The Call of the Moon

Chapter Seven- Heart of Darkness

“Watching a hunter stare down his prey was as methodical as the last few moments before midnight would strike. It is a joined operation with mechanics or anatomy that carefully calculate in society to make things be. For a hunter, it is their weapon and plan to attack while the prey is defenseless and unaware of what they are up against or that they are even being watched. While for the clock, it was the mechanisms inside winding up to chime. I cannot look at a clock now without hearing the screaming of an innocent person just as midnight chimes.”

His usual content or even shy expression had turned a mix or carnal and protective. Sawyer's jaw was clenched while his breathing became more rapid while he stared at Troy. He recognized him from the other night when Aurora was attacked, only this time, he wasn't under his lycan form.

“Dirtboy….just go back to your trailer park and jack it to her photo…” Troy commented as Aurora was now incredibly hazy, finding it difficult to breathe and gasping for air.

“If she tells me she is fine then I'll leave you be…” Sawyer commented to Troy as Troy motioned for Aurora. He pulled her up in a way that was identical to how a person does when holding someone hostage against the police. “Go on, tell dirtboy here about you wanting to be with me…” he applied pressure on her neck as she gasped.

“Sawyer…” she managed to choke out just before going limp and falling to the ground. Aurora was falling in and out of consciousness as she could see Sawyer pummel into Troy. There was a small fraction of her that felt pity for Troy as he could have easily been killed, but the majority of her enjoyed seeing him finally getting his ass kicked.

She felt herself become pulled into Sawyer's embrace as she then grew safe in his arms. There was a scent that he had that she found soothing and lured her to him. He carried her back to her home and onto the porch as he set her onto the porch swing. Her head rested against his shoulder as he tried to draw her from her unconscious state. He was able to do so but only long enough for Aurora's mother to emerge frantic as she saw her daughter disheveled and apparently drugged, drunk, or high.

“What happened? Where's Troy?” Aurora's mother scolded the hero as she misplaced him for the villain. When she saw his knuckles peeling with his own skin and bloody from when he let into Troy, she feared that something horrible had become of someone who she saw as being a golden boy.

“Did you do something to Troy?!” She scolded Sawyer as Aurora went to speak but her mother's anger was louder than her trying to tell the truth.

“Mom!” Aurora eventually gained enough vocal strength to speak. Her mother looked to her as she saw the sadness in her eyes. “Troy. Tried. To. Rape. Me.” She spoke as she had difficulty finding breath with each word.

Fear came over her mother's face as she then turned to Sawyer. “Then I suppose I owe you a thank you and an apology.” She spoke as she gave a gentle nod to her daughters hero before her daughter slipped into unconsciousness once more.

When Aurora woke up, she felt refreshed as her mind temporarily forgot about Troy. But when she felt the deep pain in her head, she then remembered the strange breathing sensation and the memories flooded back. She thought of the fractured memories she had of Troy upon the ground as Sawyer laid into him with repetitive punches. When she thought of Sawyer, she became more alert as she remembered her mother being angry with him. Due to this, she rushed down the steps in an attempt to speak to her mother but overheard a conversation between her and Sawyer. It was a conversation that was not supposed to be overheard by Aurora.

“Why should I let you?” Aurora's mother asked Sawyer as he nervously played with his fingertips in front of him.

“I...um...I just...I’m sorry.”

“I know how intimidating and scary it can be to speak to the parents of the person you like. Just take a deep breath...and speak from your heart.” Aurora’s mother spoke with her own heart as she waited for Sawyer to collect enough courage to speak from his desire.

“Your daughter is...just...so special.” Aurora’s mother smiled to Sawyer as she repressed the tears in her eyes. “And I would be honored if you would give me your blessing to take her on a proper date.”

“I’m not going to lie, Sawyer...you aren’t exactly what I expected since the first impression I had of you was dropping my daughter off on your bike without so much as a wave...but I can see that you genuinely care about her. I just have one stipulation.”

“Of course. Anything.”

“If you break her heart-”

“I would never dream of it.”

“Then you have my blessing-” Suddenly Sawyer’s nervousness faded as he could then hear the heartbeat of his mate standing nearby. A smirk fell over his lips just as Aurora’s mother saw her around the corner.

“How are you feeling, sweetheart?”

“Relaxed.”

“Well I have to go do laundry so you two catch up, you two should even go get a bite to eat or something…” Her mother moved in the opposite direction of the laundry room as she left the young couple to speak in the kitchen.

“Are you really alright?”

Aurora nodded. “What happened to me though...I felt so light headed-”

Sawyer nodded. “It was wolfsbane….he must have been wearing it on something or could even have brushed alongside it.”

“Why didn’t you react to it?”

“You are still a….freshly transitioned…” he lowered his voice, in case they were being overheard by Aurora’s mother.

“It is almost like having an allergy, you are just reacting stronger because your body is still adjusting. It should be better now.”

Aurora nodded as silence fell between them. Sawyer was doing his best to appear collected when he was actually incredibly nervous to be around Aurora. This was half the fact that she was incredibly beautiful and also the potential fact that she could have overheard the conversation that he had with Aurora’s mother.

“Are you going to ask me out?” Aurora surprised Sawyer upon these words as he was unaware if that was something she would want or if she just wanted it over with so she could deny him.

“Would you want me to?” He asked cautiously as he c****d a brow in her direction and shot her a playful glare.

“Ask me and find out.”

He clenched his jaw as he was afraid that she could just be setting him up to be let down-as it had been done before. She watched him squirm with anxiety as she leaned her head against her hand. There was a part of Aurora that enjoyed watching Sawyer squirm as she knew she made him nervous. But she also loved the fact that he could come out of his reclusive shell to protect what he cares about. Although, this was also something that scared her-it intrigued her more than anything else.

“Do I have to ask you myself?” She surprised him as he chuckled nervously.

“You might have to…”

She smirked. “Maybe some other time-” His face quickly changed from nervous and hopeful to destroyed-something that broke her heart to see. “I’m sorry...that was a bad joke.” His hope then returned at this comment as he watched her carefully bat her lashes in his direction. “Would you like to take me out?” She asked with a tone of unintended arrogance that he decided to take and roll with.

“If you insist.”

She playfully rolled her eyes and chuckled as her mother rounded the corner, having been eavesdropping the entire time.

“Don’t rush home, but please make sure you wear a helmet if you intend to go on that bike!” She spoke as the two kids removed themselves from the house.

“Where do you want to go?”

“I was actually thinking of the bowling alley...they have these amazing nachos...unless you wanted to do something-”

He shook his head as he became drawn in by her excitement over something as silly as nachos. “Sounds perfect.” he said upon handing the helmet to her as she placed it over her head and held onto him as they rode towards their desired destination. Upon stopping the engine of his motorcycle, he helped her off as if she was a princess emerging from a carriage before then locking the helmets to the bike.

“Are you any good?” Sawyer asked upon making his way towards the inside of the bowling alley as they moved to the counter to pay for their shoes and the game.

“I can hold my own. How about you?”

“Does Wii sports count?” He joked as she chuckled before turning to see a group of girls consisting of old friends of Aurora to be scoffing in their direction.

“If you want, I can go…”

“What?” She turned quick at him. “Why would I want you to do that? I came here with YOU.”

“But if they see you with me-”

“I came here with YOU.” She pushed as he couldn’t help but smirk as he felt for the first time that perhaps there was something good in this town after all.

Having moved to their lane, Aurora moved to the screen to place the names in before feeling Sawyer move behind her. His very presence behind her sent chills to form on her body, luckily unknown by him. Or at least she thought.

“We should do something cute…” She said after erasing her birth name.

“Like?”

“A nickname of some sort...how about...Wofie?” She asked him as he squinted at her nickname for him.

“Sounds very...friendly.”

“I think it’s cute...your turn...what’s mine?”

Sawyer placed his finger on the base of his chin and began tapping it as he became in a playful attitude of a deep pensive nature.

“Fido.”

“That’s for a guy!”

“If I can’t dispute mine, then you can’t dispute yours.”

“Fine. Wolfie and Fido.” They both smirked wide at the names as they turned to take their turns. The game began rough with them both striking out with gutter balls and throwing competitive comments to their opponent. Smiles remained on their faces, however until Noelle brought herself to Aurora who had left Sawyer for just a moment to use the restroom. She found Noelle to be literally waiting for her to come out of the stall as she stood with her hands on her hips.

“I think our friendship has officially become too close.” She tried to joke before seeing Noelle unamused.

“So you’re slumming it with dirt boy now? You had the hottest guy in school eating out of your palm!”

“He was an asshole.”

Noelle’s mouth dropped open. “There was a time, not too long ago, that you would hit me on the arm for swearing in front of you...what has he done to you?” Noelle shook her head back and forth. “Girls like us don’t even talk to guys like Sawyer Cassit.”

“Girls like us? What makes you think I’m in your same category?”

“You were once…”

“Do you not realize that there is a world outside of high school? One where people don’t care if you’re prom queen or even friends with those you went to school with.”

“Maybe not to you...but we will be friends with our school friends because we stick together.”

“By tearing others down?”

Noelle scoffed as she turned to the mirror and began to fix her perfectly applied makeup that took her twelve hours of youtube makeup tutorials to master.

“As I recall...you use to do that with us.”

“Yeah...we were also assholes...some of us still are.” Aurora spoke before pushing herself through the door of the bathroom before being called out to by Noelle.

“He isn’t out there.”

“What?” Aurora turned to face Noelle who was now leaning against the sink with her arms crossed in front of her.

“I told you, us girls have to stick together...I did you a favor.”

“What did you do?” Aurora asked as she pulled herself from the bathroom and to the main interior of the bowling alley. She saw how their lane had been blank with their nicknames having been wiped from the board. A poetic touch had been the fact that his bowling shoes were placed on the table beside the nachos she had been craving.

“Looks to me like he didn’t really think you were worth fighting for.” Noelle commented when she stood by the side of her supposed friend.

“Go to hell.” Aurora commented as she ran outside in hopes of catching Sawyer, only to find his bike beat up instead. The once pristine piece of machinery had been knocked over with the windshield being broken with a large crack spreading from the center and outstretched through the remaining glass. The tires had been forced flat and the bike itself had been forced off its kickstand and onto its side where scratches were in place of where the dark blue paint would have been.

She cared little for the bike however as she was on a mission to find Sawyer, fearing that Noelle removed the only thing that made her genuinely smile. Luckily, she saw the sight of a familiar figure moving across the street and followed after him-knowing it was him as she could physically smell him.

“Sawyer!” She called out as he turned in surprise. It was obvious that his night had been ruined but he was relieved when he saw Aurora.

“What are you doing?”

“What happened? What did they say? And...your bike!”

“It’s honestly really stupid...nothing to worry about.”

“That bike seemed pretty important to you.”

“There are other things more important.” he said as he nervously looked to the ground. Just as the moment grew sweet between Sawyer and Aurora, the door to the bowling alley swung open and there stood an entire clique that consisted of a mix of genders that were once friends with Aurora. “I really don’t want to cause any problems…” He spoke as he turned in reference to her disapproving peers. Her gaze connected with them as she c****d a brow in their direction before turning back to him. She opened her mouth just slightly before stepping on the tips of her toes and holding onto him by the way of his shoulders and placing a soft kiss against his lips.