𝕆𝕟 𝕋𝕙𝕖 ℍ𝕦𝕟𝕥 ➾ 𝕆ℂ 𝕩 𝕆ℂ [𝕋𝕎𝕀𝕃𝕀𝔾ℍ𝕋 𝕊𝔸𝔾𝔸]

Gwen

La Push, Washington

May 5, 2006

 Everyone at the table tensed up when they heard the howl.  Even Gwen did, as she was reminded of the beast she turned into.  An awful stench struck her.  She didn't know how to describe it but it was somehow both sickly sweet yet also smelled like rotting flesh.

The boys and Leah seemed to smell it too and they all simultaneously bolted to the door.  Gwen's brows furrowed and she opened her mouth to question them.  But they were already in the treeline of the woods.  

Gwen turned to Emily and Kim for answers, "What's going on?" But she changed subjects before the two girls could reply, "And what the hell is that disgusting smell?" Gwen rushed over to the window and opened it for fresh air.  She greedily inhaled the new oxygen but gagged as the odor was even stronger outside.  Something in her gut was telling her to fight.

Emily and Kim exchanged looks of confusion.  But then Emily came to a realization, "Gwen, what does it smell like?"  She knew that the shifters had an enhanced sense of smell and that they definitely smelt a vampire from the way their faces contorted into disgust and anger.  Sam and a few of the boys had told her and Kim how the Cold Ones smelt to them.

"What? You don't smell it?"  Gwen asked.  The two girls shook their heads and Gwen's eyebrows shot up.  Gwen knew that her sense of smell hasn't been normal since the night she shifted but she figured if the others could smell it then Emily and Kim could too.  "It smells like cotton candy and death," she gagged again, and then she started to shake violently.  Kim's eyes widened as she caught on to what was happening to Gwen.  

The stench faded away soon after but Gwen's shaking didn't cease.  Heavy footsteps and shouts were heard going toward the house.  Emily and Kim ran over to the door and ran to the pack.

"Something's wrong with Gwen!" Kim shouted, "She's shaking really badly."

"She can smell the vampires!" Emily exclaimed before the pack could talk. "I think she's about to shift!"

"Get her outside now!" Sam ordered the pack.  Paul, Leah, and Jacob carried Gwen to the front yard as Kim and Emily went inside to avoid getting injured.  Collin, Brady, and Seth were sent inside behind them because they were the youngest.  Gwen was being carried out to the forest but they didn't make it past the treeline when she flailed her limbs around.  She landed a strong kick to Jacob's jaw, hit Leah in the throat, and sharply elbowed Paul in the lower gut.  They dropped Gwen out of pain and she crawled away.  The rain came down harder.

Her instincts were going wild; telling her to shift and find the scent.  Gwen couldn't control what happened next.  Her bones broke and rearranged, fur grew out of her skin, her nails turned to claws, and her clothes tore off of her body.  Gwen has shifted again.  She went to go into the forest but was stopped by multiple voices entering her mind.  

'Holy sh*t!' A boyish voice exclaimed.

'Not another girl!' Another male voice groaned.

'Shut up, Jacob, you sexist piece o-' A female scolded.

'Quiet!' A deep commanding voice ordered.

'Wait, Jacob? As in Paul's friend?' Gwen thought to herself.  Or at least she thought that she said it to herself.  Apparently, Jacob heard.

'Yup, it's me,'  Jacob's voice answered.  

Gwen looked at where the boy was but couldn't find him, instead, a large russet-colored wolf was in his place.  Her eyes darted around the yard and everywhere were more horse-sized wolves.

Gwen snarled, 'I knew it! I knew this had something to do with you all! And how the hell are you in my head?'

She heard Sam sigh, 'We have a mind-link in our wolf forms so we can understand each other.'

'Great.. just great! First I turn into a wolf, then my mom dies, and now I have strangers poking around in my brain,' Gwen huffed.  

Paul noticed her choice of words, 'Wait a minute, you shifted before?' He questioned his older sister.

Gwen made sure to keep all of her thoughts to herself.  The last thing she wanted to to do is scare her brother and new friends away.  'Can I have some clothes, please?'

▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪ ▪

 The group shifted back to their human forms and rejoined Emily, Kim, Seth, Collin, and Brady inside.  They were squeezed into Emily's cozy living room.  The pack and imprints sat on the couch, numerous chairs, and the carpeted floor as they watched Gwen stand nervously before them and fiddle with her fingernails.  She would occasionally lift her head up and open her mouth before changing her mind.  It was after a few minutes that Jared spoke up.

"So... are we gonna talk about this or what?" He had an arm slung protectively over Kim's shoulder in case Gwen got violent.  Paul and Gwen shot him identical annoyed looks.

"I...I don't know if you ever want to see me again after this.  I-" Gwen was cut off by the rest.

"Of course we will!" Emily chirped.

"Yeah, you're one of us!" Embry added.

"You're my big sister!  I just got you back, I'll care about you no matter what," Paul assured her.

"There's no way you're leaving me here with these dimwits,"  Leah's statement caused some offense in the pack, "And I'm really looking forward to not being the only girl in the pack anymore," she shot Gwen a rare smile.

The blue-eyed girl continued to frown and her eyes welled up in tears.  She looked at Paul, "There wasn't a bear..."

His eyebrows furrowed, "Huh?"

"That night... when my mom died.  It wasn't a bear attack,"  Gwen had fat teardrops rolling down her cheeks by that point, "It was me.  I-I killed her."

Paul's world shattered.  He couldn't believe his sister was a murderer.  "N-no. No! Th-that can't be true. Gwen, tell me it's not true!"  All Gwen could do is shake her head as her tears came down faster.

Everyone else became on edge.  Sam and Jared were shielding their respective imprints from Gwen.  And Leah went to stand next to Seth.  Gwen's mood dropped even more when she witnessed their cautious and paranoid behavior.

"It was an accident, I swear!" She cried.  "One minute I'm perfectly fine, the next I have a fever and my whole body is aching.  My m-mom found me on the floor went she came home from work and she tried to help me.  She was trying to get me off the ground when I first shifted.  I was so, so angry," Her voice broke.  "For no reason at all.  I just needed to tear something up.  Mom was screaming and I guess that made me madder.  I-"  She cut herself off with a sob.  Paul instantly went to comfort her.

Sam and Leah understood her pain.  Leah blamed herself for her father's heart attack and Sam lost control and scarred Emily permanently.  They were the ones after Paul to approach Gwen.  They forgot their differences with each other for Gwen's sake and all wrapped their arms around the crying girl.  And one by one, the rest joined in.

That's when Gwen knew that she truly belonged in La Push.

(A/N: Y'all gotta comment! I need feedback and reader interaction!)