"Anna."
Her eyelids slowly fluttered open, eyes squinting at the blurry dim sight of the room. Blinking, she realized she was laid down upon her bed. Her Grandmother sat beside her, her face traced with worry and concern as her hand reached to stroke Anna's head. With her motherly touches, Anna felt so safe and sound.
"Grandma," she croaked. "What happened?"
"Sweetheart," Lola softly murmured, her eyes drawn with such care and love. "You fainted."
"I did?" she asked weakly, seeming to have forgotten what was the last thing that happened before she was blinded by darkness.
"Yes." After awhile, Lola sighed, it seemed out of frustration. "Anna," she softly murmured, "Do you remember..those stories I told you when you were still a young little girl?"
Anna frowned, trying to remember the memories of the old fairytales.
"Do you remember..those stories of fairies, elves, werewolves, and vampires?"
"Yes."
Lola took a deep breath. "Those stories are true, Anna. Fairies are real. Vampires are real. Werewolves are real. Sometimes, things aren't always what they seem."
Anna sat up from the bed. "Werewolves, Grandma? Vampires?" she asked.
"Anna, you came from a long line of a werewolf family through centuries. You have werewolf blood running through your veins. But you're human. You remind me of myself. You see, I used to be a young maiden, too. I used to be an innocent human. But I met this man. He was the most handsome yet the most domineering and possessive man I've ever met."
Lola smiled slightly at the memory. It seemed only yesterday when everything happened. "But he was also the sweetest. I fell in love with him and I felt like..it was everything I ever wanted. It felt like he was the universe that existed around me. So he gave me a home. And I gave him everything. But..I was so shocked to find out he was a werewolf. A fearful creature. A beast. I could have left. I could have left him. But I didn't. I couldn't. He was a part of me, a part of my soul. So I accepted him for who he was. And he gave me more than everything I could ever want. I loved that man. Until soon, we had a son: your father."
Anna briefly looked at her Grandmother beneath her eyelashes. "My father was a werewolf?"
"Yes, Dear. And so are your cousins. And so are all the people in your School."
Her eyebrows furrowed, mind struggling to gather all the information in one piece. "Grandma, why are you telling me this just now?"
Lola exhaled a shaky breath. "I wasn't sure you were still ready at the time. You were still young, Anna. And I will always see you as the innocent little girl you were many years ago. But time flies so fast and then you're turning eighteen in a few more days. Time left me with memories to treasure. But I knew I have to go back here. Back to the McQueen Mansion. Back to where you belong. Where your heart belongs. Anna, this is who you are."
Anna was silent for a moment. Lola touched her hands and held them tightly in her hands. "Anna..Have you ever felt like..there are these prickling and mildly stinging sensations crawling under your skin and running down your spine whenever you touch someone?"
She looked at her Grandmother, as if in a flustered expression. Yes, she felt it. And she realized there were more to it than what she felt. "Yes," she muttered under her breath, almost in slight hesitation.
"It's a sign," Lola said. "That whoever makes you feel things like this, things you never felt before, feelings that you never thought you can feel, is your mate."
