This is a romantic fantasy novel with characters based on Marvel Universe is a wolf shapeshifter story. They call their kind, "Ulf". It started some time back as Xena story. I have since changed it to fit the Marvel Universe. It contains female/ female relationships of an adult nature and some violence. If either of these are not your thing, please go read another story.

Pairings are as follows Skye/young adult Natasha

Melinda/ Maria

Please send me your thoughts and a review!

This story is mostly complete and I plan weekly updates on week-ends!

Never fear, I have not abandoned any of my other stories. Each are very important to me and I have plans for each.

"Instincts of Blue"

"Instincts"

Driven by a reflex

Snared by nature's way

Bound by timeless urges

Human or am I beast?

Survival of the fittest

Standing under the Moon

Hear my wolf cry echo

Resounding into my soul

In the year 3278, the people of Nadir moved out the plains of Adean into the forests of Eyulf, home of the Ulf . The old ones still whisper that the trees there turn to wolves in the sacred forests. But the stories are old and mostly forgotten in Nadir.

Chapter 1: "The Encounter"

The lone she wolf hid herself in the darkness as she tracked her prey under the yellow moon. Only her blue eyes stood out among the scrubby pines that had been her home and that of her mother and grandmother before her. Her coat, a dark ebony, stood bushy and full as the cold season drew near.

Tonight, as on so many others in her life of twenty cycles, she hunted the Nadir, the invaders of the sacred forest the killers of her sister Lai.

While her pack rested this night savoring the dusk kill of wild boar, the she wolf roamed the night in restless anger. If her scouting proved fruitful, she would lead her pack here tomorrow night in a feast of Nadirean blood. She lifted her nose high and sniffed the chilly air. The wolf's blue eyes became narrow slits as she raised her head proudly and bayed at the still rising moon. The war-god Ares blessed her diligence. A new group of humans had desecrated the sacred woods of Ulf. Their odor was obnoxious amidst the sweet smelling pines.

Skye, taller and more agile than the most of her pack, jumped easily to an overhanging tree branch. She called once more hoping the one she left in charge heard her cry of success. Even if her Ulf cousins with the red coats heard her, it mattered not. She would see the death of all those with Nadirean blood or die trying. The red wolf, Drad, called back in friendly warning. The kill was theirs, he warned in short high yips. Though displeased with red wolf's attitude and lack of honor among the Ulf, she answered with a howl of congratulations and moved closer to watch the slaughter. Interference would breach the sacred rule of conduct among the Ulf kind and even joining the skirmish could mean her own challenge among the red wolf shifters. With so many brothers and sisters already lost to the trespassers, she contented herself with watching in the shadows.

Skye inched closer to the tents as she listened to the cries of surprise and pain. Drad's pack had lost even more to the Nadireans than her own family. Her code of honor would have compelled her to leave the women and children. Drad did not share that belief, and Skye watched coldly as her cousins tore at the throats of young and old alike. No Nadirean would live to resettle here, she thought to herself, turning to head back into the inky darkness.

A yelp from one of her cousins caused her to turn her head. A petite young human fought valiantly to defend a fallen old couple's bodies. The girl's parents? The she wolf wondered. She moved her body a bit closer to watch the boldness of this Nadirean who swatted at her cousin with a staff of wood. The Nadirean showed courage she would expect only from an Ulf. The human was tiring, and her cousins had begun to circle the girl and the two bodies.

An uncomfortable feeling rose in the she-wolf's chest as she watched a red furred wolf begin to tear at the carcasses and nip at the girl's limbs. Skye's fur stood high on her back and an instinctual growl begun in the back of her throat. As Drad circled behind the girl to make the final strike on the throat, the she wolf leapt in the air. Hurtling over the Nadirean, she landed squarely on the back of red wolf alpha wolf. She bit down hard, and both rolled in the dust and scattered the pack who circled the girl. Drad's dark eyes gleamed yellow as he threw off the she wolf and bit down on the shoulder of the human, who tried helplessly to protect the two dismembered carcasses from further injury. Skye twisted as she fell and landed on her four legs. She charged again as the young redhead fell unconscious on the two bodies.

Her cry of battle echoed in the caverns of the forest as her jaws found her cousins and she clamped down. By all that is sacred, I will kill you Drad, the she wolf sent a message in his mind as she whipped her head back and forth digging her teeth in tighter. Let her go and be gone, she is mine now and you cannot have her, she added as she lifted her body through the air. She hung onto Drad and propelled them forward into the forest's edge. As their injured leader scampered away into the forest, the red coats began a retreat. Skye bared her teeth to the red wolf shifter who she would now call enemy.

"I will kill you and control both the red and black of Ulf," a rasping voice sounded in the she wolf's head.

Skye refused to answer and instead threw up her head and throat to the night sky and let her own voice echo again through the sacred Forest. She padded over to the young red haired female. Skye watched anxiously for the rise and fall of the chest. The chest rose slowly and the black wolf relaxed.

What have you just gotten yourself into? Skye asked herself as she paced back and forth trying to figure out her next move. Never before had she placed herself in a position to doubt her actions in battle. Well, I am not going to start now, she sounded off in her head. She blinked her blue eyes twice and looked straight at the yellow moon.

Standing tall and erect on her bare feet, Skye's closed her eyes again and opened slowly. Her long dark hair blew carelessly in the wind seeming to try to wrap itself around her naked human frame. She stooped down quickly and picked up the smaller body. She gently wrapped her arms around it tightly letting the smaller head tuck under her chin and began the long walk back to her pack's home in the next pass.