The silence was unnerving.

Azura was home by herself and it felt like the walls were closing in on her. Ever since the nightmare she had during that afternoon, she’d felt less and less uncomfortable being alone. She anxiously paced around the room, counting her steps to make sure the walls hadn't actually moved, but it gave her no relief.

Every time she had closed her eyes, images of Charlie and Nora plagued her mind. Their dead bodies haunting her. The unnerving voice telling her it was all her fault, was becoming louder and more frequent.

She could even hear it throughout the day now. It was becoming more and more convincing as well. Azura had a hard time separating that voice from her own mind and it was driving her crazy. It became harder to segregate reality from the dream and she’d already caught herself believing the nonsense the voice had put in her head.

Azura clenched her fists again, digging her fingernails into the palm of her hands. She was sweating and had a hard time ignoring the shaking of her hands. They’d been trembling for a few hours now. By clenching her fists she hoped it would go away, but it had not helped so far. A heaviness descended on her chest and she drove her fingers into her palms even harder. It started to hurt, but it was a good reminder of what was real.

It took another ten minutes of restless pacing around her room before she had made up her mind. She needed to run. It had been several weeks since she’d last shifted, and it hadn’t once been done since she arrived here. She had not gone outside much at all since she had arrived, actually.

Azura practically ran outside, throwing her coat on while doing so. She stopped as she reached the end of the driveway and looked back at the house. It was small, and maybe fifty meters away was a bigger sprawl; the main house of the property. Lucas's dad had been living there till he passed away and Lucas had offered the house to his best friend and his wife after. She still didn't know why he hadn’t taken the house for himself, but he probably had his reasons for that.

The cool crisp air was doing some good, allowing her mind a reprieve to wander to the houses, but that didn't last long. Her restlessness soon emerged again and Azura quickly walked away to the nearby forest.

She needed a good spot to keep her things yet not be too close to the city. If she were to change it would mean undressing and taking everything off. Including her ring, the one thing that kept her identity and true nature hidden. She didn’t want anyone to discover her clothes, so after reaching the forest, she continued walking for another hour through the snow before reaching a small cave.

Azura took off her coat and her clothes, then wrapped them up in a small bundle and placed them behind a small rock. Not too visible, and dry from the snow. The fresh air gave her goosebumps across her naked skin. The cold felt good to her, embracing her as if she was an old friend.

Unfortunately, she knew she was still susceptible to hypothermia so she had to change quickly. The only thing she still wore was her ring. Azura grabbed it and hesitated for a moment. If she took it off, she would no longer be protected. Anything could pick up her smell and find her.

She was quiet for a moment, listening for anything out of the ordinary before finally removing it, tugging it off. For the first time in a long time, she could see. All the smells hit her at once. When she was wearing the ring, her smell was hidden from anyone, but it also prevented her from smelling anything.

Now she was completely naked and she could finally shift. Azura walked out with her bare feet in the snow. She loved the way it felt beneath her toes. She arched her back, closed her eyes, and turned her face upwards toward the sky.

Teeth elongated into canines, nails grew long and sharp, fur covered her body as it grew in thick waves. She then collapsed to the ground and ended up on all fours, limbs reshaping. Her body finished the shifting and a beautiful snow leopard then stood where Azura had been.

Her tail was just as long as her body, thick and fluffy, like the rest of her coat. All designed for a harsh and cold environment, just like the one she currently stood in. Her blue eyes still remained. An unusual color for a snow leopard, the only give-away that she was more than a regular snow leopard.

The sounds and smells of the forest were all so much clearer now. Azura walked around for a bit, admiring the views from this other perspective. She hadn't paid much attention to her surroundings when she came here, she’d just been running, trying to keep her mind from going insane.

Now the voice was gone, her caged feelings had disappeared as well and she had been left with a clear, calm mindset. It was such a relief she leaped up in joy, stretching her muscles, and ended up with her front paws against a tree, claws dug deep into its trunk.

The forest was rich with the sounds of birds and other wildlife. Azura perked her ears forward when she heard a waterfall and decided to head over.

The snow crackled under her large paws as the long tail flicked from side to side, blue eyes taking in all the new things from this unexplored territory. There were definitely no wolves living here, at least...not the human kind. She knew that smell all too well since she had spent so much time with Nora's pack.

She jumped over rocks, traversing the mountain to the sound of the waterfall all while she slowly started picking up her pace. Sometimes she would stop, sniff around, then scrunch her nose and lips while trying to identify a smell.

The trees steadily disappear as she reaches the top of the mountainside, then more rocks and cliffs stood in their place. For humans, this terrain would be very difficult to traverse, but as a snow leopard, it was second nature. It had started snowing again, the flakes land graciously on her fur while others on her nose. The wind had also picked up, and blew a certain very enthralling smell her way. Azura raised her head and closed her eyes focusing on the smell. It was clearly an ibex.

Instincts kicked in as she lowered herself to the ground then silently followed her nose. Making sure she stayed downwind to prevent her scent from being carried to the ibex. If that were to happen, it would flee immediately and she was not in the mood for a long hunting trip.

She finally arrived at a small overlook and looked down upon the animal. Its horns were huge, curling all the way over its head so it was almost touching its back. It stood out amongst the snow with its brown fur.

Azura observed the big wild goat for a short while, looking for an opening and opportunity to attack. The goat, oblivious to the threat he faced, hopped from stone to stone looking for something to eat himself. It stopped on a small rock with a flat patch of snow next to it. Azura eyed the distance between her and the goat and knew she could make the jump. She got up and prepared herself to jump.

With a long leap, she floated through the air. Her whiskers and ears pointed forwards. Her animal instincts were all on point. The ibex noticed her but it was too late to react.

As he was about to bolt off, Azura landed on him with all fours, knocking him down from the rock into the snow. They rolled on top of each other through the snow, the ibex desperately trying to get away, and Azura desperately trying to get a grip on it with her claws and teeth without being bucked or skewered by those huge horns.

After what had seemed like forever rolling in the snow, she finally managed to bite into the animal's neck. She felt her teeth sink through its skin and the blood seeping from the puncture wounds. The large cat bit down harder, trying to close its airpipe to make the ibex suffocate. The mountain goat kept struggling, but Azura made sure it did not get enough room to wriggle.

Eventually, it stopped resisting and gave up, unable to breathe through a crushed larynx. She let go of her prey and stepped to the side panting heavily, it had been a while since she had made a kill as a snow leopard. It felt amazing. Exhilarating.

Right as she ripped the soft skin on its stomach open, a chill ran down her body.

You enjoyed the hunt. You loved to kill that animal, to feel the blood running through your mouth. You get a kick out of seeing the life leave a body. I told you, you were a murderer. A true killer. There's no denying it! When will you accept it yourself? It's in your blood.

Azura growled and shook her head as she backed up from her kill. She looked at it with shock in her eyes. The snow had turned red around the ibex and her muzzle was covered in blood as well. The voice had brought her back to reality. She frantically tried to clean her muzzle with her front paws, dipping it in the snow.

This was not what was supposed to happen! Being out in the open as a leopard had felt amazing! It had triggered her true instincts to come up, but realizing she had just killed again... And how much she had enjoyed it... Azura felt nauseous.

She backed away even further with her head lowered, shaking it from side to side trying to lose the voice. Her tail also flicked around furiously. It was clear she was agitated. Finally, she turned around and leaped on another rocky platform before sprinting away.

The large leopard didn't care about her surroundings as she just ran. She stopped at an overhang and looked straight down, it was around thirty to forty meters of nothing before there was ground again. It went straight downhill after that.

Azura hesitated, panic set in her eyes as she peered over the edge. Jumping down would most certainly kill her. It was no option, but still, she kept gazing down the cliff. A soft distressed yowl left her throat as she lay down at the edge, escalated breathing picked up again as she curled her tail around her body in an effort to calm down.

Really? You're thinking about this? It's the easy way out. You're a coward if you choose this way, yet go ahead if you please. But will it solve anything? Not only a killer but a coward as well. Huh... Who would've guessed...

Azura jumped up again and backed away from the edge. She put her head between her front paws and frantically tried to cover her ears and wipe the voice away. Snarling as she did so, but it didn’t help. She took another glance at the edge of the platform and backed away even further.

So not a coward. You made your choice. But can you accept the rest? You don't have to right now. Maybe later... But time keeps on ticking.

Azura lifted her head, mouth hung open with some drool dripping down from the left corner. She scraped the ground with her claws before setting off again.

She back-tracked through the mountain, going down as fast as she could. Within minutes she had reached the trees again and she set off in search of her clothes. She didn't register anything as she ran by. Her mind was on lockdown, her body moving on auto-pilot. She didn't feel the wind in her fur, her paws running through the snow, nor the scraping on the rocks.

Azura finally arrived at the cave with her stuff and shifted back. As soon as she was human she grabbed the ring in a frenzy and put it on. Tears streamed down her face, her whole body trembling. Clothes were grabbed, but let go of right after as her body started convulsing. A rushed turn to the other corner of the cave was made just in time before she hurled.

Azura sat on her hands and knees and threw everything out. She screamed out of frustration hoping it would give her some relief, hit the rock walls with her bare fists scraping off layers of skin. Her knuckles started bleeding, and her knees were damaged as well from moving around on them. Finally, she lay down naked and crying, hugging her legs.

Several hours had passed since she had changed back. Azura staggered out of the woods back home. Some of the scrapes and small wounds had already healed over, but the dried blood was still on her hands and body. She had changed into her clothes again before she left and finally reached the house. Azura stopped as she saw Rose walking away, she hadn’t noticed her yet, and she was walking fast.

Azura started to run, wanting to call out to her, but as she came closer she stopped. Rose looked like a mess herself.

"Rose?" She called out anyway, a little hesitantly.

Rose looked towards her and after the first shock started heading her way. Azura started walking which turned into jogging, and as the girls met they embraced each other. They hugged for what seemed like an hour before Rose spoke up with a trembling voice.

"We broke up.."