My forever Mate

Chapter 8

Mildred was sitting in her living room with a book and a glass of wine, reflecting back on the day she’d spent with the Hayes sisters and the promise she’d made to herself to always look out for them.

“Promise”, such a simple word…..such a deep meaning…..after all it was a promise made by Luna Lily, Derrick’s grandmother, that was the reason behind her becoming a member of this amazing pack….A human, in a pack of wolves. Oh, yes…..a promise is very meaningful and abiding for people with honour and integrity…..

She remembered it like yesterday, the day when a fearless 13 year old came across a teenage girl – bleeding and badly injured, in the fields, near her Granny’s house……. It was summer, Mildred and Rose (her little sister) were spending that summer with Granny Jane, her dad’s mother, because their parents had to go out of the country for her dad’s work. She was feeling bored from being saddled with her little sister all the time and wanted an adventure all by herself so she had some great tales to tell her friends when school opens. 

One day, when her granny and Rosie (nickname) were down for their afternoon nap, Mille (nickname) quietly slipped away from her granny’s cottage to explore the surrounding area. As she was passing through the nearby fields, she heard a faint whimper. She thought she was imagining things as none of the neighbours had any animals that could make such sounds. She was about to move forward but then she heard the sound again and this time she decided to investigate……She went towards the far end of the field, near the edge of the forest, following the sound. She was shocked to see a beautiful girl, about 15…maybe 16, lying naked and bleeding from what seemed like a gun shot wound….

Millie couldn’t believe her eyes…..who would shoot a girl? Why was she naked? Where did she come from? How come she’s all alone?........The girl looked into Millie’s eyes, her own filled with pain and asked Millie for help. Her pain filled voice brought Millie out of her trance and she immediately got to action, “Don’t worry, I’ll help you….you’ll be fine. Do you live nearby?...should I take you home?.....maybe call for an ambulance……I can run over to my granny’s cottage and make a quick call.”

“Please”, she begged…..struggling to speak, “don’t call anyone. No one can see me like this……know my secret” 

 “Ok… ok….don’t panic…I won’t call anyone”….internally Millie thought, what secret? Why doesn’t she want any medical help, when she clearly needs it……..”How can I help”, Millie asked?....deciding to save her questions for later…..right now this girl needed immediate help or she won’t make it……

“Do you have any sharp object, maybe a pocket knife” the stranger asked.

  Millie nodded, thinking about the pocket sized multi-tool kit she had received on her 13th birthday, last month. She quickly pulled it from the back pocket of her jeans and opened the small, knife attachment. The girl requested her to pull the bullet out. Millie balked…..how can she do that? What if She hurts her more or it gets lodged more deeply? What if she gets an infection……

”please”, the girl begged “I don’t have a lot of time, if you don’t do it…..I will die for sure….this way at least I’ll have a chance of survival” …..  Millie was still hesitant but she couldn’t let the girl die so she tightened her shoulders, firmed her resolve and decided to do whatever she could to help this beautiful stranger…. 

As she moved her right hand, holding the knife, towards her “WAIT” … she said, “please don’t panic if you see something weird, something you are unable to comprehend. Just …..just wait till I can explain …..if I faint please hide me …..promise me, please”  Millie was totally confused now … was the pain making her delusional or is Millie in some kind of weird dream? .... but looking at the girl struggle to keep alert despite the pain and blood loss, Millie decided to agree and promised her as she didn’t want the girl’s death on her conscience 

“I promise”, Millie said, “I will take care of you, hide you … if necessary, just let me try to help you for now ….” Millie wished she didn’t have to do this but there was no choice ….. with hands a bit shaky, She had the stranger grab her and lean on her shoulder for support while Millie tried to pry the bullet out of her back … it took some manoeuvring with the knife before Millie could get to the bullet …while the stranger continued to whimper due to pain. Finally, Millie managed to pull the bullet out….the girl’s body jerked, due to the force Millie had to use to pull the bullet. The girl screamed in pain and lost consciousness…..as she passed out, her human body was replaced with that of a wolf…….a beautiful, white wolf with soft fur…..marred with dirt and blood…..Millie couldn’t believe what she was seeing. How can this be possible? How can a girl change into a wolf? What kind of magic was this? Is…..is she a witch?......should she run away and tell granny everything…..but she had promised to help the girl, hide her…..how can she tell anyone about her. Mille, you made that promise to a human girl, does this wolf look human to you, argued my brain but my heart was unwilling to break a promise. She was in so much pain, thought Millie and she was scared of being found…..she maybe a wolf right now but she’s human too…..injured, unconscious and vulnerable…….I will protect her, Mille thought, making up her mind. She looked around and saw a small shed, it looked abandoned….carefully, very very carefully, Mille half carried, half dragged the injured wolf towards the half broken structure and tried to cover her as best as possible…..already her bleeding had slowed down….thank god, murmured Mille and ran home to gather some supplies. 

It took her about 15 minutes and 2 trips to gather all the supplies she deemed necessary……bandages, antibiotic cream, cotton, water bottles, some food, a couple of old blankets that no one would miss, a rag towel, some clothes and a thermos filled with hot water and hot chocolate mix…. Once she was satisfied with her assembled supplies she wet a portion of the ragged, but clean towel to clean the dirt and blood from her fur…..then she added some antibiotic cream on a cotton pad and applied it to her wound…she tried to bandage it as best as she could……it wasn’t very neat, nor secure but it will do for now. She covered the wolf with the blankets and waited for her to wake up. It was late afternoon, almost evening and most definitely time for gran and Rosie to wake up…..thank god she had the foresight to leave a short note for gran…when she went back home for supplies. There was no movement from the wolf since it had passed out…..all of a sudden it shifted back into the beautiful girl, still unconscious though. 

A few more minutes passed in silence and then suddenly the girl started to come back into awareness, making soft sounds, filled with pain. “Hello, my name is Mildred but everyone calls me Millie. What is your name? What happened to you? How did you get hurt? The wolf…..where did it come from?...I mean one minute you were a girl and then bam….you were a wolf…….how could that be? Things like this don’t happen in real life”…..Mille finally stopped for a breath after vomiting out all her questions….without stopping for breath. 

“Hello Mille, my name is Lily. Wow, that was amazing…..the way you can talk, holding your breath for so long”. Mille giggled….Lily couldn’t help but join in as well. “Lily, please tell me if you’re feeling better now”, Millie asked….. “I was so scared for you, what if something had happened to you because I didn’t call for an ambulance and all” 

 “You did the right thing Millie. You know what happened, what I’d transformed into….they would’ve put me down for good. I can’t thank you enough for being so kind, brave and courageous……you saved my life”……Millie blushed, hearing her praise. “Now, on to your other questions….. I’ve already told you that my name is Lily. I am a wolf shifter, before you ask, a shifter is a human capable of transforming into an animal, my shifter spirit happens to be a wolf. People refer to us as werewolves, in movies and all but in reality we do not need the moon in order to transform…..we can phase into our wolf anytime. I live in a pack of wolves, with my family, not far from here. A shifter is able to change form when they turn 16, which I recently did. My wolf wanted to go for a run but got hit by a hunter’s bullet. I managed to drag myself over to these fields….due to severe blood loss and lack of energy I wasn’t able to maintain my wolf form. Typically shifters are stronger and fitter than humans, when in their animal form they even have accelerated healing but I  wasn’t able to shift back to my wolf because of the bullet lodged in my back…… there might’ve been some amount of silver or wolfsbane in that bullet. When you took the bullet out, my wolf instinctively surfaced to heal me and took me into a healing sleep. Millie, she said in a serious voice, you cannot tell anyone about me…..about shifters. The supernatural community likes their anonymity, sharing information about us will put you in danger from the council of shifters……humans won’t believe you, will question your sanity so please keep all this to yourself”

“Don’t worry”, said Millie, “I wouldn’t have discussed this with anyone, anyways…..I promise…..I know how to keep a secret.”

“Wow”, exclaimed Millie…..”that’s so amazing…..I had no idea something like this……..someone like you existed. Okay, we’ll talk more a bit later….why don’t you eat something and wear these clothes then we can see about getting you to your home safely”. At the mention of food, Lily’s stomach growled loudly….making both the girl break into a laughing fit. Lily quickly wore the clothes Millie brought and started eating like she’d been starving for days…. Millie then handed her a mug of steaming hot chocolate she had prepared for them……

The girls walked back to her granny’s home, after getting fussed over, Lily finally managed to call the pack house and informed her parents of her whereabouts. Granny Jane spent the next few minute fussing after Lily, making sure she was comfortable……though she didn’t know anything about the gun shot wound, she could clearly see the girl was hurt and in pain…… her parents got to their house within 10 minutes, her mother was so dishevelled….eyes red and puffy from crying and her father was shaken at the possibility of losing his dear princess. They both hugged and thanked Millie for saving their daughter and granny for her hospitality, before taking their leave……

Millie spent the rest of the summer break spending more and more time with her new friend, learning more about the supernatural world. They kept in touch ever since……physical distance had no impact on their bond. Millie was present during her friend Lily’s bonding ceremony – which is wolves equivalent of marriage – and Lily was Millie’s Matron of honour…….So it was quite natural for Lily to step up for her friend, when she became widowed at a young age. That’s when Millie became an official member of the pack……

A sudden announcement for a pack meeting brought her out of the memories of the past…..Derrick has asked all member of the pack, both young and old to be in attendance. The meeting will be held in the main hall, used only for occasions when the entire pack needed to gather together or for parties and other special events. All the members were assembled in the hall. They were all wondering what the meeting was about, some were whispering amongst themselves trying to find out if anyone knew the purpose behind these summons. Mildred stood on one side of the hall, watching the ongoings with mild interest……these wolves were no different from human busybodies, always hunting for new gossips. Humans, for the most part, were not aware of the supernatural world but there were some rare incidents that make it imperative for the supernaturals to step into the human affairs.

A booming voice, calling for complete silence, brought order to the meeting room again. The alpha has arrived…..

Derrick entered the room to find total chaos…. His pack members were filled with doubts, anxiety and concern. Several members were throwing out ideas regarding the purpose of this meeting…... One word “silence”, in his alpha voice was enough to bring everyone to a stand still. Now that there was complete silence he started by assuring the pack that all was well…..he just needed to share some important details with them……..

“As you all know that, to date, Mildred is the only human we’ve accepted into our pack. We all love and trust her completely. She’s completed her warriors training, has been following  all pack rules and has always contributed towards the success and advancement of the pack. We are so used to her that we don’t think twice about shifting in her presence or including her in pack meetings and decisions. Mildred has been hoping to retire from the corporation for a few years now but always gave in to my requests to hang on a bit longer…..she’s finally had enough of my excuses (all the pack members laughed , knowing about their alphas quest to hang on to her for as long as he could) and taken matters into her own hands……She’s hired, in fact she’s almost finished training her replacement”…….gasps could be heard all over the room, for no one believed that Mildred could ever bear to leave her dear “Derrick boy”, as she lovingly calls him. Derrick had to call for discipline once again so he could continue with the meeting. 

“Mildred’s replacement is a human, who is not aware of the supernatural world”…..he held up his hand in gesture to calm everyone down so he could complete what he was saying….”We had to make this decision as no one in this pack or surrounding areas wanted to work in close proximity with me, except for our Mildred, our brave beta and gamma”…..he sighed, knowing there would be no end to teasing from Mildred, Shawn and Kyle…..his beta and gamma respectively.  

“This human we have hired”, he continued, “will only be handling the human side of the pack corporations business, anything to do with the pack will go through me, Shawn or Kyle or Mildred, if she’s available. I wanted you all to be aware so no one makes a slip that can reveal the truth about us to a stranger. This new person will work from her home so chances of you all meeting with her are very slim but I still wanted you all to be alert. If any of you has any questions, concerns or doubts feel free to meet one on one with me, beta Shawn or gamma Kyle……..Mildred, I believe you wanted to say something?”

 “Yes alpha, I do. You’ve all accepted me as one of yours and given me immeasurable love and respect….since I came here as a broken and depressed widow, at age 31…... 40 years later, I’m still here because of all the love and compassion you’ve shown me. I want to spend the rest of my time on this earth being closer to you all, specially the young pups…..just as I once took care of Derrick and his father, before him. The human I’ve chosen as my replacement…..her name is Cassandra (Cassie)…she too has gone through a great loss recently. She is only 18 and yet she has taken over the role of a parent for her little sister. These precious girls have gained a special place in my heart and since they are living right on the border of our pack territory, I’ve made a promise to myself that I’d always look out for their well-being. As my family, I request you all to help me keep my promise”