Wolfblood
Chapter 10
I give an exhilarated trill as I trample through the forest dodging branches and undergrowth. I practically fly past the tree line, my brother laughing behind me as I sprint into the parking lot and make a bee-line towards my friends.
I should really try to act a little more normal but the energy buzzing in my veins makes it impossible.
I throw myself bodily between the twins, knocking them sideways away from each other and they give surprised exclamations.
As they right themselves I throw myself onto Jo's back, and she staggers under my weight.
"What the hell, Ryan," Jo gasps, and I leap off of her in favor of bouncing on the balls of my feet.
"What's up with you?" Isaac laughs, rubbing the shoulder I had slammed into while he adjusts his knapsack.
"Nothing," I shake my head, but my constant movement and wide grin make my claim practically null.
"Did something happen with Leah?" Joshua guesses.
"Nah," Noah says catching up to me with a wry smile as I throw myself at him, and he expertly fends me off from putting him in a headlock. All I want to do right now is just run and maybe wrestle with my brother. "She just gets wired like this sometimes. You get used to it."
"Is she on something?" Jo asks, raising her eyebrows at my constant motion of energy.
"It seems like it, doesn't it?" my brother sighs wistfully. I know that he's disappointed that he won't be changing with me tonight. Full moon days always give you a restless energy all day. It's because of the proximity of the moon. Like you get more tired the closer to night on the Dark moon, you get more restless the closer moonrise gets.
"Anyway," my brother grins a bit and waves as he starts to walk away, "I'll leave her to you."
"Alright," Joshua sighs, placing a firm hand on my bouncing shoulder. "Let's get to class."
I make it to lunch until I absolutely have to get out, which is why I bounce impatiently by a freshman classroom as it lets out. When I see my brother, I immediately grab him and pull him out of the building. Freshmen have a different lunch period than juniors, but I don't much care that I'll be keeping him from his next class.
"I need a run," I say, leading the way to the woods. "You're skipping next period."
"Excellent," he grins as we take off, and I'm finally able to burn some much-needed energy.
I growl playfully as my brother dodges around me and takes the lead, and I immediately give chase. When I get close enough, I leap, tackling him. We tumble head over heal down a steep incline and only stop rolling when we reach the bottom, gasping for breath.
I revel in the happy energy coursing through me, but that dampens some as I remember that I'm going to be alone again this full moon.
Wolves aren't meant to be alone; they are pack creatures, and my only pack member is still too young to run together the way wolfbloods do on a full moon.
The lunch bells rings in the distance, just loud enough to reach our enhanced ears, and we are instantly on our feet and racing back toward the school, laughing and dodging each other the entire way.
….
"I wish you can do this with me," I tell my brother longingly as I pace the length of the den.
"I will eventually," he tells me from the metal doorway and glances toward the tunnels. "You'll be careful won't you? I know there are real wolfpacks around here, so don't go picking fights over territory. And don't go anywhere near human civilization."
"I know," I tell him. I can't feel the pull of the moon from here, slowly rising into the sky. My veins bulge in my arms and up my neck, but not from anger. Every human cell in my body is being engulfed by the wolf. I know my eyes have turned yellow. "I'll be careful. And if I do run into trouble, I'm pretty familiar with these tunnels now. I'll just slip into one."
"Alright then. Have fun, I guess."
"I will," I tell him as he starts to close the heavy metal door. "Oh and Noah," the boy pauses, just a crack left. "Try not to eat all the junk food in the house tonight."
He grins a bit at me before closing the door with a sound of finality. I can hear as the bolt slides shut from the outside.
My claustrophobia creeps in a bit, but knowing that I have a way out through to tunnels keeps the anxiety to a minimum as I take a deep breath and let the pull of the moon wash over me.
As the full moon fully rises in the sky, there is a twisting stir in my gut and a tingling sensation spreads from every nerve in my body. When I open my eyes, panting, I am wolf.
I make an excited circle before tilting my head back and giving a bellowing howl. The tunnels amplify the sound, and then multiply it, making it sound as if more wolves are with me. Like I have someone to run with again. It's comforting in a way as I dart into the tunnel, eager to reach the forest surface.
The only time that a wolfblood has to change is the full moon, though they can also change when they feel scared or threatened. With practice, a wolfblood can eventually change on command. But changes on the full moon are always the most exhilarating.
Sea water assault my nose as I come to the cave overlooking the ocean. I only spare the waves a cursory glance before darting up the narrow rocky path and into the woods to just run.
I can catch my meal tonight, rather than have it slopped into a dog bowl in the den like last month or the month before. A million forest smells clog my nose, and I eagerly plunge along a fresh rabbit trail.
I would try for bigger game, but it's just me out here and I can't drag the leftovers home.
After I catch and eat my snack, I happily trot along an invisible path, just listening to the forest. It would be so much more fun to have my pack here with me, so we can run together and tussle like cubs.
As I run, a few interesting scents invade my nose, familiar and unfamiliar all at once.
When I run across Leah's scent, wild and woodsy, I'm not entirely too surprised. I know I must be somewhere in the woods on the reservation and she works out here.
What does surprise me is when I run across a fresh trail. It must be nearly two in the morning.
Even though I know I shouldn't, curiosity has me following the trail. If it leads out of the woods, I'll just turn around. And if I do find her, I'll stay hidden. If she does spot me, it doesn't matter much either. I look like just a regular timbre wolf, which isn't all that different looking than the native grey wolves around these parts.
My trot becomes more of a stalking creep when the sounds of a large animal moving around reaches my ears. And with Leah's scent covering everything around me, it makes me slightly nervous.
I should definitely not go towards the large animal, that might or might not be a bear.
But if Leah is around here…
I crawl closer, gliding silently over the forest floor the only way a natural hunter can do. Leah's scent becomes stronger and stronger even as the large animal becomes closer as well.
And the animal isn't a bear. I freeze, entire body tensing as I spot the giant wolf, and all of Jo's theories and insistence that the animal is real creep across my thoughts. And then I come to the conclusion that I can never let my friend learn that she was right.
Because this isn't a normal wolf, and it's not a wolfblood.
The silver wolf turns toward me, tilting its head as it searches the foliage above my head for something, and I push myself closer to the forest floor. The wolf's large head tilts slightly, and sniffs at the air a bit.
I instinctively do the same so I can avoid this creature in the future, but then every hair on my body stands on end.
The creature smells like Leah.
At first, I think maybe the creature ate my girlfriend. But I instantly know that that isn't correct. The creature is my girlfriend.
The wolf makes a chirping noise in my direction, lowering it's ears. The vocalization was friendly. An invitation to join her, I interpret easily, but I'm embarrassed to say that I'm spooked.
I know she doesn't see me, it's dark and I hid myself well, so I feel somewhat secure when I turn tail (literally) and run.
I crash through the undergrowth, still a silent hunter but noisier than I've ever been as I focus more on speed. I dart into the nearest tunnel that I come upon and plunge under the earth and in the direction of home.
The sun will be rising soon anyway.
I thank my ancestors that I will only have to last one day of school before I can spend the rest of the weekend thinking about this without interruptions.
A/N: Sorry for missing last week but school kind of caught up to me. Anyway, please let me know what you think.
~Silver
