Kierra

His teeth have sunk through the thick fur to the side of my neck and straight to the skin hidden beneath. I start bucking my body, throwing my weight against him to break him loose. Sharp teeth go for his leg once more after I feel his hold give, my thrashing form causing my teeth to tear into his flesh.

In order for him to free his leg, he has to let go of me, but he holds on stubbornly, which only succeeds in making me angry. The scent of his blood perfumes the air, mine joining it as we crash through the clearing. Ducking low and rolling, his hold finally slacks enough that I can pull away.

I jump back at the same time he does, my sides heaving as I keep my eyes on him. Blood trickles along my fur follicles, the flesh in that area burning. Ocean eyes are on me as well as he holds a foreleg up off the ground, the flesh bloodied and torn. I feel a small pang of guilt, but it flies away in the face of his stubborn silence.

Tired of the games, I start circling him, growls loud in the air since everything else has gone quiet. Going to his right side, the injured leg makes him clumsy as he tries to turn with me. With that fumble, I leap forward for the opening, realizing too late that he had done it on purpose, reading my movements and intentions clear as day.

He moves to the side just before I hit him, jaws twisting and sinking into the back of my neck, his heavier body atop mine from whatever maneuver he accomplishes. Dropping his weight down, pushing me into the ground below him, I hear the low growls slipping from his muffled maw. His teeth once again finding my flesh and sinking deep, the spot he grabs is right over my spine.

Once I realize this, and how dangerous a wrong move from me could be, I still my movements. Heavy breaths escape as my heart thunders in my ears, I may have stopped moving, but I still refuse to give ground. He growls louder at me, I chuff at him in response.

The pinch of his jaws clenches tighter as he stands over me. He could shake his head right now and snap my neck, but I'm hoping dearly that he doesn't want to kill me, just wants to prove a point. I get the point, I do, but I cannot make myself submit.

The sun is beginning to set, light disappears fast in these woods. We will stay here all night if need be. I think he reads that in my body language, for he slowly let's go, however stays above me.

Asher's heavy body straddles mine, I can feel his heat. Laying my head down on my forelegs as I stretch them out in front of me, I sense him dip forward, then feel a warm tongue sliding over my muzzle.

Lovely, dog drool.

Projecting that thought from my head to his, I catch a small feeling of amusement, but it's like it's buried deep, far away. I lay my ears back, showing my disgruntled annoyance as he continues to lap at my face, grumbling in my throat as he bathes through the short fur. He steps to the side slowly, moving from hovering over my form, tongue continuing its path to my ears. I flick them and turn my face, but he catches my muzzle in his mouth before I can move away.

This is getting tiresome. I still under his ministrations and just let him have at it. Not like it's painful, just highly exasperating and makes me feel like a troublesome puppy being scolded.

He moves from my face to the side of my body, nudging his head against the side of my belly. I raise my head and growl and he growls back, meaner-like. My head stays raised, looking over my shoulder at him as he makes his way down my frame, seeming to inspect me. Sticking his nose into the thick fur in random spots and snuffling his nose.

My feet shift below me, he nips at my flank, so I swing my long tail around and swat at his face with the thick appendage. That was a bad move, as he takes the opportunity to stick his cold nose right under my tail.

I jump up so fast he should have gotten whiplash.

Spinning around and snapping at him, my heart pounds in my chest. It's natural for wolves, yes, but I'm not a natural wolf. I tuck my tail between my legs and back up, growling low, letting him know to back off.

Again I feel his amusement, the feeling closer this time than it was before. He watches me as I keep backing up, but as my luck would have it, I back up right against a tree. This sort of works I guess.

To complicate any further plans he may have, I plant my butt to the ground, right in front of the trunk. Long tail wraps around my body to lay over my forepaws, ears stay laid back against my skull, and a lip curls at him.

I'm just a barrel of laughs to him as he takes a few prancing steps closer, but stops a few feet in front of me with his head cocked. Laughter dancing in his once again recognizable eyes, the force of personality showing behind them. I reach out to him in my mind tentatively, his feeling of relief is overflowing, happiness with a small twinge of guilt, but it's overshadowed with humor.

"I would say I'm sorry, but to be honest, I'm not. I haven't felt freedom like that in...so many years. I've been an animal for so long, on my own, that I had buried myself in the wolf psyche for weeks and months at a time. In a way, I guess you could say I have been on the verge of going feral. Losing myself completely to the animal. In a way, it's freeing, but at the same time, you can lose yourself to the wildness, to the wolf. Walk with me? We should get back to Bastion so he doesn't break down thinking we both abandoned him."

If he hadn't mentioned the boy, I would have refused. As it is, I move slowly, keeping my eyes on him, taking his flank as we head back to the house.

"I did not expect the response I had when you fully shifted. It was two-fold; the part involving what happened here was my inner wolf taking hold. Catching the scent of a female close to estrus."

I balk at him, stopping abruptly as the meaning of the word comes to light in my brain. If I were in my human skin right now, I'd be the color of a very angry cherry.

"I am not in heat!"

I protest, and he chuckles at me, him and I both knowing that my body had been responding to him for hours even before I went wolf. I was hoping he hadn't noticed, but you can't hide much from an experienced wolf's nose. Asher keeps his eyes forward, continuing on even though I had stopped. I move to catch up, highly embarrassed.

"You may not be, but your wolf is and will be. It will only get worse as the full moon grows closer. Were-animals under two hundred years are compelled to shift under the light of the full moon. Females get the extra of being in estrus, or heat, during those times."

He looks up, a few clouds passing by, but nothing covering the nearly full moon. A couple more days. My mind tries to panic, but I push it down and try to think logically. Just because the wolf will be stimulated does not mean she has to get laid, just have to send Asher off somewhere far away and lock myself in my room. Or better yet the basement.

"You said two-fold, what's the other reason?"

"The other reason, which had left me wide open for my wolf to take over, was amazement. Your coloring, it's very, very rare and among all Packs, considered special. Not entirely sure why or how, we'd have to ask around to find out, and that may not be something you want to do as of yet. I should have seen it before, but you were covered in so much blood and dirt, and not to mention the rarity, so it didn't dawn on me."

I think about things for a moment. From the very beginning, being bullied by a Vamp, attacked by an insane Werewolf, left for dead, abducted by pedophiles, drugged for days, the agony of shifting which was doubled thanks to some quirk between my sister and I, all the way to Asher's horny inner wolf.

Yeah... Nope. I don't feel special one little bit. Just a magnet for poor, unfortunate things to happen.

Asking around for information on something others would want to really know about does not sound like a good way to stay under the radar in my hunt for my sister. I exhale a deep breath as we walk on, the midnight wolf looking over his shoulder at me.

"Now if you would like to continue your lesson on shifting, you would do the same thing to become Were as you did to the wolf; picturing it then willing it. Now that your transition is complete, shifting will be a bit weird feeling at first, but not painful. I'll teach you some defense fighting in between looking for your sister. Though I think you should really train, since it will help you recover her. Training in combat for both furred forms as well as the half form I had mentioned earlier. Oh, and one more thing..."

He trails off a bit just as we come up on the clearing of my home, then turns to me.

"You can stay in any form as long as you wish, you just have to be aware of the drawbacks they can have. You can shift at any time, there's no time limit in between times you can change, being weakened to the point of exhaustion will cause you to pass out in whatever form you happen to be in, which can be very dangerous."

I nod as I hurry up to the front of the house, scratching at the door to let Bastion know we've returned. He jerks open the door and practically leaps into me, wrapping his arms around my neck as he eyes Asher warily. I lead us all back into the house where the boy shuts and re-locks the door for me.

"It's alright Bastion, it was just a weird wolf thing neither of us realized would happen. I didn't want to worry you, but since even I didn't know what was going on, I couldn't explain."

I attempt to explain to him, but he still looks a bit upset, scowling at Asher every now and then. It's my turn to project amusement at the wolf, a smirk in my head. I get the impression back of a raised brow, a mischievous glint in his jewel-colored eyes.

I bite my tongue and excuse myself to my room, practically running into it to get away from him. Nosing the door closed firmly as I hear his laughter in my brain, the velvet whispered 'coward' slips through my mind. I scoff in my head at him, hiding the smile I have way down deep.

About to close my eyes to shift back into my skin, I catch my reflection against the body mirror that is against the closet door. It gleams in the light, as if liquid silver was poured over my fur. My body's tall, fast legged and strong, pelt thick and tail long.

I have to admit I am very pretty, if it wasn't me I'd say gorgeous. Eyes gleam yellow from my face, striking. Done gawking at myself, I close my eyes and call my human skin to me. Although it's more a letting go of the wolf then calling skin. I'll get the hang of it someday.