The Wolf Days

Meeting The Alpha

Elysah was waiting for us in the kitchen. She managed to get the kitchen set back up with the moldy dishes. The smell was bad in human form but was 100 times worse in wolf form.

"Oh! Hello beautiful! Now it's time to shift back." Elysah said with a warm smile. We plopped down in front of her, feeling like our legs were going to fall off. Just the thought of shifting back was exhausting. Elysah let out a laugh. "What? You thought you could stay in wolf form forever?" We nodded, making her laugh again. "I know. It feels amazing. Well, soon we will all be going out for a run as a pack." This made our tail wag in excitement. "But for now, you'll need to shift back. It doesn't hurt as much. All you need to do, just like shifting to a wolf, is let go." We 'let go' as she said, and shifted back to human form. I covered up my private parts quickly.

"Is there a place to shower?" I asked, embarrassed.

"Not here. We can go later. Go get dressed. Breakfast will be ready soon." Elysah said, shaking her head. I went to my room and threw on my uniform from the orphanage. They were the only clothes I had with me. When I went out, Elysah gasped.

"Oh no! You can't wear that! If anyone sees you in that, they will for sure take you back to the orphanage. We'll have to see what we have around here. Hold on." Elysah then went to her room. After a few moments, she came back out with a hand full of clothes. "Try some of these on. Sorry they may not fit correctly, but it's better than someone taking you away." I tried on everything and found everything was too big. Every pair of pants slid down instantly and the shirts were a bit oversized. I picked the shirt that was the least oversized, it covered my butt. "Well, I guess we'll have to get you some clothes from the shelter later on. I guess wear your pants and one of these shirts for now." I shrugged, at least no one else was showing up I guess. "Zevran will be here soon so you'll need to be on your best behavior." I let out a sigh. Or there's that, I thought to myself. I ran my fingers through my dirty hair.

"Do you know how to braid?" I asked. She nodded and disappeared into the bathroom. She came out with a brush and pulled the kitchen chair out for me to sit on.

"What kind? French, fish, or normal?" She asked as I sat down and she got behind me. She started brushing my hair as I decided.

"A French braid sounds more practical," I replied. She brushed out all my knots and tightly put two French braids in my hair, one on each side of my head. With how tight she was pulling, I thought she would pull all of my hair out before she was done. She had a few hair ties that she used to tie the ends of both braids. "You look so cute!" Elysah said proudly, impressed by her own work. I couldn't help but to let out a giggle. No one had ever French braided my hair before. No one knew how to even do braids. She pulled out some plates and silverware from one of the cabinets and set the table for three. I didn't realize she had made breakfast until it was on the plate in front of me. Pancakes. My mind wondered to the first time seeing Phoenix in the kitchen. Kody had been making pancakes. I let out a sad sigh. I missed her even if I did feel like she betrayed me. A knock at the door broke me from my thoughts. "Oh he must be here already. Good!" She went to the door and let him in. Zevran came in. He looked like a grown version of the boy I saw in my dreams. All the color of me faded away and I felt shock flow through me.

"An adorable wolf and a beautiful young lady, nice to meet you in human form, Emaliah." I let out a short wag before blushing for doing so. "I'm Zevran. Others may call me alpha, since I am the oldest of us all, but to me, we are all equals."

"We have to get her new clothes. These will have to do for now, but nothing else fits. All she brought with her was her orphanage outfit." Elysah said as she pushed him to the table. He nodded in agreement.

"Yes. That will have to wait. For now, we are eating and talking. I know all this has to be a shock to you. We all ended up familyless but now we have each other and are one big family," Zevran said. I doubt he meant to sound so cold about being familyless, but it still struck me in a nerve.

"But I DID have a family. My orphanage was my family. Rather, that was until a younger you and Phoenix came into my dreams." I said in a bit of an annoyed tone. They both looked at me in shock, both white as a ghost like I said something out of this world.

"In your dreams?" Zevran asked after shaking off some of the shock.

"Yeah! At first it was just Phoenix, but the last two, a younger you were there along with a younger Storm." I explained. "Younger you showed up and told me I needed to shift before the hunters got me. You even told me Phoenix's name. That's how I learned her name." Elysah and Zevran looked at each other, then back at me.

"That's not normal. Seeing your wolf is, but seeing others isn't.It's unheard of." Zevran finally spoke up. He studied my face for a moment. I didn't like the idea of me being different to others. I grew up thinking of it as a bad thing. After all, it was seen as horrible to be different in the orphanage. Elysah's voice broke my thoughts.

"Hey! It's nothing to be scared of. Who cares if your experience is different? It makes you special." She gave me a warm smile to reassure me that everything would be just fine.

"That's true. Some have dreams of being chased while others have dreams of running wild and free. I think it has to deal with the situation they are in." Zevran said in agreement. I knew they were trying to make me feel better about it, but I couldn't help my mind wondering about what it meant. Why was mine different? Could it have just been that others left that part out? We finished eating our meal and Zevran left. Elysah had to go with him for some pack meeting and left me home alone with my thoughts. I went to my room to lay down for a bit. My sleeping schedule has been a mess so I did my best to stay away.

"So Phoenix. What do you think?" I asked the wolf pup. She looked up at me. "Do you think we may be special? Or do you think those dreams were just to help us shift?" She tilted her head as if wondering about it herself. "Well, either way, I think it's best we stay with them. I think we would be better off with them than being on our own. What do you think?" She nodded in agreement. "Well then, it's settled. We shall stay and see where this road takes us. I just hope we don't end up regretting it." She nodded in agreement again before laying her head on my lap. I petted her and slowly drifted off into my thoughts to pass the time.

Lunch time hit and Elysah showed back up with left over food. I could smell the pizza from across the house. I jumped up, knocking Phoenix to the floor. "Oh sorry girl." I said as I helped her to her paws. We raced out of the room to meet up with Elysah.

"You must be hungry! You looked like you couldn't have run any faster. Well, I made sure to bring you back some food." Elysah said, putting down a small box that held the pizza. I tried not to scarf it down. I felt so hungry after taking the first bit. "Yep, differently hungry." Elysah said with a chuckle. "Tomorrow will be a long day. You'll be meeting the pack and going to get you some clothes that fit. We could even go on a run if you're up to joining us." Joy flowed through me. I was definitely up for a run. Phoenix was too. We finished eating and stayed to talk to Elysah about everyone. I didn't realize so many like me were out in the world. According to Elysah, most walk around with humans all the time. It's hard to tell who's a shifter and who is human unless you are shifted. She told me about her time in the orphanage and how much she missed everyone. It'd been a few years so she figured everyone she grew up with had moved out or moved on. She told me about her dreams she had while there. They were similar but instead of seeing someone tell her to shift, it was Lylac's voice telling her she needed to. Every time she brought up Lylac, her face brightened up as if she was talking about her best friend. I guess as time goes on, I too, will talk about Phoenix like that. I looked down to find Phoenix had fallen asleep next to a shadow-like figure of a wolf much bigger than her. I assumed it was Lylac.

Dinner came and went. Nothing too exciting. We ate our mashed potatoes and green beans quietly. I was too tired at that point to stay awake, so I ended up heading to bed. I changed back into my orphanage PJ's and crawled into bed. Phoenix jumped up and laid against my back. "Good night, Phoenix. May tomorrow be exciting and full of fun for us both." She gave a tired wag before drifting off to sleep. I fell asleep petting her pelt to calm me. For the first time in months, I didn't have a dream about wolves or hunters. I was relieved. I was about to sleep peacefully for once.