Chapter Twenty: The Wolf

I stop us both as soon as he said that. I turn to face him as I feel the blood drain from my face.

“Wait, what? I thought we were going to go back to the hospital after a walk.” I feel myself starting to panic. I think it’s a bit too early for me to be meeting his family. I hardly even know the man myself. I’ve just fallen into his territory and now he wants to take me to the Elders, meet his family. He’s not been hostile towards me at all, even though he said that they would normally kill on sight.

Athena tries to calm me down but I start to feel a bit flustered and my hands start to shake. Too much is happening at once for me and this time, I’m unable to handle it all. I pull my hand away from his and hug myself, feeling like there’s too much going on.

“Please don’t stress. As I’ve told you, you are my mate. They will accept you no matter what, as you will be the next..” he stops himself. The next what?

He shakes his head for a few moments, and breaths and exasperated sigh, then holds up his hands. “Ok, I can accept this is all new for you. I’ll give you a bit of time before we jump into anything. We don’t have to go to the mansion just yet, it was more of a suggestion….but I do want you to see the Elders as soon as you feel up for it.”

I stand there for a few moments, trying to figure out why I just broke down. I place it down as stress and from the events I saw with that thing from the river I think I’m just a bit overwhelmed. Thinking back to the monster, I remember what I had seen outside of the window.

“Do you have any really big bears going around in here?” I ask. My question takes him by surprise, from the look on his face.

“Where did you get that idea from?” He asks, a look of curiosity plastered on his face. I did just change the conversation drastically.

“When I was in the hospital…before I first saw you, I saw a bear like figure outside, but it didn’t quite look like a bear.” I reply, unsure how to describe it.

As soon as I said that, his face visibly relaxes. “You probably saw one of us, in our wolf form.”

What?! That thing was massive. I open and close my mouth, unsure how to respond to that, and he sees my reaction and chuckles.

“I told you this morning, we can shift into our wolf form whenever we like. You’ve not seen one of us up close in our wolf form just yet, and trust me, we’re not your average sized wolf. I did say you wouldn’t want to see me shift. Not yet anyway, and it may scare you, seeing how large Ares is. I can show you when you’re feeling…more accustomed to us.”

I feel a slight pinch of regret from panicking in front of him like that about meeting his family. It didn’t feel like me. Yes, I’m overwhelmed, but then again I’m happy I finally know what I am. I want…no I need to start being brave about this, so I start with learning what Athena is to me.

“No, I need you to show me. I need to learn what I am. Please can you show me?” I ask pleadingly. Of course I’m slightly scared about what shifting means, or, well what it entails, but I’m also really curious to what Ares looks like. I can feel Athena bouncing around in my mind excited to see too.

Lukas sighs. “Are you sure you want to do this? You just freaked out about meeting my family, and now instead you want to witness something that you’ve never come close to seeing before?”

It’s true, I don’t think I’ve seen anything transition from one body to another. Watching the monster come out of the ground though is probably the most haunting thing to experience. But I need to watch this, I need to know what I am getting myself into, and more importantly, what I am able to achieve myself.

I nod my head trying to be rid of the thoughts of that monster. This man has treated me well so far, I can only try and trust in him and what he says. “I need to see this Lukas. I will end up seeing it sooner or later, and it’s about time I put my past aside and look to the future.”

He smiles at me, and grabs my hand. He takes me back the way we came with a giddy expression on his face. “We won’t see the Elders today, or meet my family.” He looks at me and smirks. “Soon though, I hope. You’ll have to meet them sooner or later.”

I roll my eyes as we continue walking back the way we came. I’m feeling slightly excited at what he’s about to show me.

He leads me towards the hospital but takes a turn not too far from the entrance, leading me to a part of the forest within the pack borders. After walking briskly for several minutes, we stop at a clearing in the woods which is fairly large. There are flowers here and there, making the place look alive and colourful in the summer Sun. A wave of nostalgia hits me and I try to supress the memories washing back to me from my childhood. I put on a small smile as I see Lukas look round to me.

“This place is beautiful.” The words spill out of my mouth. I love that he’s taken me here.

He smiles and pulls me close, his face and lips only millimetres away. “I’m glad you like it. I used to come here, away from home as a child.

I hadn’t really asked much about him. I don’t even know if his whole family is around. I make a checklist in my mind to try and remember to find out more about this man who saved me.

He lets go of my hand. “Remember to keep an open mind Aliana. It may scare you. But I promise, I will never hurt you….please don’t run away.” He says with a worried expression on his face.

His promise seems sincere, and I’ve had no reason to doubt him so far. In fact, I’m not feeling scared at all right now, I feel more excited than anything. I take a deep breath in as he walks a few meters away from me, then starts to strip.

I can’t help but open my mouth at the sight. I did see him last night in the dark but being able to take in his whole body in the light is an experience in itself. His tanned skin glistens in the Sun a he pulls his top over his head. I look at his body and I pray to God that this isn’t just some joke about me being mated to him. I start to feel really hot and I look away for a moment as he pulls of his jeans. I slyly peek at him, and can see he’s laughing to himself whilst watching me sneak a peek. He goes to pull of his pants and I don’t look away. Oh God that is huge. He winks at me.

Just before I go to look away out of embarrassment of staring and being caught, I notice that his arms and legs start extending and I can hear some disturbing popping sounds coming from his body. His hands seem to thicken into a paw like shape. His nose, mouth and chin starts to elongate. He pushes his body forward, landing on his front paws.

I see the black fur, which is as black as night, start to cover his body and face and for a moment I worry as he looks a lot like the monster from the river. I watch, slightly fearful, as his fur pushes out and has a soft look to it. Finally, I find that he starts to shape out and looks more to be a wolf, with a tail sprouting from behind. I stand there, shocked. The whole process took maybe a minute at most. Lukas didn’t seem to flinch once. I close my eyes trying to imagine going through that process and I expect it will be painful after hearing the pops from Lukas shifting.

Whilst I’m mid thought, I feel a wet nudge on my arm and jumped a bit opening my eyes, realising that Lukas….or well Ares was right next to me. The first thing I notice is how massive he is. I stand up, and he towers over me still. Wow, this is one big wolf. He looks at me with his huge golden eyes waiting for my reaction to him. He doesn’t move at all, which I’m thankful for as I try to get used to having such a big wolf in front of me. Thinking back to the night at the hospital window, I do think that it may have been something like this I had seen.

I move my hand towards his head and he bows slightly, allowing me to touch him. I pull my fingers through his fur and I hear a deep growl from him, from what I think was approval. His fur feels rough but soft at the same time. As I touch him, I feel the same sparks on him than I would with his human body, it’s so strange but I enjoy just stroking his fur.

He lies down on his side, and as he moves, I fall onto him. I still smell the apples but I also smell something different, probably to do with his wolf side. I hug into him, feeling safer than I have in a long time. I can feel the happiness coming from Athena as well who is enjoying being here, next to Ares. I lie there, for what seems like a long time, just being close to the wolf.

Before I know it, I’ve fallen asleep, thinking of darkness with glowing, golden orbs looking at me.