A warmth spread throughout my body at the sound of his voice. "My God, could he sense that?" I thought to myself, but I knew that everyone could hear.
Dakota smiled mentally as I cringed.
"Don't worry. We try to give each other our privacy. You'll learn to control it," Mark replied.
"It takes some people longer," a black wolf, Austin, replied, and then an image of Raina appeared in his mind.
"You wish," Raina said, when a beautiful chestnut wolf ran into the clearing, carrying a change of clothes in her mouth. "Here, I brought this just in case. I would have gotten here quicker if I didn't have to—"
"Can it, Raina!" Mark replied, which seemed to be a favorite saying of his to Raina.
"Yeah, I'll show you favorite," Raina retorted.
"Who the hell do you think you are?" I yelled loudly within my mind, the Pack Mind, rising to my feet as uncontrollable anger ran through my body again.
Both Austin and Dylan enjoyed this a bit too much, mentally smiling. They appeared to be tired of Raina's attitude.
"Ladies! Let's attend to the task at hand first, shall we?" Mark asked, definitely in control. It was clear that he was the Alpha.
Just then, a lovely blonde wolf, Lexie, entered the clearing, and trotted over to me carrying a blanket in her teeth. "Here you go," Lexie said in her mind, placing the blanket at my feet. "In case you need it."
"Thanks," I replied.
It was funny that even though all the wolves looked different, I recognized each of them as if they were in their human form. Their mental imprint was strong, the same as when they were human.
"Why don't all of you go and I'll stay here with Jessica," Dakota said to Mark.
Perhaps the ladies should stay with her instead, Mark replied. It's her first time changing into her wolf, after all.
I realized then that Mark was referring to the nudity issue.
"Our clothes don't just magically appear when we turn back into our human forms," Austin said, laughing, but stopped abruptly when he heard Dakota's low growl.
"I'll be fine, Mark," I replied. I trusted Dakota and I knew that he would respect me. He already did.
"Even though nudity is inevitable…." Mark cast a warning look at Austin. "It's also respected. We avert our eyes as much as possible. After a while, it won't even bother you."
"We also carry clothes," Dakota added. "Or stash them throughout the forest so that we have a change of clothes when we need them."
"Or you could go without," Austin joked, mentally raising an eyebrow, but Dakota jumped up in a flash and bit at his flanks, sending him a clear warning.
"Hey Man! I was only joking!" Austin snapped back, growling, but neither wolf made contact.
"That's enough!" Mark said. "We have more pressing matters to deal with! Look at the moon!"
We all looked up at the moon, beautiful in the sky, as if it had been hung purposefully among the stars.
"Is that's why I turned?" I asked, terror gripping me again as a shimmer ripped down the length of my body. "Because of the full moon?"
A low chuckle resounded around the circle, until Dakota growled protectively, then all was quiet. "No," Dakota answered, coming to sit by me again. "We can change at will, and we can control it."
"At least some of us can," Austin said, referring to Dakota's outburst.
"You're one to talk," Dakota countered as a feral growl erupted from deep within his chest.
Austin made a move toward him.
"Gentlemen!" Mark shouted within the Pack Mind. "Will you fight your brother?" He paused, but it was a rhetorical question. "Save the fight for whatever's out there!"
"Well, at least we know it's not Jessica," Micah said.
"Me?" I replied, feeling tremors travel down the length of my silver wolf body again.
Dakota sighed, then said in an aside, "Yes, some of the guys thought you might have been behind the killings since you outran them today."
"And you didn't do it, either?" I asked, looking around the circle. Although I already knew the answer, I still had to ask. I really needed to know.
"No," Dakota said calmly. "It's not us, either. We don't take innocent lives, Jessica. We preserve human life. If we didn't, we would lose our wolves."
"Is that the only reason?"
"No, we value life," Dakota replied. "All life. We would never take a life frivolously."
"So," I countered. "What's killing these people?"
"Or who?" Austin added.
"Well, all of you get out of here and find out," Dakota ordered. "I'll join you when I can."
"We'll join you," I corrected.
"You don't have to do that," Dakota said, tenderness evident within his beautiful brown eyes, the same color as his human eyes. "You have a choice."
"We'll talk about it later," I replied.
"And that's our cu," Dylan said. "Come on, guys. Look at the moon."
Mark sighed. "Time to go." Then he turned his massive head toward me. "Jessica, don't be afraid. You're still the same person now that you were this morning."
"But now you also have superpowers," Austin added, smiling within his mind.
But I already knew that was true. I was stronger, faster, and had to work hard to control my temper, something I never had to do before. But I didn't turn into a wolf this morning.
"Drama, drama," Raina said, swishing her chestnut tail from side to side, antagonizing me.
"Drama this, Raina," I replied, jumping to my feet. A guttural snarl erupted from deep within my chest.
"Temper, temper," Raina said.
I leaped for her throat, but Mark and Dakota jumped between us.
"Raina, go!" Mark yelled, pushing her back as Dakota pushed me back. "Raina, she is your pack sister now! Act like it!"
Without saying another word, Raina turned, flipping her tail again, and ran out of the clearing at full speed.
"She was the first girl to change," Mark said. "It was hard on her."
"Selfish b…."
"Now, Jessica," Mark gently corrected before I could finish.
"She'd just better watch her attitude or watch her back. One or the other," I countered, unable to believe my own sudden strength.
"Jessica," Mark said gently as the rest of the pack darted off quietly into the forest. "I know this is hard. You might not be able to see it now, but it really is a blessing, if you choose it." Then he turned to Dakota. "Will you two be okay out here alone tonight?"
"We'll be fine," Dakota replied, knowing that Mark was referring to whatever was committing the murders. "And don't worry; I'll take care of her."
"I know you will," Mark replied, then added, And Jessica, "I'll let your father know what's going on and not to expect you soon."
"Can he know?" I asked, thinking of the pack rule to tell no one.
"He already does, but I'll let him tell you about that later," Mark replied, then he touched his sorrel colored muzzle to my shoulder, and darted out of the clearing, leaving Dakota and me alone.
Still in my wolf form, I looked up at the moon, light blue and round in the sky. I looked at my paws and the pale moonlight turned my silver fur luminescent, which caused me to have another panic attack.
"Ssshhh...," Dakota cooed. "It'll be okay. I'm here. Just try to calm down."
"How am I supposed to calm down?" I practically screamed. "I'm a wolf, for heaven's sake!"
"And so am I. But everything's going to be fine," Dakota said, trying to calm me down. "Just trust me. You don't ever have to turn again if you don't want to."
"What's that supposed to mean?" I yelled, realizing that my emotions were getting the better of me. "Dakota, sorry I've been biting your head off. It's just a lot to absorb in one day."
Dakota smiled in his mind. "It's okay, Jessica. We're all a bit hot tempered when we first change. You won't be able to go to school for a few days, at least. Maybe a few weeks. It just depends upon how quickly you regain control of your emotions. You can never change in front of people who aren't wolves. But you don't have to turn into a wolf any more at all if you don't want to. You can choose not to."
"How?" I asked.
"You can go before the Great Spirit in the same ceremony as Chief Ute and ask him to take back his gift," Dakota replied, nuzzling closer to me, knowing I was reasonably calm.
I nodded, then a thought occurred to me. "Dakota, why didn't you perform the ceremony to undo this?"
Dakota thought for a moment, selecting his words carefully. "It's like I said earlier today at school. I want to protect the tribe. And not only the tribe, but the town, as well. This gift really is a blessing, as The Great Spirit said long ago when he gave it to our people. Without this great gift, I would be helpless to protect my family and the people."
I nodded, finally understanding, as a sense of Pack Pride welled up within my chest. I suddenly felt bad about the things I had said about my father earlier today. It really was a blessing, to be one of those selected to protect the people.
"Jessica, you don't have to choose this," Dakota said. "That was my choice, not yours. You have to make the choice for yourself."
But I already knew the answer.
"You don't have to make the choice now, Jessica. Just relax," Dakota said, reading my thoughts.
"So much for privacy."
Dakota mentally shrugged.
"So, relaxing is the key then?" I asked as concern filled my eyes. "To not turning? To staying human?"
"Yes," Dakota said, nodding his big mahogany head. Even in his wolf form, he was beautiful.
So, I lay back down on the ground, placed my massive head upon my silver paws, and breathed deeply.
Dakota smiled, then scooted closer to me, and gently placed his huge paw over my back and his head across my shoulders. "Trust me. Everything is going to be alright."
Laying on the forest floor with Dakota in our wolf forms in the moonlight, I knew it was true.
We lay like that for hours, watching the moon overhead in our wolf forms. I concentrated on the sound of my breathing, on the intake of air deep within my lungs, and the exhale. Slow and steady. Breathing. Concentrating. Trying to relax.
Suddenly, an eerie, animalistic sound echoed from deep within the forest. "Ahhhh, whhhooooo...." The voice trailed off in a blood curdling growl, raising the hair on the back of my neck. It sounded spooky, like no other animal I had ever seen or heard before. Immediately, we were on alert, jumping to our feet.
"What was that?" A feral growl escaped from deep within my chest.
"I don't know," Dakota shook his head. "I'll go check it out. Stay right here and don't move."
"No...," I said, pacing. "There's something out there and we need to see what it is. I'm going with you."
"You're right," Dakota agreed. "I don't want to leave you alone. Mark, did you hear that?" he asked in the Pack Mind.
"Yes," Mark replied, probably miles away. "You two stay there. We'll go check it out."
"Well, if you need us, we're here," Dakota replied as I sat quietly, listening.
"How's Jessica?" Mark asked as his footfalls resounded within my head along with the other wolves.
"She's confused," but fine.
Mark mentally nodded, then pulled away, giving us privacy.
"How do you calm down enough to relax?" I asked Dakota. But after hearing that eerie sound, I really didn't want to. Every cell within my body wanted to track, to hunt, and to defend my people and my territory. How could everything have changed so completely in such a short period of time?
Dakota sighed, trying to word it correctly. "Usually, I think of something happy, or something calming, then I can make the transition back."
I mentally smiled. "So, what's you're happy thought?" I would have laughed if I were in my human form, thinking of the line from Peter Pan.
Dakota mentally laughed, "Oh no! Not a chance!"
"That's okay," I countered. "I'll find out soon enough, anyway."
"Hey, that's private!" Dakota joked. But, of course, he knew it was true. There was no way to keep secrets within the Pack Mind.
I placed my head back on my luminescent paws, and tried to think of my happy thought, as Dakota snuggled next to me in reassurance. It was comforting having Dakota there, snuggling next to me. My thoughts drifted as I concentrated on my steady breathing. And finally, sleep found me, a wolf girl, curled up beside a beautiful mahogany wolf deep within the forest, as somewhere in the distance an animalistic howl broke the silence of the night.