Unexpected Shift

6

"Justin," he says eventually. "The name is Justin, better remember it."

Confusion grows in me but my anger and senses told me that Elaine's safety right now was more important than how I felt. More important than Justin's whereabouts. I needed to know his purpose.

"You're going to ask me what I'm doing here, aren't you?" The man smirked and my fists closed involuntarily. I could sense he was getting angry, too.

"What do you want?" I ask ,instead. "What is your purpose to be around here?"

"Why?" Justin scoffs cockily. "Can't people walk around town anymore, Asher?"

My name.

"How the hell..." I stepped closer. "Do you know my name? The only pack in this town is mine. You better return to where you came from or it's going to be a wreck. For both you and me." Justin stood his ground, shedding his hood and maintained eye contact with me.

"I'm not here for you or your pack. I'm here to see my mate." My face falls and he takes notice of it. Elaine had a mate? A wolf mate? How could she not know about wolves then?

"You're lying." I scoffed in disbelief, head jerking back with surprise when he chuckles dryly.

"Let me prove it to you then."

The thing about surprises is that they don't come in waves or parts, it comes all at once and in seconds, so before you have the time to react or fight against it; it sweeps you away. That's exactly what happened when Justin's claws shifted out, his jaw locked, and eyes swirled with golden.

For a second, I only watched him. I watched him as he shifted into his true wolf form. A predator and I was the prey. Justin's brown coat of fur, same dark eyes reminded me of something I hadn't thought of in a while but I shook it off just as soon as it came into vision.

He was already charging at me, with everything having happened in a matter of seconds, I had no time to shift. Justin in his wolf form was far stronger than my human form and he easily pinned me down by the shoulders, aggressively scratching down my neck and chest.

"Who on earth are you?!" I screamed, finding it too hard to escape his grip and bodyweight upon me. It was when the smell of my own blood hit me hard that I growled, my wolf jumping desperately just to win. I gathered enough strength to push him out so I could shift, too.

Justin only howled in response to my question, a snickering sound of his throat fueled my shifting faster and further. Soon enough, my clothes had ripped to the damp soil in the woods and white fur shone brightly against the dull color of blood over my chest. I howled and growled at him in anger before charging with full power at the black wolf.

He snarls wild and free when my teeth scraped against his throat but fought back. His strength was neck to neck with mine, which was just as surprising despite my wounds. Who exactly was he to hurt the next Alpha like that? I thrashed his wolf against the rough tree trunks. He landed with a thud, but didn't waste time in catching his breath.

The very next moment his claws peeled bits of skin off my back and I was once again on the ground, mewling and moaning in pain. The cackles of laughter I could make out were his and for the moment that my vision blurred in pain, all I could think about was Elaine.

As if on cue, the door bolted open. Elaine stood, trembling and shaking with her eyes red in fear. I tried to push Justin off and reach out to her, but like I had expected, she didn't recognize me, only cowered as she stood frozen at the door.

The black wolf took it as his opportunity to attack the girl while I was still trying my hardest to stand up and protect her with my wounds. "Elaine! Run!" I wanted to scream but it only came out as a loud growl that scared her further.

I run up, try to get in between both of them, but Justin delivers a strong paw to my head. Once again, it was enough to knock me unconscious for five to ten seconds. What I saw next made my heart stop for a moment, Justin's claws were digging into Elaine's wrists, holding her in place while he bared his teeth against her unmarked neck.

This meant that he definitely wasn't her mate!

I trudge up back to my feet and was just about to run towards her but my feet were weak with the blood still oozing out from various wounds. My head was spinning. My ears shot up at Elaine's pained yell of something I wasn't expecting.

"Asher! ASHER! HELP ME! PLEASE!" She had pleaded.

Chapter Five

That does it. The sheer fear and pain in her voice did it. The trust she must've felt to call my name out loud like that. I leap up, crawling with all my might till I was as close as I could.

Justin's total attention was on Elaine who kept struggling and kicking her legs up in protest. It awed me just how strong she was to struggle against a wolf even in human form. I gathered courage and sunk my teeth into Justin's left leg. He squealed loudly in pain. I refused to let his foot go till he jumped away from the girl at the door.

The black wolf rolled on top of me and I stalled, rolling away further and further while Elaine's body fell limp on the patio of Audra's house. Probably from the shock of everything she must've heard and witnessed in the past hour. A part of me wanted to go pick her up. That could only be done once we got rid of Justin who was currently trying to choke me.

Justin screamed, the sort of pain that could only be delivered via the heavy and profusely bleeding wound on his feet and back. His wolf form was hurt, too and his strength was falling weak against my newfound passion. He growls, 'I'll be back' before he threw one last glance over his shoulder at Elaine's unconscious form. Then, he disappeared into the woods leaving us behind.

"Elaine," I call weakly. My body was so frail that I had not even realized when I had shifted back into my human form. My bones felt heavy and blood was drying at the front of my body while the back ached uncomfortably. I could feel dirt rubbing against the scratched skin.

I felt like I was slipping into unconscious. The only thing that held me back was the echoing ring of my name that fell from Elaine's lips with so much trust and fear. Just the thought alone made me shiver. I knew I'd be alright and so would she.

We were both werewolves, we were bound to be alright way quicker than other species.

"Elaine," I said again, this time louder. She whimpered, pained and scared and so small that it broke my heart. I lifted my head to watch her as she sat up and frantically searched around for something or someone. Audra? Me? Justin?

"Asher." she sighed in relief, and then I heard rustling. Footsteps came closer to me, and then she kneeled beside me, knees and hands scraped from Justin's bloodied nails. Elaine let out a wretched sob and I turned my gaze to look up at her as well as I could.

"Are you okay?" came my voice, hoarse and slurring as if I was about to fall asleep.

"Shouldn't I be the one asking that?"

She half chuckled, half sobbed. "You're lying down in a puddle of your own blood Asher, you're the one who's hurt. I barely got scratched."

I laugh along, soft as not to exert pressure on any of my wounds.

"Well? Aren't you gonna help me up?" I asked while mustering up a brave smile.

"Oh, yeah, of course! I'm sorry," Elaine rambled on before sliding her left palm underneath my head and the right one held my shoulder in a place she must've found not wounded.

To me, everything hurt at the moment.