Shifted

Elena.

When I got up, my head was killing me, and once again my parents were yelling at me. As they shouted, I buried my face in the pillow again and almost fell asleep. However, I could not sleep. Not anymore.

In my house, the decision was that I would be punished for a whole month. No more, and no less. It was quite a shock, as it would normally be longer.

But when I went downstairs, I found that there was another matter that was making the rounds in my house. Something that had a much more important position.

"Her birthday is on Friday."

Halfway down the stairs, I halted my steps when I heard someone talking, leaning my body against the wall so I could hear them clearly. I knew what they were talking about - and it sure as hell was not about me.

I frowned as I closed my eyes, increasing my sense of hearing so I could hear more clearly. I could hear my mom letting out a sigh. It was a sigh of dejection and a sigh of annoyance.

I squeezed the necklace that hung around my neck, wrapping my fingers around the ring that I hung as a pendant on my necklace. It was hers, long ago. Before-

"I know, I know... Elena will definitely have a hard time, she always does," my mom replied. She was probably looking at the stairs, thinking of me who was still in my room.

I could hear my heartbeat in my ears as I strained to stay tuned. I was actually too hungover for this.

"Why don't we just send a letter to her parents-" My father was the one who always thought positively. Always wanting to do the right thing.

"They don't even deserve a letter!" My mom snapped, and my dad just sighed. Frankly speaking, I wanted to say that my mom was right, but I just could not find my voice as if my throat was blocked by something.

For the next few moments, my parents were silent again, until my mom finally started speaking again.

"She's more like ours than theirs."

I could feel my eyes glazing over as I took a deep breath, and then let my hand slip from my collar. Maxine.

Then I tried to open my eyes and swallowed sharply. It felt like my throat started to choke as I started to remember something. I shook my head, then tried to calm myself down, before I ended up completely walking downstairs. My mom turned away from my father, who was cutting an apple for her bowl of fruit.

Then, she quickly turned to me when I got downstairs, and gave me a small smile. It seemed like she was thinking of a lot of things to be constantly angry with me.

I looked at her and smiled back, then went over and hugged my father who was reading the newspaper. He gave me a kiss on the top of my head and asked how I was feeling.

"Fine," I lied, sitting down on the stool next to him. In our kitchen, there was a kitchen table and bar stools on one side. That was where my father liked to sit and have breakfast every morning.

Meanwhile, my mom put a bowl of fruit in front of me, and I started to eat with gusto. I had no idea at the time that I was so hungry.

"I'm going to the store to buy groceries, do you want to come with El?" Asked my mom while cleaning up the rest of the dishes she made.

I just shook my head, while stuffing a mouthful of fruit into my mouth. I used to love going shopping... back when I was about eight years old.

It seemed like my mom had guessed the answer before I said it, so she left right away after that. Then my father went after her, saying that he had work to do.

When the two of them had left, I quickly cleaned up my bowl and decided to go for a run. Lexi had been neglected for too long and was eager to take control.

I had a case in the back of the warehouse where I put my clothes when I changed, so I stripped off my clothes and put them in it. The process of shifting into a wolf was painful, more so than usual. Blame me, because I had not shifted for a long time.

My wolf is a brown and gray mixed-fur wolf. Both my parents had solid-colored fur, and I just had a mix of both. I'm tiny, but not too tiny. Just normal. However, it is tiny for an alpha blood.

Behind my house, there was a forest that stretched as far as it could go. They led into Greengrass Wood, a large nature park. The place was often visited by many people, so I mostly stayed near my house.

As I started running, Lexi slowly took over. I could tell that she really did enjoy being in her wolf form, much more than when I was in human form.

"That's because you do stupid things in human form", she always said. Well, she was not wrong.

So, I just laid back and let her do what she wanted until I caught a scent of something. It was fragrant, sweet, and very familiar. I took back control, then pointed my nose at the ground, while taking a deep breath and smelling the scent again.

The scent of vanilla-flavored cakes.

It was everywhere. It was every time I smelled it. I had not noticed it before because I was not holding my control, but now I could not think of anything else.

It was everywhere. In my forest! Mine! My mate.

I growled furiously to myself, raising my head as I squinted, looking into the grove of trees. He was here, I could feel it. Does he know that I am here too? Maybe he does.

Cautiously I took a few steps forward, straining my ears once more to listen. I could hear the leaves falling from the trees and the sound of distant animal hooves treading on the branches. But it was not the wolf's voice.

He appeared from the side, quietly, and very meticulously. How could I not hear him? I could only guess that he was training extremely hard.

His wolf form was large and golden brown in color. He slowly took a step forward, while stalking towards me to make sure that I was not a threat. The moment he found out who I was, he instantly moved out of the danger state and started to get to his feet.

I growled at him, staking my dominance. What kind of dominance? I felt like laughing at myself. He just stared at me, not being affected at all.

I wanted to shout at him that this was my territory, and he was intruding, but I just could not.

Then I growled again, more furiously this time. And he growled again, this time more ferociously. The sound of his growl was very loud and made me whimper a little. It was not out of fear, I was not sure if I would ever be afraid of him. However, I don't know why I did it.

After I whimpered, he became quiet, with his eyes fixed on me. I could feel the atmosphere change from tense to something else. Even I think that I could see something in his eyes. A hint of remorse.

But even so, it was gone in a few seconds, and he then turned to leave me. He made his way to the direction where my house, our house, was located. So I followed him. That guy walked ahead of me, and he walked at a steady pace.

When we made it to the field behind our house, I turned away from him, going to the warehouse. I peeked out behind me, and he was nowhere to be seen, so I shifted back to my human form. Lexi was quiet, just as he growled at us.

I shifted back to my human form and I quickly put on my clothes, while making sure that he was out of my sight. Deep inside me, there was a feeling that I wanted him to see me like this. That way maybe he would like me.

But, I quickly dismissed that thought as I tied my shoelaces.

As I made my way to the clearing, I could see him. He was bent over, fiddling with something on the ground. It turned out to be dead flower branches. It was not exactly his fault, but they had been wilting since before he moved to this neighborhood. The real estate agent in charge of the house put the flowers there, but they were never watered.

The breeze was blowing gently, carrying my scent with it. When it hit him, he looked up immediately, and his eyes finally locked onto mine. As usual, he looked pretty blank.

I was not that nice either, instead giving him a sarcastic look back. Pissed off, yes. I was pretty damn pissed off. Pissed off at him, and also pissed off at reality.

Maybe some people will say that I was just being petty.

Then he glared back at me, as he stood up straight. My gaze dropped down, and I lost my gaze when I saw that he was not wearing a shirt.

He was not. Shit sherlock. He was wearing a shirt. Literally a thin shirt.

I know something new about Killian now. Underneath the button-down shirt he is wearing, he has abs. He also has tanned skin, which makes me wonder how often he goes shirtless. Of course, I know that he is smoking hot, not to mention his tattoos.

He might have realized that I was checking him out, and he actually cracked a smile. Yup, it was true, Killian was smiling at something!

Oh crap, does he realize that I'm looking at his abs?

In a huff, I turned around sharply and left quickly. My face feels burning, and I hope he doesn't see it. Surely he must have seen me ogling over him! I wanted to make him want me, instead of me looking like I wanted him!

When I reached the front of my house, I took one last glance at his house, and for a moment, our eyes met again.

And then we both turned away.