Unexpected Shift

5

"Elaine, I get your concern. I really do but you will know for yourself once you meet the other pack members, something is wrong. It's stopping you from shifting and I don't have enough knowledge to know what exactly it is," he explains, voice soft and low at first, but then it grows determined. "I'm not taking any suggestions; you can ask around about me, but I'm taking you along. The Alpha would know what to do for sure. If things work out, you might even become a part of our pack."

"No," I tell him loud and clear. "This- Whatever you just said, it has to be a misunderstanding. You have the wrong person, I'm sure you do. There's no chance I'm one of the wolf shifters or whatever. I should- I would know, wouldn't I?"

"Exactly!" Asher interrupts sharply. "You should know, but you didn't and that's what's bugging me. You need to come with me, it's not even safe for you to go on so long without knowing!"

Panic floods me at his strong voice, booming through the empty house and the realization that this might be a completely unsafe situation I had just put myself in, makes me shiver slightly. His personality screamed of control and a soft feeling of safety came along with it. Gut feelings could be wrong, right?

He could have been a dangerous person for all I knew!

"You need to leave, Asher," my cold tone makes the boy's head jerk back in surprise.

"I'm not lying or trying to hurt you, Elaine!"

"Why must I trust you? I didn't even know your name a few minutes back!" I yelled, backing him towards the door. He tries to resist but doesn't do too much, still mannerly and at an arm's distance from me.

"Audra knows me well, she's a friend! I wouldn't do anything."

"Boy, this is a misunderstanding for sure," I cut in with a handheld up. "The door is right behind you, leave or I'll—"

"Elaine—"

"LEAVE!"

Asher flinches and gulps softly before turning away with a nod. "I'll be back and you'll know I was right," he assures, a shining glint of determination in his eyes. I shiver at the sight.

The atmosphere grows cold and clammy the moment I shut the door on his handsome face. My ears ring sharply and effectively drown the horrible beating of my chest.

Once again, without context, my hand reached out to rub over the crescent pendant as if it had come alive after years. I gasp at the splitting headache it gives me. Almost on cue, my eyes screwed shut, and the blurry dark memories of the murders that happened during the supposedly brightest years of my childhood flash beneath my eyelids.

Blood. Dark Streets. Police sirens. The screams of a child. Pain. Anguish. Hurt.

Yeah, something was definitely wrong with my family, too.

Chapter Four

Asher

I stare and stare at the carved-out flowers on Audra's door that Elaine had just shut on my face. Of course, she would think I was being unreasonable! The girl was hearing about werewolves for the first time in her life since she had only lived as and with humans.

A sigh pushes its way past my lips and my forehead almost bumped against the wooden door while I shuffled my weight from one foot to another. Maybe I could knock again and be nicer?

Yesterday afternoon, when I had met with Audra to discuss a few things my father had told me, she had warned me that no pack should approach Elaine at any cost. It was absurd as it is. What’s weirder was that Audra had given no explanation at all. She switched topics, refusing to tell me why no pack should approach a wolf shifter.

Maybe I should knock again.

A twig to my left and behind a few trees into the woods snaps. The sound was small enough to pass as a squirrel rushing up a tree. I knew better. My ears perked up and the smell of another being infiltrated my nostrils. Was Aunt Audra expecting somebody?

Even if she was, the 'guest' wouldn't hide in the woods.

The light bulb in my mind went off so I ducked my head, placed one palm on my nape to at least look sheepish and apologetic. Something told me this person or creature had no good intentions against Elaine. She was alone in the house, unaware of the existence of so much.

My skin crawled with the feeling of being watched and yet I couldn't do anything about it just yet, so I turned around and left in the opposite direction with a disappointed sigh. Whoever it was, must've taken that as me leaving. What a well-executed plan.

I walked around for another minute just to make things a little more realistic before using all my strength to run back in from the woods. The man or woman, whoever it was, I had heard was on the left side, which meant the back of the house. From what I remembered the first time I saw her; her room was in the same direction.

Oh, hell no!

Panic made its trails clear on my face; Elaine was in danger!

When I finally came to a stop in front of the house again, this time huffing and panting no matter how much I tried to stay silent. Just like I had expected, there he was. A man clad in a black hoodie, approaching the house with wicked hunched shoulders. From his back and the distance between us, I could make out that he was just as tall and bulky as me.

"Hey!" I called out and the guy turned around, eyes widening in horror for a minute before he recomposed himself and scanned me up and down. "Who are you?"

Once again, he only looks at me with clashed brows. There was depth in his eyes, a kind of sickness you can make out from the way a person looks at others. The air smelled of tension and jealousy. Did I know him? Why was he jealous of—?

Oh. A wolf.

"None of your business," he grumbles, deep and reverberating.

I almost thought I knew him but there was no way he was from our pack. I would know, obviously.

"Everything is my business in this town," I tell him, drawing myself closer with a few long strides. Usually, a wolf would know that I was the Alpha's son but this one, he stank of jealousy and disrespect. "Tell me your name," my demand wired a dry chuckle out of him and it made my blood boil.