The Search For Truth

Unexpected Change

It had been a week since I had gone to Bradley's house. His family had gotten me settled into a room in their absolutely massive house and I had been able to go back to Shelby's house and secretly get the rest of my clothes with some help from Bradley and his family. They had convinced me to talk to the police and explain to them the situation. Since I was old enough to emancipate myself from my family I had started the process to do that. I had asked the officer to give me the information about my family in an envelope that I could open when I was ready. She had agreed and I was so grateful that she hadn't forced me to meet them. She had however said that they were anxious to meet me. I wasn't going to focus on that whole situation today though.

Today was my seventeenth birthday and I was excited. I woke up early and got dressed in my favorite navy blue dress, made of satin. It had a v neckline and came down to my midthigh. I wore this dress for smaller special occasions. I slipped on a pair of chunky silver heels and made my way downstairs. 

"Good Morning!" Bradley called to me, coming back from his run. He was shirtless and I took in the eye candy shamelessly. "What is the special occasion?" He asked, feigning ignorance as if he hadn't celebrated my birthday with me since I was five.

"Today's my birthday, silly!" I told him and he got a sloppy grin on his face.

"There's something for you in the kitchen. Once I get out of the shower we can head out to the treehouse for a bit." He winked at me and headed toward his room.

I headed toward the kitchen excited and walked in to find Bradley's mom flipping bacon and blueberry pancakes. Next to her on the counter was a two-tier chocolate cake, my favorite. I gasped.

"Mrs. Hunter, who made this?" I asked Mrs. Hunter in awe at how pretty it was. The cake had miniature sage green roses around the bottom and "Happy 17th Lake!" scrolled in calligraphy along the top.

"Please, call me Felicity!" She smiled at me. "One of Bradley's cousins is a professional baker. She makes all the cakes and baked goods around here. That is for later though; This is breakfast," she said as she handed me a plate of blueberry pancakes. She pointed at a container of syrup and some softened butter on the table "The syrup is homemade and blueberries are grown in our garden -oh! The butter is from some family friends who live on a farm nearby."

"It looks delicious," I told her, pouring syrup on the pancakes. I basically inhaled them, they were absolutely delicious and I was starving for some reason as if I hadn't had a real meal in weeks. 

"Don't eat too fast," Felicity said chuckling and handed me some orange juice. Bradley walked in as I took the last sip of my orange juice.

"Done eating already?" He said looking a little surprised.

"She is," said Felicity, shaking her head. "Just finished. I think you better change before you go out to the woods." She looked at me, with a look I couldn't quite read, "Save the pretty dress for later tonight and wear something you can get a little muddy in. It rained yesterday." I nodded and ran back upstairs. 

Mrs.Hunter was right to tell me to change, as soon as we stepped into the woods my shoe got stuck in some mud. The thick goopy kind that squelches when you walk. After that, I made sure to walk on the dead leaves as much as possible. The smell of the woods today was almost suffocating.

We got to the treehouse and I paused when I felt tingling in my fingers. I gave my hand a shake and it went away so I climbed up the ladder. Bradley had turned around halfway up the ladder to make sure I was following him up then continued to climb when I grabbed hold of the ladder.

When I got to the top, my stomach lurched.

"I think I ate my pancakes too fast," I said and Bradley looked over at me with the same look his mom had given me earlier.

"Do you want some water?" He asked, pulling some out of the backpack he always had on him. I took it from him and sipped it slowly.

"Lake? I need to tell you something." Bradley looked serious, but he was making puppy dog eyes at me.

"What is it?" I asked. He took a bit to answer but I sat there and waited patiently.

Before he could tell me what he wanted to say, I lurched forward as a burst of pain ran through my body like lightning. 

"Oh, shit!" Bradley looked panicked and pinned me down.

"What the hell Bradley!" I said struggling.

"This is what I was trying to tell you. I'm a werewolf," I started laughing hysterically, mostly because of the pain, but also because he must be crazy. "You're a shifter too. Shifters always turn on their seventeenth birthday, and you're having your first shift, it's going to take a while- and it's going to be painful ... Put this in your mouth." He held a gag near my mouth as I felt the first big wave of pain hit me like a semi-truck. The feeling was sharp like a being pricked by a million hot needles and somehow dull at the same time. The waves of pain hit me one after the other and I heard my bones creaking and breaking as they changed shape. I stayed there on the floor as my ears rang and my head pounded. I was hit by one last wave and then the pain subsided, leaving me panting like a dog.

It was over, I hadn't registered Bradley getting off of me, but he was sitting on the bean bag in the corner looking at me in awe. As I met his eyes, I heard a howl in the back of my brain and the word "mate." I went to walk towards him and tripped. I looked down and saw jet-black paws. I caught a glimpse of my reflection in the window. I was a fox, a big red fox with a white chest. I was bigger than a normal fox though, standing at about the same height as I was in human form, and my eyes were a startling silver, the pupils dilated from the pain and the low lighting of the treehouse. 

"You're a shifter, Lake," Bradley said in awe. I heard a purr coming from inside as he spoke. "Try to change your fur color, just imagine it changing and it'll happen," Brandon advised staring at me. I pictured the pure white color of an Arctic fox and I felt a shock go down my spine. I looked down at my paws and this time they were white. 

I figured I would be able to change back into a human the same way, so I imagined myself as the person I saw in the mirror every day. My long legs and jet black hair which never straightened the way I wanted it to. I felt the electric shock and waves of pain run through my body again as I shifted, but it was not as excruciating and I was back to human in no time. I stood up and realized that during the shift I had ruined my clothes. I was completely naked, except for the quilt that Bradley must have thrown over me while I was shivering in pain. I watched as Bradley reached into his backpack and pulled out a change of clothes for me. 

Once I was dressed, I turned toward Bradley and I heard that voice in my head calling him my mate again. This time the voice was a thundering roar, like a bear. I walked toward him. He was wearing a huge grin and pulled me into a hug. I grabbed his face and kissed him everywhere I could. He pulled away after I don't even know how long, panting like the dog he apparently was and I heard a low whine come from his throat.

"How are you feeling? Do you need some water? Are you hungry? In pain still?" He asked rapid-fire, grabbing his bag off the floor. "I made sure to grab everything before we left because I wasn't sure how soon you would shift." He held out some clothes for me and opened the bag to show me what all was inside. I took some water and some Tylenol from him and set them on the floor so I could pull on the clothes he had brought for me.

"Thank you. Can we go back home?" I said after I was dressed. "I could use a shower before we celebrate tonight." He nodded, kissed my forehead, and headed toward the hatch, grinning. I felt a rumble in my chest at the gesture as I followed him down.