I wasn't born this way. I wasn't born as a werewolf. I had been human. I came to this world not as Lara Crawford the werewolf, but as Lara Crawford the human. An ordinary girl blessed with loving parents and a caring older brother as a family, living the typical californian way of life growing up.

By the age of fourteen I had all my life planned out. Living my high school years like every teenager would, partying, making friends, having the first experiences with boys, maybe even falling in love. But at the same time my main aim was to graduate with top grades, so I did. Then, I planned to move to Seattle, attending Med School, making friends for life, becoming the Valedictorian of the Year and graduating top class once again...and I did. After getting my degree I was going to search for a job in the Primary Care field, at the same time pursuing my master of research in Oncology. And I did. But every other dream I had, since that terrible day 4 years ago, couldn't be satisfied. I couldn't let myself to lead researches like I had always dreamed to do, as it would have brought focus on myself, potentially exposing my secret and the supernatural world. I couldn't fall in love, settle down and have a family. Which human could love and marry a beast? None.

I learnt to accept that, the solitude, the lonliness... I slowly learnt to love my wolf. She made me whole, she taught me how to survive, she made me stronger and she was the only one who would never leave my side, bound for eternity to be the other half of me.

Nevertheless, I could never forget the day that changed the outcome of my life forever.

Flashback to four years previour, the 18th of February

"Bye Nellie, I'll see you tomorrow!" I said to the chubby nurse who sat at the desk at the entry of the Saint Mary Seattle Hospital.

"Bye dear! I hope tomorrow Dr. Jones will be more lenient towards you. But don't you worry..big dogs bark but don't bite!"
She answered me with a kind and motherly smile, lifting her head from the hospital records she was currently rearranging.

I scoffed. That douche. He believed he was authorized to treat students like shit just because he was above them in the hierarchy of the hospital, looking smugly at us from the top of his pedestal. His tantrums and harsh words were well known by the medical staff around the ER as almost everyone, at least once, had been the target of his rage. He was very competent in his field, but at the same time he lacked human empathy, in my opinion a necessary requirement in order to be a great doctor.

"I don't think so, but a girl can dream. God, how I wish I could shove his head out of his ass!"

If there was one thing I absolutely couldn't condone, that would have been disrespect. I grew up learning to respect others, facing every kind of socializing always with kindness and politeness, even the very difficult ones.
Dr. Jones strictly pretended consideration from us but wasn't willing to give the same in return.

"Well dear, hurry hup graduating and you definetly will! He really needs it. Have a safe trip home, I'll see you tomorrow afternoon Lara!"

"Yeah Nelly..I definetly will! Bye, have a good night!"

I departed from her desk to exit in the cold February night.

A chill ran through my spine as I put my gloves on, my coat already zipped up till the end. Damn, I was freezing my ass out there.
My car was at the mechanic shop, so I had no choice out of taking the subway and then walking home in the cold. Just my luck.

The streets were quite deserted, but I couldn't expect anything else. It was pretty late in the evening and people were mostly at home from work, protecting themselves from the freezing wind of the night.

While on the subway, I started to ponder over everything that I needed to do the day after.   Going grocery shopping, doing the laundry, calling my mother and spending four hours with that ass of my mentor, Dr.Jones. Gosh, I could't decide what was worse: having to be Dr. Jones' slave or having to deal with my persistent mother. Three weeks prior a friend of hers had become a grandmother and she had decided that it was time for me and Nate, my older brother, to give her grandchildren. I was only twenty-two, for fucks' sake! It was all in Nate's hands. I had no plans of becoming a mother for at least still ten years. So now, every time she called, she asked me if I had met a cute guy to settle down with and to start pop children out of my vagina. She always received the same negative answer.

Exiting the subway station I began walking towards my flat. The cold swiftly prickled my skin, raising goosebumps all over my flesh, but I comforted myself by thinking about the hot bath that was awaiting me at home.
I was two streets down my flat when I felt my body go tense. The muscles in my back tensed, making me feel as someone was watching me out there. I turned left and right, scanning my surroundings, but when I found nothing out of the ordinary I brushed off that sensation from my shoulders and I began to walk home once again.

A few seconds later, I heard a sound. It definitely sounded like a growl.

What in the world?

This neighborhood wasn't famous for having wild dogs roaming the streets at night, so I found the situation to be quite strange.
Deciding that my curiosity overcame my fear, I decided to walk towards the alley where the noise came from.

But in the end I should have known that curiosity killed the cat.

At first sight, everything was perfectly normal as there was no sign of the presence of an animal. Nothing seemed to hide itself in the darkness of the alley. Just when I was ready to turn around, a pair of glowing red eyes appeared from the shadows, resembling two rubies in the blackness of the night.

Those extraordinary, but scary eyes were fixated on me, unblinking.

I wanted to scream, but I couldn't. I was frozen in fear, paralyzed to the core. My voice was dead in my throat, my breath was still in my lungs, my heart was pounding so hard in my ribcage that I thought that the animal could hear it too.
Slowly the shadows started to retract from the figure, allowing me to see the outcome of my attacker. A very big dog, or a wolf, was coming in my direction with strong strides of its paws. Still frozen, I frantically began to search in my brain for informations about what to do in situations like this, praying that the hours I spent watching Animal Planet would turn useful, but my research came back as empty.
My brain was shut off, so I did the only thing I could think of.

I ran.

And it turned out to be the wrong choice.

A powerful growl tore through the silence of the night, coming from the beast as to express its excitement for the upcoming hunt.
The sound of its paws hitting the ground resonated between my unsteady breaths and the erratic pounding of my heart, urging me to go faster.

Suddenly, I felt a deep ache between my shoulder blades, forcing me to let out a terrible scream. My body limply fell to the ground, my head smacking on the cold concrete. A terrible pain slowly conquered my body, starting from my head and then proceeding to the tips of my toes, leaving me convulsing on the hard alley's asphalt. Tricks of hot saliva dropped down on my flesh, alerting me that the animal was now on me, his hot and revolting breath fanning on my skin.

I started to desperately cry. At that point I knew that I was going to die. I was completely at the mercy of the feral beast. The big canine was trashing its claws on my body, sinking them deep in my back and savagely slicing my muscles. He seemed to feast not only on my flesh and blood, but also on my pitiful cries of pain and despair, pushing its deadly paws deeper and deeper with every scream that left my throat. I could smell and taste the metallic flavor of my blood in my mouth and I difficultly refrained the impulse to vomit.

I was on the brink of unconsciousness, blinking desperately my eyes to force myself to remain conscious. Despite my condition, I was still able to hear the faint rumor of sirens resonating in the distance. I momentarily hoped that my neighboors had listened to my screams and called the police, but at the same time my heartbeat was slowly becoming fainter and fainter and my breaths were getting uneven. I knew I wasn't going to make it.
I had a few minutes at last, not more. The blood loss was too significant to be treated, even with the immediate help of an ambulance.

With tears in my eyes I thought about my family: the smile of my mother, the calmness of my father, the constantly teasing between me and Nate, the deliciuos smell of my gran's apple pie. I would never see them again. I would never love them again. Despite my anguish, I was dying aware of the luck I had during my short twenty-two years of life.

Black dots fanned my sight, slowly distancing myself from the world of the living, and I closed my eyes, awaiting for my inevitable fate.
Before everything went black and I succumbed to the angel of death, I felt a sharp pain slicing my neck. Teeth like razors pierced my skin, sinking deep in the tender flesh of my throat.
In that moment I knew that the beast had bitten me.

If only Nelly had known that big dogs bite too.