WOLF - pt.18
#18 of WOLF
Part 18....much love and appreciation, fave, comment, rate and such <3
I closed the distance between me and Juliet in a heartbeat. My heart thudded, my bones ached, my muscles strained as simple commands flooded my mind: HUNT! KILL! FEED! RIP! TEAR! The werecat was still in human form as I dived at her, claws swiping in a blind rage. She ducked beneath me, rolling and turning at the same time so that she was braced behind me.
"Your a quick one out of the gate, kid! But your lacking accuracy and precision behind those badass claws!" she reached for me and grabbed me in a headlock. She spun full circle and launched me.
I careened across the gymnasium floor like a stone skittering over the water's surface before I crashed into the stands that Miles and Lian were sat on. I jumped straight back up, landing just in front of my two friends. I propped myself on all fours, my eyes focused and sharpened on the werecat that had thrown me.
_ DEVOUR HER!_ a voice snarled through my mind.
A thick growl escaped my fanged mouth.
"How's this for fucking precision!" I snarled down at her. I launched myself upwards, over her. I touched my feet to the ceiling directly above her and pushed hard. I shot down like a bullet. She narrowly avoided me as she rolled to one side. I crashed to the floor, landing on all fours with ease. My knees crouched and took the impact of the floor as I reached out and snared her slender, booted ankle.
I wasted no time and turned full swing. I catapulted her through the air. She soared and tumbled through midair before she crashed into the wall above the other stands this time. She tumbled to the top of the stands and remained motionless for a heartbeat. She then stood up and looked down at me. She hopped from seat to seat, descending the stands slowly as she stared at me with those permanent kitty-cat eyes.
A second later she blurred. She reappeared behind me. Her hand swung out and grabbed my extended arm as I tried to turn and catch her. She turned her back on me and swung me in an arc overhead. Using my own momentum she slammed me hard to the floor. The smooth surface cracked like ice. I tasted blood. I choked on oxygen, winded from the impact. She never gave me an inch. She straddled my hips and grinned down at me.
I had time to look at where she placed her hand and then agony screamed through me. She pushed her palm down on one of my ribs and in no time...CRACK! Broken and brittle, as pain seared through my body, I screamed as I rolled over onto one side. Juliet stood and put some distance between me and her.
"When handling a wild animal you don't plan on killing, wounding and crippling said animal is the next best thing," she teased, "How's the rib?"
"F-Fuck you!" I growled.
My hands faded back to normal. My anger was there, but the beast had faded in wake to the pain.
She stalked towards me, her heels clacked on the floor. "Good. Your in a human head space now, but you lost control of the transformation completely."
"Get...away from me," I sniped back.
"Fine," she raised her hands defensively.
"If you open yourself up to the wolf inside you'll transform completely and heal the wound," she explained.
"She speaks the truth, Jack," this from Isaiah.
Juliet looked at him and grinned. "I had wondered when you'd speak up. What are you doing back in my sessions? You were the best we had at transformation."
"Punishment." There. Simple. No more explaination needed.
I growled with pain and demanded, "If transforming heals wounds instantly, then why didn't you transform last night?"
Isaiah gave me sincere eyes and said, "Linus pumped me full of so many meds last night that it knocked me and my beast out of sync with one another. That's why I needed the water."
It made sense, I suppose.
"F-Fuck it! How do I bring on the change?" I demanded. I tried to sit up and flinched, fresh pain cut through me like a knife, a thick, serrated blade of agony. I ached and tried to stand, but failed. I hit the floor hard on one knee and felt Isaiah suddenly there, he touched his hands to my waist gently, holding but not squeezing me.
"Look deep inside, and find the beast, then lure the fucker out!" Juliet explained.
Isaiah never spoke. He simply moved so that he was kneeling in front of me and touched his large, long-fingered hands to my face. I flinched, but relaxed as he cradled my face gently between his tanned flesh.
"What are you going to do?" I stuttered with uncertainties.
"Just wait. I'm going to help you find your beast. When you see him latch on and don't let go mentally, no matter how painful or pleasant it might be. Just endure it until you've fully transformed." He closed his eyes and suddenly lowered his face to mine. With the gentlest of brushes, his lips graced mine.
Something long, thick and scaled struck through me and made me moan, not entirely out of pain either. I moaned and Isaiah ate those sounds as he kissed me deeper.
I could see deep, dark shadows moving, swirling as pale blue eyes glared out at the reptilian invader. A bark of rage and suddenly the wolf spilled from the darkness.
He was huge, almost as big as a horse. Its fur with thick, pure-white in colour streaked with palest blues and greys. Its tail thrashed in anger as it padded forward and glared after the swimming reptile. The shadows peeled back, as the great wolf snapped its jaws and wrinkled its nose at the intruder, fangs bared, its demand for territorial reprise obvious.
Isaiah broke the kiss and opened his eyes, "Now," he breathed.
I reached out mentally and touched a hand to that thick, warm pelt. The beast never looked at me. There was no more anger. No more pain. No more fear. Just...acceptance. Acceptance of me? Or acceptance of the situation?
I could feel fur spilling from my flesh as that collossal creature turned its massive head and looked at me with the same pale blue eyes I'd had my entire life. It was unnerving and somehow so right at the same time.
Isaiah stepped back as I collapsed forward and let the transformation swallow me. There was no strain this time, no pain. It was like my human form had become liquid and was evaporating, giving way to the furrier other me. In mere moments I was taller, broader and sporting a thick pelt of pure-white fur, a long tail swished behind me, hind legs with muscled quarters flexed as I slowly stood, my arms bulked, my chest muscles expanded and widened. My muzzle snapped open and a great howl escaped my being. My new canine ears twitched.
Everything felt so...natural.
"Feel better?" Isaiah asked.
I was almost the same height as him in this form now. I touched a clawed hand to where my broken rib had been. Healed. I looked at the werecroc and nodded my approval.
"How long have you been able to do that?" this came from Romeo.
"Crocodiles are some of the oldest creatures out there. Naturally so are werecrocodiles. I learned to do this long before coming here. My kind has mastered this art for centuries, granted I'm not as good as I used to be, but I am getting better," he explained without taking his eyes from me.
"You do realise we'll have to report this to Linus?" Juliet reminded him.
Isaiah feigned ignorance to her words. He looked at me and asked, "If you want to change back, then do so. You and your world share one mind now as far as transformations are concerned, your instincts, emotions, all of it are linked up," he touched a finger to his temple as he spoke. "Take your time, keep a cool head and you'll get quicker, I promise."
"Did you hear me?" Juliet demanded.
Isaiah glared down at her. His eyes had bled to that startling crocodile yellow as he growled back, "Do what you have to!"
She froze for a heartbeat and then scowled.
The silence that stretched between them was almost touchable. It didn't last long though, because the doors to the rest of the institution opened wide with a bang.
A tall, broad-chested, narrow-waisted man stepped inside. He was handsome, square-jawed and muscular. He ruffled his mussed up, sandy-blonde hair as he padded into the room wearing the Haven uniform. He looked around and then focused on me with a broad grin that spread across his face.
"Jack Whyatt?" he grinned.
He gripped the right sleeve of his shirt and pulled it back, exposing his forearm. He brandished the flesh to the entire gymnasium, where a scriptured 'E' had been branded into his tanned skin. He grinned wider, his eyes full of some dark, malicious flare as he growled the word, "Initiation."
I could only say one thing as my fur faded and my human form returned. "Oh, shit."