I felt cold and I could barely feel my own body, but I felt the cold. Then pain shot through my entire body. It felt like my bones were breaking and shifting inside of me. I couldn't open my eyes as my body began to move uncontrollably. Unbearable pain shot though my body and I screamed out in pain, but it wasn't a scream that came out, it was a howl. I fell off of whatever I was on and before I hit the ground I landed on my hands and feet. The pain stopped when I hit the ground. I looked down at my hands and fell back when I saw paws instead. I looked back and saw brown and white fur covering my body. Then I saw it, a very long and furry tail. I jumped up and stared spinning to make sure it was really there.
I heard noises coming from behind a big metal door. I looked around the room. The thing I had fallen off of was a big metal table and a white sheet was lying on the floor next to it. I jumped up putting my front paws on the table. I saw blood on the table were my back had most likely been moments before. I looked around the room and found more tables and the wall was filled with little metal doors. I was in a morgue, but how did I get here.
The door opened and I froze. Nick and Charlie walked in and they stared back at me. Charlie's eyes were swollen as if he had been crying. Nick reached for his gun and a growl came from deep in my chest before I could stop it. I lost control of my body and it moved without my knowledge. I dropped my front paws off the table and my hackles raised as Nick pointed his gun at me. In a blur I charged at the door knocking both men to the floor. Just as I was about to round a corner Nick fired his gun and the bullet lodged itself into my back leg. I saw a window and jumped head first through it. Glass shattered around me as my paws hit the ground. I ran out into the street and had to jump to avoid being hit by a car. I jumped on the car and looked around to find out where I was. I heard Uncle yell in the hall I just jumped out of. "Where is my niece, where is Lauren!?"
I was at the hospital on the outskirts of downtown. I jumped off the car and ran down the sidewalks. I had to make it to the vet. I felt my leg lose some of its feeling and I knew I needed to get help fast. The vet's office came into view and my back leg completely stopped working. I kept moving letting it drag on the ground. I made it to the back door and collapsed losing feeling in my other back leg. I heard the door open and felt to arms pick me up and carry me inside.
My breathing was labored and I closed my eyes to concentrate. I heard a sizzling noise making its way through my body and I knew it was whatever was in that bullet. Dr. Arden shined a light in my eyes blinding me and then looked down at my markings. "Who are you? I don't recognize your markings." He touched the area around my leg and I gave out a little whine. "It's okay, I'm going to help you, but it's going to hurt." He pulled out the bullet and then put something in the wound that burnt. I felt the burning go into my veins and travel down them. My body shook and I whined as the burning felling traveled through my whole body. After my body stopped shaking Arden went to the phone and dialed someone. "Ashling, its Arden, I have a wolf here but I've never seen her before."
"Really, none of the new members are out. I don't think it's one of our wolves. Arden are you okay, is she up?"
"Yeah, I'm fine and she's been up the whole time. She knew where to come. She was shot with a wolf's bane bullet. Now she's just lying on the table and she's all healed up."
"Okay, I'll send Octavia to look at her."
"Shouldn't Derek be coming, he is the Alpha."
"He's hunting and he won't come. Lauren was killed by Lana and now he's out for blood. I don't think that any of us could reach him." I lifted my head and turned sideways. I wasn't dead I was sitting right here. Arden looked back at me and then turned away showing me his back.
"What color is Lana?" He asked in a whisper, but I could still here him clearly. I could hear everything clearly and some things too clearly.
"She's a grey wolf, why what's going on?" Ashling sounded worried but still had a calm soothing essence.
"Nothing, she just perked up when you mentioned Lana and Lauren. It's not Lana though, she's brown and white." Ashling said something else but I couldn't hear it because my hearing focused on the heartbeats near me. I put my paws on my ears trying to silence the rhythmic noise that felt like it was blearing in my ears. I whined when the noise wouldn't stop. I shook my head and still it wouldn't stop. I heard the front door open and I jumped down off the table curling up in the corner of the room. The way I was sitting I couldn't see who was coming in, but then I heard Octavia's voice. I poked my head out and saw Octavia and another girl standing next to her.
"Was Lauren in here today, her scent is everywhere." Octavia said in a solemn tone. I walked out of my hiding place and went around the table so that they could see me. Octavia froze and the girl standing next to her stared between us. "Lauren?" Octavia ran to me and slammed right into me. She wrapped her arms around me as she cried into my fur. I pinned my ears back and placed my head over her shoulder, nuzzling the side of my face into her neck.
"That's impossible, Derek was mated to a human, they can't become like us." The girl said as she stared at me and Octavia. I looked at Octavia looking for some kind of answer.
"I don't know how, but this is definitely Lauren. Lauren that's my sister, Kara, she's twenty-one and moved out of the house. That's why you didn't meet her." Octavia said as her tears subsided. The heartbeats started ringing in my head again and I shut my eyes tight. It wouldn't have been so bad if I couldn't here all the animals in the building too. I shook my head fiercely trying to rid the pounding noise. "We need to get her back to the pack, she's acting like a newly shifted wolf and at this age she could be deadly."
"What about her friends and family, they think she's dead."
"We should stop by there first to make sure they are okay."
"Maybe it's better if they don't know. It will be easier to focus on controlling the shifts." My hackles rose as I glared at Kara. How dare she try to keep me from my friends? Octavia put a hand on my shoulder and I knew she was going to agree with Kara. I shook off her hand and made a dash for the dog kennels. I knew there was a door at the back that led outside. As I ran down the line of cages the dogs silenced and then started back up as soon as I past. I jumped up and out the window that was on the door.
I ran straight to Uncle's and started scratching at the door desperate for someone to open it. As soon as the door opened I ran inside knocking down whoever opened it. Miles was the poor victim. I looked up at Desiret hoping she could still tell it was me. I know I was a wolf but I was still me too. Miles got up off the floor and looked mad. "Get out, you're like him, he's the reason she's dead." Miles went to tried to kick at me, but I moved to avoid it and he fell back on the ground. I looked into Desiret's eyes with sad eyes. What if she couldn't recognize me? My ears pined back when she didn't say anything. I looked down at the floor tears threatening to surface. "Lauren?" My head shot up to look at my best friend. She knew it was me. I shook my head and jumped up knocking her down. I was too excited that she figured it out.
"It can't be you were dead, Derek even thought you were. He just left you on the ice and we had to call for help." Miles said harshly as he picked himself off the ground. Wait how did they find out about Derek? I tilted my head to the side and thought if only I knew how to change back I wouldn't have to play these silly guessing games. Just then two dark colored wolves came up to the door. One was dark brown with green eyes and the other was dark grey with silver eyes. Miles and Desiret backed up and I stood in front of them. The wolf with green eyes walked cautiously towards me and I realized it was Octavia. I knew I needed to go with them, but part of me just wanted to stay with my friends. I looked back at my friends and let out a deep breath before running out the door with Octavia and Kara.
As we ran through the woods I couldn't help, but wonder what Derek was doing right now. He thought I was dead and I wounded what it would take to get him to believe I was really here. As we climbed the steps to Derek's house Ashling opened the door. She froze when she saw me, but quickly recovered by smiling and opening the door wide for us to enter. Ashling had two blankets in her hands and she covered Kara and Octavia with them before they changed back. She went to grab another from the coat hanger and I backed away. "Mom, she doesn't know how to change back." Kara said as she placed her hand on Ashling's shoulder. I heard a blood curdling scream from outside.
"Get Lauren upstairs now." Ashling said in a very serious tone. Kara nudged me with her leg towards the stairs and I snapped at her. I didn't mean to, but I wasn't in control. I went up the stairs, but I couldn't make the hairs on the back of my neck and back go down. I followed Octavia to her room and Kara left to go somewhere else. Octavia quickly changed into some clothes and I looked out the window to give her some privacy. I heard the front door burst open and both Octavia and I jumped.
"Derek please, I did it because I love you. She was destroying you and I was protecting my Alpha." Lana's voice rang out frantic and scared. I could hear her flesh tear as claws ran across her skin and she screamed out in pain. I winced at the sound and Octavia placed her hand on my shoulder. I heard the basement door slam shut, but I could still hear Lana's body hit each step. I heard chains rattle as they were jerked around forcibly. I tried to block out the sounds, but they wouldn't stop no matter what I tried. Octavia called for her mom as I thrashed my head around and growled in frustration. As soon as the door opened I ran out. I headed straight for the basement to make the noises stop. I charged the door but it didn't budge and I yelped as my body pounded into it and bounced right back of. I looked at the handle and tried to get my mouth around it to open it. I jumped up on the door and drug my nails down it like a cat.
"Lauren stop you're going to hurt yourself." I heard Octavia call as she and Ashling walked toward me. My hackles raised in frustration because I couldn't get the noises to stop. Ashling approached cautiously and I heard footsteps coming up the stairs behind the basement door. My body started shaking and the growling didn't stop. Everything sounded like a gun going off in my ear, every breath, heartbeat, and footstep was ringing in my head. Ashling grabbed the back of my neck and she pulled me to her wrapping her arms around my head to help block out the noise. The basement door flew open and I could sense the tension in the air.
"What the hell is going on?" I nearly jumped right out of my skin when I heard the harshness of Derek's voice.
"It's nothing Derek, we can handle this." Ashling pulled me closer as if she was trying to hide me. Couldn't he smell me like Octavia did.
"Let me deal with it." Derek pushed Ashling back and grabbed the scruff of my neck lifting me off the ground making me howl in pain. Out of instinct my tail tucked in between my legs. Derek turned me around to face him and I was terrified. His eyes were bright blue and his canine teeth elongated. Still suspended in the air Derek growled loudly in my face and then I felt pain shoot through my body. Derek threw me to the floor as my bones began to shift under my skin.
I curled into a ball as I felt the fur go away and was replaced by my skin. Instinctively, as I began to change back, my arms curled up to cover up my chest. My hair covered my face and I moved a shaking hand up to move it behind my ear. I was too scared to look at Derek so I stayed looking at the ground. Ashling had left and grabbed a blanket. She placed the blanket over me and helped me stand up. I looked up at Derek as I held the blanket to me. Derek was frozen in place and he stared at me. He stepped toward me and I stepped back into Ashling. Ashling pushed me behind her and Octavia led me back upstairs. I looked back as Octavia pulled me away. Derek tried to pass Ashling and she threw him back against a wall. "Leave her alone, you scared the hell out of her and she needs space."
Once we made it back into Octavia's room she shut the door before giving me a big hug. We heard things breaking down stairs and yelling. I was just thankful my hearing was pretty normal now and I couldn't make out what was being said. "Are you okay?" I shook my head still wrapped in her arms. Octavia took a step back and looked me over making sure I wasn't hurt. "Don't blame him; he didn't know it was you. His emotions are off the charts and he couldn't control himself. If he did smell your sent he would have thought it was his brain playing tricks on him." I shook my head and took a deep breath. I didn't blame Derek, but I was terrified of what I had seen. I knew that rage would never be directed at me again, but it made me question if that was who he really was with everyone else.
Octavia let me borrow some of her clothes and I quickly put them on. We sat on her bed in silence until we both just fell asleep. I felt cold and I woke myself up. I was curled up in a ball towards the bottom of the bed and Octavia was stretched out over the rest of it. The room was dark even though I could have sworn we fell asleep with the lights on. I looked around the room and sitting in a chair in the corner was Derek. I nearly jumped, but I was able to contain myself. He was wide awake and staring right at me. He tensed as if he wanted to get up, but refrained from doing it. He looked exhausted and I don't think he had gotten any sleep. "Are you scared of me?" His eyes looked red as if he was crying, but I've never seen Derek cry before.
"I don't know." I curled my legs to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. I was freezing and I couldn't stop the shiver that went down my back. "You look tiered, what time is it?"
"I'm fine and it's around three in the morning."
"Have you slept at all tonight?"
"Don't worry about it." I shivered once again and I saw Derek jump to the edge of his seat. He wanted so badly to come to me, but he didn't want to scare me. I uncurled from my ball and slowly got off the bed, making sure not to wake up Octavia. Derek stayed in his seat and he watched me closely as if he was trying to figure me out. I walked till I stood right in front of him. I placed my hand on his cheek and he leaned into it while holding my hand in place with his. He pulled my hand away from his cheek and held it with both his hands, giving a big sigh. He brought my hand up to his lips and kissed the back of it.
"Come on Derek you look tiered, you should get some sleep." I started walking back to his room and Derek followed not letting go of my hand. We walked into his room and he stopped in the middle of the room letting go of my hand. "Derek what's wrong, you need sleep."
"When I asked you if you were scared of me you said you didn't know." He was looking at the floor and I thought I saw a tear run down his face.
"Derek we can talk about it in the morning you look exhausted, so let's just go to bed."
"Lauren I swear I didn't know that was you. No one has ever gone from human to wolf. Your heart wasn't beating and you were dead. I would have never done that to you if I thought there was any chance it was you." Derek spoke fast and then at the end he just broke. He fell to his knees and covered his face with his hands. His body was shaking and I ran over to him. I dropped down on to my knees and wrapped my arms around his neck. I spoke soothingly to him as he cried on my shoulder making my heart break. I had never seen Derek act like this and I don't think anyone else had either. I coaxed him off the floor and into bed. He kept his arms wrapped tightly around me as if at any moment I would just disappear. Once Derek had gone to sleep I felt calmer and was able to let myself drift asleep.