Gaze

Four.

I could only blink in confusion, my eyes turning to gaze at the people milling about around us. I was on information overload. And this topped the cake. A little bit of fear  puddled in my stomach.

With a sigh, I sat down on a simple blue couch. This was becoming too much and taking longer than I expected for things to be explained. I knew for this next part, I'd need to be seated.

Jessica and Dylan followed me.

"Okay." I finally said. "What does that have to do with anything?" I couldn't keep the surprise from my voice.

I wasn't stupid. I knew Alpha was the first letter of the Greek alphabet and I knew that it held a very large importance to wolves. Clearly, werewolves were no exception. However, I was surprised that this boy, who may have only been a couple years older than me, was in charge of what seemed to be a pack of wolves. He was very, very young.

With my thoughts, I hadn't realized I had started to stare again. His eyelashes cast light shadows across his soft cheeks, the blond lashes as gold as wheat.

"Alphas can often Change into pure wolves due to the amount of strength and power that resides in our blood. We have to have an extreme amount of control. Whereas, like Jessica, she can partial-Change. Any werewolf could become a pure wolf with enough strength and effort, but if the wolf is not strong enough, the Change could kill them. It takes a lot of energy out of Betas," Dylan's voice barely registered in my brain. He was speaking a foreign language to me. From what I've read of wolves, there's only one or two Betas and they were the second-in-command. He made it sound like there were many.

After asking, he quickly explained that all werewolves that are not considered Alphas are considered Betas. A Beta not within a pack is an Omega, otherwise known as a loner. To determine the rank of the wolf, the eyes of the two ranks were different; Black for Alphas, and Silver for Betas.

Suddenly, Jessica and Dylan's eyes made sense.

Almost.

At my frown, Dylan sighed. It was obvious he was beginning to understand I was becoming flustered and confused. I felt my heart rate picking up as I tried to think through everything I had just learned, my eyes taking in the appearance of the room around me. The cracked wallpaper suddenly became very interesting and I tried to think of anything else by suggesting to myself a different wallpaper they should use.

It didn't work.

I could tell Jessica was beginning to become concerned as my breath hitched in my throat, air stalling in my lungs and choking me. It felt as if a giant hand was twisting itself around my chest and squeezing with gnarled and old fingers.

My vision became blurry and everything was a haze as the noises my brain managed to pick up became distant echoes of suggestions for me to lie down.

I was starting to hyperventilate, my breath coming out in short wheezes.

After a minute, I could only hear one thing despite the silence in my brain screaming at me.  "Comfort her, Alpha! Quickly." I thought that was Jessica but I wasn't sure. Comfort me?

Suddenly, his voice blocked out the defeaning silence and through the haze a shadow of a face was blocking the light. He was an Angel, surely. Was this what it felt like to die?

"Reagan, hey. It's going to be okay. Hey, I'm here. We're here. Just calm down and breathe." His voice was very different than when he had been talking moments before. Fingers gently touched my hands, filling me with warmth, as my eyes began to close and a panicked voice sounded. "No, Reagan. Keep your eyes open. Come on. Open them."