Lyall's Story

Lucy

We all go inside and out of the snow and cold to the same area where we had the reception not too long ago. I try to find a familiar face, but I can’t seem to find any of the people I recognize. I was giving up on finding them and went to get some food when I see Lyall coming towards me.

“Hey, you made it!” He kisses my cheek apparently unknown to my surprise.

“Yeah, I did… I came early to surprise you and try to help set up, but when I got here, the party had already started!” Lyall’s eyes looked like tea saucers like I had just caught him red-handed.

“How early did you come??” His voice sounded nervous…

“I heard you making a vow to Conall and Lyna. I thought I knew you but apparently, I know nothing at all! Beta? Pack? Alpha and Luna? What in the world are you talking about!? I thought this was just a party to celebrate them coming home from their honeymoon!” He looks defeated and lets out a deep sigh.

“Well… I had planned on telling you this in a more romantic and comfortable setting, but I guess now works. Let me go find Conall and Lyna and we can calmly tell you…” He puts his hand on my back to guide me to them.

“Oh, this better be good… I thought you were my friend Lyall! I find out that you’re a completely different person! I don’t want to hear any more of your lies!”

I get out of his grip and I run out of the party, grab my coat and just let myself cry and the feel of betrayal fills me. After what felt like an eternity (but was only a few minutes) in the cold I eventually decide it’s probably a good idea to go back inside so I don’t get a cold. I see Conall, Lyna, and Lyall’s eyes all on me with a look of ‘I’m sorry…’ I get myself something to eat from what’s left of the food and find myself a seat away from them. I can’t even stand to look at them right now! This entire month of getting to know them only to realize that it was a lie! I’m so angry and upset I didn’t hear Lyna try to come up to me…

“I saw you come in during the ceremony… I’m sorry we didn’t tell you sooner, but it’s not exactly the first thing you tell a new friend. Especially one that’s so important to us… and you are important to us.” The guys come along not long after Lyna does, but they just let her talk for now.

“I came early to help with the party, thinking I was early, but it had already started! I thought I had written the time down wrong at first. I thought knew you guys but apparently, I know nothing at all! Beta? Pack? Alpha and Luna?” Lyna gives me a sympathetic hug and I cry again on her shoulder… accepting her hug. “How could I have been so stupid!?”

“No, you’re not… we had a better plan to tell you, but we just weren’t ready yet. It’s not exactly the first thing we tell people…” Lyall speaks up and tries to comfort me.

“All these things are titles I had heard in books and movies… what are you?” I look at them with a shocked and wondering look…

“We are not the monsters that Hollywood and books make us out to be… we’re werewolves…” Lyall finally tells me his big secret, and that definitely wasn’t the answer I expected tonight!

“Werewolves… as in people who can turn into wolves… as in paws and fur!?” I think my voice jumps three octaves.

“Yeah… that’s us…” Lyall gives Lyna and Conall a smile of thanks and they leave us alone… “Come let me show you something…” He takes me outside and strips his suit.

“Um… what are you doing!? It’s freezing out here put your clothes back on!” I try to put his suit back on but he just puts them back into my hands.

“No, there’s a reason I’m stripping. I don’t want to ruin the nice suit we got from you. Now what I’m about to do would normally scare the crap out of people, but I hope you’re not one… all I have to say is give us a chance…” He gets down on all fours and right before my eyes, he transforms from a 6ft person into a 6ft reddish-brown wolf!

“I’m dreaming… yeah I’m definitely dreaming… I fell asleep reading one of my books again. There’s just no way that I just saw what I saw!” I’m in shock and in denial that my friend just did what he did…

“Unfortunately, this is no dream… I am real, this pack is real… I am Beta Lykos also known as Beta Lyall in my human form. It is nice to meet you finally.” Now it’s my turn for my eyes to turn like tea saucers. I just heard him in my head! Now I know I must be dreaming.

“No, this can’t be happening! I just heard you in my head! I’m going crazy I’ve officially lost it!” I rub my eyes trying to wake myself up from this crazy dream, but soon realize that this isn’t a dream… he slowly walks up to me and puts his head on my lap as if he’s wanting me to touch his fur. I slowly calm down as I pet his fur. As the two of us sitting outside in the freezing cold and I’m just petting a giant wolf… soon I realize that we’re not alone. I see about ten wolves surround us. “Holy crap I’m surrounded! Please don’t hurt me! I don’t make a good meal!” I cover my head and hopefully, they won’t hurt me.

“Relax Lucy, it’s us… your friends!” Lyall tries to comfort me and to keep me from screaming. The blonde one tries to step closer to me but I scurry away in fear.

“Get away from me!” I’m almost in tears from my fear that I’m going to be eaten by wolves tonight, but surprisingly they’re not attacking me. “Why do I have a sense of calm around you wolves and aren’t you attacking me? I thought wolves always attacked people? Wait… Lyna?” The blonde one puts her head on my lap as if she’s wanting me to touch her fur. She nods her head like she’s understanding me…

“Because it’s really us, Lucy! This is Emmy, also known as Lyna. Also, your friends that you know and love. One more than the rest.” A dark-gray almost black wolf stands near the blonde one…

“Conall?!”

“Yes, it’s him, or in his wolf form he’s called, Randon.”

“Randon, Emmy, and Lykos… that’s easy to remember… how in the world can I hear you in my head!?”

“It’s a way we can communicate with each other while in our wolf form, it’s called mind linking. Now to hear me usually shows you’re a werewolf too, but that’s not true you should have shifted by now if you were.” Lykos tried to explain to me… wait a minute did he just say that I’m a werewolf!?

“No… that’s not true I’m just a plain old human like any other normal person.”

“Are you sure about that?” Lykos asks…

“Yeah, I’m sure! We’re just a normal family! I’ve got a mom, dad, older brother, and a younger sister. Nothing strange about that!” Although they had been secretive over the years but I never asked. That’s a conversation for another day… I can’t take too many surprises in one day… I let out a deep sigh and the rest of the wolves goes back inside and left us alone to process all of this. We sit in the snowy forest, but yet I’m actually kept warm by the giant wolf on my lap. We must’ve fallen asleep in the forest since when we realize where we are the sun was rising.

“We stayed out all night!? Lykos wake up!” I shake the giant wolf to try to wake him up but he was fast asleep and apparently really comfortable on my lap. I try shaking him for a couple of minutes before he lets out an enormous yawn and stretches out.

“Morning sleepyhead, we slept in the forest all night.” The look of shock on the wolf’s face was obvious. He puts his front paws down and motions me to come over like he wants me to ride on his back. “You want me to ride on you?” I ask in shock. He nods his head, yes and I slowly climb on without trying to ruin my midnight blue with sparkles, long-sleeve A-line dress I had worn last night. It was a bumpy ride, but we made it back to his house safely. I see Lyna on the porch with an angry look on her face.

“Lyall where have you been!? You two have been gone all night! We got so worried about you two!” Lyna in full-out panic ran up to him and hugged him.

“It was my fault Lyna… we got to talking, and he was trying to calm me down from… well that.” Pointing to Lykos… “And we fell asleep in the forest. Nothing happened and we’re safe.”

“Well… as long as you’re ok. Come on, let’s get you a change of clothes, and Lykos please bring Lyall back.” He scurries off to his house while Lyna takes me to hers. It felt so good to be in some heat again, a warm fireplace was roaring and I ran over to it to warm myself up. “Here, warm yourself up with a blanket. I’ll find some extra clothes for you.” I wrap the blanket around my shoulders when I get a call from my mom.

“Hi, mom…”

“Sweetie are you alright!? You didn’t come home last night we got worried! Are you ok?!”

“I’m fine mom, I got to talking with Lyall and we fell asleep on his couch. Nothing happened except getting a little cold. I’m with Lyna and she’s getting me some extra clothes.”

“Alright good… it’s good to know that you have such good friends. I want to meet this young man who seems to have you smitten.”

“Mom!” I blush like a deep red rose, and she laughs at me.

“Oh, come on sweetie when you’re not at your shop you spend every waking and apparently not waking moment with him. You clearly like him!”

“That is beside the point we’ve only been on one date! Sure, we’ve hung out a lot, but I don’t want to spring meeting the family on him too soon I don’t want to scare him.”

“Alright… but we want to meet him soon. We’re having a New Year’s party tonight, maybe you can invite him here.”

“I suppose, I’ve certainly gone to plenty of his… I’ll think about it. Maybe I can bring some of my other friends too.”

“Sure, I’ll ask them to see what they have planned.”

“Great, if they want to come why don’t they come over for dinner.” My mom is surprisingly calm about me staying all night with a guy. I didn’t expect that I thought I’d be in big trouble.

“Alright mom, I’ll talk to you later about our plan for the day. Love you.”

“Love you too, sweetie.” We hang up and Lyna comes back just in time.

“I’m presuming that was a worried family member.” Lyna hands me some warm clothes. A wintery light blue sweater, some boot-cut jeans, and extra snow boots.

“It was my mom calling to make sure I was ok. Surprisingly calm for telling her I was out all night with a guy. She also invited you and anyone who wants to come to our New Year’s party tonight.”

“Aww how nice! I’d love to come! I’ll ask anyone else who wants to come.” Her eyes glaze over to a foggy gray for a few minutes and turn back to her normal blue. “Everyone sounds excited, they’d all love to come!” My eyes went wide at the thought of ten extra people in my parent’s house…

“Everybody?! Great I’ll call my mom back and let her know.” I pull out my phone and head off to the kitchen to make my call.

“Hey mom, me again.”

“Feeling better? You sound calmer.”

“Yeah, I’ve warmed up and got some normal clothes back on. I got some news regarding the party tonight; ten extra people are coming. Everyone got excited about it and wanted to come.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful! I can meet all your friends at once!” That wasn’t a reaction I was expecting… today is just full of surprises.

“Do you want me to come early to help set up? It’s kind of my job mom.”

“If you want to sweetie, but you don’t have to.” Mom was always the caring one, always prepared to have people over and greet them with an abundance of food.

“Alright, mom we’ll see you late afternoon, early evening. Love you, mom.”

“Love you too. See you soon.” I hang up my phone and tell Lyna the good news. After the second call from my mom, we hear a knock on the door.

“Oh, hey Lyall glad to have you back.” Lyna got the door while I’m racing to think of all the things that I need to help my mom.

“Lucy… I’m so sorry about last night, I hope I didn’t get you in trouble with your family.”

“Actually, quite the opposite my mom was happy for us and invited you to come over for dinner sometime.”

“I’d love to meet your family.” He gives me a reassuring smile to calm me.

“Great, because the entire pack is tonight at my parent’s New Year’s party.”

“Even better! I’ll dress my best to make a good impression.” I smile at the thought of him in his suit again. “Maybe I can help pick out a dress for you.”

“You don’t have to. My clothes are at my parent’s house…”

“That’s ok, but in my opinion silver, blue, green, and chocolate brown look nice on you.”

“Uh… thank you.” Never realized that he was paying attention to what looks nice on me… I blush at the thought. The day goes by and soon it is early afternoon. I text my mom to let her know that Lyall and I are coming early so I can get ready. I leave directions for Conall and Lyna to get there and see them soon.