Chương 14: Not thrilled

Apryl was tired by the time that she had gotten home. She had thought she would be done once Keith had taken her paperwork and submitted it, but she had been wrong.

He had more questions that he needed to ask her and more items he put on a list that she needed to make sure that she had wither when she came back. Because of this he ended up having to ask for her phone number because she couldn't remember the home number.

Not knowing how to use a phone also meant that he had to put the information in for her. Apryl felt stupid next to a werewolf who had assimilated far better to human life than she had. It let her know that there was a long way she had to go before she'd be able to interact with other people seamlessly and not cause suspicion.

Keith didn't say anything about it of course, he just obliged her and put the information, taking his time in fact to make sure that she could watch what he was doing if she wanted to know how to do it next time herself. He also sent her a text so that she could label the contact and knew who it was if she suddenly got an unexpected call.

She hadn't wanted to tell her mom about Keith being a werewolf when she got home worried that she might get stressed out that her daughter was in a new environment near an unknown male werewolf in a place that she was not. However, her mom took it calmer than she expected her to.

"Well, I am sure if he's good around people and was nice enough to help you out this morning, he probably can't be that bad." Her mother replied. She was spending the afternoon in the room with the pups so that she could be in her wolf form and lay in a more comfortable position for her stomach. Lydia had told her that by the size of Summer's stomach, she was worried she might prematurely go into labor if she wasn't careful about what she was doing.

"I don't know. He seemed nice enough despite giving me a huge list of things that I need to get ready before tomorrow or the next day." Apryl sighed. She was playing with her younger siblings, but staying in her human form, she wanted them to get used to seeing her in a human form so that when they were old enough to start shifting they wouldn't be so scared.

She hissed though when one of her brother's bite her a little too roughly. The one downfall to being human- there was no fur for protection against tiny little teeth that were used to being able to be rough. He seemed to understand that he hurt her because he almost immediately stopped, whined, and tilted his head as he looked at her.

"You don't know any better." She told her as she ruffled his head and knocked him back over in a playful manner. He yipped in response to this and was getting ready to attacker her again until one of the other siblings bumped into him and caught his attention instead.

Looking further back in the room, she saw that Oreo and Timid were laying towards the back snuggled against each other. They were sleeping at the moment. Apryl really wanted to wake them up however as she had been trying to routinely make it her job to convince them that they would be safe to shift and that in fact, their lives would probably be more enjoyable if they did.

Standing carefully, she made her way towards them. She didn't want to scare them as they were still easily spooked when seeing her in human form as their minds registered panic before realizing who the human actually was.

She hadn't made it too close before Oreo lifted his head and looked at her with a tired look in his eyes. He growled slightly and put his head on top of Timid's back in a protective gesture. If it wasn't for the fact that Apryl knew for sure that they came from different packs before joining hers, she would swear that they were siblings with how close they were.

"Oreo, it's just me. I just got back home from college so I might have a different scent about me." She assured the wolf who continued to just stare at her tiredly. "Are you going to be willing to try and shift today. I'm in my human form and I'm sure you can see that it really isn't that bad." She tried to be encouraging, but he didn't say anything in response to her words.

"You're going to keep asking until we try?" He asked after a few seconds let out a cross between a whine and yawn as he lifted his head.

"Yes because there really isn't an option for you to stay like this for too long. We'll of course do our best to protect you while you're getting used to everything. But eventually since you came with us you're going to have to get used to be more of a human than a wolf." Apryl replied as she crossed her arms.

Oreo's ears when flat against his head when she told him this. He knew it was true, but that didn't mean he was thrilled about the idea anymore. He also knew though that the reason she was bugging him so much first was that she was sure Timid would be more willing to try and shift herself if she saw Oreo do it and nothing happened to him.

"And what if I can't shift?" He asked as he stood up carefully, he didn't want to wake up Timid who was surprisingly still asleep.

"We'll figure something out then. I'm sure that there would be some way for me to keep you two as pets if I had to. There are some dog breeds that look similar enough to wolfs that it probably wouldn't be suspicious." He snorted in response to this answer. The idea of being a pet didn't appeal to him.

"Fine. Give me a few seconds. I haven't done this in a while and I am not sure if I can accurately remember how to." He told as he stretched before stand down. He need to concentrate if he was going to do this and not think about the other wolfs in the room and what might happen if he did change into a human.

Apryl tried to be as quiet as possible and patient as she waited. She didn't want to think that he was just saying that and pretending so that she would leave him be for a while longer.

To her surprise however even though it did take him a little bit, he ended up shifting. She was quick to throw him a blanket that he could cover himself with. Wolves who could shift into humans didn't magically transform fully clothed and ready to start the day.

Looking at him in human form compared to his wolf form, he didn't look quite as old as she expected. Perhaps in his mid thirties? He retained his fur color in his hair as it was a dark red and short yet thick like his coat. He had gray eyes but his face only had a few wrinkles that showed any type of aging. Because he was sitting on the floor, she couldn't quite tell how tall he was, but she got the feeling he was on the shorter side.

"I knew that you could it if you wanted to!" She congratulated him. He hazard a glance in her direction, that submissive tendency would probably take some time to drop.

"Thanks. I'm not thrilled about this though." he replied as he wrapped the blanket further around himself. If he could maintain the shift, they were going to have to find clothes for him.

"It's not that bad once you get used to it. Even if it's just a few minutes every day, it'll get you closer to freedom." Apryl told him. Looking at Oreo in human form and seeing that he did look older than her, it felt weird that she was in a higher position of authority in the pack than he was. In the human world, he would be considered her senior and someone that she should respect not the other way around.

The transformation was short-lived however because as soon as the little ones noticed that there was another strange looking creature in the room, they got inquisitive and came over to investigate. Not having learned how to hold his human form under stress, he ended up shifting back almost immediately and disappearing under the blanket. The pups didn't scare him in wolf form, it was just the thought of sharp teeth as a human that made him feel uncomfortable.

"It's a start." Apryl told him as she picked up the blanket off him. He was back to looking displeased about the situation with his ears flat against his head. "Try to practice again later when you're on your own. If you can hold the form, you move out of here and way from these guys where it won't be so stressful to work on staying as a human. I need to go now though, there's some stuff I need to do." She gave him a little pat on the had before turning to leave the room. It wasn't much but it was a little bit of progress even if Oreo wasn't thrilled about it.

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