Orphan's Cry

Chapter 1Leah Corbyn couldn’t stop fidgeting, unable to relax. Her spiky brown bangs kept wanting to fall into her eyes, and one bare foot tapped urgently against the other. Normally she’d have been thrilled by her current circumstances. Weekend trip to a quiet cabin out in the woods of Chiltern Hills, alone with a gorgeous redhead? Perfect. Absolute heaven. Now, though, she felt utterly terrified as she looked at the clock on the wall again. I have to get out of here, Leah thought to herself as she tried to gently extract herself from the aforementioned gorgeous woman. Amy was curled next to her on the sofa, loose long hair spilling down her side and seemingly oblivious to Leah’s plight as she used her shoulder as a headrest. She’d plopped down on the couch after dinner when Amy had joined her with a rather nice kiss. Amy had looped their arms together and cuddled close before turning the TV on. It had been almost an hour since then, Amy engrossed in a movie that Leah had stopped paying attention to, unable to look away from the clock that she’d missed when she first arrived. It was a much fancier piece than the little digital clock radio at her place, and on a closer look Leah had been stunned that it included not just a lunar phase but a counter that indicated how long until the moon reached its apogee. Which, according to the clock face, would be tonight at 9:40 P.M. Not 9:40 P.M. tomorrow. Tonight. Shit. I only have ten more minutes. I’m going to hurt her if I don’t go now. Leah didn’t trust herself to speak. Her jaw was clenched so tight it ached but she knew relaxing it was out of the question. How did I get this wrong? Am I so gay that I forgot what day it was? She’d just have to run. Running was better. Running made sense. Leah could outrun Amy; she was sure of that. Bolting out of the cabin and running off into the woods would probably spell the end of their relationship but f**k it, it would mean Amy was still alive to dump her. Leah finally managed to shift enough to free herself, and Amy made a questioning little hum as she looked up at her with concern. “I thought you said you liked this one. Did you need to go to the bathroom?” Leah shrugged and nodded at the same time. It was as good an excuse as she was going to get, and she couldn’t risk trying to talk and end up succumbing to the increasing urge to howl. She stood, but before she could start to walk away Amy reached out faster than Leah expected, holding her hand in a grip that was just firm enough to make her stop. “It’s okay, you know. You don’t need to make such a big deal out of it. Just relax—we’ve got some time.” Leah felt fear creep down her spine. How could she possibly know what she was trying to do? “Amy, let me go.” Leah growled, fighting the urge to yank her arm free as her voice dipped into a guttural snarl. Were her hands already starting to change? “If that’s really what you want,” Amy said with a playful edge to her voice. “I was thinking we’d finish the movie first, though.” Leah shook her head. Amy stood half a head taller normally, but it was a willowy sort of height. Leah had a compact runner’s build, with endurance built by a childhood playing football and strength developed by six years of hauling boxes and letters around Greater London five days a week. She could pull herself free, and once she was in the open, she was certain she could sprint into the woods before Amy could catch up. Her gut clenched, and Leah bit back another groan as her muscles stretched and flexed, trying to force themselves into new shapes. No matter what Amy was thinking, it was time to go. The urge was becoming overwhelming now, and she knew all too well this was a losing battle. Amy might think things were fine, but Leah knew that if she was too close that she could be hurt and Leah could not live with herself if that happened. “You don’t understand—” Of all the reactions, she didn’t expect Amy to laugh. “I think I do, actually, but—have it your way.” She released her grip, and Leah turned and bolted for the door, not bothering to grab her shoes. Her T-shirt and jeans would be ruined at this rate, anyway. She might as well save what she could. She had nearly made it to the edge of the cleared ground and lawn around the cabin when she felt more than she heard someone running behind her. Not just running, she realized with a shock, but nearly overtaking her! “Oh, is this what you had in mind?” Amy’s voice had dropped low and sultry, and Leah stumbled in surprise, tumbling into the grass. “You should have said! I’m all for a girl who wants a good chase to start things off.” The change was coming. Her vision was graying out from the effort of trying to hold it back, and her breathing had grown ragged as she propped herself up to look at her in disbelief. “Are…are you insane?” Amy laughed again, looking at her as if this was the most fantastic time as she leaned over her. “No? Seriously, it’s fine, I’m having—oof!” Leah had given up on subtly trying to get away. She slammed her knee into Amy’s ribs, and pushed herself off the ground with a throaty growl, too aware of the sound of denim ripping beneath it. “Wait. Please!” She turned to face the other woman and blinked in confusion at her. Shock and disbelief began to overwhelm her fear as she realized Amy had a set of rusty furred ears rising from the top of her head. When had those shown up? “Leah—wait. I’m sorry. I should have talked to you about this, and it’s all off on the wrong foot.” She looked closer. Amy’s eyes had changed from their usual shade of gray to a brilliant, almost luminescent green as she dusted herself off and stood, arms loose at her sides as she took a step toward her. “There’s no one here you need to fear hurting, all right? I was trying to be silly and I mucked it up.” Leah backpedaled away as quickly as she could, opening distance so she could turn and bolt. “No. No. No, no, no, no, no!” She ran for the trees in a desperate panic, barely registering Amy calling to her before she could no longer fight back the urge to change, a howl ripping from her throat as she felt her skin grow rough and her limbs getting longer, padded feet and claws pounding into the ground. Some tiny little part of her mind thought she heard Amy’s voice on the wind before another howl split the air, and she succumbed to the instincts of the beast inside of her. “Well, we utterly f****d that. Good job, Amy.” * * * * As the sun rose over the horizon, orange light filtered through the trees and leaves before finally falling over the two sleeping forms snuggled a few yards away from an empty cabin. Birds began to chirp and sing as the smaller one stretched with a soft groan. The morning dew surrounding them had begun to feel uncomfortably cool compared to the warmth of the sun, but Amy just snuggled Leah closer, enjoying the warmth and closeness as she watched Leah’s bushy brown tail flick lazily back and forth. “Someone’s happy this morning, if her tail is anything to go by…” Amy had meant the comment as a joke, but instead it resulted in Leah breaking out from her embrace and ending up several feet away with her back pressed up against a tree. Silence prevailed for a moment as Leah stared incredulously at her, and Amy did her best to try and smile back reassuringly. “What. The. Fuck.” Amy groaned softly as she sat up and tried to get comfortable for what she was sure would be a hell of a ride. “What the f**k was that last night, Amy?! A good chase, seriously?” Amy flushed with a bit of embarrassment but stayed still as Leah began to pace back and forth. It pained her to see Leah’s tail tucked between her legs and fluffed up to twice its normal size in alarm. She winced at Leah’s defensive body language, her ears on a near constant swivel as they twitched this way and that in response to every singing bird, rustling leaf, and snapped twig. As much as Amy wanted to go over and wrap her in a hug, now was not the time—the best she could do was try to look as non-threatening as possible. “Because I knew you were a werewolf, Leah—and I thought you knew that I’m one, too.” “I bloody well did not!” “Yes,” Amy sighed as she looked down at the ground. “I figured that out, eventually.” “What else are you hiding from me? Did…” Leah came to an abrupt stop as she turned to face Amy, all the color draining from her face as she brushed a hand over her right thigh, and the barely visible scars from where she had clearly been bitten. “Are you the one who made me like this?!” “No!” Amy said with a bit more force than she’d intended, “I’m not. Whoever did this to you…Turned you and left you on your own…God, if I ever find them, I will sink my…” Amy forced herself to stop. She had wanted to stay quiet and let Leah vent a bit longer. Still, while she could not and would not allow Leah to think she’d done that to her, letting herself get carried away right now was not something either of them needed right now. “I want to believe you Amy, God I do—but…we’ve been dating for three months now and…what? You just didn’t bother to tell me?” “I didn’t know at first—” “How couldn’t you know?!” “I didn’t know you were turned!” “You mean you weren’t?!” “No—I was born like this.” “What the f*****g f**k. Am I even awake right now? Maybe I’m still dreaming from last—oh my God. What the hell even happened last night?” “Look,” Amy said as she finally stood and put her hands up. “Let’s try to back up a bit. Can you think about last night and remember what happened after you changed?” Leah shook her head with a frustrated grunt. “I don’t know! I can never remember. It’s like trying to think about a bad dream after you already woke up!” Amy hoped Leah didn’t see her wincing. What kind of a life had she been living since getting turned? “Okay—then just try to tell me what you can remember and I’ll do my best to fill in the gaps. Can we start with why were you trying to run away from me last night?” Leah rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest—letting out a huff, “I knew I was going to change when the moon rose—that I couldn’t fight it for much longer and I was worried I might hurt you. Little did I know…” Amy ignored the jab and merely nodded, “And then what happened?” “Well, you bloody damn well stopped me—then your eyes…they changed colors and next thing I know you have ears coming out the top of your head, and…” Leah paused, her brow knitting in thought as she returned to pacing, “I…we were outside, and then I was running. I had to get away. Get somewhere safe. But then there was someone else. Another wolf found me and was…I just felt like I should follow them. Follow you?” Amy responded with a nod of encouragement when Leah glanced over at her. On her next turn Leah came to a stop again—this time to look closely at the forest around them before finally pointing off into a crop of trees “We ran that way—there was a river after a while and we…you caught me fish. I tried—but they were fast…then we—there was an open space? You caught rabbits and I caught a squirrel, I think? I ate it all and I was so full I just curled up, I think, and I must have nodded off.” “You fell asleep,” Amy confirmed gently, “I was expecting it—it’s why I led you back here after making sure you ate. Pup—er…new werewolves aren’t known for staying up the entire night.” “But why did I follow you? Why didn’t I attack you? Why didn’t you attack me?” “You followed me because at some level you knew I was safe, and it doesn’t hurt that I’m what people would call an alpha.” Amy began to step a bit closer as she tried to explain as carefully as she could. She knew this was going to be a lot for Leah to take in. “I would never attack you Leah—but as for why you didn’t attack me? Well, that’s something only you can answer—though I suspect it’s got something to do with the fact that I’m your girlfriend…or at least I hope I still am…” Amy trailed off tentatively, causing Leah to look back toward her. The word girlfriend seemed to make something click in Leah’s head and all at once she realized that Amy was just a few feet away from her, bare as the day she was born—and a glance down at her chest quickly confirmed that she was in a similar state. Amy noticed Leah’s sudden discomfort and turned toward the cabin, scratching at an itch behind her ear before offering, “Maybe we should continue this talk after we’ve gotten a chance to clean up?” * * * * Leah was relieved to find her tail and the second set of ears had both disappeared to wherever they went once she’d finished as cold a shower as she could stand to help wake herself up, the slight ache in her lower back where the tail had sprouted the only proof they had existed as she toweled herself off. She’d pulled on a T-shirt and jeans before returning to the cabin’s kitchen, while Amy had pulled on a top that left her collarbones and neck invitingly exposed, and a modest length skirt that allowed her tail to continue swishing about as she worked to prepare some breakfast. She found herself staring at the fluffy appendage as it twitched back and forth a bit. So this was really happening. She wasn’t going crazy. Or at least no more than she already had…and, yes, Amy still had a second set of ears, too. Leah coughed and Amy turned to smile at her. “You didn’t have to hide things away, you know. It’s just us here.” She wasn’t really sure what to say to that, and after a moment Amy’s eyes softened a bit. “Sorry, too much?” “I really don’t even know right now. I’m not even sure where to start!” Amy nodded, then gestured to the little round table where they’d had dinner before everything had gone completely off the rails last night. “Why don’t you sit down, and I’ll bring you something to eat?” Sitting down, Leah couldn’t decide what she thought about the plate Amy brought over. Eggs in a nest were fine, but the strips of bacon…”You know I don’t eat meat, Amy.” “I know you’ve been trying to avoid eating meat, yes. But your body is different now, Leah.” She looked up skeptically at her. “I had that talk in school, you know.” “It’s not so different, really.” Amy sat and took a bite of her own bacon, and Leah couldn’t help but look back down at her plate. It did look tasty. Smelled fantastic too, if she was honest. Her mouth was watering despite herself, but the sudden recollection of her jaws snapping against something small and furry—a rabbit, she thought—made her stomach twist into knots. Biting back a sudden urge to vomit, she tore her eyes away from the plate, locking on to Amy instead. “I suppose the way to put it,” Amy said after considering her reaction for a moment, “is that there’s a different part of you, now. And it needs meat, not just trying to go with beans or vegetable protein. Haven’t you noticed feeling a bit…off?” Leah gave a noncommittal grunt. She hadn’t really felt at her best, no, but she had no idea what being a werewolf was supposed to feel like, honestly. “That was part of why I was confused at first,” Amy admitted, “when I met you. I just thought you might have some other health problems, but after we got together for a date just after a full moon, I started to realize something was really wrong.” Leah’s brows knit. “Wait—back up. What was confusing you?” “Your smell. It was…” She pursed her lips. “Off.” She seemed to be considering the best way to explain it. “Come over here and smell me?” “What?” “Smell me.” Amy held out her arm. “It’ll be easier than trying to explain in words.” Cautiously, Leah stood and approached as if Amy might rise up and attack her at any moment. Leaning in, she sniffed a few times at Amy’s arm and considered the scent. “Clean? Maybe a bit…hm. Spicy? A little bit like the woods. Fresh grass and a bit of firewood? I always figured you were wearing perfume.” “I do occasionally, but what you smell right now is just me. You’re noticing things because your nose is a lot more sensitive—or it should be. But when I smelled you for the first time…you smelled nice, but there was something under it. A smell like you might have been feeling a bit sick.” “Sick.” Leah went back to her food and took a few bites of her eggs. “I…okay. So why didn’t you say anything?” “We were just getting to know each other,” Amy explained, “and I didn’t want to make you panic. I didn’t think it would be a very good way to start things off.” Leah snorted. “Because this all went so well?” “Well,” Amy smiled at her, “after you let yourself relax last night, I thought we were both enjoying ourselves.” “I…” Leah worried at her lip before she finally could ask one of the things that had been bothering her. “We didn’t hurt anyone, did we?” “What?” Amy looked shocked. “No—Leah, God, no. I’d never. We went into the woods and we ran. We hunted. You wanted to play, once you followed me.” “Ever since this started, I’ve been so afraid…” Leah trailed off, and she felt her eyes get hot with tears. She heard the scrape of the chair on the floor as Amy stood up. “Can I hug you?” She nodded as she sniffled, just blinking her eyes clear when she felt Amy’s arms wrapping around her from where she had kneeled down on the floor. “Oh, Leah. I’m sorry. I f****d up, and I apologize. The reason I wanted you to come up here with me was because I wanted you to know you weren’t alone.” Amy sat back, letting her legs slide out to her side. “When I realized you didn’t have any idea what was going on, and I went to find out if you’d ever registered.” “Registered?” Leah blinked. “There’s a registry?” Amy nodded. “We use it to keep track of each other, basically—there’s actually a fair bit of paperwork. Pack memberships, family lines, that sort of thing. But, anyway, when I checked last week and realized you weren’t listed, I started to put two and two together, and…well. Here we are.” Leah reached up without thinking to scratch the back of her head—not far from where she’d felt her own pair of wolf ears appear when the changes began to overtake her. “I…yeah.” “I know you’ve probably got a lot of questions,” Amy stood and went to settle back into her chair, taking care to leave the path to the door clear. “I want to try to answer as many as I can.” Leah closed her eyes and tried to think of where to begin. “So…you said you were born this way.” “Yes. Most of us—most weres—are born, not turned. It’s an inheritance. Generally, both parents have the gift, and they pass it on to the child. Occasionally it doesn’t work out that way, but it’s usually in a case where one of the parents is a were and the other is a regular human, and not terribly common. Someone being turned in this day and age is honestly very rare.” “So why me, then?” Amy sighed and shook her head as she stood and went back to her chair. “I can’t speak to why, but I might be able to answer how. Can you remember getting bitten by what you thought was a large dog, and then becoming ill within a day or two? Possibly even that night?” “Yeah,” Leah leaned back, her hand coming down to rub at her scar through the material of her jeans. “I was working my route, doing deliveries when I got knocked over by a big dog. I thought he might have been some kind of a mutt because his coat was this odd mix of gold and grays—almost like silver. He got me with a pretty nasty bite on my thigh, and after I got back to my mail truck, I called in for someone else to take over the rest of my route so I could take myself to the A&E.” Amy raised an eyebrow. “That didn’t seem odd to you?” Leah shrugged. “Do you have any idea how often mail carriers get bitten by dogs? We’ve got a whole set of forms for it these days. I got stitched up, filed for my compensation and called for a ride home because I was starting to feel pretty miserable by the time I was discharged. I put it down to the rabies shot and the rest of the pills I had to take.” “I suppose that is an occupational hazard,” Amy admitted, “but obviously it wasn’t a dog that bit you, it was someone like us. A were who was shifted into that form.” Leah went quiet for a moment while she took that on board. She really still wasn’t that comfortable with the idea of someone like us, but Amy wasn’t acting like some animal out of control. She’d never been anything but kind, had she? Even last night, she’d been trying to play, Leah realized. She liked her, and it seemed that Amy liked her right back. “So, you said that what’d happened to me, being bitten like that, is pretty rare then?” “Extremely,” Amy confirmed, “and the way it was done, without your awareness or giving you any help…it’s criminal, Leah. We don’t just go around biting people at random! Attacking humans in any way is just as wrong—and illegal—as if I walked up to you on the street and punched you for no reason.” “Huh.” Leah considered that. “Well, that’s good to know, I suppose.” Amy reached across the table to squeeze her hand. “If I can ask…how long ago did that happen?” Leah shrugged. “Year and a half? Ish? Obviously, I’m paying attention to my calendar more now, but I didn’t feel that out of sorts until the first time…” She c****d her head slightly as she realized Amy had gone even more pale than normal, her jaw dropping even as her ears had gone rigid. “What?” “A year and a half.” Amy seemed absolutely astonished. “Oh my God, Leah. No wonder you seemed half starved. How are you even alive?” Leah rubbed the back of her neck as she looked back toward the floor. “…I eat right and get plenty of exercise?” “But you don’t,” Amy tried to explain, “that’s half the problem. I…” She straightened up, her eyes flashing. “I need to get you to a doctor. Please?” “Uh.” Leah blinked. “Like, a doctor doctor? Or…” “Well,” Amy admitted, “you might think of her as a veterinarian, too.”