When i pictured meeting my mate it certainly wasn't in a place like this. On the bad side of an already bad town, filled with unsavoury characters and a floor so sticky it felt like it had never been washed and from the dark stains on the floor more than just alcohol had been spilled. The smell of cigarettes and weed hung thick in the air as smoke, the scent of alcohol burned my nose, that along with the smell of unwashed bodies.
I didn't dare touch the bar, the bartender wiping it down with a rag that might of been white once but it looked more like the man was cleaning the rag with the bar than the other way around.
I didn't intend to come to a place like this, but then again i hadn't planned on getting chased by hunters across the country for the last few days. So i actually didn't look too out of place in a place like this, hell i smelled about as bad as the rest of patrons and needed a shower just as badly.
An old jukebox played in the corner, some rock song from the 80's played, probably the newist song on it.
Despite the time of year it was almost sweltering in here and i stripped off my thickly lined leather jacket. Outside it felt cold enough to snow and this dingy bar had been the only building on the long barren rode i'd seen for miles. I knew that meant the hunters could easily find me but they'd have to catch up first, which was difficult when i'd took all the nuts from their wheels and lobbed them in the quickly freezing lake. Werewolf strength was good for something atleast.
I headed a door at the back, hoping it was the bathroom. The solid door squeaked on old hinges and the smell of piss, shit and ammonia hung heavy in the air and i winced as the pungent odour caused a headache to settle behind my eyes.
I didn't linger, pulling my shirt off and wiping myself down with water that was a little warm and paper towels. If the neon sign outside the bar didn't give away my location my stench would.
I quickly used one of the two urinals, the both of them turned brown from grime, the floor even worse in here than in the bar.
I washed my hands, not really feeling clean and headed back to the bar. I needed a drink after the last few days i've had.
It was soon after I ran into my mate, sat on a stool with a beer and somewhat enjoying the rock from the tin sounding jukebox, current company aside this bar wasn't as bad as i first thought. New diseases grew on every surface and if i could get aids i'd be worried about contracting it.
The door to the bar banged open and a group of men entered. They took up the doorway, each of them tall and broad shouldered, if i didn't know better i'd think an american football team had just walked in, well about half a team anyway.
Even with the unpleasant odours in the air that were slowly killing my keen sense of smell i noted a new and much more pleasant one coming into the mix, that and the unmistakable smell of werewolves.
I threw back the rest of the beer and our eyes connected as i swallowed the last mouthfull.
His eyes were dark in the shadow of his brows and the dim light of the bar. My eyes felt stuck to his, like they were opposite sides of a magnet.
There was a tangable moment when he realised what i had and i rolled my tongue around in my mouth, the alcohol not the only thing making it feel dry.
My heart raced behind my ribs like i was running for my life, and i had been until recently and the reminder made me feel sick. I was tired and hungry, i smelt like an unwashed dog that had rolled in fox shit and about as unhappy as its owner, and yet, now of all times i was meeting my mate.
I sighed deeply and forced my eyes away, looking at the empty beer bottle in my hands, my hands themselves covered in grime, nails dirty underneath and the grease from the hunters tires stubbonly not leaving my skin, but then again the bathroom here only had tepid water.
Mates for werewolves was when you found your other half, some cosmic being's choice for who'd you'd spend the rest of your life with.
Most werewolves lived in packs and were amicable enough, they met often for meetings, new business agreements and so mates could meet.
I wasn't in a pack, although that was my choice, most would call me a rogue but that was incorrect, i'd left by choice and that was an important distinction, i was a lone wolf.
I travelled the country mostly, i seemed to of gotten the normadic instincts from our animal counterparts rather than the pack unity most werewolves did.
I don't know about my mate but since he had company i'd bet he was in a pack. A pack was simply a group of werewolves that appointed an alpha to lead them and had land to defend and call their own. A pack could merely be five wolves or five hundred, it didn't matter, that unity, land and leadership was the key.
A rouge couldn't lead a pack, that was another rule. A rogue was a werewolf who commited a werewolf crime, they often get kicked out of their pack and are left to wander alone without the safety and comfort of a pack, and here i am doing it willingly, most othet werewolves would think that crazy.
A mate was something every werewolf pup had heard about growing up. They grew up waiting for the day they'd meet theirs and hopefully live happily ever after.
The thought made me snort, this world was cruel and unkind, even the rose tinted glasses pack wolves wore couldn't hide the solem truth.
I had never been content being holed up or tied down, i needed to run and be free, i needed to live my life the way i wanted because in this day and age it will probably be short and depressing.
When i had a pack i was always running away, it drove my parents mad and tested the alpha's patience more than once. At eighteen i'd ran away for the last time, never planning on coming back, only taking what i could carry.
That was five years ago and at twenty-three i still had no intention of returning.
I felt them get closer, each step made their scent get stronger, turning the air more pleasant.
There was the yeasty smell of canine strong in the air tinged with the woody and natural scent that combined made a werewolves scent. My mate smelt of the colonge he wore, something dark and spiced, his chosen clothing detergent coming from his clothes and the lingering smell of where he'd been recently and from the scent of motor oil, leather and exhaust fumes he liked mechanics, whether he was any good at it was another question, some people, mostly men liked taking things apart, even if they didn't know how to put it together.
There was also something unique in his scent that made him who he was, it wasn't a smell that could be named and wasn't similar to anything i'd smelt before.
I felt him stop behind me and waited with bated breath to see what he'd do.
"Of course i'd get a little rebel for a mate." His deep voice sighed.
I scowled and looked over my shoulder at him. "Screw you," Jackass.
"Wait until we get back to my place alright love?" He smirked with a wink and i rolled my eyes, smooth, real smooth casanova.
I lifted a brow to show how unimpressed i was, taking the opportunity to get a good look at him.
He must be six five or something just as ridiculous, his mother must of stuck him in a pot of soil to grow that tall.
His hair was dark like his eyes, kept short but messy.
His skin was tanned from being outside a lot and from the few small scars under his left eye, on his nose and around his mouth he was no stranger to a fight.
His shoulders were broard and fit the rest of him, like every jacked warrior werewolf i'd seen and his clothes fit the profile. Worn bootcut jeans, practical boots, tight plain shirt and a leather jacket that looked about as old as him. He wore no jewellery i could see and didn't seem interested in cosmetics, aside from the bare basics.
He looked older than me, although that wasn't hard but he didn't look old enough to be thirty so only a few years older.
"Take a picture, it will last longer." That stupid smirk was still on his expressive lips and it made his eyes crinkle nicely, shame about the words coming from his mouth.
"Why did i get a smart mouthed fuck boy as a mate?" I muttered under my breath as i turned back around, making sure it was loud enough for him to hear.
Yeah, i could smell the cheap sour perfume of a woman on his jacket too, and the unmistakable reek of sex.
I heard him click his tongue against his teeth and his narrowed eyes on the back of my skull.
I looked down and checked the basic waterproof watch on my wrist, seeing it was high time i busted out of this joint before the hunters caught up with me.
I slid off the stool to the left and shrugged my jacked back on, leaving a crinkled note on the bar for the beer.
I turned and stared up at my mate briefly, giving a mock salute before heading for the door and sniggering under my breath.
"Wait!" I heard him call as i reached the door. I didn't glance back and left the bar, looking up to the dark sky and the magical looking flurries of snow slowly falling, i knew it was going snow, i fucking knew it.
I started walking, heading away from where i'd come from and away from the hunters, hunching my shoulders in a dumb effort to keep the cold from getting to my bare neck and showing my hands in my jacket pockets.
"Hey!" He panted and grabbed my shoulder, spinning me around to face him. "Where do you think you're going?"
I pointed my thumb back over my shoulder. "Whatevers in that direction."
"You can't just leave." He exclaimed and the hand on my shoulder tightened until it was almost painful.
"Well i can't stay, i've got hunters on my tail."
