Green - a werewolf story

31. Rock, Meet Hard Place

Supernatural healing or not, salt itched when it got past her fur into her skin and the scratches she'd received when the dark red wolves brought her down now stung like a son of a ...

"Well, well. What do we have here?"

Vanessa shifted her head and looked up at a short, but compact, man. The leader of this pack, she realized, as he was the only one wearing clothes. Typical alfa, she thought with a sneer. Didn't want to get himself dirty so he left the fighting to his minions.

"How good of you to go for a midnight run," he said, bending to get closer to her face. "I told you last time that if I caught any of you people feeding drugs to our kids again, I'd come after you and then I'd bite off your heads and stick them on poles."

Vanessa thought she was supposed to be intimidated, but she was more angry than anything. The evening had gotten off to such a great start.

They had stopped on the way for dinner and reached the salt lakes a few hours after dark. The moon was still fairly large and the starlit sky above them looked endless. She'd stared out over the salt lakes and been oddly reminded of home. Only, the plains before them were salt rather than sand and the night was nearly silent.

"Quite a sight, isn't it?" Green had said, putting an arm around her to pull her close.

"It's beautiful."

"You'll love being out there, running."

"Won't anyone notice us? There's no cover."

The salt had reflected the moonlight, making the ground look fluorescent in the night.

"Nah, the lake's large and there's no one here."

"But hunters could..."

"There are no hunters here. No wild animals enjoy living in salt. Honestly, if I didn't heal the way I do I wouldn't be here either."

"But if there's..."

"Smell the air, there's nothing here. No humans, no deer, no packs with territories close to this place."

Vanessa had done as he asked. She'd inhaled deeply, but the scent traces of living things on the breeze came from far away.

"See? Come on, let's get naked."

Vanessa had shoved him away, but couldn't stop a grin as she turned her back to him and stepped out of her shoes, jeans, t-shirt and underwear. A moment later a wolf had stood in her place. She'd looked over at Green and found him staring at her. When she'd tilted her head in question and he smiled at her.

"You're beautiful."

Vanessa had preened at the compliment. There was no stopping it. In her wolf form, her wolf side was significantly more influential than it was when she was in her human form. Lying, even to herself, became nearly impossible and her body reacted before her mind had time to consider the consequences.

She'd shaken her head to clear it. Her brain was different in her wolf form. A human brain can't fit into a wolf skull. Magic or not, certain physical constraints were inescapable.

Green had taken his clothes off and Vanessa hadn't bothered to pretend she wasn't watching him. Pretending always seemed pointless when she was a wolf. That was the best part of being in this shape. As a wolf she had a fundamental sense of who she was and no wish to be any different.

When the dark brown wolf that was Green had rubbed up against her, enveloping her with the scent of rain and chocolate, she'd given him a lick on the snout and together they'd set off across the lakes.