My Abuser, My Mate

Meeting My Wolf

CandiAnn POV

  Saturday and Sunday were actually not so bad days for me. Yeah, there were a few of the usual snide comments from various pack members - "Hey fatty! Think you could stop being so lazy and actually do something?" because I took five minutes to use the bathroom, or "Hey CandyLand, where's your date for the dance? Oh that's right, no wolf would be caught dead with your ugly self!" (CandyLand was another of their favorite nicknames for me, and as a result I now hated that game.) But honestly, I was so used to those comments that I barely even noticed them anymore. 

  Sunday night was the night of Katya's birthday party, even though her - technically our - birthday wasn't until Monday. That was because she would most likely shift for the first time a few minutes after midnight, and everybody wanted to be there to see what her wolf looked like. 

  Normally I would be made to set up, cook, serve, and clean for events like that. But this time I was only being made to set up. That was because my "parents" knew that I would most likely shift for the first time at midnight too. Heaven forbid I take any of the spotlight off of their precious Katya. So they had hired a catering service. I did all the set up by myself, and then five people came in to cook, serve, and clean up. Five people to do the job that I normally do by myself. I couldn't help but to roll my eyes at that.

  After getting everything set up, I decided to go back to my room in the basement, with the small child's size to go container of food that I had been allowed. It was only a hot dog, a few chips, and two chocolate chip cookies, but it sure beat nothing. 

  I glanced at the clock on the wall as I went by. 7:00 p.m. The party started at 7:30, and a couple of guests had already arrived. 

  I was hurrying down the hallway to the kitchen, where the stairs to the basement were. I was keeping my head down as usual to keep from making eye contact with anyone. I was almost to the end of the hall when a foot appeared out of nowhere and tripped me. I fell forward, just managing to keep my food from spilling everywhere. I looked up to see Cody standing in the bathroom doorway, smirking at me.

  "Gee, it must be horrible to be so clumsy, just randomly falling on your face," he said with fake sympathy. "Here, why don't I help you up?" he added, holding out his hand.

  I eyed him suspiciously from my position in the floor. I started to reach up, then thought better of it and quickly rolled over and scooted back from him, not taking my eyes off of his face. I was looking for any sign that he was about to kick me, 

  He looked down at me and studied my face. "You're really scared of me, aren't you?" he said, seeming surprised. 

  I eyed him suspiciously. Was that some sort of trick question? Finally I cautiously nodded my head slowly. "Yes," I whispered. 

  "But why? We've never seriously hurt you," he replied, seeming confused. 

  I wanted to laugh in his face. Did he call being left unable to walk for a week not seriously hurting me? (The doctor said if I'd been human, I probably wouldn't have survived, or at the very least I would've been paralyzed for life.) Then again, he hadn't had a part in that one, so maybe by "we" he really meant "me." Surely a future alpha wasn't oblivious enough to think his precious pack members wouldn't do something like that. Because they totally would. Every last one of them with the exception of Eric Casanovich and his sister Lily. They were a couple of my friends from school, and were the only two that were ever nice to me. Well, and Eric's mate Natalia. But she wasn't at first because she was jealous over my and Eric's friendship. Once we were able to get it through her head that that's all we were, she was fine. 

  Anyway, back to the situation at hand. I simply stared at him like I couldn't believe he was so oblivious, then I stood up, picked up my food container, and walked away. 

  I sat on my cot and ate my food, then decided to go to the library on the second floor to read. It was the one room in the packhouse I was allowed to hang out. I guess they figured if I was reading or cleaning, I wasn't bothering them. (By "them" I mean my so called parents.)

  I got so engrossed in a book that I didn't notice a few hours had passed until I looked up and realized it was 11:30 p.m. I would probably shift in about thirty minutes, so I needed to get to the forest. Gamma Richard had ordered that I go to the forest on the south side of the packhouse, which was a good twenty minute walk, instead of the north side, where the forest is literally right outside the door. 

  I already had all my things in a backpack beside me, so I walked out and started toward the forest. I could have ridden my bike, but it didn't have a headlight and I didn't want to risk running over something and flattening the tires. I wasn't really rushing, but I still arrived in the forest with about five minutes to spare. 

  After undressing and stuffing my clothes into it, I laid my backpack inside of a hollowed out tree that I had found and selected a few days ago. 

  I shifted from one foot to another as I waited, not really sure what I was supposed to do. After a couple of minutes, I heard a voice in my head. 

  'Hello, CandiAnn,' she said. 'I am Ashanda, your wolf.'

  I got excited. 'Hello, Ashanda,' I replied. 'It's nice to finally meet you.'

  'It's nice to finally meet you too,' she replied. 'I can already tell we're going to have a beautiful friendship.'

  'You're more than a friend to me, Ashanda,' I told her. 'We're family.'

  'That we are, my girl,' she replied. 'That we are. Now, are you ready for our first shift?'

  'I am, but I don't know what to do,' I answered.

  She sighed. 'Of course you don't, because none of these morons around here have told you what to expect,' she said, annoyed. 'They don't deserve us, and they'll soon realize it.'

  'What do you mean?' I asked her.

  'You'll see,' she told me. 'Now, just relax and get on your hands and knees. You won't always have to do that, but for the first time, it'll keep you from falling. I'll do the rest.'

  I obediently dropped onto my hands and knees. Within a few seconds, I felt intense pain as my bones started to break and rearrange themselves. I wanted to scream, but the pain took my breath away and I couldn't. 

  'It won't always be this painful, I promise,' Ashanda reassured me.

  I felt fur start sprouting all over my body, and soon the pain stopped. I was shaky, but I was standing on my own four paws. I dashed over to the nearby pond to check my reflection. When I saw my reflection, I gasped. Not necessarily because of my size, although I was massive for a she-wolf. But there was something even more shocking. I was a white wolf. 

Cody POV

  The party had been going pretty decent. I was a little buzzed after a couple bottles of whiskey, but not nearly as much as a human would've been. Alcohol doesn't affect us like it does humans.

  When it got close to midnight, Katya's parents had her come up to the makeshift stage at the edge of the forest. She had changed from her pink evening gown into a white T-shirt and jogging pants that it wouldn't matter when they were shredded during her shift. Most werewolves just strip down naked to shift, but Katya didn't want to be nude in front of everyone. 

  At exactly midnight, I saw her eyes glaze over and she started smiling. Everyone there knew what that meant - her wolf was introducing herself to Katya. After a couple minutes, her eyes refocused and she addressed the crowd. "Her name is Julianne!" she announced. "We're going to begin the shift now."

  Her dad stood behind her, his hands held out to catch her when she lost her balance. Keeping yourself from face planting is a skill you learn after your first few shifts. Soon, as expected, her face contorted in pain and we all heard her bones breaking and rearranging themselves. Then cinnamon brown fur started spreading all over her body. Soon there was a wolf standing on the stage looking at us. She was average size, and although some wolves have different eye color than their humans, Julianne had the same blue eyes as Katya.

  'Hello everyone!' she said through the mind link we shared as a pack. You see, werewolves can communicate telepathically but only once they've gone through their first shift, and only with wolves in their own pack. We can do this whether we're in wolf or human form.

  'Hello!' we all greeted her.

  She shook her head. 'Wow! That'll take some getting used to,' she said. 

  We all laughed, then started undressing in order to shift into our own wolves. 

  Before I started my shift, I approached the stage. I wanted to test something. I had already started to suspect this, but soon Jared confirmed my suspicions. 'Not our mate,' he growled. 

  Katya/Julianne met my eyes, and I could see that she knew it as well. 'I don't care if you're not my mate, I'll reject my mate to stay with you,' Katya said.

  'We'll discuss this later,' I told her, not wanting to ruin her birthday party by telling her that I had no plans to reject my mate unless she was someone completely unworthy to be Luna.

  I shifted into Jared to go for a run with the pack, as was tradition when someone shifted for the first time. Soon jet black fur sprouted all over me and I was standing on my four paws. While my own human eyes were hazel, Jared's were a piercing blue. He pranced for a minute, glad to finally get to stretch his legs. Then I joined Gamma Richard, his mate and Katya's mother Kelly, and Kelly in front of the stage. 

  'Welcome to Howling Wolf Pack, Julianne, and welcome to adulthood, Katya,' I said in mind link where everyone could hear. 

  'Thank you, Alpha Cody,' she replied, wagging her tail in excitement. 'Now let's run!'

  In one motion, we all bounded into the trees, running and yipping. I heard chatter and laughter through the mind link. I loved my pack.

  As we ran, I saw a movement way off to the side in the distance, towards the southern side of the packhouse. But wait. That couldn't be. I would've sworn I saw a white wolf. But that was impossible. White wolves were only born once every thousand years or so. I blinked, and it was gone. I decided I had probably imagined it and brushed it off. 

  What an imagination, I thought to myself with a laugh. Imagine thinking there was a white wolf in our pack. As if that would ever happen.