First Change
Adren opened his eyes and slowly took in his surroundings. The bed underneath him was soft and smelled faintly of lavender. He was covered in a soft cotton sheet that also held scent of lavender.
On the walls were soft pastel landscapes along with some cabinets. A rough table and chair set sat in one corner while a rocker sat near the wood stove. On the stove warming was a pot of stew.
Adren moved his attention to the window and looked outside. The stars and a bright red moon were out casting everything in a sanguine colored light. He could see wood stacked outside. An ax protruding from a tree stump.
Just then the owner's of the house came in. Adren first took in the large man with his buckskin boots, breeches and cotton shirt. His shaggy tawny hair hung well past his collar and his dark brown eyes didn't miss the teen's intense study.
Adren's eyes then slid to the lady of the house and he gasped. She wore a loose fitting gingham dress over her overripe figure. Her wheat colored hair was pulled back in a severe bun but it wasn't any of those features which startled Adren. It was her golden eyes. The exact same golden eyes that the Booths' wolf had.
"Looks like he's up." The woman told her husband whom only nodded.
Adren gingerly sat up, "Who are you?"
"I'm Constance, this is my husband William." She told him. "We're werewolves if you dinnae guess."
Adren glanced at his miraculously healed arm and gave Constance a wry grin, "I guessed." William chuckled.
"An' who are ye, if you don't mind me askin'?" Constance asked as she retrieved three bowls from the cabinets.
"Adren Far-.." he paused for a moment and then said as William sat down at the table "Adren Foster."
"A-dren." Constance said with a frown as she handed him and William bowls of vegetable stew. "Strange. Very strange."
Adren smirked and thought as he dug into his food, You don't know the half of it.
They ate their dinner peacefully with little chitchat. Adren learned of the things his former lives missed. The slumbering of the fearsome dragons. The creation of the lamia and vampires. The rise and fall of the Egyptian and Aztec empires. Most importantly, he learned of the Night World.
"The Night World is merely the world of us shapeshifters, witches and vampires." Constance explained. "Nobody knows of our existence… and that's the way it's supposed tae be." She added fiercely. "First law of this here world: Don't reveal our world tae the humans. If ye do, your dead."
Adren looked at the feral looks the couple gave him and audibly gulped before nodding.
"Second rule: don't ye be falling in love with some human lass." Constance snorted, "We wolves have plenty of bitches for ye tae love."
"Plus we'd have'tae kill ye." Constance said with a predatory smile that softened when she spied the fear in Adren's eyes.
"Maybe, ye ought to rest a bit before hearing more of William and me world." She said gently pushing Adren back into bed. "Ye've only just been changed!"
"Why did you change me, Constance?" Adren asked her as fatigue finally took its toil and his eyes began drifting shut. "You must have (yawn) seen I was trying to help."
Constance eyes became dark, "I've never seen a Fianna before. I thought with your coloring you would be one."
William placed a hand on his mate's shoulder, sending her warm, loving thoughts to counteract her doubt and indecision.
"What is a Fianna?" Adren asked as his eyes drifted shut and Constance tucked him in.
"A very rare and special wolf changeling." She said softly as she smoothed an errand lock from the boy's brow. "Its fur is dark as night and his eyes blazes with verdant fires."
Adren first became aware of a soft wet thing snuffling in his ear. Then of the thing nudging his arm. He cracked his eyes open to lock with small puppy dog eyes that belong to a small girl with flaxen furry ears popping out under a mass of brown curls.
"Are you Fianna?" the little wolf-child asked in a small voice as Adren rose from bed. "Momma says you're one."
From the table William growled at his daughter and a pale furry tail darted out from under the girl's dress.
"Mary, hush and leave Mister Foster alone." Constance scolded from the stove as the girl bounded over to her father and hopped into his lap.
"Are you and Poppa going to introduce Mister Foster to the pack?" Mary asked her mother as Adren walked to the table and sat down.
"Pack?" he exclaimed swinging around to face Constance. "There's more werewolves around town?"
Constance sent a furtive glance to her husband and daughter before returning to the pan of bacon and eggs she was cooking.
A minute later, she ambled over with the pan, heaped four plates full of food and sat down at the table before responding.
"We're nowhere near town, Adren." Constance told him as William and Mary began consuming their food. "In fact, ye are around a hundred miles from where William and I found ye."
Adren frowned, "You couldn't have taken me a hundred miles in a couple of hours!"
It was Mary's turn to frown. "You haven't been here a couple of hours. You've been here a couple of weeks!" the girl exclaimed.
Constance explained further as Adren ate.
"I watched from a far as those awful twins loaded ye up in a wagon and dump your body miles away from town. I called up some of my kind in the area to watch ye while I went to get William and a wagon. It took a week to get him and another week to bring ye here. Since then ye've been our guest."
"You've been pouring broth down my throat I take it" Adren said wryly.
"Yup, and I helped too." Mary announced proudly.
Adren smiled as William ruffled his daughter's hair.
"So when do I get introduced to the pack?" he asked after breakfast.
"Tonight, during the full moon." Constance replied. "While ye've been out, your body has been readying for the Change, a definite must."
Adren paled and silently ate the rest of his breakfast.
This day is truly one of beginnings. I am no longer a witch locked inside a boy's body. I am no longer a simple farm boy with the spirit of another. I am the wolf and the wolf is me.
Let no man bind me by word or deed and have my soul ever be free.
As the moon rose, Adren could feel the first stirrings of the change. He felt as if a million fire ants were crawling and nipping at his skin. Pain shot at him from beneath his eyes, forcing him to squeeze them shut where more pain would greet him.
William and Constance desperately dragged him onward deep into the woods where Adren would be safe to change, surrounded by the warm pleasant scent and thoughts of the pack.
Slightly behind them, Mary whined with every gasp of pain he let out then would howl mournfully. Other howls would echo hers, gradually getting louder as they approached a small cave. The four of them barely made it safely deep inside before the Change over came Adren.
Around him, glowing red eyes watched as bones cracked and reformed while soft black hair sprouted from his skin at an amazing rate. Adren felt his teeth sharpen, his senses heighten and the pain and joy that came with it made him want to scream.
Finally when the pain and joy seemed to be too much, he screamed…but it came out as a drawn out howl and then he collapsed in a black furry heap.
Adren opened his blazing green eyes and gingerly rose to his four padded feet. He stayed down and alert, watching the crowd of unfamiliars of his kind.
He saw two tawny wolves begin to approach him, standing erect, holding their tail aloft and their ears up and forward. The one circling him was massive, far larger than Adren, with midnight brown eyes. The other standing in front of him was more familiar, from its black and wheat colored fur to its golden eyes. But Adren dare not move or look away from the other wolf. He might bite.
The larger wolf finally made a complete circle around and cautiously padded over to Adren. He sniffed the smaller wolf's snout then turned, hiked up his leg and urinated on Adren. A happy yipping sound filled the pack's den once the alpha accepted the younger male. Feelings of excitement and pride flooded Adren's senses.
You are Fianna! Mary's voice said inside his mind, as a young tawny pup raced between his legs and playfully nipped his tail. Momma was right!
Adren turned and nudged the pup, laughing silently when she tripped over her own paws and fell.