Elaine

Elaine

Asher looked at me like he knew the answers to all my questions and then he smiled gracefully. "I told you, something was clearly preventing you from taking your real form," he told me, then sat upright with all his weight supported by his elbows. "You’re free now."

The last three words thrummed through my body at the speed of lightning, my skin felt like it was burning and then an itchy sensation crawled through it. A gasp fell from my mouth when I took in the sight of my limbs. My arms were growing with fur and claws were protruding in place of my nails. I was about to transform, into a wolf.

"A-Asher, I’m scared," were the last words I spoke.

My body had turned to that of a gigantic wolf with silver fur, my clothes had turned to rag and I turned my back to the boy who had told me about my own existence. His mouth fell agape and I internally smiled at the feeling of freedom I had just achieved.

I felt like I had been released from an unknown cage, that some wilder, greater part of my body had awakened. My feet felt weird against the soil. I felt like I was meant to be like this since forever. When I finally walked on all fours in my wolf form, I shivered at how good it felt.

All my life was spent under the pressure of staying home for some reason. My parents would refuse to let me out too much and my grandmother would say she was too weak to take care of me outside the house. Then I entered college and the weight of my degree pushed my shoulders down. I had never even thought a day like this would come in my life. What exactly was going on? Had my family always known my truth? If yes, why would they hide it from me?

An unexpected desire to run freely under the indefinite sky grew. Had the sky always been this beautiful or was I too sullen to take notice of it before? I tipped my head back up and howled at the sky, half expecting Asher to join in and before I could further get lost in the feeling, he finally came back to my mind.

I jumped around for a moment and then when I looked at him, his eyes were already on me. Asher went on staring at me in completely undisguised awe, his eyes shining like I was the one who hung the moon and the stars. It made my heart flip and before I could lose myself in the feeling of freedom, I changed back to my human form.

Even if my body had returned to how I always looked, my heart and soul felt like they were new. Asher stands up and walks towards me, unaware of how much he was affecting me at the moment. His skin shone brightly in the sunlight that made its way in through the tree canopies and I only stared.

Asher’s body, his muscles, and his eyes, all of them were full of charm. As he strode further in my direction, my heartbeat picked its pace up and the freshly masculine smell of pine filled the air. My eyes stayed on his naked chest, the ridges of his stomach and the muscles that led to a narrow waist- Wait!

Was I naked too?!

Quickly, I jerked my head in the direction of my clothes that were, uh, basically shredded to rags now. Asher must’ve caught my gaze because he smirked, then released a small fit of giggles that made me squirm further. "Now we’re even." He pointed out with a laugh.

I gasped loudly and my hands immediately slapped across to cover my privates. My heart was pounding and pumping blood into my ears as I retorted back. "Shut up you pervert!" I had grumbled with my hair covering half my face. "Stop looking at me!"

A warm smell covered the two of us and the air around. It was as if suddenly, I could hear and smell more things than usual. It was thrilling to see how much had changed now that I was adapting to my new reality. The concept of not being human was so warped, but it was making sense now. All the mysterious murders and mundane feelings in my life were finally making sense in this perspective.

Asher was right. I am a wolf shifter.

"Hey," I began, clearing my throat and used one of my hands to tuck a piece of hair behind while the other stayed over my chest. He hummed his response, eyes unfocused, but not hazy and still on my face. "I-" my words were cut off when I picked up the sound of Audra’s almost twenty-year- old Honda Civic. "Aunt Audra’s almost here!" I yelled.

From what I heard, she must’ve been at the end of the road that led right to the mansion and it wouldn’t take her more than just a few minutes to be back. "We need to do something!"

"What- wait, can’t you just tell her the truth?" Asher asked while I ran to pick up the pieces of my clothes from the dirt hurriedly. I clicked my tongue and tugged the boy along so we were both inside the house.

"I’ll worry about that later," I explained. "For now, there are more important things to do." I pushed him further into the house and latched the door behind just to avoid any accidents.

Asher, on the other hand, smirked and scanned me up mischievously. "Aren’t things going too fast for us? Huh, Elaine?" He grinned, cocking his head to the side and I groaned out loud while bringing up a hand to smack the back of his head.

"Get your mind out of the gutter!" I fumbled over my words. "N-Nothing is going to happen! We’re only going to clean up and get dressed in the guest room. Nothing else! At all!"

"That’s not a very good excuse, you know?" He teased and then spun around to face me.

"You’re being so difficult! Asher. Please understand! Aunt Audra’s going to be here very soon," I insisted, pushing him towards the stairs by his shoulders. He sighs and catches hold of both my wrists, I could see his wounds were already healing. "What?" I asked impatiently.

"Let me listen," he said, shushing me. I kept my hands stiff on their position against the skin of his neck and shoulders. I blushed deep red but kept quiet, knowing I had nothing to say anyway. "I can’t hear anything Elaine. You must be mistaken," Asher tells me but I only tsk in reply.

"What happened to your superpowers?" I scowled, closing my eyes as I tried to listen again. There it was, the revving sound of the Honda Civic’s engine that kept growing closer and closer with every second. "Listen carefully! I can hear it loud and clear, why can’t you?"

At this, Asher frowned and took in a deep breath before he closed his eyes and listened to the sound of the car in pin-drop silence. I hadn’t noticed when he had placed his palm upon my waist but I took in the warmth of his broad hand.

Warm. Safe. Possessive.

The thought made me shiver for reasons unknown but then again, I was naked for heaven’s sake. It could’ve been because of the air fluttering across my skin too.

"You’re right," Asher breathed out, suddenly very serious as he opened his eyes to look at me. I frowned back at him with equal seriousness, tilting my head to the side in question.

"What’s wrong?" I asked softly.

"I can’t figure out how you heard that. I had to concentrate twice to make it work but you? You told me you heard it even before I tried." He paused and then shook his head. "I’m one of the strongest wolves in my pack and yet, I only heard the sound of a car driving somewhere further away."

"What do you mean by that?"

Asher only nodded to himself.

"If I, the son of the Alpha, could get beaten by you in something as mere as the sound of a car’s engine, then you have something really big going on with you Elaine. There has to be a reason for you to not know your truth, your powers. You’re probably way stronger than I am."

If my family actually hid everything from other wolves then I could be dangerous. I could sense something bigger, something more dangerous coming my way. A red-light alarm went off in my head.

I was probably in danger.