Pup Among the Big Dogs

I stared at Ian in shock. Did he really say what I thought he said? My parents weren't my real parents and somehow I had finally gotten to my real home? My name is Isabel? I tried to absorb everything he said in. And he said something about being able to transform into a wolf. Now I actually wanted to believe that since he had said I just hadn't been taught how to use the ability.

"Isabel Marie Madison is what they named you. Those humans striped you of your name and gave you one that said nothing of who you really are. Your mom and dad were devastated when they lost you and those humans took you. They were afraid to take you away from your life though for they wanted what was best for you. I don't really like what they decided for you because it affected me, too." He scowled and furrowed his brow, as if in a deep thought that angered him.

"Why? What do I have to do with you?" I asked, wanting to know more about the life I had been born into but taken away from.

"You were supposed to be my mate," he told me, looking not at me, but past me as if the earlier period were behind me. Well, okay so they were, if you get what I mean. "You see, when a female is born the parents choose who they think will be the best provider, caretaker, and lover for their baby girl. They chose me and I was only two at the time, but I've been alone all of these years because well, I was already given to you and no one else could have me. Sucks for me, but that's how it's been forever." He grunted and looked at me.

"Are you serious? That doesn't sound fair."

"Human traditions are different from werewolf traditions," he told me, smiling as my eyes lit up. I had heard of werewolves indeed.

"Oh my gosh!" I squealed, so happy. I jumped up and down without thinking about it. "I can't believe this! Why didn't they come find me? I belong here! I've been wanting this for as long as I can remember! Well, I didn't exactly know I wanted to be a werewolf, but you know what I mean! When can I meet my parents, Ian?" I asked him, trying to calm down but it was impossible for me.

"Well, I told them I found you—well, you found me—and they were so happy. They told me to bring you by when you woke up and were feeling well enough."

"Now!" I told him, running to the door, but I fell to the floor in pain. My arm was in pain and when I ran I swung my arms, making the surge of pain come back worse than before. He helped me up and put my arm around his shoulder.

"Maybe take it easy?" he begged and I nodded, feeling so foolish. He helped me hobble out of the house, but I knew it was hard for him since he was so much taller than me.

"Maybe there's an easier way for you to do this?"

"Yeah, but I don't know if you would be comfortable with it," he told me, sullen. I shook my head. I had a feeling I knew what it was.

"I won't be, but it'll be easier on you." He nodded and picked me up in his arms, holding me a bit too close and tightly for my taste, but I swallowed my protests and sat still as he walked around the town that was alien to me.

We came up to a house that looked like all the others and he just walked in like he lived there. There were obviously many different customs here. Had they never heard of the courtesy "knock before entering someone's home"? He leaned against a wall and held me against him so I didn't fall, or that was his reasoning for it at least.

"I've got Isabel," he said in his inside voice. I was surprised they could hear him, but immediately a woman darted into the room, tears in her eyes.

"Isabel?" she asked, touching my cheek. I smiled softly. I'd have to get used to being Isabel and not Renee. "I've missed you so much, baby." Her tears were overflowing now as she wrapped her arms around me, somehow allowing Ian to keep me leaning on him with his arm around my shoulder.

What was I supposed to say? How could I have missed her when I never knew her? "I would really like to get to know you" I settled on. She nodded.

"Please, let us sit." She led Ian and me into the center of the front room and we took a seat on a couch, if that's what it was. It was comfortable despite the disagreeable look of it. Ian kept his arm around my shoulder and I leaned my head on him. She left for a second, probably to fetch my real father.

"What do you think?" he asked me, looking around.

"I feel, well, I don't know. I suppose relieved, excited, and a bit anxious."

"Don't worry. I can show you how to live a day in the life of a werewolf." I smiled and then a man whom I assumed to be my dad followed my mom into the room.

"Hello, Isabel, darling," he said, smiling widely. "I'm your dad, Gerald. Your mom is Kristine." How strange it was being told who your dad and mom were.

"Hello, mom. Hello, dad," I said, trying it out for the first time since ever since I never really go to say that to my old parents either. I liked it.

"I suppose we all have a lot of catching up to do, especially since you're with an entirely new race of people now. I have to tell you, there are many different customs from what you're used to," my mom told me. I was dreading this conversation already. That meant there would be change: and lots of it.