The large brown wolf prowled silently through the dense forest. It was restless, sensing that soon it would be sublimated by its human half, and it wasn’t happy at the prospect.
The animal detested being caged. It was the only word to describe what its human did to it. It was forced into submission, snarling ineffectively as it fought for a freedom it knew would only be granted on one night of every lunar month.
Last night had been that night. The moon had been at its fullest and the man who controlled the beast surrendered as he always did. The wolf had been free to run, free to hunt prey in all its savage glory until the tantalising scents of the bitches called to it.
The beast understood the pact its human had agree with the Lochlyn Alpha. At full moon, the lone wolf was allowed to run with the Pack despite not being a member. It was permitted to rut with any single bitches who were amenable to its lust.
The wolf growled low in its throat, satisfaction rolling through its big body. It had sated its lust with three different bitches. Its human had curled up in a tight ball deep inside as it had mated ecstatically with the females.
The man always detached from these engagements, always pretended they were not occurring. Which suited the wolf just fine. This was its reward for staying subjugated to the whims of man for the rest of the time. It was their private agreement carved out so many decades ago.
Stopping in the heart of the forest the wolf stared at the new sun as it shone through the trees. Usually its other half had taken over dominance by now. This morning the man hid further within its body, hiding from the wolf memories of the last succulent bitch it had rode mercilessly less than an hour before.
It was only the fact the animal understood so painfully well why its human half hid that it didn’t rise up and take complete dominance, shedding the last of its humanity completely and going Rogue.
The wolf missed her too. It could still remember her scent, could still remember the sleek, glossy black fur when she was in animal form. Memories of running with its mate always surfaced on the night of the full moon. The animal grieved for its other half just as much as its human did but the wolf was more pragmatic.
Their beautiful mate was dead and had been for a very long time. They lived and they had to go on, it was as simple as that to the wolf. The man shut down, pretending he was living when he was really dead inside. The wolf did the only thing it could for its other half. It lived and loved with abandon for one night every month, keeping the man sane even though he would never thank him for it.
Scents suddenly carried on the wind and the huge wolf turned its head slowly, large blue eyes shining with interest. The scents piqued its interest immensely. It had never scented anything so unique before. There was wolf carrying on the wind, but it was a different kind of wolf. Very stealthily, the animal move off towards the intoxicating scents.
*****
“Daddy’s going to be very angry!”
Stopping with a deep sigh, the little girl turned slowly to face her baby brother. He was almost a full year younger than her almost five years and yet she felt as if she was so much older than him sometimes.
She wanted to be cross with him but she couldn’t find it in her heart to be mean. She adored her brother so much but she did wish he could be a little braver sometimes. They never got to have any real fun in the compound. He should be enjoying this new adventure, not being scared of Daddy finding out.
He was blinking nervously at her, his light brown hair falling in his eyes wildly as it always did and she couldn’t help smiling. “Daddy will never know, Kallum. We’ll only be gone for a minute and they’re all still sleeping,” she reassured him with all the poise of her tender years.
“It’s okay for you, Lily. All you have to do is smile and Daddy always stops being angry with you. He frowns at me and tells me off.” Kallum Romanov was very sensitive to his father’s displeasure. He always felt bad if he was angry with him. His sister just seemed to let it all roll off her back and he envious of her confidence. He wished he was as brave as Lily.
“Don’t you want to try shifting?” Lily tempted, devilment in her chocolate brown eyes. She knew it was something her brother was desperate to be able to do. Mummy said they wouldn’t know until they were at least fifteen whether or not they would be able to shift into wolf form. Lily wasn’t prepared to wait that long to find out. She wanted to know now!
That was all it took to ease her brother’s concerns. He wanted to be a wolf like Rafe, big, strong and a powerful Alpha. He literally hummed with excitement, starting to peel off his pyjama top as she finished speaking.
“Not here, Kallum! We’re too close to the compound. Just a little bit further.” Reluctantly he followed his adored big sister deeper into the forest. She was very smart, was Lily. If she said they had to go further from the compound then she was probably right.
The siblings walked for a few minutes more before Lily decided they were far enough away that no one would sense them shifting. She was certain they would be able to do so. They had to because they couldn’t grow fangs like Daddy so that meant they had to be able to shift into wolves like Mummy.
“Lily, do you smell that?” Kallum whispered, a hint of fear creeping into his tone as his eyes darted around the little clearing she’d led them to.
The moment he mentioned a smell she could scent it too. It was a wolf but not one that she recognised. “Get behind me, Kal,” she breathed softly, moving to push her brother back as she looked towards the trees just as a large brown wolf entered the clearing.
All Lily’s bravado left her in an instant as she stared at the giant animal looking down at them. It was a monster of the kind nightmares were made of. She opened her mouth to start screaming as loudly as possible when the wolf stopped moving and sat down, cocking its head to the side as it sniffed the air delicately.
A long thick strand of pure silver fur fell over one of its eyes and it looked so funny that Lily giggled instinctively, her fear forgotten. “You look funny,” she laughed at the wolf, moving forward hesitantly and then with more confidence.
“Lily,” Kallum wailed softly, fear shivering through him as his sister reached up towards the huge beast. He blinked when the wolf lowered its head slowly until she could touch the lock of silver fur.
“Kal, it’s really soft,” Lily laughed, delight in her voice. “It’s okay. It’s a nice wolf.”
A little more hesitantly he joined his wild sister, his eyes wide with apprehension. “Daddy’s really not going to like this,” he whispered. “We’re not allowed to go near wolves we don’t know.”
She ignored him, smiling into the face of the wolf. “Are you going to shift?” she asked curiously. “Kallum and I want to know if we can shift to wolf form but nobody will tell us how to. Will you?”
The wolf remained silent, watching the children intently, trying to work out just what they were. It scented vampire about them but it also scented wolf. It was confused and tried to draw out its human side to talk to them but the man was still wrapped within its body, ignoring it completely.
“Can you not shift to human form?”