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Runnin' is freein' in a way I can't explain. I stop when I want, I hunt on my own time. Even in the desert you can find water if you listen real well. The world is filled with beauty that in my woman form I would've missed. Color is so vivid. Like watchin' it on those big shinin' T.V. sets. The mountains are covered in red dust and sage bushes sprout up here and there. A scorched earth to some, but the wide spaces are a true feelin' of the world. I feel connected to it all. The warm ground under my paws, the rays of the sun bleachin' my coat. I can see the reddish hairs on my legs are lighten' and I'm turnin' the color of the earth 'round me. Works out well for camouflage. I've seen a few coyotes runnin' but they steer clear of me. At night I find an outcroppin' of rocks and curl up in that. It's takin' me longer than I expected. Been out here four moons already. Comin up on the fifth tonight. Without maps to guide me, it's easy to get distracted and turned around. I know I need to go North West. I'm making my way. It would have been easier in my human form, but I'm enjoying this.
It's funny I can keep the wolf shape every night, but the morning' after a moon, I always wake up as my human and little memory of the night. I don't know why, maybe I should have listened more when J.D. was talkin' instead of bein' in my head all the time. I've avoided the last few towns, not wantin' to have to worry about stealin' clothes. All I have is the collar I had made that bares my bank Id. The numbers can get me access, but I can't just walk in naked. I'll have to swipe somethin' from a house on the outskirts, when no one's lookin'. Like the movies, and I'm sure it'd be just as funny to whoever is watchin'.
Speakin' of watchin', I get the sense that I'm bein' followed at a distance. I thought it was those coyotes at first, but now I'm not so sure. I'm headed towards the wooded area for tonight's moon, this way I can hide better for when I turn back to my human. Sometimes I dream of J.D. and Violet. I hope they are good. Bein' out here I wonder if my time in the human world was the dream, and that this is what I am. A wolf, that the human that I was, was just a way of killin' time until I found this world. Then I wake up after a moon, and the all too real stuff happens. I remember my life, I remember my mamma and daddy. I remember Mike. I remember how happy I was before and while I was with J.D. and Violet. Sometimes I cry from missin' them. But I made the right choice. I know I did right by ’em. Those thoughts are gonna come back, I know it. Just gotta get through the day.
***
I OPEN MY EYES TO DARKNESS. I realize quick that there's somethin' over me, I tear at it with a snarl, my throat is dry and my collar is hangin off me. I'm in my human form. As I get what I realize is a blanket off of me I slam my head into something above. I look around and I'm surrounded by walls behind and to the side, but in front are bars. I'm in a fuckin' cage! My growls become screams as I try frantic like to get out. I can't budge the thing and only manage to bang up m'self tryin'.
“Shh... Girl. You're okay. We ain't gonna hurt ya.” A very male voice comes outta nowhere. Then I see legs and I grab for them, but he's just outta reach. My arms are sore and I realize suddenly that my hip aches with a heavy burn. I look and see that I'm filthy as usual, but there's a large spot on my thigh that's all red and swollen. I clear my throat. I haven't done more than howl and yip in months.
“Wha- Who are you?” I demand. “What happened to me?”
“Surely you know you are a wolf?”
His voice has an accent, kind of fluid which chimes in my ears as he speaks. As though he pronounces all the letters of a word. Like the exact opposite of me. “We want to help. You cannot just run free like you have, not alone. You need a pack.”
“I've been fine! What would you know?” I don’t care that it hurts to scream, I want out of that cage.
“If you would calm, then we would consider letting you out. But we will not risk the others to your feral attitude.”
“I'll fuckin' show ya feral, c'mere and let me rip ya a new asshole!”
“See this is why we had to dose you. If we had not you would have hurt someone. You have spent too long as a wolf, you need to connect with your human side too.”
“I don't understand, how did you even know?”
He lets out a short chuckle, sitting on the ground opposite me. He wears natural clothing. I can still smell the hide of his pants, and he gives off a heavy musky scent as the wind turns toward me. “Did you notice the coyotes following you lately?”
I nod as a woman walks by putting down a canteen of water in my reach.
“Not all Weres are wolves. Some are other things. Coyotes, bears, the mountain cat. None knows why, that history has been long lost. We picked up on you two moons ago, it was your eyes. And coat that gave you away, blue eyes on a red wolf are not natural around here. Once we realized you were a Were, we took to monitoring you, last night you found our camp and went a little mental.”
“Who are you people?” I ask drinking greedily. The water is sweet, and very cold. As it dribbles down my chin, it helps to douse the fire in me.
“You would call us The Savage Wilds.” He smiles widely, his teeth and mouth seeming a bit too large for his face. I choke on the water spitting some out.
“I thought you hunted wolves?”
He laughs again. “Nonsense. We try to collect some, yes. We try to save you. Relocate you to safer lands. These mountains belong to the coyotes, and the other non wolves. But lately there have been pack raids. Two Beta wolves have moved into the area, and they are terrorizing in both human and wolf forms. We thought you were one. But none ever joined you. You are a lone?”
I nod, wrapping the blanket around me. I am just then suddenly aware of my total nakedness, and am wishin' for some clothes. “Can I have somethin’ more than this blanket, perhaps some soap and water?”
“If I can have your word that you will not bring harm to us.”
“I wouldn't dare.” I wrap the blanket around myself as the man unlocks the dead bolt on my cage and helps me to stand. My legs go, and I fall forward.
“Your legs are weak. You must take it easy.”
Immediately my head hurts somethin’ awful. I am helped over to a chair and the man sits down beside me.
“Sibyl, get her some clothes!” He shouts, which makes me wince and jolt nervously.
“I'm sorry, I do forget how much the head can hurt after a dose. Have you a name?”
“I do, if you do.” My former sass is showin’. I eye him sizin' him up. He is perhaps six feet tall, with long dark hair that curls at the base of his neck. His face is smooth of hair and his skin olive in color. He is lean, but ya can tell he takes care of himself.
He smirks. “They call me Aiolos. In my mother's tongue it means quick shifting.”
As I blink, he turns from man to a lean wolf. He looks at me with his head turned to the side. He grabs the pants he stepped out of when shifting and runs off behind a small tent. I take this chance to take in my surroundings. There are seven tents all in a circle. In the center of the circle near to where I sit is a place for a large fire. From the looks of it the whole place can be picked up and packed by a few people in a very short time. A couple women move around tending to pots of foods and my stomach begins to growl. I can’t remember the last time I ate anything more substantial than a rodent or two, or the occasional snake. Aiolos laughs as he returns to me dressed once more. “You're hungry? Have questions? Yes?”
I nod licking my lips. I don’t know what they are cooking all the way out here, but I want it.