Blood Moon

Chapter 28: The Shift

~ When finally confronted with reality will I reject it or embrace it ~

"We should get going; the moon will rise soon" he mentions, opening the car door for me to jump in. "Did you bring a change of clothes?" he asks as we both reach for our seatbelts. I hold up my backpack for him to see and with that we head off. 'Goddess just let me out already!' Kali beams, ready to finally run free. 

As the town of Elmbrook fades into the distance, Jacques pulls up at a nearby service station to park his truck. "So we're not on pack territory anymore and that means we need to watch out for rogues; they can be quite vicious so we'll have to be careful" he states, turning the engine off. I peer out of the window. Hues of pink and orange adorn the sky above us, a prerequisite for what is to come; nightfall. 

We make our way out and towards the forest. As we walk amongst the trees in search of a secluded area the moon begins to rise and the sky darkens. I chuck my backpack on the ground, letting it lean against a tree and turn to Jacques. 

Pain shoots through my body as my bones begin to break and snap. It is a pain unlike any other. My eyes turn red, the colour of the Blood Moon, scaring Jacques who is trying his best to comfort me. I struggle to fight back my tears as I scream out in pure agony, unsure of whether I can make it through this alive. My clothes rip and fall to the floor as the body of a wolf replaces my own. Kali stands tall, her silver fur shining brightly under the light of the full moon. Jacques gasps, taking in my wolf's appearance, rendered speechless. 

He quickly retreats behind a tree to shift and joins me soon after, a blonde wolf in his place. He urges me to follow and we begin to walk away from my backpack and through the trees. I stumble along behind him, not yet used to standing on all fours. I swiftly get the hang of it though and before long we are running. 

I run along behind him, thankful that he's purposely going slower for me to keep up. I savour the gentle breeze brushing past my fur as we sprint through the forest, my worries and fears all fading away as if they were a distant memory, a bad dream. 

I stop, my black tipped ears perking up at the sound of growling and fighting nearby. I slowly tip toe towards the location of the growling, Jacques hot on my tail. I peer around a large tree trunk to see around ten rogues all fighting each other over a dead deer in the middle of a clearing. The smell of iron overwhelms my senses but instead of making me feel repulsed like I would expect it to I feel a strong desire for it, a craving.

What on Earth...

The large blonde wolf behind me nips at my noir dipped tail, desperately trying to get me to leave before the rogues spot us. I, however, ignore his incessant warnings and pleas, my attention focused solely on my yearning for the crimson liquid. I bare my teeth, my large fangs showing as I walk slowly towards the brawl, looking to satisfy this insatiable thirst. 

My presence becomes known and the rogues stop their fighting, now all baring their teeth at me. I manage to snap out my trance as they growl at my appearance. I quickly back away and run as fast as I can through the trees along with Jacques. I briefly look over my shoulder to see a few of them chasing us. What have I done? 

Before I know it I lose sight of Jacques as the rogues approach us fast. They run quicker than I do and catch up in no time. I back up into a tree, surrounded by four savage wolves, cornered. They lurch forward abruptly; taunting me like animals playing with their food. I growl in response, a desperate attempt to scare them off. However, this only amuses them and causes their movements to become more erratic. 

One of them pounces, going in for the kill. I manage to dodge the attack and sink my teeth into its neck, forcing a whimper out of the filthy mutt. The wolf falls to the ground, its blood dripping down from my mouth. The rest of the rogues cowardly dash away, not wanting to provoke me anymore. The injured wolf scrambles to its feet before hurrying away after the others, leaving me all alone in the woods. 

My eyes fixate on the droplets of blood on the floor where the rogue once was. Licking the blood around my muzzle I relish in the delectable flavour, leaving me wanting more. I bow my head and lick the small droplets of blood off of the soil, quenching my thirst. I lap up whatever is left of the crimson liquid as if I am being hypnotised, completely and utterly enthralled, controlled by my impulse. 

Power surges through me, causing my red eyes to glow brighter than before and my senses to heighten. The sound of paws hitting the ground nearby snaps me out of my enchantment. What just happened?

A large grey and black wolf approaches, coming face to face with me before I can even think to run away. Cedarwood and Vetiver overpower my senses, intoxicating me. Ace. Hunter.

We stare into each other's eyes, red meeting black. A couple of weeks back Kali would've forced me to rush over to him but not now, not after everything that has transpired. Cautious, I inch closer to our mate. He takes a step forward too, mimicking my slow and wary movements. We continue inching towards each other until our noses lightly touch. An electric current blazes through me, a spark. I snap back to reality at this encounter and fight with my wolf to run. 

I sprint away but he follows. I run faster than before and faster than him. Before I know it he is gone; I have lost him. I notice a red scent trail and stop in my tracks. I've never seen anything like this before... 

I decide to follow it, hoping that it might help me find my way back to Jacques. It guides me all the way back to my backpack that is still leaning against a tree, untouched. Before long a blonde wolf comes into view without a scratch on him. 

The sun begins to rise and he retreats behind a tree to shift back and change. Once again my bones begin to snap and reform, the pain less intense than before. I quickly gather my change of clothes out of my backpack and throw on a black hoodie and some black jeans, similar to what I had on prior. 

Jacques returns and we hastily make our way back to the service station and into his truck without a word spoken between us. "You didn't get hurt right?" he asks, trying to catch his breath. I shake my head, still trying to make sense of what happened. He sighs, relieved. "What you did back there was incredibly reckless; you could've gotten us killed" he states, a serious expression on his face. 

"I know... I'm sorry" I apologise, still not quite understanding everything, still needing to process the events that have just occurred. "It's alright, just don't do anything like that again" he says before starting the engine and driving off back to Elmbrook.

'I don't think that you're half-human, Wanette' 

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Author's note

Update on my dog - Vet says he's recovering really well. His leg is still a little swollen but that's to be expected as it's only been a week so I have to continue putting a cold pack on it. He's allowed to go on two 5 minute walks a day now and I have to pull at his leg every now and then to make sure he's using his knee. He was being a show off at the vets though; fully walked in there like nothing was wrong with his leg at all. Vet took one look at him walking and was like "wow, didn't expect him to be walking normally in a week". If his leg wasn't shaved and he didn't have a massive scar then you'd think he didn't even have an operation. When we got back, he started hopping again. Think he was trying to convince the Vet that he didn't need to come back anymore xD 

Back to the story - So it would seem that Wanette does have ties to the vampires after all... but how will she take it? Will she continue to deny it or will she embrace who she really is? And now that Hunter has seen her wolf, what will he do? Will he still think that she is a vampire? Or will he think that he misunderstood her again? 

I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. As of right now I plan to release 1-2 chapters every Friday. Any feedback both positive and negative will be greatly appreciated. This is my first time writing a story like this so I hope that it turned out alright.

Thank you for reading!

Yours,

xgwenux