November 29, xxxx

If a wolf was hunting right now, they would hear the crackling embers fluttering up into the sky, or the wind whistling through the chasm Nicolette created last night.

Nicolette stood in front of the fire, putting all of her concentration in making sure its embers stay alive. She found the crackling calming while she thought about tomorrow.

She felt like there should be more of a plan than going in blindly. Was she prepared? Did she think this fight through? Nicolette already knows what is going to happen, they made sure of that.

When the dark magic infested her, it showed her an scene. She hadn't told Malcom about this 'vision' but she knew it was bad. She'd watch him work his ass off to keep her safe but she knew it was inevitable.

It was evening now and Beck left in the morning. Nicolette had slipped out of her room as soon as the sun was out and started training. She let the fire die off and stood up to a table of knives.

It had been awhile since she trained with weapons. Nicolette lifted her hand to a tree and a pink, translucent target. It stayed floating in the air as Nicolette continued on with what she was doing.

The knives lifted into the air, following the movement of Nicolette's hand. The knives laid even with her hand in the air and with one movement, she thrust her hand towards the target.

They flew towards the middle, fighting to win the spot in the middle of target. Her glowing blue eyes could have burned a hole in the middle of it but her focus was cut by the simultaneous sound of the knives digging into the middle of the target.

Nicolette sighed and waved her hand through the air and the target faded away, the knives falling to the ground.

She walked over to the fallen knives and picked one up. Nicolette flipped the knife in her hand a few times until she heard her signal. A smirk grew on her face as she whispered a spell that made her disappear from the eyes of everyone else.

Sometimes she wished she could permanently put that spell on herself, to disappear from the world. It would save her the trouble of hiding who she is but this spell drained her quick.

The faint noise of running became clearer as Lucas emerged from behind the trees. Nicolette took the knife and aimed it for his face. With a grin permanently plastered on her face, she threw it.

It cut through the invisibility barrier which caused Nicolette's grinning face to be revealed to Lucas. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as she watched Lucas' face morph into horror.

Right before it made contact with Lucas' face, it stopped, hanging in mid air like there was an invisible string on it.

"Fuck Nicolette, What the hell was that for?" Lucas gasps. Nicolette was bracing herself against a tree, dying of laughter.

"O-oh my gods," she gasped for air. "You should have seen the look on you face." This was the most she had laughed the whole month she was here, and today was the last day she was tied to the property.

Lucas rolled his eyes and let out a sarcastic laugh and grabbed the knife from the air and sling it back at Nicolette's face. She watched it fly to middle of her face before she grabbed it as it nicked the bridge of her nose.

She wiped the small drop of blood off of her face as the skin replenished on the small cut.

"You're quick, but not quick enough," he shrugs. Nicolette rolled her eyes because it was obvious she purposely let it cut her to make him think he was great.

"Whatever," she chuckled. Nicolette next down and started to pick up the knives up. Unknowingly listening, she heard a herd of deer deeper into the woods. "Lets go for a run."

Lucas eyes her then nodded. "Alright." Nicolette shifted into her brown wolf, shredding her clothes into pieces. Lucas shifted into his wolf and he dashed off.

Nicolette's wolf let out a huff as she chased after him. She easily caught to him and eventually surpassed him. Her wolf's footsteps were light on the damp forest floor.

She listed to the quiet stirring of the deer and followed it. Lucas' wolf was behind her but not to far away. Nicolette silently laughed as Lucas came right behind her.

Her wolf stopped running and came to a full stop. Lucas ran right into her and flopped onto his side. He let out an irritated whine as Nicolette's wolf snickered and continued to run so she could get first pick.

If Lucas was a real gentleman, he'd let her have first pick, but he was unpredictable. She dashed through the trees and over the overgrown roots and reached the herd of deer feasting on grass.

She prodded around through the cover of the trees. Nicolette's wolf spotted a large doe through the mass of deer. The doe walked around through the other deer, clueless of what was about to happen.

Right before Nicolette was going to pounce out of the woods, Lucas let out a howl that startled the deer. They scattered off quickly before Nicolette's wolf could be satisfied.

Her wolf let out a growl and glared at Lucas. Her golden eyes practically pierced his eyes. He grinned and she just shook her head.

As Nicolette shifted back into a human, she mumbled a spell and her clothes appeared on her body like they had never been ripped.

"My wolf is angry at you now," Nicolette stared the obvious as Lucas shifted back into human form. She grabbed a pair of clothes and shoved them in Lucas' face.

He let out a laugh and changed back into the clothes. They walked back to the pack house together, making fun of each other and bullying each other. It was like they were siblings.

Nicolette wanted to make the most of time she had left to laugh and joke around with everyone. She still didn't know if the outcome of tomorrow would result in joy or sadness but she didn't want to think about it now.

"Do you know where Malcom is?" She asked Lucas at the front of the pack house. He shrugged and look out at the lawn in front of them.

"He's probably in his office," he said. She thanked him and turned her back on him and went to the pack house. As her hand touched the handle, Lucas stopped her. "Why didn't you reject him and leave?"

The question made her stop and release the handle leading to the inside of the pack house. She turned around and met his gaze.

"When my mom met my dad, they started off on a rocky road. My father was ignorant and didn't want a mate, like Malcom, but worse. My mom didn't know that he was her mate because she wasn't a wolf like he was."

———

It started at night two days after her mom met her dad. Amelia, Nicolette's mom, would wake up screaming, waking her whole coven up. Her whole body was practically on fire. In the mornings, there would be bruises on different parts of her body.

It almost killed her having to go through that every night. It was more often than what Malcom did to Nicolette. Derek, Nicolette's father, forgot about Amelia after awhile.

One morning, Amelia had to drag herself out of bed so that she would lay down in pain. She tried her best to heal herself with her magic but she was too weak to reach her power.

She didn't understand why how these bruises formed on her body. Amelia stumbled out of her house and fainted onto the ground out of exhaustion.

Derek went hunting that same day and stumbled across Amelia. She was barely breathing, the only thing keeping her alive was the small breath she released.

He stopped that day after he saw her in that shape. He brought he back to his pack and kept her there until she was fully healed.

Then they fell in love, it was hard at first but they became the best couple Nicolette had ever met.

———

"That's why I won't reject him because even if it seems like there's no good left in someone, there's someone that needs to bring to good out of someone," Nicolette said.

———