them- I could also hear the occasional hoof stomp, the odd tail
swishing in annoyance at a persistent mosquito.
Their heartbeats were louder than Gram’s had been, and so
much more enticing.
“No, no, no,” I moaned, burying my hands in my hair and
shaking my head. “This is not happening. This is not happening!”
But my thirst grew ever more insistent. I ran toward the
woods, desperate to escape the cravings, unmindful of my bare feet. I ran
through the pain, the wind tearing the breath from my lips, until my legs
buckled under me and I went skidding in a shower of grass and leaves.
When I rolled over and looked down, the horror began anew.
My legs were changing shape. My toes were curling into themselves, my knees
bending painfully in the wrong direction. This was a nightmare come to life. I
screamed and tried to drag myself forward with my hands, stupidly, as though I
could somehow escape my own body. My claws dug into the soft earth, leaving
long, muddy grooves in the grass.
The horrifying transformation only took a matter of seconds,
but to me it felt like an eternity. There was only agonizing pain and terror
like I’d never known, mashed together with a sense of finality. I was so sure
that this was the end that when I rose shakily up onto my feet, I actually
looked down at the ground. I half-expected to see my twisted, mangled body
lying on the ground beneath me as I floated up into the heavens, but instead
all I saw was a furry chest and two huge paws.
My chest.
My paws.
And I wasn’t floating anywhere.
I tried to speak, but all that came out was a pitiful whine.
I could still smell the horses, and I turned, trying to
remember why I had bothered running in the first place. Something moved in the
corner of my eye, and with it came a new scent. This scent was different than
the horses.
Softer.
Wilder.
A deer.
I snarled and charged the creature. I wish I could say there
was some purpose in mind, some goal I was going for, but at that point I didn’t
even know what I was doing. The deer, clearly more aware of my intentions than
I was, leaped over a fallen log and ran.
The lithe creature darted in between the trees, weaving an
intricate path through the underbrush, whereas I was significantly less
graceful in my pursuit. My legs felt thick and ungainly, and I was running on
all fours, which seemed unnatural although I couldn’t comprehend any other way
that I should be doing it. Every time I inhaled, the scent of the deer drove my
bloodlust to an almost unbearable peak, and the agony became so overwhelming
that for one brief instant, I was almost aware of what I was doing.
A little voice screamed in my head, Stop! You’re not a killer! But then I would inhale again, and the
scent would consume me.
The cycle repeated itself, over and over again, as we ran
for what seemed like miles.
My pursuit came to a crashing halt when something dropped
from the trees, landing directly in front of me. I was going too fast to stop,
and tried to jump sideways instead, but I still impacted the shadow with my
shoulder and went tumbling, head over heels.
I leaped to my feet and turned, staring at the black-clothed
figure that had dropped in my path. The scent was different. This one didn’t
tempt me at all. There was no heartbeat, no enticing smell of blood and flesh.
The scent was different. Spicier. Appealing, but certainly not to my appetite.
As I watched, he reached up, using one hand to push the hood
of his sweatshirt back. I saw with a shock that it was a man.
Not just any man.
Jericho.
There was no mistaking those silver eyes.
He took a step forward, and I backed away. He didn’t smell
human. But he certainly wasn’t a wolf, like me.
I froze when the full realization hit me.
I was a wolf.
But I knew that I wasn’t a wolf. I was Eve, and I was human.
How had this happened? Was I under a curse? Was I dreaming? Obviously I’d heard
of werewolves, but those weren’t real. They were just mythical