Grace

I woke up in the woods, why was I in the woods? As I sat up I noticed I was naked, another thing that confused my foggy mind. While looking around I noticed a wolf watching me, a wolf with yellow eyes. His eyes triggered my memories of what had happened. Getting attacked by the wolves, one of the wolves turning into a boy and saving me, coming down with what my parents thought was the flu, shifting for the first time, my mom promising to keep it a secret from dad for now before I shifted my fourth and final time then fleeing into the woods. I also had a feeling this wasn't my first time being human again, the other times were so brief though they hardly mattered. At some point while I was processing all of this the yellow eyed wolf had silently slipped away. His silence made me feel vulnerable. I heard a branch break nearby as I stood up and froze, not sure if it was another wolf or possibly a human in which case I had no idea what to tell them if they found me like this.

"Grace? Are you out here?" A male voice called.

Crap, human. At this point I didn't know if I should risk trying to hide or stay put and hope he went in a different direction. Staying put ended up being a very bad idea, he headed right towards me, stopping when he saw me standing there.

"You must be Grace. Let's get you to the house and I'll explain everything." He noticed me shiver slightly as a chilly breeze went by. "Quickly though, before you shift back."

I was a bit surprised that this man seemed to understand what was going on with me but then again it was possible he was like me and the yellow eyed wolf so I followed him. Luckily it wasn't long before we reached a nice house on a quiet street. He let me in through the back door, something I was grateful for considering I was still naked. We went down the hall to a bathroom before he stopped.

"Go ahead and get cleaned up, there are clean towels in there. I'll find you some clothes and when you're done we can sit and talk, alright?" Beck's voice was gentle but not to the point where it sounded condescending.

I nodded and went into the bathroom, closing the door behind me. Beck must have slipped in while I was showering cause when I got out there was clothes sitting on the toilet seat. After I was dressed I headed to the living room that I saw on the way to the bathroom earlier. Beck was waiting on the couch and I took a deep breath before joining him.

"Feeling a bit better?" He asked as I sat, I nodded. "You're very quiet, I know this is a lot to take in and you probably have a lot of questions. Do you remember what happened?"

"I was attacked by wolves and… then I turned into a wolf." It was harder saying it out loud than it was when I was thinking about it in the woods. Here in this nice living room it seemed impossible but I knew it was true.

"That's right. You're part of the pack now." He went on to explain how many others there were and what being a werewolf entailed, that we were human when it was warm and wolves when it was cold. "You're still new so it doesn't take much for you to shift so you have to be careful."

"Why are some of you still wolves?"

"Everyone requires a different temperature to trigger the shift. I'm always careful and get to warmth right away the first time I turn human so I'm here to greet everyone else as they shift back."

I nodded as I rubbed my eyes, exhaustion catching up to me.

Beck chuckled softly. "I'll show you the room you'll be sharing with Shelby so you can get some rest."

I didn't even have the energy left to ask him who Shelby was, I just followed him upstairs and crashed into the bed that Beck said was mine, falling asleep within seconds.