Chapter 2

Tessa’s point of view

“My dear, Tessa, wake up…” whispered softly in the familiar smooth but sonorous voice of a woman.

As if that was the cue my eyes had been waiting for, they opened, dragging myself out from what seemed to be a long oblivion.

I sucked in a breath, forced myself to get up from the bed but instantly felt the pain in my entire body. A soft whimper escaped my lips and as I swallowed the dryness of my mouth, my eyes started to look around the place I was in.

I found myself in a good old cabin, in a bed surrounded by two people I wasn’t familiar with. Fear of repercussions started to engulf me. Where was I?

“You’re already home, Tessa…” The beautiful woman sat down on the edge of the bed and caressed my cheek. Her skin was strangely cold and it sent shivers down my spine. She was extremely pale which added up to the terror I felt. I shoved her hand away as my body quivered.

“Don’t frighten her, Alice,” the man who was standing from the other side of the bed spoke.

Both of them looked like they were in their mid 40’s, pale with platinum blonde hair, amber eyes and a skin as white as snow. Who were they?

“We are your real family,” the woman had spoken as if she could read my mind.

I looked at her in full curiosity and confusion. I understood nothing about what she said. Why did I end up here, anyway? The last thing I remembered was I was soaking under the rain. I stumbled to my feet and was allured by the moonlight, and then…

…I gasped.

I recalled the pain I felt at that very moment. It was excruciating that I thought I was going to die. Then, the vivid memory of how my nails turned to claws and dug deeper beneath the wet soil made my body shake in terror even more.

“You almost shifted in that place, sweetheart,” the woman remarked. I looked at her and saw the worry in her pair of amber eyes. “I wish I could tell you everything without frightening you.”

I shook my head. “What are you saying? I don’t really understand all these things you said. I-I don’t even know you!” I yelled out of frustration.

I heard the man sigh. He sat down on the other side of the bed, while the woman stood up and palmed her face, frustration was evident in her eyes.

“I know you’re confused right now. I want to answer all your questions, Tessa,” he said softly as if he was a father talking to his child.

They knew my name… I had never seen them before. Not in our village, not even in school. This was the first time I met them and they told me things my mind couldn’t fathom.

Shift? What did they mean by that?

I cried. Pang of fear struck my chest. “P-Please, don’t hurt me…” I begged.

The man hushed me and patted my arm gently. “Don’t worry, sweetheart. As your aunt Alice had mentioned, we are your family. We won’t hurt you like how the Steinfields did.”

“H-How did you know about my family?” I wiped my tears away. “A-Aunt?”

My gaze went to the woman whose name was Alice. How did she become my aunt? I looked back at the man beside me. My heart pounded aggressively inside my chest, wanting to know more and understand what they just said.

“I can show you the answers,” he said.

“H-how?” I asked, confused.

“Hold my hand.” He offered both his hands to me.

I reluctantly looked at it. I didn’t know what he was up to, but my mind told me to trust him. And so I did reach for his hands. He squeezed mine, and even though his hands were cold, it brought comfort in me.

“Close your eyes,” he muttered.

I blinked several times. My gaze went to the other person in this room. She nodded her head with a small smile on her lips. I could confirm that she was worried, afraid and uncertain based on her body gestures, but despite it all, she gave me an affirmation that I could trust this man beside me.

I swallowed the lodge in my throat, nodded my head, and slowly closed my eyes. At first, I was greeted by darkness. But a few seconds passed, a bulk of memories from someone, of what happened in the past, had directly shared into my mind.

My heart raced fast as I started to watch those memories like a film…

There was a war that broke out between the humans and shifters–werewolves. It was raining that night, a couple ran in the middle of the forest, carrying their newborn child.  They were being chased by human hunters. The couple shifted into their wolf forms to protect their child, but ended up getting killed as the silver arrows with a poisonous liquid on it got pierced to their hearts. The female werewolf tried to caress her little daughter for one last time, but before her hand could reach her, her heartbeat had stopped.

The baby was taken by a familiar hunter. It was none other than Lander Steinfield, the same person who asked his older sister to foster the child…

…and that child was none other than me.

I opened my eyes, completely perplexed as I went through a memory lane which I didn’t know how it even happened. My tears fell down my cheeks. I wasn’t sure if those memories I’ve seen were true but it did hit me to the core.

“What you’ve seen were real events in the past, Tessa,” said the man beside me.

I took a deep breath, trying to get a grasp of what I’ve just seen in my mind.

So, my parents were killed by the White Bridge town hunters. They were werewolves which made me the same… and that thing that happened to me during the full moon was part of my true identity. As they said, it was shifting.

I covered my mouth, tears continued to fall down my cheek. I didn’t know that shifters were true. The Steinfields, including my foster parents— Dana and Kegan— were in a family of hunters. All this time, I thought they were hunting rabid animals in the wild forest, but no… they were killing shifters, and they killed my parents.

“Your mother, Vera, is my younger sister. That makes you my niece, sweetheart.”  Alice, my aunt, went to me and hugged me tightly. “I’m sorry you had to go through such hardships in life. I promise it won’t ever happen again.”

Surely her words comforted me. But still, I didn’t understand why those things had to happen. Why did my parents have to die? Why did I have to live with the humans and harbour love toward them which were never returned? Was it really a must for me to suffer and experience pain?

“We thought it would be better for you to stay at Steinfields, but we are entirely wrong. We wanted to get you from them, but we had to wait for the right time,” Aunt Alice responded as she released me. “Now that you’ve come of age, you will live with us, and with other werewolves who belong to our pack. You will unlock your powers and find your mate soon, Tessa.”

“Mate?” I asked, looking at her amber eyes.

She nodded and gazed at the man who I still didn’t know the name of.

“Yes, sweetheart. Your life as a human has finally come to an end. From now on, you’ll start anew as a werewolf, a new member of the Crimson Shadow pack. Since you’ve come of age, you will be attending the mating season, and from there you will meet your mate, your fated pair.”

Aunt Alice’s words were encouraging but her last statement told my gut that I’d be in serious trouble…

…mating season?