Chapter 23

A/N: Writing has been a real struggle for me for the past week and a half. Not just YATA, HMD chapters also don't end up the way I want them to. I hope I didn't make a mess of this one.

*****

I stared at him, my mouth agape.

I am one of them.

I knew what each of those words meant, yet I could not understand what he meant.

It didn't make sense. Rhys couldn't be one such creature because they simply didn't exist. Why would he claim they were real?

Was he mad?

He couldn't be; I loved him.

He couldn't be; he seemed so normal. Bobby had seemed normal too...

My face probably contorted into a strange grimace as I attempted to smile while still bewildered. Even my laugh came out weird, high-pitched and hysteric.

"Come on, Rhys, don't... Don't joke like that."

His face was like stone.

"This is a joke, right?" I tried to get him to talk. "Is there some sort of hidden camera or something?"

My head swirled in all directions, in a desperate search for the gleam of a lens or any cute but out of place teddy bears. They often put hidden cameras in stuffed animals, there had to be one here as well.

But there were no rectangular objects at the upper corners of the room, no teddies of any shape or size on the windowsill, on the mantelpiece above the unlit fireplace or on the table and the only things over the two chairs were our jeans-clad butts.

There had to be, there simply had to be something!

I had to find some signs that this was a kind of bizarre prank. It had to be one, otherwise it would mean...

My eyes returned to Rhys.

He hadn't moved at all. Throughout the time I'd searched, he'd stood still, his gaze almost palpable on me. He hadn't spoken either and he seemed as if he wouldn't speak now.

What was he waiting for?

Was there something I should do?

Was there something I was expected to say?

All the water from my body seemed to gather on the skin of my palms. I wiped the sweat in my jeans and swallowed, wishing it would make the dryness in my throat go away.

He was still staring at me. I wasn't sure he was even blinking.

"So what?" I did my best to make my voice sound joking instead of frightened. "You are a descendant of the Great King?"

"No," Rhys shook his head. "I'm a descendant of the first shifters, of those who joined their soul with that of a wolf."

He said it evenly, without a hint of this being a lie or a trick.

I heard the drumming of my heart in my ears and I felt lightheaded; if I wasn't sitting, I'd probably slump on the floor.

He was mad.

I was in a room, alone and unprotected, with a madman.

I was at his mercy; how could I put up a fight to him when he was bigger and so much stronger than I was?

The room tilted and my neck snapped as my eyes darted towards the door. I knew he'd catch me if I tried to make a run for it, but what other options did I have?

"No," Rhys whispered and when I looked back at him, he was shaking his head. "Not yet."

He got up and walked away. I expected him to stop in front of the door and block my exit, but even though he was close to it, he didn't fence it with his body. Instead, he paused in the corner, three, maybe four feet away from the door and took off his t-shirt.

"What are you doing?"

Could he even hear me when I spoke so quietly?

"You don't believe me," he replied in a tone only slightly higher that mine and threw his t-shirt on the floor. "So I'll show you."

"Rhys, just..." I didn't know what I intended to say. I couldn't think. The air in my lungs was insufficient, my body was trembling... What was he doing?

What was he going to do with me?

I heard him unzip his jeans and they slid down, pooling around his ankles. He stepped out of them and kicked them to the side. I watched wide-eyed as his hands reached for the hem of his boxers.

"Rhys..."

He was completely naked now, the underwear discarded on top of his jeans.

His right side was covered in darkness. The moon shining through the window lit up his left, casting small shadows beneath the sturdy muscles of his arms, legs and torso.

Rhys had never seemed more powerful than now, standing with his back straight and legs apart. Never more powerful, never more animal, his presence filling the room and making me squirm in my chair. His eyes, gleaming with determination, had been on me the whole time - while he walked to the corner, while he undressed... They were on me still.

"Don't be frightened, Riley."

I jumped in my seat as he dove down, squatting, his feet and the palms of his hands glued to the floor.

And then he began to shake.

Small tremors like subdermal waves ran all over his body, distorting and reshaping skin, bone and muscle. Before me, his nose and mouth elongated into a snout, his eyes rounded, the white in them gone, and his ears morphed into triangles that swam atop of his head. Brown hairs began to grow from everywhere, covering all that was skin. His fingers shortened and retreated into his hands, hands that shaped into paws.

The crash of my chair colliding with the floor boomed into the almost empty room as I shot up and scurried to the opposite corner, tripping and falling halfway there. I crawled backwards, my bulging eyes not daring to look away from the wolf that stood not far from me.

I pressed my back against the wall and hugged my knees. My body rocked back and forth as I kept telling myself this could not be real, it could not be real.

Surely, I was dreaming. That was the only logical explanation. People did not turn into wolves. Rhys could not turn into a wolf. He was the man, the human, who I loved.

It had to be a dream.

Some twisted fantasy that my subconscious was creating while I slept. I had pondered for so long what the Silver Bullet's secret could be that even now, while in my bed, my mind dormant, I was still trying to solve that mystery.

I'd been thinking about Rhys often and he was a part of the Bullets; that was why he was here.

And the wolf?

I'd been thinking about the dog I'd seen while visiting the Flemings and how much it resembled a wolf; that was why one was here.

And the coffee: Rhys always wanted a wolf on his coffee and that was why I was connecting the two.

Even the weirdest dreams could make sense if you mused over them.

But could I be this rational in a dream?

Could I be this frightened without waking up?

And could I feel every small bump on the wall behind me and the texture of the floor underneath my palms while I dragged myself as far away from the beast as I possibly could?

This seemed too real. It felt real, but it couldn't be; I refused to believe so.

The wolf had sat down while these thoughts swirled in my mind; it was the only movement it had made. It seemed as if it was giving me space to compose myself, to gather my resolve and make a move; it was relinquishing control, allowing me to take the situation wherever I wanted it to go.

And yet I felt completely helpless.

"No." My voice was weak, my head shaking left and right. "No, no. This can't be real, you are not real..." Sobs drowned the last of my words. The wolf whimpered, its ears flattening against its head. It got up and took a tentative step towards me.

"No!" I shouted, tasting the salt in my tears. "Don't come near me!"

The large wolf stopped and whimpered again, lowering its head. Its tail down, it looked up to me, its eye bigger than before.

Could animals cry?

It panted, opening its mouth. Sharp fangs protruded its gums.

"Please don't kill me," I begged, pressing my back to the wall so hard that I thought one of them would give in and break. "Please don't..."

I couldn't even finish. My eyes closed and I wailed, tears and snot running down my face.

I heard a howl, a mournful, heart-breaking sound. It forced me to open my eyes and cast them upon the figure before me.

To think that Rhys was still there underneath that fur was ludicrous; to think that it was the same Rhys, the human Rhys, was ludicrous. This was an animal, nothing more.

But its eyes were the blend of grey and green that I knew and loved; its gaze was sorrowful, yet gentle, just like Rhys' when he was upset... The fur underneath its eyes was wet, as if the wolf was indeed crying.

It broke eye contact and looked down. The tremors commenced once more and I saw the whole process in reverse: the fur retreated, his muzzle split into a mouth and nose, his ears went back to the middle of his head. Rhys was crouched on the floor, with arms, legs and every other feature human again, from toes through torso and all the way to the scars on his face.

He got up and began to dress in silence. He quickly put on each clothing, keeping his eyes on the ground; not once did they stray to me.

He walked to the door and stopped. His shoulders slumped and with one hand over the frame, his back was to me.

"I'll call you a cab." His voice was low and strangled. "With a human driver, to take you home."

My body finally stopped shaking and I froze as his words began to sink in; he was letting me go.

"We won't stop you." I heard a loud sniff. "And you never have to see me again."

*****

A/N: What do you think of the transformation? Did I do it justice?

And what of the rest of the chapter?

Please support it with a VOTE and happy wattpading!

PS: This is NOT the last chapter.