I try to stay calm, but my heartbeat continues to rise and the urge to scream builds. I keep telling myself it’s okay and that everything will be alright but as Woobin folds his leaf while humming to some random song as calm as can be I just...crack.

“Are you ing kidding me! Omg what am I gonna do?” I bolt up from the ground and begin pacing back and forth wondering what it’s going to be like to shift and how I’m definetly not ready for this.

“Woobin tell me, what should I do! How long is it till midnight? I wonder if the guys are looking for me right now? Crap what am I gonna do!”

I don’t even hear Woobin move but all of a sudden he steps into my path of pacing with an amused smile on his face and places a comforting hand on my shoulder, “Breathe Dalnim, breathe. It’s just gonna hurt more if you are this agitated, and we have a good fifteen minutes until midnight.”

I shake his big hands off of me, frustrated and angry it took him this long to tell me. He’s wasted precious time that I could’ve used to mentally prepare myself. “A good fifteen minutes! That’s not enough time! How do you expect me to come to terms with becoming a wolf, an animal, in fifteen minutes!?”

I feel like I’m going to throw up, or faint or worse, have another vision. Taking a step away from Woobin I continue pacing before quickly turning and punching the nearby tree with as much force as I can and let out a dismayed yell. The sound of bone against bark seems to echo through the forest as shards of bark fly off and dust clouds my vision making me cough. When it settles I’m left with splinters in my knuckles, a hole in the trunk of the tree and my apprehension. This cannot be happening to me. I was supposed to be finding a Shifter not becoming one!

Woobin sighs,“Feel better now?” he says raising an eyebrow at me. I sarcastiaclly nod and give him an oh-yeah-I’m-great face as I walk towards my seat back by the tree. As I pass him, he grabs my wrist turning me so I’m facing him. I can feel his warm breath on my neck so look down to shield my red face. He begins to pick out the pieces of wood that have embedded themselves into my flesh and throws them to the ground. A few seconds pass before he speaks again “Listen-.”

I yank my wrist out of his grasp and scoff. “Why should I listen to you? I never choose this. I never wanted to be a Shifer.”

 Woobin quickly grabs my wrist again in the blink of an eye this time with enough force to pull me so close to him that I can smell his aftershave. “Just listen to me for once and stop acting like a brat. We don’t have much time.”

“And whose fault is that!” I scream back.

His jaw clenches, “I’m trying to help you, Dalnim.The pain you’ll feel when you begin to shift will be like nothing you’ve ever felt before-”

I cut him off feeling my anger spike, “Then you’ve obviously never learned that your parents sacrificed themselves for you because that hurts like hell!.”

Woobin sharply exhales as if he can’t believe I just said that. He let’s go of my wrist like it’s made of fire but truly it’s my words that burn him. My hand drops back to my side and he takes a step away from me as he lowers his head. For a split second I swear I hear him whisper “You have no idea” but then his hard gaze returns to me so quickly that I think I might’ve imagined it. What’s that about? Did something happen that he isn’t telling me about? Wouldn’t be the first time.

When he speaks again, his voice is softer and his face grows tired,”Maybe you’re right, but don’t say that until you’ve actually completed your first shift. It’s gonna hurt a lot but it’s worth it because in the end you’ll become a werewolf, just like your parents. Even if you didn’t choose this, this is part of your heritage there is no running away from it. And hey, at least you can feel close to them in someway.” He snorts taking another step back before turning and walking away. “That’s what I tell myself anyways.”  

A few seconds pass and I find myself wondering what he means. What he truly means. Maybe I should just ask him-

“You’re emotions are hyped right now, you’ll feel angrier than you’re supposed to, sadder, more afraid. Everything is heightened because your first shift is nearing, so this is the only time I’ll excuse you for saying those things.” He looks over his shoulder at me, spitting out the words, “You don’t even know what real pain or loss is like, Dalnim.”  

If I had to describe what his aura felt like at the moment I would say... intimidating. I feel shivers run up and down my spine as his pupils flash red as if to emphasize his point.  He steps to the left, turning so he’s facing me again.“Well not yet, I guess. There will come a time when your memories come back, including those. So enjoy your ignorance while you can, some of those don’t have that luxury. “ he says in his low voice.

I swallow a lump in my throat that has formed at his words. It’s like everything he says is ambiguous and I don’t know what to believe. I think this is the first time I’ve felt fear since he told me or rather showed me who he was. I have no idea what his words mean or what his intentions are but all I know is that for the first time ever, I kinda don’t want my memories to return. If they are as bad as Woobin is making them seem, they might as well remain hidden.

Tearing my gaze away from him so I can calm my rapidly beating heart, I train my eyes on the moon, full and large as gray fluffs of clouds pass over it making it glow brighter and clearer. I inhale as I feel the moonlight soak into my skin, it’s like every cell in my body yearns for it greedily lapping it up. I look at my arm and see the tattoo start to move to completion faster now that the moon is directly on me. Maybe I’m not the only one affected by it I think looking back at Woobin.  Where he’s standing the shadows seem to shield him making him look taller and bigger the only thing visible are his piercing, glowing red eyes, more vibrant in the dark shadows.

He opens his mouth to say something when an ear piercing roar averts his attention and mine as it resonates through the woods, rustling the leaves and lifting the hairs on my neck with it’s intensity.  Kris. Without a doubt I know it is him, I don’t know how but I just do and somewhere deep within me, even though I’ll deny it later, my heart leaps in joy. But the sound is angry and full of warning and ferocity as if to say “I’m coming for you” I wonder if this is the moon’s doing also that is making him so angry.

Woobin smiles, “Took them long enough.”

“What do you mean?” I ask tearing my gaze from the direction the roar originated, long enough to look at him. Is Kris mad because I left and now he’s coming for me? No, he’s probably just made I took his jacket with me.

“I howled earlier to signal our position when you were still having the vision but they’re only here now. I knew that if you suddenly disappeared they’d come looking for you but coupled with a foreign werewolf howling they would come looking for you 10x faster. I really want them to make it in time to see you shift. If you concentrate you can hear them coming, it’ll be your first test.” I look at him incredulously not believing that he planned all of this.  

He nods, “Go on, try it. Close your eyes and try to focus on the thumping of their paws against the ground or even their heartbeats, they’re pounding just as loud. Probably because they’re getting closer to us, well to you. That’s all they care about. Drown everything else out and just focus on that.”

I do as he instructs because I want to know if it’s true, if all of them really are coming for me. It takes me a minutes until I can black everything else out but I do hear them, all six of their paws quietly and effortlessly pounding against the forest floor. They’re probably a quarter mile away traveling at 90 miles per hour, it’s fascinating but terrifying at the same time. To think I’m going to be able to do that is unfathomable.

An unexpected ache in my arm has me wincing and my eyes shoot open breaking my concentration. I look at my left arm and see that the emblem is completed. Oh no...that means-

A sharp pain in my heart cuts off my train of thoughts. It feels like someone has the organ in their hand and is squeezing it like a lemon. Clutching my chest I fall to my knees gasping in agony.What the hell is going on? Tears start to cloud my vision.

“Guess the fifteen minutes is up,” Woobin says looking down at me with a mix of concern and anticipation on his face. Not able to lift my head for too long I lower it to the ground and dig my nail that are now razor sharp claws into the hard soil feeling my nails go deeper than they should be possible. Throwing my head back I let out a deafening scream that comes out as a strangled howl as my eyes swallow up the huge luminationing orb that is causing me this torture. The moonlight seeping into my skin from earlier feels more like poison now.

The moon seems to grow larger until it is all I can see, my eyes burn as if I’ve just rubbed pepper into them and I know their pigment is no longer plain and brown.   

Woobin squats down beside me, tilting his head to get a better view of them, “Woah, you’re eyes are... yellow? I’ve never seen that before.” he says fascinated. Great, just another abnormal thing about me. I’ll just tuck that into the file with cause of parent’s death, unexplainable visions, and amnesic teen.

Laying flat on the ground I gasp for air as my organs feel like they’re on fire and every nerve in my body screams in pain but when I hear the crashing of leaves and bushes followed by low growling made by six voices my ears perk up and I turn my head in the direction. They’re here. Kris, Lay, Chen, Tao, Xiumin and Luhan, they really came for me. I try to look at them but my blurry vision from crying won’t allow it, I can barely make out the outlines of the six huge wolves I call my friends.

Before I can feel any comfort in their presence, the pain returns hundredfold and I’m left bawling like a newborn begging for someone, anyone to help me. The snarling from the boys intensifies as if they are prepared to fight and I see a black figure suddenly stand in front of me crouching low and playfully growling back. Woobin. “Just in time, misfits.Our little one here is about to shift.” He says nudging his head in my direction before stepping aside so they can see.

The growling lessens as if they can understand what he’s saying and I see one of the wolves with blondish brown fur hesitantly stride around Woobin and over to me. I know it’s Kris just by the look in his eyes and the way he walks. He nudges my face with his muzzle, letting out a sound like a purr as two of the others curiously follow behind him will the other three keep their gaze and growling on Woobin.

Just that one touch from him has me calming down a bit and I slightly lean into him, feeling the short hairs on his face tickle my cheek. But as if triggered by the whimpering probably for me I hear the dark chocolate colored wolf behind him make, Tao, I scream out in agony again.

My back arches while my spine grows and I let out a sorrowful howl, writhing in pain as every bone in my body detaches itself only to rejoin again in a different arrangement, one that follows my large wolf form. The worst part is that everything is drawn out, it doesn’t happen at once. I remember that Woobin said earlier the whole process takes an hour and this stage happens to be the longest. He forgot most tortuous.

Another scream is ripped from my throat as I bring my clawed hands to my face where an excruciating pain emanates from my mouth and nose where I feel my teeth grow viciously sharp and elongate into a snout. The torment extends to every part of my body because my skin tears apart cell by cell to allow my white fur to emerge from every pore on my body, lengthening until it covers my whole body in a coat of winter white fur. Several minutes pass while I lie panting on the ground as the last parts of my transformation are completed.

I listen to more whimpering for my sake and I hear Woobin nervously ask “Dalnim? Are you okay?”

When I manage to get up from the ground, it is clear that I am not ’okay’ because the only emotions I feel are dark and dangerous with thoughts of inflicting pain and an urge to kill. I lift my paws off the earth and use them to prop my heavy, muscle-clad body up. Standing tall as a wolf with the height and size of a bear and probably the strength. I am massive. I am a wolf, that’s what I am now. Not a Shifter, not anything close to that because that would mean there is some remains of my human self inside of me and there’s not. I have lost that part of me along with my memory, recognition, conscious and empathy.

So much so that when I lift my body off the ground, a body made for inhumane speeds, savage tasks, a body meant to kill, a snarl builds in my throat , my only agenda to attack and to terminate the life of something. The first living thing my yellow glowing eyes land on will become my prey, my victim. With my head bowed I listen to my surroundings, seven bodies filled with warm blood and beating hearts lay in close proximity to me and I smile because I have so many options.

Slowly raising my head, my eyes fall on a blondish brown wolf standing in front of me, red eyes drilling into mine. I observe him, he stands motionless just watching me but I can tell he is wary of me but also...yearning? Interesting. The aura of an Alpha surrounds him but the excitement and desire reeks off him, masking the danger and position of his status of Alpha.

A human stands by a tree but he is no concern of mine, well not yet. The pack, I’m guessing his pack, stand behind him giving off the same smell. Excitement with a tinge of wariness as they shift from foot to foot, curiosity breaming in their eyes as they eagerly watch me. That ticks me off.

The Alpha may be bigger than me but that doesn’t matter, being a newly turned wolf I’m faster and stronger. I begin to circle him as the wolves behind him follow me with their eyes, backing away to make space for me. I look each of them in their eyes, thinking they were right to be wary of me, they should fear me even more.

Turning back to the Alpha I watch as his head to the side probably wondering what I’m doing. He takes a step towards me and I growl sending him back to his place. I’ve analyzed his size and weight and how he prefers his right leg. That thing that puzzles me is how that sense of yearning and hunger he has for me seems to heighten as I circle him. Maybe I mean something to him.

Whatever it is, it makes him weak and I know I'm not the only one who notices. The human by the tree’s heart skips a beat indicating something has alarmed or surprised him but then it changes into something else. I notice how he clenches his fist . But he doesn’t matter, I focus my attention back on the alpha. I know what I am up against now.

Without any warning I take a step back, crouching low before propelling all my weight towards him watching as his face turns into something that resembles surprise while he stands frozen never even expecting it.

Safe to say my coat doesn’t stay white for long.

A/N: Updated September 9, 2014

Did that just happen...? I was hinting about a lot of things in this chapter, some foreshadowing especially when she's talking with Woobin. So I'd really like to hear what you guys are thinking about it. Yeah so Marina/Dalnim is a Shifter and a strong dangerous one! What did you guys think? Good chapter? Let me know, down below!

Love you my sweets  ( ˘ ³˘)❤ Upvote, subscribe, comment, whatever you want~