The Wolf and the Natural ✔️

~•12•~

When we got back to the house what I expected was not what I got. I expected to see an empty house, not... not Dalia and Leif making out on the couch, his hand up her shirt.

"GET THE HELL OFF MY SISTER YOU CREEP!" Jonah stormed up to Leif and before Leif could move, Jonah pulled him off of Dalia. "She's not your mate!" Jonah yelled in Leif's face, slamming him against the wall, shaking the picture next to them.

Dalia pulled Jonah off of him, rolling her eyes dramatically. "Oh shut up Jonah, you're just not team Lelia." She said, annoyed, but chuckling.

"I'm not saying it again, GRACIE IS SEVEN!" Arlis yelled and the entire room shut up. "Leif, you need to leave." Leif didn't move, he was too startled. "I SAID GET OUT!" He snarled and Leif ran from the house, slamming the door shut behind him.

Dalia widened her eyes. "Honestly, Arlis, it's not a big deal." Those were the wrong words to say, apparently.

The back of Arlis's neck started sprouting hair, his fingers were elongating and I found that I was taking steps back.

"KONRAD IS COMING BACK!" He yelled. "There! There it is!" He tugged at his hair, pacing around the kitchen. That's why he was so mad. The car ride here was silent, not even a single bicker. And now he could let it out. Not a good thing.

He threw the glass bowl of fruit across the kitchen, slamming against the fridge and making all of us jump.

"Kate, do something." Melloni panicked, her eyes wild with fear.

What could I do? OH! That thing in the job title description. That thing. "I don't know how to do that thing." I muttered to her, and she gave me a confused look.

"What thing?" She asked as Arlis began shifting in the kitchen, slowly. Why was he shifting slowly?

"CALMING HIM! DO IT!" Constance yelled.

Fuck I didn't know how to do that.

I walked to him and closed my eyes, refusing to watch his bones break slowly. I licked my lips in a scared type of anticipation. "Arlis." I whispered. "Arlis please calm down." The bones shifting grew slower until it was silence. "Arlis, Baby, please calm down."

I opened my eyes to see him curled into a ball as a human, his clothes ripped and barely hanging on him. He was shuddering as he cried silently. I felt a tear slip from my face as the ripped clothes fell away on his back, revealing white scars running down him like stripes.

I flipped him over to face me and his eyes were running.

I wiped my own crying eyes and laid on his chest. He brought me closer to him and kissed the top of my head. "If I die, take care of our pack." He said it so quietly, so gently, so fearful, that I realized that he was serious. He thought that if it came to it, he would die.

I looked up at him. "Why are you..." I couldn't even ask the question.

He kissed my forehead, still crying. "Because I'll kill myself before Konrad takes me again." He shuddered out and held me tighter, his arms wrapped around me as he pulled me tighter to him.

"Arlis... do you want me to call Becker?" Constance asked, leaning down next to us. "You have people here that can help you deal with this, Arlis. You'll always have me, and Kate, and your family. You're not alone." She said, her eyes mirroring his,

Arlis nodded, wiping his face. "Thank you, Constance." He wiped my face with his palms. "I only trust the people in this room plus Becker. Nobody else needs to know about this." I thought about Chleo and his parents, but didn't say anything.

Constance nodded. "Of course." She walked away, and I realized that that was the kindest I had ever seen her.

"I'm uh... I'm going to go find mom and dad, see what's happening." Dalia left through the door, not offering anything else to say.