Pain blossoms throughout my back. Sharp and stabbing. It feels like something is trying to get out of my back. I muffle a scream into my pillow. I thought shifting into a wolf was painful. This was bad. I felt something move under my skin. Like it was begging to be released.
I thought maybe Reyna had bat wings and didn't want to tell me about it.
'I told you there was more to come.'
"YOU"RE A FUCKING BAT?"
'Oh hell no. Vampires don't turn into bats. Well not the weak ones. I'm not the strongest since I am here with Aurora, Emerald and Kyra.'
"What is happening and who is Emerald and Kyra?" I groan.
'Shit, Emerald is shifting now and Kyra, you will find out soon enough.' Reyna says before fading.
A new voice entered my head, soft and melodious. A voice that sings.
'I'm sorry for the pain. It won't last too long. And they will look stunning.'
"What is happening?" I whimper. The pain was moving up and down my back. Getting worse with every passing moment. The feeling of something moving under my skin had not faded either, only grown.
Right when I thought that it could not get anything worse, I felt my skin ripping. The thing that was moving under my skin was now racing to move out. I felt the slits of skin peel open and sting when touched by the air now flowing over my shoulders. They begin become painless as a new feeling went through me. Something was touching my back so softly it couldn't be my shirt.
The feeling was amazing. Like there was a cloud shifting under my skin and had now burst through my back and was making feel amazing.
'I'm Emerald. You had another shift. I'm one of the fair folk. Usually we are full blooded and don't need to shift. But your grandmother fell in love with a non faerie and their child was a half faerie and had to shift to become one. Like you now. Be careful who you show me too. I can never lie and it will bring trouble.'
I sigh, just when I thought it had calmed down.
'Check the mirror now.'
I stood up feeling a little bit winded. I walked over slowly to the mirror feeling the breeze on my shoulders that were now bare. I usually slept in a baggy shirt.
I gasp as I step into the bathroom. The mirror that faces the door showed me wearing a tight light green sleeveless lace corset with a deep V back, a skirt that reaches my knees but flowed out in separate sections overflowing each other with different shades of green and the occasional yellow.
I had extremely light green hair that came in curled waves to just above the edge of the skirt. My eyes were now a vibrant green. Like Dylan's when he was a wolf.
I look like a faerie.
'You are a faerie.' The soft melodious voice said into my head. I shake my head, Reyna said there would be more to come but I didn't believe her.
'Believe her, I'm not the last.'
"So you're telling me that my parents, the two that abandoned me, were half wolf and faerie or half vampire and what? Or do I have that mixed up?"
'No you have it pretty much accurate. When Duncan was talking to you about the hybrids he forgot to mention that he knew what their other halves were, he wanted you to assume you would be a werewolf and vampire.'
"So can I trust him?"
I was beginning to get confused. Why would he lie to me? Can I trust anyone?
'You can trust no one here. Not Ashton or Dylan. Not even your current friends. They can only know about Reyna and Aurora.'
I nod my head and look back at the mirror for a last glance before changing back into my baggy shirt and pj shorts. Just in time too, there was a quick succession of knocks on my door before Ashton walks in.
"Hey, you should wait until I answer, how do you know I wasn't getting changed?" I say grinning at his surprised expression, he thought I would be on the bed but when he heard my voice come from the bathroom his neck nearly snapped off trying to see where it came from.
"Whoa, had not thought of that."
"I can tell! Anyway, why did you come in here?"
"Oh, we were heading out to train and wanted to see if you would join us." I lean against the doorframe.
"At 5 in the morning? Were you planning on waking me up for this? Really, tell me why."
"You know me so well. I wanted to talk to you in private." He grins at me sheepishly.
"Leave my room while I'm changing. I'll meet you in the kitchen, I want food." He nods at me and walks out the room backwards with a thumbs up. I shake my head. He is an idiot.
I change out of my less than appealing baggy shirt into a blue and white striped singlet and a pair of flowy black pants. I decide against wearing shoes, I never really wore them unless I had too.
I brush my hair that seems very dark now that I have once seen it in a light green. I walk out of my room and down to the kitchen. I stood and watched as Ashton paced back and forth one side of the island bench.
I cleared my throat and he stares straight at me and smiles, it doesn't reach his eyes though.
"What did you want to talk about?" I ask walking over to the kitchen.
"Um, I want to make sure no one comes downstairs while talking. Want to head outside?" I groan, I wanted to stay inside but I would head out to make sure.
"Gimme a minute for food." I say examining the contents.
"Make it something you can eat on the go." He tells me. I groan again, I wanted a full meal. I settle for an apple and a juice. I spin around to see Ashton watching me. I take a bite out of the apple and gesture for him to lead the way.
He takes my outstretched hand and pulls me along behind him.
Ashton leads me to the clearing where I was with Hazel the day Dylan tried to get me kicked out of the pack.
I should really join soon.
'No, you should not. Something dodgy is happening right now. I don't trust him.' Emerald tells me.
'You should join. You need a pack.' Aurora complains.
'No. This is dangerous. They are untrustworthy, they have not proven themselves.' Reyna is agreeing with Emerald.
I groan again.
"Hey, whats wrong?" Ashton asks concern lacing his voice.
"They are arguing, and it is giving me a headache." I say.
"I've never got that." He shrugs
"Yeah, well you don't have two entities with two completely contradicting personalities."
"That is a great point. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about Dylan."
My eyes shoot up to meet his. The arguing in my head stops immediately as Aurora growls for them to shut up so she could listen about her mate.
"Why do you want to talk about him? He tried to formally reject me the other day." I say getting angry. The bond was taking over how I feel about him. How I truly felt. The bond was just pushing me to him. Encouraging me to feel for him.
"He what?" He nearly yells. He pauses and takes a deep breath. "You said tried? What stopped him?"
"Duncan came upstairs and stopped him. Then he demanded that Dylan tell Jessica about me."
"Yeah, that came as a shock to the pack. Jess came to us about a year ago, she was a rogue and no one knew what happened to her family. She did prove to us that she was trustworthy though. Ever since that time she was close to Dylan and when he turned 16 no one was surprised when they said they were mates.
"When it did come out that they weren't mates. Most people were pissed off at being lied to and pissed at Dylan for not waiting for his true mate."
"Tell my whole life story while you're at it, Ash." I hear his voice say. I spin around and face him. Dylan was standing by a tree just watching us.
"What are you doing here?" I demand.
"We had a plan. Don't you worry." He says beginning to walk to me. I look over to Ashton who wasn't angry or smiling. He was looking at the ground and wouldn't meet my eye.
"What do you mean 'we had a plan?'" I ask looking at Dylan then Ashton and back.
"You see, I didn't want you to join our pack. I told you it was dangerous. Alpha Duncan didn't believe me. All I need to do is prove to him that you are dangerous. And what better way than to provoke you?" He explains. I turn back to face him.
"Good luck provoking me. I would never harm a living human or wolf. Ashton, let's go." I say spinning on my heel to go back the way we came. Only Ashton wasn't behind me anymore. I turn confused. He was standing beside Dylan.
"You underestimate how close we are as brothers. He understands the danger you put us in. He is willing to help me to save the pack."
"Save the pack? From me? I think they need saving from you." I say looking at Ashton. He doesn't seem the least bit sorry. I was hurt. I trusted him.
'I told you not to trust him or anyone.'
"You're right Emerald. I didn't think that Ashton would betray me."
I turn back to look Dylan in the eyes.
"If you want to provoke me into attacking. Go ahead. Try." I snarl.
"He never said into attacking us. Just prove you are a danger. You don't have to harm us. Just the surrounds. The pack territory." Ashton says. I look back at him. The strawberry blonde that gave me friends in my time of distress. The eyes that looked like Ali and reminded me that she will always be there for me. He helped me stop thinking about my other life. I know, thanks to him, I can't go back for a few years. He was the one to help me change into Reyna. He has helped me fight better. Ashton was my friend. The closest I had here. Or at least I thought I had.
"Try me." I make my eyes glow a bright red.
"Ashton. Go ahead. Show her what a real wolf is like." Dylan says dismissively.
Ashton shifts into his dark red wolf ripping his clothes while at it. His eyes darken and his wolf takes over.
"Ashley, meet Drake. Ash's wolf. He doesn't like any sort of danger to the people he loves."
"How many times to I have to tell you? I'm not a danger. I saved that child."
"Eh. She was fine. She is the best swimmer in our pack. She was showing her parents a move." Dylan says
"Then why did they all thank me for saving her life? Including Ruby herself." I demand.
"That's a first thing for the whole pack. A new member has to save one of the younger ones." Dylan tells me. "I'm getting bored. Drake, go ahead."
The wolf standing in front of me growls before leaping forwards. He half circles me, pushing me towards a tree. I stop moving before letting Reyna have full control. I take a deep breath and close my eyes.
She shifts inside of me my eyes darkening to the deep blood red colour. My teeth elongate into fangs before my clothes change. I open my eyes and I see everything clearly. Reyna moves to the front of my mind and takes in everything that is happening.
'I can't fight them. Or injure the woods. The Alpha of a pack always has a special connection to nature and knows when it is injured or when someone enters.'
"What can we do?"
She jumps into the tree just as Drake attacks me. Instead of my breaking the tree, he runs head first into the trunk. I feel the whole tree shake.
"Drake, what are you doing? Make her break the tree, not you."
"Why does it need to be me?"
'The Alpha can tell who injures the woods if they are part of the pack. If the damage is bad enough, it will ripple out through the higher ranks and everyone will be here to punish the person. If it is someone not from the pack the Alpha will call for the beta's and warriors to check it out. The Alpha himself will not come unless he knows for sure who it is.' Aurora whispers into my head. She was so upset that our mate would do something like this she wasn't going to talk to me.
"I'm sorry Aurora" I tell her. "Reyna, what can we do?" I ask again.
'Run. I'm faster than both of them. We have to run. We have to leave this pack.'
I thought I would be able to stay here longer. Make a life. Apparently not. Reyna jumps out of the tree and runs past Drake and Dylan. She runs so fast that I can barely process where we are going. I sit back and wait. I'm going to lose another place I called home. However briefly.
'It's all right Ash. Reyna said we would have another mate. I only hope he won't reject us.'
"I'll make sure of it, Aurora. I will do anything for you. All of you."
'And we will do the same for you.' Emerald says. 'Now, while Reyna is in control, do you have any questions about the Fair Folk?'
"Yes. Can you fly?" Emerald giggles. She had one of those airy giggles that made you want to laugh with her.
'Yes, we can fly.'
"Can you use magic?"
'I am an earth and nature faerie so I can do much relating to that. Not controlling water, air or fire though. That belongs to others. The earth faeries are very rare also. We control everything that they don't which is nearly everything. We are known to be hot headed and ferocious in a fight.'
I could not believe that I was werewolf and vampire. Let alone a faerie, but the strongest faerie that there is?
"I know this might sound impossible, but do you know my age?"
'I do know your age. And yes, those hyrbids that went missing 20 years ago are your parents. Your birthday isn't in 2001. It's in 1998.'
"Do you know where my parents are?" I don't believe she will know this.
'I only know that they are still alive. Faeries have a connection between family members. We know when one of the family dies. I can feel the string connecting your father to you. Your mother wasn't a faerie so the string is very faint, but I feel it. You grandparents are still alive too.'
I still had a family out there. I am determined to find them.
A/N
Sorry for the long break, I had a holiday and I was distracted. I'm very godamn sunburnt.
Hope you enjoyed the longer chapter, I stayed up late to work on this and already have the other chapter partway done.
Thx for reading! -Boma
(My kinda nickname)