Ann looked out her white-framed window into the darkened sky. The clouds had remained seemingly in the same position for the last three days. This was unusual for her hometown in California. It was like these clouds didn’t want to give up their precious store of moisture.

Little did they know, they weren’t the only ones…

~~~

Jacob looked out over the cliff, jaw clenched. He would not cry, he told himself. Do werewolves cry? He wanted to scream at the broken half of his heart. Of course not! And they don’t run away from pain either. I’m strong, he thought.

            Maybe if his heart had been just broken cleanly in half, then it wouldn’t be so bad. But no. It had been picked at; his one and only love had just taken the parts she wanted, which, by the way he felt like dying, seemed to be the more vital bits of his organ.

            His will slipped as he saw for the first time where he was; which cliff exactly was he standing on top of. If only she had waited for him that one day instead of jumping, he thought viciously. Then maybe things would be as they should. Normal. Good. And it wouldn’t feel like his heart was slowly failing him- beating weaker and weaker every second.

            At that moment, he didn’t care if the others heard him. Running into the forest he phased, letting out the most mournful cry. He didn’t feel anyone else in his mind. At least they were courteous enough to give him this time alone. He felt a sudden twang of guilt and then relief. He felt guilty for what he was doing now; running away from it all but relieved that he had rejected the position as pack Alpha those few months ago. It would have just made this all so much harder.

            As he ran through the shadows of the trees, he tried to appease that nagging part of his brain. He would come back. It’s not like he was leaving forever. Leaving his house, his home, and his family. He’d be back soon. He just needed a week to cool off.

            He didn’t know how long he’d been running, but suddenly the truth his lies had hidden from him hit him; he wasn’t coming back.