The Hunter's Alpha

47 Promise

Amber

I woke to the light of dawn hitting my eyes, and I instantly recognized that I was lying on the ground and remembered what had happened.

It seemed unbelievable, but my fur-covered grey paws in the dirt in front of me showed me the truth.

Devon was still sleeping beside me, his breathing deep and even, and normally I would not have bothered him, but I was so confused. "Devon? Wake up, please."

I nudged him with my paw, and he opened one golden eye to look at me. "Amber? Love? How are you feeling?"

"I feel like I'm a wolf! How is this even possible?" I was getting hysterical.

"Well, I'd say that's because you're a werewolf." His voice was calm and reassuring and it had no effect on me.

"And you're sure your bite can't infect humans?" I wasn't joking this time. I was trying to come to terms with the situation.

"Yes. I'm not a vampire."

"Vampire bites don't infect humans either. It's blood transmitted, not saliva or venom." Why was I even correcting something like that at a time like this?

"You must have been a werewolf all along, there's no better explanation, although we can ask Doc if you want." He rubbed his muzzle against mine comfortingly.

"But I've always been weak, Devon. Weaker than werewolves, even weaker than hunters. I'm the last person who should be a werewolf."

"Maybe the way they abused you suppressed your wolf. But I can feel her now, she's definitely there. You're a werewolf, beautiful."

I didn't know why I was so upset. I had yearned for running with him this way in my dreams, but it meant I was something fundamentally different than who I had always believed I was. I had been Amber, the human raised by hunters, but now I was Amber, the suppressed werewolf. Had the hunters known? Had that been why they had treated me so cruelly? Surely not, or they would have simply killed me on sight. If they resented wasting resources on a pathetic human, how much more would they have hated wasting them on a filthy werewolf?

"Could a witch have suppressed my wolf?"

"Not that I know of, but we could ask someone about that."

And then an even more horrible thought struck me. "How am I going to shift back?" I whimpered at even the thought of repeating that experience. The mere idea of going through that torture again was terrifying. It was worse than anything else I had been through.

"It won't be so bad next time, I promise."

"How do you know that?" I wanted to believe him, but my raised hackles said otherwise.

"The first shift is always the hardest for everyone."

"There's a lot of room for it to be better but still horrible," I said, the pain still fresh and burning in my memory. "How do the children do this?"

"It's easier when someone starts younger, and you didn't know your wolf the way the rest of us did when we first shifted."

"Maybe I'll just stay like this."

"I'll really miss your human body if you do," he said cajolingly. "Would you try, for me?"

I lifted my head to glower at him. "Fine. Maybe I could try this body out first though?" Anything to put of the inevitable a bit longer.

He perked up at my suggestion. "Where do you want to go?"

I pushed myself to my four paws. It almost felt like crawling, but far more efficient and natural. I moved my legs experimentally, and found the movement to be intuitive. This wasn't so bad. I could probably come to like this, if only I could skip the shift. Because it wasn't worth that.