A Wolf Like That

“Okay, let’s just back up for a minute!” Hanna had been burning a hole in the floor from her pacing she had taken up after Ali’s confession, “You’re an honest to God werewolf?”

“Well, we prefer shape-shifter.”

“So, there are werewolves in Rosewood? How long have there been werewolves in Rosewood?”

“For as long as I can remember. My mother was the first ever female to phase, and the first Alpha of my tribe. I’ve basically grown up around them.”

“Wait, Mrs. D was a werewolf!?” Aria and Spencer joined Hanna this time, all three girls more shocked about that bit of information than what Alison had told them moments before.

“Hanna, take a deep breath and calm down,” Emily chimed in, she still had a steady hand resting on the back of Alison, feeling the heat from the blonde radiate off of her and up her own arm. “Ali will answer as many questions as she can, but you need to stop freaking out.”

“Alright, okay,” She walked back over to the love seat, basically falling onto the chair next to Aria, “So wolf girl, enlighten us.”

Alison filled them in on everything she had already told Emily, told them about the Fury tribe and the danger that they were in. Emily brought up the fact that she had been patrolling non-stop for the past month, and said that they would have to figure out an easier way for Alison to protect them all. The blonde went on to mention how Noel was turning the tribe into murderous and mindless killing machines with a fine toothed comb, Alison told them that if she didn’t do something soon, she would lose the pack all together.

She even gave them a brief history lesson of the tribe, talking about the past Alpha’s and how the pack is connected telepathically with each other. Per Hanna’s request, Alison talked about phasing as well, the other blonde trying to wrap her mind around the matter. There had been a pained gasp when Alison told them that when they phase they lose their clothes, all heads turned to Hanna as she clutched her chest.

“You can never phase when you wear designer clothing!”

The conversation lulled, Alison looking over at the other three girls as they pieced all the information that she had just given them together. She looked up to Emily, who still hadn’t stopped rubbing soothing circles onto her back.

“You’re doing great,” Emily smiled down at her, wanting desperately to lean forward and kiss her. She wanted to tell her that everything was going to be okay, that they would figure this all out. She’d be lying. Emily was way more terrified than Alison. The blonde smiled back up to her, before her head snapped back towards the girls as Spencer spoke up.

“Ali, can I ask you something?”

“Sure, Spence.”

“You talked about the first phasing being… violent,” Alison noticed the shift of Spencer’s attitude, almost like she didn’t want to bring up the next thing she was going to say. “How was your first time?”

Alison’s face fell, the memories of so long ago being drudged up. She had tried so hard to block out all the horrifying things she did that night. Even now Alison could hear his screams, she was still woken up at night from the nightmares, his face flashing violently in front of her.

“Bloody.”

“Ali… you don’t have to talk about it,” Spencer sensed the air in the room change, it had become almost suffocating. The other girls shifted in their seats, their faces remaining fixed with worry.

“I was fifteen when I first phased. I knew that it was going to happen eventually, in the weeks leading up to it I had become quicker to anger and lose my control. The arguments I had with my mother were so explosive, I was amazed I didn’t shift after one of them.”

“It was the night that I went missing, I’d just finished seeing Ian and was making my way back to the barn to wait for a message. I never got there, one of the boy toys that I had met in Cape May that summer found me first. We fought. I- I lost control. The shift happened, a- and he ran. I chased him down, I can still remember the feeling of tearing into him. I, I killed him.”

Spencer had a hand clasped around her mouth, her eyebrows furrowed and a shocked expression presented on her face that mimicked the rest of the girls. “Ali, I didn’t. I’m so sorry to make you remember that.” The blonde shook her head, before continuing on.

“Mom found me in the woods, blood dripping from my mouth and coating my fur. I was animalistic and bloodthirsty, when you first phase you lose your mind. Literally. It wasn’t me that night, the wolf took a hold of me and rampaged. Mother guided me through the rest of the phase, letting me hunt and kill, tear up trees and such. I phased back just after midnight, we headed home, Mom had gone inside to fetch me some clothing. I was still distraught about everything, so she had left me alone, that’s when Charlotte came and ‘killed’ me.”

“Did the police ever find out who killed him?”

“No, Mom had a good way of hiding things she didn’t want getting out. I assume she had the pack get rid of his remains, and probably made up some elaborate lie about him overdosing at a party.” Tears had pricked at Alison’s eyes, accompanying the ones that had already flowed down her face, and fallen onto her top. She had never told anyone about that night, and talking about it had probably been the hardest thing she would ever do. It still scared Alison to this day how violent and feral she had been that night, she knew that it was just the first phase, knew that her mom had told her it would never happen again.

She couldn’t shake the fear that what would happen if she lost control like that again.

--

“I am really sorry to have made you talk about that Ali,” Spencer said as she snuggled the blonde in closer to her body, wanting to shield her from the world and all of this. Emily could tell that the brunette had regretting bring up the conversation, knew that she had put a damper on the rest of the evening.

“It’s fine, Spence. Really.” The blonde smiled up at the girl, pulling away from the hug and almost gliding back to Emily’s side melting into the brunette.

“Guys, please make sure you are careful getting home. I’m not patrolling tonight, this one is making me take a night off.”

“So you should, you look like shit Ali,” Hanna said as she turned to walk to her car, throwing a wave over the back of her shoulder.

“Well, I think I’m going to do some late night shopping and order some bars for my window,” Aria said as she hugged the two girls, the playful demeanour of the girl making the others laugh at her joke. Moments later, it was just the two of them as they watched the red lights disappeared down the street, leaving them alone in the night breeze with nothing but the stars and silence to accompany them.

“I better go too.”

“Em.”

“Yeah?”

“Will you stay with me tonight?”

Emily’s mouth opened and closed, almost lost for words. She flashbacked to the night that Alison had asked her that same question, it had come from a place of fear and loneliness. The brunette couldn’t say no, she had never been able to say no to the blonde.

“Yeah, of course.”

--

“That was just Hanna, she wanted me to know that she and Aria got home safe.” Alison said as she walked back into the master bedroom, seeing Emily rummaging through one of her bedroom drawers. “You looking for something?”

“I didn’t bring clothes. Do you, uh, still have those navy blue ones I left here?”

A smile came over the blonde as she walked over to a different dresser, opening the top draw as she dug around the contents. She retrieved navy blue pineapple pyjamas that Emily had left all those years ago, after their night together. Alison had meant to get rid of them during the five-year gap, and she had, almost. She would get so close to tossing them out, but she could never push herself to do it. It felt like if she did, she’d be throwing away a crucial part of her past.

She clutched them closer to herself before walking back over to Emily, handing them over with a somewhat pained smile, her decisions of the night morning dawning on her. She’d never felt such regret about her own actions.

“I can’t believe you still have them.”

“Em. I never had the heart to get rid of them, not after…”

“Hey,” Emily dropped her clothing on the bed before stepping closer to Alison, the two almost standing on each other’s feet as the brunette raised her hands to cup her face, “You know, that was probably the best night of my life.”

“It was the best of mine,” Alison absent-mindedly leant into the brunette’s touch, relishing in the cold of Emily’s fingers against her face. Silence fell over the two of them, both of the girl’s content to just lose themselves in each other’s eyes. Alison brought her own hand up to cup the one Emily had resting against her face, before breaking the silence. “I’ve missed this.”

“Yeah. Me too.”

“I missed you.” Alison sighed.

Emily’s face crack into a 100-watt smile, as a few tears pricked the corners of her eyes. It was almost like she had been waiting patiently for the blonde to say that for years, had waited for the confirmation to the unanswered question of so long ago. Right now, in this moment, Alison wasn’t playing any games with her. She wasn’t being led on only to be rejected. Emily hadn’t seen the old Alison for years, and she knew that what she was about to do next wouldn’t be thrown back in her face like old times.

The brunette surged forward, capturing the girl in a kiss that was long overdue. Emily ran her fingers deeper into Alison’s hair, tangling them into the wild curls as she pulled the blonde closer to her. A moan trickled from Alison as they broke away, her eyes fluttered open to catch Emily’s brown orbs looking back at her, her pupil’s darkened and so very easy to get lost in. Alison pulled her back in this time, nibbling on her lip before gaining entrance into the brunette’s mouth.

The two of them stumbled back to the bed, Alison firmly pushing the girl down before stepping between her legs. Emily snuggled her head into the blonde’s chest, relishing in the warmth that radiated from her, and the feeling of safeness that washed over her as Alison snaked her arms around her neck placing soft kisses to the top of her head.

“Can we just stay like this forever?”

Alison laughed at how muffled the girl sounded, the vibrations from it making Emily smile into the girl’s chest, “What?”

Emily raised her head, bringing her hands up to curl around each of the blonde’s thighs, pulling her closer. “Can we stay like this forever?”

“Of course, for as long as you want,” Alison bent down to lay a few open mouthed tender kisses to Emily’s neck, suckling for a short while as she did so. “But, it’d be comfier if we both laid down on the bed.”

“Are you trying to get me into bed before you’ve even taken me on a date?” Emily scoffed.

“I’d never,” A smirk plastered on Alison’s mouth as she laid a hand on Emily’s chest, pushing her down on the bed and crawling on top of her. The blonde smiled once again when she found Emily’s sweet spot, as the brunette let out a low moan and dug her nails into the back of Alison’s shirt.

--

It was nearing midnight and Emily still couldn’t get to sleep, she was currently wrapped around Alison, her arm draped across her bare torso and absent-mindedly drew circles on her stomach. She had been in and out of sleep for the entire night, her mind plagued with the thoughts of what tomorrow would hold. Flashbacks of the next morning after their first night together flashed through her mind, haunting her like a bad movie you couldn’t unsee.

She stretched her arm out, expecting to curl into the body that had been there just moments ago, but was welcomed with empty space. Emily opened her eyes, sitting up right as she pulled the covers around her naked body. Last night had been a dream come true, she had relished in how it felt to finally be with her high school love. She’d fallen in love with every moment, and had fallen even deeper in love with her at every moan or writhe of ecstasy.

Emily smiled to herself, touched her bruised lips gently savouring the memory of it all. She shook herself out of the daze that she was in and got up to get changed, letting the sheet drop from her body.

“Knock, knock.”

“Yeah, uh, hold on,” Emily scrambled to put her jeans on, buttoning them just as the blonde entered the room.

“Morning,” Alison greeted her, placing her own coffee down on her bedside table and moving over to hand Emily’s hers. The brunette thanked her, taking a sip before stepping closer and pressing a kiss to Alison’s lips.

“Em,” The blonde pushed away, the same tone of voice echoed through Emily’s mind and it dredged up memories from the past when Alison would play with her feelings. She hoped to whatever God, that she wasn’t doing the same.

But, she was. Emily didn’t hear much other than that last night was a mistake, she had been scared and lonely. Mistake, it rattled around her head. What had she possibly thought would happen? That Alison would welcome her with open arms in the morning, ready to hop on a pride float and say that she was her girlfriend. Of course not, Alison was the master at using and abusing people, Emily knew this better than anyone else.

It had all just been one of the many games she played. Nothing more.

Emily left with tears in her eyes that morning.

“Ali.”

The blonde hummed in response, shifting slowly so she could face the girl. Alison slid her own arms around the brunette’s body, pulling her closer so she could snuggle into the crook of her neck, placing lazy kisses on the warm skin.

“You never told me why that wolf was after me that night.” Emily felt the blonde go rigid. Alison’s breathing caught in her throat as she stopped the patterns she had been tracing on Emily’s exposed back.

“I never told you, because, it’s a hard topic to bring up,” Alison met the brunette’s eyes, the worry in her own face evident to the girl. She had given up trying to hide her feelings from Emily, knowing that she knew her too well for that to work anymore.

“Babe, what is it?”

“Well, there’s a reason that we always find our way back to each other. When shape-shifter’s come of age, after the first phase, we are able to imprint on people-”

“Imprint?”

“Yes, we imprint when we find our soul mates. When it happens, it’s like our eyes are finally open. Like everything before that moment had been in a haze, and we had been muted to the way the world was actually meant to be experienced in.”

The blonde stopped herself, and Emily could tell she was thinking of what to say next, could swear she saw the cogs in her head turning and ticking along.

“It’s not like movies, where it’s love at first sight. Not really. It’s more like, gravity moves without you, like Earth no longer has any part of keeping you here. They do. And everything else pales in comparison to them.”

“Ali, why are you telling me this?” Emily had a good idea why she had just been informed of this, but needed the verbal confirmation. She refused to let her hopes run wild, although the nagging at the back of her mind was a constant scream of what the blonde would say next.

“Em, you’re my gravity”