Wolf's Heart

Fourteen

“You… what? Why? I’m not even like you,” I said, slightly shocked. I shook my head, and looked down. “I don’t understand.”

“What don’t you understand?” Damien asked. “We want you to be in the pack. We want you to be safe and secure, and the best way to do that would be to swear you into the pack.”

“How do I know you aren’t just playing me so that you can use me for the Cure?”

“Because why would I need you to be a part of the pack if I just wanted to use you as the Cure? I’d just be wasting time, Akina,” Damien told me, and took a deep breath as he lay on his back and removed the bar from the rack above the bench. “I honestly wish you to be safe, is all.” 

I was silent for a moment. “What would it entail? What would it change about me?”

“You’d be able to speak to us, through mind-speak. We would be able to hear your thoughts and that would lead to you being safer, now that those who are chasing your blood are drawing nearer,” Damien said, and paused to let out a grunt as he pressed the bar down and back up. “You would be surrounded by people who know you and care about you and honestly want you to be safe. They all believe you and know the truth of your past. You wouldn’t have to hide anymore.”

Calix moved behind Damien, placing his hand under the bar and acting as a spotter. “We want you to feel safe,” he told me.

“But I don’t feel like I’m in danger,” I argued, dropping my eyes to my feet. “I feel fine.”

“Akina, would you mind telling me why you are so against joining the pack?” Calix looked over at me, and I instantly flushed.

“I’m not against it,” I defended quickly. “I’m hesitant, is all.”

“Why?” 

“Because,” I sighed impatiently. “It makes my being in danger that much more real.”

“Oh, please,” Calix laughed. “You are not afraid.”

“I am too,” I cried. 

“Tell me the truth.”

I groaned, and leaned against the handlebars of the bike. “Fine. Because everyone already thinks I’m a freak, and what makes your people any different? What makes it so that they won’t disapprove of me?”

“Akina,” Damien laughed, bench pressing again, still without shaking arms or even a bead of sweat. “We are men and women and children that- literally- are as much animal as we are human. No one could think of you as a freak without being hypocritical.”

“I’m not even what you are, Damien. I’m half of what you are and even you are only half of one thing and half of another. Do I even qualify as werewolf? I don’t think I do.” 

“All that matters to us is that you were part wolf, part human. We don’t care how much of each part of whichever you are. As long as you’ll be faithful to us and act as you should, every single member of the pack should be happy to have you.”