Short breaths.

Thumping heart.

Hot skin.

Sweat dripping.

Edan had the flu.

It was bad.

Very, very, very bad.

He sat hunched over on the mattress puking. Like he has been for the last twenty minutes. Gagging because nothing could come up. His hair stuck to his face. The shine dulled over.

Glory wanted to hold it back for him. Some of it was in the way when he threw up. Everest told her to stay away; the flu could be contagious. Even though Glory was going to eventually get it too - she didn't exactly want to rush it.

Glory gaze averted to the separate room hearing clanging sounds. Glory's eyebrows furrowed together and stared at the entrance. After a couple seconds, Everest's face made an appearance looking from Glory to Edan as he continued to gag.

"I'm going out. For a walk. Do you mind?"

Glory shook her head 'no'. She wasn't in the mood to talk. Not when Edan was in front of her puking. Keeping nothing down. She was worried. Even though they both told her it was going to pass it's just that the more he doesn't shift the sicker he got. The two explained the whole process to her. Glory was going to have to go through the same process. She already started.

Last week she has begun phase one.

The first was; suppress the will to shift. Glory had begun this step.

The second was; the flu season. As Edan and Everest called it. While their urges to shift were over. The sickness begins. The weaker the wolf. The more frequent the flu. The sooner this phase is finished. This happens because of their nature - the act of holding their wild side back is not good for them. The beast in them wants out. After finishing the first step the wolf stops fighting; it starts getting sick. Hence why they call it the flu.

They start puking. Getting high temperatures. Their wolf getting weaker unable to heal the sickness - and even get sick themselves. Sometimes suppressing the wolf like that can kill both the human and animal side of one.

The third phase is becoming human. As soon as the second phase is finished the third is brought upon you - if you survived that is. There's no ending this step. Once you go human you never go back. Most wolves turned human go insane. Everything too much to handle. The weakness. The lack of smell. The hearing loss. The human and wolf are one. After the wolf dies a part of the human dies too. There's an emptiness inside them. A hole that can never be refilled.

Most wolves can't go through this because the human part of them is not strong enough. Instead of just killing their wolf. They kill their human too. Disappearing from existence.

Everest had explained all this to Glory after Edan's flu last time. Everest gave her a choice: stay with them. Which would mean holding out on shifting and slowly turn human? Or, leave, go prancing around the woods and find her own way to live. It was a hard decision to make. Glory left the pack so she wouldn't have to mate with Avery. Not so she would lose her wolf.
She stayed anyway. Once she was human they wouldn't want her anyway. So it was a win in some aspects.

Edan finally stopped gagging and lowered the bucket of puke on the ground. Glory went to collect it - trying not to look at it. She spilled it outside - gagging. She almost threw up on the spot. She put it beside his feet. He was still in the same position from earlier. Hunched over. Breathing heavily.

Glory's heart ached at the sight. She couldn't stand to see him like that. It was breaking her.

She wanted to sit down next to him. Hug him. Kiss him. Tell him everything was going to be okay. He already knew that. He knew what he signed up for when he started this. Glory just wondered what made the two do this to themselves. She never dared to ask - Afraid it was too personal. If they asked her why she agreed to do this with them she wouldn't tell them either.

Glory wanted to get to human land. She just didn't know there was so much to it. If she had known beforehand that she would have to kill half of herself she might have never left the pack - but now thinking about it - she didn't regret it.

Yes, she missed her family. Her mother the most. She never saw eye to eye with her father. He always made her out to be weak - not good enough. He wanted her to be better. Stronger. He wanted her to be things that she could never be. He never told her she was a disappointment - no - but he acted like it. You could see he favoured Tabitha; Glory's sister over her any day.

Out of everyone Glory missed Tabitha the least. They never got along - at all. Maybe it was the age difference - maybe not. Glory didn't think so. Glory thought that if their age gap was closer then their sisterly 'love' would be even more nonexistent. They were constantly at each other's throats. Yapping about the most pointless things. As immature as it sounded; Tabitha always started everything. When Glory would complain about this to her mother she would say she's still young. Glory would day she's old enough to watch what comes out of her mouth.

Tabitha was the exact opposite of Glory. In every aspect. Tabitha was louder - cared less about what she said and who heard her speak. Glory kept more to herself and is always very conscious of her surroundings. Tabitha's been chasing males ever since she was knee-high to a grasshopper. Glory was still not interest in them - well - she's interested in one. Even their appearances were different. Tabitha had blonde hair. They weren't nearly as nice as Edan's - Edan's were more on the golden side. Whereas Glory had dark chocolate locks that were more curly than wavy. Tabitha's hair was straight as an arrow. Tabitha had a turquoise coloured eyes with long lashes. Glory had brown eyes with shorter lashes.

Glory couldn't lie and say she didn't miss her sister. There were times when she wished she could yell at her. Times she wished her sister would barge into her room without knocking. Times she wished Tabitha would blabber how hot Avery was. Glory missed those times occasionally.

Going from home a place she surrounded herself with all kinds of males and females to here. With just Edan and Everest, it wasn't difficult - it was a something she had to learn to adapt to.

While Glory mostly missed her mother's meals and her hugs - her excitement of her finally getting mated. Glory - surprisingly missed Avery the most.

She didn't start missing him until the last two weeks. Which was weird because there wasn't much to miss. The days he spent sneaking into her bedroom - staying the night waiting for the female's scent drift away ended three months before she left NightShape. Even though he had stopped seeing her he sometimes still snuck into her room and he'd stay the night. Glory didn't know why though. Her couch was much too small for him. He always refused when she offered him her bed.

The reason she began missing him that much was because of Everest. She reminded Glory a little of Avery. Her pointed looks - her love to hunt - her love of nature. Her way with words. Everest never said more than she needed to say. If she needed words to cure silence, she'd talk. If she needed words to educate, she'd speak. What got to Glory the most with her words was she always knew what to say. Her words could make you feel like you can do anything and they can make you feel small as a bug - just like Avery could.

Glory handed Edan a cup of Everest's wild rose tea. She saved it for special occasions; like now. Apparently, it had a high source of vitamin C and could help fight cases of flu and colds. Glory didn't mind that she saved it for special occasions though; the wild mint was much better.

He took it knowing she would make him take it otherwise. He took a sip barely able to lift the cup.

Glory was scared. Scared for him. His fever was dangerously high. His breathing unsteady.

"Edan. . ." She spoke softly. "Maybe you should lie down."

His hand ran through his hair. Pulling them back. Laced with cold sweat. Closing his eyes - breathing through his nostrils.

Glory took the cup of hot tea and watched him lays down on the furs. She settled the cup on the floor - he wasn't to be finishing that anytime soon. She placed a cold rag on his hot forehead hoping that would do a little to help. She wasn't a doctor she didn't know jack squat about fevers and sicknesses.

He closed his eyes breathing heavily. Where was Everest? She's always so crazy about staying home with Edan, making sure he was okay when he had the flu. Where was she now?

She tangled her fingers in his golden blonde hair.

"You're thinking too much, Glory." His voice rasped making it sound painful for him to talk.

"What am supposed to think it looks like you're about to die."

He chuckled, "I'm not gonna die."

"How sure are you?"

He lifted his hand, slowly, taking hers in his. Entwining their fingers. "Hundred percent."

Glory felt a lurching feeling in her stomach.

"Edan?" She asked silently.

"Mhhmm,"

She hesitated to ask this question, staring at their laced fingers. However, she felt comfortable enough around him to ask him. "Do you believe in mates?"

Mates were a precious topic. They weren't as talked about as they should be. When they were younger the parents were usually the ones to tell you about them. Her parents never did because she was never going to be with hers anyway. The things she did know she learned from other females. It wasn't very reliable information because everyone said something different.

What every other female did agree on was when the time came; you would know your mate was. You would know who it is after spending enough time together - if your heart was open to the idea of being with them. That made Glory think. Maybe a little too much - about Edan.

She developed a crush on him when she barely knew him. That was not like her at all. Especially since he acted like a turd early on. She developed a crush on him almost the first week if staying here while she barely glanced at the males back in NightShape. It was only intensified over time. She didn't love him - yet. But she could easily say she was getting close to it now with him always being there for her. She didn't want to overthink things but she also didn't want to underthink things.

So if Glory's theory was correct Edan was - in fact - her mate.

🐾
Thanks for sticking around even though I have bad grammar. I always read my chapters over before I publish them but for some reason, I still miss some pretty big mistakes.