"What??!" I screeched, completely caught off guard by what they had said.

With morning light filtering through the curtains, the boys all stared at me as I was lying on the bed, my calves still bandaged tightly, though they weren't hurting anymore. Nothing was making sense in my mind; I still didn't even understand why there had been coyotes or a maned wolf in the territory, and now they were trying to convince me that they thought I had somehow shifted into a wolf and defended myself more than well enough.

"This is some sick joke, right?" I asked, eyeing Lay, Luhan, and Chen, who were all standing near to the door, before my gaze shifted to Kris, who was standing right next to the bed. "This is some ridiculous prank and one of you is gonna yell, 'Gotcha!' at any second. Right?"

The last word hung in the air for several moments as none of them were quick to answer my question. And although I wanted to completely scoff at their idea and claim it was impossible, there was a small, nagging voice at the back of my mind telling me that it was completely logical.

Finally, Kris decided to speak up. "It's the only thing we can figure. None of our theories could possibly play out with all the things we checked out." I knew I still had a look of disbelief on my face because he turned to the boys, and I guess he gave them a certain look because they all hesitated for just a moment before exiting the room, leaving me to talk to Kris one on one.

"Remember what abeoji said to the both of us on Friday? About how you were completely different from anything I could have expected?" I nodded slightly, and he expanded on his question. "At first, I thought he was just talking about how I would feel about you, because if that was the case, he was completely right. But I think this is what he meant; I think he knew that you're a shifter like us."

I felt my face growing warm as I realized that what he was saying made sense, however much I wished it didn't. I dropped my gaze to my hands in my lap as I felt tears beginning to well up in the corners of my eyes, and the last thing I wanted was for him to see me so emotionally unstable.

"Look at me, Elle," he whispered, cupping his hands around my cheeks as he scooted closer to me on the bed. He gently lifted my face so that I was staring into his dark, handsome eyes, and he murmured to me, "It's gonna be okay. I promise."

I tried to nod, but I could feel the tears beginning to stream down my cheeks. Kris caught this, and he only hesitated for a moment before leaning toward me and placing a kiss on my forehead. But once he was that close to me, there was no holding back what we had both wanted the night before; he moved back for only a moment before his lips were on mine, gentle and full of passion as well as emotion that we had both been hiding.

He didn't kiss me for long, knowing that there were more important things we needed to be concerned with, and when he had pulled away, he called Lay back into the room to look at my wounds and replace the bandages. I had been avoiding looking at the gauze up to this point, but I did so now, seeing all of the red liquid that had seeped into the material, my blood. The thought alone made me nearly vomit.

Kris held my hand as Lay used a pair of medical scissors to cut away the gauze, and he did so as carefully as he could manage, afraid that he would irritate the wounds underneath. I didn't watch his hands as he removed them, but his face changed as he did, his eyes widening in shock and disbelief. When he had completely removed them from one leg, I forced myself to look down at it and nearly cried out in surprise.

My leg was criss-crossed with thin scars, but not a single open wound was left on my skin. The scars were still dark pink, showing that they had obviously been recent and severe, but there was no way they could have been inflicted only hours before.

Lay raised his eyes and looked me in the eyes before saying, "Elle, this all but confirms it. Only shifters can heal this quickly."

"We need to go talk to abeoji," Kris replied, his tone serious and thoughtful. "Right now."

~

After Lay had cut away the bandages, Kris helped me off of the bed, and I final noticed that I was dressed in different clothing; basketball shorts that hung down past my knees and a black t-shirt that nearly swallowed me up. I looked up at Kris, searching for an explanation for my unknown wardrobe change.

His cheeks immediately flushed a light pink as he opened his mouth. "You, uh, were already asleep when we got back here last night, and I didn't want to leave you in your clothes since they were bloody and ruined. So I, um, cleaned you up, and, uh--"

"Thank you," I whispered, stretching up on my toes to give him a peck on the cheek. "It means a lot to me."

He gave me a small smile in response before grabbing my hand and leading me out of the bedroom. We walked down the stairs without passing any of the other boys, and I wondered what they were busy doing.

The hall to abeoji's room didn't feel the same as it had when I had first been brought there. It seemed darker and more eerie now for some reason, but I had no idea why it felt that way to me. Kris knocked on the door, probably the same way he had before, but something I couldn't place still made it feel more urgent, almost distressed.

The old man answered the door before Kris's arm even dropped back to his side, as if he had been waiting for us, and I could almost imagine that he had been. He was silent as he ushered us into the room, sunlight trying to break through the dark shade of his heavy curtains. At my side, Kris was extremely tense, and I could sense him clenching and unclenching his fists.

Abeoji must have noticed this as well because he rasped, "Calm yourself, young alpha. The captives are in another room; they will be nowhere near the two of you."

Kris nodded in response while I stood next to him, wringing my hands anxiously, unsure of what else to do.

"I know what you have realized and why you are here. And I can confirm it with little trouble, if you'll allow me to ask you a few questions, Ms. Elle."

I barely bobbed my head in a nod, having no idea what to expect from him. Kris inched a little closer to me and placed his large hand around mine, trying to comfort me and give me support.

"Tell me of your heritage. Where does your family come from?"

I was caught off guard by the question, if anything, and I hesitated for a moment before forcing out the words that I knew I needed to say. "Um, Northern Ireland on my dad's side, and my mom's ancestors were Native Americans. I think she told me it was either the Creek or Cherokee tribe."

Abeoji shook his head, a bemused look on his face, before replying, "Neither, as a matter of fact. I expect that your family comes from one of the many unnamed tribes of Native American werewolves that populated this continent before many of them were wiped out by diseases from settlers." He paused for a moment, tapping his chin as he thought something through. "As well, there are pockets of packs in the United Kingdom and Ireland and that part of your bloodline could very well have come from wolves as well."

Feeling a bit panicky now since it was seeming to fall into place, I asked, "But wouldn't I have known something about it before now? Surely at least my family would have known something."

Abeoji nodded calmly and replied, "It is true that it is surprising that you have had no contact with this part of you before now. But I've heard rumors that the Native American wolves had females who did not show their shifter sides until they reached or were through puberty and only when around male wolves that are likely to pass on the shifter gene. It is likely that this has been the case with you." He paused, reading the obviously terrified look on my face and continued, "However, this is not the end of the world. You are lucky enough to have a pack to take you in and teach you the ways of the shifter, and it seems to me that you have had no problems up to this point finding a niche within the group."

I swallowed hard, thinking about how this could alter everything I had been planning for my future, my time with my family and friends; all of it would have to be pushed back, or so I thought anyway. However, abeoji seemed to read my mind before the thoughts were even fully formed in my head.

"You will still be able to live with your parents on occasion, but only after a period of staying here since we'll have to keep an eye on you. After all, new wolves are the most unpredictable, and even the slightest change in your emotions could cause you to shift. On the other hand, school won't change, and you can still maintain a social life."

I felt myself nodding, seeing the logic in his reasoning, and I was able to calm my nerves a bit. Kris released my hand and moved it around my shoulders so that he could press me to his side, a gesture that was extremely comforting on top of abeoji's words.

"I will see to all of the arrangements personally. You can stay in the room that you have been in, and I will have a plan for your wardrobe sometime this afternoon. Once that's set up, you can make a trip to your house to get any belongings that you think you may need. Other than that, you may begin familiarizing yourself with the life of the pack."