Pretty Little Werewolf

Chapter 2

Dinner had been no less awkward, but Giselle had made a good effort to avoid biting someone's head off through the incessant questions about her past and why she'd been in the system. They'd been particularly interested in how she'd ended up there. But Giselle had never known her parents. Never knew where she came from. She wasn't from Vegas, either. She'd been shipped over after her first bad month three years before. Previous foster parents had been traumatized and wanted her as far away as humanly possible. She'd never liked Vegas. Too dry, too much desert. No forests. She missed the green and trees of Oregon. Thinking about what she had lost made her feel even more on edge. When she'd run up stairs crying, something Giselle had never done, least of all in front of people, Martina took pity on her and asked the other girls to stay downstairs for the night so she could adjust to her new environment in peace.

A small but very much appreciated gesture by Martina. There was something very comforting about that woman. Sure, they all said they understood, but Martina was almost empathetic in her dealings with Giselle. Maybe she'd been a kid in the system growing up too? Either way, Giselle appreciated the alone time, especially with the moon playing havoc with her mood.

The bedroom window overlooked the backyard, and she spied a small gate that led behind the houses. An alleyway. Not something she was used to seeing, but it gave her an idea. She could hop down onto the pergola and then to the ground easy enough. Climbing back up wouldn't be that hard either. And that back gate would make an easy exit. There was plenty of open desert around; she'd noticed it on the way into the neighborhood. If she was lucky, she could sneak out for a run and be back without anyone else finding out.

The moon's silvery light called, not to her but to her wolf, urging it to rise to the surface and take over. The promise of freedom and the wind through her hair was temping to both Giselle and her wolf. No. Not just temping – nearly irresistible. Trying to ignore the call of the wolf only ended up causing her to lash out like a banshee at everyone and everything around her. PMS had nothing on a wolf trying to claw its way to the surface. She'd surely be sent off to the nut house if that happened... again. Her decision had been made before she'd had the chance to question the what ifs of being caught.

She had to do it. Just one quick run. Let the transformation calm the beast. Her wolf responded at just the thought of rising up, whimpering and begging.

Run. Freedom. Now.

Giselle listened for sounds coming from the floor below. The family, from what she could hear, were settling in to watch a movie. The heavenly scent of popping corn and butter rose up through the floor and she salivated, wondering if she might get some when she returned. She'd have at least an hour, maybe more, while they were entertained, and maybe she'd join them after... just for a snack, if there was any popcorn left.

With that thought, Giselle disrobed and unlocked the window. She dove down to the patio cover and bounded off it to the concrete below. With a quick glance back to make sure she hadn't alerted the others, Giselle took a deep breath and allowed the transformation to take hold. Her wolf came to the surface, rising and spreading to every inch of her limbs. Hair sprouted in thick tufts, covering her naked form. She shrank down, bones popping as they re-formed. Her face contorted, mouth and nose elongating, fangs descending though her gums. To an outsider the process might look painful, but the melding of her inner animal with her human form was actually freeing and completely painless. In fact, she felt more at peace with herself in her animal form, letting the wolf take control and guide her. The burdens of the world didn't matter when she was the wolf. Only the freedom to run and the wind through her fur mattered.

Shaking off the last of her transformation, Giselle bounded off through the back gate and down the street, looking for the desert that lay just behind their neighborhood.