Awakened

11

Nik stood up, looking down at her with pride. He watched as she slowly stood up, looking down at herself and at her surroundings.

Alexandra began walking around, trying to get used to walking on four paws, rather than two feet. Once she'd figured it out, and was able to keep her balance, she looked up at her brother. She smiled when she saw the look of pride and happiness on his face, beaming down at her.

Lex watched in awe as her brother began to shift, seemingly painlessly. After seeing that, she knew that he wasn't lying about being able to help her make it painless. 'If he can do it, so can I', she thought to herself happily.

Moments later, a large, dark grey wolf, with bright amber eyes stood in his place. Alexandra watched as her brother tilted his head in the direction of the forest, indicating that she should enter it.

She set off walking slowly towards the trees that now towered over her. Her eyes widened as she saw a stream of grey run straight past her. She instantly knew it was Nik, so she too began running. She quickly caught up with him, and bumped into his side as he turned and stopped to see where she was.

Alexandra fell to the floor and quickly got back up. She looked at the wolf standing in front of her and playfully rolled her eyes upon seeing him grinning down at her.

Suddenly, she heard a quiet voice say, "You okay there Lex?"

She looked around in alarm, not knowing where the voice had come from. She looked back at her brother and saw him laughing silently at her. She frowned at him, silently asking what was so funny.

"Sorry Lex. Didn't mean to scare you. It's only me," she heard the voice say again. This time she could tell it was coming from somewhere at the back of her mind. She tilted her head at Nik in question.

After seeing his grin, Alexandra realised it was Nik talking to her, but she didn't know how he was doing it.

As if hearing her thoughts, Nik said, "I'm talking to you through a kind of mind link. It's something all werewolves do with their packs, or their families. All you have to do is concentrate on what you want to say to me. Focus on making me hear you, and I will. It'll get easier with practice, don't worry."

Alexandra focused on what she wanted him to hear her say. After only a minute or two of trying, she heard the words, "You smelly old dog," in the back of her mind, the same way she'd heard Nik's voice.

"Hey!" she heard a second later. She looked back up to wolf-Nik and saw him glaring down at her, playfully. Now it was her turn to grin up at him.

Before he could say anything else, she turned away from him and began running again. This time, as she ran, she could feel her legs moving quicker than before, and the trees around her became blurs as she ran past. She felt the wind blowing all around her and through her fur. She came to a stop after a minute or two and waited for Nik to catch up with her.

When they were standing side by side again, Nik looked at her, and with a sense of pride in his voice, he said, "It seems you're already learning how to control yourself Lex."

She tilted her head at him again and concentrated on asking, "What do you mean?"

"Well, you seem to be aware of what you're doing, you're not in a trance of sorts, as most wolves would be during their first turn. And you've just run as fast as someone who's been a wolf for years," he explained.

"Really?" Alexandra questioned in disbelief.

"Really. I'm impressed," Nik replied.

Upon hearing those words, Alexandra nudged her head into her brother's side, pleased that he was proud of her. She heard him chuckle and smiled even wider.