Caged In

I pause and calm myself before crossing my arms,” I guess you’re right - not about the shift - but, it did stop whatever that was . . . but that still leaves the question: how did you know that would calm me down ?”

He smirks,” Because you have a crush on me.”

" You must have overheated and lost all 30 of your brain cells while you were struggling not to shift, don’t worry, I’ll help you find them all again someday.” I hiss,” I meant the real reason, Greg.”

" Well, I am a pureblooded alpha, sometimes I can control when other wolves shift.” He says casually.

" I am not a werewolf, so that doesn’t apply to me.”

" No.” He said.

" No ? What do you mean ?” I growled.

" You’re wrong. You are a werewolf, albeit a defective one.” He said,” That’s why I was able to help with your shifts.”

" What a long time ago that was, I do recall you insulting me while I was in unimaginable pain.”

" You wouldn’t have to be in pain if you accepted your wolf.”

" My wolf ?” I ask.

" All werewolves have one, it’s like the other half of you that makes you a werewolf. It’s like another person inside of your body that you can talk to.”

" Oh, so all werewolves hear a voice inside their heads then, great.”

" That’s not what I meant.” He groans.

" Sure, when I hear the voices, I’ll tell you and we can be insane together. Maybe we can even get matching straight jackets!” I say sarcastically.

" Wait, you haven’t heard your wolf ?”

" If you’re talking about the magical voice inside my head that you claim all werewolves have, then no, no I haven’t.” I pause,” And you wanna know why ?”

He glares at me,” Why could that possibly be, halfer ?”

" Because I’m human.” I state.

Greg snorts before laughing uncontrollably.

" What, what’s so funny ?”

" The fact that you’re an idiot.” He chuckles.

" How am I an idiot. As far as I can tell, I meet none of the qualifications to be a werewolf. I can’t shift and I don’t hear voices inside me head.” I say.

" First of all, it’s not plural, there is only one voice.” Greg sighs,” Second of all, if you’re human, why did you almost shift a couple of minutes ago ?”

" Think of it like the placebo effect. I’m around a family of werewolves who shift for the majority of my life, I see the full moon and I’m surrounded by werewolves again, my body my tricked itself into feeling the pain of shifting while nothing is really happening because it thinks shifting is what is supposed to happen when a full moon is out.”

" You’re deluding yourself, you know I could hear your bones breaking ?” He growls.

I glare at him.

" What is so bad about shifting anyway, it should feel liberating to be able to run around naturally.” He says.

" I don’t want to turn into something I don’t have control of, I hate it, Greg. I hate feeling like a stranger in my own body.” I say.

" You aren’t experiencing it right. You dread it, so of course it won’t feel pleasant to you.” Greg says.

" I don’t want to experience it! I don’t want to discuss shifting or anything else about werewolves because I’m not one.” I say,” So drop it.”

" Why is it, I wonder, that you believe werewolves are so terrible ? What did we ever do to make you instinctively reject your wolf and hurt yourself to repress what you truly are ?”

" I’m not hurting myself or repressing anything.” I say.

" If you weren’t, then you wouldn’t have been in pain earlier.” He muses.

" You looked like you were in pain when you were on the verge of shifting.” I mutter.

Greg’s face flushes red as he glances away from me,” No, that - er - what I was feeling was something . . . else.” He coughs,” But that isn’t the point. Why don’t you answer my question ? Why do you hate werewolves so much ?”

" First of all, I only detest a select few werewolves, so you should consider yourself lucky enough to be in that small group. Honestly, I just don’t want to be a werewolf and the fact that wherever I go, people assume I’m one of you and decide tell me what I am pisses me off. Oh yeah, and I don’t adhere to a system where a leader who is born into their position has complete unbridled control over his people and their corrupt class system.” I state.

" Oh, but don’t humans do that as well ?” He says.

" It’s not the same.” I say.

" How so ?” He asks.

" Humans are more civilized about it.” I say,” And they don't treat women like objects. Instead of taking their mates and forcing them into relationships, they take their prospective partners out on dates.” I say.

" We can be civil, we are just more honest about how we feel, we don’t see the need for pleasantries and fake smiles with our enemies, and we are a dying species, there’s no need for us to take our time if we are going to be with the same person for the rest of our lives regardless.” He states.

" But there’s no need for you to rush either.” I say.

" Perhaps humans are just better at hiding what they want and lying for prolonged periods of time.” He says.

Don’t talk to me about lying.

I huff and turn around.

" Lucy, I’m not trying to be the bad guy here, but the way you’re thinking isn’t healthy. You’re being closed minded about this, and your deluding yourself into believing something that just isn’t true.”

" What isn’t true ?” I ask.

" Well, you - ” he pauses as I glare at him,” Never mind.”

I puff my cheeks out as I turn to my bed and jump onto it to sit cross-legged facing away from him,” Great, then can you leave now ?”

" I’m not leaving.” He says.

" Why not, it’s not like I’ll shift, I told you I’m -”

" I’m not worried about you, you calmed me down earlier, I’m staying here to keep myself under control.” He says.

I feel a dip in the bed on the opposite side.

" I didn’t give you permission to sit on my bed.”

" I’m Sir Virgin, and as royalty, I don’t take orders, remember ?” He replies.

" If you move closer, I’ll castrate you in your sleep.” I warn.

" I know.” He mutters,” I’m only staying here until sunrise, I don’t want your father yelling at me again.”

" So you don’t have a death wish ?” I ask,” Weird.”

" There are a couple things I want to do with my life before this world can get rid of me.” He says.

There is a long silence before Greg speaks up again,” Lucy ?”

" What ?” I ask in an annoyed tone.

I feel him shift to face me on the opposite side of the bed,” So why did you end up changing the plan last minute on me ?” I don’t even need to turn around to see the irritated smirk on his face.

" Uhm . . . ”

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