A New Pack

Chapter 1: Alone (Jordan)

Darkness and terror flooded across my eyes. Winds and twirls of demons fluttered through my dreams and I tried to escape them. I felt something hard dig into my back and my eyes flew open. Finally, I was awake. I was hidden under a tree covered in the deep night of the forest. I grasp the dirt under my palms and try to sit up but at the slightest movement, my stomach clenches in pain. My hand goes to my abdomen and when I pull my hand up to look, my hand is covered in fresh blood. I push on the dirt to drag myself into a sitting position and groan as my body sends waves of pain. 

My eyes start to turn black again when I hear a howl in the distance. I take a deep breath but I can only smell the stench coming off of my body. How long had I been here? It must have been a long time based on the stink coming off of my body; I was living but I sure smelled like death. 

The howls happened again. I looked up and between the trees, I saw a beam of moonlight barely breaking through the leaves above. Shit. A pack of wolves would probably find my body and tear me apart. I already had the smell of blood emitting from the place I sat so it wouldn't be hard to find my body. I looked at my surroundings for a place to hide but I realized I can't move in the state I am in. The sounds of trampling feet start to echo around me. I grab the root beside me with my left hand and a stick beside me with my right. I laugh quietly at my stupidity in my weapon. The most I could do with a stick is play fetch with the damn wolves. 

My fear grows as I hear their footsteps come closer. The sound combined with the pounding pressure of my heartbeat caused a slight sway in my stance. I close my eyes to regain my strength and when I open them I am surrounded by a pack of wolves. I push myself back into the tree and try to ignore the pain across my body. 

The leader of the pack creeps toward me with their teeth snarled, I grimace waiting for the attack but it only comes to smell me. I cover my head with my hands and prepare to be killed but nothing happens. When I look up, the wolf is no longer there but a woman is standing where it once stood. Her hands are covered in fur and small ears protrude from her head. She grins at me when she sees the confusion on my face. I start to shake in fear and the terror takes over and I feel my world melting away.

---------------------------------------------

I don't wake up on the ground this time. I wake up in a small cot in a small building. I move to touch my stomach and feel my abdomen wrapped in a cloth. The rest of me is covered in what seems to be a large t-shirt, not quite the same amount of coverage as a typical hospital gown. I go to twist to see the other side of the room but the pressure of the wrappings push against me. I cry out in pain and bring my knees to my chest.

A man walks in the room and shakes his head at me. 

"You are not to move right now, the bite will only hurt worse if you move."

I shook as cold sweat began to cover my forehead and body. Did he say bite?

"Did you say bite?"

He looked at me and smiled painfully. He walked toward me and pulled me so that I was laying on my back. He looked up at me. 

"What's your name? I can't properly treat you if I don't know your name." His eyes were kind and his hands were gentle as he peeled the wrappings off my stomach. 

"Jordan. Did you say bite?" He kept his eyes focused on the task at hand. 

"I'm Henry. I typically only treat the pack's wounds but we saw you laying in the woods on your own and smelled the bite on you. Robin couldn't bear to leave you there so we brought you back with us." He smiled again and grabbed my hand. 

"Who's Robin? What do you mean the bite on me? What's going on?" I asked this frantically as I pulled my hand away from him. He couldn't just grab my hand and talk to me like a child without an explanation as to what was going on.

Henry sighed as he pulled the last layer off of my stomach. I looked down and realized what he was talking about, a series of puncture wounds in the shape of a mouth burned across my stomach. My skin seemed to throb with every heartbeat. I looked up at Henry horrified and confused. He must have seen the pain and confusion in my eyes when he finally answered my questions.

"You've been bitten by a werewolf. It may sound unusual or fake to you but I promise you that you are in safe care. Robin is our Alpha, a quite unusual one but that is for a later topic." Henry paused to look at me.

I wanted to laugh, I wanted to cry, I wanted to be anywhere but this cot but I couldn't move and I was trapped beside someone who was saying werewolves existed. I thought for a moment and remembered the girl who took the place of the wolf in front of me. This didn't seem real but it had to be. Right? Henry moved from my side to a table next to the cot. He grabbed some sort of liquid and a pad. 

"Now Jordan, I am really sorry for this but it will cause the process to hurt a lot less and to act a lot quicker." Henry poured the liquid on the cloth and his lips pulled to a tight frown.

"What, what do you mean?" Before I could react he pulled the cloth down to my abdomen. 

My back arched as a rush of pain moved through my spine. Every hair on my body seemed to be ripping out of me at once, my skin felt like it was melting and my head was burning. I cried out and tried to move but Henry pinned my shoulders into the bed. 

"I am so sorry, it will be over soon. I'm so sorry." I struggled for a moment but as the pain coursed through me my body began to weaken and my eyes began to shut.