TWENTY-ONE: The Walk

SUNDAY MORNING FOUND Cornelia taking a stroll in her neighbourhood. She felt like she needed to breath some fresh air, she needed some alone time. She pulled her sweater tighter around her body, as she thought back about Julia. Her mother was the only person who could have helped her in that hard time.

She breathed out softly, and once again she wondered how her life had made that one-eighty change in what felt like an overnight. She pondered a little over the werewolf thing she had read about; it was better to think about that rather than think about her dying reputation.

She heard the footsteps of someone walking behind her. She moved a little to the side of the sidewalk, thinking that the person needed her to make a way for them. "It's a bit early for a walk, isn't it?"

She snapped her head at the sound of Lucien's voice, a shocked look passing her face. "What are you doing here?"

He shrugged and stood in front of her, "I was just passing by."

Cornelia remembered the other day, when she met him by coincidence and he told her the same thing. She didn't allow her mind to even consider the idea that it was intentional. It was a wishful thought, creepy, but wishful all the same.

She wasn't sure what to say afterwards, so she only hummed. She looked around her, worried that people would see them together and a new spiral of rumors and gossips would start. She had enough of those to last her a lifetime and perhaps another.

"You don't want to he seen with me." Lucien concluded with the way she was acting. And while he understood where she was coming from, and even though he understood her reasoning, it still irked him.

She let out a sigh, trying to find the right way to express how she felt without offending him. "It's not that. I'm just..." She shook her head, "Aren't you worried? About the rumors? Do you know what's being said?"

"That were fucking." He said bluntly.

Cornelia was slightly taken aback by his honesty and crassness, but she nodded her head while looking straight ahead. They resumed walking, but Lucien couldn't keep the silence any longer. "Are you all right?"

She turned to him with a questioning look, unsure where the question came from. So, he explained, "The rumors must be impacting you, and you were just attacked by a wolf, that's why I'm asking. These experiences can be traumatic."

"I'll survive. It's just... I think I'm not used to the way things are at the moment. I've never been subjected to the cruelness of people. I've seen it happen before, but I never imagined it would happen to me." She shook her head and tried to plaster a smile on her face. "But I'm sure it will be okay."

No, she wasn't sure of that. However, she decided that by the end of her senior year, she would choose the furthest college from her wretched hometown. She was already working on different applications.

The silence between them wasn't uncomfortable and neither felt the need to fill it with anything. She noticed that they were getting closer to the woods, but she didn't mind. She didn't think anything bad would happen. She felt safe with Lucien, as stupid as it sounded, but he somehow managed to calm her raging nerves just with his presence.

"I looked up the wolves thing." She said out of the blue, but she couldn't see his jaws clenching with her words. "Apparently, the last time recorded of wolves being in Formid Root was back in the 1800s. So, were did those wolves come from? Also, their size wasn't normal. I wonder what would be more crazy that they are genetically mutated wolves or that they're actually werewolves." She chuckled at the end, trying to sound light, nonchalant, and joking. However, she did consider those possibilities at a certain point.

"Werewolves? Isn't that a bit impossible?"

Lucien didn't think she believed in such things. Cornelia didn't seem like the type to he into into mythical creatures, and that was exactly what werewolves are.

She stopped walking and turned to him with a small smile, which looked almost nostalgic to him. It looked like she was recalling some distant happy memory, then she said, "You know, someone once told me that the only thing I should believe in is the uncertainties, and I believe that. The world is such a huge place, and there was a time when the existence of other planets was impossible, but look where we are now." Looking up, and holding his gaze, she said, "I believe in the possibility of anything and everything. You should keep an open mind Mr. Amarok."

He smiled, for the first time Cornelia saw a genuine smile on his face. It wasn't sarcastic, nor was it that one he gave her when he knew he was right, and it wasn't a smirk. It made her heart skip a beat, then he said, "I think you should call me Lucien."

And just like that, Cornelia felt like something had shifted between the two of them. As if she had broken through one of his walls, she knew there were many more to come, but she was happy with just getting through one.

Her grin widened, and she tried to contain to the best of her abilities but she couldn't. "In that case, you have to call me Lia. I insist."

He gave her a small nod, and they continued walking side by side. Although they were a bit deep into the woods, Cornelia didn't mind. While they were walking, a chill ran down her spine, and she wrapped her arms around herself.

She felt him putting his jacket over her shoulders. "Thank you." She mumbled, but when she looked up she noticed that he was only in a thin Henley shirt. It gave her a perfect view of his muscled chest and broad shoulders, she could even make out a bit of his abs. She ignored the thoughts that flooded her mind with he dreams she used to have. Clearing her throat, she said, "Aren't you cold?"

Lucien shook his head, "I don't get cold. My body is naturally warm."

She stopped again and stood in front of him. She hesitantly reached out, her hand hovered slightly over his arm, waiting for him to move away. When he didn't though she touched his sleeved bicep with the tips of her fingers.

She felt heat coming out of his body, quite literally. Her eyes quicky turned to look at his face, "You're burning up. Are you sure you're not sick?" And then like some fussy mother, she stood on her tiptoes and touched his forehead to check his temperature. "I think you're running a fever."

Lucien chuckled and shook his head. "I'm not. That's hoe I am all the time."

He knew he shouldn't have allowed that. He knew she shouldn't know about him. However, when she told him about how she was keeping an open mind, part of him wanted her to figure it out already. He wanted to see her fully accepting everything that he was, with no secrets nor lies.

She tilted her head to the side, looking at him with a pout on her face. "It doesn't make sense." She mumbled more to herself than to him, but he heard it quite all right.

There wasn't a time when Lucien had called a woman cute or adorable. When they were like that, he'd usually keep his distance and stay as far away from them as possible. But Cornelia just pulled him in more, and he knew he would be damned if he let her go now. She had started a chain reaction with him, and he only hoped that she would be up for the consequences.

"When do you have to get back?" He asked her, changing the subject.

She shrugged her shoulders, "I don't know. Dad's not home, and as much as I want to be alone, I don't really want to be alone."

Lucien nodded and they started walking again, "How's school?" He asked just to break the silence.

"It's okay, nothing much. The usual." She told him with a shrug.

Lucien was about to pry more, when he hears a sound in the distance. He knew that someone was walking in their direction. His ears perked up and he stiffened in his place as he tried to capture the scent, he tried to identify who it belonged to.

He didn't think it was anyone from his pack, they were familiar scents to him and he would be able to recognize them easily. However, that scent, he wasn't sure what it was. He just knew that it set his wolf on edge.

"Why don't we head back to the mansion?" He suggested with the hope she would agree. Lucien didn't think he could afford a confrontation with her present. His instinct told him that the presence around them was trouble. Albeit unsure of the kind of trouble, Lucien decided to avoid it nonetheless.

She nibbled on her lower lip, "Are you sure that would be okay? I mean I wouldn't want to intrude on your family."

He shook his head, "I'm sure they'd love to see you."

She nodded and they headed to the Amarok Mansion. Lucien looked behind them for a second and his eyes narrowed slightly, the footsteps stopped and the scent became fainter once they walked away.