Rise Of The Wolves: The Beast Within

The Truth Awaits

It was morning at last. Throwing back the covers with a huge grin on his face, Marcus took himself off to the bathroom. He rinsed his face with a damp flannel to refresh himself a little, then for a moment he stared up into the mirror. He was thinking about how he had felt last night. For some reason that he couldn't pin point, this morning he felt completely different. Almost like he was changing.

What happened next was even more shocking than anything he had ever seen in his whole life. His ocean blue eyes flashed a royal gold colour and his body made, what to him, sounded like an animal growl. He was stunned by what he saw but once the reality hit him, he screamed. What he had just seen had frightened him. He felt the whole room spinning and suddenly everything went black.

**************

As he awoke, Marcus let out a huge gasp. His dream had completely freaked him out and now here he was soaked in cold sweat, trying to catch his breath with his heart pounding away against his rib cage. With a heavy sigh he threw back the covers and dragged himself out of bed as the feelings of agitation and anger came flooding back in from the previous night.

His first thought was to take a shower and freshen up. The sooner he washed away the sticky sweat, the better. That usually did the trick whenever he had a rough time. Even if he wasn't completely sure why he was having a rough time.

Taking himself off to the bathroom he pushed the door open, and the first thing he did was turn the shower on. Stripping off, he climbed in.

As the hot water begins to trickle down his neck and back he felt slightly relieved, and the dark cloud that was hanging above his head lightened just a little. He was no longer feeling angry, however the anger was replaced with confusion. Not just confusion though, but fear. Especially when he went over the events of the dream in his mind.

Could it be trying to tell him something?

After half an hour in the shower, spent cleaning and calming himself, he turned it off and got out, wrapping a pure white towel around himself. Going over to the sink he stared into the mirror.

Though as soon as he did he regretted it instantly because in that exact moment his ocean blue eyes flashed a royal gold colour, just as they had in his dream. His body also made an animalistic growling sound, but rather than coming from his throat, it came from inside of him. It sounded almost as though it was in his head rather than a physically audible sound from his body.

Unlike in his dream where he screamed, he was so shocked and frightened that he staggered back, dizzy with thought and feeling. As he did he slipped on the wet floor, flying back into the bath, smashing his head against the hard, solid surface of the bath.

For a moment he laid there waiting for his vision to clear up. Despite how hard he had whacked his head, he felt nothing but a little sting and a little nauseous, yet the mere force of it should have knocked him out cold. This led him to even more confusion. What the hell was happening to him? Whatever it was, he didn't like it one bit.

After a few minutes slumped in the bath his vision had cleared up, so he climbed out of the bath and went back to his room, he threw on a plain white t-shirt, a pair of grey jeans and a pure black hoodie. He liked to dress according to his mood, it was his way of telling people how he was feeling without actually speaking. Not only was his mood dark today, but now he didn't feel so great due to the fall in the bathroom.

Going to leave the room again, he stopped in the door way, remembering the gift Layla had given him the night before. Turning around, he grabbed the silver, diamond studded cross and clipped it around his neck, straightening it before leaving the room and heading downstairs.

His mother, Mandy, was already in the kitchen cooking pancakes for breakfast when he appeared. She turned around with a smile on her face, her fair brown hair slicked back into a neat ponytail. Not wanting her to worry, he smiled back, even though he was not in the mood for smiles and hugs. There was absolutely no point in bothering his mum with something as silly as a dream. He never bothered his parents with any of his issues, no matter how bad they were. He always dealt with them solo, other than the odd bit of advice from Joshua.

"Good morning Sweetie. Pancakes?" She greeted, in a low, polite voice.

"Morning. Yeah thanks mum but uh....could you please stop with the sweetie thing, I'm not your little boy anymore." He answered, hoping she would be reasonable. An argument was the last thing he wanted or needed right now.

"Marcus! Really? I know you're growing up and you're an independent young man now but no matter what, to me you'll always be my baby boy." She replied, with an 'I'm older, I know it all' look on her face.

With that being said, Marcus rolled his eyes and dropped the topic as his mum served him pancakes. He dare not to mention the weird happenings of the morning. In fact, he dare not to talk at all in case it somehow slipped out by mistake. This was one secret he would have to keep for a while.

Just as he got settled, there were heavy footsteps pounding down the stairs and then his father appeared and joined the two in the kitchen.

"Good morning dear." His mum greeted his dad, though she only got a nod in response, which was strange. They never communicated with silence. Then William turned his attention to Marcus.

Just from the look on his face, Marcus could tell that he wasn't going to enjoy this conversation. It was either going to be full of pressure to do better in school or some other kind of complaint. He didn't have daddy issues, but there were times when he feared letting the man down.

"Son...now that you have come of age, there is something that we need to tell you." William began

As his dad said those words, a pit formed in Marcus' stomach and it started churning. Suddenly he felt sick. Something told him that everything would change after this conversation.

"W...what is it dad?" He stammered, trying to keep the fear out of his eyes, knowing his father would look down on him and see him as a coward if he let it show.

"You're a werewolf." William revealed without a single stutter, slurr or pause. Marcus's eyes widened in shock, he couldn't believe what he'd just heard. There was no hint of humour in his father's eyes either. Without another word, he dashed to the downstairs bathroom. He was going to throw up for sure.