Suddenly A Beta's Daughter

Gabrielle Black POV: I woke up to my mother pulling back the curtains on my windows. "Rise and shine''. I let out a heavy groan and pulled the covers back over my head hoping she would take the hint and let me sleep. She didn't of course, standing over my bed and shaking me senseless. " oh no you don't, it may be Saturday but there's no way you're gonna sleep the day away. It's not every day my baby turns 16". I tried hard to pretend I was still asleep but that just ended with her plopping on top of my body. "Ow Mom, get off, you weigh a ton". "So I have to get up but you don't. That's not fair", She pouted. I pulled the covers from over my head and looked up at my mom while she gave me her best puppy dog eyes, "Fine I'm up, but only because you promised to make your chocolate chip waffles for breakfast." "Yay", she hopped up and clapped like a teenager. She's been trying to convince me that she's 19 for the past 8 years, and honestly, at times, she acts like it. " I'll get the batter mixed up, I would've started earlier but I wasn't sure if YOU had any plans to leave the bed today". She gave a little giggle as she patted me on my behind before walking out of my room and yelling for me to wash and dress. I let out an exaggerated groan, loud enough for her to hear down the hall, before throwing back the covers and sitting up. I think I sat up a bit too fast though, I had a sharp pain run through my head followed by a bit of dizziness. It went away almost as fast as it came, I almost thought I imagined it. Finally climbing out of bed I make my way across the hall to the bathroom and my reflection in the bathroom nearly scares me to death. It's times like this when I wish I had gotten my mom's straight blonde hair instead of this thick mane of black unruly curls, it's always a pain to do anything with it, but it can be pretty… occasionally. I let out a sigh before hopping in the shower to get ready, I can just get Mom to braid it later. I made my way down the steps following the scent of freshly made waffles to our small kitchen. "Well look who returned to the land of the living", mom said, putting a plate of food down on the table in front of me. "Any plans after breakfast, we could go into town, call Stephanie we can have a girl's day, my treat". "That sounds like fun, as long as you promise not to try and act "HIP" again. No boy talk either". She let out a laugh placing a kiss on my forehead, "Okay deal, but you're missing out, I give out great advice". I rolled my eyes at her and she just laughed. "Hurry up and finish so we can head out you already slept most of the day away" "You can't rush me, these waffles are meant to be enjoyed not scarfed down." "Oh don't be so dramatic, you act as if you'll never eat another waffle". The landline starts to ring so she walked across the room to pick it up. "Hello….. it should be on your desk…. yes I have their contact….. Now, but" Mom looked over to me with sad eyes and I know what that means, her evil boss is making her go to work on her day off. " I understand I'll get there as soon as I can… goodbye sir". Mom let out a heavy sigh as she hung up the phone. "Do you have to go in?" I asked, picking at the remainder of my breakfast. "I'm afraid so, apparently someone misplaced some important files and the court date is set for Monday so it's kind of urgent. I'm sorry baby." Mom works as an assistant in an attorney's office and she goes to school at night so her hours have always been long and hectic. "It's okay I understand ", I looked up at Mom and gave her a small smile. "We can have girls' day some other time". "Oh no, you are gonna go out and enjoy yourself. I can't leave you all alone on your birthday. Call Steph and tell her to come over, I'll drop you girls off downtown with more than enough spending money to get you into trouble. I'll try and finish up quickly and we can order pizza and have a movie night." "Ok". Mom walked over to me and wrapped me in a hug. "I'm sorry baby, but things will get better". She pulled back and looked me in my eyes, eyes that I wish mirrored hers. I've got deep dark blue eyes, kind of like the sea, but her eyes are as clear and bright as the summer sky. Sometimes I wonder if she wished I looked more like her as well, instead of the person that donated his sperm and then left. I've asked about him a few times when I was younger and from what she told me he doesn't seem like a bad person, but who am I to say, I've never met him. Mom left me in the kitchen so she could go get ready for work so I pulled out my cell and called Steph. "Happy birthday Gabi-kins". "Thanks, Steph. Wanna go downtown with me, Mom's treat." Stephanie has been my best friend for as long as I can remember. Our moms grew up together so they were extremely close. At this point, we're more like sisters, not a day goes by that I don't talk to her. "Um duh, why would I turn down free stuff? Be right over". Steph only lived a block away so she got to the house pretty fast. "Where's the birthday girl" Steph came barging into the house, without knocking, as always. "In the kitchen" I shouted back. I watched as she made her way into the kitchen with gift bags hanging from her arms. "I smell waffles," she said excitedly before dropping the bags in the chair next to me and walking to the stove to make herself a plate." Where's Mom". "Upstairs getting ready for work". I pulled the chair closer to me so I could peek inside the bags, but Steph popped my hands. "You know the rules, no gifts until after cake". She sat her plate down before going to the base of the steps and yelling, "Hi Mom, your favorite child is here". I heard Mom laugh and I rolled my eyes. "HI baby, there's food on the stove". "Already got a plate ", she shouted back before returning to the table to dig in. "I thought mom was off today". "The dictator f****d up and for some reason, it's mom's job to fix it". "Watch your mouth young lady".mom came walking back into the kitchen wearing black slacks, a white button up, and hair pulled back in a tight bun. "You girls ready"? "Yep", Steph stuffed the rest of her breakfast in her mouth and got up from the table to wash her plate. "Could you braid my hair, Mom"? "Sure, but one of these days you are gonna have to learn how to deal with your own hair". "Easy for you to say. If my hair was like yours I wouldn't have this problem", I complained motioning to the curly mass on my head. "Ow". Mom popped me on the head with the comb before starting my hair, "What was that for". "How many times are we gonna have this conversation "? She refers to the thousands of times I've complained about not looking like her. "You may have gotten your looks from your father, but you got everything else from me." "I don't even get why she is complaining, my Gabi-kins is adorable", Steph tried pinching my cheeks but I slapped her hands away. "Alright girls, have fun, and try not to get into too much trouble". Mom shouted as we hopped out of the car". Steph gave her an innocent look, "Come on Mom what kind of trouble can we get into". Mom turned to me with her eyebrow raised, "Keep an eye on your sister, and don't stay out too late, I'll get home as soon as I can. I love you". "Love you too", "bye Mom love you". We waved Mom off until she rounded the corner. "Alrighty, where to". Even though I'm disappointed that Mom couldn't spend the day with us, I still had a great day with Steph, I always do. We got mani-pedis, went shopping, had lunch at my favorite Cafe, Sweet Clove, and ended the day after seeing some cheesy rom-com. The only bad part about today, besides Mom not being there, was this splitting headache I kept getting, not to mention the voice I kept hearing. Steph thinks I'm going crazy but I know I heard someone calling me. By the time we got back to the house, it was a little past 9:30. I hadn't heard from Mom all day but that's not unusual. Dropping the spoils of our day on the floor just in front of the door, me and Steph collapsed on the couch. I pulled out my phone to call mom but I didn't get an answer. "Looks like she's gonna be late, wanna order a pizza"? "Nah, I've gotta get home. The twins are coming tomorrow and I've gotta help mom prep for the chaos. You wanna come over till mom gets back"? The twins, Noah and Ryan, are Steph's 8-year-old cousins. Her aunt travels a lot so the twins are often with them and they are a handful. 'No….. stay…..woods…. Gabi…. To the woods.’ There goes that voice again, it's so low that I almost think I'm imagining it. I looked around the room but there was no one here but me and Seph. 'Go…. Woods'. Gabi". I looked back at Steph and she looked slightly concerned, "Are you okay, you seem… off". "I'm sorry, I'm fine, just a bit tired".the look she gave me said she doesn't quite believe me. "Honest I'm fine. Go home, with the twins around you're gonna have to get as much sleep as possible". We got up and I walked her to the door and hugged her. "I'll call you in the morning, just in case you need an escape route". Steph giggled and then began her walk home. I stayed on the porch and watched until she was out of sight then went back inside. "Alright, creepy voice, who are you and why can't anyone else hear you"? I'm not sure what I was expecting but I'd try anything to get rid of this headache that keeps getting worse by the second. 'I'm you…. Woods…. Go..'. Okay maybe Steph was right, maybe I am going crazy. 'Not crazy… woods'. Oh great, now the creepy voice can read my thoughts. "What's so great about the woods, even if they are great I can't go there, it's dangerous". 'Safe…. Woods'. Against my better judgment, I decided to listen to the weirdo in my head, maybe if I go into the woods it would shut up. I took off the sandals I was wearing and put on a pair of old sneakers and left the house from the back door by the kitchen. We've lived here almost my whole life so I was familiar with the forest that surrounded the small town. I played in these woods often when I was younger. I'm also aware that these woods are dangerous, wolves have been spotted plenty of times. The deeper you go in the more likely you are to come across one. When I was five I did come across one, it was a big dark gray wolf, but through my little kid eyes, it must have just looked like a big dog because I wasn't afraid. It lay down in the grass and allowed me to go up and pet it. I even named him Pluto, but when Mom called out looking for me, it got up and ran off. I'm still not afraid to be in the forest but mom would kill me if she found out I went wandering deep in the forest late at night so I made sure to keep the houses in sight. "Okay, I'm here, now what". The headache died down a little but there was still a steady pulse of pain going through my head. 'Deeper. "WHAT! Come on, you told me to go to the woods, I'm here now, just tell me what you want or go away". 'Deeper. I rolled my eyes and started to walk in a straight line, eventually, I reached a clearing. 'Stop'. I stopped walking and looked around, still not sure what was happening or what I'm supposed to do. 'Don't fight '.I did notice that even though it was dark out and the only light was coming from a crescent moon, I had no problem seeing. I felt peaceful, until the pain in my head came back with a vengeance, slowly spreading to the rest of my body. I let out a murderous scream as I dropped down to all 4s trying hard not to let the pain overcome me. After what seemed like hours of me screaming I heard noise coming from the bushes and I thought all the noise I was making attracted some animal but it was a guy, a really cute guy, well cute enough to distract me for 2 seconds before another wave of pain shot through me. "Help". I called out weakly to the guy, he seemed in shock until I asked for help. I guess it's not every day you find teenagers screaming in the woods at night. He made his way over to me slowly and I tried hard not to break eye contact. When he was finally in reaching distance I reached out my hand trying to grab hold of him, he kneeled next to me so I could grab his arm. "Please, it hurts' ", I let out another scream and squeezed his arm as tight as I could but he didn't even flinch. Instead, he pushed the stray hairs from my face behind my ears. "It'll be okay, the pain doesn't last long. But you have to stop fighting it". He kept patting my hair and the comforting gesture settled the pain a bit. "Why are you doing this alone"? I gave him a confused glance through the pain. Alone, what did he mean, do what alone? "What… what's happening"? Now it was his turn to look confused "You're shifting", he said it as if I should know what that means. What am I shifting? In my confused state, I guess I relaxed a bit but it didn't last long because the next thing I knew my bones began to break. I let out another ear-piercing scream and grabbed onto him tighter. When I could finally open my eyes again I saw my hands, but claws were coming out of them, digging into his arms. I looked up into his eyes in a panic, but there was something strange about the way he looked back at me. He looked like he was confused but also understood and there was something else, something I couldn't quite describe. "You don't know what you are, do you"? The pain made it impossible to respond but it wasn't a question, he knew exactly what was happening while I was in the dark. That alone would have terrified me but he seemed calm, like it was normal, as though it happens all the time. "Just look at me", he grabbed both sides of my face forcing me to lock eyes with him. Then he started to take long deep breaths urging me to do the same. I could feel myself calming down a bit but I couldn't help the whimpers of pain as my bones continued to break but he somehow made it bearable. Soon enough I was looking down at him and he had a smile on his face. He placed his forehead on mine and since I'm no longer drowning in pain. I relaxed into him and noticed he smelled really good, like sage and brown sugar. He looked back up at me and patted my head again, "You sure are a beautiful wolf". A WHAT. I backed away from him, did he just call me a wolf? 'Yes he did, and we are pretty cute if I do say so myself'. The voice, I had almost forgotten about it, it sounds so much clearer now. 'Her, not it. And I don't appreciate you calling me a creepy weirdo, I'm Ivey'. Ivey, that's pretty. Wait a minute he called me a wolf. 'The Goddess just had to give me a slow human. You're a werewolf sweetheart. I'm your wolf and You are my human'. I looked down at my feet, well those are paws. I spun in a little circle trying to see more of myself, I even got a glimpse of a tail. That's when I heard a chuckle, I looked up and the guy was still standing there only now he looked amused. I tried to say something but only a tiny yipping noise came out and I stomped on the ground a little and that only made him laugh more. I directed my thoughts at Ivey, 'I can't talk'. 'Well duh, have you ever seen a wolf talk before'. ' I never met a werewolf before but here we are'. 'Touche. You have to mind link him, we're from his pack'. 'What'. I could feel her rolling her eyes in the back of my head, 'It's like a telephone call, but with your mind, try directing your thoughts to him. I felt completely stupid but I sat in front of where he was still seated on the ground and tried to, I don't know, think at him. 'Hello'. 'Hi'. I heard his voice in my head and he must have seen my surprise because he chuckled. 'How are you feeling?' 'Um, okay I guess. Are.. are you one too?' 'What, a werewolf? Yeah. It's a good thing that I found you, you could have been laying here in pain for hours if you hadn't calmed down. 'I told you not to fight.' 'Yeah well, you weren't exactly clear on what was gonna happen and what I wasn't supposed to fight'. 'Potato, potato. Now let's go run, I've spent 16 years trapped in your head, it's my turn for some freedom'. "What's she saying?" 'She wants me to run.' "Mind if I join you, I know this forest like the back of my hand. Plus it's not safe for a young she-wolf to be out this late alone, someone might attack you." 'Um, sure.' Who would attack me? Are there more wolves out here? "Great. Turn around" I turned my back to him and a minute later I heard a symphony of bones cracking before I felt something poking my side. I turned around and there was a huge black wolf with dark brown eyes looking down at me. Ivey averted her eyes and backed away from the black wolf, all while bearing her neck to him. 'Why are you doing that, will he hurt us?' "Fear not little one he means no harm, I am just showing my respect by submitting to a stronger wolf." 'Oh, okay.' The black wolf walked up to us and licked Ivey's face a few times. 'Let's go', he said in my head before taking off. I followed as best I could but running was awkward at first, though after a few minutes, it felt amazing. The black wolf stopped a few times so I could catch my breath and I can tell that he was moving slower than usual, but I can't say that I mind, running through the forest was the best feeling in the world. I felt so free that it was almost worth all the pain I had to go through…. Almost. I'm not sure how long we were out here but eventually, he turned and told me he had to go back. Once we made it back to the clearing he motioned for me to turn around again. After a minute he stood in front of me again, only this time he didn't have on a shirt. It should be illegal to be that ripped. "Okay, I'm gonna coach you on how to shift back okay." I nodded my head so he continued. "It's gonna hurt but nowhere near as bad as the first time, and the more you do the less it will. Close your eyes." I did as I was told. "Now switching back is simple, just picture your body in your mind and pull it forward. You're gonna start feeling pressure build in your mind but you can't fight it, you have to let it take over." I followed his instructions as best I could and when I felt the first bone Crack I had to try hard not to panic. I just kept taking deep breaths until the pain went away. When I opened my eyes he had his back to me. " I'm finished " I stated uncertain as to why he turned around. "Put this on." He held out his shirt to me and I was confused until I looked down. I was completely naked. I quickly took the shirt from him and pulled it over my head. Luckily he was a lot bigger than me, so the shirt dropped to the middle of my thighs. "I'm decent". He turned back around and looked down at me. He was handsome, with messy brown hair and dark eyes. Not to mention tall, now that he's standing right in front of me I notice I barely reach his pecs. "Are you okay from here or would you like me to walk you back?" "I think I should head back on my own. If my Mom is at home she might question why I'm half-dressed with a stranger." I looked down at my feet, a little embarrassed at the state I'm in. "Thank you for tonight, I'm not sure what would have happened if you hadn't shown up". "What's your name" I looked up to meet his gaze "Gabrielle, but you can call me Gabi", 'Me too, introduce me.' "My wolf's name is Ivey, she, uh, wanted me to tell you". "Well it was nice to meet the both of you. I'm Aiden, and my wolf is Odin. You should start heading back, it's already really late". I nodded my head and began to walk away but before I got too far he called out to me. "Hey Gabi", I turned my head back to look at him, "Happy birthday." "Thanks".