Wolf-mate

Hey guys! I said that I would get a short story to y'all so here it is. Enjoy! You can also read this on goodreads at my creative writing page. Thanks for all the support!
XOXO,
MJ


Love gets him into more trouble than hate ever could. He waits at the bus stop thinking about what he has done. “How? Why?” he asks himself aloud. The man next to him walks away. Ethan realizes he must sound like a mad man talking to himself. It is raining and the thunder brings him back to reality. He clutches his coat to save some heat that is left in his body. The cold is starting to get to him. He is soaked from head to toe from having no shelter to go to except this bus stop. He plans on taking the bus wherever it is going. He can’t stay in this town any longer because he has just made what could be the biggest mistake of his life.

He thought she loved him. She said she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. How could she abandon him? How could she just stop loving him because of who he is? Is it his fault? Maybe he shouldn’t have said anything, but he wanted to be honest with her. After all, if he was going to spend forever with her she should know who he is. Love shouldn’t be so complicated. It should be unyielding. Nothing should be able to shatter it if it is real. This is Ethan’s belief or was his belief in his love for Riley. He told her at the party. Why? He thinks now it wasn’t the best timing. The police are probably still looking for him. He tore the place up pretty good. He didn’t mean to hurt anybody, but they wouldn’t listen to reason.

She is a romantic, even though she knows better. Riley has to be tough in her line of work and she knows silly notions of happily ever after just get in the way of success. She always stood firm with that reasoning, until she met Ethan. He swept her off her feet the moment he spoke in that Italian accent of his. It has been a year since then and she thought he was everything she wanted. How could he not tell her who he was until now? Right before their wedding day. She couldn’t believe how calm he was. He was way too calm for someone who is telling his bride-to-be his secrets. Was she wrong for what she did? She shouldn’t have called the police. She loves him and after all she has secrets too. Maybe that is why she reacted the way she did. She feels guilty for not telling him her secrets. Isn’t love supposed be this amazing gift? Shouldn’t it erase the past to make room for the future? She thinks she made a mistake, but what can she do now. He has left. He is gone. Her family wouldn’t understand anyway because they hate him now. After all, he did almost kill her father. The police will be hunting him all night. What has she done? She has lost her love forever.

His love for Riley burns in his chest. It is too much to handle and he needs to go and anywhere else but here is fine. He can’t wait for the bus. Something inside him is about to come out and he needs to run. He can feel pain swell up in his heart, begging to be set free. The only way is to run it off so he does. He strikes off into the woods tearing at his cloths that are suffocating him. Looking up at the sky he sees the bright moon and soon the pain is gone. It fills him with hope that his life has meaning after all. He has a sense of peace now as he continues to run through the woods. Panting harder as the pain subsides he stops at the river to get a drink of water. Looking at his reflection, he howls. Maybe it was foolish to think someone like her could love a lonely wolf.

Riley hears a howl in the distance so she kicks off her heels and runs toward the woods. She thinks about the past. Her family’s past…not hers and she realizes that this isn’t about what Ethan did in his past. All of this is because of their family’s past. This is all about two family’s that have chosen war against each other and she wants no part of it. All she wants is Ethan. He shouldn’t be held accountable for his family’s mistakes and she shouldn’t be held accountable for hers. This should be about them. The love they have shared over the last year has been like heaven. She is not about to let all that just vanish because of a family issue. She meets her wolf by the river and as he transforms back into the man she knew, she shows him her secret as well. She shows him she too is a wolf, although he already found out when her uncle attacked him after finding out who Ethan really was. Ethan is the only remaining Caruso. After his family was killed off by a competing family. He moved here and met her. Everyone in Italy thinks he is dead and now she has exposed him. This isn’t Italy and this shouldn’t matter, but her family takes pride in what they do. When they rid themselves of a family, they want to get every last one. They will assume he has tricked her to get closer to them. They will never be able to be together peacefully. She has to choose between her family and him. The next few seconds as he strokes her cheek she struggles with her thoughts. After all, her family is well…her family. She has grown up to never turn your back on them. As she looks into Ethan’s eyes, she realizes this could be their chance to start a new family and to put all of this war behind them. If she wants to…if she chooses to. They hear sirens in the distance so they run. They look into each other's eyes for a moment. They know their decision in an instant. They begin to run, change, and then howl as they run free. It's only an amount of time before her family find them, but they will make the most of the time they have together.