23 Prelude to Danger (1/2)

When Ash woke up the next morning, Celia was already gone.

Ash wasn't surprised. Celia liked to go for a morning run every so often so she did sometimes leave at 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning to get a good workout.

Ash didn't make too much of it. She knew that Celia was probably mad at her for lying about not seeing Hunter, so she figured Celia was just letting off steam with an early morning run.

Ash thought about going back to sleep since it was only 6:00am. Lying in her bed, listening to the sound of the quiet morning, she realized that she was finally alone after so many days of being around other people.

She thought about sending a text message to Hunter, asking him to meet up for breakfast or something just to talk.

[Are you sure you just want to talk to him? You only really talk about half of the time that you're together.]

Ash shuddered at her own inner voice. On one hand, she was positively ecstatic that Hunter liked her back---REALLY liked her, if the way he kissed her and held her was any indication.

On the other hand, she wasn't exactly sure about Hunter just yet. The attraction was definitely there, but she needed more than just that to form a relationship with anyone, especially a serious romantic relationship.

Friendships were easier to navigate. And much less stressful.

At 6:28am, Ash reached for her phone to press snooze on her alarm for another 30 minutes. As her bleary eyes focused on the phone screen, she nearly dropped it on her face when she saw it was a text message from an unsaved number.

”Can u do breakfast at 7? Meet u at the caf,” the message said.

Ash felt her heart skip in her chest. She didn't even know human hearts could do that.

Hunter had sent her a message, asking her to meet with him.

[Maybe this is a werewolf thing I'm feeling? I don't know. Have I always been different from other people? Was I never human at all?]