"Rhiannon?"
My eyes veered towards the nurse. Her curly red locks bounced as she swiveled in her chair. She wrote something on the paper cluttered clip board. I stopped my feet from moving in a fast pace. Another nurse pressed the stop button. I slowly started walking, then my body quit completely. The air in my lungs entered and exited in erratic rhythms.
The nurse held my shoulder and brought me off the treadmill. Muscles ached all over my body. I sat with an exasperated sigh.
"Rhiannon, do you know how fast you were running?"
I shook my head and chugged water out of a plastic bottle. I opened my eyes to meet her bland grey ones.
"You reached thirty today," the other nurses whispered and conversed under hushed tones. The redhead left her mouth agape in shock. "That's five miles faster than last year. It's your biggest increase yet. I have never seen someone of our kind run as fast as you do."
"I'm a freak," I choked out. A man in blue scrubs handed me a wet, cold towel. I threw the thick cloth around my neck. "I get it. You've been doing these tests on me every year since my twelfth birthday. And still, you are so consistently surprised."
A frown came over her middle-aged face. She squiggled some note and turned around. At the sight of a nod, all the other nurses left with her out of the glass door. I looked around the white colored walls. They lit up from the fluorescent lights that flickered every few minutes. I reached over and grabbed my jacket. I held it in my arms and retreated out of the doors. I walked down the narrow hallway.
I passed multiple testing rooms. Every few seconds a scream was sent flying and echoing around the halls. I clenched my jaw and continued out of the hell, and into the waiting room.
My mother nervously sat, twitching her thumbs, obviously counting the minutes till I appeared. My father saw me first. His warm brown eyes caught my honey gold ones. He smiled and gently alerted my mother. She glanced up through thick black waves. Her body leapt from its sitting position and ran to my still one.
My dad slowly followed, not as concerned. He grabbed my free shoulder as mom clutched my body like a child to its blanket.
"I hate this," she pleaded in a high voice. "I hate, hate, hate this!" She rocked my body from side to side, as if I was going to escape her bone crushing hug.
"We've done this seven times, Filomena. She survives every time. Filomena? I think you are crushing her."
My mom let go of me. Covering her mouth in an embarrassed fashion, her cheeks turned a shade of pink. The nurse from before walked up to me. I handed her the towel with thanks. She smiled for a second, frowned, and walked away. She held the towel with two fingers as if it was toxic waste.
I shrugged my coat on. It's warm fur lining soothed my aching muscles. I wiped a drop of sweat from my forehead. My parents waited for me as I slowly zipped the jacket. My dad took my arm and walked me out of the laboratory. When we got outside, the weather had worsened than it was before.
The snow hurled down like furry pellets bound to hit you like boulders. Instead, they slammed down on you with the force of a feather. In the parking lot, a man stepped out of a large Land Rover. He wore a suit and a large button up, tan jacket. He saw my father and smiled.
"No way," he laughed bringing my dad in for a man hug. "Lucario Fiore? I thought I'd never see you again. How long has it been old friend?"
"Goddess, Marco, at least twelve years. Rhiannon, my eldest, was what, seven? Say, speaking of, how's your son..."
"Luca," he said slower. A snowflake fell upon his head. His vision focused back on my father. This time it was more solemn. Marco's brows furrowed together. "Don't you read the gossip column in the pack newspaper?"
My dad shook his head. Marco scoffed, "Its everywhere, Lucario. In big and bold, Alpha Marco of Western Moon pack breeds a blessed son."
My heart sank. Our kind, the werewolves, we all mature at nineteen. Well, we are supposed to. Every year, there are about two wolves who don't mature. Maturity isn't like human puberty. We carry out normal bodily human growth; as if we were human. Because we are half human, and wolf; our werewolf genes don't kick in until nineteen.
When we mature, our bodies morph into wolves. It isn't on full moons, and we don't look human at all. We are fully wolf. We still harbor human consciousness within our bodies, and we control our physical functions, but we take the wolf form.
Blesseds, are wolves who don't shift on schedule. Their bodies have a chemical imbalance that causes them to shift at an unknown time. This is shamed upon by our Alpha. Marco is the most powerful wolf in the pack. He even made a law that any Blesseds should be beaten until they trigger the shift. I can't imagine what his son is going through. I lowered my head in the thought. My mom noticed and wrapped her fingers around my bicep.
"He can't help it, Marcos." Dad said softly. He looked at Marco quizzically, hoping he understood the medical explanation.
Dad is a doctor for our Kingdom. He trains all the newbies on basic procedures for healing wounds. We heal fast on our own, naturally, considering the wolves have a fastened immune defense system. There are times, however, where certain herbs and chemicals can be used against us in warfare, and we need doctors to know how to save us. Dad looked into the case of Blessed werewolves for years.
He found the proof himself. He saw how the chemical equations didn't match, or how they were altered. Dad always hated the denial of scientific proof. I guess I do too. At least in this case. How could you beat and whip your child for something they have no control over? Even when there is a clear and obvious reason why this is happening? It's just not logical.
"Listen, friend," Marcos set his hand on my Dad's shoulder. "I just want to catch up. Do you think you could stop by the castle sometime? The guards will let you in at anytime. Try Tuesday night maybe? My wife will be back from a conference in Paris. Also, all my children are back on fall break for school."
"Goddess, I haven't seen Lily in ages. I talk to her on the phone constantly, but it's not the same. Do you think we could make it, Lucario?" Mom let go of my arm and walked to Dad. She pleaded just with her big eyes that somehow avoided the snow that clung to my lashes with no hesitation. Dad nodded his head in a matter of seconds.
"That's a deal, Marco," my mom said shaking her head. "I can't wait for the kids to see each other again! I bet they don't even remember each other."
Marco smiled half heartedly. In his face I could see something. Nostalgia, maybe. "Lily and I will be glad to have you all join our family." Turning to my mom and nodding. "Just like old times." He swerved past my parents in a swift manner. Then, he shoved the laboratory doors open like he owned the place.
Dad turned back towards us with half of a scowl. I could tell he wasn't as pleased as he lead on. Father was good at pretending. I first took note when my grandparents passed. He completely switched emotions like sipping up a jacket of emotion. If only I could unzip him. Only Mom could, and my brother and I were left wondering.
We all walked towards the car. I could tell my mother was just itching to get into my dads head. The quicker she found out what was bothering him, the faster she could resolve it. She was the solution side of the parental equation. Dad just analyzed the conflict. Mom gave us the ultimate resolve to our issues. She hurried and sat in the passenger side of my fathers posh looking car.
"C'mon Lucario," she grabbed his shoulder and lightly spun his face to her as I buckled up. "He means well. You know he does."
"It doesn't make sense Filomena! How could he subject his son to this torture? For four years now too. He hasn't shifted in four years. Honey, he's come to me and asked me to lead the tests on his own son. I've refused more times than I can count. Every time I wish I'd just snatch the kid out of that hell."
I lowered my head. My dad always stressed how lucky I was. He said the things they did to kids my age there was horrific. They would put weaker wolves in rooms with four stronger wolves and they'd fight until the weaker wolf was black and blue. Some kids got electrical whipping. Explains the flickering lights. Others just had mysterious liquids slowly circulated through their blood until the doctors saw an outcome.
"I'm sorry, Rhiannon," my dad said glancing at me through a blackened rear view mirror. Through the night I could see his honesty. "We shouldn't plague you with this information. Just don't mention it at dinner, or even to this kid, Luca, or whatever."
"Speaking of," I pecked in. "Luca is kinda like Lucario, Dad."
His hand gripped the steering wheel a bit harder. "When Marco had Luca we were like brothers. We had been since high school. When you were around seven something changed. I don't quite remember what, but we grew apart. Marco named Luca after me. You were named after a song. There was a band, Fleetwood Mac, it was a human band, but your mother loved it."
Mom smiled from the passenger seat as Dad drove on, "Your Mom was best friends with Marco's wife, Lily. We all had been best friends before we broke it off. So naturally the women took over naming this first girl born of our friend group. I felt kinda bad, so your brother became Mike. It's not even close to Marcos but it started with an M so I didn't feel guilty."
He laughed a little as we pulled in the treelined drive way. Snow fell softer now. Like a seen from a movie, our house was lit with warm yellow twinkling lights. On the front of our house was a wide window. In the corner of the room adorned a tree covered in family ornaments and garland. A dark furry shape entered the window sill. My brother, with sloppy hair, shook one hand in the air while the other held a mug. I smiled whist my mother visually warned him not to stain the white couch.
I ran into the house and was greeted with warm ankles. A soft Brown cat mewed at my heels.
"Hello, Coffee," I said as she circled my feet. I scooped her in my arms and walked through the kitchen. My brother smiled from the designer couch my mom begged my father to invest in. "Hey Mike."
He took his hand and half saluted me like a private in the army. I continued up the wooden stairs onto the carpeted level of our house. My room was at the end of the hall. I opened the door with my butt as Coffee purred on my forearm. She licked my thumb as I set her on my bed.
"Hey Rhiannon," my mom peeped in. "I have to take your father and Mike to a basketball event for school. Tomorrow you have the house to yourself. Is that ok?"
I died inside. I already knew what was going to go down.
"Yeah, Mom, don't worry about me," I played with my fingers, scheming a grand plan. "I'll be fine." The edges of my lips were itching to curl upwards. Staring at my moms pensive face made them sink back down. Can't have her feeling suspicious.
She squinted her eyes at me before closing my door. I took a pillow of mine and squealed into it. I loved it when my family was out of the house. I could do anything I wanted without feeling guilty about it, or the anxiety of getting caught.
My phone buzzed from the night stand next to me. Asher. Just the person I was hoping to talk to. I let my lips curl up before swiping to accept the call.
"Okay, Rhiannon," he said kind of out of breath. "I was just working out and I was thinking. There's this field I found on my morning run. Maybe tomorrow night you can convince your parents to let me take you out."
I chuckled inwardly, "First of all, my parents have known you since you were a baby, so they'd never refuse you. Second, we actually have the house to ourselves during the day. Don't worry about fields and bugs and grass..."
"Hey," He whined. "I thought it would be more romantic. I mean how many times are we going to have Coffee interrupt us?"
I scoffed, "As many damn times as I'd like." I looked across the room. Against one of the walls was a picture of us two.
I stood up from my bed and walked towards it. Asher smiled at the camera with joy. His icy eyes sparkled with warmth on the inside. His face wasn't the most chiseled, but it was gorgeous. He could make it big as a model if he wanted to. His muscular form wasn't too big, but just enough to make any girl turn her head a second time.
I traced his jaw line with my thumb. Then I lightly touched his perfectly pink lips. They parted to show his crystal white smile. Just looking at a 2D picture of him had me smiling back.
"You know I love you right?" His voice softened noticeably. "I never want you to forget that, Rhiannon."
I bit my finger holding back a soft sigh. My heart leapt out of my chest. Young love. That's what my father called it. He said Asher and I wouldn't make it. We were too good of friends to last as anything other than friends. I always told him he was wrong. My dad didn't want his little girl hurting, but not falling for Asher was like being held down with shackles of silver. It would burn me from the outside until it caught my flesh in a frenzy that felt like fire to my body.
He encapsulated me. It took me time to warm up to the idea of "more than friends". He took his time with me. He made sure I knew what I was getting into. He took me out on so many dates and even just plain old hanging around, until I was willing to let him in. Our friendship bloomed like a blossom on a tree. As soon as the sunlight hit us, we grew, and we wouldn't stop.
"I love you," I said as I laid back on my bed with Coffee by my side. "Never forget that."
Asher ended the call shortly after. I once more squealed in my pillow. Coffee gave a look that screamed you're an idiot. Who knew cats were so smart? I couldn't help what Asher did to me. He made me feel like a child again. I could hardly contain myself around him. It was like time never passed. Any issues we had in our personal lives were completley void of importance.
He was my only escape.