"Alyson? Can you hear me?" A voice calls out to her.
"Why isn't she waking up?" another voice shouts louder. Alyson's body feels like it's made out of lead. Her body was burning with the pain she felt vomit making its way up. It travelled its way up she tried to swallow it down but it pushed its way up over her lips and dribbled down her chin.
"Is...Is that blood?" A different voice asked afraid.
"Yes," A voice said as someone rolled her on her side.
"Noah grab her lower half." Alyson felt another round of blood creeps its way up. She heaved and a fresh wave ushered its way up. The copper taste made her stomach turn worse.
Alyson closed her mouth tight and slowly blinked her eyes open the white of her room came into view. She forced her eyes to move over to the people hovering over her.
"Alyson? What's going on?" Noah asked his panic clear, Kai whined softly at his feet. The room spun as she looked at the face of her dad. He hid the fear better but Alyson could still see it. Melissa held him tightly,
"I had a vision," Alyson said weakly as she tried to push herself out of bed.
"A vision? Okay, but why are you vomiting blood?" Noah said his voice sharp and high.
"That's not important. The problem of the skinwalkers evolving has happened before! They evolve as we do! I saw one of them watching an elders meeting!" Alyson said the words fell out before she could stop them, she left out the fact that she was the skinwalker that watched them.
"What? Alyson, you're not making sense. Skinwalkers don't talk," Mathew said his face wrinkled. He leaned down to help her sit up.
"They do! Just to certain people," Alyson said the words spilled out.
"What? Do...do they talk to you, Alyson?" Mathew asked.
"Not all of them only one, he's like their alpha, their elder or something like that." Only then did Mathew's panic become much more visible.
"Do not tell anyone else of this," Mathew said as he looked her in the eyes and searched them.
"What why?" Alyson asked confused.
"They'll think something that isn't true," Mathew said as he held her head. She pulled her head out of his hands and looked at the wall.
"But what if it is true?"
"It's not true," Mathew said.
"How do you know that?"
"Because I know you, Alyson," Mathew said.
"No, you don't," Alyson said the words hurt him almost as much as they hurt her.
"Why don't we give her some room? Come on boys," Melissa said as she ushered the boys out. Alyson gave her a grateful look. Kai sat next to her in bed his head close to hers.
"Kai, why does my life have to be so complicated? Why can't I just be a normal kid who is neglected by their family or something? Why did I have to be a part alpha werewolf who has visions, can talk to animals, and all that other stuff? I should be in College right now studying for some stupid quiz over a topic I definitely didn't study long enough for. " Alyson said to the young wolf. He nuzzled into her neck and sighed heavily. Alyson smiled weakly at the pup and scratched behind his ear.
She sat there for a good few seconds and then it hit the rush of pain that hurt her very soul. She sprang up from bed and to the bathroom Kai hot on her heels. She got there just in time to make it before the blood came up. It was thicker than she remembered. The copper taste stronger than she remembered.
She looked down and saw the blood was black.
Her eyes grew in terror as she looked at it. It was the same colour Skinwalker blood was. No surely not there was no way she was puking skinwalker blood. That made no sense. How could she have their blood? She wasn't one of them...was she?
She looked at herself in the mirror her yellow eyes gleamed back at her. She looked down and saw her skin starting the crack like it did when she nearly died when she fought James. The fresh pink of her skin underneath made her feel dizzy. She waited for the hum to start again but luckily it was quiet.
She felt fear course through her. Had she really turned into a skinwalker? How did this happen? Fear and panic laced through her as she sat there panicked.
She sunk to the ground her eyes unable to see anything other than her skin as it cracked and peeled. She let out a small panicked squeak and look at Kai he stood there he whined softly. A knock on the door almost made Alyson jump out of her skin.
"Alyson? Are you alright in there?" Mathew's voice was blurred from the other side of the door.
"I...I don't know," Alyson said still as she sat still.
"I'm coming in, okay?" he said as he opened the door slowly. When he sees her on the floor he pauses for a moment.
"My hands they're cracking. I'm turning into a skinwalker, dad," she said her voice so soft and weak it almost surprised her.
"What? No, your hands are normal," He said coming down to her level and grabbed them softly. He looked over them softly and frowned.
"No...they're..." Alyson started but as she trailed on the cracks were gone and her hands were normal again.
"Alyson, you're under a lot of stress right now, your body took a huge toll. I think it's best you get some rest-" Alyson cut him off.
"No, you don't understand, Dad, I think I'm turning into a skinwalker!" She muttered softly.
"No, you're not, Alyson, you're just having side effects from using your abilities. It's common for people who see visions to also see things in everyday life like this," he said gently.
"Are you telling me I'm schizophrenic?" She said softly.
"In a way yes, but it's more of a supernatural schizophrenia, some of the visions are real and some of them aren't," he said tentatively as he rubbed circles in her palm.
"Can I stop them?" she asked softly.
"The visions?" Alyson nodded and looked away.
"I wish you could this is something that can't be stopped not really. In normal schizophrenia, you can take dopamine blockers that help but with abilities like these that doesn't seem to help," Mathew's words made Alyson both relieved and upset.
"I don't want to be like this, I just want to be normal and not be the way I am," Alyson said weakly.
"I'll look into getting you something to help keep the visions at bay, but the more you use your abilities the worse these everyday visions will get," Her dad said and finally gave Alyson some answers.
"Then if I stop using them will I get better?" she asked. Mathew's eyes got a bit dimmer.
"Unfortunately the damage has already been done. There's only stopping it from getting worse," Mathew's words felt like someone stepped onto her chest and stood there.
"Okay," she said softly and stared at the wall, "But what about if they just happen? how do I stop them?"
"That's the thing that sucks about having abilities is you can't choose when some of them happen," he said his words brought her a slight bit of comfort. It wasn't what she wanted to hear but at least it was some kind of answer a small ribbon of truth.
"Why me? Why did I have to have this? couldn't some of the burden be spread to someone else? It all feels like too much," Alyson said as she put her forehead on her knees.
"Maybe because you're the only one strong enough to hold all this weight," he said his vocie rung with understanding.
"But I don't think I'm strong enough," Alyson said tears formed in her eyes. Without words, Mathew pulled her into his arms and let her cry. She cried until there were no more tears to cry and yet they still sat there. They sat there until Alyson fell asleep.
She woke up the next morning, she felt better than when she went to sleep. She had expected to have to throw up more blood than she did but maybe luck was on her side for once. She got out of bed and showered and all that.
She came downstairs and everything was weirdly quiet, she thought nothing of it and grabbed a cup off the shelf and some coffee. Thankfully the pot was still on. She sat at the table and started to sip her coffee. Her stomach gave a loud complaint of being empty. Just as she thought that Melissa came out from the laundry room and gave her a soft smile.
"Alyson, good to see you awake, the boys will be up soon it's still early for them," Melssia said as she took a seat across from Alyson.
"Is it? " she said looking at the clock it was about one pm.
"Yeah, they tend to sleep in a bit. Mathew had one hell of a time making Noah sleep in his room. Noah sat outside your room for hours. Mathew had to shoot him away a couple times. So, he'll be up any minute when he hears you're awake," she said with a soft smile. Alyson felt a bit conflicted. It was weird that he cared for her so much.
"Why had Noah imprinted on me so hard?" Alyson asked aloud. Not annoyed but more curious than anything.
"It's because he recognized you as the next Alpha and the fact that Mathew love you so much. It kinda rubs off when you're around him so much. Would you like some breakfast?" she asked as she got up.
"God yes please! But the thing is I'm not really the alpha type. How would I even lead people when I can't turn into a wolf myself?" she asked softly.
"Not every General has to be in the fight," Melissa said as she shrugged. She opened the fridge. She pulled out the pack of bacon and eggs.
"But I need to fight it's not fair to make them fight when I won't," She said as she stretched and put her head on the table.
"No, it's not but fights are never fair," Melissa said. She shrugged softly.
"That's true but I still don't feel comfortable sending my people to die when I'm not risking my own life," She said with a whine.
"I'm glad if you were okay with that it would be a problem. It means you care," She said as she brushed Alyson's hair back her touch gentle.
"But that doesn't mean I'm a good leader, leaders should be able to lead a charge and help their people no matter the cost, I lost one person and nearly lost my whole team because I fucked up so hard," Alyson said her voice still muffled from the table.
"Alyson, no need to be so hard on yourself. You're still a new leader so don't feel too bad. Every great leader loses people. The first always hurts the most and you learn from it," Melissa said as she flipped the bacon over the sizzle loud in the silence between the two. Neither woman spoke until Noah ran down the stairs.
"You're awake!" he said relived. "You look better than you did too!" he said as he took the seat next to her. She gave a soft scoff.
"What's that supposed to mean?" she said as she crossed her arms.
"You looked like you were dead last night," he said as he watched Melissa with hungry eyes. She as she put the food on a plate and set it down in front of Alyson. Alyson could feel his eyes on her as she ate slowly.
"Well, you should have seen me the first time I had one of them," she said as she grabbed the salt and ketchup to put them on her eggs. when she was satisfied she grabbed the syrup for her bacon.
"You really are exactly like your father," Melissa said as she laughed. She then started the big breakfast. Alyson laughed softly at the comparison.
She took a piece of bacon off her plate and part of an egg and gave it to Kai. He sniffed around and took it. He carried it away to eat it away from Noah's hard glare.
"Leave him be, you beast," Alyson said, "He can't hunt like you can." Alyson said as she gestured to his eyes. Noah rolled his eyes and gave a little huff.
"But I'm starving!!" he growled.
"No you're not, you're just hungry you mongrel," Alyson snapped at him. He turned to her and stole a piece of her bacon.
"MOM! Noah's stealing food off my plate!!" she screamed like he'd hit her instead of taking her food. Melissa jumped as Alyson said that.
"Noah, let Alyson have her food. Yours is coming," she said her voice a bit strained. Her face didn't meet either of them.
"Ah, jeez. Now you've done it!" Noah said dramatically as he threw his arms up in the air.
"Did what?" Alyson asked as she tilted her head to the side.
"Nothing, dear, nothing," Melissa said her voice shook softly.
"What's going on?" Alyson said as drew her brows together. In the next moment Mathew ran out of his room.
"Melly! Are you okay? What happened!" Mathew said as he jumped over the banister to get to his mate.
"Nothing, I'm okay. Don't make such a big deal," Melissa said softly.
"Noah?" Mathew said as he took Melissa into his arms. She leaned into him.
"Alyson used the M word," Noah said as he used the distraction to steal the rest of Alyson's eggs off her plate.
"The M word?" Alyson asked confused as her dad talked excitedly.
"No! she didn't! I missed it! Oh Honey! I'm so happy for you!" Mathew said as he gave her a big beam of a smile
"By the moon!" Noah said as he threw his hand up in the air and shook his head. Alyson was a bit annoyed as she sat there out of the loop.
"What M word? Can you people act like you've got some sense for 5 seconds?!" She shouted. Noah's dramatics stopped and he looked at her in full attention. Mathew held his mate as she sobbed into his chest, his eyes snapped towards her.
"Now that's the Alpha energy I like to see!" Mathew said as he nodded
"Can you please answer my question!" She said as she ignored his comment.
"It's mo-" Noah started but stopped when Mathew's face grew serious and he froze. Alyson watch him with curiosity.
"There's a rouge on the border! He isn't responding to anyone! They need me there! Noah with me. Now,"