THE WOLF IN THE SHADOWS

Chapter 17

Elyssa's POV

"I'm sorry, did I hear you, correctly? Did you say 'soul-mates'? What is with that

word? That's exactly what Tristian was talking about. He said, 'Ask Loren about it, and "Tell your soul-mate to mind his own business', and all that crap. Why isn't anyone telling me this stuff? Aren't I'm supposed to know? I'm new to this, I should be able to know everything there is about were-" Before I could finish, I was interrupted with a kiss.

Loren had smashed his lips

against mine, and his hands were

on either side of my face. I sighed

and kissed him back. How long

has it been since we kissed? Um,

I don't really know, but I don't

care right now. I'm in his arms,

and we're kissing passionately.

We were unaware of the Arab

women glaring at us. Then we

parted.

"Elyssa, you talk too much,"

Loren smiled. I smiled too, and he grabbed my hands. "I'll explain every thing when we get back home, okay? I promise."

I nodded and we went out the

door, but we had to rush back in

because Mel and the others ran in the door. It was thundering, and it was raining hard. "What is all this?"

"I don't know!" Kenny said.

"It just started raining all of

a sudden! How the hell are we

going to get home now? Jeez."

Aaron mumbled.

"Whose phone is working?" I

asked.

"None of ours is. All of our

phones died."

"Whose got some money? I'll

call my dad at the phone booth

so he could come get us," Loren

asked. We each gave him a couple of quarters and dimes. He

grabbed my hand and told me to

come with him to call his dad. I

don't know why, but he told me to come. Maybe he doesn't want to let me out of his sight..? He dialed the number.

"Hello? Dad? It's Loren. Yes,

we're alright. No. Well..the truck

blew up." Pause. "Just listen.

That's what I said! Look, we need

a ride home." Pause. Loren's face

changed. "Someone drove us up

here, that's how. I don't know who he is, and I don't want to know." Pause. He's talking about Tristian.

"Duh! That's what I just said!

Now, come pick us up. Thanks.

I know she's waiting. Tell her if

she touches my things, she will

get tackled when I come back." I

laughed. "Okay, thanks." He hung

up.

"What the hell was that about?"

"My dad is mad because we got

stuck in the middle of nowhere.

Then Cqari keeps going in my

room, and none of us knows what she's doing. She better not be bringing her little boyfriend in

there."

I gasped. "Cqari has a

boyfriend? I am shocked!"

"Well, I mean, she looks like

me, and I'm hot, right?" he teased.

"Yes, Loren, you are," I

fluttered my eyelashes. He

smiled.

"Yeah. His name is Randy. For

some reason, Cqari likes to show

him my room..I'm getting tired

of it though," he looked at me.

Loren's POV (2 hours ago)

My dad showed up two hours

later, right when the gas station

was closing. Not the gas part, but

when you go in and buy stuff.

"What the hell took you so

long?"" I snapped as soon as we

got into his truck.

"Don't get so snappy with me,

Loren. Your mother was so worried I had to stay and calm her down."

For two hours? That was a

lame excuse but I just ignored it. I felt Elyssa squeeze my hand.

I hope she doesn't freak out for

what I'm going to tell her.

It will be a lot, so I hope she's

ready for it.

We arrived at my home at like

11:58 P.M.

Elyssa wanted to stay with me.

Mel, Darren, and R.Jay all walked

home.

Elyssa and I went into the house.

My mom, as usual, crushed us

against her. "Oh! Are you alright?

Loren? Elyssa? Oh!"

She didn't even give us time to

speak, for crying out loud.

I took Elyssa to my room. When

she went in, I went in after her

and shut the door. She faced me

and crossed her arms. I stood still, confused on why she's glaring at me in a she-wants-to-kill-me look.

"What?"

"I want to know."

I acted dumb. "Know what?"

She narrowed her eyes and

I think I was stupid for acting

dumb. "About what the hell

you told me. I want to know

everything there is about

werewolves and mates. I want to

know how they are mated, why,

and everything else! So don't

give me any of that bullshit," she

snapped at me.

Well, there is no turning back

now, is there? I sighed, walked

closer to her, and put my hand on her shoulder. She neatly shook it off. "Loren," she warned.

I rolled my eyes. "Can you

at least sit down and let me go

through this smoothly?"

"I'll stand."

"Whatever," I sat down and got

comfortable. "I don't know how to say this. I don't want to freak you out, or make you think I'm lying, or make you run away from me...."

"Just spit it out, Loren

Lexington!" she yelled.

Elyssa has never said my last

name like that before. But the

look on her face meant she

wanted the truth, and she was

serious about it. I sighed. "You are my mate."

"What does that mean?"

"It means we're soul-mates,

almost."

"Then why does Tristian keep

saying I belong to him?"

"I don't know! We belong

together, not you two."

Elyssa sighed and sat down by

me. "What does it mean when

you say we're soul-mates?"

"Soul-mate isn't just some

word regular teenagers say to

each-other to make one another

fall in love. It's serious. When

you're soul-mates, you're really

together forever. Unless you get

it denied. But getting it removed

would mean strength, blood, and

it would hurt."

"Why would anyone want it

removed?" Elyssa asked.

"Well, it's like a divorce but

worse. You argue a lot, and you

can't never seem to get along for

once. You cheat on your mate, or

you abuse them. Like a divorce."

"That's sad," Elyssa said to

herself.

"And it's not good. I've known

you my whole life, Elyssa."

"How is that possible? I've

never seen you."

"But you have, remember?"

She gasped. "Your eyes. I

forgot, you are the one who

watches me in the dark. So,

you've been watching me

since we were 10?"

"Actually, I've watched you

since we were 8, but you've

noticed me watching since you

were 10."

"Why have you been watching

me?"

"To make sure you are safe and

protected."

"Why do I need to be safe and

protected?"

I sighed. "Okay, let me put

it like this; You die, I die, and

probably your family dies. You

get hurt, I get hurt, and your family gets hurt. You get a

disease, I get a disease-"

"And my family get's a

disease," she rolled her eyes and I

smiled. "So, we're connected? Do

we have the same blood?"

"Er, no. That would mean

we're siblings, and that would be

Wrong. Yes, we're connected, but

we don't have the same blood.

We just have an undeniable

attraction towards each other,

but, no, we definitely do not have

the same blood."

"What if I didn't want to be

with you forever?" she asked me.

I looked at her, and her face

was serious. I thought for sure

she was joking. "I'm not saying

that I don't want to be with you

forever, Loren."

I laughed nervously. Feewh.

"Like I said, you can get us

removed."

"How?"

"We'd have to exchanged our

own blood back to each other.

It would probably be a suicide

mission though."

"Wait," Elyssa held up her finger.

"So you mean to tell me, to get our blood exchanged back together, they would have to cut us open and look for each others blood?" she cringed.

"Yes, if you want to be

physical," I chuckled.

"Okay, that's just wrong. And

how would they know whose

blood is whose? Isn't our blood

the same color and stuff?"

"No, Elyssa," I shook my head.

"My blood is darker than your

blood."

"Why? How?"

"I'm a boy, you're a girl. Your

blood has to be lighter than mine. Haven't you ever noticed Andy's blood was darker than yours?"

"I guess, but he's my brother,

we have the same blood, though,

right?"

"Right, but his blood is still

darker than yours."

She looked like she still didn't

understand it, but she moved on.

"How would we be able to stay

together forever?"

I smiled. I scooted over so that

our bodies were touching, and I

put my arm around her, slowly.

"You tell me."

She smiled and her cheeks

turned pink. Then she yawned. I

chuckled. "Alright, time to sleep."

"I don't wanna," she whined

like a child.

"Yes, you do. It's 12:07," I pointed to the dash-board. I slipped my arm off her, so she could go dig in her suit-case for her pajamas. She put them on.

I slipped off my pants and

shirts. "Er, where do I sleep?" she

asked.

"Duh, in my bed," I hopped

onto my bed.

"With you?"

"Yes, with me," I flipped over

the covers, to make room for her.

She smiled and hopped in with

me.

She sighed. "So, what happens

if your soul-mate cheats?"

My smile faded. I hope she's

not referring to anything. "Then

it's your soul-mate's decision to be removed or stay together," I said, slowly.

"Oh."

I put my arm around her.

"Thanks, Loren," she said.

"For what?"

"Everything," she mumbled,

and by then, she was asleep.