Daughter of Luka (LGBT+)

Twenty-One 🌑

Yara grabbed my hand and somehow teleported the two of us back to where I had started. 

"Magic does exist," I said, with amazement, "Wolf magic." 

She met my gaze and sighed. 

"You need to keep away from that cave," she said, "And more importantly than that, you can't tell anyone that you know about u- the wolves. My magic is constrained during the day time, so unfortunately I can't perform an amnesia charm on you to make you forget about what you've seen." 

"Those exist?" I asked, surprised but relieved that she wasn't able to wipe my memory. 

"You're worried about forgetting all of this, aren't you?" she asked me. 

"How do you know that?" I replied. 

"I can read minds," she said. 

That much shouldn't have been surprising at this point, but it was. 

"Are you one of them?" I asked her, "A wolf?"

The corner of her lips twitched upwards slightly and she gave a small nod of her head. 

"I am but excuse me if I don't prove that fact to you right now," she said. 

"Don't worry," I said, in response to that statement, "I believe you." 

Before I could say anything else, a wolf came to stand beside Yara and glared at me. 

It took a step forwards, towards me. 

This wolf was larger than Fenn had been. Perhaps, though I was uncertain, the alpha of its pack. 

I turned to move away but it rose a clawed paw towards me and scratched at my arm. It then growled at me, while I winced at the pain. 

"Amica mea, you didn't need to do that," Yara said, as her eyes widened in surprise. "She can be trusted." 

"I should go home now," I said, as I noticed that my scratch was now bleeding. I needed to attend to it. 

Yara's eyes widened and she anxiously played with the end of her ebony braid, as though she was doubtful about letting me go. However, she didn't come after me. 

I quickened my pace and walked to the front door of my house.

As soon as I got home, I rushed up to the bathroom and placed my arm under the cold tap, as I watched the blood trickle down into the sink. 

Luckily, I wasn't squeamish. 

The sun began to set and I felt a heat coursing through my bloodstream. I sat down on the edge of the bath to steady myself. Too many thoughts were going through my mind, but I tried to focus on healing my wound, only to find that I didn't need to. 

As soon as I looked back at where the large cut had previously been, it had now faded away. 

A burning sensation became ignited in my skin and chest. 

I couldn't breathe properly. I needed to get out into the night. 

I rushed back down the stairs, ignoring my father even as he called out to me, and then I began to run into the night. 

My legs carried me forwards until I felt something explode within me and suddenly I felt so much heavier; my line of vision was much lower. 

I was no longer standing on two legs, because I was on four. 

The silver moon in the sky above glared down at me. 

I kept walking onwards, trying to adjust to the experience. 

Time felt warped, as did sounds, smells and sights and it was only when I tried to speak and a growl came out instead, that I realised something completely and utterly fucked up. 

I was no longer human. 

I was now a wolf, too. 

Ophelia, stay calm. Please. 

I looked around me to find out who was talking to me. How was someone talking to me? I wasn't sure why I even cared for the answer to that question- I had more pressing questions on my mind. 

I don't want this. I thought. I want to become human again. 

I then closed my eyes and simply hoped that this nightmare would soon be over.  Once I opened them again, I found that I was back on two legs, as though I had transformed at will, which was what I supposed had happened. 

I then realised something else. I was naked. I was glad that it was dark, so nobody could see me, but it hardly seemed like the time to care about something like that. 

I automatically shivered in the cold air of the night, but I quickly came to find that I wasn't that cold, at all. 

I supposed that the wolf blood that now coursed through my veins prevented me from getting cold. 

"Here!" a voice- her voice- called out to me, as she threw me a change of clothes. 

I swiftly pulled the black dress over me and exhaled in fear. 

"What the fuck-" I tried to say, but Accalia rushed over to me and took my hands in her own. 

"I knew it," she said. 

"You knew what?" I replied. 

"I was drawn to you for a reason and you, Ophelia, were drawn to these woods for a reason. You were scratched by the alpha male. I'm the alpha female. However, a wolf scratch like that only reawakens dormant wolf blood," she tried to explain. 

"I don't understand," I said. 

"I can't hide this from you any more. I want to be honest with you, Ophelia. You're a wolf. I'm a wolf," she said. 

Despite the circumstances, that took me by surprise too. 

I had known about Fenn, of course, but I hadn't known that Accalia was a wolf, too. 

Accalia's jaw twitched, as she took a breath. The rise and fall of her chest was rapid and I had a sense that this was all rather shocking for her, also. 

Her warm golden eyes met mine and I suddenly felt a compulsion to go to her, until I reminded myself that she was probably using some sort of werewolf voodoo on me, and took a step back again. 

The paleness of Accalia's skin became apparent in the moonlight, as did her expression of worry.