The Wolf Comes at Midnight (on hold until... yeah)

Part Ten

***Part Ten***

'You fool! This is all your fault. If you hadn't interfered during the fight, we never would have lost, and that alpha wouldn't have gotten away alive...'

I felt myself grimace in pain as the voice forced its presence upon me yet again. After what had happened with the alpha wolf and my close call, the voice frightened me each time it pushed itself forward in my head, and I was hesitant to keep it in check, afraid it would takeover the next time I shifted.

"Nicole, are you okay?" Vitaliy asked, looking concerned. He must have noticed my pained expression, but of course, he must have thought it was only a headache. After all, that was the story I created as an excuse for the pain I was in each time the voice shouted or grew angry with me, something that had grown increasingly common since it had had the chance to take over my body. I could tell it wanted to do so again, but the thought of what it might do scared me out of my wits.

"Oh, yeah, just another headache," I said, forcing a shaky smile onto my face. I could tell that he didn't quite believe me, but Vitaliy didn't question me any further, and we continued walking through the forest, allowing our human forms to get some exercise and fresh air.

It had been two weeks since the Rhauruans had attacked the pack, and we hadn't heard any word from the alpha or the rest of his pack at all. Nick claimed he wasn't surprised, that we must have given them a pretty good scare, nearly killing their alpha, but Vitaliy thought otherwise. He had told me that the wound he had given the black wolf wasn't as bad as Nick said and that he was wondering why the rival wolves hadn't made any moves since the attack.

On another note, it was decided that I needed to be kept at the house with the rest of the pack, considering that a) my house wasn't safe enough for me and b) I was too dangerous and unpredictable to be around any normal humans.

Normal. What was normal anymore, anyway? At one time, I had thought that normal was something that I could achieve, something I had labeled my whole life with. Of course, a good portion of my life was lie, and I was about as far from normal as was possible. I was a freaking werewolf, for crying out loud. A freak? Not necessarily, but normal? Certainly not.

And I never would be, would I? My life would always be different from any of my old friends, the human ones. They would grow up, fall in love, get married, have normal human children, grow old with their true love, and then quietly die. Meanwhile, I would age up until I was about eighteen or nineteen, maybe twenty, and then my body would freeze in time. As for true love, I had that covered. Vitaliy had imprinted on me, which meant that our bond was stronger than any human love that existed. But what about children? I was half-canine. Would my kids come out in wolf form or human? Or would they even definitely be werewolves? And what would stop them from being actual wolves?

"Are you sure you're alright?" he asked again. In the last two weeks, he had gotten pretty good at picking up on when I was upset or deep in thought. Or in pain from the voice. Maybe it was just because he had imprinted on me, or it could be that he paid that much attention to me anyway.

"Um, yeah, I was just thinking, that's all," I replied, not lying, but not telling him the entire truth either. I wasn't sure if I could share my fears with anyone, even him, just yet. And I certainly wouldn't tell anyone about the voice that had invaded my mind.

"About all of the complications, right?" he said, raising an eyebrow. When I gave him a surprised look, he continued, "I figured you would at some point. I mean, I did the first couple of weeks after I found out."

When he didn't say anything else, I pushed for information. "And...?"

"Oh, sorry, right. Well, not much actually changes, except for the aging. You know, you stop aging and everything once you hit your physical high, usually around nineteen or twenty. And then you just don't physically get any older. As for love and dating and marriage, you can still do all of that with humans if you're careful. That is, unless an imprint has taken place."

"Which it has. And I'm not worried about either of those..." I said, my voice trailing off at the end of the sentence.

He stopped and gently took hold of my arm and pulled me against him. I didn't look at him for a minute, but when he brushed the hair away from my face, I looked up into his eyes.

"Tell me what it is, Nicole. I've told you, you can tell me anything."

"I know, it's just..." I paused for a moment before whispering, "What about having children and a family?"

"Oh, Nicole," he said, a smile spreading across his face. I wasn't sure what to think of it until he said, "That's the wonderful thing about werewolves: nothing about that changes. It's all exactly the same as it is in humans. In fact, the werewolf gene doesn't even have a 100% chance of being passed on, so if you wanted children, you might even end up with human children. Either way, there's absolutely nothing wrong or weird with it at all."

I didn't speak for a moment, still trying to absorb everything he had just told me. So I didn't have to worry about that at all, then? Finally, I released a huge sigh of relief and slumped into his arms.

"You seem tired," he said as I looked up at him again. "Maybe we should head back to the house. Unless you want to try..?"

I knew what he was referring to, and I had been doing my best to avoid it for the last two weeks. I didn't want to shift into my wolf form because I was afraid that the voice would take over again and attack someone. With the way it had acted the last time, it was sure to get me killed eventually.

"Actually, you're right, I am feeling kind of tired," I said, stepping away from him and beginning to walk back toward the house. I heard him sigh behind me before he began to follow me, dragging his feet as he did.

I felt bad because I knew that it was hurting him more when I avoided shifting because he seemed to be taking the blame for it. I hoped he didn't think I was scared of his canine form or something like that, but I had a feeling that that was exactly what he thought.

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Okay, so I know that I always ask for votes and comments and everything, but the number of reads isn't really matching up to the votes and comments. So, even though I absolutely hate to do this, I'm not posting the next part until I get at least eight more votes, on any part, not just this one. Of course, if I get enough comments just *begging me to post the next one, I might consider it. ;) Anyway, now you know what has to happen in order for all of you lovely people to find out what happens to Nicole and Vitaliy. And I think you might want to know. Soon. 

~~Majic

Edit; May 30 

You know, I really wasn't kidding. As you can see, I will not post the next part until I get either eight more votes or a good few comments. And please, don't take the attitude that says, oh, I don't need to, I'm sure someone else will. Yes, I've don't that plenty of times, but I've decided that that really hurts the person who's trying to get those votes or comments. Anyway, I have some really exciting things to happen over the next few chapters, so I suggest you get on those votes, as many people that read this!