Derek looked out his broken window, his electric blue tinted brown eyes scanning the darkening trees that lined the run down car laden street. He felt the shadows of his wolf half softly bristle at his leash. It was nearly nightfall; the last rays of sunlight were dimming before his eyes. Soon the forest would be filled with the songs of the wolves’, howls echoing off the trees and into the otherwise dead silent night.

He stayed up every night to listen to the wolves as they ran past on their way to their hunt. Derek has always felt a deep connection to the night; the moon was something he had taught himself to love and care for since he was a child, even taking his walks through the trees under the moon light. Often as he did the walks his mother’s stories would replay in his mind and all them centered on the wolves that run under the full moon. Derek could just imagine the stories in her mind; almost see the things his mother told him. It was almost as if the she had experienced those things for herself. Derek’s brother had been the same way till he left to live with his fiancé.

As he watched the wolves began to run past the house, ducking in between trees and over fallen logs. Derek leaned on his windowsill and watched, his spiky black hair falling in his face like a dark curtain. They were so beautiful, so graceful when they ran. Before his eyes one came to a stop. She was a large female, the alpha most likely. She had a deep coat of reds and blondes, yellow green eyes and a stern look on her face. The fae turned to look in Derek's direction, casting her eyes over to his window. Then she nodded to him, or so it appeared to him. It was like she was allowing him to watch them, possibly even approving his longing stare. She smiled and returned the nod. A moment later she was gone, nothing but the tip of her tail left to be seen as she disappeared into the trees. The howls faded as they went.

Derek turned to his bed and laid down, staring up at the ceiling with his hands under his head. He grinned once into the darkness of his room and closed his eyes, thoughts of running with wolves passing through his mind. Shortly after he was asleep, dreaming of nothing but empty darkness.

____________

Beep... Beep... Smash

Derek woke to the sound of his alarm clock flying out the window. He sighed and rolled onto his back, staring up the pale ceiling of his room. It was another dull day of school and since he forced into going to college; Derek was not enjoying it. Naturally he hated everything in general, but he doubted it would get any better. With a soft growl he crawled out of bed and slipped in to his boots. As he pulled on his dark battered hoodie, Derek heard his drunken mother enter the double wide. ‘Just my fucking luck.‘ he thought numbly. Pulling up the hood and slinging his old military duffel on to his broad shoulder, he exit’s the room.

"De..r..ek!" he heard his mother’s voice echo through the double wide. "Are you still here?" The bitch’s slurred speech was hard to mistake, coming through the thin halls. He just stood there and said in a neutral tone, "What?" He sighed inwardly as the bitch rubbed her hands through her hair and tossed him a couple hundred dollar bills. "Get some food.." She grumbled and turned away, stumbling to her room. Derek sighed softly and pocketed the cash. ‘Bitch.’

Less then ten minutes later he was outside with his face completely in shadowed under his hood and ninja mask. The cold breeze played with his spiky black hair. He felt at ease outside, well more precisely in the deep dark shadows of the woods. Which is why he choose to take the long winding walk through the woods to school.