Wolf Bound

Chapter 6: Outcasts Like Us

Compared to the cold caressing my skin, the heat within me made a note to blast at full-capacity. Wait, what was today's date? We were in the middle of October. My life went to shit on the twelfth. Today must have been the seventeenth. Could this have been my menstrual? My cycle had been changing around a lot lately, so I wouldn't have been surprised.

But something was off. There was no excessive cramping. Why the hell was I overheating then? It wasn't normal for me to overheat for anything but my menstrual. I knew the feeling all too well. My throat would close up. The empty contents of my stomach would rise because of the cramps. The heat would push me close to passing out.

However, this wasn't how that felt.

"Ouch, what the hell?" I whispered.

Something poked out from my gums. The instinctive gasp followed my hands to the tip of my teeth—the ones that had been filling out over the last few days. They stuck out like a sore thumb now. The pain in my jaw spread through all thirty-two of my teeth. An ache worse than giving birth, my mom would describe it. That was how she referred to tooth aches.

My hands met the ground as I dug my fingertips into the cold, hard soil. "A-aaie!" A cry formed in my throat. I crouched over, my head touching my knees. I could hear my heart beating in my head. The adrenaline rushing through me caused a spike in its pace. Its soft beats were like bullets piercing through my rib cage. If I moved, the bullets would tear through my flesh and exit my chest. Not literally, but that was how it felt.

I lifted my head and opened my eyes again. Thump, thump, thump, was how the heart beats sounded in my head. There was something different about myself . . . I didn't recognize the gold irises staring back into mine.

"My eyes. . ." I whispered. Now, my pulse was beating against my skin. Not just my heart. From my neck, to my arms. I flashed my teeth unprepared for the even sharper set baring from my gums. And my arms. God, my arms. The bare skin covering them was oozing hair.

"No, no, no." I crawled back. My hands went to my face. My legs. My mouth. Everywhere. Crunch, crackle, and pop. I could hear those dreadful noises again. It was the sound of my bones stretching on the inside. I hadn't even known bones could do that!

"Go away. Go away. Go away," I repeated, covering my ears.

I wanted the noises to stop. I wanted the pain to end. I wasn't ready.

A sharp pain drilled into my spine. My spine hunched, outlining the shape of my back. Was I getting bigger or smaller? I couldn't tell. I had no control. My body wouldn't unwrap itself from fetal position. I resembled a baby in the womb again.

"Let me take control." A hushed, deep voice racked my brain. I knew that voice. I'd once heard that voice somewhere. I couldn't remember. It was . . . calming. And it was in my head. But it made me feel safe. No, it wasn't real. I had to erase those thoughts.

"S-shit!" I let loose a loud whimper at the snap in my back. A sob shook my chest. God, that was fucking painful. I squeezed my eyes shut, inhaling as deep as I could for as long as I could. Through the darkness of my clenched eyelids, I saw the shadows of the moon's light glossing over me. I was like a puppet hanging by a thread.

"Genesis. . . Relax." My eyes cracked opened. I squinted through blurred vision in search of the voice. Except, I didn't see it anywhere. I didn't see anyone. But something called to my attention below, casting off the reflection of the water.

I froze. There wasn't anything else I could do. Jet-black fur, gold eyes, an abnormal size for his kind—he was just as I saw in my dream.

"Don't get scared." The wolf's jaw moved with the words before I could react.