Chapter Fifty-Six
I'll have the burger with a coffee, please,” I order, and Ryleigh nods. Olly and I are at The Grail Cafe. She takes Olly's order and then walks off.
“How are you and Brian?” I ask.
“Good. He's great but I miss my family and friends a lot,” Olly says.
“You can always go home for a visit,” I remind her.
“Yeah, it's just a very long trip.”
“It must be hard leaving everything just to follow a man.”
“Well, that's a she-wolf's life.” She shrugs. “I'm guessing you and Axe have always been in the same pack when you found each other. I'm actually surprised how much older he is than you.”
“Oh.” She doesn't know the story with Axe and me. I never really mentioned it. It's refreshing having someone not know the story. “We're actually each other's chosen mates, not destined mates.”
“W... how?” Her eyes are wide.
“It's a long story. Brian can tell you.”
“Here, girls.” Ryleigh sets our drinks down and sits down with us.
“Don't you have to work?” I ask.
“There's no one in here but you guys so I'll chill for a bit. What are we talking about?” Ryleigh says.
“Just pack stuff,” I say.
“I really don't know what to think of werewolves. To this day I'm still stunned by it. What's it like being a werewolf?” Ryleigh asks with curious eyes.
“It's great. A pack is like a big family so it's good to know someone's always there if you need anything. Having a destined mate is amazing knowing he's yours. You don't have to worry about him cheating or leaving you,” Olly says.
“We've had very different experiences,” I murmur.
“What do you mean?” Olly frowns.
“Like I said, it's a long story. I can tell you but I want to keep this lunch a happy occasion and not dive into the gory details of my past, so you should ask Brian.”
“Okay.”
“Anyway, Ryleigh, to answer your question, I believe being a werewolf is a curse.”
“I guess there's good and bad,” Ryleigh comments.
“How do you feel about Dash being a werewolf?” Olly asks.
“It's kind of scary knowing how strong he is. But I absolutely love spending time with his wolf. It's like I've got my own puppy. He's a big sweetheart.” Ryleigh smiles.
“You might never want to call him a puppy to his face. No powerful male wolf would like that.” I chuckle.
“You would be surprised how much of a softie he is.” Ryleigh laughs.
“Brian isn't. He's such a vain smartass.” Olly then adds, “But I love him.”
“How would you describe Axe?” Ryleigh asks.
“Neither of those descriptions.” I chuckle.
***
I take off my clothes and leave them outside the back gate.
I shift into my wolf and go into the forest. It's freeing to be able to run and have no worries.
I usually keep my runs short and close to the residential area.
But Axe says I can explore the land since there's so much.
He has shown me more of our territory but it's quite large so reaching the border in a single run would be draining.
I start off on a light run following one of the trails.
I like following the stream so I run towards that. My wolf drinks the cool water.
My wolf's ears perk up when she hears something.
I listen out and hear voices, groans, and weeping.
As much as I probably shouldn't check this out in case it's a bad situation, my wolf walks me closer to the sound.
I walk along the stream and see some kids in the distance, surrounding something.
I walk closer and they turn to me. They're young, maybe twelve, thirteen.
“Luna,” one of the girls greets me.
I still hear weeping so I walk further around and see a boy in the middle of the group on the ground.
“He's shifting for the first time. We can't get him home,” a boy says.
I shift back and kneel down beside the boy. I flinch as he cries, knowing shifting was a painful experience. My dad was there for me. That's probably the only time he ever was.
“Here.” The girl passes me her cardigan, so I wrap it around my bottom section.
“Listen, little guy, I know the pain feels too much but you just have to breathe along with it. Let it take you. Once your wolf comes out, you'll feel stronger,” I tell him.
He gasps. “It hurts. How long does it take?”
“Well, it's a full moon tonight. You'll most likely shift in a few hours.”
“I can't take anymore.” He is curled up in a ball.
I wince knowing it's going to be bad for him. This is just the initial pain of the body contracting. Once his bones start to change, he'll be screaming.
“You can do this.”
I try to support him but I don't know how I can help in this situation. Shifting is inevitable. I mind link Axe. He gets here quickly and comes over to me, shifting and putting some briefs on.
“Hey, man.” Axe kneels down. “How are you feeling?”
“Alpha, please.” He weeps.
“Elora, can you make sure these kids get home? I'll take care of him.”
“Yeah, come on kids.”
I stand up and the kids walk with me. I pull my hair to the front of my body to cover part of my breasts since I'm walking with young boys.
“What were you doing out here at night anyway?” I ask them.
“We hang out at the stream,” a girl answers.
“Have you all shifted?” I ask.
“I have,” one boy says and one girl agrees but the other two say no.
“I don't want to after that,” a boy says, fear evident in his voice.
I prevent myself from saying “you haven't seen nothing yet.” Shifting gets much worse than what they saw.
“Why is it so painful? The shifting. Then for us girls, the marking with our mates,” a girl says, frowning.
“Don't worry about the marking. It hurts for a bit but then it turns into an incredible experience as you and your mate tie together,” I tell them.
“I can't wait to meet my mate,” the other girl says enthusiastically.
“Me too. I will be able to kiss her whenever I want unlike humans who have to date to be able to do that,” the other boy says.
I chuckle and don't say anything. I never thought of mates at such a young age but I guess they're in the early stages of puberty so their hormones will be running wild.
I walk them back into the pack area where they walk off together down the road.
I decide to go for my run and just stay in the forest in case Axe needs me.
He'll be out there for hours with the boy anyway.