Wolf Born

ANDREA

Being born from a werewolf, in a werewolf pack, but having no wolf, takes a toll on a person. I'm eighteen...I should have turned into my wolf by now, but I haven't. And I never will. I was born without a wolf, because my father is human. All human/wolf mates still have wolf children. Having one born without a wolf is so extremely rare it hasn't been seen in over one hundred and fifty years until now. Until me. I'm the one born that was so unlucky that I didn't get the wolf gene and now I'm forced to grow up in a werewolf pack, watching my family and friends all shift and run through the trees while I must wait behind, knowing I'd never catch up.

At first, mom thought maybe my wolf was just dormant. It happens sometimes––rarely––with children that are half human. The wolf just needs a bit of help to wake it up. Usually a run through the woods on a full moon with the pack works. Not for me. If the wolf is stubborn, a scratch from another wolf usually does the trick. Didn't work either. So, mom resorted to biting me while in wolf form. Once again, no wolf for me, and not only that, but my bite didn't heal quickly. It took a week. Faster than a human, but much slower than a wolf heals. It was then that she took me to the pack doctor who confirmed that little old me was born with no wolf, that I am practically 100% human, with small traces of wolf from my mother. Mom had asked even if that was the case why the scratch and bite hadn't turned me like it would a regular human, and we were told since I was born from a werewolf with wolf DNA in me but wasn't blessed with a wolf, that no matter what I'd never have one.

I had broken down and cried that day. I was only twelve, and finding out I'd never have a wolf was devastating. Watching everyone in my pack shift for the first time a year later while I sat at home in bed as a human. Mom had comforted me while I cried, begging to the Moon Goddess to reconsider not giving me a wolf. I had prayed to her every night for two years, begging, pleading, crying for her to forgive whatever I had done for her to not give me a wolf. Nothing ever came of it. Nothing ever will. I wasn't meant to have a wolf, it seems. I'll never know why. After that, I hated the Moon Goddess for awhile. Cursing her name. Cursing up at the moon. I didn't even want to look at other wolves. I'd shut the curtains and wear soundproof headphones every full moon to tune out the howling of a pack that I know tolerates the wolfless "werewolf" in their pack. If my parents weren't the Delta's, I'd surely have been cast out by now. Mom says that would never happen, regardless of their rank, but I doubt it. Not only is my biological father human, but I'm also a bastard child.

She met my father in town one day when she was fifteen and fell in love quickly. She got pregnant with me but not long after that she turned sixteen––the age a wolf can finally discover it's mate––and found her mate, the Delta of our pack. Mom quickly broke it off with my bio father, her feelings gone now, to be with her mate. He'd almost rejected her when he discovered she was pregnant with another mans baby, but once he realized it happened before they found each other, he accepted that he was going to be a dad. The only reason I even know all this is from the doctors appointment that day when I was told I wasn't a wolf. Mom had no choice but to tell me that my dad isn't my dad. Two punches to the gut in one day. Dads never treated me as anything less than the joy of his life. He cried when I found out I wasn't his because he didn't want to lose me or think he doesn't love me. I know he does.

Now here I am at the big age of eighteen, wolfless, mateless, and pathetic. The pack outcast. Sure, they don't show it, but I know a lot of them don't consider me a pack member. I'm nothing but a defenseless human. My younger brother Axel has a wolf, along with our sister, Anya. Of course they do. They're both pure wolf. I'm the odd one out. Always have been. They don't treat me as such, but I can see it in their eyes that they feel bad for me. I hate the pity. I've accepted the fact that I'm not a wolf, I just wish everyone would quit treating me like I'm going to fall apart because of it. What was even harder to accept is the fact that because I don't have a wolf, means I don't have a mate, either. That was a much harder pill to swallow. Mom said that's not true because wolves have human mates all the time, but I doubt I'll get lucky enough to have a mate. I wasn't even blessed with a wolf, why would the Moon Goddess give me a mate? Clearly, she hates me.

"Andrea! Lunch time!" Axel calls from the kitchen. When I was twelve and we discovered I have no wolf, we moved out of the pack house to our own house. Dad had to build it next door to the pack house because as the Delta, he should be in the pack house. Our Alpha understood the situation and allowed him to move next door instead. How pathetic am I that we literally ran from the pack house to spare my dignity?

"Yeah, coming!" I call back, swinging my legs off the little nook I have in my bedroom window, overlooking the forest. I don't know why I sit here looking at the trees when I know at any moment I'll see a wolf. It's been years and I've since accepted it and moved on, but for some reason I can't help myself from watching them. They're all so big and beautiful and free and I'm just...not.

"Hurry up or I'm eating yours!" Axel calls again and I groan, rolling my eyes.

"You're a pig, Ax," I say as I make my way into the kitchen. He smirks at me, popping a chip in his mouth. Mom rolls her eyes at us.

"Would you two children sit down? Your father will be here any minute and lunch is hot and ready," Mom says as she places a tray of tacos down in the center of the dining table. Axel looks practically feral while Anya sits patiently, giving our brother an you're an idiot look. "Will Olivia be joining us?" Mom asks Axel. Liv is his mate. They found each other a few months ago and are practically joined at the hip. He's been trying to get mom and dad to let him move back into the pack house to be with her ever since.

It's normal for wolves to move in together once they find their mate, and most find them at sixteen. That's when they seal the mating bond and end up living together and a lot of times pregnant right away. However mom doesn't seem to want to let go of her little boy which is driving him mad. If I have to hear him beg to live in the pack house with Liv one more time I might lose it.

"Not today. She's having lunch with her parents." The gleam in his vibrant forest green eyes tells me that they concocted some sort of plan but I have no energy to figure it out right now, nor do I really care. If they want to move in together and have babies, so be it. They're mates. It's only natural.

Mom narrows her eyes at him, then shakes her head and continues setting the food on the table. The front door opens and in walks dad. He sniffs the air and grins. "Smells delicious, honey."

"Hi dad," I greet and he smiles, kissing the top of my head and then Anya's. He pats Axel on the back who laughs.

"So, dad," Anya begins, hands folded across her lap and an innocent smile on her face while a scheme plays in her mind. The man hasn't even sat down yet and she already wants something. Typical.

He raises his brows at her as he sits at the head of the table opposite mom. "Yes, Anya?"

She gives a sweet smile. "Well, Becca and Darla are going to Mt. Lakota mall this weekend, and I was wondering if I could go too?" She bats her eyes cutely and dad chuckles at her before shaking his head.

"We've talked about this before, sweetie. You're twelve. You're too young to go to the mall without adult supervision."

She narrows her eyes. "Mom!" She whips her head in moms direction who also shakes her head.

"Honey, Mt. Lakota Mall is in unclaimed territory. You don't have your wolf yet. It's not safe. If you want to go to our mall with them, then it's okay."

Anya groans. "I'll be thirteen in three weeks, and should get my wolf then. And our mall is so small compared to Mt. Lakota! I've been to our mall hundreds of times. It's the same. What could possibly happen to me at a crowded mall?" Her sandy blonde brows raise, light blue eyes wide in question.

"Anya, your mom and I said no and that's that. You're not going to unclaimed territory without an adult and that's final."

"What if Andrea comes with us?"

Mom and dad ponder this then turn to look at me. "Seriously?" I groan. "Okay, fine." Anya claps in victory and then we all go about eating our lunch in nice conversation.

"May I be excused?" I ask when I finish my lunch. My parents nod, looking at me oddly, sensing something is off with me. They somehow always know when I'm upset no matter how hard I try to hide it. I've chalked it up to wolf instincts. Their stupid wolves probably sense my sadness. And yes, I know I shouldn't call their wolves stupid because in a way, they're also my parents. I can't talk to them, though. I can't communicate with wolves, but they can mind-link me. You'd think being born from a full werewolf that with that small amount of wolf DNA I'd have some wolf traits, but no, I have none, except slightly advanced healing and sight. That's all I got. Yay for me, right?

"Andrea, honey, are you alright?" Mom stops me right before I reach the stairwell. I sigh.

"I'm good, mom," I lie.

"We know you're not," Dad pipes in. "Please tell us what's going on with you."

"It's nothing, I'm fine. Just a bit sleepy after lunch. I'm gonna go take a nap. Please wake me when dinner is ready."

"Okay..." Mom trails off, letting it go.

I make my way into my room, shutting the door softly behind me and sighing. This Saturday is the packs annual mate ball where all sixteen-year-olds go hoping to meet their mates. If you're older than sixteen and still mateless, you're still welcome to go. I've been forced by my parents to go for the past two years and when both times I came home mateless and upset, they took the hint not to make me go this year. It still upsets me, though. Watching everyone glowing with happiness the next day after finding their mates. I can't stand it.

Throwing myself on my bed I sigh, curling up under my fluffy blanket and drifting off to sleep.