Chapter II Shift
Story by sangheilinerd on SoFurry
So a little explanation is in order. Some things differing with typical Shifter Romance wolf shifters and the traditional werewolf. I will probably give more explanation throughout the series.
“To shift naturally, you need to prod your wolf to give you back control. This is where your friend’s difficulties lay. The shift comes when the moon is at its peak and full. We don’t have a choice with the moon-shift. It’s a part of the curse. However, when you shift outside of the full moon is generally tied to your flight-or-fight response, your heart-rate, and your level of excitement or arousal.” Rickard explained, “The first time shifting back naturally is difficult because the wolf usually doesn’t want to cede control. This is why having an alpha help you through the transformation is helpful. Not required, mind, just helpful. So, what I’m going to need you to do is go into your mind’s eye and ask the wolf to give you back control. This will start the shifting process.”
I did as he bade and went to my mind’s eye, looking for the wolf. He approached me from behind. “Our mate wishes to communicate with a human?”
“Yes, he does, wolf. May I take control?”
With much growling and complaining the wolf nodded. “You may.”
“Thank you.”
Again the cracks and snaps came as I shrank back to my six-foot-even one hundred eighty-five pound human self. My hair a dark auburn my eyes had heterochromia. My right eye was as green as grass and my right was a dark blue. I had fair, white skin freckled on my face. I wasn’t hairy before, now I seemed to be covered in a fine carpet of reddish brown hair. My beard was pure ginger. Not trying to hide my Irish heritage, I’d let it grow into a nice civil war style beard. I’d give General Burnside a run for his money. I met my Alpha’s eyes for a brief second before redirecting my gaze to his chin. “Alpha Michaels, my name is Coulter MacNamara.”
“An bfhuil tú Gaelige?”
“Ís ea. Labhraíonn tú na hÉireann?”
“Not really. I know just a little bit. Come, let’s get you sorted, my mate.”
“Of course, Alpha.”
“So, I’m a were now?”
“Yes. Though, we prefer shifter. It’s less…degrading.” He replied while I was mesmerized by the way his long hair swung back and forth like a pendulum as he walked. It looked so…soft. I just wanted to touch it.
“So, we’re wolf shifters. Is there anything special I need to do, now? Like do I have to tell the government or anything?”
“Well…yes. Going public was the only way we could beat the Jäger, but in so doing we made our lives filled with more paperwork than I really care to talk about. Unlike many of those romance novels, though, they didn’t put us in internment camps or make us wear patches saying ‘Shifter’ or anything like that. The only thing that gives us away is a little wolf-shaped icon on our driver’s license and passport.”
“And now mine will have that, too?”
“Yes. Shifter bites are rare. We all know too well the consequences of the bite. If your lucky you turn into one of us. The other options are turning into a dire—that’s what that beast was that attacked you—or death.”
I stopped in my tracks. “I could have died?”
“Yes.” He said extremely calmly. “Most shifter bites end in death of the bitten and the shifter is killed by Paranormal Affairs officers when found. As you learned, we aren’t invulnerable like the stories lead people to believe. We are allergic to silver, though. Silver sickness’ symptoms are simple: Your eyes become extremely bloodshot, your skin breaks out in massive hives and your fingernails become a hazy white. This is if you ingest it directly. If Silver touches you it burns your skin as if touched by a hot coal. If exposed for too long you will die.”
“Wow…That…sucks.”
He nodded. “As you probably noticed, Shifters don’t have a problem with nudity. You will notice I am nude at the moment. I do wear clothing when interacting with humans. Around my home, though, I do not. You will probably want to put something on when you get home.”
“Uhuh.” I mumbled. Just now noticing the lack of clothing I had on. “Why did my wolf call you ‘mate’?”
“Ah…well that’s because we are mates. Shifters spend their entire lives—sometimes hundreds of years—looking for that scent. The scent of the person in the world that is perfect for them. Perfect in every way.”
“Wait, and my wolf knew that from just one sniff?”
“Yes.” He left it at just that.
“Damn. So, you are supposed to be my perfect someone?”
“So it seems.”
“Damn. That’s cool. So, Alpha where is your pack?”
He walked in silence for a few more paces before turning around and handing me something. It took a moment for me to realize it was my phone. I grabbed it. “The pack house is programmed in the Maps app. I expect to see you there in an hour. Am I understood?”
“Yes?”
“Good. Cole, please, I beg you, do be careful on your drive home.”
I nodded. The rest of the walk was silent. We kept to ourselves and the silence wasn’t awkward. It was peaceful. Just two men left with their thoughts. We came out of the forest into a campsite. My campsite. My car was there its tires full, its windows whole, and the body pristine as I’d left it when the direwolf happened upon me the night before. The fire had burned itself out and the food on the rotisserie was blackened to a crisp. My tent was surprisingly untouched. Rickard started to disassemble the tent, while I cleaned everything else up, grabbing my change of clothes from the duffel in my trunk.
When I turned around the tent was disassembled, the pins pulled from the ground, and the stays coiled and tied in a nice bundle. I took the pack the tent came in and brought it over to my mate. My mate! And he took it with no words, but a nod of thanks.
My Alpha, my mate seemed to be a man of few words. Seconds later he came up and threw the tent in the back of my late model Subaru. He crowded me into the back after closing the hatch and leaned down to kiss me.
Fireworks. That was the best way to describe it. I know how corny that sounds, but the tingles that went up and down my spine, the way my cock stiffened, the blush on my fair, freckled cheeks, it all added up to one thing. Check. I’m attracted to him. He broke the kiss and I followed him a bit wanting the kiss to continue, “See you soon.”
The cracks rang out throughout the campsite and my mate’s wolf stood in his place and ran off into the wild. I let out a content sigh. “What a day.”