Chapter 3 Regular Wolves

An old station wagon drove slowly on the smooth road that went only one way. The road was surrounded by lush green forest trees that stood tall and shielded the road from most of the sun rays. The warm evening breeze blew the fallen leaves from the dense forest to the road.

Violet watched with a solemn face and her hand under her chin, the endless stretch of forest. Green and brown contrasted with the violet of her eyes as she asked quietly, "I thought we were going to live in another city".

Glancing with a happy smile at Violet, aunt Ree chuckled and answered "of course we are. We're already in the city".

"The woods?" Violet asked, looking at her aunt.

Aunt Ree shook her head and smiled, "sort of. It's Fona city, so a lot of forest but don't worry, we'll see some residential areas eventually".

"Eventually?" Violet asked in mild surprise. "You'll love it Vee" she replied with enthusiasm. Violet smiled and looked back at the window, admiring the forest through the transparent barrier.

A while later, Violet could see small residential buildings and a few shopping marts too, but not many people.

"You'll love it" aunt Ree said again as she held Violet's hand and squeezed it, her eyes still on the road. Violet squeezed back and returned to her silent observation.

She felt drawn to the forest, like her home was deep within it.

The station wagon finally came to a stop in front of a small cottage, much like the ones she'd seen around minutes ago.

Aunt Ree stopped the engine and quickly got out of the car. She shut the door and took in a deep breath of air with her eyes closed. Sighing she said "the scent of fresh forest. Don't you love the smell of damp soil trees? Now this is the real air, right Vee?"

Vee slowly got out of the car and looked confusedly at her aunt. "Real air?".

"Yes. None of that carbon(IV)oxide air we breathe everyday in the city. C'mon, take a deep breath with me and tell me what you smell"

Aunt Ree inhaled deeply again and announced, "I smell a long life of health for us in this air. What about you?"

Violet looked at the stretch of forest beside her new home. She shut her eyes and inhaled, just the way her aunt did. The smell that hit her nose made her think of home. Not the city, not her two room apartment in the eleven floors building. No. It's a home her heart and soul belonged to. Her home, somewhere beyond the forest.

"Well, what do you smell?" Aunt Ree asked, smiling at Violet. But Violet still had her eyes closed and her nose tilted up in the air.

"Vee?".

"I smell home" Violet whispered as she gazed dreamily at the forest.

"What did you say?" Aunt Ree asked. Snapping out of it, Violet looked at aunt Ree and smiled, "I smell forest after rain". "Forest after rain. Nice one" she gave Violet a thumbs up.

Violet looked up at the sky and said, "let's carry our stuff in. The sun is setting soon". "Oh right, right. Let's take them in" aunt Ree agreed, opening the trunk.

"Hey there ladies" a man jogged towards the women.

"Hi"

"Hi"

"I haven't seen you ladies around here before." The man had brown hair and yellow eyes and looked around his late thirties. He was lean but fit and had a disarming smile on his face. "We just moved in today." Aunt Ree answered.

"Ah you're new, I should've figured" he said smoothly, "well, my name is Razi. What are the names of the beautiful ladies I have the good luck to meet?"

"My name is Ree" aunt Ree said, fluttering her lashes. Violet raised her brows in amusement but remained silent. "And this is Violet, my niece" she gestured towards her as she gave a small.

"Pleasure to meet your acquaintance ladies" Razi said as he took Violet's hand and kissed it.

Violet gave a strained smile as snatched her hand away. His hands and lips were ice cold. He took Aunt Ree's hand and kissed it. His lips lingered longer on hers. Aunt Ree seemed not to notice how cold his hands were as she blushed furiously.

"You have very beautiful and youthful hands dear Ree" Razi whispered, staring at her as she blushed even more. "Thank you" she replied with a giggle.

"I have to go now as it is getting late. I live just nearby and will visit soon. Pleased to meet you ladies, and have a wonderful evening" he said and jogged off.

"Such a gentleman" aunt Ree said dreamily.

The two women fell to the couch exhausted and dirty from unpacking all evening.

A nice fire in the hearth was burning which added to the lighting of the room.

"We're finally done with unpacking, we can rest now" Aunt Ree sighed, exhaustion laced in her voice.

Violet hummed in agreement as she snuggled closer to the soft couch.

"It's nightfall. We should eat dinner. I brought some of my leftover meatloaf for dinner" aunt Ree said getting up. She kicked Violet's foot lightly and asked "you coming?"

Violet's eyes flew open at that and it took everything in her to not run out of the house in panic. "Um, no aunt Ree. I don't really feel hungry..."

"Nonsense! You didn't even eat this morning before we left and you only had a pack of cheese crackers on the way here", accused Aunt Ree as she folded her arms and frowned.

"But I'm not really hungry. I've lost my appetite since today and I know how much you love your meatloaf. I wouldn't want you to share it" Violet hoped between hope that she would let her be.

"Yes I love meatloaf but you share the things you love with the people you love. Never forget that my dear Violet." Her eyes glinted with care and mischief as she rubbed Violet's cheek and turned to leave.

Violet smiled and gazed outside.

She watched the night sky, stars scattered all over it and the almost full moon hanging on the horizon.

She got up and left through the back door into the night. She walked into the dense forest, her sneakers crushing dead leaves on the ground.

She stopped for a moment and looked around.

Her house was now a small figure away from where she stood and ahead of her was more forest. The cool breeze blew her hair up as she closed her eyes and listened to the sounds of crickets.

She sniffed the air and sighed as the smell of fresh water and home filled her nostrils.

"Where are you?" She whispered, opening her eyes. "Why do I feel drawn to you? Are you a place...or a person?" She asked no one in particular.

Crack!

She whipped her head to the dark trees where she heard the sound of a stick breaking. She breathed quickly but quietly as she strained her eyes to see into the forest.

"Am I hearing things?" She asked herself quietly.

An owl flew past her head and she covered her mouth to stop herself from screaming.

Crack! Crack!

She wasn't imagining things and the sound was getting closer and she did the only reasonable thing anyone would do.

She turned and ran. She ran and didn't look back. When she got back home, she ran inside and shut the door with a loud bang.

"What, what? What is it?" Aunt Ree asked with her mouth full of meatloaf. She swallowed quickly and asked again "what happened? Why did you run in like that?"

Calming her breathing, Violet whispered nervously, "I, I got scared". She looked at her aunt and said, "I'm sorry I startled you aunt Ree. I got scared by a night critter going about its business".

Raising her brows, aunt Ree asked, "you went into the forest at night?"

Violet laughed nervously, racking her head for an explanation.

"I wanted to get a whiff of that forest air you were talking about."

Aunt Ree walked up to her and touched her head. "Promise me Violet. Promise me that you won't go back to that forest, especially at night." Violet sighed and said, "I promise aunt Ree".

"Dangerous things are in these forests and I don't want you getting hurt okay?". "Okay" she sighed sadly. She took to the stairs quietly.

"Why so sad? Already in love with the forest?" Aunt Ree joked as she stuffed her face with meatloaf.

"Oh Maybe" Violet replied, giggling.

Half an hour later, Violet sat on her bed, hair damp, fresh pjs and her laptop balanced on her lap. She read through her favourite werewolf novel of all time. She had read it only a couple of hundred times but couldn't get enough of it.

Her favourite character was the alpha in the story. He was so caring, loving and supportive to his mate that she wished she was in her place. It was her escape from the real world and into the one she wished was real.

"I wish I had a mate that would love me so much like in my story" she whispered quietly as she hugged the book to her chest. "Werewolves or vampires, which one is better?" She asked herself as she walked towards the window.

She hummed and looked at the night sky. "Werewolves are better."

Awoooooooo

Violet moved back from the window startled. "Was that a howl? From a werewolf?"

She frowned and creeped back to her window looking around cautiously. The forest had become darker and felt more dangerous. She squinted at the tall trees and bushes and almost fell on her butt in surprise.

Something black and lean moved between the trees so fast that Violet wouldn't have noticed it if she didn't have keen eyes.

The figure looked like a human.

"It looks like a human being's body, but it moved really fast, and that's not normal," she said quietly.

They moved again but this time it was very large. Violet stared at the window with her mouth open. She shook her head and put the shutters down.

"Maybe those cheese crackers weren't the best options. I'm beginning to see things that aren't...no, that couldn't be there." She put on the covers as she lay on her bed.

"Werewolves and vampires aren't real. They're just from a book...but I'd be really cool if they existed. The nice ones though", she chuckled but quickly stopped when she heard another howl, louder this time.

"Just regular wolves Violet," she smiled.

Awoooooo

Violet buried herself under the covers and whispered nervously, "just regular wolves"