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  The Pairing

  By Jessica Miles

  ©2013 Jessica Miles

  Copyright Notice

  This novel is a work of fiction. The names and characters are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  This book is sold subject to conditions that it can not by way of trade be lent, resold, hired out or otherwise circulated without the author’s prior consent, in any form or cover, other than which it is published.

  Prologue

  A subtle genetic difference exists between mankind and the beasts which roam this earth.

  For some living amongst us there is no difference at all. Both man and beast exist within the same being, in harmony with each other.

  Theirs is a world of wonder that only a chosen few have the chance to experience.

  Neither a curse, nor a burden, this is a wholly inherited state of being. A blessing passed down through the centuries and many generations of birth rights.

  Those who belong to both worlds will protect their kind at all costs.

  It is said that humans may acquire such a powerful gift, but it is so rare an occurrence as to be almost non-existent.

  The hybrid that shall enter this wild and secret society shall be much revered and celebrated by the Wolfkind, whomsoever he or she shall be…

  Chapter 1

  The evening breeze was warm and sultry. The heavy musky scent of nature hung like an invisible blanket in the humid air. He reached the edge of the small area of woodland and sank to the floor panting heavily. He rolled to and fro on the ground delighting in the earthy smell and the flurry of dirt dust he had just thrown up in the air. The last few shafts of orange and red light flickered haphazardly through the trees as the sun started its descent below the horizon. His spine tingled with pleasure. Sunrise and sunset were his favorite times of the day.

  That had been a quick but enjoyable run. His muscles had needed it badly. He had been cooped up indoors heavily into last minute cramming all day and claustrophobia had been eating away inside of him. Although he was never completely satisfied out here, it was as good as he was going to get. It was nearly over now anyway.

  His heart was beating fast and the whooshing sound of his blood was rushing through his ears. He lay semi prone for a few minutes looking around his wood appreciatively. His ears were held in attention, his nostrils picking up every microbe of scent in the air. It was a sensual feast being outside. His heart was now slowing, his breathing easing off. He shifted effortlessly back to his normal state of being.

  Thank God for this small piece of woodland on his back doorstep. It made his life easier and so much more bearable. It was the main reason why he lived here; there wasn’t much else going for it, apart from the low rent. Having a small area of natural habitat took the edge off his feelings of loss and separation. He missed his family and the true wilderness of his home county way up northeast in New York State, where the real forests and lakes stretched never ending into the distance. There he could run for miles and miles. He could hunt and fish and swim all he wanted.

  Slowly he stood up and stretched. He pulled on his tracksuit pants, ran his fingers through his sweat dampened hair and jogged barefoot across the few yards of open field to his back gate in the dusky twilight. He entered the gate and made his way a little shakily up the yard and into his kitchen.

  He was feeling hungry. He needed protein.

  Chapter 2

  Laura finally sat down on the bed in her newly rented, rather shabby, ground floor room surrounded by a sea of black plastic bags and boxes full of her possessions. She was exhausted by lugging it all in here. She felt the hot rush of stinging tears in her eyes as she came to terms with just how low her lifestyle had sunk to at this point.

  How the hell had this happened? How far she had fallen to be here in a poor part of town in a cheap shared apartment like this? Just a few years ago everything had been so very different. In fact five years ago she was living a life of absolute privilege with wealthy parents and a large beautiful home with a gorgeous pool where she had spent many happy hours lounging in the sun. She had had a happy pampered childhood. Poignant memories came flooding back. She remembered her superb sweet 16 party in the beautifully decorated marquee, kissing her 18 year old boyfriend passionately in her garden… The joyful moment her beautiful mother had placed the keys to her first car in her hand. Those fabulous family holidays in the Seychelles and Australia. Many more treasured memories tumbled into her mind. She had been lucky then. Now she had next to nothing, not in the physical sense of the word anyway. Maybe her luck would change soon … She certainly felt she had paid quite enough penance for her prior life of privilege at this point.

  Hot tears started to fall unchecked splashing onto her pale jeans.

  Losing her mother to aggressive bone cancer just three months ago had been the biggest shocking loss in her life so far. She had fought it so bravely, bearing the effects of chemotherapy, the intense weakness and heavy bouts of sickness that came with it. She had spent so much time in hospital looking and feeling so very ill. Then just when it seemed she had beaten it, it cruelly returned with a vengeance and claimed her life a few short months later. Laura’s heart ached to the point of pain whenever she thought of her mother. The loss was too new and far too raw. It still brought her to tears at any moment it entered her mind. Her mother had always been so full of life and despite her messy divorce from Laura’s father 3 years previously, she had still managed to be very optimistic about the future.

  At the time of the divorce, her father’s real estate business went into administration. They were a casualty of the credit crunch and the sub prime crisis. After the outstanding creditors had been settled and the house sold to repay the mortgage there was next to no money left at all. They had to make do with much, much less. The tiny apartment her mother rented for the two of them had been a wonderful home for a short while. Laura had been so happy there with her, despite the initial acrimony between her parents and their arguments over their few possessions… and over her.

  She thought about her father for a minute. She hadn’t spoken to him much since the funeral, or before it for that matter. He lived in Florida now. He’d found himself a job. It wasn’t much, he had said, but it was a new start. He’d also found a new partner with two young children of her own. Laura had become the grown up, almost forgotten daughter. Perhaps she should try harder with him, she thought. She had taken her mom’s side completely during the divorce, it had driven a wedge firmly between them.

  Then two years ago along came Simon… He had swept into her life like a hurricane. Ever since he first laid eyes on her at her a friend’s 21st birthday party, he had monopolised her body and mind. He had moved her into his own apartment just six weeks into their relationship. Her mother had been happy for her and encouraged her when she said he wanted her to live with him. Her mother had liked Simon. You couldn’t not like him. He was a real charmer with women of any age. He knew just what to say and do to get the results he wanted.

  She wished she could say he had been a rock in her life and had offered her great support through her mother’s terrible illness and eventual death, but she couldn’t. He was barely around her at all when she needed him most. It seemed he had been putting his own interests first, she thought bitterly. She wondered for a moment just how many other interests there had been before she discovered him ‘in flagrante’ with his final one.

  The sneaking fucking bastard of a cheat.

  Laura felt sick at the thought of his name. All that time she had wasted on him, and for what? She could have spent all of it with someone who she really loved and who loved her… her wonderful mother….

  Life could be s
o very cruel. Hindsight was even more so. If only she had known then what she knew now.

  She wiped away her tears with the back of her hand. She was fed up to her eye teeth and beyond but despite that she was still hopeful and sensible too. She couldn’t feel sorry for herself for ever. It was up to her to get herself out of this situation and move forward with her life. She looked at the mass of bags in front of her and tried to pluck up the enthusiasm to put some things away. She couldn’t swing a mouse in this room at the moment. If she got herself sorted out, she would feel much better, she was sure of it. She got up, plaited her long hair back and out of the way and started work, hanging up all her clothes in the good sized built in closet.

  After spending quite some time absorbed in clearing away and sorting out, she was disturbed by a sudden loud noise as the front door slammed and voices were heard in the entryway. This must be one of her new roommates plus some friends by the sound of it. There was a surge of noisy conversation punctuated with some frequent somewhat louder swearing followed by a high pitched female voice screeching with laughter. Then it all went quiet. Laura opened her door cautiously and peered into the brightly lit passage. Might as well get this over with, she thought.

  She did a double take as there in front of her was a pink haired, very heavily tattooed, red leather shorts clad female wearing chunky biker boots. She was wrapped around and squeezing the backside of another smaller girl in a similar scanty outfit and they were kissing enthusiastically in the kitchen doorway.

  “Excuse me!” she said loudly to draw attention to herself. “I’ve just moved in today.”

  “Oh yeah? That’s cool…” came the reply from the pink one, after detaching herself from the peroxide tartan mini skirted other.

  “I’m Laura.” she continued. This conversation wasn’t going to last very long if she could help it.

  “I’m Carella… and this is my princess.” The pink one approached her with an outstretched tattooed hand and arm.

  “Hello Carella, and Princess….” Laura said quietly taking her hand and shaking it as briefly as possible. Princess… what kind of name was that?

  “No, her name’s Kitty… but she’s my princess tonight…” Carella smirked whilst giving Laura a very thorough look over.

  Laura stared at Carella, then at peroxide princess Kitty and back to pink haired tattooed Carella again….

  What else could possibly happen today? She asked herself.

  “Well, were kinda busy just now, aren’t we Kittycat? Catch ‘ya later Laura babe” said Carella winking at her and running her tongue over her lip piercing provocatively. She moved off taking Kitty by the hand down the corridor, glancing over her shoulder at Laura once more and disappearing into her room, shutting the door.

  Laura went back inside her almost tidied room.

  Jeez…! She hoped the other roommate was a bit more mainstream. He was a 25 year old guy, she knew that much from the landlord.

  She managed to get everything put away, the bed made and the sparse rather horrible pieces of junk furniture rearranged over the next hour. She was actually quite pleased with it. Now her possessions were out it looked a little more homely… perhaps homely was rather an overstatement, but it felt better anyway. In the background she could hear a lot of noise coming from the girls. She blotted it out. She didn’t want to imagine what kind of games they were playing but they seemed to be very energetic and vocal about it. They seemed to quieten down after a while, thankfully. She opened the door and stood looking down the long passage. The bathroom was up the other end, next to Carella’s room. She was hot and sweaty and absolutely dying for a shower. All the furniture lugging and rummaging around in dusty corners had made her feel dirty. She picked up some toiletries, a towel and her robe and set off for her first shower in her new home.

  One foot inside the bathroom was enough to stop her in her tracks. It smelt bad in here. Like something had died. She looked around. The room didn’t look that bad from the doorway but on closer inspection, it was rather grubby. No, actually it was just plain old filthy. Not anywhere near her usual standards of cleanliness. There was a collection of hair in the bath and the basin. It was all scummy and dusty. The light colored tiles were thick with shampoo and soap residues and had a touch of black mold here and there. The faucets were clogged with scale and were no longer shiny. The toilet definitely wasn’t the cleanest she had ever come across either and the less said about the floor the better! It was all fairly modern equipment but completely uncared for. Her roommates didn’t seem to have much in the way of standards, she thought in disgust. She stood and took stock of her new bathroom from hell. It really was a shithole of the worst kind. Absolutely bloody marvellous….! Laura went back to her room and found some cleaning materials. She wasn’t going to use that room until it was fit for purpose.

  After an hour of teeth gritting cleaning and feeling completely gross and grimy and more in need of a shower than ever, she had finally completed the task. It was fresher smelling and cleaner than it had probably been for years, Laura thought with satisfaction. She opened the window a little, undressed and finally turned the electric shower on. She stood in the bath for a few seconds waiting for the water to get hot enough. She was just about to get underneath the hot water when she heard her roommate call out and bang on the door.

  “Laura … what the fuck ‘ya doing in there girl? I’ve been waiting forever for you to come out.”

  “Just about to have a shower.” she called back.

  “Look I need to pee… let me in quick.”

  “Just a moment.” She called back, sighing in annoyance at being interrupted. She turned off the shower, stepped out of the bath and wrapped herself up in her short silky peach robe. She opened the door.

  There stood Carella completely naked. All her multi colored tattooed glory was on display as she stood in front of her with her hands on her hips. What the hell is she like? She thought in amazement. She let her in and stood outside feeling a touch embarrassed and annoyed with this brazen hussy of a roommate. The pee completed, the door opened and out she swept unabashed.

  “Wow, it’s pretty damn sweet in there. I’m feeling high on bleach fumes. Are you the cleaning fairy or what?” Carella smiled at her, looking her up and down slowly as she turned to go back to her room. “Actually, cleaning’s a real waste of life Laura. No one cleans fuck all here…”

  As she laid on her bed after her shower late that evening, she was too tired to think about going out for food but unfortunately she felt absolutely starving. She remembered she had a pack of corn chips and the remains of a bottle of water in her bag. She sat up and munched them noisily, swigging down the water in between handfuls. She wondered if she was going to like it here very much. The effects of her recent experiences had made her feel weak, less able to cope… And her newly met roommate was just something else…

  Chapter 3

  At 8am the next morning Laura parked her car at the Loveland Training Practice and made her way across the small car park to the door. She always enjoyed coming to work at her part time job. It was the one constant in her life at the moment. Her main aim in life was to become a vet. She loved animals, particularly horses. It was her greatest desire to be an equine specialist eventually.

  There was one big issue with her plans to date and that was the failure to gain a place at veterinary college. This was a rather substantial roadblock to get past. Only one third of applicants gained a place and she hadn’t been one of them. Her qualifiers were quite good, but obviously not good enough to get in Fort Collins at C.S.U. She was more than highly disappointed about this problem. She would have to try again next year, another school perhaps… maybe she would apply to a few, instead of focusing on this one. She wasn’t tied to this area anymore really… apart from the job. That was just part time anyhow. If all else failed she might even have to consider plan B, that of veterinary nurse. She could later become a practice nurse, if she took further qualifications for that. This was not
really a great option in her mind, as she felt she could make a good vet, but the final decision might not be hers to make.

  Her fate lie in other people’s hands, as bloody usual. But she would do her best. She always did.

  “Morning Sheena!” she called out brightly to the practice nurse who was sitting in her office. She changed into her uniform, put on her apron and started her rounds tending to the animal patients. The day whizzed by as she became absorbed in her tasks, cleaning, disinfecting, changing dressings, preparing for ops, stroking the animals… She forgot all about her new home and its peculiarities.

  As she approached home that evening she hoped she wouldn’t bump into Carella again. She had bought a hot meal back with her so she didn’t have to use the kitchen. If she had thought the bathroom unfit for human use, she had discovered the kitchen was in another league in the bright morning light. She couldn’t cook in there until it got the same treatment as the bathroom. She would eat first and then give it a thorough going over. If she was the only one who ever cleaned the place, then so be it. That was just the way she was.

  It transpired she couldn’t face another round of cleaning that evening. The extreme greasiness and grubbiness on top of her meal was way too much to stomach. She decided to leave it until the following day. No sign of Carella or the other house mate tonight, she thought, feeling rather pleased about this fact. If she could work out their routines as soon as possible, then she might be able to find a way of avoiding them almost completely. That would suit her down to the ground.

  She picked up her shower things and towel, grabbed her robe and stepped out of her room to use the now spotless bathroom. This timing unfortunately coincided with the precise moment Miss cotton candy came through the front door wearing one of the lowest cut tops Laura had ever seen. She may as well have just worn her bra. Actually her bra was almost non existent too. She was alone this time. Whether that was a good or a bad thing, Laura wasn’t quite sure.