It was a hot, humid, muggy, hardly bearable, summer afternoon. Layla was sitting on her back patio, in a lounge chair, sipping on her soda. The sun beat down on her tan skin, as she pulled her sun-glasses back onto the top of her head. She glanced around, then stood up out of her chair, and stretched. She pulled off her cover-up, and slid off her flip-flops. She took her sunglasses off, and padded over to the edge of the pool. Layla first dipped one foot into the water then took a few steps back. She bent her knees, and took one long stride, jumping into the 10 foot deep pool. She glided into the water, and just waited there for a moment, letting the water rush around her.

She opened her eyes slightly, while still underwater, and looked around. This was usually when one of the boys from the pack followed her in. She listened for another splash, but not hearing one, she bent her knees, and pushed off of the bottom of the pool. She shot to the surface, and rubbed the water out of her eyes. She looked around, and was stunned to see a shadowy figure behind the big oak tree. She called out, "Hello? Is anyone there?" She swam over the pools edge, and pushed herself up. She ran over to the chair, snatching her towel up. She wrapped it around her body, and paced over to the tree.

Poking her head around the base of the tree, she stepped on a rock, cutting her foot. "Ouch. Darn it." She grabbed her foot to check if she was bleeding. She lifted her foot, plucked out the rock, and saw three little drops of blood. Just at that moment she heard a rustle in the leaves above. She peered up and could have sworn she saw the figure darting out of the trees.

Layla growled at her own stupidity for not checking the area beforehand. She dashed off in the direction of the figure, hopping on her good foot. She mumbled under her breath, and glanced around. Seeing no one in her surroundings, she stripped down. She began to tremble, feeling her fur start to grow. She shivered repeatedly, and arched forward, a large, jet black wolf replacing her form.

The wolf sprinted into the woods, picking up a scent. She recognized it as the same individual at the tree. She pushed herself to go faster, using the pain in her paw as the incentive to catch him. She stopped for a moment, sniffed, and turned around quickly. Her eyes widened when she saw him. He was perfect, yet everything about him was wrong. His eyes were beautiful, yet they were bright red. He was so muscular, yet pale beyond reason. She knew right away that this was a bad situation. She stepped forward, forcing him to back up a few inches. That was all she needed.