Chapter Twelve
The next day dawned bright and clear, and I woke up feeling like I was on fire. It wasn't just that I was hot. My skin burned. I ran to the bathroom and stripped off my clothes before jumping into the shower. Twisting the cold knob all the way around, I stood under the arctic blast of the water as it shot out of the shower head. I sighed in relief as the frigid water soothed my burning skin.
Shaking, I stepped out of the shower and toweled off. After I dressed, I padded into the kitchen and eyed the phone. Maybe I should call the doctor? I remembered the feverish look in his eye when he'd seen how quickly my injuries had healed and decided if it got bad enough, I'd go to the emergency room. No way I was going back to that doctor. I'd have to find a new one.
I prowled about the apartment, sitting down to watch TV only to spring up again a few moments later because I couldn't be still. Every so often, I noticed I had food in my hand even though I didn't remember going into the kitchen to get anything.
About 6 o'clock that evening I felt a prickling heat in my skin. Oh no, not again! Flames danced across my skin, and I took a step toward the kitchen when a searing pain shot through my stomach. I doubled over and then collapsed on the living room floor. Darkness fell.
* * *
I don't know how long I stayed out, but I came to with my head pounding. Except, it wasn't my head. Someone pounded on the door. Each slam reverberated through my apartment, shaking the walls. I opened my mouth to call out, but it was so dry no sound would come out. My skin burned, and stabbing pains shot through my body. What's happening to me? I felt the darkness encroaching again.
"Chloe!"
Gabe?
His voice sounded like it came from a great distance. "I know she's in there, I can smell her. Something's wrong."
A loud crack thundered through the air, and then he was there beside me.
"Chloe!"
"Gabe," I said weakly. "I think I'm dying."
"No, you're not." He gathered me up and cradled me to his chest like I was his biggest treasure. "We have to get her to the compound." He carried me out of the apartment, and I fought against the darkness.
"Night is coming soon, and it’s the day before the full moon. She may be about to change."
I knew that voice. Who was it? I struggled to remember, but I couldn't fight it anymore. The black void claimed me once more, and everything fell away.
Chapter Thirteen
The sound of someone screaming woke me. It took me a few seconds to realize that the screaming person was me.
"Shh, Chloe, it's okay. Everything is going to be okay." Gabe sat beside me and wiped my brow with a cold cloth.
"It hurts. Oh my god, it hurts," I whimpered.
"Gabe, please get out of there! Something is wrong! You shouldn't be in there with her!"
I looked for the person talking and spied the leggy blonde through the iron bars. Bars? They surrounded me on three sides, the fourth side being a concrete wall. "Where am I? Why am I not in a hospital?"
Gabe smoothed a red curl from my face. "You're at the pack's compound. A hospital can't help you, and you being there would put you and everyone around you in danger. It's safe here." He turned and glared at the blonde. "I'm not leaving."
"Gabe, you don't know what's going on! This is not normal! Get out of there! Let Dr. Matthews handle it from here."
I saw the fury light his blue eyes and thought the blonde should've been happy she was on the other side of the bars. "I'm the Alpha! No one tells me what to do! Not even you."
"Gabe, what's happening to me?" The weakness in my voice shocked me.
"Your body is gearing up for the change, though I've never seen it happen like this before."
"What change?" I would have said my heart started hammering in my chest, but honestly, it had been trying to jump out of my rib cage all day.
"Chloe, I explained all of this already." Gabe laid the wet cloth on my forehead and took one of my hands in his. Despite the heat and the pain wracking my body, I still felt the same surge of some kind of energy when his skin came in contact with mine.
"But werewolves aren't real!"
"Yes they are, girl." That voice was the one I'd heard at my apartment, the one that sounded so familiar. I turned my head slightly, and she came into view. Surprise shot through me.
"Harmony?"
"That's right, girl. I'm so sorry this happened to you, but it means we are family now."
"She's not part of our pack! We don't know who her sire is!" The blonde was really starting to get on my nerves. What was with her?
"He is either a rogue, or he's unassociated and doesn't follow pack rules. I don't know which yet, but I'm going to find out." Gabe looked down at me and squeezed my hand. "I don't know why he let you live and not Susie. It could have just been an accident, or he might have done this on purpose."
"What difference does it make?" the blonde yelled. "She could be dangerous!"
Without even deigning to look at her, Gabe spoke. I almost felt sorry for her. Well, not really. "Beth, I think it's time for you to leave this room. You continue to forget your place. You might be one of my best friends, but I am still your Alpha, and your lack of respect in this matter dances around grounds for punishment. Chloe was attacked unbidden in my territory. It is my responsibility as Alpha to care for her and see her through the change. It also automatically makes her part of the pack, and you know it. Now get out of here, and stay out!"
The door slammed behind her. Gabe shook his head and frowned. “I'm sorry about that. I have no idea what's gotten into her."
Harmony made a hacking sound like she was choking. "Sorry, must’ve gotten something in my throat."
A sharp pain rolled through my body, and I screamed. It felt like every single muscle had suddenly seized up.
"Doc, can't you do anything for her?"
An older lady with gray hair walked up to the bars. She wore a lab coat, and she smiled warmly at me. "I'm afraid there's nothing I can do. Beth was right about this not being normal, and I don't want to make matters worse."
"Do you have any idea what is causing this?"
"Well...maybe. I remember my grandmother telling me a story about a prophecy. I never gave it much thought, but some of what Chloe is experiencing was described in her story. I'm not saying I believe in the prophecy itself, but those proclamations tend to have some truth buried in them.” She looked at me and asked, "Chloe, are you a witch?"
"A what?" I shook my head and gasped as the movement sent a stab of pain shooting through my neck. "I don't dance naked under trees if that's what you mean."
The doctor laughed, and the warmth of the sound rolled over me like a wave. "No dear, I don't mean the pretenders. I mean the real deal."
"Wait a minute. I thought witches were extinct?" Gabe asked.
"No, not extinct, just rare." The doctor looked at me, and it was obvious the wheels in her brain spun around at full tilt. "Incredibly rare."
I groaned and tried to get up off the cot on which I was lying. "I need to get out of here. You people are nuts."
Gabe put a hand on my shoulder and gently pushed me back down. Not that I'd made much progress. Weakened by whatever rampaged through my body, I could barely move a muscle willingly.
The doctor chuckled. "Your reaction is not uncommon, so we don't take any offense at what you say." She looked at Gabe. "We've never seen any other species besides human turn. As far as we know, another species might not be able to be a shifter too."
"Maybe she can't."
Thunder descended on Gabe's face. "Don't say such a thing, Harmony!"
"I'm sorry, it's just, it's almost like her body is trying to fight the change instead of preparing for it. If she is a witch, maybe she can't shift."
"Doc, did the prophecy say anything about that?"
"There are only two outcomes from a witch being bitten by a wolf. Either she isn't strong enough, and she dies, or she becomes one of the strongest shifters to eve
r exist. At least, that's what the prophecy says."
"This is crazy! I'm not a witch!" The effort to shout cost me, and another set of stabbing pains rolled through my body. I gritted my teeth against the scream that threatened to explode out of me. I tried to breathe, but instead of fading away like the other pains had done, things got worse. I couldn't hold the scream back. The pain intensified, and I writhed on the cot.
"Chloe!" Fear sprang into Gabe's eyes as he grabbed me in an attempt to keep me from rolling off the cot.
When his skin met mine, I felt a white-hot surge of electricity shoot through my body, and then all of the stabbing pains and intense burning sensations just disappeared. I felt glorious. I felt weird! I raised my hand, but it wasn't a hand I saw, it was a paw. I had fur! What the hell?
"Wow! That was awesome!” Harmony shouted.
"Chloe?" I turned my head and looked at Gabe. Chloe? he said again, except this time I realized his mouth didn't move.
How are you talking to me?
A huge grin broke out on Gabe's face. "She's okay," he told the others.
"You spoke to each other?" the doctor asked.
"Yes. How can we do that? We haven't held the ceremony that makes her part of the pack."
"I don't know. I can't explain anything about what happened. She had such a hard time leading up to the change and yet she went through none of the stages of transformation that the rest of us go through.”
Harmony grinned. "It was so cool, Chloe. One minute you were screaming, and then you kind of shimmered, and bang! you were a wolf. Wait, she can hear us, can't she?"
I opened my mouth to answer, but the only thing that came out was something that sounded halfway between a bark and a yip.
"I take that as a yes." Gabe's eyes sparkled merrily. “Do you feel okay, Chloe?"
I actually feel great, except for the fact that I have four legs and fur.
“Chloe, we need to do some digging into your family tree. You obviously have more than just human genes.”
I cocked my head at Gabe. Why does the doctor think that?
“She wants to know why you think that,” Gabe told the doctor. “I’ll start. Everything about your change has been different. When we change, it's a bit painful for the couple of minutes it takes to transform, and you actually can see the physical changes. You just kind of went from being Chloe one second to being a wolf the next. Instead of us seeing your muscles rippling and bones rearranging into your new form, you just…well, like Harmony said, bang! Straight from Chloe to wolf with no in between.”
“That's just the beginning,” added the doctor. “During the first few changes, cubs don't know how to control the wolves inside them. That's why we have the cage. A cub can't communicate or even think rationally at first. Gabe, or whoever is Alpha at the time, has to teach them. Immediately after the change, the animal takes over. Yours didn't.”
“And your fur is white!” Harmony looked at me in awe. “It should be reddish. Fur color always mimics our hair color.”
Gabe gently ran his fingers through my fur. You're beautiful.
Great, he thinks I'm a beautiful wolf. What about the real me? I guess as a person, I'm just dog meat.
Gabe busted out laughing. You need to work on shielding. I heard that. I ducked my head under a paw. Gabe grasped it and moved it out of the way so he could look me in the eyes. Desire flared within his. I think Chloe Jackson the person is beautiful too.
When a guy like Gabe told you that you were beautiful, the last thing you wanted to be was a creature with four legs and fur. How long do I have to stay like this?
Cubs usually don't change back until sun up.
But I don't want to be a wolf until sun up!
“Whoa!” Harmony shrieked.
Gabe stared at me in disbelief, and the doctor simply looked intrigue.
“What?” It took me a second to realize I had said that out loud. In my human voice.
“Well that's different,” Gabe remarked.
“No fair! She has her clothes on!” A pout marred Harmony's face.
“In case neither of you noticed, her clothes disappeared when she changed.”
Gabe turned toward the doctor. “In all of the commotion, I didn't notice. It's just something else to add to the weird column.”
“Can I get out of this cell now? I'm starving and exhausted.”
“I think that can be arranged. You can stay in my rooms tonight. Harmony, can you bring Chloe something after I get her settled?”
“Absolutely!”
“Gabe, Harmony, wait a minute.” The doctor stopped us before we went out the door. “It might be a good idea if we keep what happened with Chloe's transformation a secret until we figure out the cause of it. Beth has probably already spread the word that there's something different about the new cub. There's no need to rile them up any further until we have some answers.”
Gabe nodded. “That's probably wise. Since everyone has orders to stay away from this building in order not to agitate new cubs, we shouldn't have to worry about anyone discovering she didn't stay here all night. We'll take the back way into my room since I'm sure there's a pile up in the great room. Harmony, use the back stairs when you bring the food.”
I followed Gabe and Harmony out of the building. They led me on a trail that went around the back of the big house to the back door. When we entered, Harmony veered off to the left, and Gabe let me up the stairs to the right. It had been a long day, and all I wanted was to eat and get some sleep. I’d think about what had happened to me tomorrow.
Chapter Fourteen
The next morning, I woke up in Gabe's bed. No pain stabbed through my body, and my skin didn't burn. I felt marvelous…until the events from the night before crashed through my mind. Oh shit. I wanted to run and hide, but I had nowhere to go. I was already with the only people who even had an inkling of an idea of what I was experiencing. Even if none of them understood why my change was so different, they still knew what life was like as a werewolf. Oh my God, I'm a werewolf.
There were several times through the previous night where the pain sliced through me so horribly that I thought I would die. Now that I knew what kind of creature I’d become, I wasn’t so sure that not dying was a good thing. I was now the same kind of animal that had attacked me and killed Susie. How could I live with myself knowing that? I had been turned into a killer, and I didn’t even know why. Why did I get live while Susie died? Big, fat tears rolled down my cheeks, and I curled up in a ball under the sheet. I missed her so much!
I wanted to run away and hide, but I had nowhere to go. Susie had been the only family I had known for most of my life. How was I going to survive this without her?
Having been so caught up in my tortured thoughts, I had not heard the noises from the adjoining room. Gabe strode out of the bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist while he used another to dry his shaggy black hair. Quickly wiping tears from my face, I sat up in the bed and eyed him speculatively.
“Forget your clothes?” Water beaded on his broad, bronzed chest.
“Morning, Chloe.” He dropped the second towel and ran his fingers through his thick mane. “Did I wake you? I’m sorry if I did.”
I just shook my head.
“I’m used to not worrying about how many clothes I have on around here. Not that I walk around naked, but it’s just not a big deal. So, I wasn’t thinking about grabbing clothes before I went into the bathroom to take a shower.”
I remembered how shocked Harmony had been about my clothes magically reappearing on me when I shifted back to human form last night.
“So I’m guessing your clothes don’t magically disappear and reappear when you shift?”
I watched Gabe saunter over to the double closet doors. “Nope. We have to take our clothes off before we shift, otherwise, we’d spent a fortune on them. I usually warn new cubs to strip down to underwear or maybe to underwear and shirt before an imminent shift.” His ice blue eyes clouded over momentar
ily. “But yours was so unusual, and you were suffering so much from the pain, I didn’t have the heart to say anything. Turns out, I didn’t need to.” He rummaged through the closet and pulled out a pair of jeans. He pulled them on, keeping the towel at his waist until he’d pulled the zipper up.
Hmm, I guess he goes commando. I tried to sit there and act like I hadn’t noticed his lack of underwear, but I couldn’t help it and felt a responding warmth between my legs. It amazed me how quickly this man affected my emotions. One minute I was a sobbing mess, and the next, I wanted to leap out of bed and ravage him. I shook my head. Gabe Denton presented a complication in my life I really didn’t need.
Gabe walked over and grabbed a t-shirt from a drawer in the dark, wooden dresser and pulled it over his head. He made it very difficult to keep my raging hormones in check. “Why don’t you get dressed and come downstairs for breakfast? I’ll introduce you to whoever is around.”
“Do we have to do that today?”
Gabe walked over and perched on the edge of the bed. “Chloe, I know yesterday probably frightened you and left you with a lot of questions. But you can’t hide yourself way from the world and everyone in it. Whether you like it or not, the attack changed you. Your life will never be the same…and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. You’re one of us now, so give us a chance, okay?”
I blew out my breath. “Okay. You’ve made your point. I’m just not that good with people.” More like I wasn’t that good with building relationships with people. Susie had really been the only person I ever let get that close to me. Now, it seemed life had thrown me another curveball. The attack turned my life upside down and dumped me in the middle of a group of people. I needed to learn how to at least interact with them.
“You’ll be fine. You’re more of a people person than you realize.”
Now what the hell did that mean?
Gabe stood up, and he left the room. Grateful for the privacy, I climbed out of the king-sized sleigh bed. After my shower the night before, Gabe had given me one of his t-shirts to wear to sleep in. The only clothes I had with me were the ones from the day before. I really didn’t want to wear them again, but I didn’t see that I had much choice. Padding over the chair where some had laid them after neatly folding them, I picked up my jeans. It surprised me to discover they smelled fresh and clean. Apparently, a member of the pack had washed them while I slept. I pulled the clothes on and went downstairs. If it wasn’t for the fact that I was famished, I would’ve found a reason to avoid going downstairs. Despite what Gabe had said, I wasn’t sure I was ready to meet any of the others. My growling stomach told me to get a move on. Looked like I had no choice.
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