Page 18 of One True Mate

What in the world was she talking about?

"Babe, tell me why you think that."

"The werewolves, they are dangerous. If they find me, they'll kill me. My mother warned me to stay away from the wolves. I can't tell who's good and who's bad here. And I don't understand any of this. How can you be born this way? It doesn't make any sense!"

"So, tell me why you think you're some evil werewolf? Cause I know you, Kels. There's nothing evil about you."

A tear slid down her cheek.

"I've never told anyone what happened that night."

"Can you trust me enough to tell me?"

She was quiet and I didn't think she was going to tell me. Then she surprised me by speaking.

"Two wolves came in the night. My father woke up and tried to hide my mother and me while he fought them off, but they were too fast, too strong for him, and they took him down before we could get away. I remember crying and wanting to scream for him, but my mother hushed me and wrapped me in her arms and dragged me out the back door. We almost made it to the woods behind our house when we heard them coming around the corner. They attacked my mother from behind. Her screams and the sight of all that blood gushing from her still haunt my dreams every single night. Something distracted them and they left for just a minute. She yelled for me run, but I couldn't just leave here lying there. I started to cry and she begged me to leave her, but I stayed. I didn't know what to do or where to go. She pushed herself up to sit with her back, raw from the attack, up against a tree. I know she must have been in pain, but all she cared about was me. I laid my head in her lap and she stroked my hair and begged me to leave. When we heard the wolves coming back, she got frantic and demanded I go. 'Kelsey, run. Run baby, and don't look back. Don't ever look back….' Those were her last words to me. I got up and started to run. One of the wolves chased me, but even then, I was fast, but I tripped and turned to face him, scrambling backwards. He lunged for me, snapping his jaws and clamping down on my leg. He took a big chunk of it and I screamed and kicked out, connecting with his nose. He howled and stumbled back. It was enough for me to get up and run. I ran and ran and never looked back. While running, I started feeling cold then my entire body started itching."

I couldn't believe what she was telling me. I knew what she was about to say. What she was describing. But how was that possible?

"I remember screaming, but I don't really remember it hurting. The next thing I knew I was on all fours, running even faster through the woods. I woke up the next morning, naked, lying next to a road. I was miles away from my house. I was in such shock and they said I lost so much blood that I blocked out a lot of the following days. I think they kept me heavily drugged while in the hospital. I had my first three skin grafts before I left the hospital. I was put in foster care, but even though I was young, I knew I could never let anyone know how they had turned me into a beast, a monster."

I reached out and gently wiped her tears away. I wanted to grab her and pull her into my arms and just hold her. But even that simple touch brought me a little peace. I didn't want to freak her out knowing how fragile she was in that moment, but I needed to feel her, to assure myself and my wolf that our mate was okay. I was thankful she did not shrink away from my touch.

"How old were you?"

"Twelve."

"Twelve? Jesus, Kelsey, I've never heard of any shifter changing that young, and all alone. I can't imagine how scared you must have been, and how lonely your world has been since then. But, baby, I can only imagine the stress of that night caused your wolf to come out sooner than it should to protect you. To the best of my knowledge, it's impossible to change someone with a bite the way movies and books depict. You're either born with a wolf or you're not. Most shifters don't change for the first time until somewhere between 18-20 years old, and it's not uncommon for it to be as late as about 25. For a long time, I wondered if maybe you were just late changing, but then your wolf showed in the woods, and I could tell in your eyes that it wasn't unfamiliar, like your first time."

"You knew it was me that night? How?"

"Kels, I'd know your scent anywhere. There's a lot about wolf shifters that you need to know about, and I promise you, you are a wolf shifter. There's a lot about pack life and protocol that you need to know too. It's going to be a lot to take in, and I don't want to stress you out or overwhelm you anymore than you already are." I remembered something that had bothered both me and my dad about her,

"Kelsey, do you know what pack you come from? Do you remember anything at all about them? It's the one thing that Dad and I have struggled with the most. Why would any pack allow such a young pup to go through life alone?"

"I don't even know what you mean when you say pack. You mean like a pack of dogs, a group of animals living together?"

"More or less, yeah, though most of us spend more time in our skin than in our fur. And I think of it more like a large close family who all live in the same general area and support each other," I smiled at her example, though, there was some truth in that too.

She shook her head. "I don't ever remember living with others. It was always just me, Mom, and Dad as far as I remember. I don't even remember ever having a babysitter or aunt or uncle. Nothing."

I frowned. How was that even possible? My wolf growled, and it escaped from me before I could stop it. Kelsey's eyes widened, but she didn't shift away from me, remaining within arm's reach.

"Sorry. It just makes me so angry to think about that happening to you. To think your pack just abandoned you like that. I could never do that to anyone, but especially not a young pup."

"I don't know how I could have ever lived with wolves, or wolf shifters, Kyle. I told you before I have always been terrified of wolves, even before the attack. You were the first and only wolf I haven't been scared of, aside from my own wolf of course. Why do you think that is?"

Because I'm your mate!I wanted so badly to blurt that out, but something told me this was not the time for that. She already had enough to take in and accept without adding that to it. So, I shrugged, unable to speak, and ran a nervous hand through my hair.

"Maybe we should let everything sink in for today and start going through all your questions tomorrow? I really think you need time to process all that's happened. I can't even imagine going through life thinking I was some fictional monster, only to discover there are plenty of others just like you. Somewhere out there you have a pack, and if you want to find them, Kels, I'll make that happen, but you have to know, you will always have a place in Westin Pack."

I couldn't explain to her just yet that she would not only have a place in my pack, but that, if she'd have me, she'd someday be the Pack Mother, the highest position possible for a she-wolf in the pack.

Kelsey

Chapter 9

I couldn't believe what he was telling me. Could it be true? I was having a tough time absorbing it all. There were others like me? I wasn't created, but I was born this way? When he talked about pack, he talked about family. I have a family? Where were they? Why didn't they come for me? The amount of questions bombarding me was overwhelming, and he was right in that I needed time to take it all in.

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