A few weeks have passed since the events at the Nemeton and the defeat of Jennifer Blake.
The only thing that had changed was Derek and Cora leaving for god knows how long.
Bella was now officially a werewolf. But she was having trouble controlling her abilities and shifts. She was shifting back and forth in her sleep, even more so when she dreams or has nightmares. Peter could hear Bella having a dream based on her heartbeat rising and goes to wake her up. Peter was not at all surprised to see her shifting.
Peter called Deaton to see what he should do to help Bella. "Is there any way to stop her from flashing back and forth, it's freaking her out."
Deaton chuckles on the other end of the line, "I could imagine it would. You could try Alpha roaring at her. Make her wolf summit to you. I'm not sure if it'll work or not, but it's worth a try."
Peter turns back to Bella, "Honey, I'm going to roar really, really loud and it might be kind of scary. I promise you though that I'm not going to hurt you, so there isn't any reason to be frightened of me, alright?" Peter asks, staring right into Bella's flashing eyes.
Bella nods her head nervously. Peter gives her a small smile before going completely Alpha on him. It startles Bella so bad, she pushes backwards and falls off the end of her bed.
Peter ran down to the floor on his knees beside her.
"I'm so sorry." Peter tells her "Are you alright?"
All at once the flashing stops and she just starts chuckling. "Well, you definitely shocked me."
Peter sighs in relief as he stares at her. Bella is almost awestruck and it warms Peter's heart. Peter then hugged his daughter.
"Did it stop?" Bella asked, referring to her shifting
"It would seem so."
"Thank god." Bella said, tugging on her t-shirt.
"What is it?" Peter asked
"My shirt is so tight." she replied, still tugging on it.
Peter chuckles, "When you finally shift, your body becomes more defined. You are bigger and stronger now."
"Does that mean I need new clothes?"
"Most likely." Peter chuckled
"Perfect." Bella rolled her eyes
After lunch they are heading into town, having to buy Bella new clothes because her other ones are now too small.
Bella seems happy the first couple hours, but her mood gradually changes.
"Bells, why do you seem so down?" Peter finally asks, stopping at a red light.
Belle shrugs, "I don't know. Everything just feels unusual and off to me" she says quietly.
Peter smiles, "Sometimes that happens with new wolves. It'll be alright after your first few full moons."
Belle smiles at him, "What do werewolves usually do on the full moon?" she asks curiously.
"Well, being a Werewolf is considered a gift, but it is a gift that has a cost. Because a Werewolf gains their power from the moon, are when they are at their strongest. However, this also means that their animal instincts and heightened aggression are at their peak as well, which makes them much more likely to lose control and harm or kill someone by accident. This makes Werewolves vulnerable to exposure and also makes it easier for them to be captured or killed by , which is why do the majority of their hunting on full moons when Werewolves are most likely to make a mistake. Due to this risk, most werewolves are trained to control themselves on a full moon, typically by using an "anchor" to help them remain connected to their humanity"
"An anchor?" Bella asked
"An anchor can be a person, a relationship with a person, an emotion, an object, a mantra, or even just a Werewolf's own sense of self." Peter explained "Packs may also have their own methods of training their Betas to maintain control over their lycanthropy. For example, our family used a sacred object, a , in combination with the mantra "Alpha, Beta, Omega" as a tool to help the younger wolves gain control. I had attempted to use it for Derek with little success in the latter case."
"Until Werewolves gain full control of their transformations on full moons using their anchors, they are typically restrained in some way to prevent them from running wild and attacking people." Peter continued to explain "Ideally, this involves locking the wolf in a secured room, like a boiler room, which has a strong enough construction to withstand the Werewolf's , which has been even more enhanced by the moon's effects. Another method involves tying them up with large amounts of heavy chains, though this is still not always strong enough to keep a full-moon-crazed Werewolf at bay and is not ideal for long-term use."
Bella's eyes widened in fear "You aren't going to chain me up are you?"
"I don't want to. I want to try and avoid it. Based on what I saw back at the hospital, I get the sense that you've had some control." said Peter "But you are not yet completely trained. You shift on and off in your sleep. Your abilities only just came out. It's going to take a while until you are in total control."
"Okay, so you don't shift and run through the woods as a pack and bond together and hunt something down to eat?"
Peter barked into laughter "Where did you get that idea?"
"It was just a thought!" Bella shrugged as she laughed "I never really knew what werewolves do on the full moon."
"Well, I'll tell you what." Peter said. "Tonight, you and I, we go for a run in the forest, shifted. And I will show you what it's like to be a wolf in the night."
Bella smiled, "I'd like that a lot."
The rest of the day passes fairly quickly and soon they are standing outside the reserve, watching the sun go down. "Dad, what happens if I'm not as fast as you, what if I get lost or left behind, I don't want to get left behind daddy." Bella is rambling over and over again.
"Sweetheart, I told you everything will be fine and it will. Once you shift and start running, everything will come natural to you and you won't even think about it." Peter says
Finally, the sun is set and Peter turns to his daughter. "I'll have you in front of me. I want you to try to keep an ear out for anything. I'm sure I'll hear it anyway, but I'll be keeping a close eye on you, so just in case."
As soon as Peter says it, his eyes start glowing and he begins to shift. As he does, Bella feels a sort of tingling feeling growing inside her and she wants to shift. She's not sure how to turn it on and off though so she just sits there confused, a hard look on her face while she tries to make herself shift.
Bella hears Peter chuckle beside her and opens his eyes.
"Daddy, it's not working!" she growls out. She then looks down to see that her claws were out and slapped a hand over her mouth, and she realizes it was furry.
"You don't really have to think about it, it sort of just happens." Peter tells her, with a smile on his face.
Bella slides her hand off and smiles. "So, we just run?"
"We run."
They share one last smile before running off into the woods.
By the end of the run, Bella holds herself against a tree as she pauses to catch her breath. She goes to move down towards the ground against the tree bark but she stops and looks up sheepishly at Peter. Peter doesn't say anything. That's when he notices that there isn't any fear, curiosity yes...but no fear.
Peter questioned whether or not Bella would now carry out new fears. The fear of her power. The fear of having to watch her back at all times. The fear of being a werewolf.
Peter sits down next to Bella on the ground. "Alright?"
"Yeah." Bella says out of breath "Just not used to running like that. And I hate physical activity."
Peter chuckled but he didn't hesitate to notice the jump in her heartbeat.
"Bells." he says, lifting the girl's face to meet his. "Aren't you frightened at all?" Peter asks her.
Bella thinks for a few minutes and then says, "No..I'm confused...but I'm not scared. I can't tell you how bad I've wanted this. But now that I am one, I don't know what to do. You have no idea how many times I have played it over and over again in my mind. More than that, I'm angry. I'm angry at what Talia did to me. I don't know why she did what she did but it just pisses me off that someone in the family would do something that could cause me harm. Makes me wonder how many secrets Talia had."
Peter listens to her heartbeat, and Bella isn't lying. Peter smiles at him and wraps an arm around her, planting a small kiss on the top of her head. "I know. I know how you feel. I knew about her taking the location of the Nemeton from me but..."
"But what?" Bella asked
"I think she may have taken something more from me. More memories."
"But why? For what reason?"
"That's what I'm determined to find out."
They both sit in silence for a few minutes. Bella doesn't say anything, Peter can tell that she is deep in thought. Bella's face falls a little after that and Peter can tell that she is worried about something.
"Sweetheart, what is it? What's wrong?" Peter asks her.
"I'm just worried about what's coming next. " she trails off in a whisper.
"My sweet daughter, there's nothing you need to worry about right now. The threat has been eliminated for now. Well worry when the time comes. If something were to happen, we'd handle it. It's what we do. And for that, I will always protect you" Peter smirks at Bella and for the first time he is worried.
Bella looked up at Peter with a sleepy daze, "Are we all done now?" she mumbled.
Peter nodded and they went back home to the loft.