I braved a step, then snickered when I slipped.
“We’re going to have to work on that,” Mathis chuckled before helping me the rest of the way.
I butted my head against my mother’s hand, my eyes fluttering closed as I reveled in the feel of her fingernails threading through my fur. Oh, the pain had been worth it. To finally stand on my own four legs as a wolf, and to feel the strength in my paws. This was like nothing I’d ever imagined.
I shook out my fur, then moved toward my dad, my nails clicking on the tiled floor. Then I glanced back at Mathis, my brows raised as best I could.
The look in his eyes stopped my heart. There was more than pride there.
“I’m sorry I didn’t listen last night,” he told me. “I get it now.”
I nodded.
“We’ll make it permanent tonight,” he told me with a wink.
Thank God for my fur! I felt the heat rush to my cheeks, but for once the blush didn’t show. Couldn’t believe he said that in front of my parents. I playfully nipped at the air, then threw him a chiding look.
“Make it permanent?” my dad repeated. “Make what permanent?”
I growled and stumbled toward the back door. They could stand around and talk all they wanted. Not me. I wanted to run. The moon was up and the snow was falling.
“We’ll explain later,” Mathis assured them. “For now, how about a run? All of us?”
“What about the rest of the pack?” my father asked.
“Leave them be. Just the four of us. Give her some time to acclimate before asking her to join everyone else.”
I bobbed my head.
“But…” My mother shot me a glance, then nodded. “Of course. I’d never miss my baby’s first run.”
Damn straight, woman. I grinned, then turned and butted my head against the door.
“Patience, little wolf,” Mathis teased. “We need to shift too, you know.”
But first, he walked over and slid open the door.
Hallelujah! I bolted out into the snow, then faceplanted when my two back legs slipped on fresh ice. Their laughter encouraged me to pick myself up and try again.
Behind me came the telltale sounds of their shifts. With mine still fresh in my mind, I didn’t want to listen. Instead, I ventured out toward the trees, my nose lifted as I scented the air. Fresh snow, the wind, the pines, the animals…I could smell every bit of it.
Impatience won the upper hand. I cast off my human nature and bolted through the trees. I was hardly the most graceful, but I let my wolf take over. She knew how to move, how to think. I wove around the trunks and plowed through the snow piles, hopped over the train rail, and dove down the hills. Then I leapt into the air and snapped my teeth at the snowflakes.
This was wondrous. Better than anything I could have hoped for.
For the first time in my life, I felt whole. As though I was always meant to run on four legs.
Exhilaration drew me deeper into the woods near the base of Whistlers Mountain. I skirted around a copse of trees…and froze.
Something stood in the distance, their hulking frame visible through the trees. A wild animal? Wouldn’t be a human—Parks Canada had closed the campgrounds for winter. I lifted my nose and sniffed the air, but I had nothing to reference it to. It smelled almost like a barnyard. Musty and furred.
Seemed the wiser course to back off and let it be. But the moment I moved, the sound of the crunching snow beneath my paws drew its attention.
A massive head rose in the darkness, but it wasn’t until the moonlight caught the polished ivory-tipped antlers that I knew. Oh, shit. Trust me to stumble across an elk in the wild. And where there was a bull…
More heads rose. All female.
Double shit.
The entire herd. And from the shrill bugle, my presence here offended the bull. On two legs, he might have ignored me. Maybe pawed the earth and bluffed a charge. But on four? I was a threat to his entire herd, a natural enemy.
A twig snapped behind me.
I whirled around and caught sight of a younger bull circling around me. The scent of damp fur rose to my nose, their breath steaming in the wintry air as their eyes followed me.
Fuck it.
I hightailed it back toward Mathis’s house. If I was lucky—
Nope. Not lucky. The sound of the bull’s hooves thundered in my ears. Bastard was chasing me. Forcing me away from his cows. Course, I could barely keep on my feet. The terrain had turned dangerous and sleek beneath my inexperienced paws.
Come on, feet… Just a little further.
In the distance, a blinding pair of lights cut through the swath of darkness. The ground beneath me started to rumble, and the squeal of brakes rent the silence. The train! I pushed myself harder than I thought capable. The rail sat at the top of the small hill. If I could make it in time…
Ears pinned back, I sprinted across the terrain, cursing silently when I stumbled in a thatch of weeds. The stench of the elk grew stronger, his breath ruffling my tail fur.
So close! Another twenty meters. But would I make it? The beast was hot on my ass. Hell, I’d never heard of an elk attacking a wolf before. I must have pissed him off, coming that close to his females. Not to mention, a single wolf wasn’t as big a threat as a pack.
I hunkered down and kept running, weaving as best I could around the trees.
Ten meters! And the train was close. By the skin of my teeth if I made it at all. Playing chicken with a ten-tonne vehicle wasn’t the ideal way to spend my first night in wolf form. Not to mention, it didn’t feel like I was even going to make it to the tracks.
Damn beast scraped my side with one of its antlers. I turned my head and snapped my teeth, grazing the side of its jaw.
Before I could attack again, a massive shadow unfolded from the night. With a deafening snarl, Mathis leapt in the air and struck the elk, his claws latching onto the bull’s hide for dear life.
A pained cry rose in the night air right before the two spilled into the snow. I skidded to a stop, then turned and watched as Mathis rose on all fours. The elk scrambled to his feet, his attention flicking between us.
Two other shadows approached from each side. My parents. The three of them flanked me, their imposing bodies a wall between me and the bull. Shaking himself off, the elk turned and bolted back toward his herd.
Relief loosened my muscles, and my rear plopped down in the snow, my front legs shaking as I fought to remain upright. Running was one thing. But sprinting? Every muscle in my body quivered.
Mathis stepped up in front of me, his dark coat blending with the night. He buried his nose in my ruff and sniffed. But I was fine. Not a hair out of place. Miraculous. I released a long breath, then pushed back to my feet and shook myself out. Foolish of me to take off like that. Born and raised in Jasper, I was well-versed in the local wildlife. I knew not to wander around in the dead of night.
Might qualify as my second werewolf faux pas. Here was hoping I didn’t commit a third.
My parents both brushed along my side, then with a quick nip on the nose, vanished back into the darkness. Headed home, I gathered. And from the look in Mathis’s eyes, it was pretty easy to guess why.
Just the two of us, he turned and caught the tip of my ear between his teeth. After a quick nibble, he turned and bolted through the woods, opposite the elk herd. My mouth curved, the adrenaline still pumping through my veins.
Time to play.