What am I, a monster?

Chapter 8

I stood up on four legs and walked to the pond to see my reflection in the water. I was curious about what I looked like as a wolf.

‘Wow.’ I said, not believing my eyes for a moment.

‘We are pretty, right?’ Cora asked proudly. We had white fur with black spots here and there. We were very beautiful and a cute thing as I wanted to hug myself badly. Our fur looked soft and I wished I could run my fingers through it. The other thing I noticed was that we were huge. Not like a huge dog, but more like a pony or a mini-horse. A normal wolf was much smaller than we were, I was sure about that, even though I hadn't seen one in real life yet, only on TV.

‘Yes, we are beautiful.’ I told her in awe. We indeed looked nice. I wondered what other werewolves looked like.

For the next hour, we were playing around, running and training just to get used to my wolf body and I enjoyed every second of it. I got the feeling of it pretty quickly, like I was born for this… wait… I was actually born as a werewolf.

‘You are so silly.’ Cora said with a laugh. She was funny and I was happy to have her now that I accepted that things existed in real life that we thought were just mentioned in fairytales.

‘Aww.. I am happy to be your wolf as well. We could have saved tons of explanation if you were aware of your kind though, but it’s okay.’ She said playfully and I let out a laugh. See, she is funny. Who needs those fake friends when I have her, right?

‘Okay, okay. Enough of the sappy stuff. Let’s go back before your mom wakes up.’ She said seriously.

‘Yeah, let’s go.’ I told her and shifted back. It’s a bit unnerving to know that she can see me naked, but we are actually one person, so I will need to work on being chaste.

‘If you are worried about me seeing you naked, then you will be in trouble when we find your dad’s pack.’ She said mischievously and I furrowed my eyebrows as I walked towards home.

‘What do you mean?’ I asked her, but she just chuckled.

‘You will see.’ She said and she didn’t talk to me for the rest of the walk. Even though I nonstop asked her what she meant by that, I got no answer, just chuckles.

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The next day I was happy that I didn’t need to go to school. We didn’t want anyone making me angry and repeating what happened yesterday. We didn’t need any more people sent into a mental hospital and we didn’t need to bring attention to ourselves either. We just need to find my father as soon as possible.

“Did you take me out of school for good?” I asked mom while we were having breakfast.

“No, only for a week. I told them you were sick, but when we find you dad, you will need to go to school, just not this one.” She said and I nodded my head.

“Please, if anyone comes to check on me from school, don’t let them in.” I asked her with a pleading expression and she nodded her head.

“I won’t, sweetie. Just forget about them. You will make new friends soon, I know.” She said with a smile and I nodded my head and continued eating. I was glad mom was so positive about the whole situation or at least she was acting like she was. I felt much better after talking to mom about it. She always knows what to do.

We will go to look for my dad today and I can’t wait. Mom showed me a photo of him and she still owns a T-shirt of his. Don’t ask me why, but it came in handy as we could get his smell, which will make our job easier to find him.

He was a handsome man with dark blonde hair and grey eyes as mine. He was definitely my dad as I look so much like him and I can’t wait to finally meet him.

“Where do we start?” I asked mom when we left the house after breakfast.

“Let’s go to the cafe where I first met him.” She said with a nervous smile as we sat in the cab she had ordered and I nodded my head in agreement.

It was an hour's drive and I was anxious for some reason and excited to meet my father, probably my new life as well. I hope I will be able to cope, new school and all.

“There it is.” Mom said as the driver pulled over in front of a cafe called Tony’s.

“Cozy.” I said as we walked into the place after paying for the ride. It was half full of people and an older man stood behind the counter.

‘Werewolves.’ Cora said out of nowhere.

‘What?’

‘Don’t you smell them? They don’t smell like humans do.’ She said and I took a deep sniff of the air. I smelled a woody scent with different flowers and fruits.

‘Yeah, you are right.’ I said as we reached the counter. The older man was a werewolf too. He smelled like wood mixed with... grass?

“Hello, Mr. Ortega. Remember me?” Mom asked with a shy smile and the old man smiled back at her instantly, showing off his teeth.

“Of course, Nova. You grew up nicely, I see. It was, what… fifteen years ago,” he said with a warm smile.

“Almost seventeen,” Mom corrected him with a sad look on her face, and the man looked at me for the first time and his eyes widened as soon as they landed on me.

“Nova?” He said and waited for mom to explain.

“Do you know where we can find Dorian, Tony? It’s important.” Mom asked and pointed at me with her eyes, then looked at the man hopefully.

“Leave your number and I will give it to him, Nova.” The man said right away. “I am sure he will call you soon.” He added.

“Thanks Tony. I didn’t think you would help me, considering how many times I asked you in the past.” She said to him, who looked down with regret and guilt in his eyes.

“I didn’t know. You should have told me. I would have given you information about him. Now as she is standing here in front of me, I can see that she is indeed Dorian’s daughter.” The man said with tear-filled eyes.

“It was too early to tell and I didn’t want him to come back to me, only because I was pregnant.” Mom said and the man nodded sadly in understanding. I was just standing there and listening to them. It was kind of weird that he recognized her after so many years.

'Werewolves easily recognize someone from their smell.' Cora explained.

“Thank you, Tony. We will leave then.” She said with a grateful smile and the man smiled back at both of us.

“Alright, take care, Nova. I am sure we will see each other in the future, Maya.” He said, and we left the cafe and went straight home.

“Do you think he will call?” I asked worriedly and she nodded her head confidently.

“We were in love, at least I thought we were. I am sure he will call if Tony tells him about you.” She said with a sour face. She is still upset about him leaving her.

“Let’s cook something.” I said to distract her and she nodded.

We made lunch and ate while we were watching the fourth episode of Twilight, when mom’s phone started ringing. We looked at each other with wide eyes and she dropped everything from her hand to take the call with shaking hands.

“Hallo?” She asked, her heart was beating faster, and I could hear someone’s quick breathing on the other side of the line as well. How much I love werewolves' hearing.

“Nova?” A man asked through the telephone in a husky voice and mom’s tears started falling.

“Dorian?” She asked softly, trying hard not to start sobbing as she heard the voice of the man, the love of her life. The only man for her in the whole universe.

“Where are you?” He asked after he cleared his throat.

“At home.” She answered shortly and I needed to bite back a chuckle at her shyness.

“How fast can you be in the cafe?” He asked eagerly.

“It’s an hour away from here,” she said, and he let out a displeased sigh.

“Then send me your address and I will come to you right away. I believe we need to talk.” He said and mom nodded silently, so I nudged her.

“Yes, I will send it. See you later, then.” She said nervously and hung up with shaking hands. “Oh my god, he is coming here.” She breathed and looked around in panic.

“Mom, calm down. The house is clean, there is still food which you can offer to him. Go and freshen up, but don’t forget to send the address to him first.” I told her in amusement and she took a deep breath.

“Right.” She said and sent the message with our address to the number he called while there was a small smile on her face. She is still in love. I can see it.

We both freshened up and I looked around in the living room to see if there was something out of place, when the bell rang twenty minutes after the phone call. I hurried to the door and opened it quickly.

My eyes widened as a half-naked, heavily-breathing man stood on the porch. He was only wearing shorts and he was huge with muscles everywhere. No wonder mom was still in love with him. He looks the same as in the photo mom owns, just slightly older.

“Hi there.” He said with a chuckle when I still didn’t say anything and I snapped out of my stare.

“Oh, sorry. Hi. Come in.” I told him in embarrassment. I am sure my face was red like a tomato.

He walked past me, into the house and I closed the door behind him. He had a woody scent and lime, quite refreshing.

“Mom.” I shouted, since I knew mom was hiding somewhere upstairs. The man’s stare started to get uncomfortable and I wished mom had come down already.

“Sorry, silly me. I am Dorian Torres.” He said with a smile and held his hand out to me to shake it.

“Maya Davis.” I said and shook his hand and he let out the breath he was holding.

“You are really my daughter.” He whispered with a faint smile. “How old are you?” He asked, not taking his eyes off of me.

“I was sixteen last Friday,” I answered.

“Oh, I see. You shifted, I guess.” He said with a proud grin.

“Yes,” I said with a tired smile and his smile faded. “I didn’t know those things even existed.” I murmured. “I was shocked as hell. I thought I went mad when I heard someone talking to me in my head.” I told him with a humourless chuckle.

“I am sorry I wasn’t there for you.” He said with a pained expression after a few seconds and rested his hand on my shoulder.

“It’s okay, I am sure you have a good reason.” I told him with a shrug and looked towards the stairs. “Excuse me, I think I need to drag my mom down here.” I said with a chuckle and he let out one as well while he nodded his head and looked towards the stairs.

“Go ahead.” He said, and I could see that he was nervous about seeing her again.

I went upstairs to find my mom panicking in her bathroom.

“Mom, are you serious? Come on, he won’t bite. You need to hear him out.” I told her and she let out a sigh, trying to calm herself. “I can hear your heart beating super fast. Just calm down.” I told her.

“Easy to say.” She murmured. “Alright, let’s go. Now or never.” She said, and we finally went downstairs to join my dad. ‘So strange to say that.’

We walked into the living room to see him looking at our photos on the wall with a sad smile on his face, but he turned to us as soon as we stepped in.

I stood aside to watch them staring at each other with longing.

“Nova.” He whispered and made his way towards mom and before she could say anything, he pulled her into a hug. “You can’t imagine how much I missed you.” I heard him saying gently.

“I missed you too.” Mom whispered and tears filled my eyes from the sight.