Chapter 23
Chapter 23
Hailey's POV
"What happened?" I say when my dad wakes me up from what feels like a long sleep.
I sit up from my bed and he hands me a cup of tea before sitting on the chair beside the bed I slept on.
"You don't remember?" Theo asks me and I shake my head no. To be honest, I do remember. I just Text property © Nôvel(D)ra/ma.Org.
need him to confirm that these flashes playing in my head aren't made up and that he was there, with
me when all of animal to human shifting happened.
"Hailey, I need you to know that had I known you were my daughter, I would have been in your life from
the beginning." Theo confesses.
"You wouldn't have been so confused about last night or early this morning. You would have been born
in to it instead of wrecking your brain trying to make sense of it all right now, at your age. I'm so sorry
this is your reality right now but I'm here and I'm going to help you through it." He says to me.
"So, you really turned in to a wolf? I'm not going crazy?" I ask him.
"So did you." He tells me.
"How? I mean we read about werewolves, watch movies about them but how is this my reality? How is
this even real?" I ask him, Theo chuckling at my questions.
"Werewolves have always been around. We just hide in plain sight, as humans but we make sure we
don't live amongst them. We have our own communities, far away from humans." He says.
"Like this town for instance. It's a werewolf town and you, my dear, are attending a werewolf school."
Theo tells me and I gasp.
"Wait. You mean the.." I say before snippets of Azuri calling me little human play in my head.
"Are they all, you know, like me?" I ask him.
"There are some humans but I mean not a lot but there are some. Mostly boarding school students, no
humans live around these parts. We make sure of that. The only humans you will find at your school,
will be girls not boys." He says to me.
"Why is that?" I ask.
"Oh man." Theo says before drinking up his coffee. He takes a second to answer me, trying to find the
words.
"We call our females, Sheras. Female wolves are born to be warriors of the community they live in.
They fight the wars and protect the children while the males find their soul mates in human girls.
Female wolves also can't have children, we don't know why because a normal wolf animal can but our
women can't and that is why we find love with humans to create the next generation." He explains.
"Will I have to be a warrior?" I ask him.
That would be devastating for whatever community I have to fight for. I'm the number one coward. I
don't fight and now I'd have to protect people?! Oh no.
"No. You are alpha born and my only child. It has never been done but if you succeed, you may take
over from me. However, because you are indeed a wolf, that means you can't have children and you
may never find your true love." He says, emphasizing his words.
"Oh..." I say, Jaxon coming to mind. The memory of me breaking up with him playing in my head.
"Hailey, you have a wolf inside of you. You need to connect with her and form a bond because she's in
you for life. From now on, you'll be living with me here because I'll be training you and your wolf. Being
alpha born means you possess a strength far greater than any female warrior but you need combat
skills to truly put that strength to use." He says before standing up and walking towards my door.
"Combat skills?" I ask and he just smiles at me.
"This is your room. Feel free to do whatever you want with it but for now, please freshen up. I have
brought some people from my community that will help me get you ready for the outside world." Theo
says to me, my eyes bulging out at the thought of seeing strangers right now.
He walks out and without giving notice, a young woman walks in and closes the door.
"Hi. My name is Miriam, I am the beta's daughter and I am 16." The girl stranger that just waltzed in to
my room says to me.
"Beta? As in second in command?" I ask and she nods her head yes right before I break out in
laughter.
Years and years of reading about these creatures and now one stands before me to tell me they are
actually real.
"I'm sorry. I just, this is too much." I say between laughs.
"The alpha needs you to go shower and change clothes. Today you will meet the important members of
our pack, including the future beta that will be your second in command." Miriam says to me. I stop
laughing to look at her and she doesn't flinch.
"Who will be my second in command?" I ask Miriam.
"My brother. He is not allowed in your room at this moment so I am here to help you freshen up before
you meet anyone." She says before placing black clothes on my bed and walking towards another
door, which is now my bathroom. I hear water running and see that as my que to get out of bed.
Miriam walks out of the bathroom as soon as I walk in, closing the door too.
"Okay Hailey. Clearly this is serious." I say to myself..
I look around the bathroom, going through drawers and drawers, seeing that Theo got all my toiletries
in bulk and the realization hit me.
The minute he found out I was his daughter, meaning I'd become this, he had to prepare for it.
Did my mother know? Was she aware that she was sleeping with a wolf? And now here I am, breaking
real bones to turn in to an animal?
"A werewolf. We are very special species.' The voice in my head goes off again.
'Hello once again. I've been waiting ages to be unlocked and let out of the cage I was in. So I will be
here, talking to you most times of the day and goddess willing, you will shift and let me have a run in
the woods from time to time or I will take over myself. I need to run so let's meet these creeps and get it
over with.' The voice in my head says.
"Adira right?" I say out loud forgetting there's a girl in my room waiting on me.
'Yes!' She responds.
''How long have you been locked inside my body?'' I ask.
'Since you were born. Being away from our father prohibited us from coming in to our wolves but after
the death of your other father, we met our real father. His wolf called out to mine and I was sort of
woken from my permanent slumber but I was sort of awake thanks to our mate.' Adira says to me.
"Mate? We share friends?" I ask in shock.
'No silly! Our soulmate!' She says as if I knew.
"What?" I ask in confusion.
'We met him and he like revived you. The sparks that you feel when he touches you or you touch him.
The need to risk it all for him even though you don't know what tomorrow holds. When he messes up
but you want to apologize and make everything right because you can't imagine life without him. You
know who I'm talking about.' Adira says to me.
My eyes bulge out as Jaxon comes to mind.
'Yip! That's the one! You owe him a thank you for letting me out.' She says.
"Hold on. Wait a minute." I say but Adira interrupts me.
'Yes, he is a werewolf. He just couldn't tell you maybe in fear, thinking you're human but he doesn't
have to hide now. I want to meet his wolf!' Adira says loudly in my head, my hands flying up to cup my
head.
"How?" I say but not really needing an answer to just one question.
How is this happening?
How am I breaking bones without actually breaking any bones?
How is my real dad turning in to a wolf too?
How do I have another voice in my head?
How is it, that the shows I've been watching for as long as I can remember, shows about vampires and
werewolves, how did I become one of them?
'Girl, take a shower. You're going to be confused for a real minute so just go ahead and do the normal
things first before giving us a damn headache.' Adira tells me and somehow that makes sense to me.
A shower is something normal that I can do, that I've been doing for years. I can do that, for now, that is
all I can do and all I will focus on.
I take the oversized shirt off that smells like Theodore and throw it in to the laundry basket. I check the
temperature to see it is just fine and hop in.
I take my time washing up the forest smell and dirty spots, making sure to properly inspect my body of
any changes after last night.
The fact that my body could break and turn in to an animal, with a tail? And I wake up feeling fine?
"Snap out of it Hailey!" I say to myself. I quickly wash my hair before turning the water off and drying
myself. I walk out of the shower, I see the clothes Miriam left on my bed, were now placed just in
between the double basins in what is apparently, my new bathroom.
I get dressed and decide to leave my hair to air dry so I just brush it with a wide tooth comb.
Walking out of my room, Miriam was sitting on the chair next to my bed playing on her phone but
immediately dropping it once she sees me. She stands up,
"I will let the alpha know you are ready. My brother will be here to come and get you." She says to me. I
just nod my head, for the first time in my life, I had no words to utter out.
Miriam leaves my room, leaving the door open and I throw myself on my bed. Miriam had given me
short black biker shorts and an oversized plain black shirt.
This was comfortable but a little underdressed to be meeting people in.
"Mmhmmm" goes a male voice, having me quickly sit up to see who made a sound.
Standing at my door, as tall as my door, was a boy. He looked to be my age, with blonde hair and green
eyes. His big muscled arms were on display, as well his his chest and abdomen, with him being
shirtless but I quickly looked back up to his face.
"Hello Hailey. My name is Cayden, future beta of your father's pack, your pack." Cayden says. I get off
the bed and on my feet to shake his hand, immediately feeling like an ant compared to this giant. My
hand being completely swallowed by his but pretending it doesn't affect me.
"Please, follow me." He says and I nod my head to agree. He turns around and I follow him out, down
the stairs and out the door.
As soon as I step out from behind him, I'm greeted by so many faces, including Theo's.
Theo stood tall, the tallest of them all.
"Hailey, come stand by me." Theo says to me and I walk to him, accepting his hand as he pulls me
closer.
"People of Blue Crescent, I introduce to you, my heir." Theo says proudly.
"How do we know she's one of us? Where has she been all along?" One of the men circling us asks.
"Do you question me?" Theo retorts and then silence. I could feel the mood shift and a cold feeling on
my back, as if I'd known what's to come.
Theo storms over to the guy that questioned him and grabs him by the neck. People stepping back to
make way for him.
"I'm your alpha. I invite you to my home, to meet my daughter and you choose to insult me by
insinuating that she's not mine, she's no wolf?" Theo asks raising the man high up with his one arm!
I look up in awe.
How strong is Theo to just use his one, just one arm to lift up the man's entire body weight with so
much ease.
"I did not mean to upset you Alpha. I only ask because we thought you had no children and that the
elders paired you with a human so that she could give you children of your own." The man tries to
explain.
"Have you forgotten I rejected the pairing? I knew my mate. Before she died, I shared some time with
her and thanks to the moon goddess, she gave me an heir." Theo says, looking right in to my eyes.
He throws the man on the ground.
"Make yourself scarce. I don't want to see your face today." Theo tells him and he runs off, in to the
woods, not wasting a second.
"Alpha, with due respect. We all heard the whispers of your brother's inability to shift. How do we know
that your heir, clearly hidden from this world, will be able to take over from you and lead us if she
cannot shift." Cayden speaks.
Adira growls and my hands quickly fly up to cover my mouth. I was so annoyed too but I had no idea
Adira could do that!
All eyes are on me now after that animalistic sound.
"Did you all hear that?" Theo asks and people answer yes.
"My question still stands Alpha." Cayden says, his eyes also on me.
"My daughter has nothing to prove to all of you. In fact, instead of greeting her and welcoming her in to
this new world, you quickly question her capabilities, my parental capabilities. I should slay you all for
the disrespect." Theo tells them.
I feel a sense of pride growing in me by Theo's words. As he continued to defend me, I feel Adira
coming forth and pushing me backwards.
'Let me show them an alpha's daughter." She tells me before completely taking over and shifting in
seconds, shredding the only clothes I had but standing tall in front of the crowd.
Adira growls out loud, I quickly understand it was a show of power as the entire crowd, except for Theo
shifts in to their wolves to bow their heads.
Theo looks at us in awe, nodding his head in approval.
He was proud of us.
I look towards the crowd, with their heads still down and I take this moment to enjoy it. I've always been
the girl in the shadows, hiding from everyone. Just trying to get through life, past the mean girls at
school or bullies but here I was, an entire crowd of people bowing down to that very same girl.
Although this time, things were different. Yes, I am still that girl that cowars away from confrontation or
a fight. I'm sure I'm still very much a coward, somewhere inside me but with all of that, the girl was of
importance.
Today, was my day to shine and if someone had told me this would be my life, I would've laughed. My
meek self is still in shock and I don't think I've had time to digest it all, dissect it all but one thing I know
for sure is that with Adira, this was just the beginning.