I feel my body becoming more muscular. I look over at Kali and Balan and I see what's happening to them mirrors what is happening to me. Kali is hunched over, her front legs growing longer and more muscular while fur sprouts all over her body. She didn't remove her clothes, so her expanding shoulders splits her shirt apart while her legs and hips rip apart her pants.
I look at Balan and he just looks so confused and scared. I wish that I could go to him and comfort him. His tiny body is changing much faster than mine or Kali's. That's probably because his body is so much smaller than ours. He's already halfway through his transition while I can still feel my human hands, feet, and head. No sooner had I thought this, when my ears almost explode out from the side of my head. There's a strange squelching noise as they slide up my head to the settle near the top. My nose and jaw fuse and grow out to form my muzzle, all the while sharp teeth grow in to replace my flat human teeth.
My hands and feet change shape to turn to paws, my nails thickening to become stronger. The ring on my finger doesn't burst off like my clothes did, but rather it fuses with my wolf form, a light band showing on my paw where the ring is.
The last thing to happen is my tail grows from spine. I turn my head around to see my tail bone lengthen without fur or muscle. Ewww, I think upon seeing the naked tail bone. Quickly, though, the bone is covered by muscle, sinew, skin, and fur.
I'm finished changing, but the one thing that I notice that doesn't change is my mind. Last month, the wolf would take over and I would be sitting in the corner watching. Now, it's the opposite. I can feel the wolf sitting and watching, but he makes no move to take control.
I shake my fur out and look at Kali and Balan. They are both sitting calmly and looking between me and Garrett. I turn my massive head towards Garrett and plop my butt down on the concrete, which let me tell you, was not a good idea. The concrete is super hard and cold.
"Cal? Babe? You in there?" Garrett asks me, reaching tentatively for the lock. I cock my head to the side and let my tongue lull out of my mouth. I must look like a big, dumb mutt because I can hear soft snickering behind me. I don't want to spook Garrett though, remembering he said he can easily take out a changeling, so I don't move from my position.
"Okay, you goofy looking wolf. I'm going to open the cage door. Please stay there." He doesn't sound scared, just cautious. He slowly unlocks the padlock. Still, I don't move. He slowly opens the cage door. The tension is killing me, but I keep my butt planted. He approaches me apprehensively, reaching toward my head with an out-stretched hand. He touches my fur on my forehead and I can't help but to close my eyes and lean into his hand just a little bit. He starts to pull his hand away until he notices I'm not trying to hurt him.
"Cal? It worked." He looks deep into my now open eyes. I nod, my tongue still hanging out of my mouth. He grabs my face with both hands and looks at Kali and Balan. I can see them both nod at him out of the corner of my eye. A huge grins splits across Garrett's face, and he latches onto my neck in a hug. I forget, just for a moment, that I'm a 300-pound wolf and try to return the hug by bringing my arms up and around his waist. The movement causes me to off balance, and I fall to the floor, taking Garrett with me. He laughs as I lay on top of him, both of us winded.
"Get off, goof." He says, playfully pushing at me. I stand up and let him get up from the floor. He stands and brushes himself off. Even on all fours, I'm almost as tall as he is. I come up to his shoulders, only about a foot shorter than his six-foot height.
"Here, let me get these shackles off you. Guess we won't be needing these anymore, huh?" He removes my shackles and then goes to Kali and Balan and removes their shackles as well. Balan is extremely excited, I can feel his joy, and he begins bounding around the room, happily. If I let myself, I can feel Kali and the others as well. Mostly, I sense joy and relief that the ring did what it's supposed to do. However, there is one that isn't feeling joy and relief, but rather anger and sorrow. Each changeling has a different flavor, for lack of a better word, but I don't have enough experience in picking out each one to know who it is. Yet.
I go over to Garrett and headbutt his back to get him to play. He turns around and assumes a wrestling position, knees bent with his arms apart and hands open. I dip my head and stick my butt in the air, like a dog at the park. He leaps towards me and tries to tackle me, the whole time a huge smile on his face. I dodge him at the last second and his momentum takes him right into the wall. A human would be down for the count, but not a vampire. He just springs up and turns, ready for round two.
We must be making a racket because I hear Max slowly coming down the stairs, probably to see what's going on. Garrett takes advantage of the fact that I turned my head to see if Max is downstairs yet, and he tackles me, full body, his arms locked around me. I twist and turn and realize that if we weren't playing, Garrett could easily take me out. I flop down on my side onto the hard concrete floor and hear and "Ooof." from Garrett. I squirm out from under him and stand over him, my mouth hanging slightly open. He notices what I have in mind and tries to push my bulk away with one hand while blocking himself with the other.
I hear a gasp from behind me, Max, right before my head dips and my tongue slobbers all over Garrett's face. Garrett tries to move out from under me, but one heavy, well placed paw, stops him. I look up to see that Balan has finally noticed Max is down here. He sprints full at Max who hasn't noticed him, instead is focused on me and Garrett. I "woof" softly at him to warn him, but he doesn't understand in time and instead he gets tackled by Balan, who thankfully isn't full grown and probably only weighs around 70 or 80 pounds. Still. Ouch.
Max and Balan go down in a ball of fur and limbs. I sit back on my haunches to watch the show. I decide to let Garrett up as well and remove my paw from his chest. He sits beside me and slings his arm around my back.
"What the fuck? Garrett, help!" Max sounds like he's actually in dire distress. Garrett laughs as Balan gets off of Max and bounds up and down, occasionally hitting Max in the chest with his paws. Max whips his head angrily towards where Garrett and I are sitting. Then he seems to take in the fact that he's not being attacked. Balan takes his distraction as an opportunity to bound on top of Max and cover him in slobber. Max shoves at Balan, pushing him off of him and looks him in the eyes.
"Bay?" Max says hesitantly. Balan pops his butt in the air and wags his tail. Max turns to me and Garrett.
"Cal? That you man?" he asks me. I drop my jaw and let my tongue hang out the side, much like I did with Garrett. Max gets up and dusts himself off.
"They seem a lot more playful as wolves." Max says to Garrett. Garrett looks at me. I stand and look between the two of them. I lift my massive shoulders in a shrug.
"It does seem that way, doesn't it?" Garrett remarks as he rises. He ruffles my fur at the base of my neck. "Cal, do you guys want to come upstairs?"
I look to Kali, who has just been laying down with her front paws crossed watching the action. She lifts her body, arching her back with her front paws stretching out in front of her. I focus on her form, and I can tell which flavor of emotions is hers. She is happy, amused, protectively watching Max and Balan like a mother watching over her children.
Max heads up the stairs, Balan close on his heels. Balan's flavor is coated in innocence. I'd like to try to keep it that way for as long as possible. Garrett, Kali, and I follow up the stair one at a time.
Though nothing has changed in the upstairs area, seeing everything with wolf eyes makes everything seem like I'm seeing it for the first time. I look out the window and see the full moon. A strong instinct grabs ahold of me, and I lift my head to howl.
Garrett clamps his hands around my muzzle before I can utter a single sound.
I whip my head back and forth and growl.
"I don't think so, wolfy. You are not howling inside. You wanna do that crap, go outside. Some of us here have very sensitive hearing and that echoing off the walls would make me wish I was deaf." Garrett berates me as he leads me to the door. Which is no easy feat since he's trying to pull a three-hundred-pound wolf by the muzzle through a house that has furniture strewn throughout the main level. He reaches the back door, and, with one hand still clamped down on my muzzle, he opens the sliding door.
"Out," he says simply. I give him a look of annoyance and trot regally past him, my head held high in the air. He laughs. I feel a slap on my rump and yelp in surprise. Garrett laughs again. I turn and bare my teeth, but it doesn't faze him. He just grins at me. I turn around so quickly that Garrett doesn't even have a chance to react and grab his shirt in my teeth. I yank him out with me. Teetering back on my hind legs, I wrap my arms around him and fall backwards. The two of us land in the grass in a tangle of fur and limbs. He twists in my grasp and digs his fingers in my ribs, tickling me.
"Give?" he asks as he relentlessly tickles me. I give a soft woof sound in surrender. He gets up and brushes grass off his clothes. I stand and shake my fur out. I look out over the yard and trees, clearly lit in the bright moonlight. My vision is also enhanced so that what should be only dimly lit by the moon, is like having a spotlight on during the day.
"Well, now that we know that you have, somewhat, full control of the wolf, you wanna see what he's capable of?" Garrett asks me. My ears shoot up and I wag my tail back and forth quickly.
"I'll take that as a yes," Max says. He, Kali, and Balan have joined us outside. Kali walks past me, close enough to flick her tail in my face as she passes. I take that as the challenge that she means it and follow her to the middle of the yard.
She turns and faces off with me. I have at least seventy-five pounds on her, but she doesn't seem concerned with that fact. She growls low in her throat and leaps at me. I return the growl with my own and take off towards her. I use her momentum of the leap to make her sail right over my head, ducking close to the ground as she passes over me. I twist my body, bringing my massive jaws up and clamp down on her rear leg, pulling her down mid leap.
The impact of her hitting the ground loosens my hold and she pulls her leg free. Before I can react, she leaps at me again, this time she lands on my back and uses her teeth to go for the nape of my neck. I use a move similar to the one I did with Garrett in which I stand on my hind legs and fall backwards. Kali lets go before we hit and has a chance to right herself before I do.
She advances towards me, slowly this time. I gain my legs under me and show her my teeth, flattening my ears to my skull. She isn't intimidated in the least and flicks her tail to show her impatience in my lack of attack.
"Alright you two. Let's stop before someone gets really hurt." I hear Garrett say. I glance his way, noticing that Kali tries to take advantage of my momentary distraction. She lunges forward at me, but I side-step before she makes contact. Right as she is level with me, I shove my body to the side, slamming into her. She goes sprawling, legs flailing. I snort at her. I notice that her flavor isn't mad or annoyed, but giddy. She's enjoying our training session.
I trot over to where Max, Garrett, and Balan are waiting. I rub my head against Garrett in a kind of hug. He buries his hand in my fur. I close my eyes and lean lightly against him.