Chapter 8 - A hidden truth

There stood Michael, not far from where they were when they arrived at the junction. He had his phone to his ear while leaning his back against the automobile. When she pulled out her phone to see if she was the one he was trying to reach, she discovered that he had left countless missed calls and texts.

She was certain he'd be extremely upset.

As they approached him, a smile instantly appeared on his face, followed by a bewildered expression. She couldn't blame him; it was the first time he had noticed her dressed differently from her customary outdated attire. She began to apologize, but he interrupted her.

"You look amazing." Michael still had a hint of a surprised expression on his face.

"You cleaned up nice yourself." She blushed as a result of Michael's intense gaze on her.

He signaled for her to enter his car after opening the door. Emily nodded and turned to Giselle.

"Go on, Em. I'll meet you there." She said to Emily, who simply nodded once more and got inside the car.

The entire 15-minute journey was awkwardly silent. Emily and Michael were never anything more than distant friends; he was a year ahead of her back when they were in high school, and when they graduated, he became the son of her boss. She began to feel uptight in the car, like she had made a mistake by agreeing to go to this party with Michael.

"Are you okay?" He asked.

"Ye-Yeah. Why... wouldn't I be?" She breathed.

"I don't know; your nerves are all tensed."

Emily paused at Michael's response, taking a look at him for a while. He had been too focused on the road and hadn't chanced a look at her since they took off, which began to baffle her as to how he knew she was feeling uneasy.

"I'm fine." She said and breathed in the air from the window.

.....

Her jaw fell as soon as they got to Michael's home; the building was a mansion. She had always known that Michael's family, the Williams, were well off, but now she realized that well-off was an underestimation. As they entered, she was rendered speechless by the beauty of the courtyard.

The thoughts lingered in her mind as she discovered that Chris and Michael's father, Nicholas Williams, was a businessman who frequently traveled to different countries and the two brothers were the only people living there.

Michael noticed how many eyes were on them. He was well aware of their thoughts, which included the question of why he had chosen Emily as his date when he could get other elegant girls from wealthy families, and it was a question even he struggled to find a response to.

Emily, though, was grateful that Giselle didn't let her put on the pale orange gown. The folks she was seeing here would be serial killers if she had believed that she was dressed to kill. She glanced up at Michael's face to see how much he was embarrassed by how out-of-date she appeared among these folks, but he offered her a comforting smile, making her tummy fluff up, and she wasn't sure if the music for the butterflies in her stomach was being played by her anxiety or by his smile.

They were moving toward the pool when a girl sighted them. Her dark hair was long and wavy, and her eyelashes were so long that they fanned her cheeks whenever she blinked. She was nineteen and had a voluptuous shape that caught eyes. She appeared to be of high class, which was obvious from her appearance.

She yelled out, "Michael!" And trudged over to them. "Turning me down was painful, but how dare you reject me for this piece of sh*t?"

Emily immediately withdrew her eyes from the people playing in the water and turned after hearing the girl's words.

"Racheal? That's-" Michael attempted to talk, but Emily placed a hand on his chest.

"Wait! Do you smell such a pungent odor, Michael?" Her nose crinkled. "Girl, you smell like you were used to wipe the ass of a chimpanzee." She fanned her nose dramatically with her hands.

Racheal's cheek was flaming with humiliation, and Michael struggled to hold back his laughter. He appreciated Emily's self-confidence and found it amusing that she wasn't scared by the girl she had spoken to, even though she was aware that the latter belonged to a higher social level.

Racheal had always had a condescending attitude toward others; she had never in her life been insulted by anyone, so the fact that she was being insulted by a complete stranger made her infuriated. Racheal's eyes had transformed from their usual gray to a glowing blue, which caused Michael's brow to furrow. He noticed she had developed claws for fingernails as he looked down her hands; she also had a hairy face, protruding fangs, and fur patches running from her shoulders to her wrists. In a panic, Emily screamed and quickly raced behind Michael.

Michael grabbed Rachael by the arm and pulled her inside. Emily, still in shock, looked around and was perplexed by how no one seemed to worry about what had just occurred, as if individuals changing into obscene creatures were common.

.....

"Racheal, what were you thinking?" Michael said, locking the door behind them.

"I couldn't control it. How could you bring her to a place filled with werewolves when there'll be a full moon tonight?" She said as she slowly transitioned back to human form.

"Full moon tonight?" Michael gave his forehead a little spanking. Since he has control over his shift, he doesn't care much about when there's a full moon. "Well, you're a pureblood; you should be able to control it a little longer. Besides, what do you mean by 'a place filled with werewolves'? "

"I invited my pack, and they brought their friends." She sat on the bed and fixed her gaze on Michael. "I believe Chris may change tonight. You are aware that the werewolf curse begins to take effect at the age of fifteen, but it's his eighteenth birthday, and your father, Nicholas, made the whole werewolf clan promise not to show or tell him about werewolfism."

"My father has his reasons."

"Well, most of the werewolves here didn't make that promise, so I wonder what will happen if he hears about his curse from a stranger on a full moon. Every werewolf has a dark side, you know."

Michael knew that since everyone in the party were werewolves, Emily wasn't secure there. She was there because of him, and he would be held responsible if anything awful happened to her.

Then he remembered Chris, who was unaware of who he was. Michael was clueless of the circumstances that prevented Chris from activating his werewolfism at the right time, but he was aware that a werewolf cannot live past the age of eighteen without the curse becoming active.

Every werewolf was born with two sides: the bright side and the dark one. When a wolf turns for the first time in wrath, they may go wild and immediately embrace their dark sides. He did not want his brother to experience what some werewolves do—become vicious and prey on humans.

He ruffled his hair as he thought of what to do. Who does he first rescue? Emily or Chris?

Then it occurred to him to lock Emily up in one of the rooms, run to his brother, and if he had successfully transformed, he would then go back to Emily. He took out his phone and sent Emily a message, asking her to meet him upstairs in the first room on the left.

"Please help me keep an eye on Emily. She'll be heading to the first room on the left, upstairs. You can either lock her up or... anything. Whatever. Just, please don't hurt her." Michael was met with Racheal's bewildered gaze before she nodded. "And if you start to feel the shift, hurry to the basement." He said this and quickly left the room in search of Chris.

Emily's phone buzzed; she was sitting by the poolside, and she brought out her phone and read the text from Michael.

She snorted. "So he expects me to meet him in a room by myself? He is certainly dreaming." She tucked her phone back in her palazzo pants' pockets

......

"Have you seen Chris?" Michael asked the third person, who also failed to know the whereabouts of Chris.

He decided to check Chris's room, though he didn't anticipate finding him there. It was his birthday party, and he was supposed to be out having lots of fun.

Throwing open Chris's bedroom door, he found Chris making out with a girl who had previously lived in the same area. Michael thought back to the time Chris would see no other girl but Elsa and how he would stay up all night crying because he spotted Elsa with another boy.

He approached them and yanks Chris from the room.

"Mike, what the hell? I thought the night was meant to be about me." Chris said, adjusting his ruffled clothes.

"There's something you need to see, Chris." Michael said, heading to another room.

When they arrived in the room, Michael shut the door and sat down on the bed as Chris watched him with interest. Chris noticed the seriousness on his brother's face and sat on the couch next to the bed with curiosity written all over his face.

"Chris, there's something you ought to know." Michael breathed. "We are cursed."

A scowl appeared on Chris's face, and he glanced up at him. "What do you mean we're cursed?" He asked.

Chris saw Michael stare up at him with flashing green eyes and jutting fangs after he briefly bent his head. "We are werewolves, and your transformation should have occurred as soon as you were fifteen, but because it was somehow delayed, it is now more complicated."

He kept a careful eye on Chris and scowled when the room was filled with his laughter.

"Nice joke and the trick; those glowing eyes and fangs are rather more convincing. Well-done," he said after the laughter. "Though, I can't believe the movies you watch got inside your head; besides, werewolves don't exist."

"Chris, I'm being serious here. No purebred werewolf has ever reached the age of eighteen without transforming, so there's a good chance that today... You'll transform." Michael stated.

"What? Why hasn't someone told me this? I'm not prepared for any transformation." He erupted in anger.

"There's more, but before I tell you, you need to remain calm." Michael said.

"Remain calm, you say?" Chris's frown deepened. "I was kept in the dark my entire life!" He yelled. "Y'all told me Mom passed away in a car accident; how do I know that too isn't one of the stupid lies y'all told?" He got out of his chair with a loud roar, and as his bones began to severely twist, he collapsed to the ground.