Chapter 21 Riley #2
“This watch, the design, the craftsmanship, the inscription, it’s the mark of Duskmere nobility.
House Mirabelle. An old family, ancient bloodlines.
” His eyes met mine, and there was a strangeness in them I couldn’t read.
“This is a watch that would only be passed down through that family. From parent to child. Generation to generation.”
My chest tightened. “That’s... that’s not possible. My parents were human. They lived here. In the human world.”
“Are you sure?”
“My godmother...”
“Did your godmother ever tell you where they came from? Where they were born?”
I opened my mouth. Closed it.
No. No, Maris never did. She’d said they were private people. That they’d come from far away. That they’d died when I was young and there wasn’t anyone else.
“It can’t be right,” I said. “I’m human. I’ve always been human.”
Caelan was watching me closely. His eyes went wide.
“What?” I demanded. “What now?”
“Your eyes.”
“What about my eyes?”
“They just...” He swallowed. “They just flashed. Gold.”
My heart stopped.
“We need to go,” Caelan said, his voice shifting into full command mode. “Now.”
He handed me back the watch, grabbed the box from the ground with one hand, his other pressing firmly against my lower back, propelling me forward. His pace was fast, almost too fast, and I had to half-jog to keep up.
“Caelan, what’s happening to me?”
“I don’t know. But we need to get you somewhere safe.”
“Safe from what?”
He didn’t answer. Just kept walking, steering me through the streets toward my apartment with single-minded focus.
The tightness in my chest was getting worse, and not just from fear. A pressure was building inside me, a force trying to claw its way out, and we were halfway up the stairs to my apartment when the agony hit.
It wasn’t gradual. Not a warning cramp or a slow build. It was sudden and absolute, a white-hot agony that ripped through my entire body and dropped me to my knees.
I screamed.
“Riley...” Caelan abandoned the box, dropping to the stairs beside me, hands on my shoulders. “Riley, look at me. What’s happening?”
“I don’t... I can’t...” I couldn’t form words. It was everywhere, in every cell. My body was being rearranged from the inside out. My bones ached. My skin burned. A piece of me was cracking, breaking, reforming.
“Fuck.” The word came out rough with alarm. “You’re shifting.”
“WHAT?!”
“You’re shifting. Right now. Your body is trying to change.”
“I CAN’T SHIFT. I’M HUMAN. I’M...”
“You’re not.” He grabbed me in his arms and ran all the way to my apartment, kicking the door closed and settling me in the middle of the living room, his hands cupping my face, forcing me to meet his eyes.
They were glowing amber, intense and commanding.
“Riley, listen to me. We’re alone now. You need to let it happen. ”
“I don’t know how...”
“Breathe. In and out. Slow. Clear your mind.” He held my gaze, steady and grounding, cutting through the panic. “There’s another presence inside you. A wolf. She’s been sleeping, but she’s waking up now. You need to let her through.”
“I can’t... it hurts...”
“I know. I know it hurts. But fighting it makes it worse.” His thumbs stroked my cheekbones. “Let go, Riley. Trust me. Trust yourself. Let her take over.”
I didn’t know how to do that. Didn’t know how to let go of what I hadn’t even known was there.
But the pain was too much. I couldn’t fight it anymore.
I closed my eyes and breathed, reaching for the presence I could suddenly feel in the back of my mind, a being ancient and wild and utterly, completely mine.
The shift took me.
Agony and ecstasy all at once. Bones cracked and reformed, muscles tore and rebuilt, fur erupted across my skin.
My perspective changed, lower, wider, more acute.
The agony was immense, but beneath it was a strange rightness.
A puzzle piece clicking into place. Coming home to a house I’d never known I’d left.
And then it was over.
I stood on four legs in my living room, panting, disoriented. My body was different, longer, stronger, covered in fur. There was another consciousness in my mind, a presence that was a mirror reflection of myself. The wolf.
She was curious, alert, pleased to finally be awake.
Hello, I thought at her, feeling ridiculous.
She didn’t respond in words. Just a wave of contentment, of belonging. Of finally being whole.
Walking was harder than it looked. I stumbled immediately, coordination all wrong, limbs moving in patterns I didn’t understand. Four legs were significantly more complicated than two.
“Easy.” Caelan, somewhere behind me. “Take it slow. You’re bigger than you were. Give yourself time to adjust.”
Second attempt. One paw in front of the other. I bumped into the wall. Clipped the doorframe with my shoulder. I was too wide, too tall, too everything.
My tail, I realized distantly, was wagging. Without my permission. Traitor.
There was a mirror in my hallway, a full-length one I’d bought at a thrift store. I made my way toward it, weaving drunkenly, and the wolf inside me urged me forward with eager curiosity.
And then I saw myself.
The wolf in the mirror was white.
Pure, brilliant white, so bright I almost seemed to glow. My fur was full and lustrous, my build elegant but powerful, and my eyes burned molten gold in the shadowed hallway.
I was beautiful.
The wolf preened. Of course we are.
Great. My inner wolf was vain. I made a sound, the wolf equivalent of a gasp, and the reflection mimicked me, ears pricking forward in surprise.
“You’re...” Caelan’s voice was hoarse, rough with emotion I couldn’t identify. “You’re the most exquisite thing I’ve ever seen, Riley.”
I looked up at him. He was standing a few feet away, staring at me with an expression of pure awe. His emotions washed over me: wonder, reverence, overwhelming love.
But underneath it all: confusion. Because this shouldn’t be possible. He knew it shouldn’t be possible.
And now the panic was setting in.
How did I go back? How did I become human again? I didn’t know how to reverse this. I didn’t even know how I did it in the first place. There was no manual for this. No “So You’ve Accidentally Become a Werewolf” guidebook I could consult.
A distressed whine escaped me, nothing like my voice should sound, and Caelan was there immediately, kneeling in front of me.
“Hey. Hey, it’s okay. I’ve got you.” His hand came up to rest on the side of my face, fingers sinking into my fur. “You can shift back. Same process in reverse. Find your human self in your mind. Reach for her. Let her take over.”
I tried. It took longer this time, minutes of concentration, of fumbling through my own consciousness, searching for the part that was still human.
But finally, finally, the tingling began. The change reversed itself, and I shifted back.
When it was over, I was naked on the floor of my hallway, shaking, staring up at Caelan with huge eyes.
“What did you do to me?” I whispered.
“I didn’t do this.” He sounded firm, but there was an edge of uncertainty underneath. “The claiming doesn’t... it can’t... you have to be born a wolf, Riley. You can’t be made one.”
“Then explain THIS.” I gestured at myself, naked, trembling, having just turned into a literal wolf. “Because I’ve been human my whole life. HUMAN. And then you bit me and now I’m...”
“This wasn’t the claiming.” But even as he said it, doubt crossed his face. “It couldn’t be.”
“You don’t know that!”
“No one has ever...”
“Maybe no one has ever been claimed by an alpha heir before!” My voice was rising, hysteria creeping in. “Maybe your special royal bite has special royal side effects! Maybe your werewolf venom or saliva or whatever has extra potency because you’re literally next to the throne!”
“That’s not how it works...”
“How would you know?! You said yourself you’ve never claimed anyone before! Maybe this is what happens and you just didn’t know!”
We were both on our feet now, facing each other, the argument escalating. His frustration pulsed through me, his confusion, his desperate need to understand what was happening.
It didn’t match my own. I was furious, terrified, and absolutely certain this was his fault.
“I’ve watched dozens of matings,” he said, trying to keep his voice calm. “I’ve seen wolves claim human mates, kings claiming them. It never turns them. Never. The claiming connects you to me. It extends your life. It doesn’t change your species.”
“Well apparently it does now!”
“The watch,” he said suddenly. “House Mirabelle. Your parents...”
“My parents were human.”
“You don’t know that. You said yourself your godmother never told you where they came from. What if they were wolves? What if they were from Duskmere? What if you’ve always had wolf blood in you, just dormant, and the claiming woke it up?”
“What if I’ve been a werewolf my whole life and just didn’t know it?” I laughed, high and manic and not at all amused. “Oh, that’s so much better. Thanks for that. Really helpful.”
“I’m trying to find an explanation...”
“An explanation that doesn’t make this your fault, you mean.”
He flinched, actually flinched, and good. Let him.
“Riley...” He reached for me.
“Don’t.” I held up a hand. “Just... don’t. I need to think. I need...”
What did I need? I had no idea. Everything I thought I knew about myself had been turned upside down in the span of an hour.
“We need answers,” Caelan said. “Let’s call Thessa.”
“Thessa? Why?”
“Because she might know more about House Mirabelle. She’s always been a history nerd. Or she can go back to Lytopia and ask our parents. The historians. Someone who might understand what’s happening.”
I wanted to keep fighting, to hold onto the fury because it was easier than dealing with the fear underneath.
And I did hold onto it. Kept it close, my armor against the fear.
“Fine,” I snapped. “Call her.”
Caelan pulled out his phone. The conversation was brief, terse words, urgent tone. Within fifteen minutes, there was a knock on the door.
Thessa walked in and stopped dead.
“What happened?” She was looking at me, taking in my appearance, the disheveled state, the wrapped-in-a-blanket situation, the wild look in my eyes. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I shifted,” I said flatly.
Thessa blinked. “You... what?”
“Shifted. Into a wolf. A white wolf. About twenty minutes ago.”
Thessa’s mouth opened. Closed. Opened again. She looked at Caelan, then back at me, then at Caelan again.
“That’s not possible,” she said finally.
“That’s what I said!”
“She’s not joking,” Caelan said. “I watched it happen. She shifted. Full transformation. White fur, gold eyes, the whole thing.”
“But she’s human.”
“Apparently not.”
Thessa’s eyes widened. “Oh. Oh shit.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Oh shit is right.”
Caelan showed her the watch. Explained the inscription, the Mirabelle connection, my mysterious birth parents. Thessa’s expression grew more confused with each word.
“House Mirabelle,” she murmured. “They were wiped out decades ago. A tragic fire, the whole family...” She stopped. Looked at me with wide eyes. “But if your parents were Mirabelle wolves, if you were born with dormant blood that the claiming somehow awakened...”
“So it IS his fault,” I said.
“I don’t... that’s not...” Thessa rubbed her temples. “I need to go back. Talk to our parents. Access the archives. There might be records, genealogies, pieces that explain...”
“Do it,” Caelan said. “Now.”
“I’m going.” Thessa was already heading for the door. Then she paused, turning back with a glare. “Also, you told Jade about us. About wolves. Without consulting me.”
“I told Riley’s friends,” Caelan corrected. “All of them.”
“CAELAN.”
“It was relevant at the time.”
Thessa made a sound of pure frustration. She turned to me. “Can you please explain everything to Jade? That I have to go. Apologize for me. Grovel if necessary.”
“I’ll handle it,” I said.
“Thank you.” Thessa shot her brother one more murderous look. “I’ll be back as soon as I have answers.”
She left. The apartment fell silent. We stared at each other.
“I’m still mad at you,” I said. “This might still be your fault.”
“I know.”
“And we’re going to have a very long conversation about all of this when I’m less... in shock.”
He moved toward me slowly, carefully, the way you’d approach a wild animal. Which, I supposed, I literally was now.
“Whatever happened, whatever the truth is... you’re still mine. And I’m still yours. That hasn’t changed.”
I stepped back, kept the distance between us.
“I don’t know who I am anymore.” The words came out quieter than I intended. “I thought I knew. I was Riley Hawkins, romance novelist, disaster human, regular person. And now...”
“Now you’re Riley Hawkins, romance novelist, disaster human, regular person, and also apparently a werewolf.” He tried a small smile. “Same person. Just... more.”
“That’s not how it feels.”
He didn’t try to touch me again. Just stood there, patient, steady. “But we’ll figure it out. Together.”
“Find me answers,” I said, cold and distant. “And then we’ll talk.”
His expression shifted from hurt to acceptance, determination.
“Deal.”
I didn’t let him hold me, not until I understood what I’d become. But through the bond, I felt his love, constant and unwavering despite my anger.
And somewhere deep inside, where the wolf now lived, she settled into contentment. Into home.
We’re not alone, she seemed to say. We have a mate. We have a pack. We’re safe.
I wasn’t ready to believe her.