We Are the Wolves

[1] Top five nerve-wracking things.

"Ready...Set...!" I heard the coach yell while I inhaled my last breath. This was my third event and my chest was tight. Being a werewolf gave me an advantage over the athleticism associated with running track but not my nerves. Thankfully I wasn't the first leg for the 1600-meter relay because I would've been too distracted to take off at the starting gun shot. Our first leg, Shana, took off and I waited with not only the other two girls in our relay team but also the other girls from various other track teams.

Over the course of the track season, I managed to determine what the apprehension was; the last track season was when my cousin Oliver informed me that my father died and my brother was missing. No matter how many races I ran, that still weighed on my heart and whispered in my ear beneath the cheering of the crowd and our teammates. At least I knew what it was. By the time our team made it through the first, second, and almost third lap, I could see Maya Cuevas struggle down the last straight away in third place as a sophomore who recently got moved up to varsity track as a replacement. My mind shifted back into game mode especially after a coach fired another gunshot as the first-place team began the last lap.

I can catch her, I thought. Maya was now tied with the girl in fourth, a good five yards away from second place...which was a good ten from first. The coaches kept switching my order with the tied school for the handoff, but it was clear we'd be in separate lanes, unable to truly get the advantage of the inside track...which put us at a disadvantage when Maya fell a couple steps behind. But she hit our target point for the transfer and I took off in a jog, ready for her to push past her fatigue for a couple more feet in order to pass the baton and allow me to actually bring in this win. "Stick!" she yelled, causing my right hand to shoot back and feel the metal collide. I contained my smirk at the successful transfer not only because it was complete and within the boundaries but also because I heard another baton rattle to the ground and heard a "UGH!" indicating that it was the team we were previously tied with who just got themselves disqualified. Their team didn't matter to me anyways. I rounded the inside bank, now in a clear lane, and sealed the gap between me and the second-place team. She made a mistake by turning her head at the sound of my cleats at the end of the second curve and it was enough for me to pass her. We battled for second place for another 150 meters and by the sound of her breathing, she was starting to gas out. I hadn't even tapped into my unfair advantage, but I looked ahead to see the first-place runner midway between the third and fourth curve. I took a deep breath, felt my arms start tearing through the air while my legs tensed and carried me further. In another 50 meters I could tell the redhead in first place was begging to glance and see her lead, but she stuck true to a competing form and refrained. 

That's when I hit the critical moment that I had debated with myself for the last few months especially when I ran dashes on my own and not on a team: if I sped up, was I pushing myself for the competitiveness I always had in sports or was this my werewolf superiority asserting its athletic dominance? The limits between humanity and lycanthropy had been stretched thin and examined extensively as I learned to embrace my full potential.

"Babe, just run and compete how you want," an intrusive thought instructed me, cluing me in that not only that my anxieties were telepathically outward but also that the infamous Ryder Ramon showed up for my track meet for once. Oh no, he was a worse distraction than the moment between 'set' and the gunshot going off. He was the only thing that could make my heart pound stronger than mere adrenaline. I could almost hear his taunting laugh at that comparison, but instead I found a new reason to finish this race in first place that didn't require my supernatural strength.

I could see Ryder standing at the inside of the track with flowers in one hand, a bottle in the other, and my teammates to his left (on the track, ten yards past the finish line) assembling themselves to hold up a banner despite them being exhausted from our relay that still wasn't over. I didn't need to read the massive prom proposal because I focused on him. Ryder's eyes connected to mine from here and with my vision, I was able to see him wink before I propelled myself forward just enough to exhaust my human muscles just before they'd tap into my lycanthropic ones. I came in first place by at least a yard and didn't care if it was me or my wolf that caused it.