Chapter2
1098 Words
I crumpled onto my side as another wave of pain crashed over me.
“Don’t scream,” I hissed through clenched teeth, biting the inside of my cheek. "Don't make a sound."
My body convulsed violently. My jaw stretched, fur tore through my skin, and an alien feeling of a tail.
Then suddenly... stillness.
It happened,” I mentally gasped, my chest rising. "I'm a wolf!"
All those years of wishing and fretting had come down to the moment. I reached out with my mind, cautiously.
"Hello? "Are you there?" I called within my thoughts.
Her answer wasn’t in so many words, but I got it loud and clear.
"Are you scared too?" I asked her. "But you're here now. You're really here!"
My heart was bursting with love for this creature who’d always belonged to me.
“Do you want to hear it all?” I asked excitedly. "My whole life—"
Her response stunned me.
"You already know?" I gasped internally. “You’ve been there all the time?” Seeing everything?"
She said she’d seen it all — all the struggles, all the heartbreak.
"And you still love me?" I whispered in disbelief.
Her love coursed through our relationship, intense and protective.
For a brief moment, I had a revelation: “I’m not alone anymore,” joy coursing through me.
She took charge, hoisting us to our feet and shaking a little shimmy to sort her fur.
"What do you look like?" I wondered.
She lowered her head to show me her chest fur, black but for the white that rooted it. It had an odd thickness and tuftedness.
“That’s different,” I said as she glanced between her legs at her white belly and black legs. Three white paws, one black.
She turned her head to look at me, and I caught a glimpse of her black back and thick, regal tail — black on top, white on the bottom.
“Wait,” I thought to her when she tossed her head. “Why do you have fur in your eyes?”
The softness of long fur obscured her vision again. She wasn’t unlike the typical wolf, but who cares?
"You're perfect," I told her. “No matter how you look.”
Suddenly she lunged forward, her muscles rippling in tight bundles.
"This is amazing!" I cried as we hurtled through the forest at interstellar speed.
The wind whirled around us and even in the dark I could see quite plainly.
She stopped suddenly, nose in the air.
"What is that scent?" I thought as she took a deep breath.
Past the pine and dirt, something lured—spicy, with hints of balsam and juniper.
"Do you know what that is?" Her legs shook in anticipation, as I asked,
She didn’t know, either, but both of us felt compelled to look for it. Her head snapped in the direction, and we were running again, faster than before.
“We’re going to the pack house,” I said with confusion. “What might smell so good over there?”
She ran around the side of the house without slowing down.
"Wait!" I wept, as awareness came too late. "No, no, no! It can't be!"
Alpha and his three sons sat around a fire, beer in hand, laughing easily. Until I crashed into the clearing.
“Coal,” I gasped in horror as Alpha’s eldest son jumped to his feet.
His girlfriend, Calla, fell from his lap, glaring up at him in surprise before shifting to me, the look morphing into horror.
Coal looked at me, transfixed.
"He’s gorgeous,” I thought, flashing my eyes across his tousled dark hair, his piercing blue eyes and his shirtless muscular torso.
The tongue of my wolf drooped appreciatively.
"Get a grip on yourself,” I admonished her. Her mouth snapped shut.
"What the hell?" Alpha roared, eyes blazing. "Who...?" His tone lowered to an authoritative growl. "Shift!"
I was powerless in the face of the Alpha command. Pain sliced through me again as I returned to human form.
“It hurts,” I panted, naked, squatting on the ground, hands in the dirt to steady my shaking body.
I stared at Coal in wonder. “I have a mate,” I thought excitedly. “The one thing I never thought that I would be worthy enough to have.”
“Dude,” Chase muttered to his brother, his face wracked with pain.
“Why is he staring at him like that?” I thought, as confusion built. And then, understanding hit me like a physical blow. "He pities him. Because of me."
"No!" Alpha growled, leaping to his feet and balling his fists. He advanced menacingly toward me.
“He’s going to kill me,” I understood in terror.
"Stop!" Coal yelled.
Alpha spun to face him. “You know this AIN'T happening! I don’t give a s**t what the Moon says. I am ending this right now!"
"No!" Coal hissed. Obviously it is not happening. But I will take care of it. How can we shoot and kill a girl when she hasn’t done anything wrong?”
"Killing me?" I thought, my eyes shifting to Alpha's deadly face.
Coal came slowly, every step electrifying the space between us.
"Can you feel it too?" He crouched down to my level, and I wondered.
He hugged my bicep to yank me up. His touch sent tingles through my skin.
His eyes widened, and he released my arm as if burned. A muscle in his jaw twitched, and he spoke through clenched teeth, saying, “Brinley, listen to me really carefully. This isn't happening. You have to go and never act like it happened.’”
"Forget?" I said, crossing my arms over my chest in embarrassment. "But—"
“No, let me be clear,” he interrupted angrily. “I don’t want you now, and I won’t want you later." Do you understand?"
Tears streamed down my face as my Wolf whimpered in my mind.
“Nothing’s changed,” I thought numbly. "He doesn't want me." And now everything is worse."
Coal’s expression hardened while he waited for my response.
I glanced behind him. In Coal’s chair, Calla smirked while Alpha glared murderously.
“I thought I had been broken before,” I thought angrily. I thought life could not be more painful. I was wrong."
Words failed me. I was unable to provide Coal with the response he craved.
"Take over," I told my Wolf. "Get us out of here."
Skin became fur.
We turned and ran…
- Writer
