In The Shadows - Fan Fiction Version by Katydids

Shifting

Sang

We all sit around a huge dining table, eating dinner. There's steak and salad and garlic mashed potatoes and rolls. It's delicious. I covertly watch them eat and converse. They seem so...normal. Human.

Kota catches me watching him and smiles. "What are you thinking about?"

I shrug. "Just how, um, normal you all seem. Well, except for the dilating pupils and the electric energy you give off."

I think about it. "How do you explain it to people? Don't they ever ask?"

Owen clears his throat. "It's not something we've had to explain before. You're just.....exceptionally observant."

I nod in agreement. "Yeah, I guess I've always been that way. It drives my mom nuts sometimes," I smile. "I guess I got it from my dad, he was like that, too."

I notice them all perk up and stop eating. "What was your dad's name?" Victor asks.

"David." I smile thinking about him. "He was a good father, always looking out for me and spending every moment he could with his family. He even started working from home once I was born so he could be with me as much as possible. He wanted me to homeschool but my mom insisted I needed the socialization." I chuckle. "It didn't work very well. We were a lot alike, both quiet and shy....."

I finger the silver chain around my neck, feeling the weight of the medallion hidden under my shirt. It's the only piece of jewelry I own or care about. The pendant is round and the size of a silver dollar. It has silver filigree and tiny green stones covering the face of it. My father gave it to me when I was ten. He said it was a special necklace that belonged to his mother and had been in her family for many years. She died when my dad was young so I never met her. There weren't any pictures of her either. My dad didn't have any from his childhood.

I only take the necklace off when I shower or go swimming. Other than that, it's become a part of me.

The guys eye the chain my fingers are playing with and I release it, letting it slide back under my collar.

It's a nervous habit I have.

After dinner, Victor and Silas escort me back to the family room to go over our English assignment. We bring the brownies with us and sit on the floor in front of the fireplace. The others are also in the room doing homework or actual work related things. It's hard for me to concentrate, but I try. I keep thinking of new questions I want to ask, trying to remember them for later. Finally I just get out a notebook from my bag and start writing them down.

"What are you writing?" Silas asks, taking a bite of a brownie.

"Questions to ask later and notes about what you've told me."

I look up and see amused expressions on their faces. "But don't worry," I say, "I won't tell anyone."

"We know that," Sean smiles.

I hesitate, then just go ahead and ask one. "Do you think I could see you shift sometime?" I'm extremely curious.

Victor and Kota actually blush at my question, Luke and Sean laugh, the others smile, including North and even Owen. Although, his is minuscule.

I blush from their reactions, although I don't understand them. "Is it not allowed?"

Sean sits forward in his chair with a merry gleam in his eyes. They dilate for a moment while I stare at him. "The thing is, my dear, when we shift, our bodies morph and shake violently but quickly. The process would wreak havoc on our clothes......if we wore them."

It takes me a moment to process what he's saying.

"Oh! So, you take your clothes off...before....you.........shift......" I'm bright red.

He chuckles. "Yes. All shifters do."

Gabe laughs. "I don't think even I could keep up with buying clothes for everyone if we shifted in them every damn time."

Visions of naked men shifting into wolves play through my mind. I don't know if it's possible for me to get redder, but I think I do.

I look down at my list of questions and vigorously erase number one.

They all burst into laughter.

****************

Around nine o'clock I start yawning.

Owen closes the book he's been reading. "I think it's time for you to be brought home."

I agree. "Yeah, I'm actually pretty tired." I stifle another yawn. I blink back my resulting watery eyes and see them all grinning at me.

"She's even f****** beautiful when she yawns," Gabe says.

I roll my eyes at him and blush as I pack my things, then stand. They all get up with me. "Thank you for dinner and having me over."

They respond with various "you're welcomes" and "our pleasures." Silas and Victor escort me out the house and the others follow, standing on the large covered porch. Silas holds the car door open for me. I wave and say "goodnight" to the others as I get in.

As we drive away, I turn to look out the back window and see them still standing there, in the glow of the porch light, watching us go.

Owen, Sean, Kota, North, Nathan, Luke, Gabe

They breath a collective sigh of relief when the tail lights disappear.

"Holy s***. That was intense," Gabe proclaims.

"I could definitely use a run tonight," Nathan says.

North runs his hand through his hair. "Yeah, I could go for another."

"I bet you could, Baby," Luke smirks.

North glares at him and Gabe chuckles.

Kota turns off the porch light and removes his glasses, setting them on the small porch table. "It'll be a nice night for a run."

"I don't know if a run is going to cure what ails me," Sean mutters, removing his shirt.

"We'll keep a close perimeter until Victor and Silas get back," Owen directs, unbuckling his belt.

They remove their clothing, taking off shirts and stepping out of their jeans and boxers until they're completely bare. They step off the porch and stride onto the dirt driveway and into the field behind the house. They stretch their arms and inhale the crisp air. Enjoying the feel of it on their exposed bodies.

As alpha, Owen is always the first to start shifting when they are in a pack. He closes his eyes and tilts his head back, breathing in the air, letting his wolf free.

His eyes snap open, pupils dilating to the point where the steel gray is gone. A rumbling growl reverberates up his chest as he finds traces of her scent left behind.

His muscles ripple and shift in the bathing moonlight, his body violently twists and jerks.

At this point the others have begun the process as well, their bodies reacting in the same way, a harmonious display of shifting.

Within moments, seven beautiful wolves stand on alert where seven men once were.