Feral Luna

Breathing burns my airways as I push my body forward, pushing my legs to move faster through the forest floor as I feel her presence move closer. The moon streams in through the trees, highlighting small sections of the forest around me while also causing the shadows to dance further into the darkness. My bare feet leave a trail of blood behind me, beckoning me to be found. White lights dance in my vision as I try to force more oxygen into my burning lungs. Keep running, I demand, don't look back. I fight against my own body, my human limitations tearing me down against my hunter. My foot slips under a root and my whole body crashes to the ground as my head smashes on the base of a tree, I feel the warm trickle of blood making its way down my face, "No" I whimper I can't go down like this. I push myself back up from the embrace of the forest floor. My arms tremble under under my body, I have to stand, I get to my broken and bloodied feet and start running again. I hear the sounds of pounding paws behind me. She is gaining on me quickly, her distinctive growl echoing around me. Feral, untamed and on the hunt. I try to quicken my pace. I throw my arms and body into it, everything, I have to give everything. I can't let her get me. The sound of her paws is just behind me now, I can feel her breathing down my neck. This is it. I can't escape this. I feel my feet coming off the ground as she pounces on me, I land with my back to the earth as the inpact shreds my skin to pieces and stare into her golden eyes as she pins me to the ground. Her lips curl up in a growl, showing off her long canine fangs. Her fur, porcelain white, stained red with the blood of her victims and soon to be mine. I see her golden eyes dance with delight. She has caught me, her prey to devour. I look at her, my wolf, as she lungs forward to make her kill. I jolt awake, my body trembling with the brutal images of my nightmare. A shaken sigh escapes my lips, my ongoing nightmare chasing me even into my dreams. I cast my eyes down to the beside clock. It's 3am in the morning, which means I have had five hours of sleep, an hour more than I normally would allow myself to have. Being unconscious and unaware of my surroundings is a luxury that I could not afford, I can't allow myself to be weak. I crawl out of bed and catch a glimpse of myself in the mirror, glowing in the reflection I see them. My large pale golden yellow eyes, not mine but her eyes adorning my face. She is always close to the edge, waiting for me to make a mistake waiting to take control. A clear reminder that I am not alone. They stand out against my long black hair and small petite facial features. I stand only at 5.8ft which is on the shorter side for female wolf shifters, but I use it to my advantage it's easy for people to assume I am a easy target a misconception I have taken advantage of. I can feel her prowling my mind, Fang my wolf. I make my way to my pills and quickly take two. I instantly feel the fire in my stomach trying to eat me alive as my throat blisters. Each pill contained 100 grams of wolfbane that has been ground down to a fine powder. 50 grams is enough to make a wolf shifter unconscious, but I have been administering wolfbane to myself for years. I slowly start to feel her presence weaken as she is pushed further into the back of my mind. It's the only way to keep a semblance of control to poision myself is to poision Fang. I try not to gimance at the pain I feel. It's OK. I am used to this, I start trying to breathe through it. After taking a minute to allow myself to adjust to the pain. I get ready, I pull on my black cargo pants and a simple black tank top over my sports bra. I throw my hair up into braid and pull on my heavy boots, I don't bother with anything else it's all a waste of my time and make my way out of my house. I live by myself, I have since I was sixteen, I used to live in the packhorse, but it was too dangerous to have the pack around me. The Alpha and Luna tried to get me to stay, they have raised me since my parents died but they even they could not argue that it was in the best interest of the pack that I move out towards the border. It also allows me to run the pack border security better when I am closer to it. I fought for my position of gamma in the pack when I was 15, I was the youngest to ever hold such a title, and I manage the security and training of our pack members. As I make my way to the pack border, I pass the allocated patrol unit, they bow their heads to me as I pass, not making eye contact. They bow their heads as a sign of respect to my gamma title. They advert their eyes out of fear. I am used to the packs lack of familiarity, and I am not here to make friends. I stand on the edge of the border, as the next patrols pasts in their wolf form. Being a shifter, we live in the same body as our wolf and can change at will. I feel a soft itch start to creep under my skin, my wolf Fang trying to push her conscience over my body even when she is being subdued with the wolfbanes. I might need to increase my dosage soon if she is able to push this far. Shifters are meant to have a connection with their wolf, one that is forged when you shift for the first time at sixteen. I don't have a connection, the night my parents died I shifted into my wolf at the age of six, I survived barley the scars on my back a constant reminder that I almost joined my parents. But to shift so young is almost a death sentence a child's body can not contain a wolf, I was never able to forge a connection to my wolf, I barley survived shifting back to my human firm. A shift like that so young is never a good thing. It broke my wolf, leaving her untamable, living off bloodshed, making her a danger to her own pack.