Sleeping beasty

Betty Everyone in my pack knows me as the laziest werewolf alive. Most people assume laziness means weakness, but in my case, they are completely wrong. No one actually knows how strong I am, and honestly, I do not care enough to prove anything to them. My family cannot stand me, especially my sister. My father barely notices I exist, while my mother only shows concern once in a while. I do not blame them though. I am useless around the house. I do no chores, help with nothing, and spend most of my time sleeping. Sometimes I stay locked inside my room for days without eating or bathing. To everyone else, I am nothing more than a burden taking up space. It all started the day I first shifted. Among werewolves, shifting early is considered a sign of power. The younger you are when your wolf appears, the stronger you are believed to become. I shifted when I was ten years old. Ten. Even now, that is unheard of. My parents were thrilled. Not only had I shifted years before everyone else, but I was also the smartest child in the pack. The only people known to shift early were members of the alpha’s bloodline, and even they shifted at thirteen. My parents thought I was destined for greatness. Normally, wolves shift at sixteen, around the same time they meet their mates, but my life never followed normal rules. The moment I gained my wolf was the moment my strange exhaustion began. While everyone else trained, hunted, and prepared for adulthood, I slept. At first, my father believed it was temporary, that I simply needed time to adjust to my wolf. But as months turned into years, disappointment slowly replaced his pride. The same people who once envied me for shifting early started mocking me instead. Their ridicule eventually spread to my family, and my father hated the shame it brought him. My sister hated me even more because of it. Now I am nineteen years old and still without a mate. It is not that I enjoy being lazy. My body is just constantly exhausted. Sometimes the sleepiness hits so hard that I lose track of everything around me. Once, I went to the bathroom and somehow fell asleep on the toilet after finishing my business. I only woke up because someone kept banging on the door. When I opened my eyes, the entire bathroom was dark. I had slept there for hours. After cleaning up and finally opening the door, I was greeted by my sister’s furious glare. At that point, nobody in the house even found my condition surprising anymore. The funny thing is, despite barely attending classes, I was still one of the smartest people in my group. Somehow, I always passed my exams and eventually graduated top of my class. Even I have no idea how I managed that. But after graduation a year ago, my condition became worse. Much worse. This time, I had slept for four straight days. When I finally woke up, hunger twisted painfully in my stomach. I dragged myself out of bed and headed downstairs to the kitchen. It was around nine in the morning. My father sat at the dining table drinking coffee, completely ignoring my presence. I ignored him too and walked straight to the refrigerator. My mother had left a large plate of meat for me, which I immediately warmed in the microwave before devouring every last piece. Afterward, I drank an entire bottle of water. Only then did my father finally speak. “I guess you haven’t heard,” he said coldly, taking a sip of his coffee. “There’s going to be a war.” I frowned. “What happened?” He looked at me for a moment before shaking his head in disgust. “Douglas r***d a girl from the Black Killers pack.” My eyes widened instantly. Douglas was the alpha’s eldest son. Everyone knew he was reckless and arrogant, but this… this crossed every line possible. My father explained that the girl was the omega’s daughter from the Black Killers pack, and their alpha had already declared war against us. Our alpha tried offering compensation to settle things peacefully, but they refused. Now every young and capable wolf in the pack was being called to prepare for battle. Out of all the packs surrounding us, Douglas just had to provoke the Black Killers pack. We were doomed. And after sleeping for four days straight, war was the last thing I expected to wake up to.