Mated to a Human

☽ 8 ☾

"What I'm about to do is called shifting. It's fast, so don't be scared, okay?"

My lips downturn. Wind sweeps through the forest canopy, drowning out all other sounds. There's only the swishing and rustling of branches as they shake more orange and brown leaves free.

"You ready?" She calls over the wind.

I hold onto myself as though I'm tipping over the peak of a rollercoaster. There's no going back now, so I say, "Just do it."

Let's get this over with. Abby can finish her scheme, laugh at me for giving her an inkling of trust, and I can go back to my booth at the festival.

She shakes out her arms and mumbles something under her breath that I can't make out. The last thing I hear is her huff, "Here we go." Then it all happens in seconds — fractions of seconds. Abby's upper body jerks towards me as something rakes through her, and her hands touch the dirt, but they aren't her hands anymore. It's like watching a firework; Abby burns away, contorts, and grows all it a flash.

I move away immediately. There's a wolf in her place as she said there would be — umber like her hair, standing on her shredded clothes — but I...

It's eyes aren't her warm brown ones; they beam amber, vibrant even in the daylight. My breath can't catch up. As I cower backwards, I'm almost gasping for air. The wolf doesn't move, however. On it's four legs, it's taller than Abby — bigger than any wolf I've seen. I latch onto the closest tree to stabilize, and I watch it as I catch my breath.

"Abby?" I rasp.

The wolf lifts a paw to come forward, but it stops when I hold up my hand.

Tears blur my vision. "What the fuck?" I accuse and swipe quickly under both eyes.

"There's no..." My sentence dies from a lack of effort, yet the wolf remains. It waits like a statue, far from the haunting thing I saw the night I left Blue Moon. "Is that you?" I ask.

The wolf's head begins to drop like its conceding. My panic worsens, so I demand, "Change back. I-I want Abby back."

When the wolf shifts back, a blur of Abby's bare skin turns me away. "Abby?"

"Yeah?" She calls, a bit winded.

"Are you..." I glance over my shoulder and catch a glimpse of her wrapping up in her jacket. "Are you okay? What the hell was that!"

"It's real. I shifted, and you saw it, and now you know."

I look again and she's standing upright, completely covered till her jacket ends at her upper thighs. She must be freezing. I grab at my own coat and take it off; it's thicker and longer than hers — knee-length. "Wear this," I tell her and hand it over. "I'll wear yours."

She takes my coat, and I turn back around. "But you believe me now, right?"

"Honestly, if I think about it, I might throw up."

"Are you scared? Shocked?"

I touch my palm to my forehead. "I can't believe it."

"But you do?"

She hands me her jacket, so I put it on, avoiding her eyes. "I don't know what I saw. I think I need to wake up."

"This isn't a dream." Abby touches my shoulder. "You're freaked, but that's good because you should stay away from Harvey and stay out of this."

"I'm so confused."

"About what? I'll explain anything," she offers.

"Do you and Harvey hurt people? Is he going to hurt me? Have you killed—"