Decisions or Fate

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Here's chapter two of Decisions or Fate. The name of the story will come into play later in the story. Once again this chapter involves more character development but I promise, I spiced it up quite a bit in chapter three and threw in a few surprises too. And as always I'd like to apologize ahead of time about my grammar, I tried. Well, I hope you enjoy!

Miss Wolfy

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"What in the world were you thinking, Asreyel?" Karena screamed from the front room, "we can barely provide for ourselves and you brought some beaten up little girl in our house! Did you even call the police?" Karena asked, the anger rolling off her in waves.

"No, I haven't called the police. At the time the most important thing seemed to be making sure she was safe. Which by the way, I need to go check on her."

"Oh no, you don't. Sit down, she's fine, Aerials watching her," Karena stated blocking the entrance to the narrow hallway leading to the back room. "I don't think you realize how serious this is. That could be someone's child you took."

"What do you think I'm trying to do? Kidnap her? Come on, Karena, lets be real for a minute. The girl was crying out for help in the middle of the woods. I helped her! Are you trying to tell me you would've left her there?" Asreyel accused.

"I-I don't know what I would've done. But Asreyel we can't help her when we can't help ourselves. We have to call the police before we get mixed up in more mess than we are already in," Karena reasoned.

"I understand Karena, just give m-" Asreyel stopped short when the little girl peeked her head around the corner.

The little girl shyly came completely around the corner with Aerial closely following. Then suddenly she ran over to Asreyel hiding behind her leg.

This shocked everyone in the room especially Asreyel considering she knew nothing of this girl. Perhaps she was mistaking her for someone else, Asreyel thought to herself.

"When she finally woke up she hopped right off the bed and came out here," explained Aerial.

They all looked back at the little girl before Asreyel knelt down beside her causing the little girl to let go of her leg.

"Hi, sweetie. I'm Asreyel, I met you earlier. That's Karena and Aerial. Can you tell me your name?"

"I'm Melanie, you're just like me," she told Asreyel before breaking into a huge smile.

"She said the same thing to me earlier, I don't know what she means," Aerial confessed them.

"That's a beautiful name, Melanie. But what do you mean they are like you?" Karena finally stepped forward to speak to her.

"Not just them, you're like me too. We're all special."

They all eye-balled each other signaling their confusion as to what was going on.

"You're right Melanie, we are all special. Can you tell me how you ended up in the woods? Or how you were hurt so b-" Once again Asreyel was stopped short by this little girl. Her once bruised and scarred body was completely healed. Not one mark could be seen on her body. "Melanie, your scars, they are gone!" Asreyel exclaimed.

The little girl, now known as Melanie, giggled with joy at the acknowledgment, "I told you I was special. You guys are too," she repeated as if she shared the greatest secret in the world.

Melanie must've noticed our startled looks because she hesitated, "did I say something wrong? I'm sorry. I won't do it again, I promise," she explained with her eyes tearing up.

"No, sweetheart you didn't do anything wrong," Asreyel said gathering her in her arms, "we're just a little confused that's all. Do you think you could answer some of our questions?" She asked tickling Melanie's stomach a little.

Giggling she agreed, "yes, I can try!"

"Alright, so can you tell me where your mommy and daddy are?" Asreyel started as she brushed the little girls hair.

"My mommy and daddy are gone," Melanie whispered quietly.

"Where did they go, honey?" Karena asked tenderly, surprising them all.

"He killed them. He attacked us when we were trying to escape. My daddy tried to fight them but there were too many and they were too strong. My mommy hid me in the woods then ran off to lead them off my trail. But they got my mommy. I can't feel her anymore. My mommy and daddy are gone," she sobbed before burying her head in Asreyels shoulder.

All three girls had the same question running through their heads.

Who was it that killed her parents? More or less, why did they kill them?

"Okay sweetie, you're safe now. Remember? We will protect you. But I have a big girl favor I need to ask you to do. Can you go in my room and under my bed should be a box of old dolls I used to play with. Can you pick the prettiest one out for me and bring it to me please?" Asreyel requested while lifting Melanie's head to look her in the eyes.

"Oh boy! Yes, I can find them!" She announced with a huge smile on her face again before running to the back room.

Once alone Asreyel turned to the girls, "I know what you're thinking. This is more serious than I thought but you heard her, she's all alone, we can't just leave her," I tried to explain.

"I agree," Karena said before sighing, "I say we give it a couple days, keeping an eye on the news. Something like that would have to be in the news. I mean, not all the parts of her story made sense but I understand she's only six, well heck we don't even know that. I don't want to chance reporting it and someone comes trying to snatch her."

"Wow Karena, you're actually showing signs of having a heart," Aerial teased while heading over to the kitchen.

"Haha, so funny Aerial," Karena said with a smile. "But I can't help thinking that that whole 'I can't feel her anymore' thing holds more importance than we think," Karena said plopping down on small couch in the main room.

"Yeah me too, but I guess all in good time," Asreyel assured before heading back to check on Melanie.

"Well, a temporary member added to the family, that's exciting. Children are so precious," Aerial chimed in happily from the kitchen where she was beginning to prepare dinner.

"Yes, she is precious. I just hope nothing bad becomes of all this," Karena stated more to herself than anyone else.

Later that night after getting everyone cleaned up and finding a shirt that acted as a dress for Melanie, we decided to camp out in the living room on a makeshift mattress.

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Over the next few days nothing came over the news about any deaths or a missing little girl. The girls began to wonder if maybe they should just report the case just to be safe. But in that short period of time Melanie somehow was able to wrap herself around the hearts of each of us.

We did find out though that she was five and a half years old almost six in November. Every time we'd ask about her healing though she'd just respond by saying she was special. And anything regarding her family was still unknown.

"Melanie, how do you like your eggs?" Asreyel asked Melanie who sat at the table excitedly awaiting her breakfast that morning.

"Scrambled please!" She yelled over a bunch of giggles.

Strolling in the main room, Karena greeted, "good morning, Asreyel. Good morning, Mel."

"Good morning, you're quite chipper this morning," Asreyel joked with a smile.

"Hmm, I just have an interesting feeling about today," Karena said while putting on her shoes.

"Are you going to work already?" Melanie asked with a frown.

"Yes, Auntie Rena is going to work to bring home money for food to eat," Karena explained pointing to the plate of eggs Asreyel just sat down.

"Oh, I love to eat Auntie Rena," Melanie exclaimed with her mouth full of eggs.

"We know," Asreyel and Karena responded together laughing.

"I should be back before your shift starts, if not, Aerial will be on her way," Karena told Asreyel stuffing a piece of bacon in her mouth.

"Alright."

"Aerial lets go! We can't be late. Gosh, I hope Cams not here today," Karena mumbled to herself.

"I don't like that man, Auntie, he makes you guys scared," Melanie said coming to stand next to Karena.

"I know honey. But we will never let him hurt you," Karena promised placing a kiss on her head before heading to the door with Aerial.

Karena only had the door opened a bit before five large men busted in the apartment.

"Who the hell are you?" Asreyel fired off at the intruders, coming from the kitchen as Karena ran over to pick up Melanie.

"You have no authority to ask questions right now. I suggest you just have a seat and do as we ask and we'll have no problems," one of the men answered.

"No authority! Who the hell do you think you are? This is our house and we will do what we damn well please. I suggest you and your gang skip on out of here before I call the police," Asreyel threatened infuriated.

"Suit yourself," he simply replied before picking her up and placing her on the floor near where the other girls had taken a seat.

"Get your hands off of me you, turd!" Asreyel yelled.

The next thing we heard were a ton of giggles, the owner being Melanie. Her little laughs were contagious and soon all the girls were laughing except for Asreyel.

"Auntie Reyel, you called him a turd. That wasn't very nice," Melanie scolded over a few giggles.

"You're right sweetie, I'm sorry," Asreyel apologized.

The men in the room just stood watching the bizarre scene.

"What's going on in here, Tyler?" A voice asked from the door.

She had hoped a neighbor might've walked by and came to offer assistance but she guessed not.

"Uh, I don't know, Bryson. This one here wasn't too excited about our visit," the man from earlier, whose named she guessed was Tyler, explained glancing at her.

Asreyel just sat there glaring at the new addition to the room. He looked different from the other men a little, guessing from his late entrance, he was in charge. They were all well muscled and all had their unique looks, she personally wouldn't want to mess with any of these men without reason.

"Who cares if she's excited or not, we aren't here to make friends. We were ordered to bring them back to the compound. So lets get to it," he announced before suddenly turning to look at the girls sitting on the floor ; particularly Karena.

Asreyel was still fuming. This arrogant prick thought he was about to just stroll in their home and kidnap them? Well he thought wrong.

As hard as she could Asreyel kicked Tyler in the leg, so hard she hard a snap. He erupted in a roar as he fell but Asreyel rose up from the floor trying to run to the phone. She didn't get far though, before she reached the phone one of the other guys anticipating her move grabbed the phone before flat out snapping it in his hand.

Asreyel stood there for a minute trying to think of her next solution until she realized it was no use, the man just snapped her phone like it was a twig. So angered at being helpless, Asreyel felt a growl build up in her chest until she flat out growled in the mans face, surprising the whole room and herself. Karena, Aerial, and Melanie still remained seated on the floor surround by the men. But Karena looked torn between focusing on Asreyel or Bryson.

The man challenging Asreyel simply growled in return, causing the anger that had been collecting inside of Asreyel for years to finally reach its boiling point.

Asreyel suddenly felt as if something inside her was trying to claw it's way out and attack this man that challenged her. A low warning growl filled the room and it took a minute for Asreyel to realize it had come from her. She felt as if her skin were ablaze and her bones were rearranging, but her minds focus was on dealing with the man in front of her. Asreyel looked up the mans face and saw terror within his eyes. She wondered what it was that was the cause of this man fear, glancing around. What she saw was fear or shock plastered on the faces of most in the room; all looking at her.

Asreyels mind had finally caught up with her body; the growling and excruciating pain hit her like a tons bricks, she also realized that she wasn't standing up anymore. Asreyel reached out a hand to push herself up off the ground but instead of a hand, a chestnut colored paw came forward. Asreyel yelped as she jumped back, as if trying to run away from herself. She glanced down at herself and noticed her whole body was covered in chestnut brown and white fur. Confused and deathly afraid Asreyel looked to the girls, who looked as confused and scared as she did, before lying down whimpering.

'This is all a bad dream,' Asreyel thought to herself.

"See, I told you! You guys are special like me!" Melanie exclaimed happily from Karenas lap.

Most of the men turned to look at Bryson for the next move. Tyler was slowly standing up now, testing his leg before walking over to him, "Bryson, what the hell? I thought you said they were humans," he said staring intently at Asreyel who still laid on the floor.

"Yeah, well, I thought they were. But that doesn't change anything we need to get back to the compound before Alec starts getting restless," Bryson responded turning to back to the girls, "I can't explain everything that's going but if your friend here had given me the chance, I probably could've told you that we aren't here to hurt you. We have orders to bring you in and that's what we plan to do. I hope you will come by choice, that will probably be the easiest on us," Bryson explained.

"But what about Asreyel? What happened to her? What will happen to her?" Karena finally spoke up.

Bryson, as if entranced by her voice simply stared at her for a moment before responding, "Your friend here is," Bryson paused to inhale the scent of the room, "actually from the smell of it, you all are dormant wolves. Except for little Missy here. Isn't that right Melanie?" Bryson said with a small smile forming on his face.

Melanie nodded before hiding her head behind Karenas shoulder.

"I know you all have a lot of questions but right now we have orders to bring you back to the compound. I promise you all will be safe, including you Asreyel," Bryson finished turning back to Asreyel, crouching down beside her wolf. "The best way to shift back into your human body is to think about what it felt like being a human. What you saw, tasted, or felt. Until you begin connecting with your wolf to the point you can tell her to back down, you'll have to force her back this way," Bryson explained.

Asreyel immediately began doing what he asked, thinking of her favorite foods and what they tasted like. At first she felt her wolf resisting the shift but with one more push the wolf finally submitted and she shifted back to her human body.

The men in the room seemed shocked by her sudden change. No one, even the most experienced Weres could get their wolves to submit that quickly.

"Well, done," Bryson praised, truly impressed. "Now, we will get you some clothes, then we must go. We will explain everything very soon. Okay?" Bryson asked standing up from his crouch.

Asreyel just nodded standing quickly donning on the clothes handed to her by the smirking Tyler and following everyone to the waiting cars out front.

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I hope you liked this chapter. I know the grammar was wild and needs improvement. I was more or less just writing. I realize chapter was short and I'm sorry, I know how much you readers hate that. I promise to try and make them longer in the future. Chapter three coming soon!