The Wolf Within

    "Alandra! No please don't take her!" a familiar woman's voice rings out. I feel hands clutching me and the sound of a baby crying. Terror ripped through me as everything was a blur.      The woman's voice cried out in pain and agony as I'm being shuffled around. Something warm and wet touches my body as another voice calmly says, "Now you know how it feels to have everything taken from you."  There's a loud thud, then wind.     I bolt up from my bed panting and sweating heavily. Whimpers escape my lips as I'm trying to bring myself back to reality, the dream leaving me close to tears and shaking. I place my face in my hands and try to take slow deep breaths as my mother taught me.      The dream has been my constant companion for as long as I can remember. Always the same, never changing dream. It's not so scary as what's happening in it, because truth be told, I have zero ideas what's happening. It's the fact that it always feels so real.      I turn my head to the left side of the bed where my nightstand is. Reaching for my phone that I left charging, I tap the screen and see it's only five in the morning. Groaning, I lay back down in the hopes that sleep will come back. It usually doesn't, but a girl can hope, right?     This dream was starting to become the bane of my existence. Not only does it leave me sweaty and gross, but I always end up waking up extremely early from it.      I stared at my glow in the dark stars I put on my ceiling when I was fifteen, trying to count sheep. One sheepy. Two sheepies. I count on until I'm at sheep number 382, and decide that sleep was never going to come. So why not start my day?     Groaning, I lazily drag my body out of bed, putting on my fuzzy panda slippers, and my black and white robe. One look in the mirror told me everything that I needed to know. And that was that a shower was definitely in order.      So with that decided, I rummage through my drawers in the dark just pulling anything out of them.      I take a quick shower and pull on the faded jeans and black crop top I had grabbed and head downstairs. The bitter-sweet aroma of coffee filling my nose before I even make it to the bottom of the stairs.      I can hear my mother humming a song in her own little world. I peeked into the kitchen and saw her swaying side to side erratically, completely offbeat to whatever song she was listening to. She was completely oblivious to me and the fact that I was watching her be a total lunatic.      I stood at the kitchen entrance, watching my mom dance around. My mother was a kind, strong woman. She was fairly short, like five feet. She had extremely curly brown hair that she almost always kept in a bun. Her eyes were a warm brown.      She was also very slender, but super toned. Like she ran track for years. She had a caramel complexion that was smooth and flawless. My mother looked sweet, but she was fierce and strong-willed.      When she finally did a spin and saw me standing at the kitchen entrance, she yelped and jumped like she saw a ghost.      I burst into laughter grabbing my torso. "Smooth moves mom. You gotta teach me sometime." I tease her as I make my way to the island and plop down on a barstool. She rolls her eyes at me and places a bowl of strawberry oatmeal in front of me. "Back in the day, I was the best dancer in my group." She says and I'm not sure if she meant it as a joke, or was serious.      Either way, I giggle and shovel a spoonful of the oatmeal into my mouth. She turns to me and leans against the counter, her fresh coffee in hand. I can see her sneaking glances at me while she sips her coffee.     "Was it the dream again?" She asks me as I'm mid shovel. I stiffen and put my spoon down. For a moment I'm filled with fear and dread a shiver runs down my spine.      I look to my mom and give her a fake smile. "I'll be fine mom," I tell her while going back to eating. I keep my eyes on my oatmeal, hoping she just drops the subject. She sighs and goes back to humming the song again. I let out a breath and continue my breakfast.      After breakfast, I'm lounging on the sofa in our living room flipping through channels as my mom gathers all her stuff to leave. I listen to her mutter about her schedule and her ring of keys.      My mom is a manager at the local daycare. She supervises 5 employees with about fifty kids in total at her daycare. She says it's an honor and a privilege to work with children. I say it's a headache.       I went to work with her once when I was fifteen to do my volunteer hours for school, and I never went back. The screaming two-year-olds, the crying babies, the mean four-year-olds.      One little girl who was three by the name of Ashley told me my butt was too big and she was surprised I could fit through the door. I left immediately after that.     I'm by no means skinny, but I'm also not fat. I'm one of those in the middle type of people. I'm slightly slender, but I have a pretty wide waist line with a butt to match, and boobs that make look like melons. My size works for my height which is five foot four.      I never really saw myself as conventionally beautiful. My skin is the beautiful shade of mocha, and my curly hair reaches down to my waist. People are always surprised at how long my hair is and wonder how I do it. But I always tell them that my hair grows pretty fast no matter what I do to it.      My eyes are a bright hazel, and I have full lips. So to me, I'm ok looking. Obviously, I have some insecurities but who doesn't?      So when that little girl said that about me, it made me realize how much I really didn't want kids. They can pick out your insecurities so well, and have no qualms about exploiting them.      I'm snapped back to reality when my phone rings and I dig it out of my pocket to see it's a call from my best friend Victoria.      A smile creeps on my face and I answer the phone, "hey girly." I said sounding a bit too chipper. "Why can't school start at noon? it's way too early for this bullshit." She says in her whiney voice.      I laugh lightly at her sour mood. "Will Starbucks make it better?" I ask her already getting up and grabbing my bag and my keys. I hear her squeal and take that as a yes.     As I head out the door and to my beat-up car, she tells me about her date from the night before with Markus Saratony.      The Quarterback and the reigning hottie of our school. If you're into his type.      Mark was pale, but in a porcelain kind of way so it didn't look bad. He had blonde hair that always looked like the wind combed it itself and a decent build. He was also six feet tall.      His family is also the richest family in town. I forget what his parents do, or what his family does, but everyone in town treats them like they are the most important people on the planet. Like they s**t gold or something.      Personally, I think he's a jerk and the whole family is just too uptight. But Victoria is my best friend, I want to support her. So I give fake excitement as she goes on and on about the fancy restaurant he took her, and the present he got her.      I drove to the closest Starbucks and ordered two Mocha cookie crumble frappucinos. Once I have the coffees, I drive off to Victorias' place with her still gushing about how great Markus is.      She only stopped talking about him when I told her I was in the driveway and she hung up. A few moments later, Victoria comes striding to my car and my heart flips.      Victoria is what I call beautiful.      She's tan, five foot six, and her body is more of an athletic build, but still soft. Her dirty blonde hair was straight and to the mid of her back and perfect. Her blue eyes sparkled in the sunlight.      She smiled at me and I took in her white skinny jeans, and baby pink blouse, and white stilettos. She had light makeup on and her nails had a fresh french tip. She opened the passenger door and slid in.      I tried to compose myself and handed her her cup. "Oh, my favorite! You are the best!" she says as she takes a sip. She's practically moaning at the taste as she's buckling herself while I back out of her driveway. "Why does coffee taste so good yet so bad for you?" she says. I chuckle and make my way to our school.      I took sips here and there and breathed in the rosey aroma that was Victoria.      So yes, Victoria was my best friend, but I've had a crush on her since we were ten and she shoved a girl for picking on my hair. We've been best friends ever since, and she has no idea I have feelings for her. I planned on telling her before I left for NYU in the fall, but for now, I just wanted to savor our friendship.      When I finally pulled up to the school, I rolled into the first available parking space I saw and turned the car off.      We stayed in the car for a few moments sipping our drinks while I listened to Victoria jump from one topic to another. Currently, she was on how it was to cold to be wearing the cheer uniforms being as it was January.      I nodded every now again letting her talk. My stomach felt like butterflies were nesting in it as I listened to her sing-songy voice.      Our moment didn't last long as Markus knocked on Victorias' window and she squealed jumping out of the car. As she wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a kiss on his lips, my heart sank.      Groaning internally, I got out of the car as well and made my way around to her side just in time to see Mark groping her butt. I grit my teeth and felt something boil inside me.      When they pulled away, Markus spotted me watching, and gave me a look of disgust. I rolled my eyes at him and crossed my arms over my chest.      "What are you looking at Alandra?" he said my name like a dirty word. It took everything in me to not punch him in the face.     Luckily, Victoria stood up for me and said, "She's my friend, we talked about this." He rolled his eyes and I could've sworn I heard him growl. How pathetic.      I decided I didn't want to stick around and watch my crush and best friend suck face with that jerk, so I wave at her and tell her ill see her at lunch. She gave me a sheepish grin and nodded.      Most of the school day was really uneventful. The only good part of it was my lunch with Victoria. But of course, Markus came and ruined that.      I was currently on my way to my part-time job at the local bakery 'Sweet Tooth'. I didn't do much there but man the register but every now and again, Mrs. Williams will let me ice the cupcakes.      So, I liked the job and was saving all my money for my move to NYU. I wanted to make sure I had funds saved up so I could live independently while in college. My mother didn't want me to work and to solely focus on my studies, but I didn't want to put the burden of caring for me while I'm in college onto her.      I took in the scenery as I drove. Our small town of Lance port was surrounded by forest. The town had a cottage aesthetic to it that I found cute. The bakery was in the middle of downtown, so that kept a steady flow of customers.     Today, however, downtown seemed to be busier than usual. It had a festive quality to it. Other shops and restaurants were putting up balloons, or different decorations and lighting. Was there a festival or event I didn't know about?      I shrugged as I pulled into the bakery's driveway. Hopefully, whatever was going on got us some good business. When I walked inside, I cheerfully greeted Mrs. Williams.      One thing about Mrs. Williams, she was truly the nicest lady aside from my mom in this town. She was an older woman and she had long raven hair that was pencil-thin. She always kept it in a high ponytail though. She had yellowish skin and looked like she was in her late twenties, but she was actually fifty.      Mrs. Williams greeted me and gave me a big smile as I pulled my apron on.      The apron was black and had the logo of a tooth with whip cream and a cherry on it. I punched in and snuck a cookie to nibble on.      While I was mid-chew, the doorbell to the front rang and I smelled the most delicious scent. The air took on a strawberry and lemons tinge and I had to swallow the cookie down before it fell out of my open mouth.      My whole body was tingling as I watched a man towering at least six feet seven, maybe eight enter.      His skin was a darker shade of mocha than mine, reminding me of the earth itself, and he had dreadlocks that went all the way down to his waist. His body was all muscle like he did weights for fun. His eyes were a deep shade of brown that locked me in my place.      Once our eyes met, he stood frozen in place. His eyes went wide with surprise and I could hear him taking in a deep breath.      Maybe smelling the delicious smell too?      He was staring at me and I started to shift my weight nervously, my cheeks starting to turn red. I heard Mrs. Williams gasp behind me and whisper "What is he doing here?".      I wanted to ask him who, but his eyes were boring into mine. I tried to gain my composure as I could feel this man's gaze turn from surprise to shock, to possessive.      "W..Welcome to Sweet Tooth." I say taking a step back to try and escape his gaze that was making my skin feel on fire.      Something in me was twirling and it felt like someone gave the butterflies steroids.      When he saw me take a step back, he snapped out of whatever trance he was in, and he took long strides coming around the counter. He was next to me so fast it was almost inhuman. He wrapped his hands tightly around me and buried his face into my neck and muttered "mate".