GINGER On Friday evening, I came home to Paige and Heidi both staring at me from the kitchen table. "Don't you dare run!" Paige got up and I swear she was ready to use one of her warrior moves on me. "Goddess, okay! I'm here!" I replied. "Now sit." Paige pulled out a chair and gave me a hard stare. Damn, she was actually pretty good at giving a warrior look. Did she learn that in training? I rolled my eyes and plopped myself down. Heidi didn't say a word. Her whole posture was stooped and her chin trembled. Served her right. Paige started, "I'm disappointed with both of you." "Disappointed with me?" I shouted. "What have I done? Besides defend myself against Heidi's slut shaming? Especially when she was the one that was slutting it up all along, acting like she's Miss Innocent!" "Gigi," Paige warned. "It's okay, I deserve it," Heidi spoke up, her voice cracking. "I'm sorry, Gigi. I shouldn't have been as mean as I was." "You're only sorry because you got caught," I snapped bac

GINGER "Ommm," Tyce said in an exaggerated way as he sat next to me in a lotus position. "Tyce, you're not even trying!" I pushed on his arm. "How do you know?" "Because it's obvious!" He snickered. "Tyce! You're killing me! I'm doing this for you." "I did something for you too." He gave me a huge smile. "What did you do?" I asked. "And it better not be anything sexual." He moved closer and took my hands in his. "I know this meditation thing is really important to you, so I've actually been working really hard at it, outside of when you and I meet up at night, because, let's be honest, I'd rather be doing something else with you." "I don't believe you." I pulled my hands out of his and crossed my arms. "I'm being honest. I have. I don't want to be out of control of my wolf. I'm taking my job as alpha really seriously now. That's why I've been doing everything I've been doing with helping Blake with his pack, getting injected with the wolfsbane, and now meditating every day,

GINGER I woke up the morning of the full moon, my stomach already wheezy. I thought last time it was now or never, but this time it was really now or never. Trying to keep my mind off it, I crawled over to the cage sitting on the floor of my room. "Good morning, Splinter," I said to the brown rat, opening and pulling him out of the cage. I let him climb onto my shoulder as I added pellets into his food bowl. I'd gotten him over the weekend and had already fallen in love. He was just so darn cute and fun to watch. Recalling how Tyce had destroyed the chipmunk in the woods, I began to hesitate about the idea of introducing him to Splinter. Tyce was lethal as a wolf, and I wasn't ready to watch him pulverize my new friend. I put Splinter back into his cage, and then changed out his water bottle. This was now quickly becoming my morning routine. My parents weren't thrilled about the new addition to the family. Paige tried to meet him, but it was as if he could sense the predator insid

TYSON Fuck, I was panicking! Gigi flailed against me, bruising every part of my body as she smashed against it. Her screams may as well have been swords with how deeply they pierced and agonized me. I used every bit of strength I had to hold her and keep her with me, not allowing her to drop to the ground. I didn't know what to do. Was she transforming or was she dying? I had first shifted not long before I turned twelve. The first time was always painful. My bones ached and it felt like another being had possessed me as my body went through the process, forcing me to change from human to wolf, my bones popping into new positions, my teeth and nails growing into weapons, and fur sprouting from every pore of my skin. But it wasn't anything like this—her pain was clearly on another level. I groaned, doing my best not to let her go, tensing and using every muscle in my body. I didn't know how much more strength I'd have to keep holding her. She finally went limp in my arms, and I cr

GINGER I closed my eyes and transformed, my bones unsnapping and snapping back into place, fur tingling as it sprouted from my skin. I hesitated. Did I want to see myself? The description of demon wolf scared me. Was my wolf really that terrifying? I finally opened my eyes. I couldn't help but whimper at what I saw. While my face seemed okay, and I could see alright, my eyes had an eerie, clouded over appearance to them. I turned to get a look at my torso and whimpered at the sight of the bones of my ribcage sticking out from my skin, hollowed out, my organs able to be seen through my bones. Bile rose to my throat and I began to gag at how horrifying it was to see my innards revealed like that. My skin was broken in patches throughout my body like this, including on two of my legs. I whimpered. I got my wolf back, but she was exactly as Tyce said—a wolf that had risen from the dead, as if I were in a horror movie. I couldn't go out in public like this. I looked over at Splinter w