A long sigh passes Elliot's lips and he climbs to his feet. I notice the uneasy look written across his face as he chews on his bottom lip. Such an action shouldn't make by heart flutter, but the traitorous organ skips a beat. My fingers twist in the satin sheets as my eyes follow the man as he paces back and forth across the room.
"Hank, what happened?" I cry out, looking to the older man who holds a look of disbelief on his face.
"Well," he mumbles, clearing his throat, "We saw you leave the bar, but Denny told us not to worry. We respected your need for space and gave you some time. After a while, we became worried. Denny asked me to check on you and I couldn't find you anywhere. All of us began to search the property. Your scent was everywhere and it took me nearly an hour for me to track you down."
"My scent?" I ask, my mind reeling, "What the hell are you talking about?"
"Macy," Hank sighs, "You were bitten by a Shifter."
"We don't know who bit you, but I swear...it wasn't a member of our pack," Elliot adds, as if he's making things any better.
"What are you talking about?" I cry out, my eyes watering.
Denny launches himself from the couch and rushes to me, wrapping his arms around my shoulders. My fingers grip in his shirt, so tight that I nearly rip the fabric.
"What are they talking about, Denny?" I whimper, tears rolling down my cheeks and onto the black fabric of his shirt.
"Listen to what they have to say," he whispers into my hair, shocking me into silence.
He pulls away from me, brushing away my tears with the tips of his fingers. I look up into his mocha colored eyes, seeing nothing but pure honesty and sincerity in their depths.
"Macy," Hank says, drawing my attention, "We're what humans call werewolves, but we're more than that...."
I can feel my stomach in my throat, but Denny gives me a look that urges me to listen to them. Hell, I don't think I have a choice at this point.
"We call ourselves Shifters," Louis says the moment she walks through the open doorway leading into the room, her voice dull and cynical, "It's a curse that goes back as far as time itself…."
"I was born into it," Hank adds, "as were my wife and children. Someone...one of our kind...attacked you. I know this doesn't make sense, but you need to know what you are...."
"No one asked me about my opinion about it either...." Louis scoffs before sitting at the foot of the bed, her legs crossed, "I guess the two of us have that in common."
"So... I’m a monster?" I ask, squeezing my eyes shut. Maybe I can wish this away....
"Not necessarily," Elliot says, his hand reaching out to grasp my hand, "if you can control yourself, you'll be fine. We're here to help you."
"What do you mean?" I whimper, "None of this makes any sense!"
"We aren't called werewolves, skin-walkers, or shapeshifters for shits and giggles," Hank says with a sad chuckle, "We all possess an animal spirit within us. They are the primal part of our personalities. It takes time to harness and control them...."
I look around the room, trying to make some sense of everything they're saying. It's fucking impossible.... People don't turn into animals. That shit only exists in movies and books....
"I've spoken to our Alpha," Elliot whispers, reaching out to trace the outline of my missing arm, "He's given me the order to be your Guardian. I'm to make sure you go through the phases of your first shift safely and that you can control yourself before you walk among humans by yourself."
"What do you mean? I am human!" I hiss, leaning away from his touch.
"You aren't human anymore, not technically at least...." Denny says, causing my body to seize with panic.
"What about my family?" I ask, my heart beating like a drum-line within my chest, "I'm not going to freak out and kill them...."
"It hasn't been unheard of...." Louis says, her voice barely above a whisper as she picks at a loose string on her pants.
"You're a danger to your family until you can control yourself," Hank says, shooting Louis a silent glare, "It will be a long time before you will be able to see them. For that, I'm truly sorry for this, but it's for their safety."
"What about Denny?" I ask, my hand reaching out to grasp his in a deathly tight grip.
"The only reason Denny knows about us is because he refused to leave your side once we found you. He will be safe as long as we are around," Elliot says, a small smile creeping to his face, "You have a faithful friend, that's for sure."
"What happens if he says something?" I ask.
"They'll have to kill me," Denny says dryly, his eyes darting across the room to all the supernatural beings surround us. Well, him...since I'm apparently part of their crazy cult now....
"Macy, it's incredibly important that human society as a whole doesn't learn of our kind. We keep ourselves hidden for a reason. Denny is merely an exception to the rule. No one, not even your parents can know what you are...." Elliot tells me, a pain deep in his gaze.
My eyes grow weary and I press my hand to my forehead, my skin soaked with a cold, nauseating sweat. This is too much.... There's no way that any of this is possible. This is just a bad dream. I'll wake up and none of this will have happened. I'll be in my empty bed with nothing to worry about except the mortgage and Henry's absence....
"Macy, say something," Denny begs, his hand rubbing up and down my spine.
"Am I still me?" I whimper, my voice weak.
"Of course!" he exclaims, pulling me close to his chest, "You'll always be you. Nothing can change that."
I squeeze my eyes shut, wishing all of this away. Why can't this just be a joke. Sure, it'd a sick, twisted joke, but that's better than reality....
"Macy," Denny says, his arms squeezing down around me, "You need to breathe."
I yank myself from his grip and tumble off the bed. On my hand and knees, I crawl across the floor as my lungs gasping for air. My vision blurs and acid builds in the back of my throat.
"I can't...." I wheeze, my fingers clawing at the hardwood beneath me, "I can't breathe!"
I sit back on my heels, my fingers clawing at the flesh of my chest. Loud, almost feral screams erupt from my throat as I scratch and claw at any exposed skin in an attempt to make my lungs work. Everything's growing darker....
"Stop!" Elliot screams, shocks pulsing throughout my skin as he holds me tightly in his arms.
"Let me go!" I wheeze, a howl of pain erupting from me as my body feels as though it's being engulfed in flames.
I stare into his icy gaze, tears flowing down my face as I struggle to free myself from his grip. I suck in a mouthful of air, my lungs burning with the heat that consumes me from the inside.
"Make it stop!" I cry out, my voice a hoarse whisper.
"Macy," Elliot whispers, his hands gripping my face, "you need to breathe. Slowly.... Just focus on my voice. Do as I say. Breathe in.... Breathe out.... In.... Out.... Just like that. You're close to entering the first stage of the change and your body isn't ready. You need to calm down. If you don't...you could kill yourself...."
I focus on my breathing, mimicking the gentle breeze which washes over my face with his every breath. I give him a tiny nod, but the burning in my body keeps trying to consume me. The pain's becoming stronger at an accelerated pace as I try to focus on everything he's said. I open my eyes, silently pleading with him to make it stop. Elliot stares at me and a snarled curse flows from his lips. He pulls my face closer to his, making sure that we maintain eye contact.
"Breathe with me. NOW!" he orders with a vicious growl, his voice so loud that it rattles the walls of my mind.
I can feel my body rushing to comply and I focus on his face, breathing when he does. His hands are warm against my face and his breath brushes against me in soothing waves. I can feel my internal temperature calming down to a bearable heat. A sigh of relief passes my lips as I begin to take jagged breaths all on my own. We crouch like this for several minutes before he pulls away. He opens his eyes, their frozen depths flashing
with silver as they paralyze me in their gaze.
Once I've calmed down enough, Elliot hauls me up his body. My breasts press against every single muscle along his chest, making my heart do a back-flip underneath my ribs. He cradles me close to him as he carries me back to the bed.
"I had the same reaction," Louis chuckles from her post at the foot of the bed, "You're lucky since you have us. I wasn't so lucky and had to figure out things on my own."
I know what she's trying to do, but her words are doing very little to calm me down. I'm freaking the fuck out! Hell, who wouldn't when faced with the possibility of sprouting a tail? This is all so fucking weird and surreal....
"Denny, what all have they told you?" I ask after a few silent minutes, my voice a hoarse whisper.
"They only told me the essentials to keep me from calling the cops," he tells me, his hands running up and down my spine reassuringly, "I refused any more information until you were conscious. It felt wrong knowing so much when you were completely in the dark about what was going on."
"Thanks for that...." I whisper, leaning into his chest. Even with all the craziness going on...he still thought of me and my feelings.
The silence in the room is so thick that I could cut it with a knife. My eyes glance between the gorgeous man at my side, the blonde, long haired beauty at my feet and the viking on the couch across the room. Is there something out this curse that makes everyone ridiculously attractive?
"Explain things to me," I say, looking to the three Shifters in the room, "I want to know everything. I want to know how this happened. I don't know how any of this works."
"Well, get comfortable, this will take a while." Elliot says from my side, holding the covers up for me to slide underneath.
I comply and slide between the sheets, my back pressed against the dark, wooden headboard. Louis simply lounges on her side, her perfectly manicured hand holding her head up.
"All humans come from a common ancestor, the same one as our kind. It's believed that the human race is merely a mutation that took a millennium to achieve. That's how it can be possible for a person to be turned, just as yourself," Elliot tells me, clearing his throat before going on, "That gene lays dormant for your entire life until the chance comes that you're exposed to us. The easiest and most effective way to turn someone is with a bite. Just as with humans, we believe that this was also a mutation brought to be for the mere purpose for our kind to survive."
"So, you're saying that Shifters came first?" I ask, trying to give myself a chance to wrap my mind around the information being fed to me.
"Exactly," Hank says, "You were born human, but since all humans descend from our race, there's a tiny, dormant strand of DNA that had the possibility of changing your entire genetic makeup once activated."
"My entire genetic makeup?" I ask, confused, "What do you mean? What is it going to change?"
"When your body succumbs to the first stage of the change, your body will adjust to its optimal form," Elliot tells me, his hands waving in front of his face as he explains all this crazy mumbo-jumbo to me, "Your DNA shifts into what appears as its perfected form. If something isn't genetically possible for you, then it won't happen. Also, if you happened to be near sighted, the genes in your body will adjust when you change, causing you to have perfect vision. Your genes could make you taller, leaner, anything that your genes possess that would and could make you more athletic. We are hunters by nature after all."
"Will my arm grow back?" I ask hopefully. That'd be the only good thing to come out of any of this.
"We aren't sure. It's something we've only heard of," Hank tells me, "Sure, the DNA is still present in your body. But, there's no way to judge how the change will work for you. Honestly, you could come out of this looking nothing like you do now."
I take a moment, thinking over everything. This all makes so much, yet no sense at the same time. I was born human, but now I'm some shape-shifting freak.... Hank said that he and his family were born into this. So, that means that he's always been this way....
"Macy," Elliot whispers, a pained look on his face, "tell us what's on your mind."
"How was I turned this way, but you're born this way?" I ask, turning to Hank.
"There are two types of Shifters, Macy," Hank says, "There are what we call 'Natural Shifters' and 'Turned Shifters'. Natural come from the offspring of two Shifter parents, so a bloodline of sorts. Turned are humans who're often bitten, activating the gene. They experience the changes of the shift just like their counterparts. Lineage is the only real difference."
"We also aren't born into our optimized form," Elliot tells me, "When we near the age of twenty, our bodies go through what you will within the next year. We are all born human, except we have a kind of timer in our bodies telling us when it's time for the gene to activate. Think of it as a second puberty. Some of us transform into Shifters and some don't. That's where we believe that humans developed. It's not very common, but generations of what we call 'Unshiftables' can easily create an entire race on their own with time."
I think over everything they're telling me. What they say does make a lot of sense. I'll be the same person, just a better, optimal version of myself. It still feels like there's a brick sitting in the bottom of my stomach, causing me to feel faint.
"When will I be able to see my family again?" I ask.
"Not for a while, I'm afraid. You're going to be a danger to them and to yourself for some time. The change doesn't come quickly, sometimes taking nearly a year for you to experience your first shift. After that, you will need to be able to shift into your original form, which can be very hard," Hank tells me, the strain in his voice telling me that he's holding something back.
"What aren't you telling me?" I hiss, needing to know everything.
"Macy, the chances of you surviving are very slim. Many humans have died during one of the changes and there's little we can do to help you along. This is why it's outlawed to change someone without their full consent. Whoever bit you...they might have been trying to kill you...." Hank says, his voice full of regret.
Tears fill my eyes and I shut them quickly. My entire body's burning as if there's some hidden inferno inside me. I lurch from the bed yet again, this time the acid in my throat clawing its way out to splatter against the floor.
I drop to my knees, the sound of my body crumpling to the floor causing a thump to echo throughout the room. I hear someone dropping to the floor beside me and a soft hand touches my cheeks. The electrical pulses radiating through my cheek tells me who it is.
"Calm down," he whispers, his hands brushing through my hair to push it out of my face.
"I... can’t...." I wheeze, my breaths shallow. I can feel my entire body shaking as the similar pain from before begins to consume my body.
"Macy!" Elliot roars. "Calm. Down. Now!"
Just as before, I can feel every fiber in my body rush to obey his command. An ice cold chill runs down my spine with his words and I simply blink at him as my body begins to calm.
"How do you do that?" I ask, my voice barely a whisper.
"I'm an Alpha," he says before pulling me to my feet, " and the animal spirit growing inside you has no choice except to follow my command. She's crawling to the surface right now and we need her to back down. This is going too fast and it can kill you...."
"Thank you...." I whimper before falling against him, all the strength abandoning my body. The heat rushes down my spine, hotter than before. A weak whimper cracks in my throat as I feel my body begin to burn. What the hell is happening?
His hand reaches to brush against my forehead and a puzzled look crosses his face before he turns to look to Hank and Louis.
"She's still warm!" He says, a worried tone to his voice.
"Shit!" Hank growls before jumping from the couch to come check my temperature himself.
Another curse escapes his lips the moment he touches my face and I look around the room, noticing the horrified looks on all their face
s.
"What's going on?" I ask, my voice shaking.
"You're entering the first phase...." Louis says from behind me, her voice filled with dread.
"I-I'm what?" I stutter, my body drooping against Elliot as the last ounce of strength leaves my body. A quiet stillness fills the room before it feels as though I've been doused with ice. My teeth chatter and my eyes roll back into my head.
"Macy!" I hear Denny scream as my body begins to convulse. My mind fades, the last though crossing it being the fact that all I can feel is the electrical pulses radiating through my body as Elliot lifts me in his arms yet again.
Chapter Ten
Macy, it is time to wake up,' a soft, feminine voice whispers to me.
I attempt to open my eyes, but my eyelids simply won't budge. Who was that speaking to me? It's someone I don't know, that's for sure.
'It will all be fine,' she reassures me, her voice hoarse.
Who are you?
'I am your Umbra, Little One,' she whispers, a happy lilt to her tone.
My what?
'I am the animal spirit who lives inside you. I have waited a very long time to meet you,' she tells me, a gentle, loving tone to her voice.
Why are you here?
'You could ask why the sun rises or why the sky is blue. It is simply something that...is. I am so, very happy to finally be free,' she rumbles, her rough tone tickling the boundaries of my mind.
What do you mean? You're making no sense!
'I will answer your question another day, Little One. It is now time for you to wake up. I will speak with you soon. Until that day, please be safe. I will be here, in your mind, protecting you,' she whispers, her voice fading out like wisps of smoke.
Wait! Do you have a name?
'Of course, Little One, you may call me Kana,' she tells me, the words barely audible as she disappears from my mind.
∞∞∞
The first thing I notice is a heavy, uncomfortable weight laying across my legs. The heat radiating from the object makes me feel as though I'm suffocating. My eyes open, just for me to realize that I'm in a dark room. The only illumination is moonlight breaking through pale curtains. A gentle breeze makes the curtains flutter before reaching me.
The Dying Fate (The Umbra Chronicles Book 1) Page 10