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I felt my clothes shredding from my body as the monster emerged. Through the release of pent up emotions, I had no control. I was barely aware of my surroundings and what I was doing. I heard snarling; claws scrabbling against wood. I felt a heavy weight on my chest accompanied by a smoky, leather scent with a hint of male musk. Sam. I heard him speaking,

"I've got him," he said. "Hurry up and finish it!"

Lavender, with woody undertones filled my nose. Jonas and Cecilia. A tangerine-like scent followed and frantic thoughts invaded my mind.

Death! Fear! Flee! Escape!

Instincts took over and adrenaline pumped through my veins. Sam's weight lifted effortlessly from me and I felt myself rolling over, away from Cecilia and Jonas.

"Shit!" I heard Sam bark.

Door? Blocked.

Window? Yes, freedom!

Sparkling shards of confetti marked my victory. Grass met my paws. Trees enveloped me like a warm embrace. The scents of the woods filled my nose. Wind rushed through my fur. motion to my left. Hunger in my belly. Prey leaves cover and I pounce! Fur, flesh, and blood fill my jaws. Tendons and bone crunch between my teeth. Crimson fluid runs down my chin. Delicious.

Sunset; then darkness. New smells all around me, nocturnal sounds filled my ears. Other hunters searching among the trees. Owls and bats; foxes and coyotes all competing. Most knew well enough to stay away from me by scent. Others scattered when my bestial form came into view. My belly rumbled. I stalked through the undergrowth, watching my prey graze. Another leap and my claws and teeth sank into tender flesh. A bleating cry as the food fell to the ground. My jaws tore out its throat, hungrily devouring the meat.

Earth streaked red, fur matted with gore, hunger finally sated; I slept.

***

I awoke in the woods as dawn light filtered through the trees. My sleep had been untroubled by nightmares. I looked up at the light filtering through the trees and smiled. I felt great. As if a massive weight had been lifted from me. The cool morning air kissed my naked skin , making me shiver. I turned to stand...

The desiccated carcass of the deer I had devoured the night before lay nearby. The stench of blood still permeating the ground around me. I stared at it in horror for a few moments before my stomach lurched and spilled its contents onto the forest floor. Bright red liquid and chunks of raw meat poured from my mouth. I wretched until my stomach wouldn't yield anything other than foamy bile. Shakily, I stood, swallowing repeatedly to soothe my sore throat. I started walking away from the corpse. There was no way to know where I was. Sam had never told me the location of his house, but I wouldn't have been able to find it anyway. My frenzy had made it impossible to tell where I had been. I was lost.

Walking for several minutes away from the grotesque scene, I noticed that the forest was eerily quiet. The sounds of morning birds were absent from the trees and not even rodents dashing through the undergrowth could be heard. Despite my getting sick, I still felt full of energy. The cold morning air didn't matter to me anymore as I marched through the trees. After about a half hour of walking, something caught my eye in the foliage ahead. A shimmering, mirage-like curtain hung in the air several feet in front of me. On closer inspection, I noticed that it was less of a curtain and more like a wall that ran from left to right through the trees. At its base, I noticed a thin, barely visible, purple line. The Loa Divide.

From the way the wall seemed to curve around me slightly, I assumed I was still on the supernatural side of the divide. That meant that Sam's house should still be relatively close by. At least that's what I told myself. I turned around, but not all the way. My march resumed toward the rising sun this time. In all honesty, my only hope was that Sam and Jonas were looking for me. I was completely and utterly unsure of where I was going. My trek through the forest continued. Even though I was lost, my spirits were still high. It felt like I was walking on air; like I could do anything I wanted. It was another half hour of walking later that a delicious scent caught my nostrils. My stomach rumbled and I turned to follow the smell. I soon came upon a small clearing, in which sat a large teepee. It was an odd sight to my modern eyes. Smoke rose from the top of it and various small game carcasses hung on the tree branches outside. I waited at the edge of the woods, too cautious to brazenly venture into the open. I had been attacked far too many times to simply throw caution to the wind.

My stomach rumbled at the scent of cooked food. The pain of hunger started to wear on my logical mind. I subconsciously licked my lips as I glanced at the smoke above the teepee. A dark-skinned man suddenly emerged from within, carrying an aluminum bowl and making all thoughts of stealing any food vanish from my brain. The contents of the bowl was piping hot and smelled of cooked pork and eggs. His skin wasn't dark enough to be African. He was athletically built and dressed in a completely modern long sleeved shirt with khaki cargo pants. His hair was dusty brown, and his face was clean shaven. He was older, I guessed around Sam's age. His eyes were vibrant blue. I watched him walk to a small stump and nearly gave myself away with a gasp as he turned his back to sit on it. A coyote tail stuck out from a hole in his pants just below the belt line. It was brown and tipped with black fur. He was careful not to sit on it. I watched for a few moments as he ate the food in his aluminum bowl.

My stomach growled loudly at the smell and I winced as he turned his head towards my hiding place.

"Come out of there, little pup," he said in a higher pitched voice than I expected. "I can smell you."

Reluctantly, I emerged from the tree line. I did not approach him. I was so inexperienced when it came to the supernatural that his tail could have meant anything.

"Oh ho!" he said as he turned to face me. "I smell a wolf, yet out comes a man. May I hazard a guess that you, my friend, are a lycanthrope?"

I felt heat rushing to my cheeks as I stood naked before him. He gave me a roguish grin while his coyote tail started wagging behind him.

"And what are you?" I asked.

"A common ruffian," he said. "That is, if you were to believe the tales they tell about me. What's your name?"

"You first," I said.

Something inside of me told me not to trust him. He laughed as he shoved a forkful of food into his mouth. He didn't wait to swallow it before speaking.

"Call me, Nashoba Holba," he said.

"What language is that?" I asked.

"It's just my name. Now what's yours?"

"George," I lied. "Can you tell me where I am?"

Nashoba laughed again.

"Well, George, you've somehow stumbled across the Divize An Loa and retained your sanity. Why don't you come sit down and have a bite to eat? It looks like you've had a pretty rough night."

"You could say that..."

My stomach angrily growled and, against my better judgement, I took his offer and approached the seat he offered. I sat down opposite him and he handed me the aluminum dish. There was still a meager amount of food left in it.

"Don't you want the rest?" I asked.

"Take it," he said. "You sound more hungry than I am."

I quickly scarfed down the rest of the meal, but my stomach continued to rumble softly after it was gone. Nashoba was watching me as his tail still swayed slowly behind him.

"Let me guess," he said. "You're new to the life of lycanthropy, aren't you?"

I nodded.

"Well the good news is, I hear that the first time is always the worst. I'm sure your future nights will be much better."

"Are you... one too?" I asked.

Nashoba laughed.

"Not at all! I have known quite a few lycanthropes in my time, however."

I briefly thought about asking him if he knew Sam. However, a small voice in the back of my mind told me not to. This time, I listened.

"Can you help me?" I asked.

He smiled that mischievous grin again.

"That depends on what you want, doesn't it? Come inside and I'll see what I can do."

What other option did I have? Wandering aimlessly through the woods had been getting me nowhere. I had only happened upon Nashoba's camp by pure chance. In that moment, he was the only possibility that I would make it back to Sam's house. I followed him into the teepee.

The inside of the structure was cozy. A smouldering fire pit sat in the middle and it was surrounded by blankets and pillows that looked to be made of animal skin. Nashoba closed the flap of the teepee behind us and gestured for me to sit. I chose a place among the pillows and, when my butt touched the blanket under me, I was overcome with an intense sense of relaxation. The feeling should have set off alarm bells in my brain. Nashoba smiled kindly at me as he tossed something I couldn't identify through the smoke into the fire. He sat down next to me as more smoke billowed from the pit andmade the air hazy. My mind became clouded. I was barely aware of Nashoba's body next to mine and his arms embracing me. I felt his tail brushing against the inside of one of my legs and his smooth tongue dragged over my neck-

I snapped. the wolf in me emerged again, but this time, I was much more lucid. I easily threw the would be rapist off of me, snarling as I did so.

Nashoba was no longer a man, but a brown-furred coyote. He stood on two legs, as I did and his wolfish ears flicked in my direction as he grinned.

"Ah, the beast has teeth, I see," he said lewdly as he ran a hand down his fluffy torso toward his fuzzy crotch.

The haze in the teepee was making it extremely difficult to concentrate.

"Let me help you, George. I can show you a world of pleasure."

My growls turned into words, that came unbidden from my muzzle.

"Fuck off."

I frantically turned to leave, but the location of the teepee's entrance was unclear through the hypnotizing smoke. I gritted my sharp teeth against the fog that threatened to descend on my mind. The air was less smoky now and more humid. His soothing voice seemed to whisper in my ear.

"Would sharing my bed be so bad?"

I tore open the wall of the structure with my claws and leaped out into the clearing. Nashoba sensually called out for me to come back and his words clawed at my mind. I forced myself to ignore him as I dashed away into the woods. I sat back and let instinct take over as I ran, hoping that it would be enough to lead me back to Sam's house.

Sure enough, after God knows how much running, I smelled the familiar scent of Sam's log cabin. I followed my nose and before long, I emerged from the trees in Sam's backyard. The fire pit was cold and the house looked just as it had when I had left it. They hadn't managed to fix the window that I had broken either. I started to approach the house when something incredibly heavy struck me from behind, knocking me to the ground. I rolled over just in time to see Sam's massive wolf form pouncing on me and roughly holding me to the ground. I kicked against his strength, but it seemed that he wasn't holding back at all this time.

"Jonas, get the wolfsbane!" He yelled towards the house.

I stopped struggling and held up my hands... my paws defensively as best I could.

"Wait, wait! I'm in control," I said.

Sam looked down at me with stern, narrowed eyes. Even as a wolf, I found him attractive. I blushed as I looked away from him.

"I- I'm sorry about yesterday..." I said.

Sam didn't let me up. Jonas exited the house and the smell of tangerines filled the air around him. Sam's and my nose wrinkled at the scent.

"Whether ya think yer in control or not, this is fer yer own good," Sam replied.

Jonas produced a root from his pocket and I writhed as he brought it down on my furry chest. The pain was excruciating.

"Think of it like tearing a bandage off or pouring alcohol in a wound," Sam said. "It'll pass soon."

Burning shockwaves flew through my nervous system at the root's touch and I could feel it forcing me to change back. I panted heavily against the pain as my fur disappeared and I shrank back to my human size. Sam's stern expression changed to a soft one as he looked down at me. Once I was human again, Jonas took the wolfsbane from my heaving chest and threw it in the fire pit. He set it alight and I watched as the flame burned bright green. Sam looked at it as well as if making sure Jonas was doing it correctly before he turned back to look at me. He released his grip slightly and before he could speak, I did something I could never have done before. Perhaps it was my relief at being back in familiar territory and in familiar arms. But whatever the reason, I lifted my face towards his.

I pursed my lips.

And I kissed him.