She-Wolf Chronicles: United Forces (1)

Chapter 5

Pic on the side is of the Family :D

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Chapter 5

 

I ran past the blurs of trees, the only sound in the forest being the padding of my paws as I pounded on. Try as I might I still couldn’t clear my emotions, or the murderous thoughts that ran through my head.

The people I had loved, the people I had let into my life and trusted, let some of my walls down for – all of them betrayed me. All of them took my hope of the freedom and happiness that I had wanted. They even helped take away the joyous feeling of my first shift! The one thing that I had been looking forward to ever since I was old enough to realise that the way we were living wasn’t normal, that being in the constant state of grief wasn’t healthy.

I stopped dead in my tracks as I neared the only lake we had in our vast territory, my desired destination. I trotted forward slowly and quietly to the edge and peered into the normally clear blue water, that was now tinted silver as it sparkled in the moonlight, and I had to sit – or was lay the correct terminology for this position in this form? – when I saw what peered back at me, welcoming the distraction from my inner-torment.

There, in the place where my reflection should have been, was the most amazingly exquisite creature. Its frame was quite large but still managed to look elegant, and its small ears were raised, as if on alert for a sneak attack behind it, while it relaxed. Its long fur was a beautiful deep red, the exact shade of roses, and in between the red strands of fur was a rich black that seemed to shine in the reflection of the pool. But what made a jolt of recognition go through me were the eyes.

Large gold irises welcomed me, it’s beautiful long lashes emphasising the bronze flecks within them. They were my eyes, but the colouring of the irises was in a different form. Come to think of it, my fur was exactly the same. My human hair was black with tints of red in it, but my fur was red with hints of black in it.

I was this beautiful creature.

A sense of calm suddenly went through me when a howl broke out inside of me, my eyes widening in the reflection of the water as shock registered inside of me. The howling was then replaced with purring, a sound meant to be reassuring, though how I knew what the sounds were meant to represent I could not recollect.

Then flashes of my training ran through my head and I finally understood that this was my wolf – the animalistic side of me who represented my wolf form – making the sounds. As if to prove the point it howled again. I wondered why this was the first time I had heard her rather than when I had first shifted or whilst I had been running.

My wolf started to yip, but somehow I understood what she was saying, that when I had finally calmed down enough to actually register what I had become and accept the idea of me being a wolf, the shift was complete and she could appear. So not only had I turned into my…well…animal side, I had connected with it and fully embraced it.

I took the decision then to shift back while I was still calm, wanting to actually think everything through in my own mind. So I closed my eyes and concentrated on the reflection I was used to seeing just like I was told to do in training; a five foot six, curvy yet toned body, features consisting of large bronze/gold eyes, red full lips and small nose, black straight hair that reaches the middle of the back and turns red in the light.

I opened my eyes and sighed in relief when I found myself sitting upright near the edge of the lake with my human legs stretched out in front of me. While I reassured myself that I had indeed successfully shifted back by patting myself down, I noticed that my leather outfit was still, much to my annoyance, perfectly intact with not a scratch or mark on it.