Charcoal Moon

7

Jace's instructions rang in my ears as my body plummeted to the ground, with a hard swift pull on the red cord my chute deployed carrying me softly to my feet. For my first time jumping from a plane, it was not so bad. Moments after my boots were on the ground the cold began creeping up on me, even for me this is cold. Everything in the forest is covered in a thick blanket of fresh snow, causing the area to stand still in silence.

Northwest, I reminded myself, I choose to run in wolf form to get as far as possible before night fall. Quickly removing my clothes tiny goosebumps erupted on my skin, shoving my clothes and shoes into the bag for safe keeping. I cracked my neck and rolled my shoulders to loosen up, I pictured my beautiful wolf in my head. With a sharp snap my bones began rearranging themselves, canines elongated. Pure white fur erupted from my pores, large white paws took place of my hands and feet.

You shouldn't keep me locked up for so long. She thought through a long yawn. I took a moment and stretched my long white legs and gave our fur a good shake.

There's no reason I do not let her out more, I just don't feel the need, she is an extension of me so if I'm happy, she's happy. I trot over to my bag and pick it up carefully in my teeth, holding my snout high in the air I figure out my direction and let her take over. Essentially taking a back seat in my own head I watch through wolf eyes as trees blur past, she runs at incredible speed so much faster than anyone in my pack. I usually let Damon beat me when we would race so I don't bruise his big alpha ego. After a few hours of running, she stopped at a trickling stream for a quick drink, rustling nearby alerted her to her next meal.

Food. Was her only thought before she took off after the animal.

An Elf calf stood alone in a clearing, hmm odd he is much too small to be alone, where is his mother? My ear twitched at the sound of a twig snapping close by, quietly with my belly on the ground so I would not alert the creature I stalked over to investigate. I came upon a mountain lion staking the little elk as its own meal, the thought of chasing down and killing it would be much more enjoyable than a little defenseless elk.

The lions head snapped to me at my small bark, baring its teeth it let out a loud hiss and took a step forward.

Stupid cat. I dug my chest lower in the snow to appear smaller and at that the lion forgot about its previous prey, as it bounced off into the forest blissfully unaware of the two predators previously hunting it moments ago.

I let out a small whimper to entice my prey to come closer, when it was about a foot away, I jumped to my feet scaring the cat. It scrambled and ran in the other direction as fast as its legs could go, but it was not fast enough to get away from me. Within minutes my teeth dug into its neck, causing its body to go limp. I enjoyed my meal for a while before I set back on track to the castle.

After running a few more hours I came across a tree with large enough branches to sleep on, I shifted back to realize my body was covered in blood from my meal. Using an extra shirt from my bag I let it soak up water from the snow and used it to scrub what blood from my hair and body I could. After I dressed I climbed up to a suitable branch and tied a rope around my leg as to not fall while I slept, as I drifted to my usual dream it quickly changed.