A Grimms Fate

Chapter 8 - Reality

POV-Ryan

You know like in a horror movie, the girl is alone, at night, with a guy in a forest and he turns out to be this monster? Well, this was my exact reality.

I was standing face to face with and extremely large jet black wolf. He stood tall, baring his teeth. I started walking back slowly as the large wolf stalked me. He'd stop growling and almost looked.. amused.

It was...messing with me.

I turned to run away but it was too fast and ran around to face me again.

"okay boy..." I put up my hands in an effort to calm the beast " I'm not a threat.." I started backing up again.

Bjorn had dropped me on the damp floor and disappeared into the forest, leaving me here alone, when this beast arrived.

I was about to say something else to the beast, when I tripped over a tree stump on the forest ground.

He towered over me. Then all of a sudden, the beast backed away from me. I pushed myself up onto my elbows to watch the beast, and before my eyes it started morphing.. changing into.. Bjorn!?

" What the..." was all I could manage to say as this gorgeous man, now naked, walked up to me and offered me his hand.

I immediately looked away, blushing, and got up by myself. "Please, clothe yourself." I said, and I tried to process what had just happened.

An amused smirk crossed his face as he walked a small distance to uncover the tracksuit pants he wore earlier.

I looked back at him, approaching me and instinctively moved back, trying to keep a large distance between us.

"You need not be afraid of me Ryan, I would never hurt you, no one here would.." His voice sounds so sincere, I had to remind myself that he was still a stranger.

"So, it's all true? All the myths and legends? Are vampires and witches also real? What about fairies and unicorns, what about Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster?" I looked at him. Was he laughing at me? He really found this amusing?

" Vampires and witches are real, Fairies are called Fay, but they are not at all like tinkerbell. The last sighting of a Unicorn was decades ago, they're extinct as far as our history books go." He started laughing as he continued " and no, the Loch Ness monster and Bigfoot are not real" he managed to say through his chuckles.

I threw my hands up "Don't laugh at me, before today, your kind was in the same category as Nessy." I said, some what pleased to have this amusing effect on him.

His face went serious and he looked at me, our eyes locking. He slowly moved closer to me "Ryan.. its our kind.. you are one of us"

All of a sudden I felt extremely sad, realizing what was taken from me. Not just by the poison but by years and years of lies. The relationships I could of had with these people, I could of had a family..

I looked up at him again my eyes teary with..anger. "Did he know? my grandfather.. did he know what my mother was doing to us?" I asked softly, wondering why he was standing so close to me. He stood right in front of me, I could feel his warm breath, I could smell his cologne. My eyes fell over him as a shiver ran down my spine. This man really did have a strange effect on me.

"Ryan, your grandfather spoke so highly of you, of how much he loved you and how he missed you. I know that if he could have, he would of had you here, with him, at all times."

I felt tears run down my cheek, I didn't even know I started crying. He gently placed his fingers below my chin and lifted my face to meet his gaze. He then gently used his thumb to wipe away the tear off my cheek, then he trailed his thumb across my bottom lip, looking hungrily at my lips, but then he moved away, almost as if he decided against whatever it is he was thinking about.

"I'm sorry.." he started " for everything that you have lost but you're here now, that's all that matters. I know it's all new to you, you can ask me anything at any time." he said, with a small smile.

"Come, I'll take you to a room that you can use. I'm sure you must be tired, and probably wanting to get out of that hospital gown" He said as he started walking back to the pack house. I completely forgot I still had this thing on..

"Wait up!" I shouted " short legs here!" I continued as I jogged after him, who already had passed the break into the clearing that the pack house was built on.

He stopped to allow me to catch up to him "Thanks." I said, slightly out of breath.

"I heard of how you fought with Madi at the Manor." he said while we walked side by side "yeah, sorry about that" I answered, feeling slightly embarrassed. "No need to apologize, from what I heard, you have quite good reflexes, I would like you to join in on training everyday. I think it would be good for you, seeing as you..." He stopped

"What? seeing as I was stipped from my wolf? Seeing as I'm not as strong as any of you?" I completed his sentence for him, with irritation in my voice. I have no need to speak to him this way, he has only ever been kind to me, but something about being treated as a weakling really passed me off.

He glared at me and growls lowly, at the tone of my voice.

We walked the rest of the way in silence until we stopped infront of a bedroom door.

"I'm at the end of the hall, if there's any trouble.

Madi fetched your bag of clothes from the Manor and brought it up for you. You can come and go as you please, just, if I can request one thing. Don't leave the property.." he looked away, almost to hide the concern in his voice " I suspect a lot of people are looking for you, especially if they figured out that it was you who created that energy shock-wave." He turned to leave when I placed my hand on his arm, sending sparks through my entire body. He looked up at me, I could tell he felt it too. "Thank you Bjorn, I... just, thank you" I said, looking him dead in the eye.

He nodded slightly, not saying a word and left.

I closed the door behind me and walked straight over to the bathroom, where I started running a bubble bath. Once the tub was full I removed the hospital gown and chucked it into the bin, before slowing getting into the bathtub.

The warm water engulfed me as I closed my eyes and replayed everything that had happened today, in my head.

I was a Werewolf.. a werewolf without a wolf, an empty shell.

And then I wept, I wept because I now knew how incomplete I was, and I understood now what Selene meant.

"...you are not in your purest form..."