#bbwoulf

She found herself wandering the Parisian forests again.  The crunching of the fallen leaves breaking below her feet as she walked along the invisible forest’s path.  

Everything felt so similar yet different at the same time.  Brushing her fingers along the barks of the tree, the moisture of the moss and vines cold to the touch.  The everlasting glow of the moon casting as her only source of light through the mighty evergreen sanctuary surrounding her.  The overbearing silence was the only thing greeting her the more she wandered.  However...it felt...welcoming somehow; she felt at peace and belonging.

It felt like a part of home though she never once set foot within the forest.  At least not this deep within.  Only ever near the boundary’s edge where the city was mere feet away.

Perhaps that was the reason for the magical pull Marinette has felt since she was a teen.  Spending years avoiding the longing pull of the magical force to finally have it come back at full strength.  The unavoidable calling that her witchling instincts have all but ignored.  

Throughout her childhood, the Coven had told her and her parents that she was to be a witch of great power.  Her magic aura surging as one of uniqueness, possessing an unknown quality that was viewed as typical hints of those categorized as prodigies.

As much as she’s heard that term many times, nobody knew her most struggling secret.  The Covens may see her abilities as magnificent and outstanding, but that was only during the day.  No one has ever seen her magic when the sun disappeared below the horizon.  The way her magic became unpredictable and sometimes uncontrollable.  

How could someone like herself be in control perfectly fine during the day but be the opposite at night?

The eighteen-year-old witchling heaved a sigh as she continued to walk, weaving through the thickened trees and bushes.  It wasn’t till she came to a wide-open clearing that she came to a halt.

Open grass surrounded by a barrier of trees formed into a perfect circle.  The magical essence radiated differently within the clearing.  A sense of serenity.  Perhaps the witness of the moon glowing above the open area added to the serenity.  Or maybe the sister moon and mother earth decided to provide areas of magical harmony where any magical creature can feel calm and peace.

Pushing away from the shadows of the tree line, Marinette crossed the line of shadow meeting moonlight.  Entering the circular open forest clearing, the raven-haired witchling took a deep inhale of the air around her.  The air was seemingly lighter, relaxing.

Walking towards the center of the clearing, Marinette felt a light breeze surge around her.  The magical aura welcoming her presence.  It felt…

It had a sense of home.

The snapping of branches and fallen twigs on the forest floor brought Marinette’s attention towards the opposite side of the forest.  Listening to the rustling within, she stood patiently and quietly.  Staring towards the area of the noise, Marinette caught little glimpses of a glowing orb object bouncing through the breaks of trees.

Squinting, the small reflective glow grew closer until a familiar creature emerged from the shadows.  The same black wolf, fur as dark as a moonless night, and the brightest blue eyes like an untamed ocean.  Blues eyes that still displayed the sense of longing when he gazed at her.  A werewolf she started to meet in her sleep where the boundaries between dimensions held no bound.

As the wolf pushed forward in her direction, she forgot how big he stood compared to a modern wolf.  He easily stood two heads taller than her when he stood at full height.  Marinette was sure he either stood to the height of her father or perhaps even a slight bit taller. 

Their gaze never wavered from one another until he met her in the middle.  

As the werewolf came to a stop, Marinette felt the hum inside her head.  Closing her eyes, she allowed the bridge of communication seep through when she heard a soothing, familiar deep voice, “mo ghealach”.   

Wanting to reach out to him like always, Marinette stretched her hand out to rest on the soft, dark fur.  The moment her hands graced the surface of his fur, her vision went black.

Blinking, Marinette’s vision of the Parisian forests disappeared and the familiar surroundings of bedroom walls stood before her view.  Like always, the comfort and pull of the forest were lost, and retreated back to the barriers of her own mind.  The longing to be back with the wolf hurt more than having woken up in the early hours of morning.

This whole paranormal experience as I mentioned above was totally unexpected.  It was something my brother and I were honestly not expecting to encounter. Heck, we didn’t even have any moment of a paranormal thought come across our minds during this point in time.

It was the last week of June when my brother and I scheduled to take a trip to go visit some family.  We haven’t seen our grandparents in 5 years after they moved to another state.  It made it harder when they moved again to live with one of our aunt and uncle since they are getting older, it was easier to know they were closer to someone in the family.

Once the end of June approached, my brother and I decided to drive from Arizona to Missouri where our grandparents, aunt and uncle live.  I had nothing against flying there, but since the family lived in a smaller town in Missouri, I thought it was easier and best to drive there so I had a car of my own and didn’t have to waste money renting one.  Plus, my aunt and uncle still had to work while my brother and I were visiting, so I thought it was just easiest to have my car.

Now, this whole paranormal experience occurred during our trip up from Arizona to Missouri.  I love to drive, so it wasn’t a huge challenge for me, especially when I have my brother who is old enough to drive, so we were able to trade off driving.  

Originally, my brother and I had plans on stopping in the tail end of Oklahoma, near the border of Kansas for the night.  However, when we approached the town we planned on staying, there weren't any hotels that came up for us to stay the night.  It was also around this time that our father called to see how our drive was going and we told him that we were trying to find a hotel for the night since we couldn’t find one in our location. 

Our father said that, if we were able to, Liberal, Kansas wasn’t too far from us and had plenty of hotels to stay.  So, after checking and seeing that we were an hour away from Liberal, Kansas, I decided to drive there and we found what looked to be a recently new hotel. One of the well known brand hotels.  And what made it even better, there was a Chicago’s Pizza across the parking lot.  It made plans for dinner even easier.

My brother and I got a room that was located on the 3rd floor.  It was a lovely room.  Two beds, a large shower, tv, even a couch. It was honestly one of the nicest two bed suites I’ve seen in a while.  And it was around the time we got lucky that we got to the hotel because we got hit by the approaching thunderstorm in the area.  I won’t lie, my brother and I were prepared to encounter a possible tornado warning and whatnot.

So, after we relaxed, got dinner, my brother and I passed out pretty early.  For the two of us, we’re both night owls. We could pretty much stay up til 3 am and further if we wanted too. But since we still had about 8-10 hours of a drive left before we made it to Missouri where our family lived, we decided to head to bed early, around 10 pm.  We were exhausted from already driving about 12-13 hours from Arizona to Kansas.

When I went to bed, the last thing I remember was my brother laying in the second bed. His bed was the one closest to the small living space where the couch was that has one of those wall dividers between it.  My bed was closest to the bathroom and window to the outside.  It was around 3 am when I woke up to what I thought was snoring.  When I woke up further, it was more of a groaning noise I was hearing.  So, I went to turn around to look at my brother to try and wake him up in hopes I could get him to re-adjust or something to hopefully bring down the groaning or snoring I was hearing.

Though, when I looked over, I didn’t see him in the second bed. I heard the groaning a few more times and got up, using my phone’s flashlight to navigate the dark hotel room. It was when I went around the small divider that I saw my brother laying on the couch, his back facing me.  So, I woke him up and asked if he was okay because he was groaning really loud.  In his sleepy state, he said he wasn’t groaning.  I told him he was and asked if he could try re-adjusting in hopes it would help him prevent groaning again.  I’m a very light sleeper. The simplest of noise or light will wake me. No joke.

After that, I went back to my bed and fell back asleep.  Now, I would like to inform, that I was unaware that the reason my brother moved to the couch was from a paranormal experience.  

It wasn’t until it hit around 6:30 am when my paranormal experience happened.  I had my alarm set for 7 am.  I was laying in bed when I slowly woke up to the feeling of what I could best describe as someone walking on the bed.  Imagine if a little kid, dog, or cat was walking along the top of the bed sheets.  For me, it reminds me of my cat’s Sonny and Cher walking on top of the bed when they want to come up to me or my boyfriend.

Knowing that my cats weren’t there, in reflex, I moved my legs thinking it was just the sheets moving from the mass of my body being wrapped up.  I felt the same sensation again and repeated the same movement, moving my feet.  Of course I was fully awake at this point but kept my eyes closed until my alarm went off.

I was laying on my side, back facing the window, front facing towards the front of the room, when I suddenly felt the sensation of something crawling, more like walking up along my side. Again, it felt as if one of my cat’s was crawling up along my body.  It was that moment that got me to push up and look around. Once I pushed myself up and looked around, there was nothing on my bed, nothing out of the norm.

But I was at a point where it was weird and unexpected.  So I literally said, “Fuck this” and got out of the bed and shut my alarm off that had about 20 minutes left before it went off. I grabbed clothes and went to take a shower to get ready for the day.  

After I finished getting ready, I woke up my brother to see if he wanted to get breakfast or get ready. He wanted to get food first and I was waiting for him to wake up more before heading down. As I waited, I decided to tell him the weird experience I had about an half an hour prior before I woke him.  

He looked at me shocked and asked if there was anything else and I told him no.  I asked him specifically why and if there was something he had similar happen to him.  My brother told me it was around midnight, almost 1 am when he had his paranormal experience. 

My brother was lying on the second bed, closest to the main entrance of the hotel room. His back towards the window and my side.  He told me that he woke from the feeling of someone wrapping an arm around his waist. As if a significant other was trying to spoon you and wrapped their arm around you.  My brother wanted to swing out of being startled, but he didn’t, thinking it might have been me.  But when he looked over, he saw no one behind him.  He only saw me sleeping in the other bed.

Startled and a little on edge, he got out of bed and walked through the hotel room to make sure that there wasn’t anyone in the room with us.  Not finding anyone, my brother moved to the couch we had in the hotel room.  Once he laid on the couch, he felt the presence of someone watching him.  Looking up and towards the wall divider that divided the beds from the living space, he claimed he saw a shadow figure sitting on the wall divider looking at him.  He quickly turned his head back and closed his eyes until he fell back asleep.

After hearing that, I started wondering, even to this day if it was my brother that I really heard groaning.  It was definitely an experience my brother and I wasn’t expecting to have but it makes for a nice story to share with people.

“I would have expected a different answer from you to honest.”

“If we’re being honest about the situation, Adrien, I’ve been expecting this to happen the day we’d become a couple.  No matter how much we try there will always be some people who’d start rumors and claim me a gold digger.  It was inevitable.”

“That’s the frustrating part, Mari.  There’s no reason for you to be a gold digger when your family has money.  Your family has a famous and popular bakery, your family in China is just as famous with your Uncle being a well-known Chef, and grandparents having their own franchise.  And don’t get me started on your father’s side.”

“But Paris doesn’t need to know about my entire family success on both sides. And I could care less that they do.  They don’t need to know how successful and wealthy my family has to be to show how worthy I am for you.  It’ll be okay, minou, we’ll figure this out, together.”

Adrien took a breath and exhaled.  He looked at her and smiled.  His lady was always brave and courageous and even in this ridiculous misfortune of rumors she still looked to the bright side of things.

“You’re such a strong woman, my lady.  However, it still upsets me hearing all the things being assumed about you.  I’m just worried about someone ruining you and your chances for your future.  Pere and Mama always warned me that there are people out there who would ruin any form of competition and I have an inkling of a feeling that someone is indeed attempting to do so.”

Marinette pats her hand against his chest above the area of his heart, “My handsome, protective kitten.  You’re such a knight it never ceases to amaze me.”

“Hey. A knight will always be protective of his lady,” Adrien stood proud, arms crossed over his chest.

Marinette playfully smacks him, “Dork. Back to what we were discussing.  Since you’re worried, surely you have a friend from industry experience as a model that’s gone through a similar situation. Not a model per se, but someone you know personally that’s gone through rumor scandals and whatnot.  They could have answers you’re seeking.  Maybe Chloe?”

Adrien shakes his head, “No, Chloe hasn’t gone through something like this.  Even when she was snobby back when we were fourteen she’s never had anything like this or any form of rumors go after her or her family.  And ever since she and Nathaneal had been dating it became more of a romantic love story than that typical money standings.”

His arms crossed, his left index finger tapping against his right arm when a person came to mind.  A smile stretched across his face, someone he knew well and was one of his closest friends from his extracurricular activities.

“I actually know someone that might be of help.” He looked down at his girlfriend and reached for her hand.  “Let’s head to my room.  We’ll give her a call and see if she can help us figure this out.”

“Who is she?” Marinette asked as she followed Adrien up to his bedroom.

Reaching his bedroom, Adrien closes the door and lead Marinette to his couch.  While he scanned through his contact list, he responded back, returning Marinette’s question.

“I’m not sure you’d know her personally but I’m positive you and others know of her from her successes in sporting competitions.  Her name’s Kagami Tsurugi.”

“The Kagami Tsurugi? One of the best fencing proteges out there?  You’re friends with her?”

Marinette couldn’t believe her boyfriend knew one of the top fencing competitors in the young adult divisions.  She knew Adrien was an incredible fencer himself but she’s seen Kagami fence on television and world competitions and even she couldn’t deny that Kagami is definitely one of the best.  There’s was a few times she remembered Adrien talking about a Kagami in his fencing academy being one of his strongest competitors.  She just never thought they actually became friends.

“Yep.  We got to talking with each other back when we were fifteen.  She didn’t have a lot of friends and we just clicked the more we began talking.  It’s been a bit over a year since I’ve spoken with her since she’s been traveling for titles in sporting events, but I recall a moment back when we were sixteen that she told me about.  Kagami told me that she found her destined which both surprised us.”

“She met her destined at sixteen?  How’s that possible?  No one knows until at the age of eighteen.”

“Exactly, but I guess it was her destined that found her by accident during a walk around the city. Kagami was unsure but she took a chance and got to know the guy.  I remember he said that he’s two years older and that he was calm and down to earth, her words.  She said they’re complete opposites and that she wouldn’t trade it for anything.  Said that he offers an out from all the expectations from the world with her career.”

“Have you ever met him?”

Adrien shakes his head, “no, she never got the chance to tell me.  Or she just didn’t want to share at the time.  But there was a moment two years ago I recall where people believed that her destined was a gold digger cause they weren’t of the same status.  Kagami would call me at times in frustration and to vent.  I can’t remember if they ever released the name of her destined but there is a chance that the Tsurugi’s paid or possibly threaten the media to not release his name.  Eventually, things got settled though Kagami wanted to chop the media for disrespecting her man as she would say.”

Both young adults broke in laughter at the image of Kagami chasing away the media with a dueling sword of some kind.  That would have been an image they would save and hang up and maybe get her to sign.

“Alright, let’s see if we can get ahold of her.”

Clicking Kagami’s contact, Adrien clicked the green call button and placed the phone on speaker.  A few rings went through when they heard a click indicating the call being answered.

“This is Kagami Tsurugi, her temporary secretary answering. How can I help you?”  The sound of a calm, collected young man’s voice was not what Adrien and Marinette were expecting to hear on the other line.  In the silence, the two teens heard notes of music being played amongst their confusion.

“Uh, hi.  I’m looking to speak with Kagami, is she there?”  Adrien wasn’t sure how to respond to this.  He wasn’t expecting someone else to answer her cell phone.

“Depends.  Who’s calling and what is the purpose of your call?” The young man asked.

Adrien was slowly becoming frustrated with this man.  “I’m not sure I feel obligated to tell you since I don’t know who you are?  So why don’t you just get Kagami for me, alright?”

The sound of strumming halted and the sound of an object was being set aside.  What Adrien and Marinette weren’t expecting for was the young man on the other line to respond back with a hardened tone.

“Listen here.  I don’t know who you are but I am not letting someone who refuses to offer their name and purpose speak with my girl.  I don’t take chances when it involves my Gami, so either you give me your purpose or I’m hanging up.”

So Kagami’s boyfriend was who Adrien and Marinette were speaking with.  Marinette gave the young man credit for being protective of his mate and thinking about Kagami’s status, she couldn’t blame the young man for being cautious.  

Marinette was about to break in and speak when she and Adrien heard the sound of a door through the phone open and close and who they expected to be Kagami once they heard her voice speak out.

“Babe, what are you doing?”

“Hello, my dragon. You have a fanboy on the line who refuses to tell me why he wants to speak to you.”

‘A FANBOY? I’m not a fanboy!’

“He’s lying Kagami!  I’m not a random fanboy.  I’m just calling in hopes to talk to you and seek for some help.”

Kagami’s response came back instantly with surprise.

“Adrien?!”

They heard his name repeated by Kagami’s boyfriend, only for her boyfriend to repeat with his full name.

“Adrien Agreste?”  The young man asked.

“Yea? Wait, how do you-”

“No way! Adrien, it’s Luka.”  Adrien could hear the smile from Luka through the phone.  Before he could respond in shock to hear one of his other friends, one he considered a brother, Marinette jumped in full of shock herself.

“Luka?!”

“Mari?!  Is that you? Oh, my gods, it’s been so long.  How are you guys doing?”

“Wait, you’re Kagami’s boyfriend?” Marinette asked in surprise.

“Fiance actually.”

“You're engaged?!” The couple shouted in shock.

“Damn it, Luka! It was supposed to be a surprise!” Kagami shouted in the background.