Werewolves of Bloomfield Hills

Chapter 16

Hendell stood before Candace, shielding her with his towering mass as they watched Penelope thrash in her bed. It was a terrifying sight. The horrifying sound of her bones cracking and rearranging filled the air as she began to shift. First, it was her face that began to grow into a snout, then her skin growing silver-grey furs, and finally her waist narrowing after she'd hulked in size. It was horrendous, even more so when suddenly her silver-grey fur began to illuminate like individual bulbs, emitting a blinding bright light that soon filled the room. It lasted for a second, then it was gone. And on the bed where Penelope lay before was now a beautiful but vicious-looking silver-grey wolf with matching silver eyes.

"It can't be!" were the words that came out of the druid's mouth as he bowed on one knee immediately. "Selene!" he called the wolf.

BACK IN TOPHER’S apartment in the Druid's Tower, he and Jane leaned on the banister in his veranda, supporting their weight on the metal railing as they discussed something. They had a bottle of beer each in their hand to cool off the stress of the day.

"What? You can't be serious!" Jane exclaimed over something Topher said.

"I s**t you not. I mean it."

"So you mean to tell me that in the next ten years or so, you don't see yourself running a pack of your own?" She asked worriedly. She felt disturbed because ironically, Topher would become a True alpha during that said period of time.

"No, I don't. I'm not really interested in all this werewolf politics" he replied nonchalantly.

"It's not all about politics!" Jane defended. "God, I thought you were ambitious" she sighed in defeat.

"I am"

"No, you're not. You're clingy" she accused him.

"What do you mean?"

"You're disinterested in our ways because you still wish you're human! Grow up, dude. Get over it" she scolded him.

"So what if it's true that I'm still clinging to the human in me... the human that used to be in me?"Topher's face became serious.

"It only means that you don't appreciate what I did for you" Jane's voice went a pitch higher.

"No, no. I do appreciate what you did for me. Honestly, I do. The thing's that you don't get how difficult it is to accept this life! At least it's easy for you, considering you were born like that." Topher's expression softened when he noticed he'd pissed off Jane.

"I get it. I understand that all this is still foreign to you, so apology accepted" her face softened too, and she patted him on the shoulder.

"I don't remember saying 'sorry'" Topher arched an eyebrow

"You didn't need to. Your expression did" Jane laughed at him, and he laughed too. There was a brief moment of silence between them as they turned their attention back to their drinks before Topher spoke again.

"But why did you do it?" he asked

"Do what?" Jane asked, puzzled.

"Save me." he decided not to be cryptic. Jane thought about his question for a while then she answered.

"Well, you were really sick at that time." She shrugged. "I tried siphoning the disease off you but it was stubborn and wouldn't go. Once, I tried talking my parents into bringing you to the druids, but it wasn't possible since you were... you know, still human. So I figured since you already knew what I was, and was cool with it, why not turn you into a werewolf too. That way, you'd definitely get well." she explained.

"Well, I'm glad you made that choice because if I had died, I would've never met Penny" Topher grabbed her hand affectionately.

"Such a loverboy... Oh look, Topher, a shooting star! Make a wish! Quick!" Jane got distracted by a foreign object she saw speeding across the sky.

"Don't be ridiculous! You know there's no such thing as a shooting star. That's just a meteorite" Topher tried to correct Jane.

"I know, and I don't care. Just make a wish! Don't spoil the fun!" Jane urged him. He sighed in exasperation then shut his eyes because he knew Jane would keep bugging him until he had done what she wanted (even if he didn't believe in it). "Come on tell me, what did you wish for?" she asked him once he opened his eyes.

"If I'm correct, my wish won't come to pass if I tell you. Isn't that how shooting stars work?" Topher asked for clarification

"It doesn't matter. You know these things never work. Just tell me what you wished for"

"If you know they don't work, then why did you make me do it?"

"Just tell me!" Jane asked anxiously.

"God," Topher sighed in exasperation. " Well, I just wished I'd get well soon so I can go back to Penny" he confessed so Jane would leave him alone.

"Loverboy! I suspected that too..." Jane was still saying before her phone rang.

"Who's that?" Toper enquired.

"Bale. Sorry, I have to take this" She said excusing herself.

While Jane was away, Topher stood alone in the veranda, staring at the sky. He wondered if things could really be fixed between him and Penny, considering he had no justifiable excuse for not telling her what he was. He had broken trust and he wondered if it could ever be fixed. It didn't take a moment longer before Jane returned and he turned towards her.

"What does he want?" he asked

"Sorry, he just wanted to know how long I'd be staying here and when I'd be coming back"

"Why?"

"He said, he'd be coming here tomorrow or next, and if I'd be leaving soon, that I should wait so we would leave together. He thinks it's safer" she added when Topher arched an eyebrow at her.

"Are you sure there's something you're not telling me?" he narrowed his eyes at her.

"I assure you, we're not dating. I wish we were, but we aren't" Jane cleared him on that.

CANDACE WATCHED skeptically, uncertain what to do because she herself did not quite understand what was going on. What puzzled her more was how the druid reverenced her daughter. The Hendell she knew was somewhat a proud person, so it got her wondering what was so special about her daughter that humbled him.

"What are you doing?" she whispered to him when she couldn't contain her curiosity anymore.

"I'm not sure how I'm supposed to explain this to you, but your daughter is a very special person" Hendell who was still shocked, managed to respond while rising to his feet.

"We could talk about that later, but what happens now?" Candace brought to him the matter at hand.

"Don't worry about that. The herb's effect will wear off in a few minutes and she'll be back to normal. Conscious and human." he assured her. "But I must inform you, I'll be taking her to the Druid's Tower with me. When she shifts she'll have a lot of questions and we have a lot of things to explain to her. In short, she needs us more than anything else now" he added.

"Us?"

"Yes, us. The druids."