secret?" "Because you're not seeing me as who I truly am. If you know my real identity, you will change your opinions of me. I think you'll even consider me a hero." Celeste snorted. "You cocky ass must hype it up, huh?" That being said, she was curious. She pond
Celeste paled. Of course, she knew what werewolf hunter meant. But she never expected Raymond to be one. She couldn't even imagine him holding a gun and aiming at his target. Raymond was just a clueless, nerdy man to her. Hunters and werewolves were worst enemies for hundreds of years. Not that they had never made peace, but the peace had always been short-lived along with human life and perished as new generations grew. As time went by, suspicion and misunderstandings swelled into hatred and bloodshed. For example, Alpha Byron's Luna was killed by the hunters. Werewolves seemed stronger with their sharp teeth and power, but they were vulnerable under the moon. Hunters stood no chance if they were barehanded, but their weapons were getting more lethal to give them the edge. In the end, werewolves could only hide, as they did in this town. The moment Raymond admitted his identity as a werewolf hunter, Celeste felt the urge to run. To run for her life. To warn her pack. Notici
For several days, Celeste stayed at home to wait for her wolf to surface. After days of observation, she was convinced that Jeremy was avoiding her. No matter how early she got up and ran to the door, she was always one step behind him. And she always fell asleep before he came back and locked himself up in his room. Celeste had no idea what she had done wrong to deserve that. But she would find out tonight because it was the full moon, and Jeremy would have to stay at home after sunset. *** Celeste was thrilled when she saw the round moon in the sky, but that apparently was not enough to wake up the wolf inside of her. She sighed and shook her head. She sneaked to Jeremy's door and looked down at the crack between the door and the floor. It was dark. The smartass must have drawn the curtain. In fact, Celeste was impressed by how her twin brother was holding onto it. Their parents had shifted freely when the moon made her appearance on the dark stage of the sky. But Je
The beast on Celeste froze as if he had been struck by the lightning. The hungry fire died in his eyes when she twitched and screamed under him. The weight on her left. Celeste met his bluish eyes again and was greeted by something even stranger in the depth. Before she could look closer, the wolf jumped away from her and leaped out of the window. The wolf's pad landed on the roof, and then the grass, making soft noises. The noises grew farther and farther until it was no longer audible. It happened so fast and abruptly that she wondered if she was dreaming all about this. She stayed on the floor, studying her ceiling. Now her heartbeats were the only sounds knocking her eardrums. Her heart was coming down from its peak. But she could still feel the sensation of the beast's paws on her skin. His body heat lingered on her skin and trapped her on the floor. Celeste heaved a long breath. She didn't know what to make of it. She was certainly angry. And she was very much conf
What did Raymond want? Frowning, Celeste read the text. "Hey… Just want to say sorry. I didn't mean to invade your privacy. You have every right to be angry. I'm sorry. And I still hope we can be friends. So… Would you come out and meet me again? I know you're interested in werewolves. And didn't you want to know how I discovered the werewolves in the town? I'll tell you everything this time I promise." Celeste had no clue why Raymond was so obsessed about the part of them being friends. That sounded like a crappy excuse to her. Was this just some front of his true motive? Was this a trap for her? "What happened? You look concerned." Nora asked, knitting her brows. "Raymond… I mean the hunter in town texts me again. He … asks me out, promising to tell me how he found out about us." Celeste answered in hesitation. She didn't know if it was a good idea to let her parents know. "You're not going, are you? Smells like the hunter's trap to me." Nora commented. Jeff nodded in
Nora and Jeff seemed bewildered by Celeste's bold announcement. "What do you mean? How could not having your wolf out be your edge?" Celeste explained, "Well… I mean, I know Raymond. He's cautious. If he suspects me as a werewolf, he might very well run some tests first before he takes any action. And my wolf hasn't surfaced, so theoretically, I won't be affected if he acts against me in any way that will hurt werewolves." Before her wolf came out, she was just an ordinary human woman to the hunter. The perfect proof was that even a full blood moon couldn't do anything to her. So, she should be safe if Raymond cast any anti-werewolf magic on her. But why was it possible only theoretically? Because she was not sure about it. After all, as far as she knew, no werewolves had the death wish to risk their lives and test if the anti-werewolf method could kill them before they wolfed out. So, it was a gamble Celeste would have to take. "Even so, it's still risky. Besides, you don