Running with Wolves

It was very early morning, and the rain had been falling for some time now. The air smelt of trees and moss, but under those prominent scents were the warm trace of something alive and moving. It was small, but not so small it was unworthy of notice.

Up ahead, a branch shook, the sound of the leaves rubbing together and the clinging water falling onto the damp ground indicating it was closer than first thought to be.

The wolf froze, his nose close to the ground and one paw paused in the air. When he heard the 'pat pat' of the small critter moving on, he put the paw down and continued forward. This was his eighth attempt at hunting and he was determined to succeed.

Rounding the large tree, he spotted his prey: A plump brown rabbit, perched on a thick root munching at a cluster of mushrooms. It was turned away, its seconds of life numbered as he continued eating, unaware of the predator creeping closer-

Dominic lost focus as his anticipation got the best of him. His paw landed on a small pile of twigs, the snap of the wood alerted the rabbit. It turned to immediately dart into the surrounding foliage.

Growling in agitation, Dominic chased the lump of fur through the underbrush, maneuvering through dense bushes and trees. Catching sight of it he took his chance and lunged for the rabbit. Mid-air, he watched as his prey turned unexpectedly and ran left. Dominic tried to keep his eyes on it, but was thoroughly distracted when he landed head first into a thick tree trunk.

Dominic yelped as his large wolf body crashed into the unyielding trunk. He hovered there a moment before sliding down to land with a thump on the forest floor. He laid on the ground as his prey escaped him, listening to the dull thumps of a much larger creature walking up to him.

A white wolf emerged from behind a large tree, dripping wet and covered in leaves and other forest debris. Even so, Dominic's wolf thought she was the most gorgeous creature to grace this world. She came close to him and sat down, her gold eyes appraising him from nose to tail.

'

If we could eat trees, we would be feasting for months on today's catches. Seeing as how we can't, I would prefer you try catching something else for breakfast.

' Scratch that. She was the most annoying she-devil to ever grace the earth.

For the past five days, Misty had been trying to teach Dominic how to become accustomed to his new second body. So far, it had not been going well.

When he had first woken up on the path, it had still been dark, and Dominic had been very confused as he had tried to stand up. The shock of looking down and seeing paws instead of hands made him yip and reel backwards right into a ditch. He fell in and for a time couldn't get out because of his lack of coordination. Misty had been there, still in her human form, trying to coach him through his ordeal. She eventually gave up in frustration and stripped, which had definitely gotten Dominic's wolf's attention. She shifted quickly after, allowing her wolf to lead him out of the ditch.

For the rest of the night and most the next four days, Dominic slowly began getting the hang of his new body. First walking, which was far more difficult with how much his senses had developed. Trying to focus on one thing was near impossible. He would be listening to an insect fly by, then the wind would shift and he would be overcome with Misty's scent, only to be completely thrown by the sound of two fighting animals deep within the forest. It had been overwhelming in the beginning, and was still hard to take at times. Running had come next, and now chasing down food. Misty had shown him, mostly the wolf, how to follow a trail, sneak up on the critter, then kill it quickly. The human side of Dominic had been squeamish about the killing and eating raw part, but his wolf had no such adversities and was doing his best to follow her instructions. So far, it had not been going well.

'

Well excuse me for not getting it on my first day. It's not like I've only been a werewolf for less than a week or anything. Please forgive me for my ineptitude.

' Dominic snorted and rose to his feet, trotting off to find another scent trail.

Misty huffed before following close behind. She was quiet, her bond to him closed off, then she came through again. '

You are doing fine. For it only being your first time hunting, you are doing well. Better than I did by far. I couldn't even get close enough to spot the damn things half the time before they caught wind of me.

' The begrudging admission surprised Dominic. He had a feeling of smugness come up, but he carefully hid it behind his barriers. No need to ruin what little progress they had been making.

That was the other thing Dominic had been working on the past few days. When he had finally been able to focus after being overwhelmed with new sensations, he realized he could hear pretty much everything going on in Misty's head, or at the very least, her emotions. She explained it was due to the mating mark she had placed on him in order to save his life. Now that she had, he had a direct line of communication to her while in wolf form. They wouldn't be able to do it out of wolf form until he marked her as well, but that hadn't come up in their recent conversations. Dominic wasn't too eager to change that. He had enough going on as it was.

Catching another scent, Dominic felt his instincts taking hold again. Misty had commented that he was doing well in that aspect as well. Apparently, in her research about human turnings, a lot of the time the humans had a hard time working with their new instincts. Finding the balance between the two was hard for those born to the life, let alone someone who had just been introduced to it as an adult.

Dominic attributed it to having followed his instincts most of his life. They had kept him alive on multiple occasions. They had been what alerted him to Kate and her Unit of wolves stalking him through the city not four weeks earlier. Whenever he had ignored them or fought to keep them at bay, he had always regretted it. So it was no problem for him to fall back on them and guide him in something that was mostly instinct-based anyway.

Finding the trail of something much larger than a rabbit, the wolf followed the scent for over a mile before the trail became fresh. His heart-beat picked up in excitement, but his rational mind stepped forward and calmed it, reminding them that they needed to be composed and paying full attention. The wolf agreed, and slowly broke through the bushes to take in the scene before him.

Not a dozen yards upwind was a large family of wild pigs, maybe four adults with nine tiny striped piglets wandering among them. There was one adult in particular, a female of maybe 120 pounds, who was limping on one awkwardly bent leg.

For the first time during one of his hunts, Misty broke their silence. 'These damn things are pests, but I don't want you taking one on. You are young to this life and they have tusks and a will to live like no other.'

Dominic held back his growl but allowed his annoyance and displeasure to flow to her through their bond. His wolf was in full command, and his rational side was with him in this instance. They could take the pig down, and Misty would just have to sit and watch.

Before Misty could stop him, Dominic charged the group of swine, startling them into a panicked sprint. His target veered to the right, while most of the others headed left. That left his target alone and vulnerable. Perfect.

While the wolf side of Dominic kept up with chasing the boar, his rational side began to strategize. They hadn't tried it this way yet, his human sentiment encouraging him to stay back, but his frustration of losing so many catches and Misty telling them they were incapable of taking down the smaller animal had agitated him enough to forget his sentiments and participate in the hunt. Together, they came up with a quick plan to run the pig until it was just beginning to slow, and then swipe its good back leg to down it. The wolf would do the rest.

They chased the pig for almost five minutes before it slowed enough to Dominic's liking. With it tired, he sprinted forward and swiped at its right hind leg, missing by an inch. Feeling confident, he went in for the strike again, this time making contact. The female tripped, followed by a quick recovery. With no way to run she turned and put up a defensive posture, hoping her tusks and screams would deter her attacker. They did not, and soon Dominic's teeth were sunk bone-deep into the neck of the unlucky swine.

Reveling in his victory of his first kill, Dominic didn't hear the stampeding feet coming in at his right, and was taken off guard as the large male boar charged him and slashed at his side. Dominic cried out as the sharp tusks and powerful jaw tore into the side of his belly and ribs. The pain was enough to stun him and give the boar the opportunity to knock the large wolf over onto his side.

As the animal kept coming, there was a vicious roar before the tusks that were imbedded in Dominic's side tore free and the attack was stopped. Looking up, he watched as the white of Misty's fur stained red while she dismembered the screaming pig until he was silent and in multiple pieces.

Once she was convinced the creature was thoroughly dead, Misty turned and ran over to her downed Destined. She was instantly at his belly, sniffing his wounds before pulling out her tongue and bathing them in saliva. None of them were deep enough to cause much damage, but the shock of pain almost had Dominic back on his feet. Misty pinned him with a paw and continued her work.

A soothing calm entered Dominic's mind, emanating from the place she had bitten him.

'Stay still. Our saliva has healing properties that will help you. Give it time to work.'

She continued to lick while Dominic whined in pain.

Soon, Misty's words were proven true. He could feel the pain slowly leave him until it was a manageable throbbing. She continued to clean him until satisfied her job was done and helped Dominic stand. It hurt, but he could do it.

'You need to eat. The food will give you strength to heal.'

Dominic agreed. He hobbled over to his kill, allowing his wolf to once again take over and begin devouring the salty meat. Within no time he had his fill and was backing away from the mutilated carcass. Stretching, he could still feel the gouges and holes where the bore's tusks had gotten in a particularly good hit, but they didn't feel like they would reopen. Nifty trick.

'Are you finished?'

Dominic barely had enough time to nod when Misty snarled and lunged at his shoulder, pinning him to the ground with a warning snap of her jaws by his throat.

'Don't you EVER do something that stupid again! Do you understand me?! I told you that you weren't ready to take on something that mean, but you didn't listen to me and decided you knew best. And now look at you! Torn apart and bleeding while a fucking Domestic has his way with your belly. Don't you ever pull that shit again or next time I'll leave you for the pigs, do you hear me?'

Her words were angry, but underneath it all, Dominic could hear something that surprised him. She was scared. She was scared for him.

Without meaning to, Dominic pushed into Misty's mind, following the emotion past her barriers and into her consciousness. Once inside, he could feel and hear her at her most real and bare. Being joined with her like this, she could keep nothing from him.

'What are you doing?! Get out!'

Misty shoved mentally, and Dominic found himself being thrust back into his own mind. It was a jarring experience for him, but it seemed to be having more of an effect on Misty. He could feel her throwing up barrier after barrier until he could barely sense her anymore, but he had already seen deep within her. There was no way she could deny it.

'You do care about me.'

Misty froze. Her mind was still blocked off, but she was still listening.

'You act like you don't. You have done everything in your power not to, but you do care about me.'

The feeling of Misty's mind began to fade as she shifted. Dominic guessed having him be able to get inside her head had shaken her, and she was retreating to a place she where felt safe. Of course, now she was standing completely naked in front of him and enticing his wolf. Her hair was tousled into loose, wild curls. For some primal reason the fact she was covered in blood was forcing Dominic to purposefully distracted himself so he didn't end up jumping her.

"Of course I care." Misty crossed her arms in self-comfort rather than protecting her modesty. The result was she only enhanced her large globes instead of hiding them. "You're my mate. Why wouldn't I care?"

Unable to communicate, Dominic did his best to lift just one eyebrow and sat down. It was time for her to explain herself.

Misty sighed, moving off to sit on one of the fallen trees. She didn't look at him for a long time, not even as she started talking. "You were right, that night on the roof, but you were also wrong. I do have a goal for my life, but I did not plan for it. Born werewolves are different from those that are turned later in life. We grow up knowing our strength, knowing those who are above us and those that are below. It is the way of our animals, the way of nature: The strongest lead while the weaker follow. For the Were, the only difference is we have more structure, more precise layers of dominance compared to domestic animals. There of course is room for a wolf to rise and fall in the ranks, but at our core, we all know who is born to be at the top of the pack hierarchy, and those that will be closer to the bottom.

"When I look at the wolves around me, I see none that are above me. Hale is a bit stronger, but his strength is not beyond my reach. I was born to be a Madam Alpha, or at least I thought I was."

The scent of salt drifted on the breeze, alerting Dominic to the sheen of moisture collecting in Misty's eyes. "Perhaps I am meant to become like Storm and be just strong enough to protect the next Madam Alpha of my pack."

A sharp pain entered Dominic's heart. Seeing Misty distraught, while it may not have affected him before, was now intolerable to the wolf that had taken root inside him. He stood and trotted over to her seat, placing light kisses on her skin to try and comfort her. She flinched at first contact, but settled down and even reciprocated with her own touches and pets.

"I wasn't averse to you because you aren't my taste, Dominic. I just didn't want to accept that Luna had deemed me unfit to become the next Madam Alpha of Five Rivers Pack." Misty dragged her fingers through the fur on Dominic's neck, pulling a groan of approval from him. He pushed his head against her chest, encouraging her to scratch harder. His enthusiasm was unexpected, however, and Misty screeched as she lost her balance.

In her attempt to stop her fall, she reflexively grabbed hold of the first protrusion her fingers could find, which happened to be Dominic's ears. He yelped in pain, following her path so that she didn't tear his ears off. He ended up diving over the log with her, his front paws on either side of her ribcage and his hind legs still on the other side of the tree. Misty landed on the forest floor with an "oof". Her body was contorted oddly as her legs stayed draped underneath Dominic's body, having tried to keep her up by holding on to the log. It became precarious when they both simultaneously realized their positions almost perfectly aligned their more intimate anatomy.

For the most part, Dominic wasn't fazed. He didn't see this as something romantic or erotic, and no matter how much his wolf wanted something more to come of their positions, he was still too scattered to hold onto the feeling of lust and take action on it. It was an accident, and there was no sexual component other than the proximity of their bodies. Misty saw it completely differently.

Once the surprise wore off, she was shoving his chest. When he couldn't move due to his position, she ended up using his legs as leverage to drag herself out from under him, mumbling an apology with her face becoming beet red. His wolf wasn't pleased for her to be leaving his embrace, but there wasn't much he could do as she flipped over and crawled to get away.

Her new position added to the eroticness of the situation. The slope of her back, up to the swell of her ass, and down to her toned thighs. The scent of her blood from the small scrapes along her upper back was the final straw. Dominic's wolf pushed aside his rational mind to answer her unintended invitation.

Hopping over the tree, Dominic, controlled by his instincts, hooked one paw under the female's hip and pulled back. She gasped and whined, trying to crawl away faster as he continued trying to get her to hold still. He finally had enough and snapped at her. The pop of his teeth was enough to get the bitch to stop trying to get away, but she was far from still. Her entire body was shaking. From her scent, it was caused by uncertainty and arousal, two emotions that didn't go together at all. The acidic mix made the wolf want to sneeze.

Doing his best to ignore it, Dominic lowered his head and sniffed at the female's exposed back. His breath ghosted over her flesh, making her shiver harder. Finding what he was looking for, Dominic allowed his tongue to loll out and douse the bloody scrapes from her retreat with his saliva.

It was quick work to lave each little cut until they were nothing more than tiny pink spots on her back. Satisfied, Dominic dismounted and trotted off to grab a thick leg of boar from the earlier kills and brought it over. He dropped it from his mouth and looked expectantly at his female. She was sitting up on her hip, leaning on one hand to keep her propped up with her knees tucked in. When she didn't move, he leaned down and nudged the meat towards her, staring keenly.

Very slowly, she rolled forward and grabbed hold of the appendage, lifting it to her lips. With tentative bites, she began eating the meat he had brought to her.

With her needs taken care of, Dominic felt his baser side begin to recede, pleased they had taken care of their mate during her time of need. As the wolf fell into the back of his mind, he could feel his body change as well. It was an odd experience, especially feeling his fur recede back into his flesh and his muscles move with the bones into their human shape for the first time. He shuddered, shaking his body to try and dispel the feeling. It wasn't the best idea, as he was already losing his balance as his legs straightened out.

Half way through the awkward shift, Dominic was unable to stop himself from toppling over. It was just his luck that he happened to fall over the fallen tree. He ended up rolling over it and onto his back, stuck once again like a turtle or hedgehog. His curse was half snarl as he tried, and failed, to get back onto his feet. His hips and shoulders were still that of a canine, so his limbs stuck straight up into the air as he struggled to move while his body transitioned from wolf to human for the first time.

As he continued to struggle, the sound of laughter echoed through the trees. Misty was on the other side of the log, so all she would be able to see was his legs and arms sticking up and kicking vigorously. She continued laughing hysterically as he continued to struggle to get up. The sound only made him growl and try harder, his agitation spurring him on to get to his feet.

Finally getting there, he looked much like a fawn trying to stand just after being born, and his stance did nothing to quiet Misty's laughing. He glanced over to the right, spotting her on the forest floor clutching her stomach and trying to stifle her girlish giggles with her other hand. When he stood up straight to tell her off and subsequently fell onto his back once more, she peeled into another round of loud merriment. Giving up, Dominic laid still and focused on getting his body back into a usable form; any usable form.