[ Chapter One—goodbye university ]

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  I frowned when catching sight of a folded picture stuck in between my newly bare mattress and the wall. Reaching forward, I easily plucked the picture out of the crevice and unfolded it. The memory forever frozen on the piece of paper made me laugh out loud.

It was a random shot taken just a few weeks prior to now showing my roommate being held in a handstand by two guys while she chugged the tap of a silver keg. I vaguely remembered I had to carry her back to our dorm as she could barely keep herself standing.

Snorting, I refolded the picture and shoved it in my pocket before rolling off the bare mattress. The carpet was full of random stains not unlike the walls, which alike the two bare mattresses, looked naked compared to how they were just weeks before.

A few weeks ago our dorm room walls were full of pictures stuck down by gum, tape, nails, any way possible to stick a photo down to a wall and you would find at least one picture that way. Alas, it was that time of year that every colleger dreads... summer.

Or in other words, the four months that allowed the school campus to recuperate itself for the following class of young adults, also known as a time where us "youngins" had to get the hell out.

Freshmen year had been a blast. Classes only three days a week, constant parties, never-ending food, and best of all complete freedom. In all honesty, while I missed my parents, I was already looking forward to my next upcoming year on campus.

So much so that I would not even mind skipping summer altogether.

Humming to myself, I placed my hands on my hips while taking another look at the barren room. My roommate left just a few hours ago, both of us promising to text every day. She lived in California, so she had a flight to catch. However, her few boxes of things that could not go on the plane had already been shipped to her parents' home.

My five boxes, on the other hand, stay stacked on top of each other next to the door. In a manner I could only describe as condescending, two suitcases and a backpack were just in front of the boxes proving that there was more to try and fit into my car for the three-hour drive back to my parent's house in Mesa.

Rubbing a hand through my hair, I sighed thinking of the heat that was sure to greet me once I got back home. University was in Flagstaff, a much cooler part of Arizona than where I grew up.

It was currently May and while it was in the high eighties in Flagstaff, it was one-hundred and eight degrees back home in Mesa. I was already naturally above average temperature-wise, I didn't need anything to add to it.

Opening the small closet door, I double-checked to make sure nothing had been left behind. The university warned us that anything left behind would either be donated or tossed.

All that greeted me in the small closet was a half-empty bottle of beer—a bottle that I had no clue how long it had been there. It could have been hours or weeks, my roommate and I had been too much of a disaster to truly know.

Scratching my head, I cringed at the greasy feel of my hair. Honestly, I could not even remember the last time I washed my hair either. I made a mental note to wash it as soon as I got home. A cut was in order too, my hair had gotten far too long for my liking. Perhaps I should color too, maybe blue? No, probably a light pink.

Shrugging, I grabbed the bottle of beer and closed the door. Bringing the bottle up to my nose, I sniffed the contents.

Oh yeah, beer laced with vodka, three days old.

No need for it to go to waste.

With that thought, I quickly brought the bottle to my lips and downed the rest of its contents. It burned on its way down my throat, and yet half a bottle of beer-laced-vodka did nothing for me other than give me a sentimental feeling at the fact that there would be no college parties for the next four months.

Once all of the contents were gone, I threw the bottle into the trash bag hanging on the door handle of the door.

Looking around the room once again, I breathed out slowly. It really was odd seeing it so bare, my roommate and I had made it our mission when we first got here to decorate it to the extreme. We even went so far as the hang LED lights on every corner of the small room. Hell, even our door was fucking decorated.

I only hoped that the freshman who got this room next year treated it with the same fanatic enthusiasm as we did.

A small "bing" had me looking to my phone expecting to see some sort of notification from either TikTok or Snapchat, maybe Instagram. Instead, I was greeted by a text from my best friend, Drake Lawson.

Drake and I had been friends since freshman year of high school. He lived a few miles away from me in Mesa and we had chosen to go to the same university together. Of course, we were not able to be roommates as he was a guy, despite him not having any slight interest in any human of the female population.

Yeah, for Drake it was always poles before holes, he was gay and he was damn proud of it. I was right behind him, anyone who had something to say about Drake's sexuality was fucking with me too.

And I would not hesitate to bite anyone's head off for coming at Drake, literally.

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DRAKEY😚💜🤣:
girl where u at?? we were supposed to meet like 10 min ago
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It was then I remembered making plans the previous day with Drake to go to our favorite coffee shop on campus for the last time of our freshman year together. It was a knockoff Starbucks shop, but it tasted exactly the same and it was always less crowded than the actual place. Plus, the vibe was way more chill in my opinion.

Quickly, I texted Drake a quick 'b there in 5!' before rushing to put on my shoes and bolting out the door. Students were in the hallway giving a last hoorah before we were all forced to leave for good. In memory of a soon-be-memory of college freshman year, people were either hugging, making out, or... actually one guy was riding down the hallway on a hoverboard in a handstand.

Wow, that took skill.

Snickering, I took a quick Snapchat video of him before posting it and going back to rushing out of the dorm building across campus to the little coffee shop.

There was a small breeze outside causing my hair to whip back as I ran, myself taking extreme caution in running quickly but making sure it was not so fast that it was unnatural and would inevitably catch unwanted attention.

Two girls were posing with each other on a mural decorated wall, their make up was perfectly done and their outfits looked as though they were taken straight from Pinterest. A guy who I could only describe as a fuck boy was taking their pictures.

Running straight between the girls and the camera, I effectively photobombed the picture causing the girls to begin cursing at my retreating figure and the guy to simply laugh.

A small while later I was slamming open the coffee shop doors, a few people turning their head toward me oddly including the one and only Drake Lawson who was staring at me with a raised brow. Mockingly, he pointed to his wrist, a sheer sign that I was way late.

There were not many people in the shop as over half of the student population had already left campus. Maneuvering my way between tables, I quickly plopped down in the chair across from Drake at our favorite table.

It was a table closer to where the workers made the coffee as there was a rather hot employee who Drake had his eye on. I would not lie either, he was not bad to look at. It was only a shame he was already gone and we would not be seeing him until next school year.

"Bitch, you are like twenty minutes late, your dorm is only like a two-minute walk away." Drake immediately began complaining. "I mean, how you going to make me wait like that?" He rolled his eyes while taking a sip of his drink.

Drake was the type of guy that at first glance you would think was a star player for the football team. He was of Asian descent with a tall and muscular build, not to mention his fashion sense and style was the furthest thing from being considered feminine. And yet, his personality was the complete opposite.

The day you would find Drake playing football is the day Kim Kardashian is no longer famous. No, rather Drake had taken up his time with competitive cheerleading during our middle and high school days. Most didn't realize just how much work competitive cheer was, it was a sport that could rival football in terms of physical activity, and it was also a sport that was nearly a guarantee to keep you in shape.

That was how Drake got to be in such phenomenal shape, but now as he was an adult and his cheerleading days were in the past, his fit body came from intense workout sessions. In fact, his goal was to be a physical trainer with his own gym after college.

Now, I won't lie, I did competitive cheer with Drake for a while (three years to be exact) and I was not too horrible with it. However, it simply was not my thing, rather I took up dancing. While I was not too serious about dance, I did it just enough to keep me in shape and teach me a trick or two.

"Sorry, I forgot we planned this," I finally said, leaning back in my chair.

Drake simply sighed before handing me a coffee cup with an immense amount of whip cream on top.

"Blonde vanilla latte with an extra shot and double whip," I smiled while taking the drink from him, humming as I sipped at the cold coffee.

"It's a shame Nathan isn't here," Drake sighed in despair while looking behind the counters at the one worker making the coffee.

Nathan was the fine-looking employee who caused both Drake and me to sit at this table. All so we could check out Nathan, the hot-to-trot coffee shop worker.

"Oh, Nathan," both Drake and I said at the same time, our voices ringing together, "where would we be without you?"

"Probably doing something productive with our time," I declared a few seconds later causing Drake to snort and nod his head.

"True," he sipped his coffee, "so what's the tea? Tell me everything about what went down with you and Ryan at the party last weekend."

My eyes lit up with humor at the thought of Ryan Denmark. Ryan was looking for one thing out of girls, a fun night. He wanted nothing to do with any type of serious or long-term relationship, and if I was being honest, I felt that.

In this day and age it was not in anyone's best interest to tie themselves down at a young age. Most of the marriages ended in divorce anyone, in fact, I'm pretty sure I have an aunt who settled down too early and ended up getting divorced.

While I believe in true love between couples, I also believe it is something that should be found later on. Right now was the time to make mistakes, live fast, die young, be wild, all the things our parents told us not to do.

Going back to Ryan Denmark, him and I had hooked up a few times at some parties. However, we both tended to be extremely drunk during it and remembered nothing about it the day after. There were no feelings.

"Literally, there is no tea except for the fact that my drunk ass likes how Ryan looks naked apparently," Drake choked on his drink at my words, falling into a heap of laughter.

"Seriously, dude," I cackled while shaking my head, "I low key don't even remember sleeping with Ryan at all, like the only way we even know we sleep together is cause we wake up next to each other naked."

"You've been smoking too much pot girl," Drake snickered causing me to shrug.

"I won't deny it," I sassed with a small laugh, "but weed is life. I have become one with weed."

Seriously though, it wasn't like weed was bad for you (in fact, it's actually proven to be really healthy) and there was no legitimate reason it shouldn't be legalized. America would allow me to join the military and potentially die but not smoke pot? This system is fucked up.

There was a moment of silence with Drake shaking his head. "Alright, I am going to pretend you didn't say that so I don't need to be concerned for your wellbeing," Drake explained before quickly changing the subject so I could not go on a rant about how weed needed to be legalized already and how these crotchety old boomers were ruining our lives.

"Summer plans?" Drake questioned earning a grin from me.

"I'll probably be at your house most of the time, my parents are traveling the world for most of the summer," I was only lucky Drake's folks lived so close to my own.

"Still can't believe your parents decided to take that big of a trip without you, didn't they leave yesterday?" That was true, my parents decided to take a huge two and a half month long worldwide trip without me and leave just a few days before I got out of school for the summer.

I was pretty sour about it, but at the same time having the house all to myself for over two months wasn't the worst.

"Yep, they left the key under the mat and everything." Not a smart idea to me, but if they wanted to chance a burglar finding it then that was on them.

"Hmm, fun times. Anyway, just so you know, and you're going to hate me for this," I rose a brow at his words, "but I won't be home most of the summer either."

I groaned, smacking a hand to my forehead. "What? C 'mon, that ruins like most of my plans!" Drake snickered while shrugging.

"Yeah, I know sorry, but mom and I are leaving Tuesday to go visit her brother up in Minnesota for the rest of May, June, and most of July..."

Drake's mother was a stay-at-home mom as she had the responsibility of raising Drake, his older sister, and his younger brother. His father worked for Intel as a higher-up CFO.

"Dude, I love your mom," I sighed thinking of how cool Drake's mom, Nancy, was.

"Yeah, but she really wants me to slide into either Jeffree Star or James Charles DMs,"

I fell back in laughter at Drake's words and the look of annoyance on his face. His mother was always trying to set him up with someone who was famous and gay. To say Nancy supported her son being gay was the understatement of the year, she practically lived for advocating him. It was a sweet gesture made out of pure love.

"For real?"

"Yep," Drake smiled before his eyes changed into one of mischievious nature. "Okay, but like you need to try to have some summer romance. You haven't had a long-term relationship since sophomore year of high school!"

"And we both know how that ended," I deadpanned, blocking out the painful memories of the last time I was in a full-blown relationship over four years ago.

"You need to get over that, Jackie!" Jackie, short for Jaclyn, no one called me Jaclyn anymore.

"Drake," my words held a rare seriousness in them that was not common for me; however, talking about this was always something that would bring out the seriousness in me, "I can't just get over something like that."

I could not even bring myself to remember what happened four years ago. It was simply too painful.

Drake's eyes suddenly flashed with remorse at my words, but before he could apologize I quickly changed the subject. What happened over four years ago was something that barely anyone outside of my parents and Drake knew about, and it was something that I intended to keep as such.

"Besides, with my furry problem, I don't think many guys would want to stay," my humor was back and my mood increased tenfold at the stupid pun I used.

Drake's lips quirked into a smile as he leaned forward. "What are you going to do about your furry problem anyway? There's no forest in the valley."

By my furry problem, Drake and I were referring to the fact that I was something straight out of myths and legends. Lycanthropy was the official name for it, but most just called it a werewolf.

Alright, storytime.

Let's rewind about seven months, it was October and school had only been in session for about a month or so. It was my third college party I had been to that year, and of course, it was a rager.

Now, I consumed a lot of alcohol, so my memory isn't exactly the clearest, but from what I remember I had left at around three in the morning. Seeing as the university was surrounded by the forest, it was quicker to cut across a small patch of woods to get to the other side of campus where my dorm was.

I vaguely remember stumbling through the forest before something attacked me. Whatever it was bit me on the side, I still have a huge scar from it.

However, that was all I remembered about that night and even that was blurry and probably not all correct.

Despite this, I had woken up in the middle of the woods extremely late into the next day, so late, in fact, that both Drake and my roommate were concerned about my whereabouts. They had both been about ready to file a missing person report when I walked into my dormitory room.

Of course, they were relieved that I was safe (other than the huge bite mark on the side of my abdomen) and after wrapping up my wound I figured that would be the end of that story. Nope, never had I been so wrong in my life.

It was a day later that I noticed strange subtle changes happening. My hearing picked up immensely as did my eyesight and sense of smell. My taste buds, oddly enough, were increased, never had food tasted so good in my life.

The appearance was the next thing, and this isn't just me being vain, but suddenly I looked fucking hot. Like actually more than just hot, I was a girl you might find in some sort of beauty magazine or model website.

I was never exactly bad looking, but after I was bitten everything that was once "human" about me went away. No more rashes or scars or pimples or excess weight, the only flaw on my skin is the now faded mark the bite.

Any body fat that had previously occupied my body either turned to muscle or disappeared altogether, interestingly enough my boobs grew, and my hair began growing at an abnormally fast rate. Which albeit is annoying as though I have awesome hair, it also made it so I needed to shave every single night otherwise I would resemble some hairy beast.

After my senses and looks, the physical aspect came next. Suddenly I was capable of running faster than a speeding bullet if I so wanted and lifting a car over my head was no longer impossible. Not to mention my temperature had risen to a new norm of about one-hundred degrees.

Basically, everything that transpired in the month after I was bitten was impossible.

While my roommate noticed the changes, I simply waved it off as a new beauty treatment. Drake was the only one I confided to, and he quickly got to work in searching the university library and online for any answers to what was happening to me.

However, it wasn't until after the first full moon that we understood what had happened. In the days leading up to the full moon, I had not been feeling so great, but I simply thought it was the flu. What was happening to me definitely was not the flu, rather it was the side-effects of an impending full moon and a beast who was scratching at the door ready for a night of fun.

On the actual night of the full moon, the only thing I remember was that the second it turned dark outside and the moon was shining brightly I was racing out of the dormitories and into the woods. I barely had control of my body and something was simply pushing me into the forest.

I had barely entered the forest when the sensation of all my bones breaking and reshaping themselves took place. The pain was the last thing I truly recalled, after that, it was a flurry of running through the woods, weird smells, wild noises, and a lot of howling.

The next day I woke up naked and behind my dormitory building. Luckily, behind the building was the forest so no one actually saw me lying there naked. Well, that was until I was forced to walk into the dormitory and face everyone's gaping looks.

My roommate cackled thinking that it was simply another crazy party and I had streaked across campus in my drunken state before passing out, I never bothered to correct her.

A few days later, Drake and I came to the theory that I was a werewolf. We tested the theory by waiting for the next full moon to see what would happen, and the same thing as last time did, the only difference was that this time Drake actually followed me. He saw for his own eyes that I turned into a gigantic wolf, according to him a wolf that was impossibly huge. "Bigger than a bear", he said.

Unfortunately, I was once again unable to remember the ordeal.

It seemed in the few months that I have been a werewolf that being in the fully-fledged werewolf form rendered myself to fall into a wilder and more primitive state of being. I also soon discovered that outside of the full moon, I was unable to transform into the huge beast of a wolf Drake had so vividly described.

However, I was able to do this freaky thing where I half transformed making my face resemble that of a wolfy beast and make fur grow all over my body. While Drake thought it was cool, I hated it and so I had only done it once.

My eyes, unfortunately, also tended to glow bright blue when my emotions got out of control or it was getting closer to the full moon.

Controlling things such as my speed and strength had gotten easier as I no longer accidentally crushed anything I squeezed too hard. In fact, other than the fact that I did have more of a temper now, maintaining the secrecy of being a werewolf wasn't too difficult.

The only downside was getting drunk. If I wanted to be drunk than you could expect me to need to drink over fifteen alcoholic beverages at least. Thankfully, weed was still mostly the same even as a werewolf.

Okay, now back to the present.

I shrugged at Drake, "I figured I would just go run around the desert or something?"

Drake looked at me for a long second seeming to debate whether or not I was serious. Once he came to the conclusion that I was, he threw his head back and let out a loud hearty laugh.

"What the hell is so funny?" I crossed my arms with a glare directed at Drake who snorted.

"You think a giant-ass wolf running around the desert is normal? Like that's not about to catch any unwanted attention?"

"You have any better ideas?" He remained silent. "That's what I thought."

Rolling his eyes, Drake leaned forward so his head was resting on his hands. "Alright desert is it, but listen, so I was doing some last minute research to see if I could find anything new on werewolves that we haven't already crossed and I found this thing called 'mates',"

I squinted my eyes. "Like the Australian word for friend?"

"No bitch, like the thing that nearly every supernatural erotic novel refers to..." I had no clue what Drake was talking about, the only erotic novel I had read was Fifty Shades of Grey.

"...Seriously have no clue what that is, it wasn't in Fifty Shades of Grey and that's the only erotic novel I've read..."

Drake scoffed crossing his arms before going into an explanation. "Basically, the idea behind it is like soulmates. So, you know, your true love, the other half of your soul, the person or being who is supposed to complete you--" I never let Drake go any further before I cut him off.

"Oh, that is so shit--!"

"No, it's not. Listen, what I found on it and how it ties into werewolves actually sounds really reasonable--"

"Dude, it's all bullshit. There's no such thing as predestined love--"

"That's not what a mate is--"

"Try telling me about it later, I'm not in the mood to hear about some bullshit mate thing," Drake glared at my words, his eyes hard.

"Fine I suppose you want to..." he didn't even need to finish his sentence before I was finishing it for him with a grin.

"Get stoned? Hell yeah!"

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So, the first chapter, yay! Super excited about this story, it's definitely going to be an interesting one that is way out of the norm. So, now that you guys have an idea of who Jackie is as a person you are either going to love her or hate her, there is not really an in-between. But even if you end up hating her, hopefully, you stay for the story itself! Thank you for reading!