Chapter 1: Transformation
640words
The night that changed everything wasn't when I was bitten. It was three weeks later, when he walked into my coffee shop.
I was closing Moon Shadow Café alone, wondering if instant ramen would be dinner again. With my art history degree gathering dust, I'd mastered the art of being broke while making lattes for others.
The door chimed despite the "CLOSED" sign.
"Sorry, we're—" The words died in my throat.
He filled the doorframe—tall, broad-shouldered, in a black leather jacket. But those eyes—amber, almost golden—made me freeze.
"Lyra Everett?" His voice was deep, commanding.
My hand instinctively moved to my shoulder, to the strange scar that healed too quickly after what I'd told everyone was a dog attack.
"We're closed," I said, heart racing.
"Three days until the full moon." He stepped inside. "You're not ready."
A chill ran through me. The nightmares, the heightened senses, the mood swings—all started after that night in Lincoln Park.
"I don't know what you're talking about." I reached for my phone. "Leave or I'm calling security."
He moved with impossible speed, suddenly right in front of me. "You know exactly what I'm talking about." He held out his hand. As I watched, his nails grew into claws, then retracted. All in seconds.
My legs weakened. I gripped the counter. "That's not possible."
"You were bitten by a werewolf, Lyra. Now you are one too."
I should have laughed. Should have called him crazy. Instead, I thought about how I'd smelled my neighbor's dinner cooking two floors away. How I'd shattered a mug when I gripped it too hard. How raw meat suddenly smelled delicious.
"Who are you?" I whispered.
"Griffin Hawthorne. North Territory guardian." He reached into his jacket, producing a photo that made my blood freeze—me, lying unconscious in the park, my shoulder torn open, and at the edge of the frame, a massive shadow, neither human nor wolf.
"The council needs to see you. They've selected three candidates."
"Candidates?" I echoed.
"To be your guardian through the transformation."
"Wait," I frowned, "so I have to choose between three men as my... what, werewolf coach?"
"Each candidate has unique abilities," Griffin explained. "The council believes female Alphas should have a choice."
"And if I refuse? If I just... lock myself up for the full moon?"
His expression darkened. "You might survive, but the pain..." He shook his head. "And there's no guarantee you wouldn't break free."
I looked around the coffee shop—my normal, mundane life—then back at this stranger who had just shattered my reality.
"I need time to think."
"You have until tomorrow night." He placed a card on the counter. "This address. Sunset."
As he turned to leave, I called out, "Why you? Why are you helping me?"
He paused at the door, those amber eyes finding mine again. "Because I was the one who failed to stop your attack. And because female Alphas are rare, precious. Some would use you for that power."
"And you wouldn't?"
Something complex crossed his face. "I have my own reasons for wanting to be your guardian, Lyra. But protection comes first."
After he left, I sank to the floor, staring at the card in my trembling hand. North Territory, followed by an address deep in the forests outside Seattle.
Three days until the full moon. A choice to make. A life forever changed.
And somewhere deep inside me, something wild stirred in response. I couldn't help wondering what the other two guardian candidates would be like, and how on earth I was supposed to choose between them.
Great. My life had officially become The Bachelor: Werewolf Edition.
---
