The Curse of the Human Wolf

The girl in the Lake

Nathan POV:

My paws were hitting the ground hard as I ran through the soft earth and trees with a rabbit in my mouth. My wolf was dark brown with specks of white tips, the earth smelled amazing and I knew I was approaching the lake near the humans. I could hear feint splashes with my wolf hearing and decided to slow down and listen, it was definitely splashes but they weren't heavy, just light strokes, so I know that this human, who was probably having a late night swim was not drowning. Either way, I walk slowly to the lake, still in my wolf form. The human and I are on opposite sides of the lake so it would be okay to enjoy my rabbit and watch. I slumped onto my belly and watched as I tore into my rabbit. "something smells delicious," commented my wolf Alaric, "probably this rabbit," I joked back and Alaric laughed and continued to lick the bloody rabbit and enjoy his hunt.

I decided to watch the human in the water, humans can be so interesting in a simple way but we are not allowed to interact with them. The laws of the King and I don't disagree. The last thing we need is hunters pooling into the packs and killing unnecessarily, there would be no coming back from that. It was better that we remained myths and forgotten bedtime stories. It was better for them and for us. Alaric grunted at my thoughts as if agreeing with me. He was now biting into the rabbit and tearing apart the chewy flesh and licking up the drooling blood.

It was a girl in the water, she smelled different though, she didn't smell completely human but Alaric ignored my probing questions about it and so I just resigned to watch. She was swimming in the lake and she looked peaceful, she whipped her hair back as she emerged from the water, the moonlight making her smooth skin glow, her dark hair sticking to her back was arousing and surreal in it's own way. She turned towards me and her eyes glowed in the moonlight.

"Alaric, are you seeing this!" I gasped, Alaric had stopped eating and was silent. "What is she?" I asked, he sniffed but remained quiet. Alaric told me everything, that was the whole deal about being a shifter. You're one with your animal self but now he was silent and he's never silent. She was swimming back now but I wanted her to stay and keep swimming. She was enchanting and I was enchanted.

I c****d my head to the side as I watched her undress and dress, she looked a little bit frightened as she constantly looked around. Alaric and I stepped back and crouched low so that she wouldn't see us. With one last scan, she grabbed her things and bolted inside. Alaric went back to enjoying his rabbit but I couldn't shake this weird feeling. Who is she? "It's none of our concern," said Alaric, "yes, I know but didn't you see what I saw?" I could feel Alaric roll his eyes, "Let's go." We got up and walked away, even though I was in control of my wolf, he wouldn't say if he knew anything about what we saw and I had to respect that. Inner animals were older and wiser and are always reborn, if he doesn't want to share his knowledge, I have to respect that. Alaric and I trudged back to our camp in our wolf form.

When we got back to camp, Eric was sitting and stoking the fire, some crackling bones later, I was standing in front of him naked and in my human form. He tossed me my clothes and I pulled on my pants as I stood by the fire. I was 6ft and not ripped excessively but buff in a naturally appealing kind of way, I had black almond eyes and black hair, my jaw was defined and I had high cheek bones. I know that I was good looking but I wasn't sure that was the reason why girls liked me.

"Earth to Nathan," came Eric's voice, I was fully dressed and sitting by the fire, "yes?" I asked him. Eric and I have been friends for years and that's another thing I doubt. Being a high ranking wolf makes you question relationships and friendships and until I'm King, I'll never truly feel how people feel about me. "How was your run?" he asked, taking out some sodas for us from the cooler box, "it was okay, the hunt was good." I opened the soda he passed me, "sounds like you had a relaxing time," he commented before taking a gulp of his soda. "Yeah," I said before staring back at the fire and drinking my soda.