Thicker Than Blood

Inherited

(Todd)

Something is wrong.

 The thought jolted me awake, the unpleasant feeling of my heart leaping into overdrive made my skin itched with unease. Snapping my eyes open I sat up quickly looking around the pitch black room. I felt David and Benson's naked bodies pressed on either side of me, Benson's faint snoring was low and even. David's deep breathing was in sync with his brother.

 Nothing was out of place, but I couldn't shake the feeling turning my insides into knots. The thought came back in waves, getting stronger with each one. Something is wrong. Tossing the blanket off me I scooted off the bed and walked over to the dresser pulling on a pair of loose fuzzy pants.

 Once more the feeling washed over me and I quickly walked to the door freezing just before my fingers touched the knob. My ears picked up on water running in my bathroom, frowning I turned to look at the two dark shapes still sleeping soundly on the bed. Walking to the bathroom I pushed to door open and flicked on the light.

 My jaw opened as all the faucets turned on and the water was pouring up instead of down. The streams were disrupted and uneven but still they poured up like gravity had reversed and it pooled on the roof.

 "Todd what are you doing with the light on?" Benson's gruff voice sounded behind me from the bed but I was transfixed by the sight. Then a sharp pain slapped my mind and I stumbled back, it came from the pack link. At the same time a loud shrill howl ripped through the house. The sound wasn't from a wolf, and the only other animal in the house that could make that sound was Serena's Shadow Hound. Ace.

 My eyes widened, "Serena!" My yelled woke David and I bolted out of the room and made a beeline for my daughter. I tried to open her door only to feel the rush of water on the other side holding it shut.

 As my mates reached me I shoved at the door, "Make sure Cato and Jay are alright!" I snapped at them and made my hands heat up burning the door. As soon as I had the door burned away Ace's shadowy body launched itself at me. His ears were pressed back as he snapped his teeth into my hand and jerked me into her room. There was a thick wall of water pressed to the walls of the room that I was dragged through before I could even see Serena's body. She was on her bed, her body free of any water though it rushed over her as it joined the vortex clinging to the walls.

 I flinched as another pain hit my mind through the pack link and it finally registered what was happening. She was shifting, in her sleep.

 For a moment all sound of water muted itself and my mind flashed back to Jasmine teaching me about the first change and why it was necessary for the person to be awake the entire duration of the shift. 

 We were sitting in the pack's library and Jasmine was reading "The Change" with me, a book about how wolf pups go through the change. All of the things that happen to the body and the mind during the shift. It is the bonding of the wolf's soul and the human's soul, until they become one being with two minds. The bodies have the dominant mind, the human, and the sub-dominant mind, the wolf. The sub-dominant mind takes over during times the dominant mind is too emotionally unstable or during times where instinct takes over. However, if the pup falls asleep before the shift is over the wolf mind becomes the dominant mind, and the human becomes the sub-dominant. The werewolf will in-turn become more animal than human. Complex thought process will be difficult for the wolf to understand, their emotions will be instinct based meaning they will react without thinking. They shift unpredictably, and attack if they feel threatened. With short tempers and no reasoning to balance the minds, they often don't survive long.  

 I pulled myself back to the present and worked my way to her bed, leaning forward I wrapped my arm around her waist and pulled her off the bed and into my lap. As soon as my skin touched her I felt the surging of her abilities inherited from me. Her unconscious mind unable to control the waves of power.