Bitten (Jaiden)

12:08pm (Waning Crescent Moon)

(10/8/18)

Jesse's PoV

Jesse felt stupid. Okay, maybe he was stupid to begin with but he wasn't afraid. Jesse tapped his fingers against a tree, wondering how to call the other pack members while they were all human. As a wolf, he would just howl for them and they would always reply.

But as a human..? How could he do that? His voice wasn't as powerful... Jesse circled around a rock, thinking about what to do when he heard the silent sound of a bird over head. As a regular human, he wouldn't have picked it up, but now... he could hear it as it fluttered from tree to tree. As if it was watching him.

Jesse stopped walking and waited. Maybe something would happen? "About time you stopped pacing around." someone spoke up from behind him. Jesse whirled around to see Gabriel, with a woman standing beside him.

"What? How did you know I was looking for you?" Jesse asked, shocked. Gabriel shrugged, leaning against a tree. Today he was dressed in a light blue shirt and grey jeans. Jesse took note that both of them were barefooted though. There had to be some reason why.

Jesse looked at the woman, with curling brown hair and dark brown eyes. She had a tattered maroon shirt and black jeans. "Um.. who are you?" Jesse asked her. She looked at him, as if surprised that he had the nerve to talk to her.

"Don't mind Ellegaard here, she can be pretty annoying. She followed me here." Gabriel said, sighing. She slapped his arm, scowling. "I was just concerned." she replied. Her voice matched the same timbre as the dark grey wolf's howl, with the dark markings around its muzzle.

"So what do you need?" Gabriel asked, folding his arms. Jesse frowned. "Um... this is going to sound crazy but... I shifted this morning."

Gabriel narrowed his eyes at Jesse, as if he was thinking. "Not surprising. Many other werewolves besides us have shifted even before the full moon. You're technically still unstable, so that doesn't come as a shock."

Ellegaard nodded. "But we've come up with why though. Or rather, Soren and I did." she said. Gabriel rolled his eyes. "We found out that new werewolves usually shift before the full moon because they're either upset or angry, don't ask me how or why but that's the best we could come up with."

"Wow.. impressive." Gabriel said sarcastically, making Ellegaard elbow him. "It should stop after the next three or four times you shift or so. Until then, keep your anger in check, we don't want people to come storming into the woods with pitchforks and torches just to find us."

Her tone made it sound as if it had happened before..

Jesse nodded. "Oh and here, in case you ever need us again." Gabriel spoke up. He walked over to Jesse and pressed a phone into his palm. "It has all our numbers in it, so if you need help, just call." it was just a regular flip phone, but since Jesse never had a phone before, he was pretty grateful.

"Thanks.."

Gabriel nodded, "Just stay safe, and don't wander." he headed into the trees with Ellegaard behind him.

Jesse stood still and just stared at the phone in his hand. There was a chirp of a bird overhead, making him jolt out of his thoughts. Jesse looked up just in time to see the flash of a black crow's tail as it fluttered away.

Aiden's crow?

Nah, crows were the least of Jesse's worries. Now he had new information about the pack and about why he had shifted...

Which meant that his friends weren't safe.

✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼　 ҉ 　✼

(10/8/18)
(9:28pm)

Lukas, Petra and Jesse were sitting at the dining table, eating a plate of mashed potatoes and meatballs. "So why'd you run off?" Lukas asked. Jesse didn't know why but that ticked him off a little. Didn't he have the freedom to do whatever he wanted?

Jesse sighed, setting down his fork. "I just went out to look for clues. I talked to Gabriel and a new person called Ellegaard. That's all."

"Did you find out why you shifted?" Petra asked. Yet again, it was another stupid question. "Of course I talked to them about why I shifted. It's not like i invited them over for a cup of tea or something, right?" Jesse snapped.

"Okay, okay, jeez, it was just a thought. You don't have to be so worked up about it." she said.

Jesse stood up, his heart beating wildly. "Seriously? As the months go by, I'm finding it harder and harder to stay friends, you know? Everywhere I go, you guys keep asking me questions and-."

"Because were worried for you, Jesse!" Lukas stood up as well.

The brown haired boy ran a hand through his own hair. "No you're not! If you really cared, you would've stayed with me until I woke up this morning! But you were out buying cereal, for goodness sake!"

"Now all you want to do is to stay friends with me because you have no where else to stay besides this house my parents gave to me before they died! If I kicked you out, you'd have no where else to-." Jesse faltered when he felt that pain in his stomach.

He needed to calm down..

"Well, I think you're being unreasonable! We're just trying to help  you!" Lukas shouted, his voice becoming louder as he argued with Jesse.

He gripped the edges of the table, "You're being stupid!"

"YOU'RE BEING STUPID!" Jesse yelled, "YOU HAVE TO STOP TREATING ME LIKE I'M FIVE!" Tears started to cloud his vision as he glared at Lukas. His best friend... of all people, he would understand.

"JUST BECAUSE I GOT BITTEN BY A WEREWOLF, DOESNT MEAN YOU HAVE TO-." Jesse stopped, suddenly feeling dizzy as he tried to stay calm. Jesse winced, wrapping an arm around his stomach as he tried to stand.

"Lukas... LUKAS! He's shifting again!" Petra yelled as Jesse closed his eyes.

There was a scrape of the chair against the floor and suddenly, Lukas's hand was gripped tightly around Jesse's wrist.

Jesse looked up weakly as Lukas carried him all the way to the spare room they had.

-End