One Day, I Woke Up A Werewolf

Hailey's POV

"And now that she has proven herself to you, it is time to do the same. Submit to my daughter and pledge your lives to her." Theo demands, his eyes flickering between colors.

Everyone was quiet, not a sound coming from one of them. All I could hear were their calm heartbeats and breathing sounds that were in some way synchronized, all following the same rhythm without faltering.

As Theo spoke, his voice was holding so much power that even I wanted to kneel. One could not go against his words, they held so much promise. A promise to cause harm if one is to go against him. A promise to inflict pain if one even tries to utter a word at this very moment that disagrees with him.

The people from his land, the pack were all still bowing down but one by one they all shifted back to human form. I could see their bones break in half, I could hear each bone, the crunch sound going off in numbers as if it was some musical number, my body shivering at the sound but to them, it seemed not to affect them. Their bodies contorted and moved in ways one would find traumatic but just as they were wolves, they were human and as normal as ever.

On their knees they went, slowly moving from one bended knee to the next they went on the dirt. One by one they would tilt their heads to the side, showing their necks to me, heads still facing down.

I look up to Theo, he smiles before looking back at me.

"Rise my loyal soldiers. Your pledge of loyalty has been noted and from today, your most important job as my most important officials is to protect my child. Her life over yours until your last breath.” He says and my heart skips a beat.

I don't want anyone sacrificing themselves for me. If I'm to die tomorrow then so be it! Why would I want anyone else jumping in the line of fire for me? As poetic as it sounds, I would never forgive myself.

"But." I try to disagree only to have the crowd rise from the ground to finally look at me and say the following words,

"From today, we will gladly give our lives to our alpha and his blood." They all say... but what scares me was not them saying these words. It was how they were said.

I heard them all speak.

All at the same time, making that grave promise not knowing what tomorrow holds and saying it all in my head. Their lips unmoving as they utter those words to me and Theo.

Theo caught on to my confusion and gently grabbed my hand.

I had read enough books to know that mind linking was a thing between werewolves but it's still creepy. When it actually happens, when one hears it, it shakes you and not in a good way. It is just scary to think someone can just get in to your head and speak to you..

"Thank you all family. You may now introduce yourselves to Hailey. Let's get this day going.” Theo says and every body runs to me.

I am immediately overwhelmed by the people surrounding me. Their smiles were warm and they all had lovely things to say but I did not even know who to listen to first.

Looking to my left, looking to my right and turning around just to acknowledge everyone was really taking a toll on me but the time quickly passed even though it did not feel that way at the time.

I spent the day training but barely because I'm that unfit. They trained me how to properly communicate with my wolf. How to call her forward when needed and what to do when she tries to take power. Trained how to shift quickly and effortlessly.

Shift after shift the pain lessened until I didn't feel it anymore. It went from agonizing to nothing in one day.

All of this was too much to take in, my body was not doing that great and to be honest, I was emotionally drained from trying so hard not to be affected by all of this.

Eventually my brain forced me to deal with past events so I can move forward in life. It's funny really, how ones life cannot truly take a pause but the mind can by being stuck in one place. To force you to deal with the events that got us here and as life goes on, the body moves, normal activities are done, the mind remains stubborn in its aim to finally get out of whatever rut it is in and as much as we try to lie and lie, there's only so many lies you can tell yourself until you break. Maybe it's because I'm not just human. Maybe because I'm superhuman, because my body goes against any biological explanation for all humans, my head decides at the end of the day that enough was enough.

That this was too much to take in by just simply lying my way through. This was a new life, a new me and if I did not deal with my old self and the events that led up to right now, I'd be stuck here or maybe go crazy.

So I excused myself after dinner and locked myself in my room.

"Adira?" I call out my wolf.

'Yes Hailey. This is a lot to take in and I'm sorry you spent most of your life unaware of the life meant for you. We could've bonded from the time you were a little kid and right now we would've been the best of friends but that's not our case and we have to take whatever plan the moon goddess has in store for us. There must be a reason why I was locked away inside you. Maybe it was to keep you alive or what's to come will be easier dealt off this way and with the past that you have. You are still human, still very much human. just with a wolf inside of you and no way to get rid of me. Knowing the human side of you is still a good thing, it means you acknowledge that side of you and now it's time to come over to the other side. We are in this together Hailey and I will protect us both.’ Adira says to me.

Her words bringing me to tears at the truth of it all. I felt her sincerity, the passion in her promises to me.

Adira was me and I was her.

Inseparable and at the time where I wished for friends, I had one inside of me all along. Loneliness is a thing of the past and I choose to accept my new reality as scary as it is.

I'm human. We are naturally scared of the unknown and that's why we find comfort in habitual living but it's time I accepted change. My life was not working out then.

I tried so hard to fight for my fathers love until the day he died. I held on to my mother even in her death. Dreaming of a past, wishing it in to my reality but there is a future that needs me to let all of that go and now was the time to stop fighting my demons but to embrace them.

I have a painful past, granted.. but holding on to the past means I have to hold on to the pain, making my reality a miserable one and that needs to change.

The Hailey I knew yesterday is not the same one today. We are strangers to each other now and if I'm to have a painful future, may it be a different kind of pain. May it be the only pain I feel as I let go of all that I was carrying with me daily.

I have been made anew and the worries I had yesterday hold no weight to my today. From today, I will fight new unknown battles and with the new support that I have, I will overcome them.

"Thank you Adira. You've got a friend in me too." I say to My wolf.