TWO

-Indy POV-

I stare at my reflection. The only thing I like is my blonde hair. Well, my face isn’t that bad either. I have dark eyebrows and big, blue eyes. But everything is going downhill from that. I’m around 175 cm tall (yes, I’m the only one using the metric system in this pack, not the Imperial one. I’ve never found it logical to use those. Besides the British, we’re the only one on earth using those weird numbers. But that’s another story...), and I have curves. I really have, my boobs are big and my stomach is soft and fluffy. I have long legs, but you can’t really notice, because they’re big and firm. I sigh while I quickly grab some clothes to put on. I wiggle my big legs in tight black jeans and cover my round butt with a large, oversized cobalt-blue sweater. I put some mascara on my long, dark lashes to let my eyes pop a bit. I brush my hair and let it fall down on my shoulders.

“Indy? Can you hurry please, I’m waiting for you!” I hear Fiona’s voice.

“Yes, I hear you! But I’m not done packing my stuff. Give me 10 more minutes!” I yell back.

I hear footsteps on the hallway and Fiona is opening my door. “Darling, we don’t have 10 more minutes! I can smell it in the air. Mating season has started.”

Mating season. I hate it. We never know what day it starts exactly, but we do know it’s happening at the end of winter. But it started insanely early this year, it’s only the beginning of february! Fiona says it’s happening becauses winter was soft this year.

“Okay, okay. I get it!” I say, while I push the last sweater in my backpack. We hurry down to the kitchen and I can see Fiona did all the packing by herself already. “When did you do all this, Fiona?” I ask, surprised.

“I woke up early, this morning, and I could smell it.” she says. Fiona’s smell is well developed. Maybe it’s because she shifted ages ago, and I still haven’t. But I can’t smell that good. I look at her and I nod. “Thank you, Fiona.” I simply say.

Fiona looks really worried. I look at her small frame, although she’s tiny, she’s strong. She never found her mate either, and didn’t want to mate with another. So she decided to live separately and built her house on top of the hill so she wouldn’t be disturbed that much. Fiona is still gorgeous, she’s in her early forties but you can’t tell! And she’s still fertile. That means that mating season is also effecting her.

Mating season wasn’t there, before the war. Fiona doesn’t talk much about the war, or the time before. But she told me that times were good then. I don't know how she knows, I mean: the war ended almost 100 years ago. But there were lots and lots of babies, the werewolves were growing in numbers fast. Humans didn’t like that, and a war happened. I’m not sure how such weak creatures like humans could overpower us, the strong werewolves. But it did happen. And now, as a desperate cry from nature, mating season happens.

I see how Fiona puts on her boots and leather jacket and I do the same. I exchange my small backpack with a big one, I’m carrying our tent. I put my small backpack in front of me, so it’s easier to carry. Fiona does the same with her backpack, she’s carrying food and a mini kitchen on her back.

“Let’s go..” Fiona whispers, and she opens the door. We step outside and I can tell it’s early. It’s still dark, and probably around 5 in the morning. She closes the door and looks at me: “Now, wait for me. I’ll have to spray some on my exposed skin.” She's referring to the spray she developed to mask the scent of her wolf. Because she already shifted, her wolf reacts to the mating season and spreads out a scent. Male wolves react to it, they go nuts when they smell it and do anything to impregnate the she-wolf. Fiona is a biologist, and she discovered this after the first two mating seasons.

When she’s done, we start hiking. We know this area very well. Fiona and I like to be outside and discover the area. We never stay in the same spot twice in a row, we always try to find a different one.

“Where are we going?” I ask her, softly.

Please, don’t talk. We can mindlink. I know your senses aren’t developed well, because you haven’t shifted yet. But others are. she mindlinked at me.

Sorry… I react.

But do you know, Fiona? Where are we going this time?

Just follow me, I found a new spot not long ago. You haven’t been there.

I stay silent. This happens a lot, Fiona doesn’t say much to me. She thinks ‘the less I know, the better’. But of course, I don’t agree. I hate the fact that my senses aren’t well-developed. But it’s a minor side effect, says Fiona, compared to the major negativity you get when you’re shifted once. When you haven’t shifted, you have no scent. In mating season, that’s a blessing. But it also means you have more difficulty to sense your fated mate. And there’s nothing more I want than having a mate!

We walked for hours, my feet are getting tired. The sunlight has reached the surface, and I’m glad. I just don’t like the dark.

Fiona? Are we close?

Shhhhs, don’t be impatient, child.

She always calls me a child. It doesn’t matter to her that I’m only 19 years younger then her. Technically she could’ve been my mom, I know that. But that doesn’t mean she should call me ‘child’. But, I’m too shy to tell her, I don’t want her to feel bad about it. So, I just follow her, like she told me. I always did, and I always will. We’re doing this every year, and we always survived mating season, without being raped by the male wolves. I thank her for that.

But the more we walk, the more I have a feeling that this year is going to be different...