Quiver

5

It had taken...hours upon hours to get home with Elliere while Cole remained out of it as his body fought off the serum. We had managed to board a train, but it turned out that we were far from home. The travel was boring, but I hadn't bothered Elliere with anymore questions. Instead I worried over Cole mostly until it was finally time to get off at our stop. It was almost surreal as we stepped off the train and I could literally smell I was home. I grinned at Elliere who had gained another eye patch mysteriously and he flashed me a small smirk, nodding for me to lead the way.

I didn't hesitate, instead I sprinted through the station and quickly onto the streets of the city while Cole remained tucked into my arms tightly. I slipped through the streets, the scent of home urging me onward. As the downtown of the city faded away and the more suburban parts began to show as well as the forest, I slid through two houses and made a beeline for the now green colored trees. The last time I'd been in this forest, it had been brown and dying, now it was thriving as the summers months bloomed. I hadn't bothered to question Elliere what day, time or month it was, but now I wanted to know. However, I wanted to get home even more, to be in the safety of the pack house. I wasn't sure how I'd transition.. I just knew I kept going because I was free.

Once far enough in the forest, I stopped and turned to Elliere. "Shift."

He looked confused, but nodded and I turned away as he stripped off the clothes he had borrowed. The cracks echoed in the living forest and soon I could smell the overwhelming scent of wolf. I turned back to see Elliere scooping up the clothing and eye patch he'd been wearing and faced me, his body all wolf, but the upright position so odd. Still I flicked my eyes to Cole and back up to him. I knew if I shifted I'd find home easier and with Elliere able to grab and carry things, this just made it easier....though I was worried I'd shift into whatever Elliere was. I wanted to take the chance though... I needed to get home.

I carefully held out Cole to the Lupus and his smokey black form inched closer, holding out his pawed hands. I placed Cole into his care and he clutched him securely to his chest, staring at me. I rolled my eyes and stomped over to a thick tree. I stripped rapidly and despite the fire lingering in my veins, I knew I could shift. It was a dull ache now and I knew I'd shift, but the pain would be more than usual. Who was I kidding? It was going to be more than usual regardless because it had been so long since I called the wild part of me to life. Suddenly, I froze up as panicked thoughts crashed into my mind and made me shudder to a stop.

Shaking while sweat began to form I glanced down at myself as though I was a diseased creature. What would happen if I was like Elliere? Would the pack still accept me? How would I enjoy hunts, fit in, be loved?

Oh god...

A whine of anxiousness caught my attention and I peered back at Elliere, careful to keep my nude form behind the tree still. He was shifting nervously on his two feet, his tail swishing with his anxiety, but he never dropped Cole. When he seen me look at him from behind the tree, still human, his eyebrows knit together beneath his fur. I could see his facial expressions far more clearly than the average Lupus too, huh.

"I'm sorry," I murmured, fear making my voice shake. "I just don't know what... I'll shift into..since I was injected with stuff to cure me too."

Elliere whined further, but something in his different colored eyes said to try anyways. So with a sigh I slipped back behind the tree once more and told myself I could do this. I shut my eyes tightly and let out a slow breath, trying to calm my racing heart. When I was sure I was ready, I allowed my mind to remember what it was like to be in wolf form, to be a Lupus, before Claire and all the damage she'd done to me, the way it felt on four paws, the free feeling of being something other, something wild.

I felt the heat rise in my body, it was a familiar wave that I hadn't felt in months without the searing pain of the serum the Jaecars regularly injected me with. There was still a slight flare of fire, signaling the serum hadn't all left, but it was mostly gone and so I allowed the heat to begin to slowly suffocate me. My heart sped up again, but for the reason of the change and not my own nerves, this was something I missed. I missed being a creature of nature, of the woods, of the moon. My whole body began to pound in time with my heart, my veins flaming further as I pushed against the rejection of the serum and I felt the ache in my bones while fur pushed like needles through my skin. I gasped in pain, my eyes shooting open as I crouched over. I had been expecting pain, but just my fur coming through was painful? I couldn't even fathom what it was going to feel like as my--

"Ahh!" I screamed as tears immediately fell from my eyes. A bone had snapped, my knee cap to be exact and the pain was so much worse than my first shift alone thanks to the lingering serum, but I kept going, I kept pushing myself to shift because I needed to get home.

More bones snapped further and further beneath my skin and more of my screams echoed into the air. I could now feel Elliere's mind beginning to join with my own and I could actually hear him speaking words into my mind; something else that wasn't normal for the usual Lupus. His voice was gentle as he stayed near me. The pain eased ever so slightly as the fur had sprouted through completely and my tail had elongated from my spine. The only thing I could feel needed to change the most were my feet, hands, and face. I gave a cry as I pushed as hard as I could against the serum, remembering those hunts I'd been on, the taste of deer, everything. Rapid snaps echoed, my vision went black for a second and as it came back the next I was no longer human, but wolf.

An excited rush enveloped me and I turned to project my emotions to Elliere.

"There's no need to project anything. I can feel your emotions as clearly as if they were my own, Rori."

My wolfish eyes widen and I took a step back, unsure about this mind link. It was a lot easier, sure, because Elliere could talk, but could I? I went to try to speak my thoughts, but just as I went to project my words, they became jumbled. I flinched and growled, not liking the one sided-ness of things, but at least I knew I wasn't like Elliere.

Elliere laughed within my mind and shot me a wolfish grin. "Sorry. It comes with being a freak Lupus. Only we can talk within our minds...apparently. But enough about this, we can talk more in human form once we get to your house."

At the mention of the pack house I felt the instinct and need to see my family because that was what they were: family. I turned, scooped up my clothes and inhaled deeply, able to smell and hear everything in the woods. The animals, the lingering children playing adventure further ahead, and the leaves blowing in the wind. But those all weren't what I was searching for and as I concentrated further, giving myself over to my animal side, I found the scents of other Lupus, familiar Lupus, and I took off in a flurry of leaves and dirt.

**

The house had been in my view for awhile before I finally decided to shift back and change into the clothes I'd carried. I had waited patiently for Elliere to shift back and change as well while I gripped Cole tightly. Once he was fairly decent, he offered to take Cole once more and quite frankly I couldn't say no. I was far too nervous, it had been too long and though I had waited for Roman to come break me out, I had broken out with Elliere. Something in that bothered me. It bothered me that Elliere, a Lupus I didn't even know, had saved me even though Roman had all that time.

I shook my head as Elliere bumped into me and shoved those thoughts down. Right now it was about me getting home and being there, that's what mattered.

I shot Elliere a shaky grin and together we raced to the house. I hesitated by the door, but when I heard Cole moan in what seemed to be pain, all of my hesitation went right out the window. I needed to see that Cole was okay, I needed to know how he was and I couldn't sitting out here, wondering whether I should face my fears. I gripped the knob and counted to three in my head. With an exhale, I flung the door open, bursting inside with Elliere who held a groaning Cole.