The thought of being completely obliterated from the life and mind of my sister filled my chest with an immense sadness; one so intense that I began crying silently. This emptiness inside of me had never left me since the unfortunate night of my inability to shift. It clutched onto my soul desperately like a starving vampire and kept haunting me even in my dreams. I dreamt almost every night, of Jake denouncing me simply because I could not shift, and because my hair was now silver. The loneliness had gotten so bad and so painful since then, that I feared that it would consume my entire being if I did not find something to occupy my mind. The pain I felt inside my heart grew worse with every passing second. I felt like an outsider, a stranger in the world, completely cut off from everyone who ever knew me. I could no longer remember the last time that anyone had said my name, or even asked me how I felt, if I felt anything at all. All that I could think of was my father, a man who

The next time I opened my eyes, I couldn’t tell if it was day or night. Everything had been black, and that made things even harder than before, because everything was still too blurry. I could hear people around me talking as well as feel their hands moving all over me. And there were voices that sounded familiar, though they were not words that I understood either. Then a hand touched my forehead, and the voice was close again, this time saying, “She’s waking up.” The hand left again. After a moment of confusion, I realized what was happening; I was being assessed and treated. A moment after that realization, I heard footsteps approaching and then saw the face of the man who had come earlier. The doctor I’d seen earlier, maybe?“Hello, Miss,” he said warmly. He was an older gentleman, his beard peppered with grey. His hair looked like a thick forest of strands that had not been visited by a comb since he got it trimmed, and he smelled of peppermint toothpaste. He probably had some

Despite having been interrupted by Doctor Anderson and having had to watch the Alpha King get escorted back to his room, I was determined to find where his room was, and to meet him and have a conversation with him about his offer to me. I tried countless times to leave my ward and go in search of the blue eyes, but somehow, the stars of fate just seemed against that pursuit. I pretended to be asleep and waited until the room was empty and the hallway was silent. I tried to keep my head down and roll with the boisterous crowd of people during visiting hours. I covered my hair and camouflaged my body in clothes I managed to steal from the janitor's office, but no matter how crafty I was or how witty my plans were, something or someone always happened at the last minute to thwart my plans and render my efforts null and void. I needed freedom to be able to wander to different wards in search of the Alpha King, but the hospital staff were either too nosey or too efficient, because they

The security guards lifted me easily outside the hospital's premises because I was light, and I was not even fighting, because fighting would have been completely useless in that situation. These were very large wolves, and I was just a cursed teenager who could but even shift. As I stood outside the hospital gates thinking of my next course of action, I heard the receptionist calling out to me from the gate. She had spoken to the security personnel and lied that I had not signed an extra document, just to get me back into the building. The security men escorted me back into the building. The receptionist folded some money and a note into my hand fast and secretly, and I did not want her pity especially after everything I had just said to and about her, but at the end of teh day, I still needed to survive, so I had to swallow my darn pride and take the money. The security men escorted me out of the building again. As they passed by a particular room, a strong scent hit me, that had

The maids came in to help me with my hair, dress and light makeup. Since I was going to be meeting the family for the first time, I looked in the full length mirror in the room allocated to me, and I did not recognize the girl whose sad green eyes looked back out at me. My reflection showed beauty and class. Sophistication even, with the dainty way I held my manicured hands. But my eyes held sorrow. I noticed how much change had happened to my entire existence in such a short period of time. I was still only eighteen years old, but I looked so much older to myself, and I was sure that it was not the makeup. Trauma had indeed aged me. As it was a team working all at once on me, I was ready and on my way down the stairs to the dining room in roughly twenty minutes. I let the small tail of my silk dinner gown trail beautifully beside me as I descended the stairs slowly and confidently. I had already decided on the shower that I would fit in here or literally die trying. When the guard