Audrey
The room turned chaotic. Now, everyone had their own questions. Would Keith be a Royal? Do we have to look up to him like a Prince? Will he have power over us? Can he use a Royal command?
I was listening to the questions. But my mind was elsewhere. Well, it was until my mate spoke up. "Does that mean that Keith is my mate?" The one question got everyone else to turn silent.
Dr. Nale could finally answer a question, but he didn't have a positive answer. He opened and closed his mouth, not knowing what to say. "Touch him" he said simply. We all looked at him questionably. "Keith already has part of Audrey's wolf in him. You'll know if you guys are mates if you feel sparks. So poke him or something" Dr. Nale suggested.
Thomas reluctantly took a step closer to Keith. But he grabbed me instead and pressed his lips to mine. "Even if this guy is my mate, I'm sticking with you" he mumbled, squeezing me to his chest. Poor Keith. But lucky me. I smiled, going on my tippy-toes to kiss his cheek.
"Well, that makes me feel so loved"
Our heads snapped to Keith. "Someone always has to ruin the moment" I muttered, hesitantly letting go of my mate.
He stood next to Keith but made no move to touch him. "You fuckin' chicken" Keith grumbled, reaching out and grabbing Thomas' hand.
"I feel..." Thomas paused and we all awaited his words. My heart was beating loudly in my chest, I thought it might explode. "Awkward" he finished, pulling his wrist out of Keith's hand. "That was really, really awkward" Thomas came back to me and grabbed my wrist. Once again, he kissed me. "I'm not mates with your best friend" he mumbled with his lips mere centimeters away from mine. We both laughed as I wrapped my arms around his waist. "Dude. Don't hold my hand ever again. You're my mate's best friend. That's disrespectful and kinda weird" he told Keith.
My best friend shrugged, running a hand through his hair. "You took too long" he stated, not really caring. "At least we know we're not mates anyway. I would've rejected you. No offense. You're just not my type"
We laughed as Thomas glared at Keith. "I'm everyone's type" he boasted.
I grinned. "Especially teenage girls who don't realize that their flash is on" I blurted. Thomas smiled down at me, pressing a kiss to my forehead. No one questioned my comment, they just smiled at us. "What?" I muttered, unable to prevent myself from blushing.
"You guys are cute" Mom gushed. I smiled at her while Thomas thanked her. "You two go on a date or something. It's been awhile since you've had time by yourselves. Go see a movie or something" she suggested.
I hesitated, looking at Keith and Dr. Nale. I want to go out with Thomas- it's always funny to see young girls ogling him. But I don't want to miss anything that might be important. "We can stay for an hour to see if Dr. Nale finds anything" Thomas offered.
Smiling gratefully at him, I nodded my head in agreement. "Well. Let's start test number one" Dr. Nale announced. He got up and motioned for us to follow. I was filled with anxiety as we walked down the hallway. I didn't know what test number one was, but I was nervous about it. "This should be fairly simple. Audrey will shift. We will see if it affects Keith" Dr. Nale stated.
Keith shrugged, plopping down on the dirt floor. "This is a waste of a good outfit" I muttered, standing in front of them and preparing to shift. Thomas laughed, offering to buy me a new outfit. I started shifting into my white wolf, but something wasn't right. A scream escaped my lips at the pain.
I closed my eyes, feeling every bone breaking and transforming. It was like my first shift. Thomas rushed forward, gently running his hand over my body to ease the pain. It helped, but the pain didn't stop. I opened my eyes to see Keith's eyes turning completely white. He was shaking as I shifted. Thomas was whispering things in my ears to calm me down, but I couldn't focus on him. Everything was turning blurry.
"Almost there" I could make out Dr. Nale's voice. He seemed worried, but he was definitely the most calm out of all of us. A few moments later, the transformation was completed and I was standing on all fours. My body heaved up and down as I struggled to get air into my lungs. "I wasn't expecting that" Dr. Nale said honestly.
I took in a gulp of air, getting my breathing back to normal. Keith was still in a trace with his whitened eyes, but his body was still. I walked up to him and nudged him with my nose. He blinked a few times before his eyes turned back to their normal color. "You okay?" he asked, running his hand through my fur. Nodding, I pushed my head into his hand. "I felt that" he said quietly.
Dr. Nale got closer and listened into our conversation. "Bones being pulled out of their sockets- twisting, cracking" Keith paused and took a deep breath. "I looked through your eyes" he informed me. I cocked my head in question. "When you were shifting, I wasn't me. It was like I was in your body and experiencing everything with you. I saw what you saw. I was looking at myself" he explained.
"Can you do it again?" Dr. Nale asked, staring at Keith. I growled in warning. One test had already hurt him- both of us. I'm starting to think this is too risky- and that's exactly what I told him through the mind-link. "There are risks to these tests. And I apologize that you guys got hurt. I truly wasn't expecting that. My theories aren't always correct. My hypotheses aren't always correct. There will be errors in my predictions. But you all want to know more about this, don't you?" he questioned.
I looked at Keith. He stared back at me. "Yeah. We do" Keith admitted, running a hand through his hair.
Dr. Nale nodded, looking back and forth between us. "Just picture being in her head and seeing through her eyes" Dr. Nale advised. Keith slowly closed his eyes. I kept my eyes on Keith, looking for any signs of pain or even discomfort. So far, he looked fine. But I thought too soon.
His eyes snapped open and his body turned as still as a statue. His eyes were pure white. "It's working" I informed them through the mind-link.
The doctor nodded, examining Keith's body first. He was able to pull up Keith's arm, but it dropped like dead weight. Keith was like a puppet. Dr. Nale started shining a small flashlight into Keith's eyes. They were glistening, almost looking as if they were glowing white. "Can you feel him in your mind?" Dr. Nale asked, turning his attention to me.
I allowed him to examine my eyes as I focused on my mind. There was a presence. I could feel that much. It was like when you take down your wall, and people are allowed into your mind to talk to you. But this was different. This was stronger. I could feel him inside my head. But it wasn't uncomfortable. It felt as if he belonged there. "You're able to mind-link me. Try talking to him" Dr. Nale instructed.
Focusing, I pushed my thoughts to Keith. It was basically instructions to mind-link. "Dude" his voice rang in my head. I smiled, telling Dr. Nale that we were able to mind-link.
He nodded his head, examining Keith's body once again. "Is he able to control your actions?" Dr. Nale inquired.
I waited for Keith to take action. I stood on my hind-legs and growled at my mate. Thomas rolled his eyes, but a smile formed on his lips. "This reminds me of Ratatouille. The mouse controls the human with his hair and stuff" Keith told me, waving at everyone. Damn. I'm being controlled by a child.
"In case you forgot, I'm in your head!" Keith reminded me. I purposefully pushed my thoughts towards him. I thought about his video game skills- or rather, his lack of skills. I thought about the first day he had met Emily and she dominated him at the game. "That was one time! And it was beginner's luck!" he defended.
I internally cackled at him. Keith forced my hand to my face and made me slap myself. "Why you hitting yourself?" Keith teased, forcing my palm to repeatedly hit against my cheek.
Scowling, I attempted to get control of my body. "Sorry to interrupt the fun" Dr. Nale didn't sound sorry one bit. "Try to return back to your body" he told Keith. I could feel the disappointment that filled Keith. He wanted to make me slap myself more.
Without a doubt, my best friend is one of those people who don't grow up. Slowly, I could feel his presence drifting away. I watched his body as his eyes returned to normal and he began to slump forward. "That was great!" Keith said, jumping up onto his feet. He stumbled, but quickly caught his balance. Rolling my eyes, I forced my way into Thomas' head and asked him to get me a shirt.
Instead of getting me a shirt, he gave me his shirt- which left him standing in front of me shirtless. I tried very hard not to stare, but my eyes still lingered on his well-built frame. Thomas covered me with his body as I shifted and slipped his shirt on. A smile made it's way onto my face as his scent filled my nose. Thomas pulled me into his side, pressing a kiss to my head.
"I think that's enough for today. Don't you Dr. Nale?" Mom asked, looking at him in a way that dared him to say otherwise. The doctor nodded in agreement. "You two run along now" she said as if she was talking to a couple of children. "You can have a nice dinner" she suggested.
Thomas nodded in agreement, but I was slightly confused. "It didn't seem like it; but your shift took a couple of hours" Thomas informed me. I frowned, but nodded my head- indicating that I understood. It was just like my first shift. It took hours. It hurt like hell. And that pretty much sums it up. "Are you still in the mood to go?" he asked, looking down at me in question.
I quickly nodded my head. My bones were a little stiff and sore, but eating definitely doesn't cause strain. If anything, eating can heal. I do get really happy when I eat. Food is just that amazing. "Go change. I'll wait out front" Thomas told me. Nodding, I walked inside the castle and to my room.
However, I didn't make it to my bedroom. A woman had stopped me. I never met her before, but it seemed as if she knew me. I get that a lot around the castle. "Audrey!" the woman exclaimed, wrapping her arms around me. I moved to hug her back, but she was already pulling away. She backed up a step or two and scanned my body. "You're gorgeous!" she complimented.
Smiling, I thanked her. "Oh, and you have Asher's hair!" she gushed. I nodded in confirmation. There was something familiar about this woman. But I couldn't put my finger on it. "You sure got your mother's short height" she said with a chuckle. I forced a smile and nodded again. I've met people that I didn't know, but they usually introduced themselves. This woman was just pointing things out about me. "Do you like Hot Cheetos? Eve loves those!" she stated.
"Oh! We're all so glad that you're back!" she proclaimed, not giving me time to answer her questions. "Do you cook? Asher is a great cook! Eve is alright- don't tell her I said that though. She just needs a little more zap! You know? The food she makes is just a teeny bit too boring" the woman started whispering as if it was a huge secret.
I might not know her, but her personality was definitely entertaining. "Gosh! There's just so much to talk about! We should go out! Come on! Oh. But we should probably tell your parents first. Where are they? I haven't seen them in a while either" she looked around the hallway. They weren't there, but I could hear someone approaching us.
"Mom?"