Being Both

Chapter 1

"It might seem strange to start a story with an ending. But all endings are also beginnings. We just dont know it at the time."

-Mitch Albom

Shira

So let me start my story by telling you about my last two days spent with my old pack.

I went on my normal morning run and was joined by my best friend (Yael) in her wolf form. We quietly ran to our favourite spot underneath the oak tree and lay down the way we sometimes would - half on top of each other, half next to each other. Both of us were quite happy to enjoy nature's sounds without speaking. And we also didn't need to, this would be our last chance in a long time to just enjoy each others presence.

As time went by I tried to memorise every detail of the moment that I'd be holding so dearly for the time to come. What the birds sounded like, how the cool air ruffled through my fur in the hot morning sun and the special feeling of cuddling my best friend. However, the things I'd truly never forget were the love and calmness that I'd felt.

Then time ran out and both of us went our seperate ways to go to work. Still none of us had made a sound.

Work went by fairly quickly. It was a busy day at the restaurant and I didn't get a lot of time to think of other things. So it came as quite a surprise that my mother who was the chef of the restaurant had managed to find time to prepare almost a dozen of different things for the pack dinner that night.

The pack dinner was scheduled two hours after my shift ended. It gave me and my family time to set everything up and that was what I'd planned to do. But then my mother told me that my dad had already taken care of most of the setting up with a couple of friends of ours and that they wouldn't need my help. I didn't think much of it since my mother had always been one to reschedule until the last second and things always worked out. But I only understood why she had rescheduled when I entered my room and found my sister sitting on my bed. She jumped up with a squeal and we stood in the doorframe to my room for several seconds just hugging each other.

"It's really good to see you again, Devorah. No one told me you were coming!" I rejoiced when we finally let go of each other.

Seeing her had become a rare thing since she found her mate at a young age and joined his pack soon after.  Since then we've mainly kept in touch via social media. Sometimes we'd also call one another, but those were also rather rare occasions.

"Because it was a last minute decision. I only found out yesterday how far away you're going. No one's told me about that either." She replied smiling and it reminded me that I'd been rather hesitant to give out information on my mate.

"Don't you think it's funny that his pack lives in the same area that Mom grew up in?" My sister continued to ask.

"It is. And also that our paths never crossed whenever I was at Granny's." I responded composed. To me the thought wasn't all that funny that I could have found my mate at the age of 14 if our paths had in fact crossed. However, my sister had already turned away from me by the time I'd finished speaking, indicating that she was about to change the topic of conversation.

"So, while I was waiting for you to arrive. I took the time to go through your wardrobe and in between of your work and exercise clothes I managed to find these three outfits for tonight. Now all you need to do is choose one and then we'll get to make-up and accessories." She now stood infront of my bed where she'd obviously layed out her three choices for me.

My sister had always been a stylist at heart and it was thanks to her influence that I had even those few nice pieces of clothing. But there was also a good reason for me to wear mainly sporty clothing when I wasn't at work. One was that my two main activities were exercising and reading or watching movies. The other and the reason for laughing at my sister in that moment was that my friends tended to be rather rough and they usually gave what I wore little thought. Therefore I prefered to wear things that were comfortable and that I didn't care too much about if they got dirty or ripped.