howl // c. hood

five

  lowercase intended.

  "so where are you taking me?" i asked, looking out at the trees passing by in a steady blur of green.

"i'm about to change your life," calum replied.

"then by all means, lead the way. and by the boys, do you mean your friends? michael and luke?"

  calum didn't tear his gaze away from the road ahead of us, "yes, and one more. they are my packmates, soon to be yours as well."

  "what's that supposed to mean?" i stared over at the boy.

  "you'll see in a bit," he replied.

  it didn't take us long to reach what he referred to as the pack house. two other cars were already lined up outside of the small cabin. i had recognized one of them to belong to michael. most of the time they carpooled, but somedays they arrived on their own, luke almost always by michael's side.

  "you all live here?" i asked, looking up at the house as we stepped out of calum's car.

  "yeah," he said, "it's not much, but it's something private and has enough room for all of us. it used to belong to my grandparents, but they left it for me when they died."

  "oh," i muttered. "so, uh, calum, are you going to tell me what's happening to me?"

  calum stopped on the porch, turning to make eye contact with me. "i believe you're in the middle of transition."

  "transition to what?" i asked carefully.

  "into one of us, a werewolf," he replied.

  laughter bubbled from my lips, but upon seeing his face, i stopped. "i'm sorry, what? you really expect me to believe that?"

  "it's the truth, grace," calum said. his eyes turned to a magnificent gold, shocking me.

"did you turn me?" i asked quietly.

the boy shook his head, "no, but i was the one to save you."

"do you know who did?"

again, he shook his head, "no, it wasn't anyone whose wolf i recognized. i believe this was a rogue wolf."

"oh," i mumbled. "i guess that serves me right for walking home through a forest in the dark."

calum sucked in a breath, "no. no, it wasn't your fault. i-" he paused. "i'm usually there to watch you, but i wasn't."

"you would watch me?" i asked with a quirked brow.

  his cheeks flamed, "yeah, well, you're the one who would be walking alone at night through a forest.

  i grinned, "guess you're right."

  "come on, let's get inside, i've got a lot to teach you," he replied, heading for the front door.

  "yes, mr. hood," i said and followed, vaguely hearing a growl from his lips.

  #

  "so your family... they're also werewolves?" i asked.

  calum nodded, "yeah, we come from a long line of werewolves, though it skips a gene if one marries a human, like my grandfather. he was mated to one."

  "mated?" i titled my head. "like mates as in soulmates?"

  he nodded again, "yeah, just like soulmates. the moon tends to pair werewolves with a single being she deems us compatible with. it's her version of apologizing for cursing us."