Grayson (Completed)

Twelve

After Grayson's admission, I tried to get up and stretch my legs. When I got out of the bed I nearly fell over, my muscles all moving like they were going through syrup.

"How long was I asleep?" I asked him.

"Four days," he replied with a clenched jaw. "You were in and out of it the first day - that was when you Shifted and screamed the most, but otherwise you were out."

"I screamed?"

"The Changing process is very painful," Grayson said as he carried me down the steps in the house. "It's good if you don't remember it."

"How did you find me?" I asked him.

"I heard you scream for a second before it was cut off," Grayson said. "I ran to you and found you on the ground, passed out. I knew you were in the transformation. Kade's" Grayson growled the name out, "scent was all over you and the area. I knew it was him, and it wasn't too hard to put the dots together about what he had done."

"Why did he do it?" I asked Grayson.

"I took his spot in training for becoming an Andetum councilman. He was kicked out for breaking some rules and I was brought in to be trained in his place. He doesn't like me very much. He wanted revenge, and I guess the best way to do that for him was to hurt the girl I want for my mate."

"He's a bastard."

Grayson snorted out a laugh. "Damn straight."

He set me down in the kitchen, and thankfully my legs were steady enough to support my weight. "Thank you." My stomach grumbled. "Why am I so hungry?"

"You haven't eaten in four days, also, now that you're a Shifter, you have a much higher metabolism, you need to eat lots more to keep your body stable." Grayson shrugged as if telling a girl she needed to eat a lot to maintain her weight was no issue.

"You mean I get to eat a lot, all the time, and I won't get fat?"

"Yeah," Grayson said. "Pretty much."

"I'm loving this already."

"Come on," Grayson chuckled, pulling my arm, "let's get you some food."

I sat on a bar stool at the island while Grayson made me some eggs. I had to admit, he was pretty good at cooking. And he looked good while doing it, which was important too.

"So," I said as I put a bite in my mouth. "How did you meet my aunt Claire if the Andetum found you when you were eleven?"

"When each of us in training turns eighteen, the Andetum sends us off on our own for a year with no help to see how we can survive. It's a test. If we go back or ask for help before the year is up, we get kicked out of the program. Claire found me when I was first starting and really gave me no choice in staying with her and letting her take care of me." Grayson cleared his throat. "She was so nice, and sweet, and I wasn't going to turn down that option of a home and food."

"I didn't know her well, but I miss her," I told him honestly. "Losing a family member is always hard. She was kind of like family to you, wasn't she?"

"I lived with her for ten years," Grayson replied. "You could say that we got close."

"You never moved back to the Andetum?"

"No. The place the trainees live in is like a mix between dorms and barracks. Claire's house was much more comfortable. She was more than happy to let me stay."

"Did she know what you were?"

Grayson nodded hesitantly. "She caught me one night when I was out for a run. Thankfully we can coexist with our wolf selves easily enough that they don't take control often unless our emotions get out of control. I recognized her, but I hate to think about what might have happened if I didn't."