Willa's Wednesday nights rarely held more than homework or reading. They were incredibly boring, uninteresting, and dull. Which was completely fine with her. She didn't mind being curled up on her bed, scribbling numbers and symbols into her notebook, solving math problems. She did, however, mind the sudden rapping at her bedroom door. Willa looked up and called gently, "Come in."
She smiled as her mom opened the door and stood leaning against the door frame. Even though Willa wasn't genetically related to Melissa McCall, she had an incredibly strong mother-daughter relationship with her. Having never known, or cared to know, who her birth parents were, she found that it was incredibly rare that she remember she was adopted at birth. Willa put her calculus homework down and asked, "What's up?"
Her mom smiled and pulled away from the door frame, walking over and siting on Willa's bed. Willa leant against the wall behind her as her mother answered, "The hospital called. One of our long term patients disappeared, and a couple swears they saw him walking into the woods. They're doubling up staff as a security precaution until we find him, and they're worried more people will just start wandering off. Scott's still at work, so-"
"I'll be fine here alone, Mom, don't worry. I'm probably going to go to sleep soon anyway," Willa chuckled. While more teenagers would have gotten irritated at their parents for assuming they couldn't be alone, it wasn't that big of a stretch in her case. The blonde was easily frightened, couldn't watch a horror movie even in the daytime, and had been scared by her own shadow once. Well, twice- okay at least seven times, Willa had thought her shadow was something or someone that would attack her and she panicked.
But for all the courage she lacked, she was far too curious for someone who had had nightmares over Beauty and the Beast when she was three. As soon as Willa saw her mom's car leave, the 5'2", blue eyes blond was off her bed, Calculus book and papers discarded to her bedside table, and flipped the sign on her bedroom door. After her 'twin' and his best friend had barged in more than once and frightened her awake, Willa had gotten something to prevent it. With 'Sleeping: Do Not Enter' now facing anyone who tried to enter her room, she closed the door and grabbed her black hoodie, crawling out her window so she didn't need a key.
The reserve wasn't far from her house, a ten minute jog at the wooded reserve itself, however, was much too big, Willa had decided an hour later. She'd been looking for the alleged missing patient for at least ninety minutes, and so far, all she had seen were trees, leaves, and a lot more trees. It was dark and freezing, and Willa was tired and freezing and beginning to realize how stupid of an idea this was. She was leaning against a tree, groaning and trying to figure out which direction she was supposed go to head home.
Before she could decide on which direction, something moved behind her. Instantly, the waif-ish girl froze, closing her eyes and praying it was just one of the search party, that she just had gotten caught by normal people, not some psycho. Instead, Willa heard a growl, and not just a dog. No, it was something big, angry, and vicious. It was something that could kill her. She knew that without looking, but the need to at least see what was going to kill her was overwhelming, and slowly, she turned her head. The second she saw what it really was, she wished she hadn't discarded the psycho theory.
Holy. Mother. Of. God. No, it was impossible. She thought it was a wolf, or some big, rabid attack dog on the loose. Those seemed like preferable options at this point. Willa's heart as trying to punch through her chest as she saw it. The creature that growled was so much worse, it was a wolf like no other. It was massive, red eyes making her want to faint, it's size alone made her believe that she would never make it out of the woods.
It growled again, but this time, Willa ran. She forgot about how tired she was starting to get, that she didn't even know which direction she was running. All she could think about was not being shredded to pieces by something that looked straight out of a horror movie. She couldn't die, not here, not like this! There were things she had to do before she died! Why hadn't she just stayed home and finished homework?! She only had a week left of her freshman year, and now she was going to die before she managed a year in high school.
Fear shot through her as something heavy rammed into her back, sending the tiny girl sprawling forward. Willa tried scrambling up, to keep running, but the creature stood over her, making her slip and fall onto her back. For as scared as she was, the fact that this, this… demonic wolf-like creature was towering over her, on two legs, was still slightly interesting, but more frightening than anything else.
Pushing her self away with her legs and trying to pull herself as well, the monster growled again, before lunging, one of it's hands shooting out and covering her mouth, the sharp claws digging into her head, behind her ears. It didn't want her to scream, at least not to be heard screaming, because a second later, just as she processed it had hands and that it was purposefully covering her mouth, searing pain encompassed her entire body, emanating from her right side. Willa's screams were practically muted, her deep blue eyes wide as she managed to register it had leant down and bitten her just barely beneath her rib cage.
As the pain overwhelmed Willa, her voice dying in her throat and vision darkening, the beast let go of her, allowing her body to crumple completely on the ground. Willa's head lolled to the side and with black creeping into her sight, blurring the world around her, she vaguely registered the creature walking away, before dropping to all fours and running off, leaving her there, to bleed out alone. Closing her eyes, the sixteen year old waited for the light-headed feeling that came with blood-loss, only it never came.
After what felt like forever the pain dulled finally managed to dull itself enough that Willa could open her eyes, finding the fuzziness gone and her peripheral vision returned. Trying to not jostle the bite, she sat up slowly, breathing sharply as she twisted wrong, but forced herself to sit up completely. She moved slowly, doing her best to avoid shifting wrong, and pulled her baggy t-shirt up, grimacing at the sight. There wasn't just a bite on the right side of her torso, it was a full dental impression, and she was amazed the flesh hadn't been ripped off.
The blood wasn't gushing from it, not anymore at least, but in the half-moon's light, she could see that most her side was coated in dried blood. Trying to move pulled at the skin that had tightened underneath her blood. How had this not killed her? Willa swallowed thickly, her mouth dry, but she forced herself to stand. She just needed to concentrate on getting home now. Somehow.
For all the logic and science in the world, there had to be something unexplainable and insane. And that, was the only explanation or reason Willa could scrounge up. Two weeks ago, she had been a perfectly normal teenager. Her only troubles were trying to overcome her shyness and just make it through high school. Two weeks ago, Willa Isabelle McCall had become a werewolf.
Now? Now, it was ten o'clock at night, and Willa was staggering through the woods of Beacon Hills again, this time trying to put as much distance between her home and friends and herself as she physically could, all while trying to fight the wolf that had manifested itself from the lycanthropy, when she had stupidly followed her brother's best friend into the woods. When she had gotten attacked by something that was straight from the pits of hell.
Willa wasn't paying attention to her surroundings, her mind focused on fighting the craving to allow the wolf out. The lack of attention resulted with her foot catching on something, then sending her sprawling to the ground. She rolled to her back and screamed, not from her fall but the internal pain.
With her new… condition, Willa had found that, along with incredibly fast physical recovery, her threshold for pain had increased considerably. Her hearing was sharper and stronger, she could smell better than a blood hound, and her previous lack of stamina was now that of a career marathon runner. But there was always negatives for positives.
Shifting into a werewolf was not exactly pleasant, the ridge of her brow would extend to even out with the bridge of her nose that rose to straighten out, giving the appearance that her eyes had been shoved farther back into her skull. Her canine teeth became true canines, growing at least an inch longer and razor sharp. Their growth forced her jaw to shift out, giving her a significant underbite, and she'd found the hard way it was impossibly to hide them behind her lips. But it wasn't just her face that changed. Her fingernails were replaced with sharp, iron strong claws and her ears extended and came to a point. When she shifted halfway, she was saved the bone chilling experience of her skull reconfiguring herself, simply having glowing, golden eyes, the canines and claws also making appearances.
On top of that, she was in her current situation. Willa shrieked again as her wolf tried to surge forward with even more force. It felt like someone was kicking and punching her rib cage, from the inside. Panting, a whimper of pain and self-fear slipped out of her before her wolf rushed her mind again, only this time, the power it fought with to get out was overwhelming, and the human in her lost.
Her back arched up and for a third time, a blood curdling scream ripped from the small girl as she lost control. The claws extended from her nail beds, her face changed, and her jawline produced blonde sideburns, making her look like a fearsome beast that she feared she was becoming.
As her wolf won the internal conflict, it roared in victory, announcing that it had arrived for a full moon. What scared Willa the most though, was that it wasn't like it was a separate entity possessing her. The wolf was actually her, a part of Willa she never knew existed. Angry and vicious, strong and intimidating. It was everything that Willa wasn't, almost like it dug up whatever had been buried in her subconscious and forced it out.
Leaping up, Willa's head moved slowly, evaluating her surroundings. Seeing nothing, she growled, before lashing out, swinging her right arm and leaving four long slashes in the tree in front of her. Something moved to her right, and just as the adolescent werewolf started to look, something slammed her back into a tree that had been to her left.
Instantly, her mind flashed to the night she had been bitten, how the werewolf who bit her slammed into her back. Fear, pure fear pulsed through her body with one heart beat, and in the next beat, Willa's wolf retreated, leaving her a scarred, trembling sixteen year old, her eyes remaining shining gold from the surge of emotion.
Willa looked up at her attacker, her eyes wide and scared. His eyes met hers, glowing blue meeting bright yellow. He stood only a couple of feet in front of her, not keeping her pinned to the tree, but Willa continued to press herself against the jagged bark, wanting whatever distance she could manage. When he made no move to attack her again, she calmed slightly, though continued trembling, her chest heaving as she struggled to calm herself, and actually looked at him.
He was handsome, devastatingly so in any other situation. Dark hair kept short, but not buzzed, strong jaw that had a gentle black stubble, and as his eyes faded from iridescent blue, she saw they were light green. The stranger seemed angry, restrained, but angry. And that terrified Willa even more. It didn't help that he said nothing, simply stood their, studying her, as if he were looking for something wrong with her to give him a reason to attack her.
When his eyes finally met hers again, the hard lines of his face softened. Despite the bit of fear that eased, Willa's entire body continued trembling, the natural blue of her eyes still coated by the protective amber that proved she wasn't entirely human, not anymore. His head tilted to the side a bit, finally speaking to her, "You were bitten."
It was a statement, one that would seem stupid in any other case to any other person. But Willa knew what he meant; she was a werewolf from a bite. It wasn't a threat, just a statement, but she didn't know if there was some kind of rule, that his observation could lead to her demise. None the less, too terrified to do anything but comply, the blonde nodded, swallowing thickly before asking in a shaky voice, "A-are you g-going to k-kill m-me?"
The stranger seemed visibly shocked that she would ask him that. More of his anger dissipated and some seemed replaced by slight concern and genuine curiosity. He shook his head slowly, telling her, "No, I'm not going to kill you." His voice had softened, seeming to realize that despite being the same as him, she possessed absolutely no threat. The longer he watched her, the more it became clear just how terrified she truly was. He took a step closer to her, but stopped when the movement made her flinch, quite visibly, her body pressing even hard against the tree, and she shut her eyes, waiting for an attack.
Willa listened best she could in her terror, and picked out his heart rate and breathing. His heart remained steady, matching his breathing. Letting her eyes crack open slowly, she saw he hadn't moved more than the one step, and almost all the anger had left his face, almost completely replaced by curiosity and concern. He looked fairly concerned actually, at her reactions to his actions.
Fully opening her eyes, they faded back to the dark blue as she gained some control and calmed down a little more. Willa kept her eyes focused on the man in front of her as he asked, keeping his voice calm, "Where's your Alpha?" The only answer that she had was confusion, her brows creasing and lips tilting down. She shook her head, silently telling him she didn't know what he meant. Her fear returned when he growled at her, taking an aggressive step towards her as the glowing blue returned to his eyes and he snapped, "Your Alpha! Who bit you?!"
His temper rose and instinctually, Willa stepped back, returning to pressing her body against the trunk behind her, sliding down it slightly as she shrunk away. Her breathing hitched as she whimpered out, "I-I don't know! It just b-bit me, then disappeared! I h-haven't seen it since, I swear!" The blue of her eyes had disappeared as the incandescent gold emerged, preparing to protect herself. Her trembling gained new strength and tears surfaced in her eyes, before falling. Willa was even more terrified now than the night she had been bitten
The reappearance of golden eyes seemed to alert him to his loss of patience with her, telling him just how terrified she was once more. The blue faded out again, and the stranger exhaled harshly, running a hand through his hair. He stayed silent as he watched her again, waiting as she slowly straightened back up, her eyes becoming normal, but she didn't move away from the tree. Willa tried to stop trembling, but after everything that had happened, she was so afraid, it was impossible for her to gain any control over it.
Her breathing started to even out as he spoke up again, asking her as calmly and gently as he could, "What's your name?"
"W-Willa. Willa McCall," she answered obediently. As her fear receded slowly, it allowed her to finally thing, and the quick analysis she had done had made her realize that his anger wasn't directed at her, not her personally at least. He was mad about something, but he hadn't made any attempt to hit her or hurt her.
Her frame finally stopped trembling and her heart rate began normalizing, allowing Willa to regain control of herself as she let her back move away from the tree. Her actions caused the stranger to relax a bit more as well. Her shoulders finally relaxing as her breathing evened out. Without the paralyzing fear, she was able summon the courage to ask timidly, "W-who are you?"
The answer didn't come, instead, both of their heads snapped to the side, footsteps and a heart beat echoing their enhanced hearing. Instantly, Willa's arm was tugged and she found herself stumbling before picking up the fast pace of the stranger. She didn't question it, rather matching his pace, breaking into a run as he did, following him through the reserve.
Maybe she was crazy, following a complete stranger, not screaming for help or attacking. But he was a werewolf, like her, and after all the research, everything she had looked through and read to try and cope with a new way of life, not once had she ever read that werewolves were solitary. Everything said they were loyal, pack creature like the wolf. And more than anything, Willa needed that, she needed someone, anyone at all, to understand at least an ounce of what she was going through.
By the time they slowed down, Willa had figured out where they were, and the stranger had let go of her arm. As he walked towards the ruins of the house now in front of them, the teenage girl stopped, asking again, "Who are you?" Her nerves were melting away, she couldn't explain why. She didn't know his name, but she had a gut feeling that being around him would do so much more good that she knew.
The stranger stopped on the porch, turning his head, and answered finally, "Derek. Come on."
Three words really shouldn't have gotten her that curious. A name and a command, really, Willa should have turned and gotten as far away as possible. But, the person or thing that made him bring her to the burnt out shell of a home had smelled… not good. They had reeked of something disgusting, and disgusting usually meant bad.
Taking a determined breath, Willa followed Derek, up the porch and through the front door of the house. He led her up the stairs and down a short hall, opening a door and ushering her in. Without any hesitation, she walked into the room, no consequences considered. As he stepping in behind her, she looked around. It was a bedroom, one that had been used at least after the fire. It smelled like… like the woods and something sweet, like a flower.
Willa turned to look at him, chewing her lower lip as she watched him ask her, "Did you tell anyone?" It took her a second to understand.
She blinked a couple of times before realizing he meant about being a werewolf and answered honestly, "No. After I got bitten two weeks ago, I managed to get home, bandaged it, and pretended everything was fine." If she hadn't been watching him as intently as he was watching her, she might have missed the flash of sympathy before his face become emotionless again.
"You have control." Willa frowned at Derek's statement, her eyes drifting up and left as she racked her mind for what could have given him that impression. Less than twenty minutes ago, she had tripped over a tree because she was fighting herself and lost a minute later, turning into a growling beast before he had knocked her out of that. She jumped when he continued, explaining to her, "Earlier, when I attacked you, instead of retaliating, you shifted back, not knowing what or who I was. You haven't shifted back, or gotten angry again. The full moon should overtake any logical thought or rational behavior, especially your first full moon."
Nodding her head down, she admitted quietly, "I don't understand anything anymore. I'm scared, of myself, of hurting people I care about." Swallowing, she looked up, her eyes starting to water at just the idea that she could be the cause of pain, and said, "I can't risk even having a chance to hurt my family, my friends."
Derek's face betrayed nothing as he studied her. She stood firm, but the determination not to be a monster brought out her fear. After a moment, he finally looked away and offered, "I can help you. But you'll have to help me."
"Fine," she accepted, quickly, without any hesitation in her voice of body language, her heart not missing a beat. Derek looked back at her and she repeated, "Fine. I'll help you with whatever you want." Her absolute resolution to not harm anyone was her primary concern, and didn't care what it would cost.
Authors Note: EDIT:
Hey guyes first teen wolf story~
EDIT- I just checked it and about 800 words went missing. I'm reposting the CORRECT chapter one