Wolfsbane: Finding The Wolf Within

***A saying***

There is a saying that goes around about a kind of love that is impossible to find. A kind of love that overtakes your entire being, That type of love that can lift you up to the highest of heights or bring you down to the lowest of lows. The saying goes that the moon and the sun were once lovers, destined to be together for all time. And that in a jealous rage the stars cursed them to be separated for all eternity. They say the sun loved the moon very much, so much so, that the sun died every day just to let the moon breathe.

Even though they were destined to be apart forever, these two lovers found a way to be together. Can you imagine loving someone that much? It is such a rare and beautiful thing when you find such a bond with another. I am going to tell you a story. This tale is about the greatest alpha werewolf kind has ever known and about the woman I love. Now don't go judging it just yet. Yes, it may have a bit of romance but this is mostly about adventure and the danger we all had to overcome.

Believe it or not, the woman I loved didn't always love me. In fact, when we first met she thought I was a vicious beast. And honestly, I couldn't blame her for thinking that; I was a little hairier back then. And when she did see the man behind the animal, well let's face it, she hated my guts. But again, I couldn't blame her, I didn't understand that she was a strong-willed, stubborn, bull-headed, independent woman. I should have known what I was in for at the time, it is the twenty-first century after all.

I was wholly unprepared for what that would bring. I was young and very stupid when we first met, I believed I could control her, her actions, and her feelings, but boy was I wrong. She was a spitfire when it came to her loved ones, but that comes with the territory I suppose. What I did not understand was the trauma of her past and that was what ultimately lead her to those feelings of loathing.

We had to learn how to love one another while we faced the man behind her past and the woman that would decide her future. When two of the darkest forces joined together to destroy her, we had to learn to trust one another. And when we almost lost each other we learned how to open our hearts to one another.

But I suppose that's what makes this story great, it isn't some atypical romance novel. It's a real journey that two people had to go through to realize their faults and find their way together. I guess that's what true love, the real kind of love, is all about. Just think about the Sun and the Moon. The Sun was willing to sacrifice himself for the one that he loved...

Would you?

The beginning

This world can be full of strange and mysterious things; it takes very little effort to find them. This story reveals the world that is hidden from our own, and to find it, all you have to do is look...

The sun was bright as it shone through the open crack of the curtain. That thin beam of light floated through the room, from that small slit in between the fabric. This sliver of sunlight caressed the face of a sleeping figure, which groaned in annoyance and made to turn away from the sunlight filtering into the room.

The stray beam of sunlight that was caressing the woman's pale skin now landed on the back of her head. The ultraviolet rays illuminating the fire that seemed to frame her face. Her fiery red hair shone in hues of gold and red.

Deep azure eyes framed by a bushel of long, darkly dyed eyelashes, fluttered open as the girl rolled in the bed. At first, she just stared at the white ceiling, her face surrounded by her flaming locks.

She blew a strand of red hair out of her eyes as she raised her pale hands to rub the sleep from her face. Thin fingers made their way to run through the waves of flames atop her scalp. Stretching thin, slightly toned arms in a Y-shaped pattern.

She turned her head when she heard the sound of her bedroom door opening and watched as three silhouettes walked in. Her deep oceanic orbs watched on in confusion as they recognized each of the people who entered her domain.

"What's going on?" The girl asked after seeing the wide, happy smiles on her family's faces as they stepped up to her bed.

A small girl with long, dark brown curls and shocking crystal blue eyes jumped up onto the dark blue covers, with a grin on her rounded face. Her tiny body was barely able to contain the excitement she felt at knowing a secret her big sister did not.

"Happy birthday dear," the soothing sound of her mother's sweet voice drifted through the room. No matter how old the girl in the bed got, she believed the sweet melodic tunes of her mother's voice would forever wash a sense of calmness and love over her entire being.

Even though the older woman did not believe herself to be gifted with such a power, nothing could deter her daughter's thoughts. To the daughter, when her mother sang, it was like angels were whispering down from the heavens. Even if her mother didn't believe it was so.

"Thanks." came the unsure reply.

"Come on, get up, get dressed, and come down to breakfast," her mother smiled, warm emerald, green eyes sharing a secretive look with the male in the room. The exchange further confused the redhead, but she decided not to pursue her curiosity in favor of listening to the man standing beside her bed.

"Happy birthday squirt." The girl's brother said cheerfully, handing a sparkly purple bag to the chocolate-haired little girl, who was still sitting on the bed. The girl in return handed it to the confused redhead, who only now sat up from her horizontal position.

"Happy Birthday to you too moron," the redhead replied to her fraternal twin. "That's for you by the way." She nodded toward the large, brightly wrapped gift sitting on her vanity.

"Cool, Thanks Squirt!" The older twin shouted much to the irritation of his twin, as he made his way to grab his gift.

"Stop calling me that, we're the same age," she said sourly.

"Yeah, but I'm older," came the expected reply from the man. His tanned skin glistened as he crossed the room and into the slight stream of sunlight. The redhead studied her brother's features and marveled at how different they truly were.

Even though they were indeed twins, they looked nothing alike. In fact, it was as if they were made to be polar opposites to each other, in both looks and personality. While he was darkly colored, with his very own mess of chocolate curls, tanned skin, and a mix of brown and green eyes, she was lightly colored with her flaming red hair, pale skin, and dark blue eyes.

Where he was outgoing, outspoken, and so full of energy he literally was unable to sit still for more than five minutes, she was sometimes soft-spoken, calm, and mostly kept to herself. But even with a soft personality resulting in her being an introvert, she had one hell of a temper in her repertoire.

It was only in this aspect that were they similar. They were both fiercely loyal and could blow up quicker than a short, fused firecracker. But even with such fire behind their backs, they were both very warm and kind towards others as their mother had raised them.

"Only by 11 and a half minutes." The redhead replied digitally. They both shared a look, a mix of brown and green forests, that sometimes in her opinion looked gold, met the dark waves of the ocean. Matching grins spread across their faces bringing happiness to a mother's heart as she watched her two children.

The two older people in the room left, one holding his very own gift, but before they did, they each placed a kiss on top of the girl's flaming head. The smaller child stayed where she was on the covers. The redhead sat up and leaned against her dark wooden headboard, pulling out the articles of clothing from the gift bag.

She had gotten a brand-new outfit, just like she did every year. And just like every year she knew that her brother had been the one to choose what she would wear that day. The girl laughed, the sound was light and filled with joy. Although her brother was not gay, he did happen to have a much better fashion sense than she herself did.

"Do you like them? I helped?" The little girl's bell-like voice asked hopefully, drawing the redhead's attention away from the clothes before her.

"I love them," with those long pale arms she reached forward and wrapped them around the smaller girl's tiny frame, pulling her into a tight hug. The brunette giggled and squealed with glee.

After that, the birthday girl made her way lazily toward her bathroom to enjoy a hot shower to start her day. Once she was done with her shower, she went through her morning routine of brushing her teeth, washing her face, and rinsing the conditioner out of her short hair.

She then got dressed in the brand-new clothes that she had received, which consisted of a black spaghetti-strap t-shirt, a dark blue long-sleeve button-up shirt, black jeans, a silver belt, and black sneakers. She walked out of her bathroom, her sleeves rolled up to her elbows, a brush in her hand running through her short-wet hair.

A gasp resonated through the room as she caught sight of a woman sitting in the middle of her bed, her legs crossed and a large grin on her tanned face. A similar grin appeared on the redhead's face, forgetting about her dripping hair she dropped the brush that she was holding, let out an excited squeal, and ran across the room toward the girl on the bed.

Said girl, sprung off the bed just in time for them to embrace one another. A collection of overjoyed screams and laughter filled the once silent room. The others in the house smiled at the sound of the two girls shrieking.

"Jayden! I can't believe you're here!" the redhead exclaimed, leaning back to look at the other girl.

"Me too! It was all your mother's idea, she put this whole plan into play," Jayden explained.

"I missed you so much, Alexa." She said to the redhead fondly.

Jayden was slightly taller than Alexa, being five-foot-six whilst Alexa was five-foot-three. Her chocolate brown hair curled in loose attractive rings that fell past her shoulder blades, chocolate bangs framed her beautiful face wonderfully, and honey-colored eyes stared back at deep blue. Her lightly tanned complexion contrasted with the paleness that Alexa bore.

The two girls were opposites to each other, much like the girl and her twin, both in looks and in personality. Jayden the dark beauty had a personality that shone like the sun, warm and bright. Alexa, with her bright exterior, was the night personified, beautiful, and soft but not as trusting as her opposite.

Jayden wore a dark Irish green loose-fitting shirt, tight blue jeans, and silver pumps. Light makeup adorned her face, with light purple eye shadow, and a pink lip gloss. In her ears were two golden studs that each bore light green gems, around her neck lay a matching golden necklace. A golden wristwatch dangled from her left wrist; a matching bracelet lay beside it. She wore a gold ring with an aquamarine gem in the center, meant to resemble youth, health, and hope.

Some believed that an aquamarine gem could cure cancer if a person drank water that the gem had soaked in. It was also believed to protect sailors from danger whilst they were in the ocean. It was a gem that meant well and made for a great birthday to give a person.

The two girls embraced for what seemed like forever, each one unwilling to let the other go. It had been a long time since they had seen each other, having been living far apart for a while now, but the saying 'Distance makes the heart grow fonder ' proved to be true in their case. Even their age gap of three years proved to be no match for their close familial bond.

The two cousins finally separated after what felt like hours and yet it was only a few minutes, to size the other up and see what had changed.

He watched her through her window, with an evil grin splitting across his pale features. Muddy brown eyes glimmered with glee as he continued his observations with the object of his obsession completely unaware as she had been for so many years. He still felt the underlying resentment and anger that had festered like an infected wound in his black soul for the past three years.

He smirked at his victory having finally found her after she had the gall to move with her family. If his brother had not been following one of the girl's family members as he had instructed, he was certain she would have been lost for years to come. The thought made his smirk fall from his face, his eyes darkening with his rage, fists clenched so hard his knuckles turned white.

He would punish her for her audacity, and then he would punish those she called family for taking her from him all this time. They had come between him and what he desired most, and he would not let that stand. He felt no pain as his nails dug into the skin of his palms, his heart sang with joy at the thoughts of their agonized screams.

Ever since her fourteenth birthday which she shared with that moronic twin of hers, he had been irrevocably entranced. She had smiled at him and had taken his hand when he had fallen over. It was that moment when he decided that she would be his and his alone. He knew he had to have her as the green-eyed monster that was his jealously raged within him when he had watched her let go of his hand and run to another.

He would have had her then had it not been for that infuriating watchdog that was her father. The man had caught him so many times over the next year of his life as he watched her waiting for his chance to strike. The barbarian had threatened him to stay away from what he now claimed was his. He did not know how the man kept finding him whenever he would watch, but he knew it was bothersome to have such an obstacle in his path, so he took care of it.

The last time he had been run off by the larger male he had broken his wrist in a warning. It was a warning he would not heed and a warning he did not care for. How dare that man try to warn him off and injure his person? How dare that oaf stand in the way of him claiming what was rightfully his? Well, that fool had lit a rage inside his heart that would only be quenched with his blood, and that was exactly what he got.

The next time that neanderthal had seen him it had been his last. He reveled at the fact that his grinning face had been the last one that the barbarian had seen as he ended his pathetic existence. He had relished in the man's dying screams as the only thought that had run through his mind was how he had looked the dead man in the eyes, his dull blue eyes, and told him that now he would go and get what was his and no one would stand in his way.

Just the thought of how he had run the burly man's truck off the road filled him with glee. The exhilaration at the memory of standing over his body, having drugged him with a paralytic he had stolen from his mother. The euphoria that coursed through his veins as he had beaten the man till his last breath still sang through them now.

Of course, it had not lasted long as the night he attempted to retrieve his prize he had been thwarted once more by the girl's disgusting family. They had whisked her away in the middle of the night far from his sight and he had raged. Oh, how he had raged, he tore that house apart brick by brick and incinerated what remained, his knuckles still flaunted the scars from that night and man did he wear them with pride.

He vowed to find her and destroy those who would dare keep her from him, but no matter how hard he searched it was as if she had fallen off the face of the earth and that just fed his anger and resentment. He took pleasure in punishing girls who looked like her, but he was never satisfied as they were mere pale imitations, and he desired the real thing.

It was an act of genius on his part when he learned of the cousin the girl had. The dim-witted daughter to that loathsome woman's sister, he growled at the thought. It had been his luck that he was able to persuade his brother and manipulate him into taking a liking to the cousin. With his brother as obsessed as he was it was only a matter of time before that witless wench led him back to what was his.

For three years he had waited and for three years he had stewed in his contempt and his wrath, and now finally on this revoltingly sunny day, she is finally within his grasp once more. And this time he would ensure she would not slip through his fingers again and that no one would stand in his way.

She would finally be his and that thought sent a perverse chuckle through his entire body allowing that sinister grin to return across his pale face. Soon he will collect what is his but until then he will give her this day to be free and spend with her family. He would give her this day to enjoy and then she would be all his. This day is his gift to her.

"Happy Birthday my love, soon we will be together and no one else will have you," he growled ominously, with a final chuckle he slipped into the darkness of the forest that surrounded her home. Only the echoes of his evil laughter drifting in the wind was the only proof that he was ever there...