Scarlet's Daughter

Chapter 5: The Shift

    We made it home just in time. Annie comes to a halt and doubles over in pain, drenched in sweat. "First thing, first; take off your clothes." as I say this we both get off our bikes and put up the kick stand. "I don't understand why I have to take off my clothes. That's weird." Annie complains, fidgeting with her shirt. "You've gotta remove your clothes or when you shift you'll rip them." I tell her as I help her out of her clothes, "jeez girl you're really sweating up a storm!" I say tossing her shirt a side, "I don't think three washes could save that shirt!" I laugh to myself. Annie continues stripping while giving me an evil glare, although I can't help but notice she's started shaking. "Annie are you okay?" I try to reach out to touch her, but before I could she doubles over in pain. "Annie, I-" I was cut short, because Annie fell to the ground holding herself in the fetal position groaning. 

    I got down on my knees and began to pet her hair "it's okay, the shift is gonna hurt A LOT. But the good thing is, is that it'll get easier and less painful." Annie grabs my hand, "please don't make me do this!! I can't do this!! PLEASE MAKE IT STOP!!!" she shouts at me, tears rolling down her face in a steady stream. Before I could offer words of comfort she let out another scream, followed by several snapping and popping sounds. I get up quickly and back away from her, she's officially shifting. 

    My poor baby is all I can think, I can see her skin visibly being stretched and her hair is growing long enough to cover her whole body. There before me lay a delicately, beautiful, dark brown wolf. "Annie, stand up and let me look at you honey." I smile clapping excitedly, Annie whimpers but does as I say. As she stands there I take her features in. She's a beautiful dark brown almost like silk with identical markings as me but a tad bit more greyish and softer brown with an orange apricot belly like me. "Beautiful" I whisper, almost like going through childbirth again except I'm not the one in pain this time. If only she could see herself, "OH, I'll be right back!" I shout to Annie excitedly while running towards the house. I quickly grab the long mirror hanging in the hall way, "so glad this isn't heavy!!" I say to myself chuckling, taking it out the door with me and setting it propped up against a nearby tree so Annie can look at herself. 

    Annie's tail starts wagging, and I can see she likes what she sees. She even does a whole spin looking at herself, and then looks at me as if she wants to ask me a question. An I realized I've never transformed into a wolf in front of her...hell I haven't shifted in YEARS. Looking back I think the last time I was in my wolf form was the night that- nevermind. Annie doesn't know about that yet, but I'm going to tell her when she's older enough to understand. I slip my clothes off and closed my eyes thinking about my wolf form. Slowly I felt the pins and needles sensation all over my body and feel my hair growing longer. My body starts to ache but it quickly subsides and I open my eyes. I'm still standing on my two feet and look down at was once my hands are now paws. "Wow" Annie says, and I drop to being on all fours. Now that Annie and I are both in our wolf forms, we walk over to the mirror. I"m still about a foot taller than her, you can definitely tell we're related. Unfortunately, even in my human form the injury my mate gave me is still visible. My fur is thick and long enough to hide the other wounds his pack gave me. I look down at the ground, I've never really healed from what happened that night. Not mentally nor physically. If it wasn't for Annie I would have taken my life already.  "You are beautiful to me mama." Annie says putting her paw on my back, I chuckle. "Not so bad yourself squirt." I gave her a big toothy smile placing my paw on her back, and we both are cracking up laughing.

**Five Years Later**

    "Annie, come have a seat with me on the couch." I pat the cushion to the right me, it's the day after her 16th birthday and it's time to have THE talk. "What's up mom?" she asks plopping herself on the couch. "Well, now that you are 16; I believe it's time to have THEE talk." I emphasize the, Annie blushes. "Mom I already know about that stuff." she says with her head down. "You found the wrong channels on the TV didn't you?" I shake my head before she could say anything. "Nevertheless, I'm going to give you THEE talk whether you like it or not. So let's begin with the birds and the bees... Although my parents never gave me this talk so this is my version. So, some males are like birds. For instance let's use swans as an example; swans mate for life. They only have one partner, and they never stray from each other. They are very protective of their young and help them grow and mature until it's time to let them go. If anything happens to the either one of the parents, it's partner won't mate another. To put it simply, one mate per lifetime. Then, you have boys whom are like bees. For this example let's make flowers girls. So, as you've learned in science class; bees help pollination. Now think of the pollen as girl germs, some aren't harmful but some are life threatening. These flowers may or may not know of what they carry nor do the bees sometimes. As the bee goes from flower to flower, he picks up pollen from each girl and dispersing it to the other without knowing it, although some males know exactly what their doing. Through this pollen is how sexually transmitted diseases are given to multiple people. Which leads me to the importance of these." I pull out three boxes of condoms, one that's suppose to taste like fruit (why? idk), one that's water based spermicide, and the last one is the normal latex version. 

    Annie looks at me, her face turning every shade of red, "MOM!!!" haha I knew this was gonna happen, "I just want you to be safe!! So if you are tempted you won't make a life changing mistake, sweetheart." I say putting my right hand on her knee and offer a smile. "Was I a mistake, mom?" Annie looks down, her face is still red but her eyes are hidden behind her curtain of hair. "Honey, you are not a mistake. You never were a mistake!!" I tell her, pulling her in for a bear hug. "Annie, you are my gift from God. I didn't know I needed you, till I found out that I was pregnant with you. You are my world." I can feel tears falling down my cheek, "I love you, baby girl." Annie sniffles and looks up at me, her eyes were like waterfalls "I love you too!" she says hugging me back tighter.