Bound Book 2

Chapter 41 - Shifting

Skylar

The pain I feel is momentary, as I remember it being the first time when I partially shifted. It was really as simple as Dmitri said. Visualize the talisman on my finger and then shift. This time, however, when I opened my eyes I was looking straight at Dmitri. The need to crane my neck was gone. My clothes were also lying on the ground in tatters. Dmitri's surprised expression was one worth keeping in my memory bank

Remembering my clothes on the floor, I take a wobbly step back, my legs bent at an unnatural angle raising my concern slightly. I had seen Dmitri in this state and knew this was normal for a Lycan. The amount of hair on my body was unreal and luckily created a covering of sorts for all my private bits. Holding my hand up, I flex my clawed fingers, the nails digging into my palm as I ball a fist. The last time I shifted I had little time to really appreciate these new sensations. To be honest, I wasn't sure if I enjoyed this feeling.

My perky ears twitch, drawing my consciousness to them. Dmitri emerges from a tree to my right, these overwhelming sensations leaving me not even aware he left. So much for heightened senses, I inwardly jest. The reality was that everything was clearer in this form. I could see further and in more detail, the coarseness of the fur covering Dmitri's body evident not just by touch but by sight. As a human, it appeared softer to the eye.

His scent was also amplified. The sandalwood, pine, and his unique scent swirled around him in vivid colors like a kaleidoscope, those same colors swirled around me, their origin coming from the bite marks that littered my skin from Dmitri marking me. The same is seen on Dmitri as he stands patiently staring at me, his eyes black as the night. Looking down I see the faintest trace of an additional scent, so faint that it makes you wonder if it is even there. Before I can ponder on the colors of this scent, a distant sound in the forest directly in front of us draws our attention.

Dmitri is pushing at the barrier of our mind link, the pressure feeling like the start of a headache. The relief is instant when I open the link with him.

I inhale deeply, so many scents assaulting me that I wonder how Dmitri separates them from each other. My clawed hand flies up to my snout, the sensation of a wet nose immediately meeting the palm of my hand. Involuntarily, I lick my hand, pulling it away quickly in surprise.

"It's all normal, you just need to get used to being in this form. Some things will come naturally like blinking while others you will learn to control," he says to me as his snout lifts in the air, his nose twitching as he scents our surroundings. "There is a deer not far from here. See if you can scent it."

Closing my eyes, I allow my senses to take over, my ears moving in various directions as sound can be heard off in the distance. My snout in the air taking deep breaths identifies a smell that I assume to be what Dmitri is speaking about. "I can smell something, almost a metallic smell, like rust or something." Delicious. The thought sends goosebumps over my hair covered skin.

Dmitri is immediately by my side, his hairy hand on my shoulder.

"Where? Which direction?" His serious tone has me opening my eyes, my hairy finger pointing to a place in the forest where I think the scent is coming from.

"You're smelling blood Skylar," he relays to me mentally, my body stiffening at his words. "You need to take us to it."

Nodding my head, I start moving towards the forest edge, the speed of my movement confusing at first. As I break into a run, my body seems to alternate between running upright and pivoting forward to run on all fours.

As we get further into the forest, Dmitri's voice in my head confirms he too can scent the blood. We have been running for quite some time, the distance covered in this form unfathomable. As well as the fact that I haven't even broken a sweat. The stamina is mind-blowing. All this power coursing through my body. In my human form, I would no doubt have been suffering from a stitch or five and breathing like I had smoked a pack of twenty since being born.

As we get closer to our destination, the stench becomes overwhelming. While it should repulse me it doesn't. Quite the opposite. My body is tingling with something else. A need. My incisors elongate more than they already have, my mouth salivating as it would with a delicious piece of cheesecake.

We break through a clearing to find a man lying against a tree, his hand covering his side as blood streams from an open wound, soaking the material of his shirt as it pools in the sand next to him. The jacket bears a symbol we know all too well. He is a hunter. A hunter on pack lands. How did he even get here? Dmitri mind-links Ivan and Kira, giving them this location. He is radiating anger that borders on rage. His thoughts echoing loud and clear for me to her. How did a hunter get through pack borders, through Rainas protection spell? Were there others in the area? Is it someone on the inside? The last thought has rage flaring up inside me. Even without validation I immediately feel betrayed. Someone lying to us. Deceiving us. The thoughts turn animalistic. The hurt of potentially being deceived yet again by someone I don't even know and based on a situation that isn't yet confirmed overtakes all logic.

My legs involuntarily move me forward. The hunter is mumbling incoherencies, something about a scarred stranger leaving him here and how he didn't want to die. His scent is pungent as the blood leaves his body, swirling around with another scent, that is similar to Valerian and Boxwood, their colors almost fading.

My eyes close, Dmitri's voice drowning out in my mind as I pounce forward, lifting the man by his neck with one hand as I push him up against the tree. Before I know what's happened I have sunk my teeth into his neck, the taste of blood filling my mouth as I drink the life force out of him. Heavenly. His body twitches as his hands which initially clawed at my own around his neck, fall limply to his side.

Gasps in the clearing can be heard, pulling me out of the blurred euphoria I seem to be experiencing, my teeth letting go of the man who is now unconscious in my hand. I drop him, his body landing awkwardly by my feet, as I take in the look of pure shock on Ivan and Kira's faces. Andrea, who must have sensed the danger, is standing off to the right, the smirk on his face out of place considering the situation.

Dmitri has shifted back and has a comforting hand on my shoulder, his eyes full of concern and not disgust which sends relief through me. "You're fine Skylar, just calm down," he says, pulling me close to him.

"What's wrong with her eyes," I hear Ivan say before everything goes black.  

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