One
I woke with a start, breathing heavily and covered in a sheen of sweat. I was in so much pain, my joints and bones felt like they were going to burst. And in truth, they were, I hadn’t shifted into my wolf form in almost a month, the longest it had ever been. It wasn’t like I didn’t like being a wolf, I did, I loved transitioning and running free through the forest. But I had to be incognito, it wasn’t like the world knew about wolves and I wasn’t about to be locked in some lab. I barely knew anything about being a shifter, just that I was one. It had been four months since I was bitten by a patient, it took 3 days for me to transition, and I thought I was going to die the entire time. I shudder just thinking about it. I can hear my wolf Sage howling in my mind, she’s excited to shift and run free, I almost feel bad for keeping her locked away, except my fear of being a science experiment far outweighs my fear of pissing off my wolf.
“Let’s gooooo, come on Teika! I want to run.”
“Fine! But we have to be careful Sage, we can’t get caught”
“Yes! I won’t get caught I promise” she paces in my mind, stretching her stiff muscles, ready for a run.
I head to my front door, not bothering to get dressed, my clothes will be shredded in seconds anyway. As soon as I open the door, Sage is forcing the transition on me, it’s rushed and is almost as painful as the first time. Standing up when the shift is over, I shake out my big body, and I mean big, I’m easily double the size of a normal male wolf, my fur is pure white, to match my white, blonde hair, and my eyes violet, bright violet. I don’t know a lot about shifters, but I can tell just by looking at me, I’m unusual, a fact I’d like to keep hidden.
Leaping off the porch, Sage takes off into the forest, the sounds of animals scurrying around, and the breeze is all we can hear. I have only been in Yellowknife for 2 weeks, but anyone would think it had been forever the way my wolf knows her way around. I’ve given control to her and am taking a backseat to this run, it’ll keep her happy and off my back at least for another couple of weeks. We’d been running and exploring for about an hour when I realise how far from home we’d ended up. Sage stops running and starts sniffing the dirt, a low growl emanating from her. I retake control and all my sense come slamming into me, I can smell something that’s like rotting food in a bin. A twig snaps behind me and I spin around, getting low to the ground in a crouch, ready to pounce, ears pinned and growling. Suddenly red eyes flash in the darkness, and a vicious growl sounds, more than one. Sounds like three.
“Oh god Sage, what are we going to do!” I hurriedly ask her.
“Relax, we have to fight” she responds instantly.
“What! We don’t know how to fight you silly wolf” I all but scream at her. Fight! We’ll definitely die.
“Well, we’ll definitely die if we run!” she snarls at me. I humph, hating to agree with her, keeping my eyes on the wolves that have appeared from the darkness, there are three of them, but I can’t show fear. Growling more menacingly now, I allow Sage some leeway, letting her primal knowledge aid me here. They circle me, saliva dripping from their mouths, the rotting stench getting ten times worse now they’re so close. Before I can even contemplate an attack, one jumps on me from behind, teeth sinking into my side, I howl in pain and thrash, flinging the wolf off me and into a tree. I spin and leap onto him, sinking my teeth into his neck and crunching down, hearing the bones snap and splinter and tasting the blood on my tongue. Sharp pain in my back leg pulls me away as another wolf has hold of me, I’m snapping and snarling trying to get him off me before I’m pinned down by two others, I’m preparing to die here and now when an almighty growl pierces the night, followed by 2 more howls, and a wolf, with a shaggy brown coat leaps into the fray and knocks the wolves off me. Before I can blink, two more wolves appear and make light work of the ones who attacked me. I’m astonished, they are clearly shifters, I do my best to stand on my paws, but my hind leg is broken and I’m losing a lot of blood from the wound in my abdomen. I glance at the wolves as they transform back into men, and then I black out.
Something beneath me is so incredibly soft, and I’m so warm, feels like I’m wrapped in a big thick blanket in front of a fire. I slowly blink and open my eyes, taking in my surroundings, I suddenly realise I’m not in my bedroom at home. Gasping I sit up and see I’m in a king-sized bed, in a room all wood, with a fireplace roaring in the corner. Dark accents, make the room feel so large and homely, almost woodsy. I love it. It’s then I recall the events from my run, shouldn’t I be dead?
“You’re being dramatic, we healed Teika” Sage yawns in my head.
“That’s pretty quick healing even for us Sage” she shrugs when I question it and curls up in the back of my mind, going back to sleep. Thanks for all your help, stupid wolf, I think to myself. I gently get out of bed and decide to find out where I am, I notice I’m dressed in some kind of nightgown, and glancing around I see a set of drawers, hoping there will be some clothes in there that will fit me. I open all the drawers, releasing a sigh when I find it completely empty. Guess the nightgown will have to do. I head to the door, finding it unlocked. Listening for sounds in the house, I hear chatter down the stairs to the left and a sizzling sound, guess that’s the kitchen. I hit the bottom of the stairs and come face to face with three shifters, a woman, and two men. I know they’re shifters from their scent. Sage awakens quickly and pushes forward, eyes flashing violet, I startle a gasp from the woman. I reel Sage in and push her back in my mind.
“I’m sorry, my wolf is touchy. Where am I” how I speak so calmly absolutely blows my mind. I should be a puddle of fear on the floor, but somehow I know they won’t hurt me.
“You’re in the Blood Moon Pack” the woman explains as if it’s that simple.
“I don’t know what that means” I state simply, my eyes moving to the cooking bacon, stomach growling when I catch a whiff.
Chuckling, the woman responds, “why don’t you take a seat and eat something, you went through quite the ordeal last night from all accounts, you must be hungry” she must realise I’m about to ask more questions because she silences me and continues, “Alpha Daxam will be back in a couple of hours, you will meet him and he will answer your questions.”
“I wasn’t planning on hanging around, I appreciate the hospitality and having my arse saved las night but I need to be getting home. I have work tonight” I try to explain.
She clucks her tongue and signals for me to sit, putting a heaping pile of bacon, eggs and potatoes in front of me. “You must wait, it’s an order”.
I bristle when she tells me it’s an order, but hook into my food, choosing to ignore the woman, yet thankful for the food. I finish eating and offer to help clean, realising I never introduced myself, I’m about to when the most delicious smell fills the room, cinnamon and maple syrup. My mouth starts watering, Sage starts pacing in my mind, tongue wagging at the smell.
“What’s that smell?” I ask the bossy woman. She glances are me with an odd expression on her face, and then in walks the most attractive man I have ever seen. Easily six foot eight to my five foot three. Black buzzed hair and bright blue eyes that are squinting in confusion. He glances around the room until his eyes meet mine. Sage howls and jumps up and down. MATE! She howls. I must look like an idiot with my mouth hanging open, staring at him like a tool.
