What Has Become Of Me?

Nathan starts walking and pauses to motion me to follow with his head. Unsteadily I get to my four paws. It’s strange going straight from sixteen years with just two legs to suddenly four legs. Strength flows through my limbs. Nathan is at least fifteen paces ahead of me and has stopped to watch me. I sigh deeply before I take my steps. They are exaggerated steps but keep me on my feet. At eight paces I start to get the hang of it and start to walk quicker. I give Nathan a cocky smile and raise my head up at ten paces. Without warning, my left hind leg comes forward quicker then my left front leg sending me sprawling to the ground right at Nathan’s feet. Nathan laughs and is patient as I get to my feet. An urge comes over me and I just go with the flow allowing my wolf to shake off our beautiful coat.

“Come on pup, don’t get to cocky, it’s just one step at a time.”

I roll my eyes at Nathan and he just starts walking again but at a slow pace. Concentrating hard, I follow after him. Quickly it becomes natural, just as easy as breathing. As I grow better and more confident I start to pick up my pace. Nathan matches my pace always staying at my side.

I grin at him. The power I feel in my limbs must be able to propel me to speeds I’d never dream of reaching as a human. Without wasting any more time, I take off in a sprint. Nathan quickly follows as we weave between trees. The night’s air is refreshing and pushes back my fur that had half covered my eyes.

“You think a simple pup can outrace me?”

His question is light-hearted but I hear the strain under it, in his mind as he is finding tougher to keep up with me.

Nathan is soon struggling to keep up with me. What normal wolf could keep up with a hybrid? I clear the leap over a fallen tree then duck under a root system raised up from the ground. Still I feel power that tells me I can run faster. My nails dig into the earth as I speed onwards.

“Anika!”

His voice is no longer light-hearted, it sounds like more of a warning.

I see his reason all too late. The line where the trees end approaches too quickly. I dig my nails deeper into the earth hoping to stop. My body is thrown through the trees and straight out into the middle of a road where I come to a stop dazed. Immediately my head shoots up at the oncoming headlights. I scramble to my feet and try to scamper back to the trees as the driver realises I’m there and hit’s the brakes. My front paws leave the road and reach comforting grass just as the car starts to slide. Pain spears through my hind legs as the full force of the car hits them. The car rolls to a halt as I drag myself away.

“Dammit!” a man curses getting out of his car.

On my front paws and using my mouth to grab the fur of my lower back to lift the shattered lower section, I pitifully retreat.

“That was one big ass dog” the man says.

I hear him walk to the front of his car and curse again. Obviously I’ve done some damage to his car. Nathan is suddenly at my side.

“You stupid girl, the road. Why wouldn’t you stop? You’re injured.”

His scolding sounds just like a worried parent.

Now that I feel safe I can now give into the pain looming over me with black spots dancing across my vision. Nathan moves inspecting the damage as I collapse.

“Anika, you’ve broken both hips. Even a full grown, experienced werewolf would take at least two days to heal from this but even then you’d need to get this reset. Damn it girl, so reckless.”

I whimper as pain hits me. Two days, if lucky? I yelp as I feel something brush across it. A quick look tells me Nathan is touching his nose to the damage to assess it. Just as he pulls away from my disfigured hip something snaps on it’s own. A howl of agony echoes out around from me. Before our very eyes my hips set themselves back into place and heal. Over the space of the next twenty minutes I experience the agony of every little splinter of the shattered bone recklessly moving under my skin to realign to where it should be. Nathan just openly gapes at me as I desperately try to stay quiet through the pain. Note to self; never ever get hit by a car again. Once it’s over I just lay panting in the dirt.

“How? How did you do that?”

I just grimace. To talk to him I have to access his mind, might as well try. I close my eyes allowing my senses to be thrown out but not just physical senses. It’s difficult but I manage to sense Nathan’s powerful, well guarded mind. With a lot of concentration I am able to get inside.

“Can you please teach me how to morph back then take me home?”

My question sounds pitiful but watching part of your being kill a man, morphing into a wolf for the first voluntary time, racing your soon-to-be alpha through an entire span of woodland, breaking both hips and experiencing their rapid recovery is very exhausting.

Nathan pauses then nods. He morphs back to human form in front of me and the one thing furthest from my mind is how his body looks completely uncovered.

“I’ll carry you back so we are closer, then help you change” Nathan tells me before he picks me up.

I relax in his arms as he starts to jog us all the way back to the creek like area I first changed. I’m amazed at how far we managed to run in such a short amount of time. Our jog, or rather his jog and my ride, back to the spot was peaceful. As long as it doesn’t involve getting hit by another car, I could get used to wolf-hood.