Lya
I sat down on the embankment overlooking the river. The sun was high in the sky, and I had probably been making steady progress for a good four hours, maybe more. I peeled off my sweatshirt and spent a minute just enjoying the feel of the sun on my skin. The now melted snow had engorged the river, and the high waters rushed by. Off in the distance, I could hear four wheelers. The thought that someone else was at least enjoying the first tastes of summer brought a sad smile to my face. I’d have to remember this place, and maybe come back someday.
There hadn’t been much about this state that I had liked, but this place was akin to my little sanctuary. Just a lot bigger, and no trees. A lot of people had told me that I would enjoy the Black Hills, and they would remind me of the Appalachian Mountains in New England. I highly doubted it, though. Nothing could ever compare to those.
I sat and thought about what to do now. Choices were exceptionally limited. I didn’t have any mode of transportation other than my own two feet, cash would run out, and I really had no idea how I would continue existing what with the whole people don’t hire murderers thing. I had nothing and no idea what to do. My best bet was probably to get back to Brookings, retrieve my car, and somehow obtain a fake identity. How did one go about that, anyway? And it had been a three hour drive thus far. It’d be a long walk back east.
'You have me,' the voice said slyly.
'Oh yeah?' I asked. 'And what, pray tell, will you do to help out here?'
'I could get us to somewhere safe.'
I didn’t know what her idea of a safe place was, but I didn’t think I’d agree with the assessment.I wished I had a good way to follow the news. I was morbidly curious how long it would take for Ted’s body to be found. I knew exactly how they would portray me. Dead man with a missing fiance. It was an open and shut case. They’d call it a crime of passion, probably. If I was lucky, I’d just be put away for manslaughter. I wondered how they’d spin the murder weapon, though.
I really had to wonder what tipped Ted’s dad off about what was harbored inside of me. I had never dared even allude to it around Ted or his family. I hadn’t shifted in years. Well, aside from earlier this morning. Was it really only a few hours ago? It felt like a lifetime.
The pack Trevor spoke of was intriguing at the very least. I guess it wasn’t completely surprising that there were others like me, but it was shocking to think of how it came upon me. I thought I was schizophrenic for the longest time, and shifting had been a figment of my imagination. I didn’t have a problem with it at first - it was almost comforting; I had a constant companion. But when I lost control and shifted in front of my mother and sister once, the horror was abundantly apparent. It wasn’t all in my head.
My younger sister was 20 at this point. I wondered if the same thing had happened to her as she grew up. If it really was a genetic thing, and my mom had no idea, it had to have come from my father. By the time I was fourteen and I could have asked my dad, he was out of the picture. Or, as Trevor had suggested, I was adopted and never told. I doubted that, though. I bore too much of a family resemblance.
I sighed. I had too many questions, and didn’t even know where to begin getting answers on my own. I was slowly coming to the realization that understanding a bit more would probably make my life a lot easier. Like, maybe there was a way to permanently suppress or get rid of this curse.
I swore at myself as I came to the realization that maybe, just this one time, running had not been my best move. Just because I went to a pack didn’t mean I’d have to stay there. I could always run from there. But now I wondered if Trevor would even still take me, or if I had just blown it. I wondered if my ego would even let me go beg for forgiveness.
'But now you need to run.' The voice sounded urgent. I shook my wrist, the silver bracelet bouncing harshly against my skin. It twinged a bit, but it usually did the trick to shut the voice up.
A hand wrapping around my bicep and yanking me up pulled me out of my thoughts. I hadn’t even heard someone coming up behind me.
I swung around, throwing a fist. Another hand caught my wrist. A haggard, weatherworn face stared back at me. His laugh exposed broken and yellowed teeth. I cringed in disgust, trying to twist my way out of his hold.
“Now what’s a pretty little thing like yourself doing out here all alone?” he mocked. Behind him, I saw three men and four wheelers. They must have been who I heard. They each had rifles with them. I desperately hoped they were out here for the spring turkey season and this wasn’t about to become some rendition of “The Most Dangerous Game.”
I kicked out, my foot landing in his crotch. As he doubled over in pain, another one of the men was on me in an instant, tackling me down to the ground.
“Now what’d you go and do that one for?” this one sneered, his face inches from mine. He was young, barely more than a kid. Days out in the elements were already beginning to weather his skin, though. “All we wanna do is make sure you’re okay.”
“I would disagree,” I snarled. A growl rumbled in my chest and that peculiar feeling of “about to shift” came over me. I tried to wiggle out of his grasp, glancing around to try and find the way out. The first one who grabbed me was up and looming over us, and one behind him had his rifle aimed at me.
I reached out to the thing in my head - the wolf. Something I hadn’t done in almost a decade. 'Some help might be useful.'
'Say please.'
'Do you want to be dead, too?'
'As if I don’t feel like it already,' she scoffed. But, with that, bones started to rearrange and crack. I sucked a deep breath in, trying to stay focused. Shifting was so painful.
The guy pinning me down lost his hold on my wrist as it changed into a paw. The wolf shoved him off of us, and lunged for the first man, grabbing and tearing at his arm. His scream was deafening. A bullet rang out, tearing through our shoulder, causing the wolf to let go and yelp.
The wolf steadied herself and looked around, trying to decide on the worst threat. It was alarming to me just how unsurprised these men were. Like seeing a person change into a giant wolf was nothing new to them.
What if it wasn’t anything new to them?
Three of the four had guns pointing at us. “Look at the little puppy dog, come out to play,” the first man sneered, holding his arm where a chunk of flesh was missing.
The wolf turned on its haunches to run, but two more guns went off, one bullet landing in our hip, and the other lodging itself in our side.
The wolf toppled over, letting out a whine. The men walked over, one placing a kick to the stomach while the other pointed his rifle between our eyes. Blood was sputtering from our side, and things were getting hazy. I peered out from behind the wolf’s eyes, catching the sight of a large black wolf launching itself at the man with the gun pointed at us, a sandy one and lanky cream colored wolf in hot pursuit. And with that, everything went dark.
Oliver I pulled into the gas station parking lot, next to Trevor’s car. Rose was standing with him, leaning against the trunk. They were somber. I was sure Trevor had filled her in on the recent happenings. Rose had already gotten the rundown of who Lya was, why things needed to be followed up, but I don’t think she expected the girl to truly be as resistant to everything as she was. “Any leads?” I asked while getting out of the car. “North, along the river,” Trevor said. “I made it a good three or four miles, but turned back when Rose got here.” I nodded. “Let’s go. Get out of town and then we will shift. It’ll be faster that way.” They were quick to follow, and soon enough, we were shucking our clothes and shifting. Wolves tended to mimic the appearance of their human counterparts, resulting in some very interesting wolf colors. We can’t gain or lose weight when we shift, so our wolf weight corresponds with the human weight. Adair was on the small side for an Alpha wol
Lya 'Hey,' a voice echoed through my head. I ignored it. Everything was so dark and disjointed. I had no perception of what was going on. 'Hey,' it repeated. It was a feminine voice. Flowy and soft, but also demanding respect and to be heard. 'What?' My own was groggy and cracked. 'A thank you is in order,' she said. 'And why would I do that?' 'For taking over and protecting your ass when you would never return the favor,' she scoffed. I had no idea what was going on. I felt completely out of my own body. That feeling intensified as images from the past started to come into focus. 'It doesn’t have to be this way,' she whispered softly. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I sat in my old childhood bedroom. It must have been late, because the curtains were drawn and a lamp was on. I looked on at a younger version of myself, smiling and giggling to herself. I remembered this night, this conversation. I had just turned 15 two months ago, and
Oliver I walked down a footpath leading away from the back of the packhouse. I had my head down, looking at my feet. This path wasn’t anywhere near as worn as it should have been. I wasn’t making my way out this direction enough. I felt guilty at that thought. I couldn’t really claim it was because of how busy things were with the pack; we had had peace for so long, and the hierarchy operated like a well oiled machine. I could take a couple hours to pay this particular Elder a visit more often. She lived alone now, her mate dying five years previously from the slow decline of heartbreak, after their son had passed. I often wondered how the death of their only child and the death of her mate didn’t take her, too. Her mental fortitude was one of the things that garnered her a place as an elder. I came up to her cottage. It sat about a mile away from the packhouse, a few hundred yards inside the forest that surrounded the town, but still well within our territory borders. She defi
Lya My eyelids were heavy, and it was a monumental effort to just crack them open. I was surrounded by white, and everything smelled sterile. I tried to shift positions, but searing pain ran through me. I gasped. “Hey, take it easy, kiddo,” a familiar voice said from the corner of the room. I turned my head to look at him. Trevor gave me a half smile. “You certainly do like making a scene, don’t you?” “I’m sorry,” I croaked. He reached over and handed me a cup of water from the bedside table. “Had to expect something like that with the bombshell I dropped on you,” he muttered. “Where are we?” I asked. He looked at me with a sad expression. “You are in a hospital. My first aid knowledge doesn’t quite cover bullet holes.” I gulped. I guess I wasn’t in any condition to run. When they found out about Ted, it’d be really easy to just waltz up and arrest me. Or maybe it would be really easy to suggest he shot me and I killed him in self defense. I breathed out. I had a defense, at
OliverSomeone knocked on my office door. I looked over at the clock on the wall, surprised to see it was already a little after noon. I closed the book, careful to only touch the cloth surrounding it, and shoved it to the side of my desk. “Come in,” I called. The door swung open. Dr. Whitledge bowed his head as he walked in and stood in front of my desk. “Go ahead and sit, Dr. Whitledge.” He sat, still not saying anything. I leaned back in my chair and looked at him. “So,” I said, breaking the silence. “So…” his voice trailed off. “Would you be able to do me a favor?” I asked. He nodded. “Could we do a DNA test on Lya?” I asked. “I have questions about her parentage.” I motioned to the book beside me. “As do I,” he said. “I really thought she must be a part bred that didn’t inherit a wolf, but signs point to otherwise, yes?” I nodded slowly. “She does have a wolf.” “Then why isn’t she healing appropriately?” he asked. “That’s a long story.” I leaned forward, placing
Lia The swarm of visitors was a little overwhelming, even if it stemmed from good intentions. I wondered if my room had been a revolving door of people when I was asleep also. I looked over to the man in the chair by the bed. Mountain man was an accurate description for the pack alpha. Even down to the flannel shirt with rolled up sleeves, Oliver was a lumbersexual’s wet dream. He had messy jet black hair that curled at the ends, and a beard that looked like it had been forgotten about for at least a few days. His dark chocolate eyes never left me. 'We should keep this one around,' the voice purred. I scoffed at her comment. “Is there anything I can do to make staying here a bit more comfortable?” he asked. I shook my head. “Unless there’s a way to blow this popsicle stand before Thursday or Friday,” I said.“What, don't you like hospitals?” he smirked. “Who does?” I snorted. “You know, a good way to avoid them is to not get shot.” He gave me a pointed look, but the smile stil
Oliver Adair growled in protest as we left Lya’s room. 'We need to be with her,' he insisted. 'Adair,' I sighed, 'you know that will just set her off.' 'Her wolf won’t mind.' His tone made it clear he was not willing to negotiate, and it was a feat to maintain control.'But the one running the show will,' I said. My comment made him whimper. He knew I was right. I felt him recede back to the corners of my mind and curl up in a ball. Trevor glanced over at me. “I’m guessing that’s not really the first encounter you expected,” he said. I shrugged. “If you asked me even a week ago, no.” I paused, actually thinking about what transpired. I was hurt by the fact that I was losing out on that one magical, irreplaceable moment when both mates realize at the same time. And it hurt that I would have to hide it from her for who knows how long. I knew those things before walking through the door, though. My grandmother was right - I am more or less trying to court a human. “But given what
Lya It was dark out when I woke up. Lights were off, and moonlight streamed through the window. My arm brace had been taken off, and the bed returned to laying flat. I hadn’t even noticed anyone come in. The room was quiet, save for the beeping of monitors and a soft snore. I looked over, expecting to see Trevor. The form in the chair was decidedly not him. I reached out to the wolf in my head. 'So you couldn’t warn me that some random guy turned up here?''What, am I supposed to be your babysitter or something?' she jeered. 'You’ve already proven you can be a bodyguard, so why not?' I said wryly. 'Oliver and Adair are not a threat.''How do you know?' She didn’t humor me with a response. The person invading my room stirred, slowly opening his eyes. “Hey.” Oliver’s voice was gruff with sleep. “So are all werewolves creepy stalkers?” I asked. “Only sometimes.” The room was too dark to make out his expression, but it sounded like he was smiling. “Well, I don’t need a bab