Chosen By The Moon - First In The Red Wolf Series.

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 10

My dad already left for the 'office'. After the secret he kept from me, I began to doubt if anything he told me about going to 'work' was true.

The house was quiet and sad. I sighed, feeling a stray tear roll down my face as I stirring the pancake batter for my breakfast.

My heart ached when I turned my back on Henry. It was for the best, I tried to convince myself with a lie. I sighed and flipped the pancake. Too soon, I felt a prickle on my skin like someone was watching me. Slowly, my fingers inched for the kitchen knife beside me.

Fluidly, I twisted and threw the knife as strong I could. Only after I threw it, did I gasp in shock and surprise.

Henry stood in my kitchen with one hand in his pocket and the other holding the knife inches away from his face. "I guess I deserved that," he said and gently set the knife on the island.

My hand flew to my chest in an attempt to calm my racing heart. "What...how... what are you doing here? How did you get in here?"

"The front door was unlocked."

"And you just let yourself in?" I asked in disbelief. "I could get you arrested for that." I turned to turn off the stove and wiped my hands on a kitchen towel. "What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see you," he whispered. His whisper slightly lifted my hair from my neck. I gasped when his warm fingers shifted my ponytail from the base of my neck and trailed his fingers around my neck. "I miss you."

My eyes fluttered close when he pulled the scrunchy from my hair and raked his fingers through my hair. "I love your hair all wild and loose." I hummed and relaxed in his touch. "Please, come back."

As if a spell was broken, my eyes snapped open and I pushed away from him. "No! You don't get to do that. You don't get to hide something like that from me and come back, thinking everything is just peachy. Don't touch me."

"I'm sorry," Henry calmly said. "I didn't think it would come to this." Facing him, I got a proper look at him. His hair and clothes were dishevelled and he had faint dark circles under his eyes like he hadn't slept in days. I noticed that his knuckles were covered with bandages.

"What happened to your hands?" I gestured to his bruised knuckles.

"I punched a wall," he replied sheepishly. "Look, Chloe, we need to talk."

"I'm done talking to you. How could you not tell me about something like that? You, my dad...my mom...all of you! What am I now, some kind of shape-shifting freak?"

Henry winced at the insult thrown at him. Good. "Chloe, please. At least let me explain."

I scoffed. "Explain? You didn't think of that before? Henry please, you should go." I ignored the burning pain in my chest when he attempted to come closer to me and I stepped away from his grasp. "Please," I whispered.

His hand dropped limply to his side and sighed running a hand through his hair. Sorry, my big heart but I'm not giving in. "We will be leaving for Russia tomorrow."

"How has that got anything to do with me?"

"Please use this opportunity to think about us."

"There is no us. There was never an us. Please, just go..."

Henry took a last fleeting look at me. He bowed his head and left the kitchen. Only when I heard the front door close did I slide down the counter and buried my face in my hands, sobbing my heart out.

It was then I realized that he took my hair scrunchy with him.

❀❀❀

A few days later, I got a job as a waitress at a coffee shop, Expresso. I loved my new job because it kept my mind off him. I made a new friend, Emma, who had bright purple hair, like that of Mal from Descendants, grey eyes and an oval face.

And I made a potential enemy too. Regina, a blonde girl who had nothing else to do than to make my life miserable because I ‘stole her job’. Well, like my grandfather used to say, “sticks and stones can break my bones, but knowing who I put them back together again”.

“Chloe, you got table four,” Emma called from the register.

“Yeah, I got it.” I adjusted my apron and fixed my ponytail. Fixing an overstretched smile—that looked fake—I grabbed my notepad and confidently walked to the table. The table I was supposed to take belonged to a cute couple that hadn’t stopped whispering sweet nothings to each other.

My heart clenched in despair and I felt my smile slipping from my face. Henry. Why did I ever push him away from me? I stared at the couple who seemed to love each other very much and thought about how I treated Henry. What have I done? Tears threatened to spill out and I forced them back in, choking back a sob.

Schooling my features, I cleared my throat to get their attention. “Can I get you guys anything?”I asked with a stiff smile and gritted teeth. God, why did you ever assign me to this table?

“Oh, sorry,” the black-haired girl said apologetically. “We didn’t see you there. It’s just that it’s our one month anniversary, and we decided to go out for a treat.”

“You don’t say?” I stiffly asked. “Well, what can I get the lovely couple?”

“Can we get a frappuccino and a Caffè mocha? Thanks.”

“That will be five dollars and forty cents. Coming right up.” I gave them my best fake smile, writing their orders down on the notepad and walked away as fast and as stiffly as I could before my heart could burst. “Table 4, frappuccino and Caffè mocha.” I ripped the page out and slammed it on the counter.

“Hey, are you okay?” Emma asked worriedly.

“Yeah, I’m peachy. Why do you ask?” I went behind the counter to make their orders.

“You look a bit on the ‘I want to kill everyone’ side of the bed. Did something happen?”

“Nope. I’m fine. Perfectly fine!” I twisted a knob on the coffee maker and slammed a cup on the dispenser. I just want this day to end. I bit my lip to stop it from quivering and to stop the pain in my heart from lurching itself out.

“Girl, are you sure you’re okay?” Emma asked and put an arm on my shoulder. That did it. Everything I held back spilt out like a dam with a huge crack. I shook my head and closed my eyes to stop the tears from falling out. “Okay, we need to talk.” She grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the staff bathroom. “Hey, Seth, cover for us, will you?”

“Where are you two going?” asks the nosey little prick. Seth only swings with guys. Though I find him adorable, I can't help but think of him as an annoying little brother even though he is older than me by a couple of years.

“Girl problems,” Emma said and disappeared behind the door and I catch a faint blush coat Seth’s cheeks before the door is closed in my face. “Now that we’re alone and away from distractions, tell me everything.”

I pour everything out to her, except for the wolf-shifting, the kidnapping part and the part where my parents had lied to me.

“Girl, what you feel for Henry is called love.” She said and patted my shoulder. “You love him, Chloe, and you’ve gotta stop lying to yourself. Your heart knows what it wants and so do you. You understand me?”

I nod my head and dry my tears. “You are a brilliant and beautiful girl. I mean I’d do you, you know I swing both ways,” Emma says with a teasing wink.

“Thanks, but I only do guys.”

“Then you better make up your mind and get that piece of hot stuff, or else someone else is gonna snatch him up.”

I giggle at her remark and draw her to me in a cosy hug. “Thanks, Em.”

“Aww, now you’re gonna make me cry.” She pretends to dab at her eyelids and sniffs. Then we both burst into laughter at her antics.