“What’s wrong?” he queried, as I made my way to the bathroom.
“Why didn’t you wake me up? Lucien hates it when I’m late for training. He tends to go super hard on me.”
He frowned. “I’ll see to it that he’s duly punished.”
“No, you wouldn’t,” I replied, even though I wasn’t sure if I was completely opposed to the idea. But Lucien was in a hard place right now. I didn’t want to make things worse for him.
I was already trying to open the sliding doors of the bathroom when he came and threw me over his shoulder.
I shrieked in surprise. “What are you doing? I’m already late.”
He ignored me until he dumped me unceremoniously on the bed. “As of today, Lucien ceases to be your personal trainer. I wasn’t sure I even permitted him to fill in that position in the first place.”
He knelt in front of me on the bed. “Training you myself is going to be an honour.”
I thought it was a good idea and I smiled. “That means I can be tardy. The love of my life isn’t going to punish me for being late to training.”
He regarded me for a moment with a smirk on his face. “Who says you wouldn’t be punished?” He queried. “Though it’s not going to be in training but in bed. I’m going to go so hard on you that you’d barely be able to walk the next day.”
“Oooh, colour me scared,” I said in a sultry voice.
He rolled his eyes. “So here’s what we’re going to do now. Eat, take our baths, rest a little bit and then go to the forest for some practice sessions with your wolf.”
I suddenly began to feel anxious. What if I wasn’t able to shift? I remembered what the seer Zade had taken me to had said. That it was impossible to break the curse.
Ryder tilted my chin so I was looking up at him. “Hey, hey. It’s okay. You don’t have to overthink it. You’re going to shift and that’s all you should be thinking about. I don’t want to see this anxiety in your eyes. Let them light up with certainty and excitement, okay?”
I nodded and gave him a smile.
The maids came to the room with our breakfast right after that and my belly immediately growled in hunger at the smell of the chicken sandwiches and steaming mugs of mocha.
I devoured my meal within minutes and to my surprise, I was still starving. I told Ryder about it and he smiled. “Your wolf,” he said simply in explanation and rang the kitchen for more sandwiches.
Two more sandwiches after, the starving wolf within me was satisfied.
Ryder suggested I take my bath first before he did because he had some urgent calls to make at that time.
I asked if the calls were going to take a long time because I planned to use all of the skincare products in his bathroom. I didn’t want him throwing me out when I was just halfway treating my skin.
“Malia, you have just thirty minutes to do what you have to do and that also includes getting dressed,” he replied.
“I could work with that,” I grinned and blew him a kiss.
I had just rinsed off the third skincare product from my body when I noticed it.
There was a tiny tattoo of a chameleon on my inner wrist and I wondered what it had to do with getting my wolf back. I’d never had a tattoo in my life so I was sure it came from the witch who had helped to lift the curse just yesterday.
I hurriedly finished from the bathroom and didn’t even bother with getting dressed before I went to show Ryder the tattoo.
His eyes narrowed slightly as he observed it. “She didn’t tell me anything about this. But don’t worry, I’m going to give her a call today to ask for an explanation. Though I don’t think it’s something you should be worried about.”
“Alright then. There’s no point in calling her if you feel it’s nothing to worry about. It’s just that I’m curious about the relationship between a werewolf and a chameleon. If it was a tattoo of a wolf, I’m not sure I would have been the least concerned about it,” I said.
He nodded. “I understand you perfectly my love. Now go get dressed except if you’d want to walk to the forest naked and I believe you know what’s going to happen if you do.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I replied and made my way to the closet. Thankfully, all of my clothes had been moved to his room. This time, I went for a tank top, a skort and a pair of sneakers. I gave up on trying to tie my shoelaces after the fourth try.
Ryder came into the closet just when I was about to go meet him for help. I blinked in surprise at the fact that he was already done bathing.
He stopped towel-drying his hair to give me a smirk. “I can see that wolf or no wolf, you’re just terrible with shoelaces.”
“Tell me about it,” I murmured and lowered myself on the loveseat so that he could help me.
“Let me at least wear a pair of boxer briefs or something. I’d feel so weird if it’s just hanging there naked when I squat to tie them.”
I pouted and gave him my best puppy-eyed look. “But it’s going to give me something to play with. You don’t have to cover it.”
He gave me a look. “You can play with it all you want when we are in bed together.”
He bent to tie my shoelaces after donning his underwear. I couldn’t resist the urge to grab his butt when he was done and had turned to grab a T-shirt.
I giggled as he turned to give me a look. “You play too much,” he murmured.
I waited for him until he was done and he carried me bridal style out of the closet.
It was when we got to the front door that I remembered that Penelope had asked me to get Ryder to agree to let her watch while I shifted.
I pouted and gave him a puppy-eyed look again as I held on to his waist.
“What now?” He murmured.
“I would really like it if you’d allow Penelope to join us. I’d really want my best friend to be there,” I answered.
He frowned but shrugged. “I guess it’s okay. It’s not like she isn’t going to see it eventually.”
I grinned at him and bounced excitedly like a three-year-old. His lips quirked in amusement and he ruffled my hair.
“Now let’s go,” he said and took my hand.
We stopped at Damien’s room to fetch Penelope who also bounced excitedly when she saw that she was allowed to witness my first shift.
Damien and Ryder rolled their eyes and muttered something about grown women behaving like kids under their breath.
Penelope and I practically had to jog to keep up with Ryder’s long strides.
But we were both feeling energetic so we didn’t mind. Ryder didn’t stop walking until we got to the river bank. “This spot is perfect,” he murmured and then looked expectantly at me.
“What?” I asked with slightly narrowed eyes and Penelope giggled.
He rolled his eyes. “You’re supposed to take off your clothes so that you won’t get them torn and have nothing to wear back to the palace.” He spoke slowly like he was explaining something complicated to a three-year-old.
I scowled at him. “But it’s too bright and everyone is watching. You, Penelope, the birds, rodents….”
Penelope looked at me like I had suddenly sprouted two heads and Ryder massaged his forehead with his fingers.
“I’m not going to say it again, Malia,” he warned and I saw the gleam in his eyes.
I scoffed. “So what are you going to do?” I asked, feeling particularly daring.
He regarded me for a moment with a smirk and then before I knew it, he was right in front of me and yanked my short down to my ankles.
My best friend giggled and I scowled at her.
“Shall I help with the rest?” He asked. His hands were already at the hem of my top.
“No, thank you. I’m quite capable of undressing myself,” I replied with clenched teeth.
He smirked. “But you do not complain about it when I undress you before sex. In fact, you love it when I do.”
I turned to look at my best friend silently daring her to laugh with my eyes so I could have an excuse to tackle her to the ground.
Her lips were in a flat line but her eyes danced with amusement.
“We’re waiting, Malia,” Ryder prodded.
“Fine,” I muttered under my breath and slowly took off the rest of my clothing.
I looked expectantly at them because I had no clue what next to do.
“You need to connect with your wolf. Communicate with her,” Penelope said.
I rolled my eyes. “Am I supposed to just close my eyes and meditate? And even if I’m supposed to, I can’t do it with you two and the whole of the forest staring at my naked body. I feel most uncomfortable.”
She scoffed and turned to look at Ryder. “She’s all yours, Alpha.”
He sighed and took off his shirt. I blinked in surprise as he helped me put it on. “What about now? Do you feel more comfortable?” He asked in a tender voice.
I nodded and he kissed the top of my head. “You’ve got this, Malia.”
“And if it makes you feel more comfortable, we can look away while you do your thing, okay?” My best friend suggested.
I felt the tears come to my eyes at their support and patience with me. “There’ll be no need for that,” I murmured and turned my back to them before lowering myself to the ground where I sat cross-legged.
I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. Then I tried to focus on just one sound to help calm my noisy mind. I chose the soothing sound of the flowing water and focused on it until it was all that I could hear.
Then suddenly, it all became deathly silent. I couldn’t hear the water anymore.
“Malia,” a voice whispered. I knew it definitely wasn’t Penelope or Ryder.
“I can hear you,” I said inwardly and hoped I wasn’t just imagining things.
I heard the voice giggle. “No, you’re not imagining things.”
“How do I shift into a wolf?” I asked her.
“It’s really simple. You just have to let go and be who you were always meant to be. Who you’ve always been.”
“A werewolf,” we said in unison.
“I am a werewolf,” I chanted severally and the strangest thing began to happen.
I felt my heart expand and I suddenly began to feel weightless. The heat coursed through me with full force and I think I screamed as I felt the different sensations of some bones lengthening and others contracting. It was over soon and I opened my eyes.
I marvelled at how heightened my senses were. I could hear everything and see everything with detailed accuracy.
I was a white wolf. That much I could tell from the colour of the fur on my paws. Penelope and Ryder were staring at me with identical looks of awe and adoration. I needed to see what they were seeing.
I took a few steps towards the river to get a full glimpse of my reflection.
I found myself howling in delight at how regal I looked and really big too. I stared at my reflection for a few more minutes before I turned to face my best friend and my Alpha.
They had already shifted into their wolves. I had already seen Penelope’s the night before so I wasn’t too surprised. But this was my first time seeing Ryder’s and I was awestruck by how large and magnificent he was.
He was a dark red wolf and the sun kissed his fur beautifully.
They both walked towards me and to my surprise, I realized we could hear each other’s thoughts.
“Let’s go for a run, shall we?”