Hers to Claim

My whole body hurt as I sat up from the floor of my bedroom. What happened? Why was I sitting on the floor? I scratched my head as I tried to remember what I was doing last night when I pulled a stick from my hair. “What the…” Why did I have a stick in my hair? I got up and walked over to the full-length mirror on my bedroom door. I gasped, “What the hell?” My hair was the rat’s nest of all rat nests, with twigs and leaves sticking out everywhere. I looked down at my clothes, the same I was wearing last night. There were giant holes in them with large, dirty spots. My shoes were missing and mud caked my dirty feet.

I tried to remember what I was doing last night as I tried to moisten my dry mouth. My thoughts were sluggish and my head pounded. It was just like that one night I snuck out to the high school senior’s bonfire party and went a bit too hard on the alcohol.

Yesterday, I wasn’t feeling good and I asked Kevin, my boyfriend, to come over, but he said he had to work on his college applications. I didn’t believe him. I couldn’t remember why, but something was off.

Flashes of him and my best friend, Krystal, making out next to his car in a fast food place flashed through my mind. I sucked in a breath and tears filled my eyes. Kevin was cheating on me! And Krystal, fuck! We’d been friends since middle school. How could she do this to me?

I wanted to cry, get lost in the hurt and betrayal, but I looked over at myself. I was a total mess. What happened? Did I confront them? Did they do this to me? I remembered a lot of pain, but I looked over at myself again and didn’t see any blood. I looked at my reflection and didn’t see any bruises, just a confused, hurt, lost nineteen-year-old.

They did something to me…They had too. I opened the door to go tell Mom when I saw Tyler standing right outside my doorway. His eyes were wide and frightened. Like mine, his clothes appeared torn and dirty. “Tyler! What happened?”

“Me? What about you?” he asked back, looking me over.

“Oh god,” Mom exclaimed, her eyes wide as she stared at us. “You’re… you’ve changed!”

“Changed?” Tyler asked at the same time I did.

“I…oh boy, How do I explain this? My sweetlings, you’re werewolves.” Her eyes were still wide with surprise, but her expression was serious. “I… I need to make some calls.”

“What?” I asked, watching her hurry down the carpeted stairs to the living room.

Werewolves? Did she seriously just say that? “Mom,” I called, chasing after her. “What are you talking about?”

Tyler and I rushed into the living room to find Mom on the phone. “Mom,” Tyler started, but she held up her hand.

“What do you mean, what kids? Charlotte, I’m quite serious. The twins just shifted last night. This isn’t a joke. They need the pack,” she explained.

I looked at my brother and mouthed, “Charlotte?”

He shrugged.

“Look, I’ve never asked for anything until now. Come, sniff them out if you wish, but just get here,” Mom snapped, sounding angry, then seemed to listen to whoever this Charlotte person was, then nodded. “Good,” she said before hanging up.

“Um, hello? An explanation would be nice,” I said, feeling confused, angry, and scared. What the hell was going on?

“Who’s Charlotte?” Tyler chimed in.

“Charlotte is your grandmother on your father’s side,” Mom said, her hands interlaced and twisting from side to side. “We come from a family of werewolves, but I was born human and until today I thought you were too.”

“So dad isn’t a businessman?” Tyler asked, scratching his head, confused.

“No, he’s the leader of the pack. The alpha,” Mom said, expression tight and sad.

“So, why did you call our grandmother?” I said, anger filling me.

“Because you need the pack. You need them to teach you how to control yourself and the wolf,” she said, sounding sadder. “I’m sorry. I thought…” Tears filled her eyes.

“It’s okay, Mom,” Tyler said, walking over to her, hugging her.

It wasn’t okay.

“We understand. Right, Emma,” Tyler continued, shooting me a look.

I didn’t understand. Just yesterday I was in a good relationship, preparing to leave for college in two weeks, and now… “Yeah, Mom. We understand,” I lied and walked up to them and joined in on the hug. I really needed one right now.

An hour later, a fancy, sleek limo pulled into the driveway. An older, elegant woman got out and walked up to our door, knocking. Mom let her in. “Hello Charlotte.”

The woman, our apparent grandmother, looked Mom up and down with a disapproving look. “Hello,” she said cooly and walked into the room. Both Tyler and I had showered and cleaned up.

The woman’s steps faltered as she looked at us. Her eyes widened for a moment before her expression turned stony. She lifted her nose and sniffed the air like a dog trying to catch a scent. “They are indeed Darrin’s.”

“Of course they are,” Mom said, sounding offended. “Why are you acting like this is the first time you’re hearing about this?”

Charlotte lifted a finely sculpted eyebrow at Mom. “This is the first time I’m hearing about this. Neither Darrin nor I had any idea…”

“That’s impossible,” Mom said, the shock clear on her face. “I called when I found out I was pregnant.”

“Did you actually wait for someone to pick up?” Charlotte asked, her expression turning colder. She turned away from Mom, not letting her answer her question, and looked at us. “They’ll be coming with me. Pack their things.”

“Okay. Of course,” Mom said, sounding confused and maybe a little shell shocked. “Guys, get your things ready.”

“You understand that you’ll have to stay here,” Charlotte told Mom. “Your presence would only strain things.”

“What does that mean?” I said, shocked. “I’m not going anywhere with you, if that’s how you’re going to treat my mom!”

“Yes, you are,” Mom said, her expression downfallen, but determined. “She is right. Me going with you would only complicate things. There is too much history there. You and your brother are more important than any of that. You need to learn everything they can teach you, Emma.”

“I can learn on my own,” I said, angry that she just accepted the way this woman was treating her. Charlotte scoffed, and I glared at her.

“Please Emma, this is much harder than you can imagine,” she said and walked up to me, hugging me. “Tyler needs you with him. You’re the strongest,” she whispered, and I stilled at the note of warning in her voice.

“Okay. Mom. I’ll go for you.”