I choose you

Big brother

“For god’s sake Liam!” Dean slapped his brother on his injured arm. Liam hissed from the pain but that didn’t stop him from smiling. Dean’s anger dissipated at the sight of his brother’s joy at his misery. He could never be mad at him for long.

All Sarah could say was, “Alice had a twin?”

“Yes, she did,” Dean replied.

“How come no one knew? How’s that even possible” She asked

“People do, just not a lot, only the ones that matter.” He replied

The ones that matter would mean the council and older wolves, which would mean her father.

“Once their parents realized one wasn’t born with the wolf gene the couple decided to separate. Mel stayed with her Dad while Alice was with her mum.” Said Dean

“But why?” she asked.

“To make sure Melissa never felt different living in a world where everyone around her was a werewolf and she wasn’t.”

Sarah was intrigued. “Did it work?”

Dean let out a deep sigh. “It did and at the same time it didn’t but that is a story for another day.” He said.

“Drama is all that ever seems to surround you wolves.” Said Liam.

“Come on Sarah,” said Dean “we should get going.”

She had a training session with the shaman today it would be like all her other training sessions except Dean would be there. He would see just how lousy she was at controlling her wolf. She shuddered from embarrassment.

“I should be leaving too, see you later little bro and don’t worry, dry cleaning is on me.”

“That’s what you said the last time and the time before that.” Said Dean as he watched Liam sheepishly grin and make a run for it.

They headed out in Dean’s car. There was a bit of tension from her side because she couldn’t get the way he looked at her last night out of her mind.

She kept sneaking glances at him hoping he wouldn’t notice. His face looked so peaceful. She wished they talked more but she guessed he wasn’t the type to talk much. She wondered how Alice managed it but then, he smiled more when she was around.

Alice, she thought. How would she compete with the memories of her? What was she even thinking? She could be banished soon and Dean would be forced to cut the bond.

“So, what do you think about Liam” Dean asked. She was caught off guard by the question. Was he making an effort to talk to her?

“He seems nice and funny.” She replied.

“He’s an i***t but yeah.” He nodded and turned on the radio. She raised her eyebrow at him.

“You seem to like music or am I wrong?” he asked

“No, No, it’s alright.” She thought it was weird he was being considerate. She thought their conversation had ended but he wasn’t done talking.

“I noticed you don’t have a phone. Why?” he took a turn.

“Well the last one fell in the lake and I decided not to get one. I barely used the thing anyway.” She laughed nervously hoping he wouldn’t ask why.

“Why?”

Good lord. “Well, I didn’t have any friends to talk and I didn’t like social media much so I just stuck to books.” She said. Her life was lonely sometimes. It was just her and her dad with her books and the quiet woods as company after all, who wanted to be friends with a maniac.

Dean didn’t say a word after that. They got to the cave where she would be doing her training. The shaman was already there to greet her with his staff in hand.

They greeted him and Sarah wondered what Dean would be doing while she trained. Turns out, he grabbed a chair and just sat down there to watch.

“You’re just going to sit there?” She asked.

“Yes, anything wrong with that?”

“Err, no, it’s just, I thought you had something else to be doing.”

“I do actually, watching you. Do you not want me here?”

He asked and he had the guts to look confused.

“It’s not that, it’s just-” she stopped. How could she tell him she was shy? That would make her look worse.

“Let’s begin, Sit.” The Shaman ordered and she did exactly that.

This was how their training started, with her meditating and getting into the zone before mentally confronting her wolf.

“Concentrate and visualize,” He said. Sarah tried but focusing was such a hard thing for her to do because her mind seemed to wander to places.

Ten minutes passed and she still wasn’t in the zone.

“Stop,” The shaman said. “Unlike before I do not have the luxury of sitting here and watching you struggle with a simple task such as meditation. You must find your wolf and you must find it now.” He stamped his staff on the floor to show he was displeased and then commanded, “Again!”

She closed her eyes and tried to focus on her breathing and the way it felt, the rhythm, the itch. The itch? She thought. Her nose seemed to itch her. Great, just great.

She tried to wrinkle her nose to stop the itching but it became worse. She heard the Shaman sigh.

“You, most especially must understand the situation you’re in. We have done this countless times for years and still no progress or have I failed as your teacher?”

The Shaman sounded harsher. He was usually more patient.

“Can I try something?” it was Dean. he was so silent that she completely forgot he was there, paying witness to her shame.

“By all means,” The shaman gave him the go-ahead. He stood up from his chair and came close to her. He sat crossed leg across her, his eyes never leaving her face.

He placed his hands on top of hers gently and she felt a rush down her spine.

“Close your eyes. You don’t have to concentrate by listening to silence, you can do it by listening to the sound of my voice. Do you trust me?” he said

“I think so,” Sarah replied unsure, part of her was sure but he seemed to find it funny so he smiled at her reply. She closed her eyes and thought of the way his hands felt on top of hers, they were warm while hers was cold.

Dean started humming.

It was a song she didn’t know but the way his voice vibrated around the room was so beautiful. She focused on it. It didn’t take her long and she found herself standing in a white room. Without breaking concentration, she whispered. “I’m in.”