Chapter Text
You arrived at Forks under the cover of a low and dark sky, thunder rumbling somewhere in the distance. The thick forest surrounding the town was a lush dark green color, giving you the impression of being alone on the Earth. And to be honest, the thought wasn’t so bad.
People were the reason why you had to move out in the first place. Something happened and it left you with no other choice than packing your things, loading your truck and driving as far as you could. Or until you found the perfect place.
You didn’t really know why you had decided to do a pit stop in Forks but one thing was certain, you were hungry and your tummy noises could compete with those of the thunder in the dark sky. So you stopped at a diner and ate so much all you wanted to do afterwards was take a nap.
But you had to keep going. Keep driving until you can't anymore . But there was something about this place, Forks , it made you feel all funny inside. Made you want to stay a little longer. Like there was a thread pulling you and keeping you there.
You found a small house on the outskirts of the woods to rent. Cheap and small but it was largely enough for you. You just needed a fresh start. So you found a job, or two and began your new life. You befriended your neighbor, the chief of police. His name was Charlie, and his daughter Bella. You weren't that much older than her, so you became friends.
Some night you even went to their place when Charlie would invite you over to watch baseball on tv with his friend Billy and his son Jacob. So yeah some of your nights were as lonely as your day, some were better. Spent in good company, with genuine people. Pizza, popcorn, beer. Good evenings.
And the other nights? They were worse than the rest, lonelier and more brutal. It is during those torturous nights that you wish you could hold on to somebody. But your fear of getting close to people- either because you knew they could easily hurt you or you could easily hurt them- was holding you back from any real socialisation.
One night in particular was rougher. Thunder rolling low in the sky, rain falling slowly, the sound echoing on the roof of the house. The whole day had been excruciating, pain flaring up in your entire body, your skin felt too tight on you, you couldn’t breathe properly, every sound was louder than usual. Everything you touched felt wrong. You knew what it meant and yet your brain tried to deny it every waking second. Every cell in your body was fighting against one another.
When you couldn’t take it anymore, and you knew you’d shift at any given moment, you leaped out in the forest, thorny bushes grabbing at your skin and hair. But you didn’t stop, you couldn’t stop. You kept on running as fast as you could and screamed when the shift happened. You could feel every bone in your body snapping into place, your skin moving with them.
Your senses already heightened where exacerbated even more and you fell loudly to the ground, your body convulsing in spasms. You tried to drown out the noises by covering your ears, grabbing at your head. You screamed again and again from the pain. Praying, begging it would stop.
In your state you didn’t notice the dark silhouette watching you from a distance, half hidden behind a tree. He watched as you moved in pain, laying in the grass under the cover of the big trees. He watched as you shifted slowly, painfully. Listening to your cry of agony. He was hovering between walking away and waiting for you to reveal yourself to the rest of the pack, or staying in case you needed help. It was strange to see another struggle with their shifting. It made him feel less alone.
But suddenly you rose up on your feet, ears moving with every sound around you. And then your head ducked down again and he saw a flash of your human form covering your head with your hands. Just a flash, barely could see the colour of your flesh under the black and and dark brown fur. Then the wolf was back, the flash stopped and he heard a howl, low and painful. He could feel the pain in the tone of your voice.
You dashed deeper in the forest, paws landing heavily on the wet ground. He watched you disappear in the dark, where the moon couldn’t touch the moss covered ground. Under his wolf form he took a few tentative steps, staying silent as he walked towards the place where your shift had occurred.
Your clothes still on the ground, smelled strongly of you for his wolf senses. He heard you howling again and turned his head in your direction. Mentally telling Sam about what he had just witnessed.
The alpha arrived, cautiously sniffing your clothes. That way they could recognise you if they crossed your path one day.
-
You spend the next day in pain, curled up on your bed. The pain had persisted even after you had shifted back and retrieved your clothes. The walk back to your house annoyingly painful but alas the cold rain drenching you allowed your mind to relax a little and to cool down.
During the next few days you only wanted to skip work and stay curled up in bed. Painkillers only worked for a few hours before the pain came back again, so you quite literally looked like a junky. But you had to go anyway, the rent of the house wouldn’t pay itself.
All day your colleagues would throw weird glances your way, and whisper amongst themselves, thinking they were being discreet. But you could hear them, they hushed tones as if they were speaking of some ancient secret. You didn’t really care, all you could think about was the pain taking over your body.
You could hide it most days, but sometimes it was too much and you looked so sick people started to throw worried glances at you. One day your boss sent you home early and told you to take the reminder of the week to get back on your feet.
So you took his advice and tried to rest, but you knew there was nothing to be done. The pain would always be here.
Your doorbell brought you back to the present, it was Bella. She hadn’t heard from you in a while and was worried when you showed up looking like a sick puppy at the front door.
“Hey, what’s up? You look like you haven’t slept in days.” And you just shrugged softly. So she grabbed your hand and dragged you to her truck. you barely had time to grab a flannel jacket. She drove to the reservation, a place you only had heard of through her and Charlie and Jacob. She said it would be good to breathe some fresh air, would probably make you feel better. You doubted but indulged her.
“It’s high time you finally come visit this place and make some more friends. Besides, it's a bit lame to only hangout with single dads to watch baseball.” She said. “So you’re saying you’re lame?” You retorted, and she was happy to see that your humour was intact.
Once at the beach of La Push, she parked beside a black truck and you both walked on the sand. The silence was comfortable, and sometimes you both would talk about anything and everything. You liked Bella, it was easy to be around her even if it had been a bit awkward at first.
There was something you couldn't quite shake tho, it was a strange smell, and you could swear it was coming from Bella. But it wasn’t strong enough for you to actually identify it so you decided to let the thought go.
After some time, you both decided to sit down, using a log of wood to rest your back. You groaned while moving to sit down, Bella shooting you a weird look. You pretended not to notice her in the corner of your vision, but you could see her brow knitted together in worry.
“I know you’re a little bit older than me, but not that much,” She tried to land a joke and you only huffed a laugh, half smiling. “What’s up with you lately?” She asked still, but you could sense the hesitation in her voice.
Before you could answer you both turned your head toward voices coming your way. A group of young men and teenagers walking shirtless and barefoot and you thought it was strange, they should be cold.
But then you looked at yourself and the beads of sweat on your forehead. You would gladly take your jacket off, even though you had chosen to wear a light one, but you didn’t want to worry Bella anymore. The weather was cold for her, with a little wind picking up from the sea and the grey clouds blocking out the sun, you could see her shivering.
She stood up to greet one of the guys, Jacob and you did the same since you had been hanging out with him on occasions.
“Hey! wow,” he grabbed you by the shoulders and looked at you like you had something on your face. You stared back and smiled slowly. “Hey sorry, think i’m coming down with something.” You offered the only plausible answer you could muster.
“Jake,” One of the other guys said beside him, a weird look on his face. Jacob looked at him and then back at you. Letting his hands fall from your shoulders you could feel something in the air had shifted. A gust of wind shook around you, your hair dancing in the cool breeze and you welcomed its fresh sensation on your hot skin.
And that’s when it hit you. A very specific scent, something of pine needles and wet dog. You sniffed the air a bit more loudly than you meant to, looking around for a dog walking on the beach or something. But upon seeing nothing around you, your gaze landed back on the group of young men in front of you. They were staring at you.
A part of you knew what you had just smelled, but another part of you wanted to deny it all together. You took a step back at the same time as one of the other guys. Suddenly he looked as sick as you, or more like he was going to faint. Jacob and the two other guys looked at his friend with concern. They all exchanged glances while you and Bella hovered on the side, watching it unfold.
“Paul? You okay?” Jacob puts a hand on his friend’s shoulder and when said Paul faltered backward, Jacob and another guy caught him by the arms. And your eyes met Paul’s.
And then you felt something else. A weird warmth spreads inside of you, wrapping its tendril around your ribcage. Your breath hitched in your throat and you felt like you were suffocating suddenly, and you thought you were going to shift again, right then and there. Fear making its way to you, making you start to panic a little.
You couldn’t bear the sweat sticking on your skin anymore and took off your jacket in a swift movement, letting it fall to the ground. You didn’t care if it worried Bella, you needed to cool down. You were left in just your long sleeves. Bending down, hands on your knees to try and steady yourself while you try to breathe. And sure enough Bella gasped and almost forcefully put your jacket back on your shoulders but you shrugged it off. You took a few paces and passed your hands in your hair. You couldn’t focus on anything. All you could hear was Paul’s ragged breathing and all you could see was his eyes glued to you.
And all of a sudden Paul turned on his heels and ran away, his friends right behind him. Jacob mustered a half apology before running after them. You were left alone on the beach with a shivering Bella. You told her you should both get back home and she hurriedly agreed.
You didn’t see her for a few days after that. Not that it was the first thing on your mind at the moment. You were still feeling a little weird from the beach encounter and the sensation that had washed over you that day. And the smell. It was a distinctive smell, and you knew now that you had already smelled it around Jacob.