The Gate of Shadows

“Lilith! Wake up!” Shade nudged me with her paw, but my body refused to listen.

Everything was so sore that my body felt much like a log in a pond. However, it wasn’t long before I remembered what I was doing before everything darkened. When my eyes flew open, I found myself on the ground next to Fenris, who was out cold next to me.

Shade, the size of a deer, was by my side. The sun was slowly rising on top of us, marking the end of the blood moon. Even though my first instinct was to run and hide, I couldn’t help but worry about Fenris, who lay beside me, unmoving.

Every centimeter of his skin either had blood or dirt on him, yet there was nothing different about him. At least from the outside, the red moon hadn’t touched him, which relieved me. It wasn’t long before I noticed the dry blood on his back.

I couldn’t believe how badly I dug my nails into him. Hesitantly, I glanced at my hands only to wince, spotting the dried red liquid under them. Even though I knew he had healed faster than I could ever comprehend, my worries poured in.

I reached out to touch his shoulder.

When my skin met with him, he groaned lightly, “Arg… It’s too early, Liam. Mhm… Let me sleep a little longer.”

A giggle left my lips when I realized my wolf was fine. After remembering everything he said the night before, I kissed him lightly on his cheek, prompting him to cover his eyelids with his hand, bothered by the light from the rising sun.

Shade handed me the robe to get ready to leave, but I was planted where I was.

Just a moment… one more second.

Remembering how many times Fenris professed his love to me the night before made me ecstatic. I didn’t notice when the barrier went down, but Shade did.

“Lily... Times running out.” She tried to catch my attention, but I refused to take my eyes off Fenris.

However, something else caught her interest when she tried to nudge me.

“Oh, my… Lily... Your body.” Shade commented, pressing my thigh with her paw.

Her words snapped me away from my wolf, causing me to tilt my head at her. I still had all my limbs attached, that much I could feel.

What?

When I finally inspected myself, Alijah's words echoed in my mind.

What the actual…

The body I found myself in was unrecognizable from the night before. Even though I hadn’t wished or even tried to do so. My body wasn’t the one I had come with when the night started. Every deformity was restored, leaving me in a shell I didn’t know.

My breasts, which Stella enjoyed destroying, had volume to them. Not too much. It was a normal, slim chest, but it was new. All the deep-colored burn scars on my body were different, lightening to a shade of brown, appearing like tattoos on my body.

The rest were light enough to be mistaken for my skin, especially if seen from afar. In disbelief, I touched myself to feel it tingle under my fingers.

It’s real! How did I…

There were stories about witches changing their bodies, but that took years of learning, which wasn’t a specialty for me. Alijah said I had the power to morph myself, but I was unaware of how to accomplish it.

Nor was it on my radar of things to do. Memories of what happened arose in my head, trying to figure out how this happened. The burning sensation, blue aura, and everything that happened made no sense, but one thing remained true.

It couldn’t have come from me.

If it isn’t something I did... then... No... it must’ve been...

I glanced over to Fenris, who still slept. Usually, after a night like we experienced after the full moon, he was up and going before the sun was even out, but this time, he lay there exhausted. Leaving me to only one conclusion made me more nervous than relieved.

Did you somehow control my magic? Is this something you wish for me?

Instead of feeling relief, I could only feel shivers running down my spine. Not because Fenris desired this for me but because Alijah could do the same. If that was the case, then I was utterly useless against him.

No one could stop you.

Fenris, too, had no way to fight the black wolf. He had recently awakened to this power, while Alijah had an eternity to learn how to bend it to his will. My body trembled, realizing that man was a veritable monster.

One with no checks and balances.

Whoever was trying to bring him into this world didn’t know what they were getting into. Suddenly,

“Lily, hurry.” Shade urged me to put on the robe.

I barely had it on when she picked me up, bolting towards the bushes we had hidden in. Liam was coming to fetch the sleeping wolf. Luckily, he hadn’t noticed us when Shade quickly shrunk in size. Shade had saved me from my blunder, as this was no time to ponder possibilities.

Panicking at this moment wouldn’t help solve the problems that were arising, especially if they caught me after I had been so close to my goal. Unlike Fenris, Liam was fully refreshed when he approached his friend.

The brown wolf studied his friend before shaking his head. "So much for not doing anything humiliating." He sighed.

My wolf didn’t respond to his comment. Releasing yet another sigh, Liam crouched down towards the silver wolf before poking him on his shoulder with zero response again. Noticing something off, Liam grabbed onto Fenris, pulling him closer to him.

There, he spotted the blood on his back.

"What the fuck did you do last night?" Liam huffed.

Again, my wolf didn’t seem bothered by him.

"Oi... Wake up." The brown wolf shook him a bit.

Fenris groaned, tugging away from him. Each futile attempt to wake his friend up left him with eyes twitching.

"Oh, okay. It’s going to be like that then." The brown wolf growled, leaning into his sleeping friend.

Grabbing onto his ear, Liam pulled it a bit while the sleeping wolf appeared unbothered by the tug, too.

"Okay... You asked for it." He shrugged, gently blowing into Fenris's ear.

The action caused my wolf to jolt awake, shaking his head multiple times. Immediately, he growled at Liam, who straightened himself before crossing his arms.

"Aside from the fresh pair of eyes—you don’t look intimidating, at least how you look right now." He noted the fact Fenris was bare.

My wolf’s cheeks flushed rosy, "What? Where? Wait..." he mumbled.

It wasn’t long before his eyes opened wide, and he peered around the space, looking for something—for me. If only he knew how close the source of his confusion was.