The Wolf Heir

Chapter Seven: The River

We reached the river a couple of minutes later, neither Elizabeth nor I had said anything, not that I minded, we were both lost in thought and the silence wasn’t uncomfortable. The current of the river was unusually calm and I took my spot on the rock like I always did. I had made up my mind, I was not going to tell Elizabeth about my situation, she was my best friend and I trusted her, but I wasn’t sure if she was going to run away out of fear and tell the town about me, it would mean the end for me and my family and I couldn’t risk it.

Elizabeth was the one who broke the silence, she was sitting under a tree, looking out at the river. “I am going to get married this summer,” she began, her voice held no excitement or joy, instead it sounded automized and neutral. I raised my eyebrow because this wasn’t usual of her.

“Why aren’t you happy? Isn’t it something you’ve always wanted?” I asked in confusion as I studied my best friend.

She sighed and nodded her head slowly, “yeah, I know. I did… I do. It’s just, I can’t believe everything is going to change now, I won’t have as much freedom as I do now and soon, I’ll be having his children.” Her voice trailed off, but I could tell she was beginning to realize what came with her marriage.

“Everything will be fine, I’m sure he is a nice and well-established man. You will be very taken care of,” I said, trying to sound convincing. Elizabeth let out a chuckle.

“That’s the thing, he’s a really, really, nice man. He really seems to care about my opinions and what I have to say, and he always tries to be chivalrous. Not to mention he’s our age and he’s really handsome,” Elizabeth managed to say, she still hadn’t turned to look at me.

“Then what’s the problem, Elizabeth? I asked slowly and confused, something about Elizabeth’s behavior was different.

“I don’t know, since the day I got sick, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I was making the biggest mistake of my life by marrying Donald Archibald. There’s this thing inside of me, a voice that is telling me to wait, that something is going to happen very soon,” as my friend spoke, I saw the confusion and fear in her eyes and that’s when I noticed her sickly expression. My eyes widened as I realized my friend had been acting as if she had been fine. She had been pretending to be okay but with me, she let her guard down and I could see her pale skin and ghostly eyes.

“Isn’t Donald Archibald the son of the mayor?” I asked in surprise and Elizabeth nodded her head weakly. “Wow,” I didn’t know what else to say but I didn’t want to sound dumb and too shocked with the realization. Instead, I decided to change the subject to one that was making me wary, her health.

“Elizabeth, are you sure you’re okay? You still look kind of sick. What did the doctor say to you after I left?” I asked as I got up from the rock and went to sit next to her.

My friend shrugged and shook her head, “he said he didn’t know what was wrong with me. He said I was fine and that I probably only gotten sick because of the nerves of meeting my fiancée. He said the symptoms should disappear in a couple of days, but I think they’re only getting stronger.”

A cold shiver ran down my spine as I felt my wolf open her connection to me. She’s one of us, she whispered in my mind.

What? That’s not possible, I responded quickly, unable to believe my friend could be going through the same thing as me,

My wolf scoffed inside my head; I know what I sense. Touch her and tell her about that night you shifted, you’ll see.

My wolf closed our connection and disappeared, leaving me to put myself and my family at risk, especially now considering that Elizabeth was engaged to Donald Archibald. “I think I know what’s happening to you,” I started to say and she turned to look at me with a raised eyebrow. I placed a hand on her shoulder and instantly, I felt some sort of energy go through her, “just… try not to freak out and keep in mind that I have no way to explain this.” I hesitated and took a deep breath before continuing, “the day of my birthday, I got home and started to have the same symptoms you had and that same night, something… unusual happened. I turned into a wolf.”

I trailed off and let my last comment sink in. I expected Elizabeth to freak out and tell me I was crazy and out of my mind. I expected her to jump up and run. She didn’t do any of those things. She remained calm and turned to look at me. “A wolf? Like, the creature we read off in school in that book-,” she broke off as she tried to remember the title.

“Dracula,” we both said at the same time and her eyes widened.

“Not exactly like that, I mean, I can shift into a wolf, like the animal, anytime I want,” I said nonchalantly.

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow, “can I see?” Shocked, I hesitated and eyed my friend, I hadn’t expected things to be going so calmly, she was taking it better than I would have ever imagined.

I nodded my head and stood up. I stayed there awkwardly as I considered what to do next, I knew I should probably take my clothes off to prevent losing another dress. “Let me take my dress off, if I shift in it, it will get ripped and I already lost one dress,” I explained as I pointed to the trees and my friend nodded.

I hurried into the tress and stripped down, I had never been comfortable naked with anyone around, but I had a feeling that now that I was a werewolf, that was going to change. Once I was naked, I covered my chest and peaked out towards the clearing, making sure Elizabeth hadn’t run away in fear. She was still waiting patiently where I had last seen her, and I gulped as I tried to concentrate on opening my link with my wolf.

You need to be calm, let it flow through you, if there is some hesitation or resistance inside of you, the shift will hurt, my wolf explained calmly, and I sighed, trying to calm my racing heart.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before letting it go. The image of the grey wolf with the booted feet reached my face and I smiled, there was something thrilling about what was going to happen, I could bet not a lot of people could turn to wolves.

There was a gentle breeze around me, and I felt how my body slowly shrunk and my bones rearranged themselves. The chilly air was replaced with the warmth that came with my furry coat. In the end of the shift, my front paws landed almost inaudibly on the soft grass and I opened my eyes.

To my surprise, I could see everything in color, the only difference was it was heightened, and I could see at a larger distance. I raised my snout and took a deep breath, enjoying nature’s scents around me. I was too busy taking it all in that when a wave of uneasiness got to me, I remembered Elizabeth was sitting by the river.

Slowly, I began to walk forward until I was in Elizabeth’s range of sight. When she noticed me, I saw her eyes widen in both awe and a bit of fear. Hesitantly, she stood up without taking her eyes off me, that’s when I noticed my size. I had known I was bigger than a normal wolf but now I saw I was a bit smaller than a horse.

I stood my ground as Elizabeth walked towards me, she was consumed with wonder and the pain I had seen in her eyes had subsided, she was too busy looking at me to pay attention to it. When she reached my side, she extended her hand and gently placed it on my fur. I heard her heart pick up in excitement and a light chuckle escaped her lips as she petted me soothingly.

I turned to look at my friend, she had a bright smile on her lips and I was glad I could do something to distract her from her pain and it relieved me she wasn’t scared of me or this situation, I knew now more than ever, that I could trust her with my life. Because that was what was in line.

I had just closed my eyes when I heard a sharp intake of breath. I looked at my friend quickly and saw her hunched over, slowly reaching for the ground as she placed her arms around her. I looked at her questioningly and panic began to fill me as I saw her drop to the ground and cry out in pain, loudly.

After she cried out, a ringing in my ears persisted and I whined, not knowing what to do to help her. Do you know what’s happening to her?  I asked my wolf desperately although I wasn’t expecting an answer.

I felt my wolf surface before she spoke, she’s shifting, just like you. You can make it easier for her. Her wolf is coming out and she will respond to her leader, to her Alpha. If she feels your presence, the process will be faster and less painful.

I was confused, I couldn’t understand what my wolf was talking about, but as I heard my friend’s cries and bones breaking, I decided I would take her advice to get closer to my friend.

Slowly, I stood in front of her and placed my muzzle over her body, willing the pain away. A surge of power ran through me and I felt it directed at Elizabeth. As time passed, her whimpers began to die down. She was still trembling on the ground; her clothes were ruined, and I was guessing the shift was almost over.

My wolf was still present in my mind, watching and ready to intervene if I needed help. Thankfully, the process was faster than I recalled mine and I looked in wonder as Elizabeth began to grow fur as her body rearranged itself. There were no longer cries of pain and I was starting to guess Elizabeth had fainted since she was laying too still on the ground.

When the shift was over, I nuzzled her side with my snout, trying to urge her to wake up and to let her know the worst was over. But she was unconscious.

Before you worry, she’s fine. When you took her pain away, you also made her fall asleep so she wouldn’t panic and make it worse. She will wake up in a couple of minutes, and you’ll have a lot of questions to answer, my wolf teased as she began to retreat to the back of my mind.

I growled answers that not even I have. My wolf didn’t respond, and I was left alone in the forest. I sighed and sat down next to Elizabeth as I waited patiently for any sign of her waking up. I just hoped she wouldn’t blame me for her change. I didn’t think I was the one to blame, there was definitely something else going on.

I was starting to get bored after almost half an hour of waiting. Elizabeth’s breathing was normal, and her heart was beating like it usually did, which was kind of a relief.

I sighed and got to my feet and walked over to the river to place my paws on the running water, I had always wanted to do that, but I had never tried it. I had been too afraid of getting swept by the current because of my small frame. Now things were different.

I set my paws on the water and closed my eyes as I felt it running with the current, around my legs. I closed my eyes and let my mind wander, at first the picture of a blue sky appeared but in a second, it was replaced by screams and fire, like the one in my dreams. My eyes instantly opened and just then, I heard the sound of grass moving behind me.

Elizabeth was waking up when I turned around and headed towards her. Her bright blue eyes looked at me, she looked both tired and confused and I wished there was some way to communicate with her, some way to tell her she had shifted into a wolf.

“What do you mean I shifted into a wolf?” She asked wildly and saw her eyes widen.

Mine did as well, had she been able to read my mind? Or had she somehow heard me?

“You can hear me?” I asked, not taking my eyes off her as if that were somehow the way we communicated.

She nodded her head and got to her paws before looking at her body in shock. Her brown fur was shorter than mine and her silhouette was noticeably smaller than mine. She was too busy examining herself to notice I had asked her a question until she turned to look at me and met my confused expression.

“Yes, I can hear you."  Sudden realization crossed her mind, "Oh my God, I’m a werewolf,” she whispered, her tone filled with different emotions; excitement, joy, and fear. Now we were two.