Turning ✔️

Chapter 11. Peggy's Diner

"I can walk you know," I said slightly angry that he was carrying my naked body.

"I know, but it's faster this way. Plus I like the view."

My face flushed bright red at that and my eyes narrowed. I didn't say anything more because he was right. About it being faster anyways. He waded out of the water and back to the shore before placing me down beside him.

"Wanna see something cool?" He asked me excitedly. When I nodded my head, he turned into an enormous silver wolf. Once shifted, he looked at me in the eyes and shook his whole body about causing water to fly everywhere from his wet fur. After the vigorous shake, he shifted back to human.

"See? Now I'm nice and dry!"

I looked at his muscled body and it was as if he had never even swam. I smiled excitedly as I asked him how to do it myself.

"I don't know how to turn at will. The only time I have shifted was this morning and I had no control over it."
I admitted to him nervously.

"Is that so? Hmm...maybe I can help a bit." He looked at me, appearing to be deep in thought before speaking again. "Okay, so try to remember the feeling you had when you shifted this morning. Talk to your wolf and he can help the most with this. Focus on being a wolf and bringing him to the front of your consciousness."

Okay wolf. You heard him. Help me out with shifting.

He said it nicely. Think about being a wolf, how it made you feel, how the soft ground feels under your paws and how free you feel.

I did as they told me and before long I could feel the pain of my bones breaking and reforming. I let out a quiet moan of pain as I did so, causing Will to look distressed.

"I wish I could erase your pain baby. I'm so sorry."

I couldn't focus on Will as all of my concentration was on shifting. I watched as my fingernails grew into sharp claws and my fur began to grow out of my skin. My arms and legs began to grow smaller and before long I was on all four paws, fully shifted.

I let out a loud triumphant yip and howled excitedly. Will shifted back to his wolf quickly and I pronked over to him. As I got close to him, I shook myself off spraying him with all of the water my fur retained from our dip in the water. Before he could react, I bolted over to the other side of the meadow.

He stared at me stunned for a moment before he ran up to me. I playfully bounced side to side with my tail wagging a mile a minute. Will quickly pounced on my body, bringing us both to the ground in a mess of silver and white fur.

He licked my face lovingly before he shifted back to his human self, his arms wrapping around my wolf body. Even as a giant wolf, I was still smaller than him. I felt so comforted by his warm body surrounding me. He had a smile on his face as he spoke.

"Okay Nathan, shift back now please. I'm hungry."

I figured turning back human would be the same process of focusing on bringing the human side of me out. I tried it out without consulting my wolf and was delighted when I shifted back in William's arms.

"You did it babe! I'm so proud of you!" He said with an excited smile on his face. He squeezed my body softly as he hugged me with his warm one. "Here, let's get dressed and we get some lunch. I was thinking Peggy's?"

Peggy's was a small, old fashioned 50's themed diner in town. The food was pretty great there and the service was always great.

"Peggy's sounds great." I said, nodding in agreement. I quickly got redressed and when I was finished, Will took my hand and led us back to the entrance of the trail. He thanked the park ranger and told him to also thank Tom for him.

Who the heck is Tom? Is he the head ranger in the building or something?

Will must have noticed my perplexed face, and he told me that Tom was in charge of the state park and that his family and Tom's were very close. He walked me over to his car and opened the passenger door for me. Once I was in, he shut the door and ran to his side and got into the vehicle.

He started up the Volkswagen and drove out of the parking lot. During the ride, we happily chatted about what we were thinking about getting to eat. It turns out he likes to always have a plan ahead of time just like me.

We pulled into the parking lot and parked the bug. The diner had a bright pink neon sign reading "Peggy's Diner" in a neat cursive writing. Will quickly slid out of the car to open my door for me and led us inside where we waited to be seated. As I looked around there was hardly anyone in the usually bustling diner. The few people that were dining were mostly elderly people, there was a middle aged woman with brown curly tresses tied up in loose ponytail tending to a table who looked up as we walked in.

"I'll be right over to seat you guys!" She called with a friendly smile on her face.

In the corner there was a jukebox which I was dying to go pick a song. Will noticed me looking over there before reaching into his pocket and pulling out some quarters which he handed me.

"Go ahead and pick something. I'll wait for Maggie to seat us."

I walked over to the jukebox, looking at the different song selections on each board. It had an assortment of classics from the 50's. I ended up choosing "Come Go With Me" by the Dell-Vikings. It was a great song choice for our lunch date.

Dum dum dum dum dumdooby dum

The music started as I walked over to William still waiting. The waitress, Maggie approached us shortly afterwards and sat us in the corner near the jukebox. I sat on one side with my back to the window, while he sat opposite of me at the table.

"Hey Will! Great to see you, kid! You've brought a friend! I'm Maggie nice to meet you. What's your name?"

"I'm Nathan," I said shyly, looking down at the table.

"Great to meet you, Nathan. Can I start you fellas off with a drink or do you want a couple of minutes to look over the menus?"

William answered for us both, "We will just need a couple of minutes to decide I think."

"Okay darlings, I will be back over in a couple minutes, no pressure. Take as much time as you need!" She smiled and headed towards the kitchen area.

I looked over at him with wide eyes. What was the point in deciding what we wanted on the way here??

"I just wanted a minute to be alone with you. Relax, baby. You are so easily worried." He grabbed my hand from across the table, giving it a light squeeze. Just from his hand touching mine sent butterflies to my stomach. He gave me a loving smile and traced his fingers along my palm softly. Maggie came by again.

"Are- are you," she started before trailing off as her eyes found our hands intertwined over the table. I quickly pulled my hand back from William's and put it down on the chair beside me. She looked over to Will excitedly and back to me with a friendly smile."Ready to order?" She finished as if not skipping a beat.

I nodded and told her my order, followed by Will. We ate together happily when our food came out, taking our time and enjoying one another's presence.

Maybe I could believe in us being mates after all. I am so happy when I'm with him.