...HER POUNDING PAWS crash down hard on the soft soil of the earth, lifting bunches of brown dirt high into the air. The ambiance around her is soporific, marked by the few somber minutes before Dawn.
Her fur is a shade of deep brown, full and brushed back in a luxurious sweep of bronze waves. Her body is a beauty of calm, articulate wildness with tones of bulk, splendid amber eyes with dark slits, and sharpened immaculate canines.
She is a Direwolf, bigger than the normal complete-animal Lupines. However, her form is undoubtedly female as she is of lithe stature.
This hybrid creature completes her furious race through the Woods, with cold morning air rushing through her fur, making the fine brush of brown stand on end. Her movement is a blur, a flash of chestnut pelt as she rushes past tall trees and whispers across the dark humus.
Finally completing her race, she stops at the Wood's edge and peers out beyond, to the sprawling Alpine-style home in the distance.
Her home...
She is careful to scan the area with gilded animal eyes for any spectators. Seeing no one, the Shewolf starts forward to the house. About twenty yards from the building, she begins to turn.
Her limbs crack and her bones shift. It's a blood-curdling sound but she's now used to it. Her elongated muzzle recedes and the skull reshapens itself. Curved bones become long bones once more and her bronze fur shockingly disappears, giving way to a human skin.
A beautiful brown shade.
The entire brush of animal hair vanishes under the smooth, hairless flesh colored a lush brown. Her canine teeth shortens in length, the sharpness blunting out. Bulk of wild muscle give way to the shapely silhouette of a female in the purple light of Dawn.
Lupine strength is replaced by human curves, and soon all that remains of the deadly wolf of the Woods is a beautiful brown-skinned woman.
Casselba, the woman who just shifted from her werewolf form proceeds naked with ivory skin on full display and spilling brown hair brushing her waist. It's early morning and no one is around for a good mile as she walks to the house. She had chosen this particular residence because of its remoteness from the city and it's proximity to the Woods.
The Woods she had just been running in...
Her nearest neighbor is a Church some kilometers away.
Casselba always makes sure to take these 'morning walks' every day. It calms her wolf and gives her peace to start the day, much like a morning coffee for Shifters. For werewolves, 'running wild' is a habit not a choice.
Casselba reaches the house but skirts around the side. Using the front door could be risky. While it is early morning, California had a few early birds, and while her body is beautiful and curvy, she didn't particularly want to be seen walking naked through her front door.
It could raise questions and such questions would raise other questions, all of which answers she didn't have—literally. To tell the truth, Casselba knew nothing of how she shifted or the biology of her transformations.
It just happened.
Her wolf was her and she is the wolf.
Her nature is wild and predatory, and she could not at all separate herself from it so much as a human could separate from their soul. She guessed there are some things marvelling to even science.
Casselba stops under a small window by the side of the house. The dawn is fully in and the sun is just rising, slowly changing the purple of daybreak to the amber of sunrise. She spots this and quickly leaps up, way up about 15ft to the windowsill.
She jumps the great height in a single leap, like it was just some hop a step away. Balancing herself on her silvery post, she pulls up the glass and slides smoothly in.
She is careful to close the window once more. Turning around, a slow smile stretches her full lips as she moves for the bathroom.
Nothing like an 'early morning walk' to clear the head.
When Casselba walks back out of the bath some moments later, the sun is fully risen. She is clothed in a plush lilac bathrobe, her flowing hair piled and twisted into a white towel.
The golden rays of the sun wash through the curtains of her bedroom and she walks to the cream-brown drapes. She pushes them apart and more light floods in.
The entire side wall of this particular bedroom is covered in thick reinforced glass, and while nothing can get in, she on the other hand can see everything from inside the dreamy ambience of her bedroom.
She inhales deeply.
This was why she loved California.
COUNTRY AND CALM.
Nowadays, the places in the world where you could only see the Big Sky and untouched wilderness below without a hint of artificiality to disturb the natural environment were countable.
Before her, just beyond her glass wall was elegant Mother Nature, and the word werewolves were synonymous with wild. She revelled in the countryside.
Casselba reluctantly pulls her eyes away from the glass and closes the curtains.
Her next step is to the kitchen and once she has her refreshing morning mocha, her mind begins to wander.
First, her thoughts move to Clarence and the time they had shared together. After their transcendental car sex, the two of them had moved to her house where they continued their torrid affair until both their skins glistened with sweat.
It was always like that with Clarence. Hot, passionate, and epic. The woman touched her so fiercely and held her so lovingly it took hours for them to calm their passion.
As Casselba remembers this, her lips twitch and a mild flush creeps up her neck. She had being fucked—quite literally.
Next, her thoughts move to the very subject she had been avoiding; the Hallow males.
Ever since the morning the men left her house after their game of Kiss and Tell, she had been debating their words. Thus, her trip to the Woods. It had taken quite a lot to calm her wandering thoughts. Casselba wanted so much to tell Caden and Ryan about Hiram. About the Ferals, and about all else.
She wanted to tell them more than ever...
Weeks have passed since she spoke to either of them, both physically and in their mind link. By some miracle, she had stayed away—her intercourse with Clarence of course helped. Ryan had kept nudging at her mind link but she kept pushing him back.
The young man was determined. So was his father. They had given her the space she needed but also subtly let her know they were there.
Right now, sipping on her lukewarm coffee, Casselba knows exactly what she has to do. She makes up her mind to tell Caden everything. The Ferals, their current location, Hiram, his elimination of her pack. Everything. Her wolf gives a hurrah at the idea.
She drowns the remnants of her coffee, rinses the flowery mug and gently places it back onto the overhead cabinet. Then she strides out the kitchen towards the bedroom.
Fifteen minutes later, Casselba is driving out her garage and towards the high rise of the Hallow Corporation.
As her sleek black vehicle pulls into the parking space of the sprawling glass beauty, Casselba goes over the facts she knows of the monstrosity before her.
The Hallow Corporation was a thriving business Empire with a tower of its own. It dealt many ventures with a hand in almost everything; Money Market, Fashion, Glamour, Media, Architecture, name it. In the recent month, it had been given the alias 'Hallow Unlimited' by a popular gossip blog.
Casselba was no novice to Class and Expensive taste but her eyes still widen as she rides up the elevator to the 32nd floor, the topmost floor and the CEO's Office. The CEO none other than Caden Hallow, her very same mate.
A group of offices with complete shiny glass walls line the expansive floor and she quickly walks to the first, her heels clicking softly on the chrome floors.
She is standing beside the only office with shielded walls and a brown door when a young woman appears by her side.
"You must be Dr. Crane."
Casselba turns at the voice. She meets with the woman, a model-esque beauty with a skin shade slightly deeper than hers.
"Hi!" the woman says again. "I'm Adelaide, Mr. Hallow's first Assistant."
Casselba notices her hand is stretched out and quickly collects it.
"How do you know me?" she asks.
Adele smiles then, looking over the pretty woman as she replies.
"The Boss gave me specific instructions on what to do if you happened to show up..." Adele places emphasis on the 'specific' in her speech. "...I guess he was kind of hoping you would."
"Well then, it's nice to meet you Adelaide, and please, call me Casselba."
"Beautiful name," Adele comments and the other woman smiles at her.
"Please follow me," she adds.
Casselba walks with her to an empty office by the corner. When she enters it, she discovers it's more of a lounge. As she takes her seat on one of the banquettes, Adele turns to her.
"Mr. Hallow will be out shortly. He's in a brief meeting."
"This floor has its own conference room?"
Adele nods.
"Will you be needing anything else? Drinks? Water?"
"No, thank you," Casselba replies, giving the Assistant another dazzling smile.
The young woman returns it, turns and walks away. Casselba follows her with her eyes until she disappears into an adjoining office. She sits quietly for about ten minutes when a platinum door to the side opens, just outside the lounge.
A group of men dressed in expensive suits file out, making small talk as they move for the elevators beyond.
The meeting was over.
Casselba stands to her feet when Caden walks out, but the man that follows after has her shivering on them. All of a sudden, she begins to question if coming to his office was the right decision.
...For there was her mate, standing with the very man who had murdered the entire RavenClaw pack. The man whose face she wanted to rip off with her claws. With his gelled black hair and full beard and large stature.
There before her, by the platinum door, standing and shaking hands with Caden was none other than the man called Hiram. Hiram Arespoulos.
He had on blue contacts to hide out his scarlet canine eyes. His were constant unlike hers that could change color with her nature. But Casselba knew that even if he changed his skin, she would always recognize the murderer.
Hiram smiles at Caden and the two exchange a quick handshake before he strides for the elevator.
She quickly turns around and he sees only her back. Thankful for her quick reflexes, she turns back and spots Caden walking to the Lounge, and straight to her.
Lord! she prays, Let my mate not be friends with that psycho.