The Wolf

Training

The next morning, Sirena woke up to rocks being thrown onto her balcony. Still in her wolf form, she padded outside sleepily and stretched before looking over her fence. It was Ethan.

"Meet me near the borders in an hour." She yawned briefly flicking her tail in understanding. Thirty minutes later, dressed in a loose t-shirt and shorts, she went downstairs, grabbed a muffin and left easily since her father and mother were out for the day.

Quickly eating her muffin, she shifted and ran toward the border. Her limbs were stronger and faster and she had the urge to run as far as possible. All too quickly, the border between the wolf and dragon territory appeared.

The nature-like smell of the wolves quickly disappeared as she crossed the border. Quick as to not alert her arrival, she shifted into her dragon form and flapped her wings, blowing away her wolf scent.

All to soon, Ethan's scent filled her nostrils. Taking easy steps, she walked forward following his coated rain scent. Soon she arrived in a clearing full of boulders. Rocks were strewn randomly along the dirt floor. The trees broke away from the boulders but reunited near the entrance.

Ethan was sitting on the floor holding a rock. He looked up at her arrival. For a second he drifted off into space. His brow furrowed as he concentrated on something. Next thing she knew, his voice popped into her head.

"Well honestly I thought this wouldn't work but it seems that it does." Her shock subsided as fast as it had appeared. "That's weird. I can't detect any other minds around and yet I know there are other dragons around here somewhere," she replied with a flick of her head.

"I guess it only involves the people that have this strange ability." She could hear Ethan's random ideas for why it was like this. After spending a good minute thinking about it, he finally came to the realization that Sirena could hear him. She rolled her eyes. "Can we get this over with," she replied bluntly. Ethan nodded in agreement.

His figure shimmered a bit as he shifted into his dragon. It was the first time Sirena had ever seen an actual dragon besides herself. Something was different. Although his eyes were about the same color as Sirena's, his dragon had the same colors as his wolf. His wings were a speckled gold, white, and red.

"Why is your eye color different from your body?" She asked him through their mind link. "It's the same as yours," he replied in an obvious manner. "No it's not my eye color matches my body col-" she looked down and gasped at the fact that he was right.

Her whole figure had changed. Her underbelly was a mixed shade of blue and green like the ocean. She got up on all four legs and stared at her body. There were mixtures of vines, roses, and droplet patterns along her sides and back. Her tail had grown into a snakelike rope. She walked over to a large puddle of water and looked into it. As clear as day her eyes had changed as well. They flickered between light shades of green, blue, and white. She panicked at the sight of her real eye color hoping Ethan would leave it alone.

Ethan startled from her panicked mind, "Why are you so shocked?" He asked her through her mixture of fear and confusion. "These are not my colors!" She pretty much screamed into his head. "Calm down," he said softly. "First we practice, then we find out why." His calming demeanor soothed her. Turning around, her gaze wandered along the clearing avoiding eye contact.

Over the next few hours, Ethan taught her some defense maneuvers and attack positions. Weirdly, although he was being rough, it didn't affect her at all. After it was close to dark, she broke off the training and sat down laying her head on her forelegs. "Its really peaceful out here," she said, watching the sunset. Ethan laid down where he was and watched the sky. "Yeah it is but I'm used to it since you know, I live here." She rolled her eyes in an obvious manner. Ethan chuckled and looked at her.

"So tell me a little about you while we have the time." He said with curiosity. "Well," she looked away not really wanting to talk about it. Since they were already disobeying rules, she figured she could trust him. "Jasmine and Salem aren't actually my biological parents." Her eyes wandered over to his seeing the shock on his face. Sirena continued, "When I was a baby," her eyes trailed off as she repeated the words that she had been told long ago. "My adopted father Salem, realized that his wife, also my adopted mother, could not bear children. Knowing that he needed to provide his pack with a heir he became desperate. Where and to whom I was born, I don't know. My adopted parents found me in the middle of the sidewalk on their way home from the doctor. After that, well Salem was so happy and so was Jasmine. He didn't want nobody to look down upon me so he declared me his birth daughter and ever since then, that's who I am."

She let out a sigh of relief finally able to tell someone about it. Ethan looked at her, his jaw literally hung down exposing his sharp teeth. Seeing her inspecting his reaction, he quickly composed himself. "Um, well I uh," his eyes looked over the clearing. "We should hurry and get you out of here before someone shows up to patrol." He seemed so eager to leave that she inwardly kicked herself for telling him.

"Do me one favor please." Her eyes dared not to meet his. "Don't tell anyone what I just told you. I can't afford to let them down even if I'm not their real child." She left without waiting for his reply. As soon as she crossed the borders, she shifted into her wolf glad to be back. Taking one last look at the clearing beyond her reach, she turned and headed back home.