Chapter Twenty
The she-wolf is close and howling. I can smell her and her scent alone is enough to raise the wolf in me. This time I know the transformation is coming and I run. I have to make it to the shelter of the trees, out of sight of the tribespeople and the old druid. I should stay with Trista but I can’t; the she-wolf needs me and her call is urgent and demanding and my nature responds. I can feel the pull of my other self, my other life. The darkness pulses with the heartbeats of our potential prey. I can taste the night on my tongue; too many flavours, too many scents; the richness of it all confuses me and I need the she-wolf. She shows me and leads me and teaches me the ways of our kind. I feel so much energy and power that I want to run and never stop, run away from the midden of the village and the stench of fear. She waits for me, in plain sight, in the clearing. I race towards her as a man, clumsy and awkward. She fixes me with her keen eyes and stays her ground. She is poised ready to flee, but she does not. She knows me by scent and waits for the inevitable. By the time I reach her I am a wolf and free. No more words. Just the night.