48 Chapter 43: Nightly Run

As Erick opened the link in his phone, rows of questions with multiple choice answers appeared on his screen. Reading them one by one before attempting to answer them had gotten him feel more confused. What the heck is this quiz? Some kind of personality tests? And there were a lot of them too.

He scratched the back of his head as he scrolled down.

He had read the answers that were given and had laughed at some of them. Especially the one where it asked which supernatural beings would you like to study the most. He scoffed and thought, 'Of course I would like to read more about the werewolves.'

As he was attempting to answer the questions, his mother had knocked on his door. Without waiting for Erick's permission, she had already peeked in and reminded him, "Don't forget to throw the trash out."

Erick rolled his eyes. "Mom, it's nearly midnight."

"Well, it's not as if you can't see in the dark. Bring Luka along with you. He has been feeling bored staying indoors lately."

Erick flopped down on his bed, with his arms wide open, dropping his phone beside him. "But I'm tired," he whined, feeling too lazy to go out.

"Go now before it gets too dark," his mother said, ignoring his complaint.

Erick sat up straight on his bed and exclaimed, "How could you be so heartless to send your only child outside in the dark??"

"That's why I'm telling you to go now," his mother said. She then pointed at the wall clock in front of him and continued, "It's not yet midnight so you should get going now."

"Do I have to do it now?" Erick asked in disbelief. Seriously, why does he have to throw the trash so late in the night?

"Yes, the trashcan is full. I don't like it when it messes up my kitchen. And there might be some worms crawling all over," Luella explained patiently, visibly cringing at the thought of worms all over her kitchen.

"But still--"

His mother finally lost her patience and shouted, "Erick Louis Kendall! You listened to me right now! I have enough of your needless questions and complaints! Just do as your mother tells you to do or I will tell your father about this!"

Erick's eyes widened. He knew that he had gone too far when his mother called him with his full name. And like, seriously. You're bringing Dad into the conversation? Not cool at all.

He sighed and grudgingly stood up from his bed.

Luka, who was lying down on its bed, a few meters away from Erick's, raised its head when it noticed Erick standing. It immediately jumped from its bed and yelped around Erick's legs.

It seems to know that Erick was going to bring him for a walk.

While he grabbed his light jacket since it's going to be a chilly night outside, his mother had gone downstairs, getting ready to pass him the trash bags.

Erick crouched down in front of Luka and patted it on its head. "Sorry for not spending too much time with you. Even though Melody did offer to let you stay in the pack house with the other animals, I guess I'm still too selfish to let you go.

I'll try to spend more time with you. I'll probably introduce Amber to you. If she's not terrified of wolves, that is," he continued.

'Don't just introduce it to her. Bite her! Mark her!' growled Dane in his mind.

Erick rolled his eyes. 'Cool it, old pup. I'm just waiting for the time when I could tell her about us,' he replied back. By 'us', he was referring to being a werewolf. Erick was just worried that she might not accept him as a werewolf. Who knows that she was probably one of those who anti werewolves. He wouldn't be surprised if she was, though. Since he knew that there were probably many untruth stories about werewolves that were being spread to the human world. Especially when werewolves were being portrayed in bad light.

'When? And who did you just call 'pup'??' Dane growled.

Erick ignored Dane and went out of his room, with Luka happily following him from behind.

Downstairs, his mother had placed two large trash bags on the porch of the front door. Grabbing them, each bag in one hand, Erick led the way to the dumpster.

The dumpster was a few yards away, far from the residential area. They shared the dumpster together with the humans in town. Although Erick could have used his car to drive over to the dumpster, he knew that Luka had been wanting to get out and wanted to walk around.

Besides, it wasn't that far at all, since it probably took them less than thirty minutes to arrive at the dumpster.

Wincing at the smell in the dumpster, Erick tried his best to calm down and tolerate the smell. He quickly threw the trash bags and ran further away from the dumpster.

With Luka running along beside him, they reached the training field where he first shifted and where he did his training too.

Taking a deep breath, he felt the smell of the woods was comfortable and relaxing. He really loved the smell of the woods. It calmed him and made him feel at peace.

It was then he thought of an idea. He began to stretch his body and arms. He looked down at Luka, who was sitting down on its hind legs.

"Up for a little run, Luka?" Erick asked, with a grin.

Luka barked, as if to say yes.

Erick chuckled. "Great. I, too, think that Dane is up for a run. Let's go, shall we?"

After saying that and making sure that no one was around, he immediately stripped down. He placed his clothes near one of the trees for safekeeping.

He then closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Just then, sounds of bones cracking can be heard. His nails became longer as his body stretched to its height. Slick black fur began to cover his whole body, leaving a straight patch of white fur from its thick mane to the back. His eyes glinted in the dark night, from black to amber. His teeth grew into sharp fangs.

He then growled up to the sky, making his appearance known. He laid his paw against his neck and cricked it, rubbing away the sore muscles.

His amber eyes blinked as it adjusted itself to the surroundings, familiarising the area. He sniffed around and felt the area was quite nice.

He looked down at the now whimpering Luka, who was inching backwards, away from the shifter in front of it.

It got confused. What happened to its master? How come his master's scent has faded? It could still smell the scent of its master but it got overwhelmed by this shifter's smell.

As it watched the shifter getting closer to it, it nearly fainted out of fear and shock. It could sense and smell the strength and the power from this shifter. It was really strong. Most importantly, Luka can smell the aura of an Alpha from him. Not just any Alpha, but a much stronger one. Stronger than the man who lived in the same house as its master.

Bending down, the shifter quickly grabbed the white wolf by the scruff of its neck and stared at its eyes.

Luka whimpered as it held eyes with the scary shifter.

The two were quiet, studying each other.

"Well, well. So, we've finally met each other in person, little Luka," the shifter said raspily, as if it had been a long time since it last talked.

"Now, shall we go for a run?" Dane grinned.