The Secret Origin

The Caledones

Anxiety took over and I sat on the bed unable to breathe. I could feel my world slowly begin to come undone and I was scared about what was going to be uncovered. Wolves were after me because of what I was and Grace believed that I was something special. This was a complete contrast to what I was made to believe I was; unwanted, strange, weird. What was even more confusing was that Elijah believed my scent was wolf but my Skulk would have never taken me in if my scent wasn't that of a fox. Everything seemed to spin around, I could feel my heart pounding against my chest and I struggled to breath. I tried to stand and walk over to the bathroom, hoping that a hot shower would pull me out of this state of panic but as I stood, my legs buckled under me. Preparing myself for the contact with the floor, I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself for the pain but instead of the cold, hard floor, I fell into strong, warm arms which scooped me up and placed me on the bed. Shocked, I opened my eyes, half expecting to see Nathanael staring at me with concerned eyes but the eyes staring at me were not Nathanael's, they were Elijah's. "I am sorry that I burst in like that but I could sense your panic from downstairs and I thought that you were in danger," he said. 

Keeping his eyes firmly on mine, he knelt in front of me, rubbing my hands slowly. The motion seemed to regulate my heart beat and breathing and before long, I was feeling a sense of calm again. Feeling slightly embarrassed by my episode, I tried to lighten the mood, "So you have the ability to calm people down, is that wolf thing or a witch thing?" I asked.

Elijah smiled, "neither. You have been through a lot."

I sat smiling at him, appreciating his strong features. As a wolf, he was incredible in a demonic kind of way but as a human he was more angel like. 

"I can sit out hear while you take a shower if you want...in case you feel dizzy again," he offered.

I wanted to snap back and accuse him of thinking that I was weak but I was too exhausted to argue or respond with something quirky so I just nodded, scooped up the clothes and walked over to the bathroom. 

I just stood under the hot water, enjoying the soothing feeling of the water on my body, soothing my aching muscles. I closed my eyes trying to think of the questions that I wanted to ask Grace when I was distracted by the melodic sound of a guitar being played. I turned off the water, so that I could hear the melody which I seemed to recognise. I quickly dried myself. I pulled on the blue, ripped jeans, praying that they would fit over my bum and decided to put Elijah's T-shirt back on, doubting that the top that Grace had picked for me would leave enough room for my breasts. I quietly opened the door and stood in the door way watching Elijah playing his guitar. He was lost in his music, not even realising that I was watching him. My heart began to flutter as I stood smiling at him. After a few minutes he looked my way, noticing me watching him. He immediately stopped playing, apologising. I walked over to him and sat beside him on the bed. "Please, carry on playing, I love this song," I said. 

"You know it?" He asked surprised.

"No," I admitted but I recognise it from one of my favourite films, Leon."

Elijah looked at me and smiled, "That's where I first heard it. It is actually a Sting song."

"Please play it again," I insisted. 

Elijah nodded and played again. I watched him in awe and felt a pang of guilt as I realised that I liked Elijah and found him very attractive but I couldn't let this distract me from my mission to find out what he and his mother knew about me. As soon as he finished playing, I clapped, "you are very talented," I said, "you may have to play some more for me later." I stood up, handed him his phone and motioned for us to go downstairs. 

Elijah followed me and when we got to the top of the stairs he said cheekily, "I'm glad that you like my favourite top."

I laughed, "Yeah, it's quite comfy, I hope you don't mind?  I'm glad you managed to find another top though, I was starting to think that this might be your only one," I responded matching his cheekiness.

He laughed while leading us down the stairs to the living room. He led me to the sofa, patting the seat besides him, "come and sit down, my mum is just making you a sandwich. She is a feeder."

I nodded and looked around the room as Elijah tried to hide the fact that he was looking at me.

Anticipation rose up in my stomach and I willed Grace to come to the room so that I could have my questions answered. I started to go through the questions that I wanted to ask but again, Elijah broke the silence, "so you are quite a bad arse. Have you had training from your umm....Skulk?"

"Yeah, we train regularly. I don't get much of a chance to be in actual combat though," I replied.

"Why, from what I saw you can hold your own," he said with a hint of admiration.

His reply and tone made me smile. I was always treated like a fragile paper doll by the Maxim but especially by Nathanael, any hint of danger would have me sitting in the bank's but not being actually allowed to participate. It was refreshing to hear that someone thought that I was strong enough to hold my own. 

Just then, Grace walked in holding a plate of food. She passed it to me, "You are probably hungry, I can make you some more if you want."

"No, this is fine thank you," I said while taking a bite of the sandwich. 

Grace walked over to the book shelf, pulling a velvet bound book from the middle shelf, she flicked through the pages and stopped when she found what she was looking for. She smiled and turned the page to me so that I could see it. I was so shocked to see the picture that I nearly chocked on my sandwich. There, on the book,  was a drawing of my birth mark. I subconsciously rubbed my thigh where my birth mark was. 

"You have this mark on your thigh, right?" She asked.

I nodded.

"Do you know what it symbolises?" she asked.

I shook my head, too shocked to speak. 

"I think that it is best that I start from the beginning. Your ancestors originate from Scotland, which is probably where you got your red hair colour from," she said, pointing to my hair. "They were known as 'the Caledones.' legend tells of their struggle when the Romans invaded Britain. The Romans tried to take their land, but could never take it as they were fought off by bears, foxes and wolves. People believed that the Caledones possessed power over animals and were able to control animals. Little did they know that the Caledones were the animals."

"They could shift?" I interrupted.

Grace smiled, "Yes, but they had the power to shift into any animal, just like you."