For the first time, I woke easily. Instead of the usual surfacing from the foggy mush my brain was early morning, my eyes simply opened, and I was awake.
I blinked up at the ceiling, surprised from the sudden consciousness. I yawned and rubbed at one eye with a fist, then froze. I stared down at the appendage in awe before shooting up into a sitting position. Barely believing it, I looked in between both of my shaking hands and down at my pale chest. I stood, stumbling over to the desk on shaky legs, peering wide-eyed at my reflection.
I also cried in relief as I brought a hand up to touch my freckled cheek and brushed my brown fringe out of my eyes.
I was a human again!
Resisting the urge to do a celebratory dance, I wobbled back over to the bed. It always took a couple hours for me to totally adjust to the change between forms. I was truly a black sheep, so different from all the other people I grew up with in the pack. Things like shifting were easy as breathing to everyone except for me. I was rather vulnerable and helpless for a while after shifting but I'd seen dozens of wolves shift between forms effortlessly as they fought or played.
No one else ever played with me, I was smaller and slower than everyone my age. While they were all going off to be successful gamas, I was stuck at the bottom of the ladder as an omega.
My musings were out short as the door swung open. I had been so absorbed in my excitement about shifting, I'd completely missed the fact that Max was nowhere to be seen. I looked up, ready to show him I was not actually a pup and that it'd all been a big misunderstanding.
"Who are you?" I flinched at his tone, looking up in surprise at his growl. I opened my mouth to respond, but I couldn't seem to be able to speak yet. My voice was always the last thing I got back after shifting. "What did you do to the pup in here?" I curled into myself at his demanding tone, unsure how to communicate with him before he freaked out.
Heart beating too fast, I gestured to myself, trying to make him understand that it was me. It didn't seem to work because he took a step closer, making me shrink back, I'd never seen him look so menacing. Before, Max was all soft touches and warm voice. It was scary, to say the least.
When he started to close in, I let out a fearful yip and tumbled backwards to get away. I was shaking, unable to comprehend the change in personality. Scooting too far, I fell off the side of the bed and onto the cold floor. I flinched at the chilled ground against my naked skin.
I scrambled into the corner, pressing myself up against the wall as far away from the man as possible, covering myself with my hands and hanging my head. I knew the routine by now; The adults got mad, I was punished.
Cause and effect.
I trembled as his footsteps grew closer. Squeezing my eyes closed, I tried to expel the frightening memories flashing in front of my eyes. I wanted the floor to open and swallow me, to save me from the cold sweat gathering in my palms and the gut-wrenching feeling taking ahold of me.
I jumped when a hand touched my shoulder. I wanted to jerk away but held impossibly still, even my shaking had paused. No doubt he could scent the crushing fear I felt. I was bracing myself but was unprepared when I felt warm breath against my neck and heard a soft sniffing noise.
My eyes slowly peeled open and I looked down in surprise to see Max had ducked down to lean in close to smell me. I let out a whine but didn't lean away like I so wanted to.
Obviously, something had been cleared up because he pulled back and said in the most bemused and uncertain voice, "Pup?"
Slowly, confused and weary, I nodded. Max's face twisted into a mix of emotions I couldn't quite decipher. He gently reached out but hesitated before touched me again.
"B-but you're not a pup..." I shook my head, chest shaking with each breath. "How...?" I grimaced and rested my chin on top of my knees, avoiding his gaze. It was quiet for a few moments before I was suddenly being scooped up into his arms, much to my mortification. I quickly brought my knees up to my chest to hide my nudity, breaking into a full body blush.
He set me down onto the bed and walked to the dresser, riffling through for a moment before coming back with some clothes. I cautiously took them when he held them out for me.
"I don't think I have any pants that'd fit you." he murmured gently. "I'll talk to some of the other kids and see if they have anything." I nodded, a little embarrassed he called me a kid despite almost being a gama. They were adults, weren’t they? At that moment, I was physically and mentally exhausted and couldn’t bring myself to really care.
Waiting for him to look away, I turned away, shy in his presence. I quickly slipped on the offered underwear and the dark plaid button-up, relieved to not be naked anymore. Rubbing the sleeves, I marveled at the soft material. It was much softer than anything I’d ever owned; my shirt was old and wasn’t very warm when it got cold. As a beta, I’m sure he had lots of shirts to spare, more than me and Chelsea’s combined six. I was grateful he let me use one with long sleeves, fall was swiftly shifting into fall.
I frowned, suddenly thinking about how if I was planning on giving it back that meant I’d have to get my own and I had no way of doing that seeing as my old pack had no intention of coming for me. I accepted that there was no other explanation why I’d woken alone in unfamiliar land other than that my sister, my only family, has left me behind to die.
Unintentionally, I began to tear up.
Sniffling, I went to wipe away stupid tears when Max beat me to it. He dragged the pad of his thumb across my cheek, startling me. I looked up at his in surprise. He withdrew, looking a little surprised at his actions.
"Thank you." I murmured, wiping at my eyes.
"Er-right. You're welcome." I smiled up at him. He smiled back, but still seemed to be in shock that I wasn't a child. "I'm sure you're hungry." He gave a sarcastic chuckle. "No wonder you've been unwilling to eat as a pup." I turned bright pink in a full-body blush. There was one plus side to be a wolf, I didn't blush or stumble over my words unlike as a person. I was embarrassed I'd allowed him to bottle-feed me. At least, to my knowledge, it hadn't been breast milk.
Following wearily after him, I finally left that room with the intention of eating a full meal gosh dangit.
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