Lauren’s body reacted before her mind could. She ran out the back door, across her backyard and into the darkness beyond. The serene twilight had blended into the cobalt blue of night, and moisture from the grass soaked into her bare feet. Where to? The woods, of course.
She heard cries of her name from behind but didn’t turn. She ran blindly, on and on, with no sense of direction, only being guided by the wish to leave the house and the unwanted truth of her birth behind. Between the house and the woods she morphed into her werewolf form and ran on all fours, her tears and anger blinding her.
Suddenly she hit a rock solid object and a muffled oof! escaped her lips. She tumbled blindly and hit the ground, changing back to her human form mid-tumble and pinning the object under her body. The object turned out to be a very startled Aidan.
“Jeez, Lauren!” He exclaimed, grabbing her arms and holding them together. “Watch out!”
Lauren recognized him and paused, her hair hanging on both sides of her face in limp curtains. She collapsed on his chest and sobbed. She was cold and wet, but her attempt at escape had dome nothing to calm the uncontrollable emotion rising up inside her. They laid on the forest floor, Aidan on his back and Lauren on his chest, and he held her close to him as she cried her lungs out, How long this went on neither of them knew, but after she’d expended all the tears in her she laid limp and wasted in Aidan’s arms.
“Just hold me here.” She said, her voice muffled as she buried her face in his neck “I never want to go back.”
“Did something happen?” Aidan asked, stroking her mahogany-brown hair “Who hurt you?”
Lauren raised her head, her cheeks flushed and her eyes red with tears. Aidan’s green eyes pierced her with its enquiring gaze. his long black hair flung around on the forest floor. She wanted to take his hair in her hands, feel it run through her fingers like silk.
Instead she turned and curled beside him, drawing her legs to her chest and staying mute. Aidan continued to stroke her hair, and after a few minutes, spoke up.
“Do you mind telling me what upset you? Maybe I can help.”
“What did you do when you felt like you’d been betrayed by your own father? You know, when he did what he did. How did you feel?” Lauren asked, her voice softened by tears.
Aidan sat up, supporting his body with his elbows and looked down at her “And this is about..?”
“Not me.” Lauren said hastily “Just asking. For a friend.”
“For a friend!” Aidan laughed, loudly and freely, the contagious sound shaking his body and scaring a couple of birds in the nearby trees.
“A friend.” He said, his lips arched in a smile “Yeah, okay.”
“So..? How did you feel?” Lauren asked after he’d calmed down.
“Is this about Beth?”
“No questions!” Lauren said sternly. “Just… tell me.”
“How did I feel? Mmm,” Aidan laid back on the ground and placed his hands behind his head. “You know, you never feel like the ones you love can betray you until they do. And that’s what makes the pain even worse.” He said, his eyes staring up into the canopy of trees. “The truth was there, when I stepped into my father’s room that night of the full moon. I knew he was out of control, beyond logical human reasoning. I knew he would give me the Bite once he sensed me, and yet I trusted him, blindly. Trusted that he would recognize his son. It was the height of betrayal for me.”
“You sound like you hate being Turned.” Lauren said softly. “Like you hate being a werewolf.”
“I had a life to live.” Aidan said “I was only a boy. And he changed my life for the worse forever. It’s betrayal for me.”
They lay side by side in silence after that, Lauren curled up under his arm, his free hand stroking her hair. She began tapping on the forest floor with her finger. Two taps, then a pause. Then another tap, and then a dash. On and on, till Aidan shifted and looked at her.
“What are you doing?” He asked, an amused smile on his face. The taps and dashes would have been easily missed by a normal human ear, but his sharp wolf ears had picked up the sounds.
Lauren sat up, dusting dead leaves and twigs from her hair “It’s Morse Code for ‘I love you.’ My-My dad and I used to communicate like this when i was younger. Morse Code was something I used to be into before-before-”
“Before you were Turned.” Aidan finished for her.
Lauren nodded, then sniffed, tears welling up again in her eyes. She wiped them away angrily and stood up, silently berating herself for showing too much emotion. “We should go. It’s night already, Beth would be worried.” She muttered.
Aidan stood up from the ground in one fluid motion and shook the forest debris from his hair. “You haven’t told me which ‘friend’ would be needing my betrayal story.” He said, an amused smirk on his lips.
Lauren stayed mute, not joining in his fun poking. She bit her lip and looked at the forlorn night sky, a light breeze blowing her brown hair. “Aidan, what does one do when one’s father-isn’t really one’s father?” She asked.
He stared at her “Are you finally getting to the reason behind-all of this?”
Lauren sighed, a deep sad whoosh of breath “Turns out the man who I’ve known all these years isn’t my real father. The maniac who is after my life knows I’m a werewolf, and he has been keeping my mother hostage for sixteen years. Imagine finding all that out in one night.” Her voice broke and she squeezed her eyes shut to hold back the tears.
Aidan drew her into his arms and held her close, his nose in her hair “Stuff like this happen everytime. You shouldn’t worry about it too much.”
Lauren chuckled bitterly “I’m trying not to.”
“It’s the truth.” Aidan murmured “Every werewolf suffers at least one bad betrayal in their lifetime, if not from other people who call us monsters, it’s from our loved ones who despise us for who we are. It’s what unites us, what keeps us in packs. Because in the end, all we’ve got is each other.” He held her tightly “Just know you’re never going to face anything alone, you’re never going to face what I faced when I was Turned. I had to figure everything out by myself, and I made some choices that-that I regret now.” His voice trailed off, but he swallowed and continued. “You’ve got good people around you, Lauren. From Beth to your pack and even your scrawny little human friend.”
Lauren laughed, the tears still in her eyes “Eric doesn’t know what I really am.”
“And what a relief that is.” He said, clutching his chest in mock “What would that do to his feeble human heart?” Lauren hit him playfully on the chest and wiped the remaining tears from her cheeks.
“And,” Aidan continued, his hands suddenly in her hair and softly stroking.
“And what?” Lauren asked.
“And-And you’ve got me.” He whispered, his eyes hooded and brooding, then he pulled her even closer to him and parted her lips with his.