CHAPTER FOUR

The New Lifestyle

***

 I could hear voices resonating around in my head, voices that weren't mine, only convincing me further that I was dead, or just going crazy. 

 My legs hit the ground, propelling me forward with a speed I never knew I could achieve, the wind blowing the hair that now covered every inch of my body back, my eyesight clear, my nose in the air, smelling everything from the grass on the ground to the sweet tinge in the wind. 

 Something jumped into my line of vision, followed by a thought that wasn't my own.

 Stay down, Tony, it's okay.

I growled at the silver wolf in front of me, crouching into a defensive position at the canine in front of me. I don't know why, but instincts were taking over, and I didn't trust this thing. 

 I lunged at the opposition, but with stunning accuracy, it dodged to the side and tackled me , pinning my thrashing body to the ground. 

 Calm down, dipshit! Do you want to change back or not? 

Paul!

Another voice came into my mind, a commanding one, that made the silver wolf on top of me scurry off, I scrambled to my feet, growling at the large, brown wolf that entered. Bigger than any of the other ones, bigger than me. 

You need to phase back. 

I don't know how to do that, I don't know anything about what is happening to me, what happened to me. If I wasn't dead, I must be dreaming, this is impossible. Sleep paralysis, I could feel pain so real and so intense-

 You're not dreaming. The voice said, making me stop growling, and cock my head to the side, Was this actually happening? Am I actually a wolf? 

 Yes. Now, I need you to calm down, latch onto something that can calm you down. You can't phase back until you relax. 

 I began to recite the periodic table of elements in my head, since it was the only thing I could push into my fumbled brain. I swear I saw the silver wolf roll its eyes, and flurry of thoughts that I couldn't pick out rushed through my head.

 No, ignore them. Just focus, titanium, vanadium-

 When I got to zinc, I felt a tingling sensation spread through my limbs, vibrating through my bones like a mildly painful massage. I could feel my bones snap back into place, an action that hurt, but not nearly as bad as before, until I was human again, naked, shivering, and totally freaked out, but human. 

 I curled up into a ball on the forest floor, shivering, although I wasn't all that human. Everything ached, like I just ran a very long marathon, and I felt... bigger. Stronger almost, like my entire body changed right in front of my eyes. 

 It did. 

 "That was easier than I thought." 

 I looked up, my eyes meeting Paul Lahote's, who was tugging on a pair of cargo shorts. I felt my entire body burn bright red as he threw me a pair that I struggled into as fast as I could with my aching body. 

 "I got you." He took a step forward, allowing me to lean my sore body on his. "It'll hurt like hell the next couple times, but you'll get used to it." 

 "This is gonna happen again?" I asked, my voice sounding deeper then it did this morning. "One time was bad enough, what the hell was that?"

 "Phasing." Paul shrugged nonchalantly, as if turning into a giant wolf was a normal thing. "You better get used to it soon, 'cause it'll be happening a lot more." 

 "What was it? That isn't possible, it's... it's..." 

 "Pretty cool, huh?" 

 "No!" I snapped, and I would have pulled away if Paul's body wasn't the only thing keeping me upright. "No! It was terrifying, and painful! Damn that almost happened at school!" 

 Paul's face turned stormy, taking a few steps, and I winced, but managed to continue limping along. "Well, I didn't think that you would be stupid enough to go to school. I felt like shit the day I first phased, stomachache, headache, that fever that will now be your regular body temperature-" 

 "Huh?" 

 "-Why would you go to school? We were trying to figure out all day if it was today, and when you had your little episode in the cafeteria." 

 I blushed bright red, wishing I could go apologize to Embry, "yeah, I was really pissed today." 

 "Totally normal." 

 I almost made a comment that Paul was always mad, but I figured he would beat me up, so I didn't. "There was two. Which one were you?" 

 "The silver one." 

 "Who was the other one?" 

 "That was Sam." He explained, and my eyes widened drastically. Sam Uley? As in Sam Uley's cult? This is the cult? I'm a part of the cult now? 

 "Yeah, I know what you're thinking." Paul nodded at the small house that came into view, it seemed much closer when I was a wolf. "Sam'll explain everything inside." 

 "He better." I grumbled, as Paul pushed the door open, and a loud clapping from Jared greeted us. "Whoo! Newest addition, fastest phase in history!" 

 "Uh, thanks?" I didn't know how to respond to any of this. I have never spoken to Jared Cameron, and now we're like... besties? 

 "Oh, honey!" My mom appeared, running forward and wrapping her arms around me, making me grunt in pain. She pulled away, regret dancing in her eyes. "Are you okay?" 

 "Uh-" I was tempted to say no, but I didn't want to worry her, so instead I muttered a "yeah."

 "He's a natural." Paul grinned, pointing to a small wooden seat that I happily slumped into. "Where's Sam?" 

 "Right here." The big man entered Billy Blacks small kitchen, followed by the man himself. Sam Uley was intimidating to say the least, super tall, and buff, with features that made him look as though he was always glaring at you. "Hello, Tony." 

 A woman came out next, a pair of scissors in her hands. She was beautiful, with long, silky hair and tanned skin, but I was mainly focusing on the long scars that slashed across her face. Averting my eyes, I glanced back at Sam. "Hi?" 

 "I understand you must have a lot of questions." He took a seat in front of me, while the woman gave me a warm smile, and drifted to the spot behind me. "Emily is going to cut your hair while we talk." 

 I didn't even protest as the unknown girl, Emily, began raking her fingers through my unruly hair. Dirt painted across my oddly-muscular torso, making me shift and scratch at the skin. When I didn't reply, Sam continued. 

 "You know all about the old legends I presume? The ones of Taha Aki, the Cold Ones, and the Spirit Warriors?" 

 I nodded mutely. 

 "Well, descendants of the elders have that gene, the wolf gene, that gives us the ability to protect the village from the cold ones, the bloodsuckers. The gene is kick-started when one comes into the town." He raised an eyebrow, as if expecting me to ask about the science of it. I guess it kind of made sense, I know a lot about genes, and how they can be passed down. Most of the time it's hair color, not the ability to turn into a giant wolf. 

A tug at my hair made me bite my lip, but stay rooted to the chair. My eye caught my arm, a circular, intricate tattoo that I swear wasn't there before, decorated the skin. 

 "You're a part of our pack now." Sam jutted his chin out, and since none of us were wearings shirts, I saw the same tattoo on Sam, Jared, and Paul. "Brothers. We can hear each others thoughts when we are in our wolf forms-" 

 Oh, that'll be interesting to get a glimpse into Paul's mind. 

 "And we protect each other. An unbreakable bond you could say." 

 "B-Brothers?" 

 "You got it!" Jared grinned, bouncing his knee, "and now I'm not the shortest." 

 Was he calling me short? I have to be like, six foot three now... how tall was I gonna get? 

 Seeing the look on my face, Jared chuckled, "don't worry, you'll stop growing eventually." 

 "Eventually?" 

 "Cut him some slack." Paul grinned, "until last week, he couldn't shoot past five five." 

 "Shut up." I grumbled, as the two burst into laughter, and Emily brushed some hair from my shoulders. "All done!" She grinned, ruffling my now short, spiky hair. "Looks great." 

 I subconsciously reached up to touch my head, the lack of messy curls surprising me. I could also see way clearer, like I was wearing contacts... but I wasn't. "Did my eyesight fix itself?" 

 "All the perks, bro." Paul patted my shoulder. 

 "What about my friends?" I asked, thinking back to earlier and feeling a stab of regret. Sam's face darkened. 

 "It would be best for you to stay away from them until you are trained." 

 As if on cue, a familiar ring tone echoed around the room. We all froze for a second, until Jared pulled a phone, my phone, from his pocket and checked the screen. "Who's Love of My Life?" 

 I jumped up, ignoring the pain in my joints, to snatch the device. "Quil stole my phone." 

 I looked up to meet Sam's gaze, before pressing the accept button, and holding it up to my ear. Quil began speaking immediately. 

 "Dude, what happened? Are you okay? Did Paul Lahote kidnap you? They ran out after you!" 

 I fought to keep my voice steady. "I'm fine." 

 "What the hell? You sound different! Tony are you okay?" 

 "I swear I'm okay, Quil." I looked around the room, my eyes meeting every persons individually. 

 "I have to go."