SHE SAID NO

A satisfied smile was plastered on the woman’s lips when Emma moved out of the bed. The spring inside the cushioned bed made a creaking sound as she moved. It was their background when she and the naked woman played doctor a while ago.

She picked up the shirt from the floor together with the pants. She careless discarded them half an hour ago. With urgency, she put her clothes back on.

“Are you sure you’re not going to spend the night?” Said the woman. Her voice was a little scratchy from screaming.

Man, she was loud. Emma would not be surprised if the next-door neighbor made a complaint to the landlord.

“I am. I don’t want to deal with your boyfriend in the morning.”

The woman giggled. The thin blanket that covers her front crumpled on her lap when she sat up. Her fake, big tits stand for attention. Emma remembered burrowing her face between them.

“We can have another go before you leave. Felix will not be here until six.”

Emma smirked. She scooped the jacket off the floor.

“I’ll see you soon.”

Her footsteps were very light as she left the one-bedroom apartment in the sub-orbs.

Since it was already past midnight, only a few people were loitering in the streets.

Angela was one of her ‘friends’. The woman called her for a quick fix and Emma did the same if she was in the mood.

They met when her car broke down. They were in the same place at the same time. She gave the car a temporary fix and told the woman to send the car to the car shop.

The next day, the woman was in the shop with her car. Emma had the woman in bed at night on that same day.

Holding the jacket in her hand, she waited at the bus stop. Beside her were night shift workers who would rather spend the night at home than be in the street at this frigid night.

Emma was seated at the very back of the bus. No one was sitting next to her. The nearest was the junkie-looking man in front of her. His hand was shaking. Perhaps, due to substance abuse.

Her eyes looked at the brightly lit lamp posts outside. Despite the time of the day, it appeared that the city was not asleep even at night.

If she happened to listen to her father, she would have been working as a medical practitioner by now. Her dad was a frustrated doctor. He was not given an opportunity to have his degree back in the day since he got into trouble with the law. He went with the wrong crowd and spent time behind bars for his mistake.

Her father was sentenced to five years in prison for robbery. He and his former friends broke into a convenience store. One of them killed the staff while the others were the associates for robbery. He and the other went out of the prison earlier than the one who was charged with homicide.

Emma straightened when she felt a sharp and pointed object on her side. She glanced at her left.

It was the man who was previously seated in front of her. The junkie. His hair was obscuring his vision but it did not hide the darkening circles under his eyes.

“Give me your phone and your wallet.” He whispered.

“I don’t have a phone. I don’t have a wallet either.” She answered.

“Stop talking.” He said. It was followed by a sniff as if he had allergies. He even scrunched his nose like he was about to sneeze.

Her left arm lifted. She moved her elbow and made sure that it made contact with the man’s neck.

The guy did not seem to expect that he would fall back on the seat. His head bounced on the headrest. The icepick dropped on the floor and it generated a noise.

“This woman is hurting me.” The man pleaded. His hands were in the air.

“And this man is trying to rob me with that icepick.” She answered.

A man stood up from the middle part of the bus. His face showed no symphony to either of them.

“I’m a police officer.”

Emma gave him a glance. Indeed, he was in uniform under the varsity jacket that he was wearing.

“It’s not me, officer. This woman punched me.”

“I can check the CCTV to verify your statement.”

“Not because she’s a woman, she’s innocent.” The junkie appealed. He was looking pitiful as if he was the victim.

“Right. Ma’am, can we go to the precinct for your official statement?”

She nodded.

They sat at the back. The police officer gestured for her to stand first when they arrived at the bus stop.

The officer was startled when Emma stood.

She was no longer surprised. She was quite tall for a woman and the officer was a little on the short side.

She stood five feet and ten inches and the two men were of the same height. About a couple of inches shorter.

“You’re a little early today.” The woman behind the desk greeted them when they reached the precinct. “You hunt by yourself?”

“I did. Found them on the bus. Can you get her details please?”

“Emma?”

The tall woman turned when he heard her name.

A well-toned guy entered the precinct. He was not in uniform. His shirt was plastered on his biceps and washboard abs.

“Hey,’ She greeted when she recognized him.

It was Boom Dela Vega. He is a maritime police officer. It was surprising to see him on land.

“You know this woman, Boom?”

They both looked at the police officer who came with them from the bus.

“She’s my friend. She owned the auto shop near the port.”

“Oh?” The officer said. “Can you leave a statement before you go, ma’am? SOP.”

“Sure.”

“Please follow me.”

“I’ll be here when you’re done. I want to speak with you about something.”

Fifteen minutes later, she and Boom went out of the precinct. They went to the nearest coffee shop that operates twenty-four-seven. It mostly catered the uniformed officers nearby.

“What’s up?”

Emma capped the hot coffee between her hands. She stared at the man opposite her.

She met Boom when she went to the public beach a few years ago. She was with a woman that she was dating back then. That time, Boom was still new to the police department. He was about twenty-two and fresh from the academy.

She helped him apprehend a man that assaulted his wife publicly. She recently resigned from her post in the military due to her father’s deteriorating health.

“She’s back?”

“Who?”

She grabbed the cookie from the plate. She did not realize that she was hungry. She spent so much energy at Angela’s place. That woman can drain a person.

“Her wife.”

“Oh? So, you thought because the wife went away, you will have a chance to be with her?”

His silence was enough confirmation for her question.

Emma finished the large cookie in four bites. She peeled the banana muffin and bit half of it before placing it back on the plate. She focused her attention on her friend who appeared to be waiting to be scolded.

Her friend has been in love with the same woman since he was a teenager. Unfortunately, the woman loves another.

“Man, they are married. They are fully mated. The woman loves her wife. She never dated anyone even when the woman was gone for years. What do you expect?”

Yes, Boom has been smitten with a woman who is also in love with another woman.

“I expect a friend who speaks as if she cared.”

She chuckled. “You went to the wrong friend, man.”

Boom rolled his eyes before he sipped on the hot Americano he ordered.

Her friend is a full-blooded werewolf. He belonged to a pack though his job required him to stay in the city. However, he remained a part of the pack. Boom also knew that Emma was a werewolf. They recognized each other the first time that they met.

“Aren’t you wondering who your mate might be?”

She snorted. She also sipped on her coffee.

“I forget that part of my life, Boom.”

“How could you? I mean, you have a wolf. You speak with your wolf.”

She looked at her friend intently.

“My wolf understands that we do not belong in the pack. Besides, if we have a mate, we already met our mate by now.”

Emma is already thirty-two years old while Boom is twenty-eight. Both of them have not met their mate yet.

Most werewolves meet their mate between seventeen to twenty-one years old. Some others were unlucky to meet their fate later in life or not at all.

A mate is a person that the Moon goddess is given to her brethren. It is the destined person for each and every werewolf shifter. A mate can be recognized from the time that a person shifted at the age of seventeen.

A person’s fated mate can be recognized differently. One thing is for sure, the attraction was immediate and overwhelming. Well, according to the people who already met theirs.

“You know what? I wish you meet your mate soon so that you can stop whoring around.”

Emma shrugged. She sent her friend a smile.

“I don’t do relationships. You know that. I can only maintain friendship and companionship.”

“You also ruin relationships, man. I recognized the woman’s scent from your clothes. You used to see her. What was her name again?”

Instead of answering her friend, she sent him a smug look.

“F*ck! Angela has a boyfriend. I saw her with a guy the other day.”

“She called me.”

“Damn! You’re a wh*re, E.”

“I can’t say no to a beautiful woman.”

Boom threw a crumpled tissue on her face that made her laugh. It echoed in the coffee shop.