Fate of the Wolf

Shift

Luckily Naomi had a few more days before she shifted. Aiden was right, his blood was helping her body heal. She wasn't sure if it was because he was a wolf or if his blood was special because he was an Alpha. Unless that lore was truly fantasy too. Now her body was sore more than anything but no more bruises, and only some scars. Honestly, she was still terrified to shift. Her bones were supposed to break and reform into her new wolf form, and that was if she could even survive through it. And if this wasn't all some coma dream she was having in the alley.

At least Aiden was very kind to her. He had coerced her to train outside with him, and everyone looked at them sideways for it. After all, she was an outsider and he was their leader. He'd explained that much to her, that he was the leader of the many inhabitants of the people in the house they were in, the pack house. She was really training with the Alpha of a werewolf pack...even though she might just die in the change. She was still wary around him too, still getting to know him. His very presence made her heart tighten and pull toward him, like she couldn't breath and a magnet threatened to tear through her chest. She didn't trust the crush she had on him. It was some kind of Stockholm syndrome.

She couldn't fully train like the others, especially since she was still weak and had limited time. The next few days consisted of breakfast with the pack, simpler hand to hand combat and defense, and a run through the woods before Aiden left her to attend to alpha duties. She wasn't sure what that included. She fell into the routine, trying to press back her suffocating fears of shifting and the anxiety of being surrounded by so many strangers.

Today Aiden had her practice her punches.

"Aha!" Naomi let out triumphantly as she dodged Aiden's (light) punch. He was still very gentle with her considering she was human. Her next punch met his open palm, and with one hand on her back he had her down on the ground in a flash, her arms behind her back. She was panting now, they were chest to chest. Every touch of his skin to hers sent tingles of pleasure through her nerves. She tried not to show it. Her eyes followed the trailing bold tattoo on his chest, the pack insignia that marked him as alpha. It was a rearing wolf's head surrounded by that of a crescent moon, and a deep black that stood out on Aiden's glistening bare chest.

"You're learning." He purred, his pupils dilated. Naomi swallowed nervously, squeezing her legs together. Aiden's body atop hers made her feel all warm and jittery inside, she hoped he didn't notice how she trembled underneath him.

He studied her for a moment, his eyes flashing gold. Before rolling off of her quickly and offering her a hand. "I'll see you at dinner Naomi." His voice was deep and throaty now, and he shifted, leaving her behind as he headed into the woods. She knew it was a normal thing to say since the pack ate together every morning and night, but it still sounded like they were having dinner together. Naomi felt like all this time away from home was just making her lonely, and her brain was just trying to cope via the weird crush on the man she just met. She definitely wasn't so sure about making friends with normal rank pack members, called omegas. They all walked past her like she did not exist, like she did not belong and would be gone soon enough.

Naomi knew her face was flushed, Aiden's behavior towards her was very interesting. The other wolves thought so too, some of the females looking at her spitefully. She went off the opposite way into the woods to get away from their gaze. What was she going to do if she survived the shift? Would Aiden let her return to her normal life? Could she even do that?

Naomi took off her shirt revealing her sports bra underneath. She was burning up. She realized that while she was lost in her thoughts she had made it to a small lake deeper in the woods. It was dark like an ocean, and there were no signs of animal life taking advantage of its cool water. She rested by it, dipping her hands in the water and wiping her face and body so that it would cool. Her skin felt itchy now, like she breaking out in hives. She whined softly, the water steaming and evaporating as it hit her skin.