by Ben Reeder
“You were attacked,” another voice interjected. Deep, rumbling, irritating. Only one person fit that bill, but he was still on his way to New Essex. “The restraints are a precaution.” Jacob Kain stepped into the edge of my vision, but I could feel him as much as see him.
“When did you get here?” I asked. I turned my head left. “Weren't we going to meet him?”
“Baby, that was two days ago,” Shade said. She stopped for a second and pressed her lips together, then wiped at her eyes. “You were attacked by another werewolf. It bit you.”
“This was no random attack,” Kain said. “And it didn’t just bite you. It tried to kill you.”
“That will be enough, Mr. Kain,” Mom snapped. “My son has been through enough already. He doesn’t need you throwing more at him right now.”
“He needs to get used to this as soon as possible. I am an alpha werewolf. There is no better judge of what he needs than me.”
“I am his mother,” Mom said, turning toward Kain. “And I am the only judge of what he needs right now. You can advise, Mr. Kain, and you can complain. But if you want to stay in this room, you will do as you’re told.” A scent flooded my nostrils, musky, sharp, angry. My My breathing quickened, and I felt the urge creep over me to punch Kain.
“Woman, he is no longer your son,” Kain said.
“Back off,” I said. “Before I make you.” Kain turned toward me, is face twisting with anger, and I called up the TK spell in my head. My magick still felt a little distant, but I know that even at half power, I was capable of throwing him through a few walls.
“Kain,” Shade said, her voice sharp. “You’re not helping. He can smell her anger.” She put her hand on my shoulder, and the urge to strike out faded a little.
“All the more reason she shouldn’t even be here,” Kain said.
“Kain,” Shade said slowly. “Leave. Please.” He glared at her, then took a step back. With a final dark look at Mom, he turned and left the room.
“Shade, what happened?” I asked. “You said I was attacked by a werewolf?”
“What do you remember?” she asked.
“I was waiting for you, and Junkyard...he turned and growled at something. I turned around, and...is he okay?” I tried to sit up, and pain flared all down my left side and down my back.
“Junkyard is fine,” Mom said. “Ren’s looking after him.”
“Just a couple of cuts and scrapes, baby,” Shade said. “You shielded him.” A flash of memory hit.
I throw a shield up in front of Junkyard a split second before a giant, gray Were in hybrid form lands in front of him and tries to claw him. The shield goes down, and Junkyard goes flying with a yelp. The Were’ turns toward me, and I hit hit with a TK bolt. It goes flying, but something hits me from my left.
“I...I do remember that,” I said. “So he’s okay. Good. But there were two of them. I knocked one away, and then...something hit me.”
I’m on the ground, my neck and shoulder hurt like crazy, and there is something big and furry on top of me. I put my hands against it and unleash a full power TK blast. It goes flying, but it makes the pain in my neck even worse. I struggle to get to my feet. I hear Shade’s bike getting closer, and I look for the wolf I just blasted. It’s running back toward me, so I unload a wide TK blast against it. It disappears mid stride, then reappears a few feet closer. It leaps at me before I can get another shot off, and I go down, skidding across the grass. The wolf lunges for my throat, but I get my right arm up in time to stop it. I feel and hear bones break as its jaws close. The world starts to go hazy. Shade slams into the wolf, knocking it off of me. I want to get up and help her, but nothing seems to be working right. She stands over me and wolfs out, going to her hybrid form. Claws out, fangs bared, she swings and I hear a yelp of pain. She turns and bellows at someone else. For a moment, it’s quiet, then Shade is cradling me to her, and the world turns gray…
“I should have died,” I said after a few seconds.
“Your heart stopped twice before you stabilized,” a new voice cut in. I looked to my left to see a dark haired man in scrubs and a lab coat standing in the doorway. Kain stood beside him, his expression neutral. The guy in the labcoat stepped into the room and pulled the chart from the end of my bed. “But, once you did stabilize, you started healing with extraordinary speed. So you were transferred here.”
“Where is ‘here’ exactly?” I asked. “And who are you?”
“I’m Dr. Evans. You’re in a private facility, specializing in cases like yours,” the doctor type said. “Your identity and condition haven’t been disclosed, and your records have been sealed.”
“Whoa, a private facility?” I said. My heart started beating faster, and I looked over to Mom. “We can’t afford that!”
“You don’t have to,” Kain said. “I’ve seen to it that your bills are covered. There are facilities like this in every major city where a Pack is present. They’re designed to keep newly Ascended Weres’ safe while they recover, and to keep their families safe from them.”
“Ascended?” I asked. “Is that what you call being turned into a werewolf?”
“Yes,” Kain said. He turned to my mom and smiled. “Miss Murathy, I truly do have Chance’s best interests in mind, whether you agree with my methods or not. The next eleven days are crucial for your son. He is undergoing changes that would be impossible for him to understand without a more experienced Alpha wolf to guide him. Chance, being turned isn’t the curse you think it is. You’re going to become stronger and faster, your senses will become amplified many times, and you will become practically immortal. And that, boy, is only the most superficial part of your new reality. You need my help to make it through this, and Shade, you’ll need to learn how this is done properly, so you can teach others someday.”
Shade straightened beside me, and her brow furrowed a little as she turned her head. “I know what he’s going through, Kain,” she said, her voice dangerously soft. “I went through the same thing.”
“No, Shade,” Kain said. He shook his head and put a hand on her shoulder. “Your Ascencion was tainted by a weak and abusive Alpha. You need to learn how it’s done properly, and the only way to do that is to learn from a better qualified, more experienced Alpha.” She held her frown for another few seconds, but I could see that her anger was fading. What he said made sense. I knew better than almost anyone else what she had gone through with Dominic King. I could imagine what it must have been like for a thirteen year old girl to deal with what I did, and to wake up without her family, without anyone to tell her what had happened. To wake up under the control of the werewolf that bit her, especially when that Were was an asshole like Dominic King.
“Shade,” I said, “He’s right. It’s like Dr. Corwin helping me get over my training with Dulka. We both have a lot to unlearn.”
“Okay,” Shade said after a moment. She closed her eyes and looked down. After a moment, she nodded and raised her head. “Okay. You’re right. I wish it was me, baby, but...this is important. If you’re going to be a werewolf, then I need to know when to stand back and let the right person do this. We have a lot of years together ahead of us.” Her left hand touched my face, and I leaned into the feel of her skin against mine. Always before, it had been pleasant, but it had become a deeper experience than ever before. I could feel her aura even without trying, feel the energy coursing over her skin, the texture of it, the warmth, smell the cinnamon scent that I had always associated with her, only now there were layers to it I’d never even guessed at. I could hear the blood pulsing in her veins, feel the texture of her skin. Her pulse quickened, but it felt like something else changed, too. Like she was excited but calmer. On impulse, I turned my head and nipped at her wrist, then smiled up at her. Her scent took on a musky flavor, and her eyelids dropped a half-centimeter, but she never moved her hand.
“Now isn’t the time to be talking about long-term plans,” Kain said, putting his hand on her shoulder again. “Sha
de, we should leave for now. There is a great deal we need to discuss, and Chance needs to focus on other things right now.” He moved his hand across so the his arm was around her shoulders and turned her toward the door. She turned to look at me over her shoulder, then let him lead her out of the room.
If it had been anyone else who had touched her like that, I would probably have wanted to rip their eyes out. And somewhere in my gut, I felt the urge to do that flicker, but I buried it. Shade didn’t even like Kain that much, and he was too old for her anyway. Then why am I trying so hard to convince myself there’s nothing to worry about? It was a valid point, but one I didn’t have a good answer to.
“Well, you don’t seem to be too aggressive,” Dr. Evans said. He moved to the spot Shade had just vacated & started working the buckle on the leather cuff around my left wrist. “I’m going to release you from the restraints for now. A nurse will be in soon to draw some blood and evaluate your wound sites. Barring any unforeseen complications, you should be ready to go home soon.” He reached across me to unbuckle the other restraint, then offered me a smile that I guessed was supposed to be reassuring and left the room.
“So,” I said, rubbing my wrists, “I’m a werewolf, or I’m going to be. That’s...big.”
“Son, are you okay?” Mom asked. “This is a huge change for you.” She put her phone in her purse and came back to the side of the bed.
“Mom, change seems to be the norm for me. Escaped from a demon, went to high school, got my own father arrested, went to boarding school, now I’m a werewolf. Makes puberty seem pretty boring.”
“Well, I don’t like this man Kain,” she said. “He makes sense, but it still doesn’t feel right. I’ve called some people who might also be able to help. They should be here soon. And...I called Trevor. He and your friends should be here soon.”
“Do they know about…?”
“Your condition? Sweetie, they’ve been here since it happened. I had to send them home last night, but I think they were setting up shifts if you were out for much longer.’
“What about Dee?” I asked, my stomach suddenly feeling like a bottomless pit. “Does she know?”
“Of course she knows,” Mom smiled. “She’s having a little trouble accepting it. She keeps insisting you’ll get better. But you’re still her big brother. And, in time, she’ll learn to accept it.”
“I’m just trying to focus on the positive-” I stopped as my arms suddenly flared with pain. A heartbeat later, I felt it in my ribs, too. My body bent double and my arms curled up against my chest. I heard the machines hooked up to me start beeping faster, and an alarm started going off. Even over my own cries of pain, I heard feet pounding down the hallway.
“Chance!” Mom cried out. “What is it, honey?” Her hand on my back gave me a point outside the pain to focus on, and my body seemed to react to her touch. The pain faded and my breathing slowed. With the pain at a more manageable level, I could finally start to focus on what I was actually feeling. I could hear the popping of bone breaking and the grating sound as it set itself and began to heal.
“My arms...unh!..it’s like they’re breaking and healing all over again,” I grated through gritted teeth. A nurse came through the door and was at my side a heartbeat later. Given how fast my heart was pounding, that was saying something.
“Sir,” she said after a moment, “have you ever broken a bone?”
“Lots...of times,” I said, gasping.
“Your body is rehealing the breaks and getting rid of the damage. It’s going to hurt, but after it’s done, it’ll be like the bone was never broken.”
“Isn’t there something you can do for him?” Mom asked. “He’s been hurt more than most people. He’s in a lot of pain!”
The nurse pushed me back down on the bed and held my shoulders. “By the time I got back, it would be over,” she said. My vision went gray, then red, then I was laying in the bed, exhausted. The room was darker and my breath was coming in ragged gasps. When I could open my eyes again, the nurse was looking down at me with a frown that looked more troubled than angry.
“Ow,” I moaned.
“Ow is right,” the nurse said. “I’ve never seen it go this long. Did you have a lot of breaks?”
“Yeah,” I nodded. My throat was sore from yelling, and my jaw hurt where I’d been clenching it.
“How many?”
“Don’t know. At least once a week for about seven years. Used to belong to a demon.”
“Damn,” she breathed. “That explains a lot. But, the good news is that you won’t go through that again. Are you hungry?”
“Hungry?” Mom repeated. “How can you even think about something like that right now?”
“This is actually normal for newly Ascended Weres,” the nurse said with a placating gesture.
“This is what you call normal?” Mom said with one finger pointing toward me.
“For most people, it’s not this bad, maybe a little discomfort as an old injury heals or something, but your son’s case is… unusual, to say the least. His body just healed seven years worth of damage. He’s going to be hungry.”
“Starving,” I agreed.
“I’ll have a meal sent down to you,” the nurse said. “Probably two meals.”
“Make it four, and I’ll be happy,” I said with a weak smile.
“Four it is,” she said. After she left, Mom put her hand on my arm.
“Your sister might be right,” she said. “It’s possible this won’t last forever.”
“Mom, as far as I know, there isn’t a cure for this,” I said. “It’s like herpes, once you’re infected, that’s it.”
“Maybe not,” Mom said with a conspiratorial smile. “There are a lot of things you don’t know about your mother, honey. I made a couple of calls. We’ll see what happens.”
“Mom, please, don’t get your hopes up,” I said, fighting down the surge of emotion that had my stomach fluttering. Did I want to be cured? Or did I want to be a werewolf? Footsteps down the hall reached my ears, and I caught scents that were familiar. “Whatever you do, don’t say anything to Dr. C or anyone else when they get here, okay?”
Mom looked to the door, then back at me. “Are they here?”
“Just got off the elevator a few seconds ago. Dr. Corwin, Kim and Amanda, Lucas, Monica and Wanda.”
“Can you smell them?”
“Hear them,” I said. “They’re not subtle. Well, Kim and Amanda are, but I can still hear their footsteps. Barely.”
“Hey, look who’s up,” Lucas said from the doorway. “Glad to see you with your eyes open.”
“Hey, dude,” I said. “Come on in. You just missed Mister Congeniality.”
“That’s just too bad,” Dr. C said, following him into the room. Kim and Amanda filed in behind him, both scanning the side of the room they were on, then stepping out of the doorway as soon as they could. Lucas’s sweat-heavy scent hit me first, then Dr. C’s crisp aftershave-tinted smell. Wanda brought sandalwood and vanilla to the mix, and Monica added a spicy smell that carried a lot of Lucas’s sweat on it. It took me a moment to figure out what I was getting from the two of them, then it hit me and my eyes went wide for a moment. Kim and Amanda left a subtle musk as an undercurrent, though I was getting another layer of musk from Amanda and Wanda.
“Uh, yeah,” I said. “He was all kinds of pleasant.” For a few seconds, no one said anything, and the silence went from uncertain to awkward.
“Okay,” Lucas said. “No one knows if this sucks or if it’s awesome, and no one wants to lead one way or the other so they don’t come off as stupid or rude. That about cover it?” He looked over his shoulder at the rest of them, then back at me and smiled. “So, yeah, there’s the elephant in the room, or in this case, the wolf.”
“Subtle,” Amanda said, her voice barely audible.
“I’m his best friend,” he said without missing a beat. “I have a little extra room to act dickish sometimes, without actually being d
ickish.”
“Lucas is right, Amanda,” I said. “But he’s not the only one who should be able to point out something like that. It does need to be addressed. Needs to be said out loud. I got bit. I’m turning, or, as Jerky McJerkwolf likes to say, I’m Ascending. I’m a werewolf. Or, I’m gonna be.”
“Are you okay with this, Chance?” Dr. C asked. “It means you’re going to lose your magick. That’s a big part of who you are.”
Hearing Dr. Corwin say it out loud made my stomach drop to my feet. As much as it meant Shade and I could be together without worrying about her losing control, and it meaning we had this in common, some part of me knew that the shine was eventually going to wear off. I tried to smile through it, but being a mage was...had been one of the best things in my life. I looked to Mom, remembering how I had used magick to help her and Deirdre. My gaze went to Lucas and Wanda, and the memory of all that we’d done together hit me even harder. Finally, I looked to Dr. C, and the thought of not being his apprentice anymore felt like a kick in my gut. For a moment, I couldn’t breathe.
“I’m trying not to think too hard about that, sir,” I said. “It means I’m not going to be your…” I let the words trail off, unwilling to say it out loud.
“You won’t stop being a part of my family, though,” he said.
“Will my...will my memories fade?” I asked. “The ones I got from you?”
“I’m afraid your stuck with them,” he said with a smile. “And the ones you got from Kim, too.”
“Which means you will continue to train in my dojo,” Kim said. Her words should have been stern, but the smile on her face took the edge off of her tone and made my insides feel kind of warm and fuzzy.
“Great,” Amanda said with a tone dry enough to make me thirsty. “I’ve inherited a spiritual half-brother. Just remember, you’re adopted.”
“It’s hard to tell when you’re joking,” I told her.
She came to the side of the bed and laid a hand on my shoulder. “I’m not very good at it. You helped me save my mother from the Yakuza. That alone makes you my brother. Whether I like you or not.”
