Chapter 1: First shift.
“Where are we going, Claire?”
“Come on, scaredy cat, we are almost there.” She grabbed my hands in excitement and pulled me along with her.
We’ve been walking down this lane and are now deep in the forest. I was worried that we were almost close to the pack’s border, which was the last place I wanted to be.
“You told me the bonfire party was close, Claire, but we've been walking quite a bit and haven't found it yet.”
“Oh, for goddess’ sake, quit complaining, El. What could go wrong?” She rolled her eyes. “Don’t ruin the mood before we get there. You know, this is the reason I don’t bring you along with me to parties.” I heard the barely concealed annoyance slipping through her voice.
“Yeah, right. Like I asked you to take me with you.” I rolled my eyes in disbelief at her words.
I was on my own, reading one of my heartwarming novels, when she suddenly came and dragged me to my feet. And here we were, still being dragged by her to this so-called bonfire party.
She didn’t even give me a chance to decline.
“Ugh, do you think I wanted to bring you along? I didn’t plan to before, not after seeing how glued you were to the novel you were reading. And knowing how you can be, I didn’t want to bother myself with you.”
Despite the way she sounded, she didn’t let go of my hand and kept pulling me along.
“I wonder what changed your mind. Not me, I suppose.”
She halted and turned to face me.
“Look, El, I know you too well. I know this party is the last place you would ever imagine going. But I don’t want to miss this party for anything, and I wasn’t given much choice. It was either I come with you or not show up at all, and since I don’t want to miss it, I have no choice but to bring you along.” She moved her long chestnut hair away from her face in frustration.
“Who wanted me to come with you?” I already had a hunch about who the person was; I just need a confirmation from her.
She glanced at me for a moment, nibbled her lower lip, then turned and sighed.
“Collins.”
Not surprised, I nodded.
For some unknown reason, Collins has been on my case recently. Though I tried my best to ignore him, he was persistent. Never giving up.
“For how long are we staying?”
Her face brightened with a smile at my words, knowing I had given in. “I’m not sure. But if you want, you can leave anytime you wish.”
“Alright then. Let’s go.”
Deciding to stay for an hour at most before going back home, I agreed.
“Awesome, El. Thanks, you are the best.” She squealed with excitement before grabbing my hands and swinging from side to side.
I rolled my eyes playfully at her. “Just this once, Claire.”
“Yes, yes, Your Highness. Can we go now? Let’s hurry up. The faster we get there, the earlier you leave.”
I chuckled along with her before following her.
We had barely taken up to five steps before she suddenly stopped walking. I didn’t expect her sudden stop and crashed into her back.
“Ouch, Claire. Why did you stop so suddenly like that?”
I rubbed my throbbing forehead and looked up at her. It was then that I noticed how deathly pale she was looking.
She was visibly shaking and consumed with fear. Her gaze was fixed ahead. I followed her gaze, let out a silent curse, and slowly stepped to her side.
Standing before us were three rogue wolves at a distance of approximately five hundred feet. They had yet to notice us and seemed to be searching for something instead.
Taking that to my advantage, I slowly held Claire’s hand and gently nudged her out of her shock. She glanced at me and intertwined our fingers, gripping onto me with her eyes filled with horror. She was terrified, and I couldn’t blame her.
Which fourteen-year-old who has yet to have their first shift wouldn’t? We were completely powerless in front of three massive adult rogue wolves.
Well, at least not me. I wasn’t powerless, nor was I without a wolf.
I already had my first shift when I was five years old. Though that day was one of the most traumatic days of my life, I would never forget it.
I remember that day vividly as though it were yesterday.
“Mom!”
“Mom!”
“Mom, where are you?”
“Mum, I’m sorry. I will be a good girl from now on. I will listen to you from now on.”
“Mum, please, where are you? I’m scared.”
I remembered crying frantically in the woods after getting separated from my mum when I was only five years old. I had insisted on following her that day for her routine border check. Threw a tantrum even when she refused me until she had no choice but to allow me.
Yet there I was in the middle of nowhere, scared out of my s**t. Regretting ever insisting on following her.
It was the only time I had ever been on my own. Much less, that being in the middle of nowhere.
So imagine how scared I was.
I was so scared to the point of wetting myself, and topping it up with a stinky s**t.
I didn’t know that I had ventured too deep into the forest, that I was at the edge of the border.
It wasn’t until an ugly wolf with scanty fur and rotten, stinky breath appeared before me that I realized I was far into the forest. Because I remembered Mum telling me almost every time that on the other side of the pack are mean, ugly, and smelly wolves.
The wolf, seeing that I was alone with no adult in sight or close by, let out a sinister growl with drool falling at the corner of his mouth.
I stood trembling with fear, not daring to move a step.
I watched the stinky wolf step closer to me one step at a time like a predator sizing up its prey.
Then, before I knew it, a searing pain tore through me from the inside out. It was as though something was tearing forcefully within me.
I let out a scream, and everything around me blurred.
The next thing I knew, I felt myself moving fast and tearing through the body of the wolf.
It happened so fast that I didn’t give the wolf a chance to react, as I tore right through his neck first before going for the rest of his body.
By the time I was done with him, there was nothing left to look at.
It was after everything was over that I realized I was on all fours. I had shifted and fought the rogue brutally. I trembled at the sight before me. It was too much for the five-year-old me to witness, and I panicked.
I screamed in horror and tumbled backward, and just then, a voice suddenly spoke in my head.
‘It’s okay, Elly. Breathe.’ The voice tried to calm me. The voice kept repeating until I finally calmed down.
“Who is there? Mum, is that you?”
‘No, Elly. I’m not your mum. I’m your wolf, Davina.’
“My wolf? But I’m not supposed to have a wolf now. I’m not old enough. What is going on? Is something wrong with me?” I threw out one question after another in confusion.
At my age, I was smart enough to know these things. I knew that every young wolf was supposed to have their first shift at age fifteen. So me having mine at that moment got me thinking that something was wrong with me.
‘No, Elly. Nothing is wrong with you. It’s just that you are special and different from every other werewolf out there.’
Then she went ahead to explain how special I was.
Apparently, I was the prophesied once-in-a-century young wolf that everyone feared and would do everything in their power to destroy if they ever found out about my existence.
Though that was not how she explained how special I was. But all the same for me because tell me why I had to keep it a secret from everyone, including my family, that I was the death wolf, if not because I was nothing but an abomination to the rest of the world.
Hence, I had my first shift at age five and had no choice but to keep it hidden from everyone.
