Cursed with an Alpha Soul | Werewolf Romance

Chapter IX - Canis Lupus

Ella grunted as her back slammed against the forest ground, a sound of pain leaving her lips as the air escaped her lungs. The pain slithered down her spine and radiated through her limbs, immobilizing her for a period of time. Her eyes squinted shut, waiting for the pain wave to subside. She took in a deep breath, attempting to hide the pain from herself and act as if it wasn’t there. Slowly her eyes fluttered open, blinded by the bright sunlight that beamed down at her through the trees. She watched the leaves swing in the breeze above her, the warm sun rays soaking into her cheeks. The bright beam of light quickly vanished as a figure stood above her. Her eyes took time to adjust and focus. They reached out a hand, silently offering her help to her feet.

“You good?” Carlos asked, pulling Ella up as her hand clasped onto his. His eyes scanned her quickly, ensuring she looked alright. Ella had taken quite a fall after slipping off a ledge and falling straight onto her back. Ella nodded, dusting dirt and pine needles off her backside, “Yeah, I’m fine.” She responded.

Ella had been waiting for Carlos a few meters deep in the woods just behind the football field of the high school when Carlos caught her off guard, causing her to slip and fall. He was almost an hour late to meeting her, but deep-down Ella wasn’t surprised by his late arrival. Ella had thought about leaving a handful of times, but his words kept echoing in her head ‘I’ll show you how to control it’. She wasn’t quite sure what this meant but he had already proven to her in the few minutes they spoke that he knew more than she did about all of this. Even if it was only one more thing, she wanted to know everything that he knew regarding what had happened to them. Google wasn’t going to have the answer for her this time.

“You’re late.” Ella remarked, stuffing her hands into her hoodie pockets. Carlos rolled his eyes, smirking at the brunette in front of him, “I don’t remember us setting a specific time.” He smartly remarked towards her. Ella wanted to argue back, but this time he was right. Shaking her head Ella relaxed a bit, trying to pull back on the brick wall she kept up so high against him. Naturally Ella only hated and held anger towards the boy, but she knew he wasn’t going to help her if she continued to act this way towards him. She didn’t have to have an arm wrapped around his, but at least make him feel he had the room to talk. The two stood in silence for several minutes, occasionally glancing towards one another then looking away. Carlos threw his bag and jacket over towards Ella’s belongs that leaned up against a large rock, along with his phone. Ella was surprised by this. She had expected him to pull out his phone any second and start texting away, drowning her out and only answer with ‘yeah’ and ‘uh huh’.

“Take a walk with me?” she asked him. Ella thought it would be a bit easier to make conversation while they were wondering around instead of staring at each other like statues. Carlos nodded his head and followed Ella, walking beside her in the opposite direction of the school. Ella didn’t know where to begin. She didn’t know what questions Carlos would be able to answer. She didn’t even know what questions to ask. “So, uh- “she paused, thinking of a way to word the question, “what happened to you at the party?”, running her hand along the bushes they walked past. Carlos thought for a minute, his lips drawing thin as he did. Carlos always did this when he would debate on what to say, most of the time he didn’t know he was doing it.

“During the day I felt fine, maybe a little easier to piss off than normal, but that was really it. When it got closer towards the party, I would find myself having these black out moments. I wouldn’t pass out, but I’d be somewhere else and didn’t know how I got there. Most the time it would be Valerie or Nick snapping me out of it. Once the party started, I felt like I couldn’t focus. My eyes were like a camera, constantly going in and out. I couldn’t control it. Same with my hearing, but I thought it was just some bad alcohol I drank. Next thing I know, I saw you in the hallway and then you ran off. Something didn’t feel right so I went for a walk and well- you know what happened after.” Carlos said. Ella thought he must have blacked out same as her and woken up later the next morning. “The next morning everything was different. I felt better than I ever have before. I’m strong. I’m faster. Some other things are different too, but I just decided to enjoy it while it lasted.” He shrugged.

Ella listened to every word he said, comparing his night to her own. He sounded like he was living the dream while she was suffering through a nightmare. He had embraced the changes and enjoyed every second of it, while Ella was losing her mind wishing everything to be how it was before. Part of her, deep down inside, found comfort in how Carlos was feeling. It provided her a safe feeling knowing someone else had found out how to control and enjoy these changes; it gave her hope that she could figure it out too. Maybe she could find comfort in her new reality. “What were you really talking about when you said you’d show me how to control it?” Ella asked. Carlos began to walk slower, turning towards Ella until he came to a stop. He fully faced her with a look of confusion as he crossed his arms over his chest. “You mean you haven’t…” Carlos trailed off, expecting Ella to know what he was referring to. Ella stared at him, waiting for him to finish his sentence, “haven’t what?”

“Huh.” He huffed, dropping his arms to his side. “That kind of makes sense now.” He said, his eyes scrolling over her. “You mind filling me in here?” she asked, completely confused on what he was trying to explain.

“You never turned into one of… them?” he asked her curiously. Carlos was astonished at the fact that she didn’t have the same first experience he did. It made him realize how different their nights had been than he had first thought.

“What are you talking about Carlos?” Ella groaned, becoming frustrated as he danced around the subject with his words. Carlos couldn’t stop the smirk on his face as he took a few steps back from Ella. “If I just tell you, you won’t believe me.” Carlos replied, kicking off his shoes and socks. Ella watched him, unsure why he was taking them off. “I honestly wouldn’t believe it myself.” Carlos chuckled to himself, pulling his long sleeve shirt off and tossing it on top of his shoes that laid a few feet beside him. Ella felt her heart begin to beat faster, wanting to take her time looking him over, but she denied herself the treat. Ella covered her eyes, telling Carlos to put his clothes back on. “The only way you’ll believe it yourself is if you see it.” He stated, dropping his pants to his ankles and kicking them aside.

Ella heard the shuffling of his clothes against the leaves scattered across the ground. Slowly she peaked over her fingers, lowering her hand. Carlos stood in front of her, wearing only a pair of maroon spandex underwear and nothing else. Carlos closed his eyes, taking a deep breathe. Ella watched, too stunned to move. Carlos’s breathing changed, taking deeper and faster breaths. Ella could hear his heart pounding in his chest, his slow heart that only beat about thirty times a minute was now pounding at least a hundred times that speed. Carlos glanced up towards Ella from the ground, his eyes red as a ruby. All his muscles flexed as tight as stone and his hands curled into fists. The slight would be terrifying to any other onlooker, but to Ella, as scary as it was, she knew she was safe. “Step back” he warned with a low growl that passed his lips. She watched as the man who stood before her changed within a second. If she had blinked, she would have missed it. A large, powerful wolf came slamming down onto all four paws in front of Ella. The thud of the strong wolf’s paws caused the ground to vibrate, Ella stumbled back but quickly sat up as soon as she hit the ground.

Though Ella had never seen a normal wolf, she knew they weren’t this big. The height of the wolf stood taller than her shoulders. Its fur was black as night with a silver underbelly running from chin to end of tail. The wolf took a step towards Ella, growling lowly. She stared into its eyes, seeing the same burning rubies as before. In somehow, someway, this was Carlos. She knew just from looking at him, that it was him. He wasn’t hidden deep down within; he was right there on the surface looking back at her. Slowly, her shaky hand reached up towards the wolf’s face. The thick warm fur slid between her fingers, sending a chill through her body. She shook her head softly in disbelief of what she was seeing. ‘This must be a dream’ she thought. It wasn’t the same wolf she had seen in her dream, this one was different, but still just as intimidating and strong. Ella pulled her hand away as the black wolf sat in front of her. They stayed there like that for a few minutes, watching each other. The large wolf closed its eyes. She watched as slowly it shifted back into Carlos. He then sat crouched only a few feet from Ella, staring right back at her. When his eyes opened again, they were the bright blue. The black wolf was gone, and it was now her high school ex in his red spandex in front of her.

“Did that answer your question?” he asked her as he stayed sitting across from her. Ella quickly shook her head, “If anything- “she paused, “I have a million more”. There was a moment of silence before the two both broke out in a laugh. “So um, werewolves huh?” She asked him in a sarcastic tone although she was serious. Carlos shook his head, looking at the ground as he laughed with her, “Yeah, I uh- I guess. Werewolves.” They both laughed at the word. Though they shared smiles, they were both still deep down confused more than ever. It was one more thing on their list of the unexplainable, but they had something to call this new part of them, to call themselves. They had something to tie all these changes too. Although they had this information, they had no idea how their entire lives were about to change.

The two stayed there deep within the woods talking to one another. Carlos and Ella shared their own experiences on everything they’ve gone through so far. Ella told Carlos about the black blood and impossible healing while he told her more about how to better control her eyes or how to know when it’s going to happen. The only thing Ella kept secret from Carlos were the dreams she’d been having. Sitting there in the woods, though neither spoke of it, there was a feeling they both shared. Ella still resented Carlos and had nothing but smart answers for him and Carlos was still his playboy, cocky self; but when they were just the two of them it was different. There was a level of comfort and understanding they knew they couldn’t find in anyone else. It put all the confusion and fear of what they were going through on pause. For Ella it was more conflicting than she could explain. She knew she still hated and held an enormous amount of anger towards Carlos for what he had done to her in the past, but she also knew there was a part of her that wanted to be next to Carlos. She didn’t allow herself a further explanation on what that meant, she was scared to know what that could mean. ‘It’s all the werewolf’ she told herself. She knew that if this had never happened to her, there was absolutely no way she would ever be laughing and chatting with him.

After hours, that only felt like minutes, passed by; the two began to walk back to their belongings. During the walk, Carlos described to Ella how it felt to transform and how it felt to be the wolf. He described how he remembered everything and was still in control. He told her how walking or running was as natural as if he did it when human. All the information amazed Ella. It almost felt like a story to her. The way Carlos described it was as if this new part of him wasn’t fighting for space inside him, it was mutually shared. Ella had yet to feel this way, it wasn’t as clear unison as Carlos felt and Ella didn’t know why that was. She still struggled between wanting to experience these new parts of her and wanting to go back to the way everything was before. Though it still felt unnatural, she couldn’t deny the ‘homey’ feeling she had when she did let go; she was still terrified that letting go meant losing grasp of the life she could have had before all this. Ella threw her bag over her shoulder, reaching down for her phone that laid on top of a tree stump. She watched as the screen lit up showing multiple missed calls and texts. “s**t” Ella breathed out. A wave of guilt washed over her as she saw Ben’s face light up on her screen. Carlos had had seen Ben’s picture on her phone just as Ella picked up her cell. His soft smile quickly faded back to an emotionless expression. She felt awful and Carlos knew it. In a way they were able to know how the other one was feeling. It wasn’t as simple as telepathy or reading one another’s thoughts. Instead, it was a general emotion they could get from how the other was feeling. Carlos knew she felt guilty for being there just as Ella knew Carlos had shut down on her. Ella knew that Ben had noticed that she was different. Ever since the accident she hadn’t been herself. Ella tried to fake it for the first few days, acting how she thought she would have acted before, but she wasn’t the same person. Even through it all, she was no doubt still in love with Ben. It was difficult for Ella to be herself around him and constantly having a voice in the back of her head telling her she needed to be with Carlos didn’t help. She wanted to wait to tell him until she had all the answers, but it was becoming more evident to her there may not be a clear answer. Ella was terrified that Ben may disappear on her before she gets the chance to explain. Through all of this, she knew she loved Ben. He brought her comfort more than anyone else had before. He was there for her after Carlos and her called it quit years ago. There was no one else she wanted to spill everything to, but she knew she couldn’t. At least not yet.

Ella’s whole world was upside down. She was no longer focused on good grades and spending time with her friends. Instead, she was now surrounded by dreams that physically affected her in the real world and an ex-boyfriend who now had a connection to her no one else ever would. Ella was hardly on her phone anymore. She found it hard to carry on normal conversations with her friends, she was living in a different world from them. She knew it wasn’t her place to drown them in all of this. Her life was forever change. It wasn’t fair to them to be forced into it like she had been. One of the few things Ella and Carlos had agreed to keep this a secret until they knew more and then they would discuss letting people in one by one. It was not only her secret; it was Carlos’s too. Telling someone ultimately meant telling them about Carlos.

Three missed calls and ten missed texts over the last three hours. “Benjamin?” Carlos asked blankly, even though he already knew the answer.

“Uh yeah, we were supposed to hang out tonight and I forgot.” Ella lied. She knew Ben and her had plans, but she had thought that the talk with Carlos would only take a few minutes then she would meet up with Ben. “I should really go; I need to make this up to him.” Ella said, glancing up to Carlos who stood stiff next to her. There wasn’t exactly a way to say goodbye to someone after what they had just been through. Ella didn’t want this to be the last time the two of them talked. She still had so much to learn from Carlos and about them in general. She didn’t want this to be a one-time occurrence. Even though she hated the guy, she didn’t have many options. Carlos nodded to Ella, stared at her for a few seconds before turning and begin walking back the way he came.

Ella watched him for a bit. She juggled different things to say in her head before finally calling out. “Carlos!” Ella shouted out. Carlos stopped in his tracks, waiting a second before turning to face her. With the distance between them, only a few days ago Ella would’ve had to scream for him to hear her, but she spoke as if he stood beside her, and he heard every word. “We may know what we are, but there’s still a lot of unanswered questions and I think we both equally deserve answers.” She paused, watching for any change in his expression. She tried to sense what he was feeling, but it was as if he put up a wall to block her out. “I don’t want to walk alone through this blindly anymore.” She huffed, not knowing how else to explain what she was trying to tell him. Slowly a smile cracked on Carlos’s lips, “Don’t worry. I’ll help you figure this out and then we can go back to despising one another.” He grinned, turning and jogging off.

After all this, Ella knew three things for sure. Firstly, she was a werewolf. Secondly, as much as she absolutely hated Carlos Willis, there was a part of her that felt for him, and she was terrified on how deep those feelings went. Thirdly, her life was never going to be the same again.