The floor was cold...

Wait, why am I on there floor?

I opened my eyes with a gasp. The first thing I felt were the splinters in my aching hands.

Then, a voice said: "We're going to have to get a new chair."

I looked up to see the boy from earlier, Ronno, holding a chair that was split in two. I again felt the sting of the splinters and forced myself to sit up.

"Nope, lay back down." A calm voice soothed. "I'm almost done getting the wood chips out of your elbow."

"My.. My elbow?" I rasped. "How did that happen?"

"Just a little WWE action. Right Harls?" Ronno piped.

"Harls?" I questioned, glancing at the man who was picking splinters from my arm.

"Harley, actually. I would shake your hand but I have a strong feeling that would hurt." Harley said, moving onto the splinters in my palm. "That bimbo over there is Ronno."

"Hiya." Ronno waved.

"Hi." I managed a weak smile.

"Angeni, right?" Harley asked me, his soft almond eyes still focused on my palm, dark hair wafted over his eyebrows. When he pushed his hair back he had worry lines on his forehead, I stared at them curiously until he gave me a questioning look.

"Yeah." I answered quickly. "Angeni."

"Look, we are going to take good care of you,I promise. Where did you come from?" Harley asked, treating me like a wounded child.

That's what I am. I thought. At least, that's how I feel. Wounded. Weak.

"From... Juneau." I answered quickly, the name of my home town etched in my brain. I tried to sit up, but was immediately ushered to sit back down. "Take care of me?" I asked, feeling the pang of the splinters again, I nodded. "Please do."

Harley chuckled a little before that serious expression returned to his face. "You need some disinfectant. Ronno? Could you...?" He swiftly turned his head towards Ronno and I watched as he rummaged around in drawers before sprinting over to us and handing Harley a bottle of clear liquid. I recognized the liquid by its stench first, hydrogen peroxide.

Harley dipped a cotton ball in the sloshing bottle and pressed the damp cotton to the cuts and scrapes on my arm. The liquid entered the cuts and began to sting. I gritted my teeth and tried to draw back, but Harley held my arm down. He suddenly pulled out a glass syringe out from his pocket.

I blinked again. "What are you-"

"I'm saving your ass Angeni." Harley said, his tone suddenly sharp. "Don't worry."

"If you didn't want me to worry, tell me what that is." I snapped back.

Harley sighed. "It's a tetanus shot, some of these scrapes came from when you tried to hop on the stove. You scraped your arms on the vents above it."

I blinked at him. "I did what?!" I exclaimed.

"You jumped on our stove."

I glanced up to see the voice coming from Ronno's mouth. "I've been meaning to replace that old rusty thing."

"Excuse me, did you say I jumped on your stove?!" I questioned.

"Yes the actual kitchen appliance." Ronno quipped, an elvish grin playing on his lips. "You jumped on it when I tried to use the chair, and well, you see how that turned out." He gestured to the splintered chair.

"Alright. Someone needs to explain to me what the hell is going on." I demanded, fed up with these wild stories of my jumping on stoves and slicing chairs in half. I sat up and jerked my arms away from Harley's reach.

Harley pursed his lips and dropped his hands to his lap. "Okay okay..." He mumbled. "Ronno? I feel like you can explain this better than I could."

"Are you kidding me?" Ronno blurted. "Kodi was the one who brought her in, he should do it."

Kodiak popped his head out from behind the couch. "Nope, no way. I already tried that and she freaked out."

I recalled our conversation in the woods, he had told me that story... We are beasts in the dark. Yeah, that's what he had said.

I furrowed my eyebrows and watched them as they bantered amongst each other. I swiveled my head between each of them, backing up as their conversation turned into a full-blown argument. My head pounded as I backed away, almost jumping out of my skin when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up to see an older woman, her face stern as she spoke: "Boys." She said. "You're causing her to feel stressed."

The three looked down in shame and all mumbled a low: "Sorry Madame."

"I'll explain it all to her. You bimbos obviously don't have the decency-" she fumed, then calmed herself down and gazed back at me. "Come with me, dear. I'll put on some tea." She helped me up to my feet and grabbed a roll of bandages that had been sitting on the table. She placed a hand on my back, and led me back into a small living room space. A red couch took the spotlight at the center of the room, an ornate rug sprawled out beneath it. Along the dainty curtains in the room, herbs and dried flowers were strung up.

The woman picked up a teapot and picked one of the herbs, placing it in the pot of sloshing warm water. "Sit, please." She ushered. I hesitantly sat down on the vibrant couch.

"I'm guessing you want answers." She said as she held my scraped up arms in her hands. She began to wrap them with the bandages.

"Yes, I've been dying for answers since this morning thank you." I snapped, even more fed up at this point.

A small chuckle came from the woman's lips. "You'll get your answers, don't worry." She finished wrapping my arms and began to pour tea into two mugs. "I'm Tinana, by the way."

"Angeni." I said quietly as she placed a mug in my hands. "Where am I?"

"You said you are from Juneau?" Tinana asked, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah... Are we anywhere near there?" I asked, taking a sip of the tea. It was sweet and citrusy, like honey and lemon, and very calming.

Tinana shook her head. "You're more north of there."

"I don't under-" I started but Tinana cut me off.

"Angeni, tell me. Do you ever feel like you don't belong in your own skin?" She suddenly asked.

I ran my thumb along the mug. "Doesn't everyone?" I answered.

"I don't mean it like that..." Tinana sighed. "I mean your literal skin, your body."

My attention suddenly focused on the tea in my mug, I tapped a finger in it and thought about her question. "To be honest..." I began. "Not entirely." I said quietly, thoughts and memories of these past few days swirling in my head.

Tinana watched my actions closely, her grey eyebrows knit in focus. "You have suffered much in the past few moons, yes?"

"Yes." I answered, my voice low and hard to hear. Tinana picked up my comment quickly, though.

"We have all suffered here." Tinana began. "But this is where you belong, I can sense it."

I raised my eyebrows and set the mug down. "Here? No, I want to go home." I stood. "I have an entire life there, what has changed that-" I caught myself, remembering my grandmother. The look of disappointment, disapproval and disbelief.

"You are not safe there." Tinana said, standing up as well. She was taller than me, and her intense stare made me want to submit to whatever she wanted me to do. "Sit." She seethed and my knees went weak, I immediately sat down. "Now. Hear me out. Don't interrupt."

I bit the inside of my lip and relaxed in the couch again.

Tinana sat across from me in a wicker chair, she folded her hands in her lap and leaned forward like she was going to share a secret. "Angeni, I must tell you, the world you know is like a single die. It has multiple sides to it, and whatever side it lands on is the side you see."

"Okay..." I said warily, taking another slow sip of my tea.

"But you and I? We are different, we see two sides of the die." Tinana explained, a small smirk on her lips now. "We see the world how others see it, but we can also see it through the eyes of a beast."

I raised my eyebrows at that last part, but something in her tone didn't make me question it.

"Have you ever heard of spirit animals?" Tinana asked.

"Yes, of course." I answered. "My análi..." I trailed off, but shook my head and got back on track. "She used to tell me about them."

"Did she ever tell you about... Skinwalkers?" Tinana asked, her tone cautious now.

"Yes... But not much." I answered. "She didn't like those stories as much and-"

"And I can see why." Tinana said. "In the past, skinwalkers were portrayed as evil witches who raided camps and terrorized children in the night..." She said. "But now, they are different. Skinwalkers today only have the ability to transform into our spirit animal."

"Tinana, you speak of them as if they exist and-" I began, she cut me off again.

"Angeni, they do exist. You are sitting in front of one right now." Tinana said calmly, her intense amber eyes staring at me in a way that didn't make me flinch when she had spoken.

"I... I don't understand." I said. "You..." I thought of Kodiak suddenly and the wolf following me and the similarity in their eyes... And Tinana's eyes. "You're all skinwalkers. You and Kodiak..."

"Of course he's one, he's my son and the ability is hereditary ." Tinana explained.

"Oh... Um, of course it is." I bit my lip. "So does this mean I'm-"

"Of course."

"And Ronno?"

"Yep."

"What about Harley?"

Tinana furrowed her eyebrows. "He's not one, no. But he likes to stick around since Ronno is his mate."

"Oh... Any more I need to know about?" I asked, slumping my shoulders.

"Yeah, Castor and Kailen. They're brother and sister." Tinana said. "They're probably out hunting or something."

"Oh... Perfect." I sighed.

"You seem frustrated about this." Tinana observed.

"Well, it's not everyday someone tells you that you're a were-" I started.

Tinana stopped me.

"Okay you've got to stop doing that." I interrupted before she could speak.

"Sorry, but if you say werewolf I may have to claw your throat." Tinana said. "We don't change during moons, we change whenever we feel like it."

"What about those times I got all feverish and passed out?" I asked.

"That was you going through the stages of The Change. You'll have a couple of episodes where you lose consciousness and wake up with no memory of what had happened, but after that you'll have complete control." Tinana said.

"The Change?" I questioned, raising my eyebrows.

A light chuckle escaped Tinana's tight lips. "It's kind of a cliche name when it's said aloud now that I think about it. But what else would we call it?" She cleared her throat. "The Change is when your spiritual body and earthly body combine."

"Spiritual body? Like my... Spirit animal?" I asked, my mind desperately wanting to put two and two together.

"Now you're getting it." Tinana smiled. "Skinwalkers with the same spirit animal... We all try to stick together."

"Okay, got it." I nodded.

"You could say we call ourselves a pack."

"Alright. So do you have that whole system? The beta and alpha and delta and so on?"

"Yes."

"And you..."

Tinana sat up straight. "I'm considered the alpha yes, my family line has reigned over this pack for centuries. Since the ancient times. My son... He is the next in line. It works like a dynasty."

I nodded, taking her words in like I was learning a foreign language. I applied her words to stories I had already heard, senses I had felt before. At first, the truth had hit my like a slap in the face. Now it was more like a push in the right direction.

Tinana thanked me for meeting with her and promised to meet with me the next day for tea again. She led me up to a room in the upper part of the rickety cabin. The room was snug and littered with dream catchers, clay cases, and various animal skins. The

"Rest here." She told me. "Take time to think about everything, if you need anything just come find me. My room is just down the stairs and to the left."

I took her advice and entered my room.

"Sleep well." Tinana said.

"I'll try my best."

Tinana smiled. "Like I said, I'm right downstairs if you need me."

I nodded again and watched her as she exited, closing the door behind her.

I took a deep breath and peeled my jacket off, placing it on the edge of the bed. I pulled down the sheets and climbed in, curling up and hugging the scratchy pillow behind my head. After what felt like hours of deep thought about today's events, I allowed sleep to wrap me in its arms.

Aye aye. Sorry for late updates xP this was a longer chapter.

Peace out

- Cat