Chapter 8: Revelations

I woke up this morning with a strange feeling, I couldn’t quite place it. The last few days had been positively eventful. I shook off the feeling and as I was about to get out of bed my phone buzzed next to me.

Luke’s name was on the caller ID. I answered, and Luke’s voice came through.

“Good morning, Kiara,” he greeted. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

I shivered at the sound of his deep tone.

“Not at all. I was just about to get up,” I replied, smiling and still feeling a bit groggy from sleep.

Luke cleared his throat. “I have a few work emergencies I need to sort out this morning.”

“Oh, I hope everything goes well,” I said, confused as to why he was telling me this.

“I was wondering,” he said, sounding slightly hesitant. “Would you like to meet up later?”

“I would like that very much,” I said, trying and failing miserably to keep the excitement in my voice down.

“You’re probably wondering why I called you,” he started. “I wanted to hear your voice before I officially started my day.”

My cheeks warmed at his words. The butterflies turned into full raging dragons, attacking my abdomen.

“I hope you have a great day,” I said, smiling. “We can talk about the supernatural world later. That always seems to relax you.”

“Don’t knock it till you try it,” he replied.

I rolled my eyes at his silliness, seeing something move in the corner of my eye. I turned my head and saw mom standing in the doorway. She had a strange expression on her face.

I mouthed that it was Luke on the call and that I would be down for breakfast soon. I moved to get out of bed and go to the bathroom as she walked out of my room.

“If you haven’t forgotten,” I said, with a chuckle. “There is literally nothing to try.”

He hummed in response and let out another laugh. “Cute.”

“Did you just call me cute?” he asked, sounding bewildered and amused.

“What else would I call a grown man interested in supernatural beings?”

He let out a shocked laugh. “Good point.”

“I know,” I teased.

“But I think we can both agree that my looks are quite the opposite," he said.

“Can we?” I asked, pretending not to register the shift in his tone.

“We will just have to answer that question later, won’t we?”

“I guess so,” I said, unable to fight the smile clawing at my cheeks.

I ended the call and paused for a moment, mentally tapping myself on the back for having the bare minimum amount of composure throughout the call.

After a quick shower, I pulled on my white flowery blouse and dark jeans. I walked out of the room, ready to have breakfast with my parents before starting my day.

As I walked into the kitchen, I found it empty. My brows furrowed in confusion and I followed the sound of murmuring coming from the living room.

Mom and Dad were having an avid discussion. When they heard me enter, they both froze and stared at me.

“Is everything alright?” I asked with a nervous laugh. Trying to clear some of the growing tension in the room.

"Kiara, there's something we need to talk to you about," Mom said gently.

My heart raced. "What is it?"

I sat nervously on the couch between my parents, waiting for them to explain their strange behaviour.

Dad took a deep breath. "You know how we always told you that you had a wild imagination as a child? Well, it turns out that some of the things you thought were just fantasies were actually real."

"What do you mean?" I asked, my brow furrowed in confusion.

Mom took over. "You have always been different, Kiara. You had an unexplainable connection to nature, and you always seemed to know things before they happened."

I nodded slowly. I had always felt like an outsider, never quite fitting in with my peers. I got along well enough with everyone, but I always felt misplaced.

Dad continued. "When you were younger, you would sometimes transform into a wolf. We didn't understand it at the time and thought it was just a vivid dream you had, but it turns out it was real."

My eyes widened in shock. "What? How is that possible?"

"It's a genetic trait, Kiara. Your ancestors are lycans," Mom explained.

I sat in silence, trying to process the information. It all seemed too surreal to be true. My birth parents were shifters?

“This isn’t funny," I said. We loved pranking each other, but this was a really bad prank. Top 3 worst pranks, if I had to catigorize them.

"Kiara, we know this is a lot to take in," Dad said, "but we wanted you to know the truth. You’ve repressed these memories for so long, but it's time to embrace who you are."

“This isn’t a prank?” I squeaked.

The only response I got was Mom placing her hand gently on my knee. Now, I wouldn’t necessarily say I took what they said well. Considering my shaking knee and my nails almost being chewed off from anxiety.

However, after calming down and processing everything they had just told me. All I wanted to do was take a long nap.

I took a deep breath and looked at my parents. "Thank you for telling me. I don't know what to say."

Mom smiled. "Take all the time you need, Kiara. We love you no matter what."

I hugged my parents tightly, feeling a sense of relief and confusion all at once. I made my way back to my room slowly. I couldn't help but wonder what else I had been repressing all these years.

I sat on my bed, staring at the ceiling as I tried to remember the events of my childhood. I vaguely recalled something about shifting into a wolf, but it all felt like a lucid dream to me. I couldn't make sense of any of it. I closed my eyes, focusing on the faint memories, and suddenly the scenery of a forest appeared in my mind's eye. The trees were tall and thick, their leaves rustling in the wind. I could hear the distant howl of a wolf, and a shiver ran down my spine.

I opened my eyes, feeling a strange connection to the memory. It was like a puzzle piece finally clicking into place, and I knew there was more to my past that I needed to uncover. I vaguely remember having intense conversations with myself. My wolf? Could it be?

I’ve read enough books to know that shifters have their own wolf inside of them. Surely, that wasn’t possible… but if me being a shifter was possible then it only makes sense to try it out. I closed my eyes and concentrated. I felt a strange presence inside me, as if there was someone else in my head.

"Who's there?" I whispered to myself.

"It's me," a voice responded, deep and husky. "Your wolf."

"My... wolf?" I said confused and surprised that my hypothesis was correct. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that you have a wolf inside of you," the voice replied patiently. "And that wolf is me. We are one and the same."

I took a deep breath and tried to wrap my head around the concept. "Okay, so you're my wolf. But why are you talking to me now?"

"I've always been here, Kiara," my wolf said. "You just didn't know how to hear me properly. But now that you do, we can communicate with each other."

I felt a sense of awe and wonder wash over me. "What... what do you want to talk about?"

"I want to talk about us," my wolf said. "About our connection, our bond. I want you to know that I'm always here for you, no matter what. And I want you to know that I'm proud of you. Proud of who you are and what you're becoming."

I felt tears welling up in my eyes. I didn't know why, but I felt a deep emotional connection to this creature inside of me. "Thank you," I whispered. "That means a lot to me."

"You're welcome," my wolf said. "Now rest, Kiara. Tomorrow is a new day, and we have much to discover together." And with that, my wolf's presence receded.

“Oh, God," I said to myself. “Am I crazy? That was not normal.”

Was this actually happening to me right now? After a few more minutes of staring at the ceiling I remembered I was supposed to meet up with Luke.

I couldn’t possibly hold a cohesive conversation with him in my current state. Besides myself, I let out a little giggle. He would have a field trip with all this information.

I sent Luke a quick text, telling him I wouldn’t be able to meet with him and hoping that his day goes well.

Slowly, my eyes started feeling heavier and eventually I drifted back to sleep.