Chapter 2: Chapter 2

ATLAS:

- I only know one thing, I will find her even if I have to go to hell and when that happens the one responsible for taking her will pay dearly for even thinking of keeping me away from my companion - my eyes change color to an intense red, I know this because my wolf is now in control and he is not nice at all.

MEL:

My name is Mel Williams, I am currently twenty-one years old and live in a boarding school for girls, where I was left in front of the door in a box when I was a newborn baby, so it is already clear that I have never had the presence of my parents in my life.

I was kept at the boarding school by the benevolence of the parents of some girls who also lived there, who took pity on me when they found out about the sad story of the little girl who was cruelly abandoned without any chance of surviving if she was not taken in at the boarding school. This is what the school aunts would tell them to feel sorry for me and pay for my studies.

I had an extremely good education with excellent teachers and I can say that my ease in learning new things helped a lot, so much so that I had done so well with my studies and extracurricular activities.

As I grew older my classmates were making it clear the charity their parents did for me, I felt ashamed having to appeal to people's pity, none of them had a duty to help me by paying for my stay at the boarding school, after all I had no kinship with them, but I knew I needed their financial help to keep me in an environment that would be a thousand times better than an orphanage.

I had to swallow my pride for sheer survival, I learned from a colleague who had been adopted how bad orphanages are, the children and teenagers kept there were often neglected and, unfortunately, many of them mistreated.

I get chills just imagining it.

If someone asked me if I miss my parents I would reply by saying how is it possible to miss what I never had? Even though for much of my childhood I had the illusion that my parents would walk through the school door, look at me, hug me, and tell me that everything was going to be okay, that it was a misunderstanding, or that they were simply sorry.

After all, in the mind of a child apologizing would be enough, as long as I didn't have to be alone again. But now it's different, I don't have all that naivety and it wouldn't do any good for them to show up after so long saying they were sorry, nothing would change the lack I felt of having a maternal and paternal presence in my life.

I can't be a hypocrite and say that I didn't have love, because I had a lot of it, all the aunts were very loving and protective, especially Aunt Maria, a crazy and out-of-temper lady who was without a doubt the best cook in the boarding school.

She was also the one who had chosen my name and helped me a lot when I needed to choose one among many other surnames. I liked the way Williams sounded, so I didn't think twice about choosing it.

I was nineteen when I became a werewolf for the first time, I was completely desperate to realize what I was, and I had no idea how to deal with it, after all, it's not like I had a manual on how to be a werewolf.

In the beginning, it was extremely difficult to control the transformation, so I locked myself in my room with some excuse of being unwell. I had to learn on my own how to deal with this and today I can guarantee that I managed to overcome everything with as much maturity as possible, while others would freak out, not me, I simply accepted that this was my destiny and maybe later I would find out why.

My she-wolf's name is Luna, and I can say and say that she is incredibly beautiful with hair as white as snow and eyes as blue as the sky, not to mention a temperament that changes from water to wine suddenly. The only one who knows my secret is Aunt Maria, who had a little outburst at first, but who has adapted well to my she-wolf. I remember her questions to this day after she had calmed down.

- You're not going out to howl at the moon, are you? Or eat raw, bloody meat?- she grimaces as she utters the last word - gee, you're going into heat?- her grimace turns to despair, and then she starts making plans for me to "escape", her words.

One of the things that never left my mind was a dream I had year after year since I can remember, where a beautiful man looks at me, a look that transmitted peace and tranquility, was firm and at the same time kind, looked at me as if I was something splendid as if I were really important to him and that inexplicably stirred me.

I tried for years to convince myself that this was just a dream and that a man like him would never look at me like that, that I would never even meet him. But even if time had passed and I had never even seen him, which was obvious since he didn't exist, I couldn't stop thinking how good it felt to have his eyes on me.

Well, forgetting a little about this man, something that is difficult, a great passion of my life is cars, I started to love them from the moment that the mother of a friend took us for a ride in one of them, it was then that I realized that I needed to learn to drive as soon as I was old enough to do so.

That's exactly what I did two years later when I was old enough, I ran away from the boarding school to take lessons from a woman full of piercings and tattoos, whom I met when I was in the distance admiring some cars that participated in street races - which I later found out were illegal - and who offered to teach me.

Of course, I didn't accept at first, after all, she was a stranger, but as the days went by and I came back to see the races, even if from a distance, I realized that she was one of the best racers and that mixed with my enthusiasm made me accept her proposal.

It wasn't as easy as it seemed, but after I got some practice I felt I could drive with my eyes closed, when I was running I finally felt free and that's why I participated in my first race, I used Clarissa-the tattooed girl's car, which was an extremely powerful Mustang GT. It was my first of many victories and how surprised I was to find out that I could make money with it, I saw there the opportunity to start walking with my legs.

And here I am, just turned twenty-one with a good amount of money in my account which I will use to settle down in a town called Black, yes, strange name for a town, but I am a she-wolf and what is stranger than that?

I chose this town for an inexplicable reason, I was looking at the map when my eyes landed on it, I felt as if this place was calling me as if I had finally found my home. For this reason, I would be leaving for there tomorrow.

This city awaits me.

Next day:

I wake up with the alarm clock ringing and soon I turn off the same intending to go back to sleep, I feel tired and probably hadn't slept hardly at all. I close my eyes starting to count sheep, but soon I start remembering that today I will go to the new city.

I jump out of bed, but like the perfect klutz that I am, I bump into a dresser that was on the way and curse loudly when it knocks the alarm clock right on my foot.

- Where is the thief? For God's sake, please don't hurt her, I'll go in her place, I'm old but I'm sure, never touched by any man, I have everything well preserved, besides that I know how to pole dance - imagine a lady of almost sixty years old dressed in a big shirt, with bobs in her hair and a broom in her hand, screaming in my room for a supposed thief and of course, she wouldn't see, she forgot her glasses in her room or somewhere else. I couldn't resist and started laughing to the point that I had to bend over with a twinge in my stomach that I felt.

- I never imagined that a malefactor could have such a scandalous laugh - I stopped laughing on the spot, what was that lady implying?

- What do you mean my laughter is scandalous Mrs. Maria," I said grumpily, going to turn on the light when I saw her desperation in still trying to hit the thief with the broom, probably had not understood that the evildoer of the scandalous laughter was me.

- Mel? You scared me, girl- she said trying to hit me with the blessed broom while trying to dodge me.