Chapter 4

It had been months since Amelia last talked to her parents and her sister but on the last call they had told her about their vacations and they missed her, and she told them she was just finding herself, that she would be back to visit soon. They had unenrolled her from school and Toria had perfect grades, she was thriving as a sophmore, almost junior, in high school. So ready to graduate, she was still single, more worried about college than anything. This is what Amelia had been thinking about when Vivian interrupted her thoughts.

"Today will determine the rest of your life" Those were the words Vivian, Alik's Aunt, had told her this morning at breakfast, before laughing uncontrollably as if to make a joke. Amelia had been worrying all day about what that could mean for her.

"Are you SURE you want to do this?" Alik asked her raising his eyebrows. "Well after all this time I'm not backing out now" replied Amelia feigning annoyance. "Okay, but first let me explain to you the best i can what you are going to see today", Amelia gave him an exasperated look but said nothing so he continued, "My family as you know is VERY different than what you expected, apart from what you saw when we arrived you know nothing of them, that is about to change. Let's start with this, we come from a long line of what your culture would call werewolves, we are however different from yours in the sense that we can transform at will but we also must change with the full moon. In order to change a human into one of us, said human must want it, and we would have to be in wolf form and blood share with the human. In order to blood share the human cuts their right palm and our left flank and places their hand on the flank." Alik paused asking with his eyes if she had any questions. " If one of you got cut.. uhm well wouldn't it bleed a lot? Wouldn't it hurt..? I don't want to hurt any of you." Alik smiled and softly laughed at her question, Amelia however didn't think it was so funny. Realizing he was offending her he stopped laughing and answered "Well the initial cut would sting a bit but because of our genes, no it wouldn't really hurt, we all have miraculously high pain tolerances and we heal way faster than the average person. Do you would have nothing to worry about." She nodded. "Any more questions?" He asked. "Are you dangerous to me while in your wolf form?" Amelia asked shyly. "No, not at all" Alik smiled, standing and extended his hand toward her expectantly " Here, i'll show you" he said. She got up and placed her hand gently in his. He took her to the large barn at the end of the clearing. "Don't look while I change" he said softly, smirking. She was gonna look away but it was over before she'd even blinked again. He transformed in three seconds flat, it didnt look at all painful like it was in the movies.

Finally he turned his molten gold gaze to her and smiled, tilting his head slightly to the left, causing his large doglike tongue to lol out the side of his mouth. He looked like a giant German Shepard, he was at least two feet taller than her five foot three. He wasn't scary at all. In fact he seemed more playful and open than ever. He took one step forword and dropped down onto his front fore paws, much like a puppy meeting a playmate, except there was nothing playful in this bow, she supposed it was more of a respectful bow. Amelia slowly walked toward him with her hand outstretched, the way you might approach a dog you've never met before. When she was a little less than two steps away he suddenly raised his head and leaned forward touching his cold, wet nose lightly to her -still outstretched- hand. She gasped and after only a moments hesitation ran her hand gently over his caramel colored muzzle, his head, and finally his ears, mussing up his golden brown and black fur. As she did he leaned his powerful head into her, almost causing her to fall. Soon after he loped lithely beside her, as they went back to the house.

"You two had better separate before Aunt Viv' gets in here" said Althea, who -honestly- was Alik's favorite sister. Amelia reluctantly began untangling the complex knot that had become their limbs. Luckily, just as she scooted away from him and onto the opposite side of the couch, Vivian (Alik's and his siblings's Aunt) entered the room. "It's about time!", she exclaimed, "I was beginning to think you two had had a glue accident or something!" At this everyone began laughing, everyone that is except for Alik and Amelia, who were blushing profusely.

Later that day

They all sat quietly while they waited for the rest of the clan to arrive.

The course grass poked Amelia's legs through her pants as she sat cross legged in the clearing with Alik beside her, holding hands in his lap. 'Hopefully Aunt Vivian will be here soon with Uncle Viktor so we can tell them the news' thought Alik impatiently.

Roughly an hour later they FINALLY showed up!

"So.." Alik starts but then stops as if at a loss for words "Umm.. Amelia and i love each other and she knows a lot about us now and uhm.. well we have some really good news but we were hoping you would transform for her" he said in one breath.

They looked somewhat startled, and who wouldnt be after a surprise like that, but after momentarily looking at eachother they laughed, "of course we'll transform for her", Aunt Vivian said "Ever since the day she got here I knew she was going to become a member of the family". She started to walk toward Amelia, her arms wide open as if to give her a hug, but before she was able to take two full steps Alik let out an inhuman growl and pulled Amelia backwards into his chest. "NOT YET!" He screamed at his aunt, who had been like a mother to him since he was only three years old. Amelia was very perplexed but kept quiet, as this clearly wasn't the time to interrupt. They just stared at eachother, Alik and Vivian, they seemed to be having some sort of silent conversation, finally she looked away, seemingly embarrassed, and then turned around and within a second she had transformed into a giant white and black speckled wolf. Uncle Viktor soon followed suit and he too became a wolf, but his fur design was much more complex, he had so many different shades of bronze and grey he looked almost like shining gold, he had next to no black on him except for the speckles that started on his left front paw and extended all the way up his neck finally ending by his muzzle. He took one step foreword and stopped, looking at Alik in askance, Alik in turn gave a tight nod and released Amelia from the cage that had become his arms. She turned her head to make eye contact with him, confused, 'What the heck is going on here!?' She wondered to herself. The giant wolfs padded silently over to them and bowed lowly in front of Amelia, confused she glanced back at Alik, who smiled and nodded, she awkwardly patted their heads, and slowly they both rose and walked back the way they had come. Only after they had gotten back in their original position did Amelia realize that the rest of the family had transformed as well, and now there they were standing in the center of probably the largest wolf pack in North America. Wide-eyed and dazedly turning in slow circles Amelia took in the impact of what was happening, by now all the wolves were bowing, they were accepting her, not as a human friend (for they had already done this In their human forms) but as a pack member.

Amelia awoke the next day in an odd state of confusion, she definitely recognized the room she was in but how did she get here...? And something was off, she thought. Just then it hit her, launching itself across the room from in front of the closet, and pushed her back against the wall, snarling and snapping its fanged teeth centimeters away from her face. She screamed, not a little squeal like a kid but not exactly a bellow either, her voice cracked and her scream turned into air, quietly hissing out of her lungs, she tried to inhale but that little monster had gotten its arms around her and was squeezing her ribs so hard it was impossible to get a breath. "Where's Alik?!", the small assailant questioned, " I- I have no idea!" Insisted Amelia, gasping.