Chapter Twenty-Seven

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By the time Crissa had arrived at the entryway to greet Julie and cover her naked body, Helga had already done so, standing next to her husband, Horst. They had obviously been through this ritual, monthly now with their daughter, Lara. But for now, looking into Julie's face, Crissa could see it was not the girl she had shared a room with, or exchanged fun and catty conversations. Not the talkative undergraduate student from Alaska. She was something now more feral and primitive. Her body was dark from the filth accumulated from running five long nights and days in the forests with the wolf pack. There was also something very gamey, almost repulsive to Crissa about the smell Julie gave off her body. Her hands had scratches and bruises where she had obviously been using them for walking and running—traveling on all four limbs as a she-wolf.

Placing her hand on Julie's shoulder, she immediately recoiled it when the girl made an angry expression with her mouth and eyes from being touched. Crissa just stepped back. Mary was next to her and she spoke quietly and comfortingly.

"It's OK, Crissa," she whispered. "She's going to need some time to come back from . . . them."

"Yeah, I get that," Crissa whispered back. "It's so scary. To see her like this."

The proprietors of the hotel both left for the kitchen, presumably to bring Julie some food and water. Josh joined the two females from the stairwell. Staring down at Julie reclining, he also showed amazement witnessing the girl's wild state, sitting before the fire.

"I'm going to get her some clothes," Crissa finally said, more out of an excuse to leave the disturbing scene.

"No need for clothes," Mary said, wisely. "She won't even relate to them for hours. Dressing her would just be a problem. Maybe not until tomorrow sometime. David did the same. Remember?"

"Yes, but . . ."

Mary was speaking to Josh now, in a fascinated voice.

"Their whole endocrine system seems to need time to readjust . . . along with their memory and thought processes. As shocking as this is, it's absolutely stunning from a biological perspective," she said."

Crissa turned and faced them both.

"Yeah, well," she said sharply. "As someone who's not even an undergraduate student yet, I can really say I don't share your scientific interest in all this."

With that, Crissa walked away from the sofa and headed up the stairs to her room. She remained upset by the looks of Julie's recovering condition. Just the thought that the girl had been mating with her lover while they were wolves was a repulsive image which she fought hard not to picture. Could that have explained the strong and offensive odor about her?

As she walked down the hall, she met David and Brad who only then were returning from their vantage-point on the roof.

"Is she back inside OK?"  Brad asked excitedly.

"Yeah, she's with us . . . if you want to call it that."

"OK then," David added. "It'll take her some time. I don't even remember that first day. Just feeling paralyzed . . . tired, and super hungry."

"Yeah, seems like she's there, David." Crissa said. "And pretty heavily. But will she ever feel . . ."

"Totally the same? No," he said emphatically. "Not at all. She'll definitely feel she's different. Both inside and out, Crissa." He looked into her eyes. "OK, I'm human again . . . for now. But I can't explain the changes yet. Not really. They're good and bad."

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