She Turned into a Werewolf

by Karen Ruth

  “You’re welcome,” he said. This time a real smile did curve his thin wolf lips.

  Dante trotted over to us, coming from the rest of the pack who were all huddled up together. “You guys ready to go?” He asked us.

  “Go where?” I said back to him.

  “Lucas wants us all to do a patrol together. We haven’t been doing that recently. We used to do it multiple times a day but with everything that has been going on, we have been falling behind.”

  “Sorry,” I said immediately. “It’s my fault that the tradition has been broken.” I apologized.

  I felt really bad for everything that I caused these guys. Before me, their lives were so much easier and so much more peaceful.

  “Nonsense,” Dante said to me. “Since you have arrived, you have helped us in more ways than one. Since you have arrived, Lucas is actually happy. I haven’t seen him like this for as long as I can remember.”

  As Dante was talking about Lucas I couldn’t help glancing over to him, talking peacefully with the rest of them. Sharing laughs at what I could only guess was something Reed said.

  “Nina?” Dante said to me.

  I shook my head and said, “what did you say.”

  They both laughed and said, “are you ready now.”

  I blushed and said, “oh yeah.” We all started trotting towards the rest without saying a single word to one another.

  As we began our patrol, I stayed in the front with Lucas. It wasn’t that I wanted to be right next to him, it was more towards the fact that everyone was so much bigger than me that I couldn’t see over them. It bothered me when I couldn’t see directly in front of me.

  “So Lucas?” Jerimiah spoke up.

  “What’s up?” Lucas said still looking forward instead of turning his head around to where Jerimiah was located.

  “Are you ready for your birthday coming up?” He asked.

  Lucas grumbled.

  I was shocked, I didn’t know Lucas’s birthday was coming up. We never talked about it.

  “When’s your birthday?” I asked him.

  “Ehh in about a month.” I rolled my eyes at him.

  “What day.”

  “The end of July.”

  I scoffed. “Lucas quit being so vague. What day at the end of July and why don’t you want your birthday?” I asked him.

  Lucas shook his head and said “July 31st and because it doesn’t matter.”

  I squinted my eyes in confusion but didn’t probe him any further. Seemingly, Reed didn’t get the memo of dropping it because he said, “of course it matters. It’s your 21st birthday. If you wanted the crown you could take it.”

  I dropped my jaw and stumbled. Lucas stopped and turned around to face Reed.

  “Thanks, dude, totally needed to be reminded of that.”

  Reed looked at Lucas sheepishly. “Sorry, I don’t have a filter.”

  “No kidding,” Lucas said shaking his head and rolling his eyes.

  “You will be the king next month?” I questioned him not believing what I was hearing.

  “No. I could but I’m not going to.” Lucas said and began walking again, this time at a much faster pace.

  I had no problems keeping up, but that didn’t mean the others didn’t. Sounds of protest entered the group.

  “Lucas stop,” I said to him.

  He came to an abrupt stop. I stopped next to him.

  “Why aren’t you going to take the crown?” I asked him.

  He huffed in annoyance. “One, I don’t want to be king. Two, in order to do that I would have to be married which I’m not going to do yet.”

  “Wait, you have to be married to take the thrown?” I asked him trying to clarify what he was saying.

  “Yes.” He simply said not adding any more to the conversation.

  “Wait, is that why you were supposed to marry Adelina?”

  “Yes and no, now are we done with the questions?” Lucas said angrily and walked away.

  I widened my eyes and watched him leave, his fur scattering as the wind blew into him. By the way, his shoulders sank when he walked, I could tell he was agitated.

  “Did I say something wrong?” I asked the others who stood next to me, watching Lucas as well.

  “He just doesn’t like talking about it,” Jerimiah said to me.

  “Why not?” I asked him.

  Instead of Jerimiah answering it was Liam. “He was supposed to marry Adelina to tie two countries together. His parents also thought it was a good idea because he could take the crown over. They have been trying to get him ready to take it for quite a while now, but every time they even mention it he flips.”

  “Why would he do that? I mean Lucas would make a great king. He is determined, strong, non-judgmental, kind, a great listener, fearless, and many more. I mean he has all the qualities a king should possess.”

  Eli whispered, “I know, we all see it too. We just can’t convince him to believe it himself. We think that it may have to do with how his older brother was originally going to be king.”

  I scanned the rest of them. Their faces painted the picture of sorrow. My heart ached just seeing the way they were reacting.

  “Will he ever take it over? I mean what happens if he refuses?”

  Dante was the one to answer this time. “Then we will be in a lot of trouble. We can’t force him, but he has no siblings anymore. Being that he has no siblings there is nobody else to fall unto in the family. If something were to happen to his parents, then we would have nobody to turn to. We would probably face war if it came to that. Everyone would fight over becoming king. Some wolves just want it to show dominance.” Dante said shaking his head as if he didn’t even want to think of it.

  It was obvious that he was disgusted by it. Terror hit me as hard as a rock in my gut. My eyes scanned over Dante and the rest of the pack. They were all avoiding each other’s eye contact. Dante was pawing at the ground, embedding soil within his paws. It was the first time that I saw Reed absolutely speechless and looking worried himself.

  “We have to convince him don’t we.”

  “That we do, but we have all tried,” Caleb said to me. “The only one left is you.”

  “Me?” I almost coughed as I asked it for better clarification.

  “Yes, you. You are our only hope. ” Caleb said as walking away.

  I watched Caleb trot over to where Lucas was sitting. I didn’t even notice that Lucas stopped moving. I was sure that he would have been miles away by now. My heart raced as I thought about what Caleb and the rest said. How could I be their only hope? I could hardly convince myself things at times. How could I convince him of this that would surely affect him for the rest of his life? I mean convincing him of doing this is also going to force him to get married since he can’t become king without a wife. I couldn’t make him do that nor did I want him to for my own selfish reasons.

  My head spun as fast as a twister, causing me to sit down. I had to at least try to talk to Lucas about it. I couldn’t be selfish, too many lives were at stake. My heart ached at the thought that I would have to try and convince him to marry someone else. Probably back to crazy Adelina in order to save the pack. I was crazy to ever think that Lucas and I would have ever worked out. In reality, he was so much more than I was. He was a prince and I was just some poor damsel in distress. We would never have worked out; I know that now. I was going to have to sacrifice my feelings for him for the greater good. Never again will I feel the butterflies in my stomach that only Lucas can cause.

  Right now wasn’t the time to talk to him about it. I would have to wait until later to bring the news upon him. I slowly stood up and walked over to Lucas, the rest following me. It was weird having a pack of wolves do what I do. Usually, nobody followed anything that I did. I was a follower, not a leader.

  “I’m sorry for intruding on your personal life.” I apologized to him looking him straight in his golden eyes.

  He huffed, but not in an annoyed way. I watched a
s his body became relaxed, his muscles losing tension. “It’s alright. I shouldn’t have reacted so strongly against it. You didn’t know, it wasn’t your fault.”

  I raised the corner of my mouth up into a small smile and let it fall back into its normal position. I saw Lucas come closer to me. I couldn’t let that happen, I couldn’t become any closer to him than I already was. My heart would break and it would never repair itself if I kept this up. Quickly, I pretended I saw something run into the woods. I perked my ears up and turned to face it, arching my back.

  “What?” Lucas asked. “Did you see something?”

  “I thought so, but I must have been imagining it. ” I muttered.

  I moved to the rest of the pack causing as much distance between us without making it obvious that I was avoiding him. Luckily it worked because Lucas’s face didn’t show any signs of hurt or annoyance.

  “Are we ready to get going again?” I asked everybody.

  “Sure.” They all responded and Lucas shook his head signaling that we could.

  We only had one more area left to go over, the area that gave me the creeps every time we got there. It was the clearing in which I first found the pack. As we started to head in the direction of the clearing, Reed went in front of me slowing me down.

  “One minute.” He whispered in my ear and stopped moving.

  I took the queue and stopped next to him as well. The others kept moving forward. Once they were far enough away that they couldn’t hear us whispering, Reed started to speak and we began to slowly trail behind the pack. “Nina, I know what you’re thinking and I don’t like it,” Reed said to me in a serious tone.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked him confused.

  He huffed and turned his face towards me, his nose almost hitting me in the head. “You can’t tell Lucas to take the thrown. Even more important than that, you can’t tell him to take Adelina back.” My mouth dropped open.

  “How did you know….” I began to say before being cut off by Reed.

  “I can hear your thoughts remember.” “

  "Hey, why would you intrude on them?!" I whispered angrily.

  “Never mind that now,” Reed said by flinging his tail to cut me off. “Nina, what you two feel for each other….”

  I cut Reed off by coming to an abrupt stop. I sniffed the air once more to make sure that my suspicions were right.

  “Do you guys smell that!” I yelled towards the rest of them.

  “Smell what?” Lucas asked as he stopped moving and turned around to face us. His eyebrows furrowed.

  It was then that I recognized what the smell specifically was, “blood.” I said and began running towards the source. Having to get closer to make out more details of it.

  Lucas smelt the air as well. His eyes widened in shock. “Stop her!” He yelled at the rest of them.

  “Why?” I asked him as I suddenly stopped.

  The rest of them cocked their heads in confusion as well. I smelt the air once more giving it a very prolonged sniff to try and pick up more details. It was then that my body went into a ridged cold and it felt like everything went into slow motion.

  “Mother?” I questioned, knowing the smell.

  “Mother!” I yelled realizing that it was indeed my mom.

  Everyone came after me in order to try to stop me from advancing. I didn’t care I weaved through everyone trying to get to my mom as fast as I could. Nothing mattered right now. A twig hit right next to my eye and snapped. Blood began to trickle down my face, but I couldn’t have cared less at the time. The only sound that I could hear was the pounding of my own heart, everything else was silent. My mind clouded over with images of my mother. My mother laying in the clearing bleeding everywhere. “It can’t be true, it can’t be.” I thought to myself, trying to convince myself. Nothing would have happened to my dear mother, it couldn’t have.

  I made it to the clearing and stumbled. My mother laid in the clearing with blood all over her. My heart stopped beating for a moment as I tried to take in the scene.

  “Mother!” I yelled once more and tried to advance towards her.

  Suddenly, I was knocked off my feet and onto my back. All I saw was a black coat and knew it was Lucas. I struggled under his weight, trying to get him off me.

  “Nina stop! I don’t want to hurt you!” Lucas yelled at me in a commanding alpha voice.

  I didn’t care, the only thing I cared about at this moment was my mom. “Get off me! Your commands don't work on me.” I snarled and snapped at him.

  “Lucas! It’s not good!” I heard Liam yell from the direction of where my mother was.

  I stopped struggling as a tear fell from my eyes.

  “She doesn’t have much time left!” Eli said. “Let Nina up. She deserves to see her mom. Don’t make her regret it for the rest of her life, Lucas!” Eli yelled at him.

  “Please Lucas, please,” I begged him as hard as I could.

  Lucas hesitated before reluctantly agreeing. I ran over to my mom and immediately transformed back into my human self not caring if the rest of them saw me without clothes on.

  “Mom!” I yelled at her as I approached.

  Her body was full of blood. Bites and scratches lined her entire body. Her stomach was bleeding profusely. I lifted her shirt up a little and gasped. A gaping hole lined her belly. I put as much pressure on it as possible.

  “Someone help!” I yelled at them.

  They all lowered their gazes and Lucas said, “I’m sorry Nina.”

  “Please!” I yelled once more but this time nobody responded.

  I looked back at my mom and the tears flowed down my cheeks. “Nina?” My mom asked.

  I jumped up and grabbed her hand as fast as I could. “Yes, mother! It’s me!” I yelled not letting go of her bloodied hand.

  “Nina, I’m so sorry.” She said to me as a tear fell from her eyes. “Shh, mother it’s ok. I forgive you.” I said to her kissing her on the forehead.

  “No matter what happens to me, I am proud to call you my daughter.”

  “Nothing is going to happen to you momma. I will find help, don’t worry!” I said to her shaking.

  My mom began to cough up blood and I tried to sit her up. She whispered, “you're beautiful. You and your wolf, never forget that.” She went completely still in my arms.

  “Mother?” No response.

  “Mother!” I screamed but still got no response. My mother was gone; she was dead just like that.

  It felt like the world fell apart at my feet. I failed my mother. I didn’t keep a good enough watch on her and she was attacked by Seth. It was all my fault. I should have just left them when I first transformed. I was foolish to think that my life wouldn’t affect theirs.

  “Lucas come look at this!” Reed yelled.

  I slowly wiped the tears from my eyes and stood up. I wasn’t going to cry anymore, I was done. From now on the sensitive side of me was going. I wasn’t going to be the weak girl who cried all the time. It was then that I realized the rest of them were in their human forms as well. I walked over to where Lucas and Reed were before being stopped by Liam, Dante, and Eli.

  “You don’t want to go over there.” They warned me.

  “Get out of my way guys,” I growled with my jaw clenched together. They hesitated before reluctantly agreeing. Lucas saw me and immediately stood in my way.

  “Nina, you don’t want to see this.”

  “Seriously Lucas, I’m not in the mood. Move over.”

  “Nina…” He started and I shoved him to the side snarling.

  I walked past him and over to where Reed was still standing. He looked up at me with a flush, pale face. I looked towards the floor and saw a chunk of wood cut from a tree. It was covered in my mother’s blood and had a bloody paw print in the corner. Even the words were written in blood. It wrote,

  “Dear Nina,

  Just to make sure that you knew I was serious last night, I decided to pull this little stunt. Wasn’t it cu
te? Remember you have until midnight before your little boy toy or sister gets chopped up just like your sweet old mother.

  You're soon to be husband,

  Seth.”

  My blood began to boil with hatred. My ears turned pink as I dug my fingernails into the palms of my hand. Red blood began to drip from my palm to the forest floor which soaked it up. Of course, it was Seth, only he would be so sick to pull off something like this.

  “I’m going to kill him,” I said quietly to Reed, my eyes turning red with fury.

  “Nina…” Reed began.

  “I’m going to kill him!” I yelled and began to stomp on the forest floor to go find Seth.

  “Nina wait!” Reed said and grabbed my hand.

  I forcefully removed his hand from mine, and not so gently.

  “Ow, Nina!” Reed exclaimed from the pain that I inflicted. “Calm down, we will get him but we aren’t ready yet.”

  “What do you mean we! I’m going to go kill him myself, right now!” I yelled as I started marching over to the clearing once more.

  Lucas along with the others jumped in my way. I huffed agitated by them. I put my arm over my chest and glared at them. “What!” I exclaimed pissed that they were in my way.

  “Nina stop. You can’t go alone, there are too many of them for you to take on alone.” Lucas tried to reason with me.

  “So? I don’t care if I get killed, as long as I take out Seth I’ll be perfectly fine with it.” The rest of them gasped and Lucas frowned.

  “Well, I’m not okay with that Nina,” Lucas said to me with a saddened expression. “And it hurts me that you would even think that way.”

  “Just please get out of my way so I can go finish this,” I said agitatedly.

  Lucas nodded and said, “alright but first just give me a hug." I sighed loudly and went to give him a hug. Unexpectedly, Lucas grabbed me by both arms locking me still. “Eli now!” Lucas yelled. Before I knew what was happening Eli came at me and everything went dark.

  Chapter 18

  I jumped up and realized that I was in a new strange location. I scanned my surroundings, the walls were white and it smelled like the doctor’s office. I was laying on a bed that had white sheets to them. Actually, I think the entire room was white. The only items that were a different color, which was silver, were the trays. I concluded that I was in some kind of infirmary. I heard a door opened and I turned my head to face the sound. Lucas walked in and came straight over to me, as far as I could see nobody else was in the room. His eyes looked like they were a little sunken in. Blue and black bags found their way under his eyes. He was fully dressed in jeans and a white shirt. I had to admit, it did look good on him. Suddenly self-conscious I looked down to see if I were in any clothes. A patient gown covered my body.