Mark of the Moon

Chapter 33 - No Choice

Chapter 33: No Choice

  As sweet as a song and smooth as a melody, sounds were slowly coming to my ears. Trees whipped past me as I opened my tightly shut eyes, the smells of the woods in spring came from all around me as I ran, dodging low limbs and budding leaves. Automatically my eyes scanned for something—someone—as if I had only closed them for a second, a blink of time, and had settled back into this game of some sort that I had no recollection of.

  I was running… that much I knew, but it was hazy if I was running from something or towards something. At least I knew it wasn’t danger, because the way my legs carried me farther across the forest floor which each gliding leap was in total ease. Whatever this was, it was fun, because the sound of my laughter echoed across the mostly empty trees. My ears weren’t as tuned in to everything as they seemed to be ever since I had been marked by Tristan, but for a moment I liked that, complete silence except for the rustling of the leaves in the trees.

  Of course it also gave me no warning for when a huge shadow appeared in the corner of my vision, nipping me playfully at the heel before taking off further into the woods. His black fur flecked in the sunlight as he whipped his big wolf head back to look at me while grinning with that animal mouth of his. My own legs pumped through the air in determination to catch back up again, smiling wildly as I darted my hand forward to run the tips of my fingers through the silky fur. Our bodies were totally in sync with the environment, never once getting into a near collision incident with trunks or hidden objects in the underbrush. As agile as deer we sprinted towards wherever we were headed.

  Tristan’s wolf form seemed to flicker the longer my eyes stayed trained on it, giving me longer and longer glimpses of him running in human form. A huge genuine and rare smile plastered across his face, and the urge to reach my arm that much further and pull him back to have that smiling mouth colliding with mine panged my heart, and forced me faster. It was only then that I realized that I was also meshing between my two selves; the animalistic and my human forms. They coexisted with each other so seamlessly that I didn’t feel a thing when they gave into the other momentarily to have my body in a non-stop flurry of transformation.

  Had it always been this easy? Could I really just go back and forth and be in total control and confidence? Maybe all of the stuff before was all just a terrible dream and I had always been in control—of my feelings and my sanity. It seemed so impossible to feel this happy, to think that there was nothing more perfect in the world than this. No pressure, no harboring anger—nothing. Only total security.

  The trees emptied out from around us and before both of us knew it we were freefalling in the air, having taken one step too far out and over the edge of the land, tumbling down towards the lake water. Instantly our bodies turned downwards to slide gracefully into the water, hands seeking each other out like magnets in our decent.

  His whole presence disappeared though the moment we collided with the warm waters. All the seeping coldness had evaporated into the air and I felt the smile slide from my face. One blink was all it took and then the water around me disappeared and I was standing on a small deck facing out towards the woods.

  A thin summer dress tickled my thighs as the breeze brushed itself up against me.  The wind whispered tales of the same spring I had just come from, delicately sweet and soothing. Instantly I knew it was the same woods that I had just been running through, only slight differences waded its way through my mind; the way the yard wasn’t leading to a path through the woods, the wood was worn and splintering under my toes. It was nothing like the Everdeen’s pack house, the yard cluttered with pieces of trash and other non-distinguishable objects.