Storm - (Makai's POV)

Wild. That's what the pack called me. They whispered it behind me as they avoided my eyes and gave me a wide berth. I admit that I did things over the years to earn that name because I didn't like being around people. The name and reputation that came with it kept them away.

I prefer solitude and nature to socializing, and no matter how hard my mother tried to teach me, I never mastered the art of small talk anyway.

She eventually shook her head one day, smiled, and decided to accept me for who I am.

So, except for him, no one tried to befriend me. I had tried to push him away, but he was stubborn, and no matter how hard I attempted to avoid him or scare him away, he always returned, flashing his sweet grin and telling me about his day and what he called his adventures.

Storm isn't afraid of me like most people. He likes to be around me and come here whenever he could. Sometimes it could be weeks between his visits, but he always comes back, with his sweet smile and hopeful eyes that made me want to do anything he wants just to make him happy.

However, no matter how happy I feel whenever I see him, or how much I want to keep him with me for as long as possible basking in his sunshine and filling up the deep void of loneliness I sometimes feel, I never allow myself to enjoy it for too long. I try not to outwardly show how much I love his company and presence in my otherwise quiet existence.

If I'm being honest, I don't think I deserve his company. Storm was, and has always been far too pure for someone like me.

They called me wild, but even they had no idea about the beast that raged within me, the beast that I worked hard to keep in check so it wouldn't overwhelm me.

Forget everything I said about how much I enjoy solitude. Yes, I did, but it is mainly for this reason that I avoid people. I am terrified that if the beast appears and I can't control it, I'd hurt them.

Storm is an exception. I am not afraid to hurt him because my beast...likes him. Only when he is present does that energy that seemed to be swirling within me completely calm down and feel...happy. It was kind of strange.

On the other hand, maybe it's not so strange. Storm is impossible to dislike. There is just something about him that makes everything better, and I feel stupid saying it, but when Storm walks into a room, it's like turning on a light in a dark room. Bright, warm, and illuminating.

"Aren't we feeling poetic today!" Kitai, my wolf, teases with a cackle, interrupting my thoughts about Storm. It never fails to irritate me that Storm has never been too far from my thoughts since I met him ten years ago.

FLASHBACK

From my perch on the tree, I watched the three boys screaming and laughing as they came tumbling down the woods. I'd seen the other two boys before and knew exactly what they were up to. Their names were Rowan and Adam, and at the time I think they were 10, three years younger than my 13. I'd heard them mention each other's names several times during the five or so times they'd come to my wooden shack to cause trouble.

They were terrified of me, but they had no qualms about annoying me. I rarely ventured into the main pack lands, preferring to stay at home or visit my shack to paint. But even I recognized the new boy they'd brought this time. It was impossible to not know the pack's golden boy. They crept forward slowly, water guns in their hands, looking around to make sure I wasn't there.

I pushed back my long, shaggy hair and smiled as I watched the little troublemakers. They were awfully loud for little wolves, even if they likely thought they were being stealthy. My gaze was fixed on the newcomer today, as it had been since I first noticed him. While the identical twins were adorable with their blonde hair cut short at the sides and back with dark eyes, this one had dark, curly hair and blue eyes and was very pretty for a boy.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?" he asked nervously, looking around. When he suddenly looked up, I drew back in surprise and shrank deeper into the branches.

"Storm! Shhhhh! He might be around!" hissed one of the twins, thankfully regaining his attention from up the tree.

"Storm," I said quietly, testing the name on my tongue for the first time since seeing him around the pack. I felt the beast within me calm down and settle, which surprised me. The beast was constantly alert and "watchful."

I wondered what my wolf Kitai would think of Storm, but we had a terrible argument and said hurtful things to each other, and he hasn't spoken to me since. That was 3 days ago.

Taking my mind away from my temperamental wolf, I returned my attention to the boys, watching as they picked up craft paint I had purposefully left for them to find. They mixed it with water and filled their guns with it, gleefully painting on my walls.

Rowan motioned to Storm, who was just standing there staring at them. "Come on, Storm! I know you want to!"

I looked at Storm. He appeared to be in a dilemma as he wistfully watched Adam shoot away.

"What if he gets mad? It's not nice to trash someone's hut."

Adam paused the shooting for a moment and shrugged. "I think he woulda reported to Alpha if he was mad. We do this every week!" Little devil one stated, going back to splattering my walls.

Rowan drew Storm in closer to my shack. "Besides, you have to shoot as well so we know you won't snitch. Best friends get into mischief together!" This was little devil two.

"And you promised to do something crazy with us today." I had to hold back my laughter. These kids were amusing.

I leaned forward a bit to listen to what Storm would say.

"You said you do this every week?" he questioned his friends, who nodded vigorously.

It had happened unintentionally the first time. I'd thrown out the craft paint because it was a wrong delivery that I didn't need, and the boys had discovered it while playing in the woods with their water guns. Adam had decided it would be better than the water, so they started a gunfight and ended up painting my walls.

As I sat there on the tree that first time, I felt disbelief, shock, mild annoyance, and finally amusement as I watched them.

They returned a second time and were disappointed when they couldn't find any more paint to use. When they left, I noticed they had left a cupcake behind. I was stunned and strangely moved. I ended up purchasing more craft paint for them to find when they run off to the woods on Saturdays.

"And to thank him for the paint, we always bring him some of your cupcakes," Adam added.

Now, I watched as Storm considered their words. "Then maybe you're right and he doesn't mind."

"See?" he asked, pointing to a wrapped cupcake he had carefully placed on the table in front of the shack from his small backpack. The door was unlocked, but they never went inside the shack, which I suppose was kind of polite.

Storm nodded, a mischievous grin spreading across his pretty face.

Then he lifted his gun and began shooting in earnest until they were all laughing hysterically as they emptied their guns on my walls and each other.

I stayed on my perch for a while after they left, slightly amused by their antics. No, I didn't mind that they destroyed my walls.

I'd never admit it, but watching them have fun in ways I knew I couldn't was amusing and fascinating to me.

I started to make my way back down to clean up the mess they had made and to finish my cupcake. 'Storm's Cupcake.' Did that imply he baked it? I mused, my affection for the cupcake growing at the thought. "There was something about Storm-"

I nearly screamed when the boy in question reappeared in front of the shack.

I leaned down again, my mouth embarrassingly open as I watched him in disbelief. How?? How did he manage to do that?

I stood there, completely transfixed, as the paint he and his friends had splattered on my walls vanished when he waved his hand over it and muttered a few words. My walls were now gleaming clean-cleaner than they had been before the mischievous paint job.

I shrank back with a muffled yelp when he suddenly looked up at the tree I was perched on. "I know you're up there," he said softly.

I didn't respond, wondering what he would do next.

"Can you keep a secret? If you don't tell anyone I have magic, I won't tell my friends you're always there when they come around."

I held my breath, torn between climbing down to possibly talk to him, and staying up here where I was safe from hoping for honest interaction, and he was safe from me.

"I brought you more cupcakes because you seem to like them," he continued in the same soft tone, dropping the box I hadn't noticed earlier on the table next to the one the twins had brought.

When I still do not respond, he sighs a heavy sigh that amused me coming from a ten-year-old.

"Bye, Makai. We're going to be good friends! Just wait and see," he announced before disappearing just as suddenly as he had appeared.

I exhaled a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding and placed a hand on my beating heart. What had just happened? And how on earth did the alpha's son know my name? I doubted even his friends, who had made it a sport to come around often, knew me as anything but "Wild".

Friends. I almost laughed at the ridiculous notion of the pack's golden boy, the alpha's son whom everyone adored, becoming acquainted with the wild, brooding boy no one wanted near their children.

Climbing down cautiously, I opened his box first and took out a white-frosted cupcake topped with rainbow sprinkles. I couldn't help but smile as I bit greedily into the cake. "Friends. How absurd."

PRESENT

"Shut up, Kit," I say with an inward glare I knew he could see, shaking off the memories of Storm.

"My name is Kitai!" he growled in annoyance, making me smirk."Kitai, not Kit! Do I seem like a Kit to you?!"

Kitai was a loud-mouthed, sarcastic wolf who enjoyed teasing and criticizing me. We fought frequently because we disagreed on many issues, and there were times when I wished I could smack him, but I wouldn't want anyone else to be my wolf.

We were opposites, but he was my best friend, and we were devoted to each other.

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