Astrid

Chapter 9 - Much More Sinister

Astrid woke up with a start the next morning. She was sprawled on her bedroom floor with a pounding headache and a needle still stuck to her arm. I'm still alive? Astrid had no idea how she survived that experience. She was sure that she'd wake up in the hospital or with the moon goddess.

     She removed the needle from her arm and put it back in the box. She never wanted to see that stuff again. Astrid went into the bathroom to get ready for the day. She looked in the mirror and saw that Pierce's 'mark' had faded. My wolf probably rejected it. Damn, all of that for nothing. She crawled out her window and shimmied down the drainpipe to avoid Andrew and any other lurking pack members.

"Hey Astrid."

     That was a bust.

Her walk to Pierce's house had been cut short by Jules. Groaning, Astrid turned around and greeted her best pack friend. That didn't really mean anything though. She hated everyone in the back, but she hated Jules a little less.

"To what do I owe the pleasure."

"I was just headed to Alpha's house for breakfast. You coming?"

Knowing she had to lie, Astrid scrunched up her nose and looked around.

"I actually got a call from the Dean, so I have to clear up some stuff before school starts." That was such a shitty lie.

"Oh, um.... do you want me to drive you?" Astrid's face fell. Why was Jules being so damn nosy today.

"No thanks, I'd rather walk." Astrid shot her a tight smile and plugged in her earbuds to tune out whatever else Jules had to say.

Jules knew there was something going on with Astrid, and she was going to get to the bottom of it.

~~~{     }~~~

Halfway to Pierce's house Astrid started getting the chills even though it was mid-August. She wanted, no, needed more. Damn it. Astrid started running knowing that she had to get her fix fast.

Astrid threw open the door and ran up to Pierce's room. It was locked so she frantically started banging on the door. Pierce looked groggy and was probably confused as to why she was here after last night, but he saw the tears and desperation in her eyes and knew something was amiss.

She walked past him and into his room, headed towards his stash. She quickly started going through the bags until she found what she needed.

Pierce knew what Astrid had done and moved to take the bag from her, but she growled at him. It was an inhuman growl that had Pierce retreating back. Werewolf addiction was a serious matter. Since werewolves had two different spirits, human and wolf, addiction would become more severe. Astrid had shot up a lot of heroin last night, enough to kill a person. Instead of death, however, she was left with something much more sinister.

"Astrid give me the bag." Pierce started walking toward Astrid and her eyes flashed at him. Her wolf was coming out.

Pierce was starting to get nervous. He had no idea what was going on with his girlfriend, but he wanted to help her. He loved her and he didn't want her becoming as fucked up as he was.

"Astrid please. You're better than this." Astrid was starting to become feral. She hadn't shifted yet, but her wolf knew that this human was threatening something precious to her. Astrid fell to the ground in immense pain as she was forced to shift.

     Astrid's bones began to break and realign into her wolf form. Because of her wolf's desperation, this shift was unlike any she ever had before. Her clothes began to tear and become strips of fabric on the floor.

     Pierce was petrified and stood where he was too afraid of what was happening in front of him. He was scared for Astrid because he knew she was in pain, and he was also scared for himself because this wasn't natural.

     Ten minutes went by and in Astrid's place was a wolf. The bag of heroin on the floor was now being eaten, plastic and all.

     "A...Astrid?" Nervous would be an understatement, but Pierce knew his Astrid was somewhere in that mass of fur.

     Pierce had seen a lot of weird shit in his life thanks to the drugs he took on the daily. If shrooms could make him see unicorns, he was sure that people could turn into wolves. That didn't make sense, but it was the only explanation he could fathom that would allow him to process whatever this was.

     Once Astrid's wolf was sated, she was able to recognize Pierce. While she didn't agree with whatever Astrid did with Pierce, she acknowledged that he was always nice to them. Even if he gave Astrid drugs. And tried to mark her. And that one time he left her in the parking lot...

    "Astrid." Pierce was a little more firm with the wolf knowing that the voice worked on his dogs. Wolves and dogs are practically the same thing.

     Astrid was able to take control and shifted back, sitting naked on Pierce's floor.

     "You weren't supposed to see that." Astrid was scared now. Disregarding her drug withdrawal episode, she was concentrating on the fact that she broke wolf law. Humans weren't supposed to know about wolves, yet she shifted in front of Pierce. Pierce. She could lose her best friend.

     "What... what the fuck happened." Pierce looked at her, wanting answers.

     "I think you know what happened. I shifted into a wolf."

     "So you're like... a werewolf."

     Astrid was so mentally exhausted that she began hysterically laughing at the situation. Pierce looked at her and couldn't help but join in. They both sounded crazy.

     "Yeah you could say that."

     "Cool cool." Astrid looked at him incredulously. She had just revealed the biggest secret of her kind, and all he had to say was cool.

     "Cool? Really?"

     "I mean, it's cool. You can like..." Pierce the started making weird gestures with his hands, his way of explaining the situation.

     "I guess." Astrid had no idea how to react. She would have expected him to call her a monster and run away screaming, yet here he was being understanding. No one had been understanding towards her in a while. "That's why you're my best friend."

     "Boyfriend. Your boyfriend."

     Oh, right.

     "Boyfriend."