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I stretched and sighed contentedly as I emerged from the RV after having

napped for a short time through the afternoon.  I looked around at

the incredible beauty of the landscape surrounding us as I went over to join

Grace, Elias and Cole who were sitting at the picnic table we'd parked

beside, chatting.It

had been three days since our run-in with

the spooks that tried to take Cole from us.  We'd been doing a lot

of driving over those days to try to put ourselves as far from danger

as possible, and we'd finally decided we could safely stop and take a

much needed break.  We were now in a part

of the Spring Mountains range in southern Nevada, a bit less than

twenty miles from Las Vegas.Normally, it would probably not

take

more than eighteen hours or so of straight driving to get from where

we'd started in northern Oregon to get all the way down to Las Vegas,

but since we had to stop occasionally to sleep, and because we'd been

following a meandering course along secondary highways and back roads

in my somewhat paranoid attempts to avoid all contact with any highway

patrol, it had taken considerably longer.  We were in no great

rush to get where we were headed, more like we had been in a rush to

get away from where we'd been.  Now we were far enough that we

could stop to rest a while before continuing our journey.We'd

taken a significant detour out of our way to

stop in Carson City in order to get better outfitted for the rest of

the trip.  Grace had said she'd be alright with the clothes she

had for a while, but after watching her constantly fiddling and

shuffling to try to get more comfortable in her own clothes, and seeing

her sniffing at her own armpits, then stiffing at us and wrinkling her

nose like we'd been wearing the same clothes for too long, I decided it

was best to go

somewhere where we could shop for more suitable clothes for her and

more changes of clothes for all of us, and

to stock up on anything else we might need.  We'd left in such a

rush that we were ill equipped for a long trip.We

had limited cash right now so we stopped at a thrift store to get

clothes for

ourselves.  We were going to be

sort of roughing it from now on and there was no point splurging

wastefully on anything expensive.  We all purchased several

changes of

clothes and fairly large quantities of socks and underwear.  My

personal preference would be for Elias and Cole to wear the same socks

and underwear for as many days as possible so I could enjoy the scent

of them more each day, but Grace and I didn't see eye to eye on that.

 She wanted us all clean since we were cramped into such close

quarters.  She had no interest in sharing the foot odor of three

men

all day every day.  We would only be able to wash our clothes

easily any time we were in a populated area that had a laundromat

from now on, so we bought enough that we could continue to change our

dirty clothes and not run out of clean ones until the next chance we'd

get to wash them all.  We were also going to be spending most of

our time out in the wilderness from now on so we'd purchased a pair of

rugged hiking boots for each of us.The

stop in the city was also a chance to get several other things we

needed, like pots and pans and utensils for cooking, foam mattresses for

the floor of

the RV, and a folding table and chairs for us to use in case we needed to

stay

inside due to rain while we ate our meals.  We bought

blankets, towels,

toothbrushes and shaving gear for myself and for Grace.  Grace now sported

a completely normal, natural and surprisingly lush growth of armpit hair and leg

hair every day, since her

body was growing anew every morning when she changed back to human

form.  Elias and I tried to convince her that it looked beautiful

and

natural and she should just leave it, but she'd been programmed her

whole life that she must shave

every bit of hair off her body and she intended to keep it up.  I

told

her she'd get tired of it soon enough since she'd have to do it every

single day and she agreed she'd probably get sick of it before long,

but she needed to keep at it until then to try to feel more normal.

 As soon as she had the shaving materials, she disappeared into the

bathroom at the back of the RV to shed herself of the hair she'd been

carrying under her arms and on her legs for the past couple of days, and

then we continued our shopping excursion dressed up in our fresh new

clothes.At

one point we'd stopped in a mall and she decided to make good on her

promise to herself to shop for bathing suits.  It was amusing to

watch her proudly display all the different outfits she tried on.

 It didn't really matter what the suit looked like, she was able

to make it look that much better.  The really fun part was staying

back and watching the people who were walking past the shop in the busy

mall.  Each time Grace came out of the fitting room to show

herself off, men were crashing into posts and tripping over benches or

potted plants, or slamming full on into other men who'd been coming

from the opposite direction who were also suddenly distracted.

 Husbands were getting punched in the shoulder or hit over the

head with handbags by irate wives as the men slowed or even stopped to

get a better look at Grace and they suddenly completely forgot, or

perhaps even temporarily

regretted, their marital status.  She was absolutely stunningly,

naturally beautiful and she seemed like she didn't mind the

attention she was getting in the least.  She'd been a frumpy,

frazzled, stressed-out,

hard-working, dedicated mother for so many years, and now she was an

energetic, glowing, vibrant, transcendent beauty.  It's not like she'd become someone else, it was more like she'd gone

through some sort of purification and enhancement process that stripped

away all of the effects that modern life does to a human body, leaving

behind the purest form of a human being.  She was the

best possible example of the perfect female human form.Grace

was

so attractive now that I'd even had a slightly surprising moment

earlier that morning when she'd changed back to human form.  She

had quickly gotten used to the idea of being nude around us and that

the boys would be nude in front of her every night when they changed to

a wolf and every morning when they changed back.  The motorhome

was close quarters and she quickly realized there was no point trying

to hide herself away or avert her eyes so she made no effort to

separate herself from the rest of us.  She would settle in for

sleep as a wolf on the

floor in the pile of males even though she knew everyone would wake

together naked when they changed back.  This morning when she

changed back to human form she'd been just getting up off the floor and

had initiated a long and satisfying stretch while she looked out the

small window at the top of the side door of the motorhome to check out

the dawn.  I'd gone outside

to conserve water in the RV by relieving myself in the bushes.

 I wasn't expecting her to be standing right there in the doorway,

with her arms were stretched up over her head and her

back arched backwards in her long stretch, with her breasts thrust out

in front of her.  I had opened the door quickly to climb the step

back into the RV to escape the morning chill and I nearly bowled her

over.  When I suddenly found my face nestled right between two firm

breasts I immediately pulled back and nearly fell over backwards.After

the initial shock that made us both jump and then laugh, I couldn't

help but take a moment to gaze over her new form, lit warmly by the

rising sun behind me.  Her skin glowed and her hair fell in

beautiful, clean, flowing waves down over her shoulders to cover the

tops of her breasts.  Her pert nipples were raised by the slight

chill of the air and stood out long and stiff.  She had a wonderful, fresh

and natural scent.  Her body was curved and shapely and healthy and prefect.  She was

breathtaking.  Even the furriness under her arms and on her

legs simply added to the natural appeal of her for me.  As I gazed over

her taught and toned body it actually caused a bit of a rustle in my

underwear that I was not expecting.I

suppose a big part of what

turns me off about many women is the fact that they do everything in

their power to present a painted facade to everyone.  From my

point of view,

women walk around coated with so much gunk that if you could somehow

magically make only the woman herself disappear and not anything

she's wearing, you'd still see the perfect shape of her in all of the

makeup and clothes that would stay behind, and you would swear she was

still standing there.  They cover themselves in foundation and

primer and concealers and powders and rouge and blush and bronzers and

eye

shadow.  They color their hair and abuse it with products to give

it

more curl or less curl or more shine or less shine and to force it into

shapes that it doesn't want to follow, and then they use crusty

chemicals to hold it there.

 They paint their nails and brush on highlights and coat their

bodies with lotions and balms and

perfumes and deodorants and moisturizers.  They cover their lips

with fake-colored waxy grease and thicken their eyelashes with overly

black mascara and thin their eyebrows to the point where they actually

have to draw them back in with a pencil.  They reconstruct

themselves everyday from the ground up

with a myriad of products that are made of all sorts of nasty things

like

whale poop, crushed beetle shells, fish scales, snail slime, bull

semen, tallow rendered from boiled dead animals, bat guano, a whole

host of toxic chemicals, and God only knows what all else, all in an

effort to look completely different from how they're really meant to.

 I find it all disgusting and I can't for the life of me

understand why any heterosexual male would ever want to touch or kiss

someone coated with all that goop.One thing I love about men is

that, for the most part, what you see is really them.  I like men

who don't use any sort of artificial scent like aftershave or cologne

or even deodorant.  I like them natural.  It's not hard to

find men who are perfectly OK with their natural scent or the way they look, while women

seem to want only to smell like anything other than a human being and

look like anyone other than themselves.Grace

looked so amazingly

fresh and radiant and smelled so wonderfully natural, and I knew that

there was nothing whatsoever that was artificial or unnatural anywhere

on her.  She was appealing enough that she was actually getting a

bit of a rise out of me and that had never happened before when I

looked at a woman.  I was still gay, but I had no problem

recognizing and appreciating beauty when it was right in front of my

eyes.  If she was able to stir the loins of a gay man I could only

imagine how intensely attractive she must be to a straight guy.The

best part of it all was that it did not seem to change her.  She

knew full well how beautiful she had suddenly become but it had no real

effect on her attitude.  In a sense, her outer looks finally lined

up to perfectly mirror the beauty she always had within her.  She

was still

the same wonderful, funny, intelligent, confident and personable woman she'd been

since

the first day we met.I

smiled now as I watched the effect she was having as she modeled her

bathing suits.  I gave her as much time as she needed to

try on as many different suits as she wanted to, while the

crowd of men staring into the shop grew.  In the end she selected

a couple that were very simple and fairly inexpensive.After a

full afternoon of shopping we had all the various things we needed

that we'd run off without when we first made our escape days ago.

 We were now completely outfitted to make the rest of our

journey more comfortable.We'd made one last stop before we left Carson City to

have a nice, sit down meal at a restaurant, and then afterward we spent

a bit of time in the parking lot while I tethered the laptop to my

phone and plunged into the dark web to research our identity needs.I

was surprised at how many options I had to purchase ID.  It

wasn't like the old days where you might get a fake driver's license

that was nothing but a card with your picture on it from some shady

dude in a bar.  There were full package deals available now that

included everything you might need to convince any official of who you

were, even if they went onto the system and checked, and the packages

could be purchased for entire families.  No doubt modern printing

technologies and the fact that nearly any official agency either had

people working on the inside who were always looking for ways to make

extra money, or could be accessed from the Internet and hacked, made

such things somewhat trivial for the more advanced criminals out there.

 There's a full-fledged and highly competitive underground market

for all of these sorts of things that was well served by a number of

sites that catered to anyone who needed anything, no matter how illegal

it might be or how difficult it might be to produce or procure.

 All you needed was sufficient cash and you could buy anything, so

long as you approached them anonymously using untraceable IPs and

offered payment in untraceable bitcoins.I spent as much time as

I could chasing down comments and asking questions and chatting online

with many representatives of the various sites.  I was amazed by

how organized and professional they all seemed to be.  I'd never

really delved into the criminal world online and I had no idea it had

advanced so far.  I finally settled on a site that had established

a reputation for creating the absolute best new identities available.

 The cost was exorbitant but I was assured from several sources

that I would not be disappointed.  Grace and I and the boys took

several photos of each other against plain backgrounds with our camera

phones.  I used some utilities to strip them of all metadata and

sent the photos off, along with a large down payment of bitcoins.

 I'd arranged to have the new identities delivered to an anonymous

post office box I rented online that was located in Tucson, Arizona.

 We'd have to blow a few more days as it would take that long for

them to get our identities ready, but there were plenty of places we

could stop and enjoy camping along the way.Everything should be

ready and waiting for us in the box by the time we arrived in Tucson,

and if it was all in order I'd send the rest of the payment.  It

may seem like a risky venture and I might find nothing but an empty

box, but there was a great deal of money involved in this business and

a fairly high demand, and if word would get out that a particular site

had screwed anyone over, the money would stop flowing instantly, so I

was fairly confident I would not be cheated.From Tucson we would

continue down south and cross the border into Sonora, Mexico, and then

pass through Chihuahua into Durango, and continue onward until we

eventually settled in Campeche, Yucatan, or Quintana Roo.  It

didn't really matter where we ended up.  Anywhere on the peninsula

would do.  We'd play it by ear once we got there and could better

determine what might work best.For now we had a few days in

which we could simply relax, enjoy each other's company and take in the

natural beauty of the landscape before we needed to be in Tucson to collect our new identities.I'm thirty eight years old and

yet somehow, in all of those years, I'd never once taken the time to

drive anywhere in my own country.  I'd certainly taken many

vacations, but all of them, even when I was just a kid, involved a drive only as far as the airport

to hop a flight to some other distant location.  I'd never taken a trip

anywhere through the United States by car, so it was more than a bit of

a surprise to me just how incredibly beautiful the country is, and so far I've only seen a very small part of it.  The

campground we were at currently was nestled in a valley in the Spring

Mountains in southern Nevada.  We were not far from Mount

Charleston, the highest peak in the

range and probably not much more than an hour's drive from Las Vegas.

 The view here was absolutely spectacular.  The whole range

was like a massive, cool green oasis rising up in the middle of a hot,

dry, brown desert.  The landscape around the mountains was made

up of stunningly beautiful alpine meadows and cool forested slopes

dominated by evergreen trees and dotted with ice-cold mountain springs.

 One of the smaller mountains in the range rose up to the

northeast of us and a valley

stretched out to the south and west on either side of one of the spurs

of Mount Charleston.  Charleston Peak towered

above the other mountains and dominated the skyline to the south of us.The

air was fresh and invigorating, in sharp contrast to the heat

and dry just minutes away down in the desert lowlands.  The

temperature on the mountains is typically twenty to thirty degrees

cooler than the desert surrounding them.  The height of the

range gives it a drastically different biome than the desert below and

due to its elevation and isolation from the 'sea' of desert surrounding

it, the Spring Mountains range is known as a 'sky island' ecosystem.As

I looked around I thought to

myself how amazing it would be to live permanently in a place like

this.  I may have been a bit hasty in my decision to settle in

Mexico.  This slice of beautiful countryside was likely just a

tiny sample of what covered the better part of the Rocky Mountains

stretching from New Mexico on up into northern British Columbia.

 It would also look a lot like this in summer up in the Northwest

Territories, the Yukon, and Alaska.  Maybe

those would be better places for the wolves to call home.When

I'd decided on Mexico I was being a bit unintentionally selfish.

 I can't stand the cold so I'd wanted to settle in someplace warm and tropical and sufficiently remote, but what about the

thickly-furred wolves?  Would they even be able to stand the heat

of a tropical rain forest?  If I had a bit of a chill in a cool climate I

could just throw on a sweater, but the wolves couldn't exactly take off

their coats if they found it too hot and humid in the tropical and subtropical forests of the Yucatan.  Wolves were built

for northern climates, that's why the largest populations are found in

the northern part of North America and Russia.I

suppose in this

case we couldn't only think of what the wolves need.  They spend

more time as humans.  The daytime isn't really a concern since

they're

only wolves at night.  If the nights are cool enough then it might

work.  We could enjoy our permanent tropical vacation during the

day as humans and the wolves might be comfortable enough at night.

 Perhaps if we stayed close to the coast on the northern part of

the peninsula we'd be OK.  In any case, there was no point

deviating from the plan

just yet.  We had, for all intents and purposes, an eternity to

make

up our minds about where we should live.  There was no point

worrying about it until we got

there and found out what it's like.  For now we could spend a bit

of time here and enjoy the mountains and scenery.I joined the family at the

picnic table just as Elias was saying, "Don't worry so much about it.

 You just need more practice.""I

don't know if practice would make any difference," Grace said,

"There was absolutely nothing I could have done.  I know it.

 I could feel the wolf's rage but there was no way I could calm it

down at all.  It was overpowering.

 When it just kept tearing at that guy and escalating the violence

against him I got so scared I sort of turned away and looked inwards so

I wouldn't have to see it happen.

 It was like the mental equivalent of closing my eyes, putting my

fingers in my ears, and going 'la la la la la' so I couldn't even hear

what was going on.""That's the problem," Elias said, "You need to face

forward and stay in charge.  If you don't decide what needs to happen next, the wolf will step up and do it for

you, and what it wants to do might not be exactly what you want."I

realized they were talking about Grace's mauling of the man in the

woods.  She'd completely lost control.  We'd never really

talked about it since it happened."Are you OK, Grace?" I asked, "Have you been

dwelling on what happened back in the woods that night?  That man

had to die.  You had no choice."She

shook her head.

 "No, I haven't exactly been dwelling.  Certainly not about

him.  It doesn't really bother me that that man died.  It's

like you said about Cole when his wolf killed the hunter or when he

took down the leader at my house.  It wasn't really him that did

it, it was the wolf.  It was the same for me.  They had guns

and they were after Cole.  They would have killed us if we got in

their way.  I don't doubt that, so I feel no guilt about what we

did.  What bothers

me is how close the wolf came to killing you, too, and how I felt

absolutely helpless to stop it.""You'd

been a wolf for all of a couple hours by then and you spent most of

that time in the back of a van," I reasoned, "The wolf just didn't have

time to really lock onto my scent and feel the relationship you and I

share.  I was just another man with a gun and it figured I needed

to be put down before I could do any harm.  We've had more time

since then with you as a wolf around me, and we'll have a hell of a lot

more time from now on, so I don't think I'll be in danger anymore.""But

how do we know?" she asked.  "The way it felt then, I just don't

think I could ever do anything to get back control once the wolf decides to go crazy.

 If I ever hurt you, Jake, I couldn't live with myself.  It

scared the crap out of me to come so close.  When I realized it

was turning on you, I was begging it to just stop, but it was like it

had tuned me out and had no interest in what I had to say.""The

wolf is almost all instinct in a situation like that," Elias said, "You

can't reason with it, you just have to control it.  You might not

realize it yet since it's so new to you, but you're its master and it

knows that.  Like any dog, it might start to get out of control but

if you're a good master and you assert yourself strongly it will come

back in line right away.  For me, killing those guys was not much

different than hunting and taking down a kill for food.  I've done

enough hunting in wolf form that I'm a lot more used to it than you.

 When you killed that guy in the woods it wasn't really you, but

the wolf.  You were sort of fighting to make it all stop, but the

wolf knew it couldn't stop until that man was not a threat anymore.

 I think that's why you lost control completely.  Instead of

being against it right from the start, if you'd sort of gone along with

the wolf and did what needed to be done instead of trying to run from

it internally, it might not have gotten so out of hand.  I had to

kill that other guy, but the big difference is it wasn't just the wolf

doing it in my case.  We both did it.  I understand the wolf

and we both knew what had to happen and somehow I sort of let the wolf

loose, like a master commanding an attack dog to kill, but at the same

time I shaped his actions and that's how once I saw the man was dead I

was able to pull the wolf back and take over complete control again.

 It's hard to describe, but I think you'd figure it out if you had

more chances like I've had all the times I hunted deer in wolf

form over the past few years before I met Jake."What he was

saying made sense.  Elias had so much experience letting the wolf

do what came naturally when it came to killing, he was likely more in

tune and able to keep things controlled.  Maybe what Grace needed

was a chance to do some killing of her own.  The day we'd talked

about the possibility of her becoming a werewolf for Cole's sake she'd

said she wasn't interested in hunting and eating raw meat.  She

just wasn't into that sort of thing, but maybe that was part of the

problem.  She needed to come to terms with the wolf and let it be

what it is and sort of find a way to be OK with all of that.

 Otherwise, anytime she'd find herself in a situation that

necessitated violence on the part of the wolf she'd mentally hide away

and the wolf would run rampant once again.  She needed practice,

and we just might be in an ideal place for her to get it."Elias,

do you think maybe you should take Grace out hunting tonight?

 Maybe it would help her to let the wolf make a kill under more

controlled conditions so she could get used to letting it off the

mental leash just enough to do the job and then pull it back."Elias's

face brightened and he said, "That's an awesome idea!  Cole should

come too.  I haven't tasted fresh meat in a long time now and I

wouldn't mind gorging.  If we can bag something big enough the

three of us would eat enough to tide us over for a few days at least.

 Think of how much food we could conserve if Jake is the only one

having to dip into the refrigerator.  You haven't lived until

you've hunted and killed your own food, Grace.  I think you'll

love it once you've tried it."Grace said, "I don't know if I could do something like that."Elias

kept pressing her.  "Don't you get it?  That's the problem.

 You need to think of it sort of like it's a necessity and even if

you can't do it, the wolf sure as hell can, and it wants to.  It's

natural.  You need to sort of accept it and stick right with it

while it's happening.  Try not to change what the wolf is.

 Try to get in tune with what the wolf feels when it's happening

and you might find yourself feeling just as exhilarated as the wolf

does when it makes a kill.  If you stay involved in the process

you'll be able to control it better.  I think it's important for

you to get some practice doing it.  Cole too.""I really want to try that!  Can we do it, mom?  Can we go hunting tonight?" Cole asked excitedly."I don't know honey.  It could be dangerous."Elias

shook his head and said, "Wolves do it all the time.  It's what

comes naturally to them.  It's their job to take down the food

they need to survive.  It's absolutely routine.  You need to

think about it as just another day at the office for the wolf.

 It's a hell of a lot less dangerous than what might happen if we

ever come across those men again and you completely lose control.

 The wolf is mostly instinct so it might make some bad decisions

and you need to get used to helping it make the right ones even in a

scary situation.  You need to get used to staying in the driver's

seat as much as possible.  I think it's important for you and Cole

to try this."Grace looked a little hesitant, but after some

thought she said, "I suppose we could try if you think it might help.

 I don't ever want a repeat of what happened in the woods with

that man or the near miss with Jake.  I suppose if I could get

used to not just turning away when the wolf is killing I can learn to

let it do its job and then take control back."Elias smiled and

said, "Good.  I'm not sure what there is to hunt around here, but

hopefully there's something big enough that you and Cole could work

together to bring it down, just the two of you.""Shouldn't you help us?" Grace asked, "It would be our first time."Elias

shrugged and said, "Nobody helped me on my first time and it went OK.

 You're big enough as a wolf to handle it by yourself.

 Between you and Cole it will be a cakewalk.  Trust me.

 It might be your first time, but the wolves have millions of years

of evolution telling them how its done.  They won't get it wrong.

 I'll run along with you guys and I could help to separate one

from the herd if necessary but I'll hang back to let you make the kill."Cole was really getting excited now and he said, "This is gonna be so awesome!  I get to go hunting!"Elias turned to him and said, "I think you'll like it little man, and you'll get to eat raw meat for the first time.""What's it taste like?  Isn't it gross?""No,

not even a bit.  I can't really describe exactly what it tastes

like.  Wolves taste things different than us.  It's not so

much what it tastes like but how good it feels to taste it.  Think

about how you felt when you tasted the best thing you ever ate and

multiply that by a hundred."I thought about what he said and it

made sense.  Taste and smell are closely linked in humans, so it

makes sense that they would be in wolves, too.  If that's the

case, since wolves' sense of smell is so much more sensitive than

humans then it follows that their sense of taste might be, too.

 It must be an incredibly visceral, primal thing to experience for

Elias to kill and eat, and now Cole and Grace would get to feel it too.

 I wished I could watch it happen and get to see them living that

way.  It would be amazing."Now I wish I could come along,"

I said, "I'd love to run with you guys and watch Grace and Cole make

their first kill.  I could never keep up with three wolves on the

hunt, though.""I don't see why you can't come along.  The

wolves know how to get the scent and follow it and stay downwind as

they track so you'd just need to follow along right behind and you

wouldn't get in the way or mess up the hunt.  We know to slow down

to let you follow along with us even if the wolves don't.  It

would be even better practice for Grace and Cole if they have to keep

the wolves tightly enough under control the whole time so that they can

keep them going slow enough for you to keep up, while still letting the

wolves be in charge of the hunt.  It would help them to learn how

to let the wolves do what comes naturally to them while still directing

their actions and modifying them as needed.  I think it might

actually help to have you come along," Elias suggested."Yeah!  I think it would be awesome if you came too, Jake!" Cole said."It would be a pretty amazing experience for me," I said, "I'd love to tag along.  I'm looking forward to it.""So

it's settled," Elias said, "Hopefully there's something around here we

can hunt.  It looks like pretty good country for deer at least.""I

was looking over the brochure earlier that we picked up when we came

into the camp area this morning since we were going to be here a few

days," I said, "It describes some of the wildlife around here and it

said this range hosts the only herds of Rocky Mountain elk in Clark

County.  The picture was of a really massive looking elk with a

huge rack of antlers.  It also mentioned other big animals that

are normally found in Nevada like mule deer and burros and such.

 There's mountain lions too, so we'd need to watch out for those,

but I doubt any of them would risk taking on three giant wolves.

 They'd steer clear.""That sounds great.  If there are

elk or deer within miles of here the wolves will find them.  I

can't wait," Elias said."Me neither!" Cole agreed.Grace

still looked a bit uncertain but she shrugged and said, "I don't know

if this is going to work for me, but I'll give it a shot.  Just

promise me when the time comes to make the kill, you'll stay way back,

Jake."I smiled and nodded.It was late enough in the

afternoon when I'd woken from my nap that I had been planning on

starting to get an early supper ready with Grace's help, but since the

wolves were going to be gorging on fresh meat they decided to skip the

meal.  I quickly cooked up a couple of hot dogs to curb my hunger.

 While I ate, we talked about the planned hunt some more and it

was decided that it would be best if we did it as far away from the

actual camping area as possible.  Not only would it be safer to be

well away from other people, but the area closer to the campground

would be more populated with scavenger type animals, and the grazers

would stay far away.  We would be more likely to come across

suitable prey for the wolves further up the mountain in areas not

accessible by any vehicles.It would be best if we hiked along

the spur of Mount Charleston to the south and covered as much ground as

we could before sunset.  It was the night of the full moon so they

would change into wolves the moment the sun went down past the horizon.

 We would be far enough into the deeper woods and away from anyone

else that they could simply strip down and change right there.

 I'd bring a large backpack with a couple of blankets stuffed into it

for me, since we'd likely be spending the whole night, and I could put

their clothes in it as well once they'd stripped out of them so we

could crash wherever we wanted and they'd have their clothes when they

change back in the morning.  We'd continue further towards the

mountain, letting the wolves follow any scent they might come across

from there.As soon as I was done eating we filled our water

bottles and headed out.  It was still late afternoon so we'd have

several hours before sunset and we should be able to put quite a bit of

distance between us and any other people.The

hike was absolutely invigorating.  It felt so good to put all of our

problems, and the stuffy RV, behind us for a few hours and

just live and enjoy each other's company while we wandered the great

outdoors.  We

crossed meandering streams and climbed over massive piles of huge

boulders

and went down into cool shaded valleys and up onto breezy bluffs as we

made our way along the spur while the warm evening wore on.  We

moved through large stands of bristlecone and ponderosa pine trees, and

further down the side of the spur in the deeper valley we saw pinyon

pine, juniper, white fir and aspen.  At the lowest levels away

from the mountain were creosote bushes, Joshua trees and sagebrush.We

saw jackrabbits and kit foxes, chipmunks and antelope squirrels, wrens,

hawks, jays and chickadees.  Cole's sharp eyes even spotted a

broad-tailed hummingbird with a dazzling red throat and shiny green

feathers as it hovered over an indian paintbrush plant, sucking nectar

from its brilliant red flowers.We were surrounded by a lush bounty of life and we greatly enjoyed every bit of the

magnificent scenery that was presented to us.

 Once again I found myself wondering if Mexico had been the right

decision.  It was so breathtakingly beautiful here and the air was

so fresh and brisk that the hike was enjoyable and I didn't find myself

overheating from the exertion.  I doubt we could do this sort of

thing in a sub-tropical rainforest, and trudging through a flat jungle

hacking at thick foliage just wouldn't be the same experience at all.This

was the most fun we'd had together as a family yet.  I'd always

been a city dweller my whole life and I'd never really had the time to

think about being anything else.  I'd been too busy with my career

to sit down and imagine any other type of life.  I was a bit

surprised at just how much I was enjoying this.  The way I was

feeling now, it seemed I would have absolutely no problem leaving the

city life behind me forever.  I could get used to this life quite

easily.  Grace seemed to be enjoying herself immensely too, even

though she'd sort of indicated in one of our conversations that she

wasn't the outdoorsy type.  She seemed to be in her element out

here and I could see her coming to life more and more as we walked.

 I think a lot of her previous attitude might have come from the

fact that she'd been so busy and tired and overworked trying to provide

for her son on her own, and then having to deal with his illness and

all the pressure and misery that went along with that.  Now all of

those worries were behind her and she suddenly found herself physically

fit and full to busting with energy, and she was starting to discover

the pleasure of burning that energy up doing something as simple as

chasing her son through an alpine meadow while they laughed.My

mind wandered to thoughts of how much human beings were out of their

natural element in the modern life we'd created for ourselves.  As

a species we probably used to measure our success in life by the level

of joy we experienced from day to day.  Now we almost seemed to

measure our success by the level of stress we were able to endure.

 If you could take a little more it was best to add more pressure

to your life and raise the stress level a little since it would mean

making more money and earning more stuff and being more 'successful'.Our

days were spent moving from one stuffy, closed-in, climate controlled

building to another, from a house to an office to a bank to a

restaurant to a movie theater to a house again.  We lived and went

to school and worked and entertained ourselves and shopped for our food

inside massive boxes, shutting ourselves away from nature and from the

very environment that shaped us over the millennia into what we are.

 We even moved between the various huge boxes we spent our days

shut away in while riding in smaller metal boxes with wheels on them.

 It was all boxes all day long.The human race had evolved

over millions of years to do just what the four of us were doing right

now; walking.  Humans were meant to get up at sunrise and pretty

much keep walking, out under the canopy of the wide open sky, gathering

food and working on our shelters and hunting and just roaming and

exploring for the entire day until it was too dark to do

anything more.  Then we would settle down to enjoy each other

and sleep so that we could do it all again the next day.  That was

our true element, yet the human race was doing everything it could to

change all of that and compartmentalize ourselves into our artificial

boxes, as if nature was a horrible thing we needed to protect ourselves

from instead of the wondrous, life-giving force that had produced us in

the first place.  It was completely unnatural.I'd never

felt more alive than I felt now and I could only imagine how much

better it would be if I were in the same perfect physical shape the

other members of my family were in.  I was beginning to really

look forward to the change to being a werewolf.  I'd come to the

decision that as soon as we were completely settled and safe in

whatever location we decided to make our home, I would take the plunge.

 For now, I did my best as a normal human to keep up with the pack

of supernaturally healthy humans that were bouncing and laughing and

chasing each other around me.It was a good thing I'd kept myself

in shape over the years with a lot of cycling and elliptical training

and treadmill workouts or there was no way I could keep up with the

three incredibly fit werewolves in their human form.  We ate up

the distance at a good pace and while I was laboring a bit to maintain

the pace, the three of them kept up an animated conversation the whole

time and made it seem completely effortless.Hours passed and the

evening wore on towards night.  The hike had started to become

more like a climb as the landscape steadily rose towards the mountain

and I was starting to become a bit tired and ready for a break when we

came over the top of another ridge and Grace gasped and pointed.

 Elias raised a hand to stop us and we all looked to where she'd

indicated.On

the smooth slope down the other side of the ridge

near the bottom we saw a small herd of reddish-brown animals grazing on

the long grass and low shrubs.  It looked like elk, though the sky

was darkening toward dusk and they were down in a shaded valley to the

west and the setting sun was in our eyes so it was hard to make them

out clearly from this distance.  I wished I had a pair of

binoculars to get a closer look.  As far as I knew deer didn't

hang around in herds of any more than four or five animals and there

looked to be more than a dozen large animals down there slowly moving

southward

while they grazed.  They had to be elk.  They were a fairly

long ways away but we didn't dare get any closer for fear of scaring

them off.  We weren't the hunters, the wolves were.  We

needed to leave it to them.We went back over the top of the

ridge to the other side to look for a spot to settle in and rest until

the sunset that couldn't be more than ten minutes away.We moved into a

stand of pine trees with a soft bed of old needles making up the ground

cover and we sat to wait for the change to hit.I reclined

against the angled stump of a tree and Grace sat with her back to a

massive boulder.  Elias settled down with his legs crossed on the

ground. Cole came and sat in my lap and hugged me and I hugged

him back and gave him a kiss.  I brought my knees up and moved my

feet away from me and he leaned back against my legs to face me.

 "This is so awesome," he said, "It was really fun hiking out

here.  I wish we could do this everyday."I smiled and said, "Me too.  I never thought doing something so simple could be so much fun."Grace

smiled as she watched us and said, "You and me both, Jake.  Do you

remember that talk we had just before the excrement hit the rotational

cooling device, when I said I wouldn't enjoy roughing it in a remote

area because I'm just not that kind of girl?  Well, I still think

I was probably right, I wasn't that kind of girl then, but I sure as

hell am now.  I love this.  I've never felt so good in my

life.  I've never felt so alive.  Maybe I was scared of this

kind of life because I felt I wouldn't be able to handle it, but now I

feel like I could handle just about anything.  I'm dirty and

sweaty and I'm sitting on the bare ground with my back against a big

boulder out in the wilderness away from everyone else, and yet I'm

about as comfortable as I need to be and I can't think of anywhere else

I'd rather be.  The idea of restaurants and bubble baths and soft

beds doesn't exactly seem abhorrent or anything now, but it certainly

doesn't seem like a necessity anymore.  I'd gladly give it all up

forever to enjoy this kind of life every day.  Most of my doubts

about being a werewolf are fading fast.""I lived exactly like

this almost every day for three years," Elias said, "Apart from the

loneliness, I loved it.  Like I told Jake, my dream was to

eventually settle somewhere way up north.  I wanted to have a

little cabin that I could hide in while I was a human, in the middle of

a vast forest I would own when I was a wolf.  We've spent most of

the time as wolves in the past few nights sleeping in the RV while Jake

was driving, or just resting until you took your shift, but tonight

you're gonna find out what it's really like to be a wolf running

through the woods.  The way you feel now is still nothing compared

to how amazing you'll feel when you're stalking the herd and using your

incredible sense of smell and sight and instincts to get set up for the

kill.  You'll be amazed by how intense it is if you let yourself

feel everything the wolf does and let her share it with you.  I

guarantee you, after tonight any last shred of doubt you might have

about how good a wolf you'd make will be gone, and from then on you'll

mostly spend your time as a human waiting for when you get to be a wolf

again."Grace smiled at him and said, "I think you're probably right.""I'm so glad you changed, mom," Cole said."Me too, sweetheart."Cole looked back at me and said, "When are you gonna change, Jake?  I wish you would do it right now.  We could all hunt together.  Wouldn't that be cool?"I

smiled at him and nodded, 'It would be pretty cool, yes, but I think I

need to hold off just a bit longer, sorry.  We should be arriving

on the Yucatan peninsula within a couple of weeks even if we take our

time to get there and we'll find a place to settle in.  I want to

stay this way for now in case there are any complications.  It

won't be long at all.  As soon as we're organized and settled and

completely out of danger and our lives become much simpler I'll do it, I promise.  I'm anxious to

join you all, too.  The more I think about it the more I want it.

 It's something I'm really looking forward to.""Good.  I can't wait 'till you change," Cole said."Me

too," Elias added, "This is all a dream come true for me.  It's

even better than anything I ever imagined before.  I never even

thought to add a family to my dream of a cabin back in the days when I

was wandering alone.  It didn't seem like it was in any way

possible for something like that to happen.  We're so close now,

though.  I can't believe it.  I never thought I could be so

lucky.  You're the last missing piece, Jake.  When you change

everything will be in place and we'll be a happy family of werewolves

living in our own little slice of paradise.  I seriously can't

wait.  It's gonna be so great."The alarm on my watch

started beeping and I turned it off as Cole got up out of my lap and

began to strip down.  Grace and Elias did the same.  While

they finished undressing and folding their clothes up into neat stacks

I took the blankets out of the backpack.  I gathered up all of

their clothes and put them in the pack, and then added the blankets

back on top of them so I could get at them easily when it was time to

bed down later on.  I gathered up their hiking boots and tied them

together in pairs and then tied the pairs to various spots on the

backpack.The three beautiful naked humans moved to lie down on

their backs on the soft loam together, spaced slightly apart, and each

took the hand of whoever was lying next to them as they calmly waited

for what was about to hit.All at once the three of them jerked

in unison and I could see them tense up in preparation for the barrage

of pain that was coming.I'd seen this process enough times by

now that I wasn't nearly as bothered by it as I used to be.  It

had become routine and there was no need to worry about it anymore.

 I still liked to watch over them closely to ensure they were

doing OK, but for the last few nights I'd been watching from outside the RV.

 I didn't want to push my luck with Grace's wolf until she'd had

plenty of time to get used to me, but after three full nights hanging

together the wolf had gotten to know me better.  Last night I'd

kept the door of the RV open and stood just outside it, ready to slam

it shut if Grace's wolf made any moves towards me in the moments before

Grace slid into place and took control, but it went fine, so I knew I

was safe now.It all went normally and within minutes three

exceedingly large wolves were in front of me, sniffing at each other as

if to reassure themselves that everyone had come through OK, then

stretching themselves and getting ready to move out.I put the backpack on and I grinned at them and said, "Lead the way."Elias

turned to Grace and raised a paw and tapped her on the shoulder.

 She nodded and moved ahead of the pack and the rest of us

followed as she led us back up to the top of the ridge.There was

still plenty of light as the sun had only just set below the horizon

while the full moon was already rising.  It was actually even

easier to see down into the valley now that the sun wasn't in our eyes,

but we couldn't see the herd anywhere.  It didn't really matter.

 They'd been grazing as they walked slowly along towards the

south, but by now they had likely moved into the trees and would

shortly be bedding in to sleep.  They couldn't have gotten far.I

watched as the massive white wolf that was leading us surveyed the

small valley that stretched out below us, then she put her head up and

sniffed around.  She opened her mouth slightly as if to taste the

air as well as smell it.  There was a very light breeze coming

from the southwest and she suddenly put her head down and began to move

at a steady pace down the slope at a ninety degree angle to the wind.

 She was moving slightly away from where the herd must be if

they'd continued the way they were headed when we first saw them, but

she seemed intent to get down off the grassy slope into the valley and

approach the trees on the other side first before heading towards the

animals.Before long we'd reached the bottom and crossed the

grassy floor of the small valley and were approaching the trees.

 Grace stopped and began to sniff around.  We were right at

the spot we'd seen the herd grazing earlier.  She turned and began

to move along the tree line southward, sniffing at the ground off and

on as she went.  Cole followed right behind her doing the same.

 Elias stayed well back with me as the two wolves followed

the trail of the herd ahead of us.We followed for quite a way

until suddenly Grace stopped and Cole immediately stopped behind her.

 The huge white wolf sniffed at the air and turned to face back

towards Elias and me, and she cocked her head towards the trees ahead

of her.  The forest of pine trees jutted out eastward ahead and to the south of us, and then turned

back towards the west.  The herd must be just ahead around the

corner.Elias immediately moved past me and went to join the

other two wolves and he sniffed the air a bit.  He nodded at Grace

as if to confirm what she suspected.  He then turned to Cole and

he raised a paw and tapped his shoulder like he'd done to Grace

earlier, and then pointed to the east back up the slope to the top of

the ridge.  Cole nodded and he turned and went down low as he

quickly made his way up the ridge until he reached the top, then he

turned and went down on his belly to wait.Elias then tapped

Grace's shoulder again, but this time he simply pointed right at the

ground where she was standing.  She nodded and turned to face the

direction of the herd and went down on her belly in the tall grass.Elias turned to

look back at me, and when he saw I hadn't moved he must have decided he

was satisfied that I was still far enough away.  I sank down to my

knees and pulled off my backpack to settle in and watch the hunt play

out.Elias turned to the trees and slipped quietly into them.A

bit of time passed as we sat in silence and I started to feel excited

and anxious as I waited to see what would happen next.  Elias must

be slinking along through the trees, trying to get to the other side of

the herd so he could flush them towards Grace.  Once the animals

were spooked they'd want to come out in the open where they could run

full tilt.  Elias would likely pop out behind them and chase them

towards Grace.  Cole was in a good position to block them if they

veered towards the ridge to try to make their escape that way.  It

would be up to Grace to pick one from the herd and chase it down.The

level of tension rose as we waited for Elias to make his move.

 Suddenly there was a strange hooting and bawling sound of alarm

and I could hear the sound of branches cracking and brush rustling as

the herd bolted out of the trees somewhere ahead, and it was soon

followed by the thunderous sound of many hooves pounding at the ground.

 It had begun.Grace calmly stayed put as she waited for the

first of the animals to come into view around the trees ahead that

stuck out into the valley.  Within moments we saw the herd already

headed up towards the openness of the ridge and slightly towards the

direction Grace was still hiding while the massive wolf that was Elias

sprinted after them, veering towards the south to get more behind them

and trying to turn the whole herd more towards Grace's direction.

 As the herd started to turn more towards the north while still

racing up the slope of the ridge, Cole popped up and began to run

towards them.  The herd saw him and panicked.  They were

briefly disorganized as some stopped and turned back down the slope and

others turned back towards where Elias was.  Before long they got

back into an organized stampede as they realized they had no other way

to go but down the slope, northward into the open valley where Grace

was still hunkered down in the long grass.I could feel the

adrenaline rising in me even though there was nothing for me to do but

watch the exciting chase and mentally root for the wolves.  A

couple of large cows must have caught a glimpse of the white fur down

in the grass ahead and realized something was wrong because they veered

again to head back up the slope and Cole switched direction to chase

them back down into the valley.  Grace must have liked the look of

them because she ignored the rest of the herd that was headed straight

at her and bolted from her hiding spot towards the two females that had been

somewhat separated.  The rest of the herd panicked once again when

they saw the massive white wolf rise up out of the grass ahead and they

wheeled around and headed up the slope of the ridge again.  Soon

they would be over it and safe.  The wolves were no longer

interested in them.The two cows that were separated had been

running hard and were going slightly up slope so they were no match for

the speed Cole was going at as he sprinted down the hill at an angle to

cut them off and send them back down into the valley.  They

panicked again and turned only to see the streak of white death racing

up the hill towards them.  Suddenly the two elk split up and one

turned back towards the peak of the ridge and put everything it had

into escaping the massive white wolf coming at it.  The other put

on a burst of speed too as it changed direction just slightly to move

at a right angle to Grace's trajectory, across her path.  It had

just enough speed as it continued down the slope to narrowly escape

being taken down by the huge wolf, but Grace quickly changed direction

and sprinted down the hill towards it as Cole changed direction to join

the pursuit of the one Grace had singled out.The animal was

pounding down the hill almost directly towards me as the huge white

wolf ran towards it from slightly up the slope, and Cole was coming

from the south.  I was totally caught up in the exciting chase and

I couldn't resist getting involved.  I sprang up and began running

towards the large female elk, flapping my arms and shouting as it

approached and it immediately put on the brakes, which was its undoing.

 Just as it turned to look for the best way to escape this new

threat, Grace was upon it.  The elk made a plaintive, panicked

sound as it realized it was surrounded and it leapt to try to get away,

but Grace slashed at it's flank and I saw blood spray from the wound as

the elk came back down and stumbled briefly, but began to try to run

again back towards the south.Cole was already there and in front

of it and once again it bunched to leap over him, but just as it became

airborne Cole leaped up and bit at its belly and hung on.  He was

nearly stepped on as the elk came crashing back down to earth, but

somehow managed to stay on its feet.  I thought it was over at

that point as Cole began to shake at the animal and tried to bring it

down, but the huge cow refused to give up and it screamed and bleated

as it stumbled along, half dragging Cole who was still holding fast to

its belly and pulling backwards as if to try to tear it open.In

moments Grace had caught up again and she ran around to the front and

grabbed the animal by its massive throat and began to yank at it to

pull it over.  There was nothing more the elk could do.  It

could no longer make any sounds as the huge white wolf held fast to its

throat and cut off its supply of air.  In no time the elk was down

on the ground and weakly struggling to get back up, but it was

hopeless.  Before long it fell completely still.Grace

and

Cole both held fast for a while longer to ensure the animal was dead,

their sides heaving from the effort they'd expended in taking it down.

 Then they raised their heads from their kill and yipped and howled at

the rising moon in celebration of what they'd achieved.  I jumped

up and down and cheered at them.  The massive white wolf saw me

and she went up on her hind legs and started hopping up and down too,

then Cole did the same.  I laughed as I saw them move towards each

other and Grace's big front paw came up and Cole followed suit and the

two shared a high five.They came down and suddenly the massive

white wolf turned and began barreling towards me, ears back and

charging at full speed.  I felt a moment of panic but there was no

need as she stopped just before she reached me and went up on her hind

legs and her big paw came up yet again.  I laughed and gave the

massive wolf a high five and she went down and began racing around me

in circles, then she bolted back towards her kill and ran around it a

few times.  Then she spotted Elias loping towards them and both

her and Cole bolted and ran towards him.  He broke into a run and

slipped between them and the two wolves wheeled around and chased him

back.Elias wasted no time and as soon as he reached the fresh

kill he began to tear into it.  The other two wolves came up and

sat and waited.  It was as though instinct was now telling them to

let the alpha have his fill before they could start.  Elias ripped

and yanked at the carcass to open rents in the hide, and then he dove

in and tore out chunks of flesh to gobble down.  He looked over at

the other wolves and then jerked his head toward the dead animal and

both wolves moved in to claim their share.  Grace seemed to have

lost any inhibition she might have had and she allowed the wolf to

gorge.  Cole was doing the same.  The three wolves were so

huge that they would likely consume most of the animal before they were

done.I waited while the three wolves gorged, not wanting to get

too close so it wouldn't seem like I was trying to steal their dinner.

 They were tearing at the elk in a feeding frenzy at first and I

wasn't sure how in control everyone was of their wolves, but before

long they'd settled and were devouring their kill at a steady but

controlled rate.  I heard yips and barks coming from the east and

I looked up to see several coyotes running back and forth at the top of

the ridge.  They had smelled blood and knew there was a fresh kill

down here.  They also seemed to know they would not be welcome and

they kept their distance, hoping to get first dibs on whatever was left

over.  Most likely the area would soon be visited by badgers,

wolverines, weasels and other scavengers that the coyotes would have to

fight off to get their share.  If the scavengers were lucky, no mountain

lions would show or they'd all have to vacate.After a while,

Cole was sated and he turned away from the kill and loped over to where

I was and lay down on the ground.  I sat next to him and began to

scratch at his chest and belly as he whined his contentment.  I

was amazed at how hard and full his belly felt.  It must be

holding twenty pounds of meat at least, and the other two wolves would

likely consume twice that amount each.  Wolves were binge eaters

by nature and their stomachs could expand to huge proportions to allow

them to eat as much as they would need to keep them fueled for days to

come until the next successful hunt.I smiled at him and asked, "How was dinner, Cole?  Did you like it?"His

tail began to thump hard against the ground and then he rolled onto his

back to show off his round belly and his tongue lolled out the side of

his open mouth as his tail began sweeping the tall grass.  I

laughed and rubbed at his distended belly and said, "You must have

almost half an elk in there.  Doesn't it hurt?"He shook his head and whined as his tail kept wagging.Before

long Grace came over to join us and flopped onto the ground too,

followed shortly afterward by Elias.  The three wolves lounged

around lazily, fully satisfied and looking ready for sleep."That

was an absolute thrill for me.  I never in my wildest dreams

thought I would hunt with a pack of wolves.  I couldn't help

getting involved.  I was totally caught up in it.  I can't

wait to experience that for myself and get right in there and stuff my

face."Grace whined and got up and came over to me and rubbed her big head against me.  I scratched at her neck for a bit."I

seem to remember you saying hunting and killing was more of a guy thing

and you probably would never be into it.  Well, you seemed pretty

into it to me.  You did great out there.  I guess the wolf

knows what it knows and once you give it control it executes like a

pro.  You've proven you make a perfectly fine wolf.  Cole did

too.  You were both back in control again immediately after the

kill.  I could tell it was you because I'm pretty sure I've never

heard of wolves in the wild high-fiving each other after a successful

hunt."She whined again and wagged her tail and I heard Elias huff a couple of times like he was laughing.I

scratched at the massive white wolf a bit longer, then I stood and

looked around.  It was starting to get much darker, though the

rising full moon would likely keep it from getting completely dark so

long as the sky remained clear.  It didn't seem wise to stay out

in the open through the night, though.  The wolves looked like

they were about to doze off from the torpor that was setting in after

gorging themselves, so I suggested we move over to the trees to find a

more sheltered spot to sleep.  The other two wolves grudgingly got

up and we made our way towards the trees as the coyotes descended from

the ridge and began to fight over what was left of the carcass.  There was no doubt none of it would go to waste.We

headed into the woods and found a spot that had enough room for all of

us to crash out on the soft forest floor.  I brought the blankets

out of the backpack and laid them down on the ground and crawled onto

them.  It was warm enough still that with my clothes on I didn't

feel any need to cover myself up.  Elias came and lay down next to

me and Cole lay down on the opposite side.  Sandwiched between the

two big, warm, furry bodies there was no way I'd get any chill tonight.

 Grace came and joined us and lay down right at my head.The three wolves were so groggy from the lethargy that followed their binge that they were all asleep within minutes.  I

was exhausted after the long, fun hike and the excitement of the hunt,

but I lay awake for quite a while afterward listening to the sound of

the coyotes fighting off other scavengers who came along to steal a

share of the kill.  Mountain lions might even show up eventually

with the smell of so much blood on the breeze, but I had no fear whatsoever while surrounded

by three supernaturally giant wolves.This was an experience I

would not soon forget.  I thought about the incredible future full

of nights just like this that awaited us.  I was excited by the

idea that the next time this happened, I would likely be a wolf too

right along with them.  I began to wonder what type of prey there

might be in the jungle and once again doubts about the choice of Mexico

for a final destination creeped in.  There were no herd animals in

sub-tropical rainforests as far as I knew.  There were likely no

big grazers at all since there was really no grass.  It was more

like a primeval forest made up mostly of ferns and lush undergrowth and

massive trees covered in vines.  Again, I hadn't really thought

about the wolves and what they might spend their time doing out there.

 They seemed to love this and they wouldn't likely be able to do

it down there.Perhaps I'd talk to the family about it tomorrow.

 There was still no point changing our plans just yet, but in the

long term we might like to consider the possibility of going north

instead.  I decided to wait and see how good our new identities

would be.  If they were as complete and convincing as had been

advertised, we'd be completely free to move anywhere we wanted at any

time.  We only needed to stay out of populated areas to remove any

chance of having the type of problems we'd encountered back at home.

 We need a remote location to live in if we really wanted to stay

out of trouble, but it didn't really matter where it was exactly.

 Perhaps we could head north and spend the remaining bit of summer

and the first couple of good months of fall up there, then move back

down to Mexico for the winter.  We could go back north again in

the spring.  That way we'd get some variety and the wolves could

be true wolves for at least half the year, but we'd be comfortable year

round.  We would be the first wolf pack to migrate all the way

from Alaska down to Central America and back again every year.  At

least, most likely the first.Every once in a while the thought

crossed my mind that there were other werewolves out there.  There

had to be.  We know for sure there was at least one because he was

the one that had turned Elias.  How many more were there?

 Whoever it was that was after Cole had spoken as if they'd had at

least one in captivity before but somehow that had ended and they

needed another.  The hunter had said something similar before he

died.  Something about not letting 'them' get their hands on

another one.  I was now sure that the 'them' he'd referred to were

the men who'd showed up at Grace's house.  I wish he would have

stayed alive long enough for us to question him further.  It was

all a mystery that we might never solve.  In fact, it was safe to

say I hoped we'd never solve it, because that would mean we would be

living the rest of our lives in peace, never being bothered by any of

those people again.Still,

I couldn't help but wonder just how

many more werewolves might be running around out there.  I wasn't

even one of them yet but already I felt that this life was so good that

as far as I was concerned, the world would likely be a much better

place if everyone in it was a werewolf.  Perhaps this was a sort

of sudden lurch forward in evolution for the human race precipitated by

some sort of 'curse' that would slowly and inevitably spread through

the entire population by accident, or even on purpose, like what I was

planning to do to myself once we settled.  If we were going to

live for an eternity, then no matter how careful we were some accident

was bound to happen eventually and another person would be turned, then

they would eventually turn others, and so on.  Everyone who was turned

would live forever, so the population of werewolves could not naturally

decline, it could only increase.  How many werewolves

there might be right at this moment would depend somewhat on when it

all began.  If it started thousands of years ago there might

already be thousands of werewolves.  If it started more recently

then there might only be a few.How many others were in the same

position as us?  Elias had said once that there was no way

werewolves could go around building their own community because most people

wouldn't survive the attack that would turn them.  We now knew

that wasn't necessarily true.  I was safe among the wolves who

loved me even while they changed and that would allow me to change

myself anytime I wanted just by cutting myself and infecting myself

with their saliva.  Who's to say it wasn't happening just like

this all over the world?  Someone gets infected by accident and

then a loved one chooses to join them.I chuckled to myself as I

imagined other families doing the same thing as we were doing right

now, or doing like I'd thought of earlier and migrating back and forth

with the seasons.  I pictured dozens of them flying in groups to

Alaska to spend the summer, then flying down to Costa Rica or someplace

for the winter to be jungle wolves.  In my head I saw happy

families, homes strewn with photos of mom, dad and the kids on the

beach, then another of mom, dad and the kids sharing a kill as wolves.

 Maybe someday this would become the new norm.  For all we

knew there might be a whole werewolf underground out there somewhere

already who'd figured all this shit out long ago and were much more

organized than we were.  In any case, even if there was, if we

play our cards right and stay out of trouble we would never know it,

and they would never know of our existence either.  Still, it

would be good to know one way or the other.As I pondered the possibilities,

drowsiness crept over me and before much longer I dozed off under the

stars, snuggled up in my warm nest of furry bodies.