In Our Blood

Chapter One

Wolves Are Hypocrites 

       Beca was opening every drawer in her small room, looking for the crumpled up paper that she knew she threw onto her floor Friday afternoon. Now notepads, pens, clothing and papers were strewn across her room. She let out a defeated sigh and sat on her unmade bed, thinking of how she'd promised Emma that she would keep her room clean this month. It was nearing the fourth of October and she had already failed.

        "Maddy!" Beca's yell rang throughout the house as soon as she heard the cellar door creak shut. The full moon was rising through the dark sky, outshining the stars surrounding it.
        She heard the weak "what?" that came from her friend as she trudged up the stairs to Beca's room. When she reached it, she leaned against the door way, her short brown hair falling down her neck.
        "So, I can't find my work for Maths, and I was wondering..." Beca trailed off, rubbing the back of her neck sheepishly.
        Her friend rolled her brown eyes and turned around to leave. "Mam and Dad are locked up. Check my bag."
        Beca smiled and walked across the hallway to fetch Maddy's bag, thinking of how lucky she was to have her as a friend. It seems quite stupid to think about your past with another person just because they're letting you copy their homework, but Beca's hyperactive mind rolled with it as soon as she started to scribble down numbers onto a blank sheet of paper.
        She and Maddy had known each other since they were toddlers. From what Beca could remember, their parents were good friends. There was a house fire when Beca was six, though, and her parents' bodies were never recovered from the ashes. Of course, she hadn't learned that fact until recently, with Maddy's parents not knowing how to tell a six-year-old girl that her parents were dead.
        Emma and Daniel had taken her in and educated her about what her parents had neglected to tell her. She was a Wolfblood, meaning her genetic code was actually written to be fifty-percent canine and fifty-percent human. That's the science behind it, from what Beca understood, but she liked to view it as a gift rather than an extreme genetic mutation. Especially since the science couldn't explain why the Wolfbloods were able to shift into wolves once they had their first transformation and weren't able to control any shifts on the full moon afterwards.
        Beca hadn't had her first transformation yet, but she didn't feel too bad about it, since Maddy was in the same boat as she. They were - once again - put on dog-duty while Emma and Daniel were locked in the den in their wolf-forms.
         She wrapped up her thoughts as she jotted down the last answer and shoved both papers in her school bag. She stood up and glanced in her mirror, taking a note that she still had get a shower. Her curly black hair was starting to look oily from her lack of personal hygiene over the weekend. Shrugging, she took one last glance at her pale round face before walking out of her room and down the stairs. She met Maddy on the couch and sat beside her, bouncing the couch slightly.
        "What're you watching?" Beca asked, grabbing a handful of popcorn from the bowl Maddy was holding.
        "Wolf-Man," she replied, shrugging and glancing up at the sky. The moon was now cast high in the dark sea above them.
        Beca stifled a laugh and rolled her brown eyes. "The irony."
        Maddy opened her mouth to respond when the sound of metal clattering to the ground could be heard from outside. The two shared a look before standing and racing outside, finding two large wolves picking at old food that had fallen out of the trashcans.
        Maddy halfheartedly tried to shoo the two back into the cellar they had jumped out of, but they both began to growl, thinking that she was trying to steal their food. Beca walked forward and placed a hand on her friend's shoulder. "Leave it to me."
        Beca had been on the brink of transforming for a while now. She could feel her sense of smell increase every week, as well as her hearing and sight. She discovered a few months ago that she was able to flash her Wolfblood eyes at will, though it also scared her because the littlest things were starting to spike her temper now.
        She leaned down and felt her eyes glow as she let a growl rumble in the back of her throat, making Daniel whine and jump back into the cellar. Emma still held her ground, though.
        Beca felt a presence beside her and looked over to see Maddy glancing up from the ground, her own eyes burning the same orange-yellow glow they all shared. Slightly surprised, Beca lost her dominance for a moment. Emma noticed this and lunged at her, but Beca dove out of the way.
        "Throw something," Beca shouted as Emma began to approach her in a hunting stalk. She was too frightened to focus on commanding the wolf.
        Maddy looked around frantically and finally just pulled off her shoe, catching Emma's attention. She threw it down into the cellar and Emma jumped for it, giving the girls the time they needed to get the doors closed and a broom through the bars to support it.
        Maddy let out a long breath, glancing over at Beca who looked just as tired as she. She shook her head before running a hand through her hair. "I'm going to bed," she muttered.
        "Good plan," Beca agreed, heading back into the house.

        The loud ringing of an alarm clock forced Beca's eyes to snap open. Her body instinctually moved to hit snooze on the dismal machine that sat on the other side of her room. She had set it there in hopes that she'd be too lazy to get up and turn it off, hence forcing her to wake up. Though her laziness took it up a notch and was willing to do the extra work for a few more minutes of sleep.
        This morning, however, she was unable to do so. Maddy burst into her room with an agitated expression resting on her face. She was already in her uniform and holding her shoes--scratch that, shoe in her left hand. She let out a puff of air that pushed her straight brown hair out of her face.
        "Morning?" Beca mumbled cautiously, moving over to grab her own uniform out of her dresser.
        Maddy let out a noise of frustration. "You owe me a new pair!"
        A smirk unceremoniously placed itself onto Beca's lips. "To be fair, I didn't exactly say 'throw your shoe into the cellar'."
        The shoe hit her back and she turned, glaring at her friend. "There are other shoes in the house," she snapped, a low growl rumbling in her throat. Maddy narrowed her eyes but knew when to back down. Living in a house with four Wolfbloods - two of which were teenage girls - meant tensions were high a lot of the time. Beca had a feeling that today was going to be one of those days when everyone in the house kept trying to reassert their dominance.
        After Maddy left, Beca changed into the black dress pants and a white blouse that was buttoned up in a hurry. Her green necktie was tied lazily around her neck, the knot resting on her chest. She slipped on her black joggers and grabbed her school bag, walking out of her room and closing the door.
        At the bottom of the stairs, she was met with the greetings of Emma and Daniel while Maddy kept her head down to her plate, picking at the food that was sitting on it.
        "Morning," Beca responded with a yawn, grabbing a piece of Bacon off of Daniels plate. He playfully narrowed his eyes at her and smacked her arm away.
        "I can't believe you two," Maddy said suddenly, standing up and carrying her plate over to the sink. When both of their guardians gave her a confused look, she clarified. "Breaking out and raiding the bins."
        They both looked lost for an excuse. "She's right," Beca spoke up. "You always say how we have to stay hidden from humans and never to give into ourselves. Then at the first whiff of food, you're out of the cellar."
        "You don't understand how powerful the pull of the moon is yet," Daniel tried to explain.
        Emma nodded in agreement. "When you're old enough to take wolf form, then--"
        "We won't be hypocrites who break out at the first whiff of food!" Maddy exclaimed.
        Beca wrinkled up her nose in disgust, thinking of last night. "And that chicken was at least a week old," she commented.
        "Your dad's not the only one eating things he shouldn't, is he?" Emma said, referring to the empty bags of junk food that were sitting at the top of the trashcan. Maddy opened her mouth to defend herself, but Emma began again. "And you, Maddy, were still dressed last night. I thought we agreed in bed at ten on school nights?"
        "We're going to miss the bus," Beca said, glancing anxiously at the clock. The thing that could be worse than missing the bus because of a lecture would be the fact that it would then continue on during the car ride to school.
        Maddy nodded frantically, grabbing her bag and slipping on the first pair of shoes she set her eyes on, which just happened to be black polka dot rain boots. Beca followed her to the door and ignored Emma yell about not hitting her on the nose again as they left for school.
        "They're hypocrites," Maddy repeated once more under her breath.
        Beca let out a short laugh and rested her arm on Maddy's shoulder, being slightly taller than the latter. They walked to the end of the driveway, once again preparing for the next sixteen hours of lying to their friends.