"Is she awake yet?"
"Not yet, Boss."
The familiar voices drifted through my foggy mind. My head throbbed as I struggled to open my eyes.
"Kara… can you hear me?"
This time it was a woman's voice—soft and careful. Slowly, my eyelids lifted.
I realized I was back in the same bedroom where I had woken up earlier. Only this time, the room was filled with familiar faces.
"Finally," Gigi said with relief. "You scared us."
My gaze moved across the room until it landed on Rodrigo. He stood by the window with his hands in his pockets, his face unreadable.
His words from earlier echoed in my head.
You're one of us now.
"Rodrigo…" I called quietly.
Everyone's attention shifted toward us. "What do I do now?"
He didn't hesitate. "First, we prepare you for the shift."
My heart skipped.
"I know you have questions," he continued calmly. "And I will answer them. But right now, the most important thing is preparing you."
As he spoke, I suddenly noticed something strange, the pain in my ankle was gone. Like, completely gone.
I pulled the blanket away and examined my leg. The bandage was gone and bite wound had disappeared without a trace.
I gasped.
"The bite healed on its own," Gigi explained, noticing my reaction.
My gums ached faintly, and suddenly every sound around me became clearer, the distant waves from the ocean, footsteps in the hallway, even someone speaking faintly downstairs.
Everything felt… sharper and different. Rodrigo motioned for me to follow him.
We walked silently through the house until we reached a heavy metal door. He opened it and stepped inside.
I followed. The moment I entered, goosebumps spread across my skin.
The room looked cold and unsettling, chains hung from the walls, metal cuffs, and thick collars.
It looked like a prison. "What is this place?" I asked uneasily.
"A cellar," Rodrigo replied simply. My chest tightened as my eyes moved across the room.
"Why are we here?"
Rodrigo turned toward me. Up close, I noticed the dark circles under his eyes, like he hadn't slept in days.
"We're here for you, sweet Kara."
"For me?"
"Yes."
Before I could say anything else, a sudden sharp pain shot through my legs. I screamed as my knees collapsed against the floor.
"It's begun," Rodrigo muttered.
"What has?" I gasped through the pain. My bones twisted violently.
Another scream tore from my throat. Tears streamed down my face as the agony spread through my entire body.
Quickly, Rodrigo pulled me toward the wall and secured my wrists and ankles with chains.
"Stop—what are you doing?" I cried.
"This is safer for you," he said calmly. "Trust me. The pain will pass."
But it didn't feel like it would, the pain only grew worse.
My bones cracked and shifted beneath my skin. My entire body felt like it was being torn apart and rebuilt at the same time.
My screams echoed through the cellar, seconds turned into minutes, but the pain felt endless.
Then I saw it. My fingers stretched… changing into claws.
Dark fur began spreading across my arms, my eyes widened in horror.
My legs twisted and reshaped until they no longer looked human, for a moment, I couldn't breathe.
I tried to scream again, but instead…
A howl ripped from my throat.
Panic flooded my mind as I struggled against the chains, everything felt wrong. Everything felt animal.
**
Rodrigo stood silently by the door, watching.
Kara had shifted successfully.
Her brown wolf thrashed against the chains, growling fiercely at him.
"Boss?"
Zayn stepped into the room. "How is she?"
"She shifted successfully," Rodrigo replied. "But as expected… her wolf is unstable."
Zayn watched me struggle. "She's aggressive."
Rodrigo smirked slightly. "She's always been that way."
He turned toward the door. "Let's leave her to settle."
The two men walked out, leaving the cellar silent except for the angry growls and howls echoing behind them.
"Who do you think bit her?" Gigi asked later that night in Rodrigo's office.
Rodrigo leaned back in his chair.
"I don't know," he admitted.
"But whoever it was… isn't an ordinary wolf."
**
The next morning, sunlight poured through the windows of the house.
Rodrigo walked into the cellar carrying a blanket. My body lay curled on the floor.
I was bruised, dirty, and completely exhausted.
Carefully, he unlocked the chains.
After wrapping the blanket around me, he lifted me into his arms and carried me upstairs.
I woke up hours later, I was back in bed.
Fresh clothes covered my body, and someone sat beside me reading a book.
"Rodrigo…" I whispered. He looked up. "You slept all day, Miss Nox."
"Miss Nox?"
A small smile appeared on his face.
Before I could ask more questions, the door opened and the same boy from before walked in carrying a tray of food.
The smell made my stomach growl loudly. Rodrigo stood.
"I'll be in my office when you're done."
Then he left, and I didn't waste time. I devoured the food quickly before heading toward his office.
The door was already open.
Rodrigo sat behind his desk surrounded by stacks of paperwork, dressed casually for once.
He looked… normal, almost too normal for someone like him.
"I never imagined you working like this," I said.
He raised an eyebrow. "Oh? What did you imagine?"
I shrugged. "You know… guns, warehouses, drugs."
Rodrigo laughed. "You should investigate me better, Miss Nox."
He gestured toward a chair, and I sat.
"I need to make some calls," I said. "I know," he replied.
"But first… there are things you need to see."
He handed me a tablet. As I read the files on the screen, my eyes widened.
"This… this isn't possible."
Rodrigo sighed. "Kara… everything in those files is real."
"Your boss; Zach Bills and the entire ASA are not who you think they are. It seems they set you up."
My heart started racing. Then he said something that made my blood run cold.
"I also know you were r*ped."
My breath caught in my throat. "You… knew?"
"The doctor confirmed it after examining you."
Tears filled my eyes as memories of that night flooded back.
"I never saw his face," I whispered. "He was too strong… too wild. I couldn't stop him."
Rodrigo's voice softened slightly.
"It wasn't your fault. You were drugged, and no human could have fought a werewolf."
Silence filled the room, then I looked up at him.
"If what you showed me is true… then I need to see Zach. I need answers on why ASA would betray me. I have them all my five years." I exhaled, "And I need to find the bastard who r*ped … and bit me."
Rodrigo's lips curled into a dark smirk.
**
A week passed quickly.
During that time, Rodrigo helped me learn to control my new abilities.
He explained the werewolf world, packs scattered across the country, different bloodlines, and the rules that governed them.
I also learned something else. A Neotide bite could never turn a human. Only a pureblood wolf could.
Which meant the wolf who attacked me… Was something powerful.
During the day, I trained, and at night… the nightmares came.
Every time I closed my eyes, I relived that night. But the people in this house slowly became something unexpected.
A family.
Malia and the twins had also been saved by Rodrigo years ago after their school was attacked by wolves.
Gigi remained the only human among them, but her hacking skills made her invaluable.
Rodrigo had built this strange little family himself, and I also heard he was the Head of all Neotides in the city.
One evening, I sat in the living room staring at the television.
"I thought I'd find you here." I didn't need to look back.
"I smelled you from the kitchen, Rodrigo."
He chuckled and sat beside me. "One of the perks of being a shifter."
I rolled my eyes. "I never wanted this life."
"Yet here you are," he said calmly. "One of us now."
He took my mug of tea and drank from it. "Are you ready for tomorrow?"
I exhaled slowly. "I'm ready."
Rodrigo studied my face carefully. "Remember something, Kara," he said. "You're not alone anymore."
For the first time since everything happened, I gave him a small smile.
"Thank you, Rodrigo."
He stood. "Get some rest."
"Tomorrow is going to be a big day."