Wolf's Run: A BBW Shifter Romance (9 page)

I danced with two black wolves now, Dolan and one of his pack. Again, we played the game, each in defensive mode but ready to exploit any opening. Yeager and the two black wolves he faced did that same. Yeager and I were outnumbered, however, and this was not combat over territory or a fresh kill. There would be no backing down, no submission. This fight was to the death and the odds were not in our favor.

How long it had been since I spoke to Edie, I didn’t know. My sense of time was distorted in this form. For wolves, time was measured by sunrises and sunsets, by the seasons and the moon instead of clocks and calendars. Still, I knew it hadn’t been long enough. Help may have been on its way but likely too late to make a difference. That is assuming Edie could even find the man named Murphy and convince him to come.

Suddenly, the wolf that wasn’t Dolan lunged at me. It was a half-hearted attempt that I easily avoided but it was too late when I realized it was just a distraction. Dolan came at me from the opposite side, his jaws open. I twisted in an attempt to escape but this time I failed. Dolan sank his teeth into my side. I yelped in pain as I resisted the urge to counter and bite Dolan and expose myself to the other wolf. But I moved as if I might be that stupid.

The other wolf came at me, sure I was defenseless. I wasn’t. I turned my head and there awaiting me like a half-witted rabbit was the neck of my opponent. I seized the other wolf by its neck and bit down as hard as I could. I tasted blood and fear for the first time and a rush of elation surged through me. I threw my back end sideways, and widened my stance. Dolan’s teeth lost their grip on me as I shook the other wolf in my jaws and broke its neck.

I let go the lifeless body, letting it fall with a sickening thud to the forest floor and immediately turned to face Dolan. Yeager was now engaged with his adversaries, the three of them no longer circling but twisting and turning as they stirred up a cloud of dust and earth. I, however, paid that no attention. This would end when Dolan was dead and I intended to finish it here and now but his bite told me all I needed to know. He wanted his half-sister, a fact that wasn’t nearly so appalling in my present form, for his own. He meant to force me to submit instead of kill me, something I would do as a wolf if necessary, an instinct that I’d find hard to resist. But I meant to kill Dolan and that gave me the edge.

I growled and snarled, my thick and fluffy black fur standing on end making me look bigger than I was. Dolan was leaner and a bit mangy compared to me but the fur along his back stood as well giving him a menacing look. As Cassie, the woman, Dolan frightened me out of my wits. I remembered his hands turning to claws and the sight of his shifting manhood between his legs. I remembered the fear but I didn’t feel it. I only felt disgust. Dolan was a renegade, an angry, aggressive man and a poor fucking excuse for a wolf. In this world, the world of wolves, he clearly deserved his fate.

I was sick of playing these games. I ceased to circle and stood my ground instead. Dolan stopped moving, confused by my actions. Then I howled in challenge like only a wolf can. I was inviting the mangy bastard to come get me. In fact, I was counting on it. I spoke to his manhood, his canine instincts. I challenged his standing as an alpha and it was a challenge he couldn’t reject.

The black wolf with the scar that was Dolan rushed me, teeth bared, saliva dripping. He had tasted my blood and he wanted more but I was ready. He lunged and I rolled out of the way as Dolan flew past. Then as he was off balance, I gained my feet and crashed into his injured flank. The black wolf yelped in pain as he rolled but I didn’t relent. I was on top of him immediately. I sank my teeth into Dolan’s shoulder and ripped flesh from bone. I spat it out and went for his neck but he managed to squirm free. He got to his four paws and backed away warily. His eyes darted past me and suddenly I was aware without looking that the remaining two members of his pack stood behind me simply watching.

Dolan’s eyes were full of confusion and hatred. His pack no longer followed him. They no longer recognized his dominance. The recognized mine instead. As a woman I was at Dolan’s mercy but as a wolf, I was at least his equal and his desire to possess me instead of kill me sealed his fate. Yeager came to my side as Dolan found himself backed up against the same rock wall Yeager had been pinned against when I found him. The wolf that was Dolan looked for a way to escape but Yeager and I had him hemmed in. He was cornered and desperate. Dolan came out fighting.

Dolan made a foolish, desperate attempt to get at me finally willing to give up his prize to save his own neck, but that left him open for Yeager. The gray wolf sank his teeth into Dolan’s neck yanking the black wolf out of midair slamming him to the ground. Dolan yelped but weakly, his eyes filled with dread and terror, darting this way and that. Yeager let go but only to get a better angle, again sinking his teeth into Dolan’s neck and crushing it between his powerful jaws. Dolan whimpered and his eyes went still. Dolan was dead.

I turned towards the two black wolves that remained and growled a low growl, a warning. I had no interest in leading them as their alpha though they would have followed. Instead, I reminded them what I could do if they dared bother me again. They cowered, lowing their heads in submission and then they bolted, one bounding after the other into the trees. I watched them go and then turned to sniff Dolan’s lifeless carcass. As I did, a hand reached down and scratched me behind the ear. That felt wonderful, like...like a little bit of heaven.

“It’s OK, Cassie. You can let go now,” Yeager told me. I looked up at him. Yeager was a man again. My tongue lolled out as I panted quickly. I didn’t want shift back to my human form. This was amazing. I was a wolf and the power and grace I had was something I couldn’t let go of.

“Cassie, you can be both. You can be a woman and the beautiful black wolf with the sexy white patch on her back, my mate no matter what. Let go and come back to me,” Yeager said as he knelt beside me. I did let go, just a little bit, and suddenly the emotions stirred within me. The desperation, the fear, the anger all flooded in and I succumbed to it all. Suddenly, I was Cassie again and Yeager scooped me into his arms and hugged me close. I wailed as the emotions overwhelmed me, sobbing and crying with my head buried against his naked chest.

“Oh my God!” I exclaimed.

“It’s OK, Cassie. You’re fine. I’ve got you,” Yeager told me as he cradled me in his arms. I regained some measure of control as the sudden torrent of emotions subsided. I stopped crying and looked to see the dead wolf next to us. I saw my brother there, dead. As a wolf, that was simply the way of things. Life and death didn’t have the same meaning they did to humans. Now in my womanly form again, I felt the pain and anguish of what I’d done.

“I killed him,” I said

“No, I killed him. In any case, he would have killed you or possessed you. We had no choice. Dolan made his decisions and he paid for them. That’s the way of the world, wolf or human, Cassie,” Yeager assured me. I guess he was right but it didn’t make me feel any better. But I could sense Yeager’s confusion even as he comforted me. “How did you do this?” he asked I knew exactly what he meant. How did I shift, how did I become a wolf?

“I needed to do it. I had to save you. I just did,” I explained not really sure myself. I only remembered that snippet of memory and the feeling I’d felt as Dolan threatened me that seemed to trigger my change. What it meant, I wasn’t sure.

“You’re beautiful, you know that. You’re the most beautiful wolf and the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen,” Yeager told me. I smiled despite myself. “This is new too,” he said stroking my hair. I reached up and held my hair so I could see it. There was a white streak now in my raven-black hair. “You had a white patch on your back when you were a wolf,” Yeager told me.

“It was incredible. I didn’t want to change back,” I told him as I remembered what if felt like. Yeager nodded and I could tell he knew exactly what I spoke of.

“I know the feeling but being both has its advantages,” he said and then noticed my side was bleeding. “We need to get you some help. Can you stand?” he asked. I nodded and with Yeager’s help, I got to my feet. As I turned, two wolves emerged from the trees, two gray wolves but they lacked Yeager’s silver streak down their backs. Yeager held up his hand to show them everything was fine. Still, they sniffed the air and moved to protect us. Yeager told them I needed help and one of them ran off from where he had come. The other remained but turned as the thin, boyish girl emerged from the forest behind him. It was Edie.

“What the fuck was that?” Edie yelled as she emerged from the trees and then when she saw Yeager and me, both naked, she skid to a stop simply staring. “What in the hell is going on?” she asked and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Edie, it’s fine,” I assured her. She looked like she was going to pass out.

“These bikers needed help getting here so I drove and then they hopped out and got naked and...is that a dead wolf?” she asked but just shook her head and continued, “Then they ran off and I tried to follow and...why the hell are you naked?” Edie said and then sat on the ground to keep from falling down utterly confused and overwhelmed.

“Is it OK if I tell her?” I asked Yeager.

“I think she already knows,” he replied. The gray wolf perked up and then before our eyes became a man, a naked man. Edie screamed at the sight.

“Murphy,” Yeager greeted the middle-aged biker with the long gray hair and shaggy mustache that framed his mouth.

“Hello, Yeager. Rex is bringing her truck up the hill. We’ll have to walk a bit though. I doubt he can get it all the way here. Can she make it?” Murphy asked.

“Hi, I’m Cassie. I can make it.” I said and held out my hand as if all, the wolves, the shifting the fact we were naked, was perfectly normal.

“Nice to meet you,” Murphy replied and shook my hand. He was naked but being a wolf and seeing him as a wolf kind made it a moot point. Once I’d seen a man as a wolf, seeing him naked just wasn’t a big deal anymore. It was hard to explain.

“The question is, can she make it,” Yeager pointed out. Edie was hugging her knees to her chest trying to process what she’d seen. They likely thought she’d lost her mind but I knew better. She was just being Edie.

“She’ll be fine. Let’s go Edie,” I said. She looked at me and got to her feet.

“Are you...like them?” she asked me. I took her hand as Yeager helped me walk.

“I think so,” I told her. Yeager looked at me and I caught his gaze. He wondered how she’d take that. Then he looked at Edie.

“That’s so fucking cool,” she said and I smiled at Yeager knowingly. He chuckled as we walked off to find Edie’s truck. Yeager ran off to retrieve my clothes and cell phone on the way. I wondered how he could find them but he assured me my scent was all over them and it would lead him there. I knew what he meant. I could scent him as well. Not like the first day at the lake. Now the air was thick with Yeager’s intoxicating scent.

“You’re kind of unique, you know,” Murphy said as we walked obviously referring to my shifter status. I was a woman when he found me but he could figure out what had happened.

“So I hear,” I replied. Murphy screwed up his face, trying to figure out what it meant. At least that’s what I thought.

“In any case, welcome to the fold,” he told me.

“Thanks,” I replied.

We all managed to find something to wear. Rex, a thin man with reddish hair and a short beard who was dressed again, brought Murphy’s clothes and Yeager grabbed his own from the cabin on his way to meet us. We couldn’t very well all show up in Gold Canyon nude could we? In a small town like that, people would be talking about it for decades. Yeager and I followed Edie and the other shifters back to town on his bike.

Yeager insisted I see a doctor. Once we arrived in town he took me to the urgent care clinic. I told them I was bit by a dog while hiking. That wasn’t a complete lie and it was enough to satisfy them. I assured the nurse when she asked that I knew the owners and wasn’t interested in getting Animal Control involved. They seemed to buy my story, or at least they didn’t pry any further if they didn’t.

“So?” Yeager asked when I found him in the waiting room.

“It wasn’t as bad as it looked. No stiches and they gave me these,” I said showing him the bottle of antibiotics as we walked out to his bike.

“Knowing the dog that bit you, you’ll probably need those,” Yeager said attempting to lighten the mood but I didn’t laugh. He immediately realized what he’d said. “Sorry, Cassie. I wasn’t thinking,” he apologized.

“No, it’s fine. I have no ties to Dolan. That’s not what bothers me. I may not have felt this way before and shifting may have something to do the way I feel now but he deserved what he got. What bothers me is not knowing what happened to my mom. You knew Dolan’s father. Did he rape her?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I’d like to think that he’d changed in the years between when he supposedly fathered you and I found him raping that girl,” Yeager told me.

“Supposedly?” I wondered.

“Do you believe Dolan’s story?” Yeager asked climbing onto his bike.

“Yeah. I could sense it. He was my brother. I hope you’re right about my mom. I think I’ll just choose to believe his father was a different man back then. Mom never said anything good or bad about my father. She didn’t say much at all. Maybe I know why now,” I told him. Yeager smiled wistfully.

“I don’t know about you, but I could use a long run,” he said. I climbed onto his bike behind him.

“I know the perfect spot. I need to check in on the Rusty Skillet first. I need to talk to Edie,” I told him. He nodded, fired up his bike and we rode off towards downtown. I found the diner mostly deserted and Edie sitting at the counter looking bored and bit shell-shocked. I approached her as I surveyed the Rusty Skillet. The diner was my mom’s dream and I’d tried to keep it alive but I didn’t think that was possible anymore. It was kind of sad. This was the last link to my mom besides the house. But I had to deal with Edie before I could wallow in my own problems.