A Hundred Whispers Make a Howl

Chapter 19

It is a sensation of warmth that eventually awakens me.

I had been sleeping deeply, content at first. But as I gradually became more aware, what started as a comforting warmth changed into a stifling inferno. Uncomfortable, I tried to roll over, only to find myself subdued by a firm weight upon my chest.

Startled, but still groggy, I open my eyes and blink rapidly to clear my vision. What greets me is a huge, black head, resting inches from my face.

Shay.

Even in the dark room her outline is clearly visible, pelt blacker than any shadow. The werewolf rests half on top of me, sleeping peacefully with her muzzle on my chest and a paw on my shoulder. Her breath comes in warm, rhythmic puffs against my throat, and I swallow thickly. There is a smothering heat that radiates from her body, heavy, and she's close...way too close.

"Shay..." I mumble, still partially disoriented with sleep, and try once more to escape out from under her. The great wolf's eyes remain closed, but her intimidating jaws open wide to let loose a large yawn. Her hot breath wafts across my face, and I wrinkle my nose impulsively. It smells fowl, like the healing tonic she had drank the night before. It's a rather unpleasant wake-up call.

"Gross, Shay, get off! You're heavy." I groan, struggling to push her muzzle away from my own face. My arm is half asleep, and I wriggle my numb fingers against dark fur in an attempt to alleviate the pins and needles that stab beneath my skin..

With a whine, the hulking black beast finally relents and moves. As she rolls off of me and onto her back, her body shimmers like a desert mirage, and suddenly the wolf is no more. Yawning again, the now very human Shay arches her back as she stretches. The transformation had loosened her bandages, and torn ribbons of cloth drape her naked body. They glow stark white in the dark.

The sight of those bandages stirs memories of the night before; bruised skin, torn flesh, and warm blood on my hands. "Hey, wait a second Shay, be care-" The word dies in my throat. "No way."

Impulsively, my hands move before my mind can consider the consequences. Fingertips find soft, white skin, ghosting over the remnants of Shay's battle. Miraculously, overnight, the flesh had knit itself back together. What had been horrid open gashes only a few hours before were now merely unattractive rows of scar tissue that dappled Shay's skin with jagged stripes against a backdrop of yellow and purple bruising. I trace over those scars with gently sweeping hands, the scientist in me mesmerized by the data before my eyes. Shay's body had overcome the damages in a few days, but in a human, such wounds would have resulted in certain death. Werewolf physiology was continually surprising me...Maybe I should have experimented more with my own body earlier on...

"Um, Nikole?" A question asked by a soft, confused voice finally reminds me of the fact that the research material under study currently belongs to a living, breathing, person. Shay looks up at me with wide eyes, now very awake. She's flushed and bed ruffled, and she only holds eye contact for a moment before her gaze dips downward.

My right hand rests upon her ribs, over a particularly nasty scar that runs just beneath her left breast. I recoil violently, as if I've just hand my hand in a pile of hot coals, and nearly topple off the side of the bed. Shay, however, reaches out to grasp my arm and pull me back into the secure nest of pillows.

"Good morning to you, too." The she-wolf smirks, despite the pretty shade of red that adorns her face and ears, and seems to be spreading down the swanlike column of her neck to her naked chest. I quickly slap a hand over my eyes. It's the only thing I can do to prevent them from ravaging Shay's gloriously nude body.