Greywood

Chapter 08

I immediately sit up gasping for air when I wake. Somehow, I made it back into the cabin bedroom. Not only that, I'm completely naked. There are a few leaves stuck to my hair and I see some laying on the pillow. I frantically pick them up and crumple them before I jump off the bed and shove them into my pack.

I curse when I see just how empty my pack is and, for the first time, I wished I had packed more clothes. All that was left was one more hoody and my sweats. They'll have to do, for now. I quickly dress into them and then notice the wolf plush still on my bed.

I want to chuck the thing out the window. Grabbing at the toy, I stare angrily at its beady eyes. "What the fuck did you do to me?"

It doesn't reply.

"What's wrong? Don't feel like talking now? You piece of shit!"

Again silence. The urge to throw it out continues to grow but the part of me that recalls fond memories with the toy stops me. I toss it back on the bed before sitting and covering my face with my hands.

This was not a gift, no matter what Bleddyn claimed it was. My first gift he had said. Fuck that shit. This is a curse. Whatever plans I had for the future just went up in smoke. There was no way anyone would want to be associated with a werewolf who could do magic. If that's what I even was.

Yep, that's what we are.

His interruption startles me and I groan. "So now you talk," I snarl and look back at the plush.

I'm not in there anymore.

"Then where the hell are you?"

Inside you.

I grimace. That wasn't a comforting thought at all. "You're in my head? Get out!"

No can do, buddy. We're stuck together forever.

"And why is it that I don't get any say in this? One day I'm just an ordinary mage and now I'm a werewolf! Where's the logic in that? It doesn't make any sense!"

I hear him shushing me in my mind. Keep it down! You don't want your parents to hear you.

That's right. My parents! What would they think if they found out their son was a werewolf? Would they still love me? Would they want to disown me?

They'd want to know how it happened if anything. If stories were to be believed it would mean I got bitten at some point recently. But that was impossible. I have not encountered any werecreature in my lifetime. In fact, I'd say that I've been living a very sheltered life from the supernatural other than my use of magic.

Until now, anyway.

But how did this happen? If I wasn't bit then the only other explanation would be that I was born this way. Which didn't make sense either. Neither of my parents were werecreatures. My dad is a normal human and my mom is a normal human mage. And I was also a mage! Mom had even been sure of herself when she said that wolves, even supernatural ones, could not learn magic at all.

Wait... did that mean I lost my magic after the transformation?

I look at my phone on the nightstand and pull it toward with a quick wave of my hand. Nope. That still works, thank God. That was something I didn't want to have to panic about.

Again.

I felt my stomach drop for a moment as another realization had hit me. What if they weren't my real parents? As soon as I start thinking it I immediately try to put the thoughts out of my mind. That was something I was not wanting to deal with at all.