Moon Blood (COMPLETE)

Chapter Eight: A Good Boy

He called ahead and said he'd be late for dinner as he was catching up with James. In reality, he had skulked around the bike sheds when the final school bell of the day had rung, taking care to not be noticed by the usual group that smoked a couple of cigarettes before they went to go terrorise the playground equipment down the road.

Beyond the bike sheds and the tennis courts lie the back end of a vast expanse of woodland fenced off from the school playing field, although it was easy enough to circumvent the barrier that was a good few years beyond a simple fix, as parts had rotted away completely and no number of cable ties would fix it.

As Neil approached, the faint smells he longed to experience fully made themselves known at the back of his throat: damp earth full of crawling life, trees unwillingly hosting fungi and ant colonies at their roots. Neil could even smell the trace of a fox that had been snuffling around earlier. An entire world had been hidden from him for seventeen whole years, and the more he thought about it, the more anxious he was to see more of it.

He hung his jacket and school bag on a young tree and sat on a nearby stump, thinking hard about Lilly's words to him. He was fairly sure she'd said he could transform at will, the only question was how.

Neil tried to remember how it felt when he'd transformed in that cage, but it wasn't much help. All he could remember was that horrible pain as his body had changed and contorted. Was it even possible to transform without undergoing that kind of agony? He could feel his mouth twisting as he thought harder. That body made him want to run and be free, and he didn't want to go back to Lilly twiddling his fingers asking for help. He didn't want their help anyway.

Perhaps a different angle would do it. He scanned his memory for any kind of trigger or awakening. Aside from the new moon, he was drawing a blank. He huffed. Perhaps he could simply will his body into transforming.

He stood, and closed his eyes. His muscles tensed and his eyebrows furrowed. His unfit body protested but he continued to clench, and, weirdly, he felt sweat beading on his forehead as he grimaced and gasped. He really needed to get in shape as he recalled his noodle arms and pencil legs.

A hint of a deep scent tickled the back of his nose. Not a smell he recognised, but the sensation was deeply familiar. His heart fluttered as frantically, he scanned his mind of the past few seconds, trying to discover the trigger. It reminded him of how impossible he'd always found those stupid magic eye pictures. Not once had he ever seen the hidden image and it infuriated him. He wanted to lie and say he saw it, but he'd always been such a terrible liar.

Neil had felt something though, that enticing flurry of smells, sounds and tastes that assaulted his senses. There were other thoughts too, of Ruby and the way she looked at him.

It sent him to his knees as his body almost wanted to change, to revert to its wolf form. Perhaps Ruby was the key? He concentrated on her, on her deep eyes, her long hair, the way her body swayed as she walked.

His body clenched, and crumpled.

He had made it happen, and the pain burned up once again. He grimaced and vowed to fight through it. Even though the pain sent him buckling to his knees and wrapping his arms around his tightening chest, he persevered, remembering the feel of thick fur bristling on his back, poking against his thin shirt. His mouth dripped with saliva almost like a river as muscle memory flooded back. Tastes temporarily forgotten came to the forefront of Neil's mind: the taste of Rachel easily the most prominent. Her lips, her tongue, her -"

"I suppose you think you're smart for doing this."

A voice smothered in sarcasm emerged from the thicket, but Neil wasn't afraid, and growled from the back of his throat. Ruby rolled her eyes.

"You've torn your trousers and shirt for one thing. Let me tell you, you look pretty damn stupid."

He growled again, but he could sense something else, a scent coming from her, it was more distracting than anything else. She smirked. "You won't last long in that form, not with me in this condition." She looked him directly in his eye. "Can't you smell it?"

He could definitely smell something as he stood there trembling. Something utterly intoxicating, and irresistible to him. Like the gentle building of pleasure before orgasm, it pulled him to want more as he took a step towards her.

"Good boy," she cooed, half mocking, half sincere. "It's something you can barely resist, because I feel it too." She shuddered, and looked down at him.

He looked back, an irrepressible urge overtaking anything and everything. Previous desires to run and explore the woods all faded away into a blurry grey as Ruby took centre stage in his mind. Her smile, her eyes, her body.

"You haven't noticed yet, have you?"

Neil's initial response would have been a warning growl, but his throat wouldn't respond in the way he anticipated. In fact, he was cold, and the cool air dampened by the forest was kissing his naked skin.

Naked?

He looked down, now standing on two feet, his hairy legs and knobbly knees stared back at him. His heart spiked, and Ruby snorted.

"Didn't Lilly warn you to always bring a spare set of clothes with you? Now you're stuck at the back of your school in the buff."

"Ahh, uhh." words failed him. She had seen it all, every last nook and cranny of his pathetic, pasty body. As a last resort, he covered himself with his hands, as if that would erase her memory.

"Don't worry, it's nothing I haven't seen before. The more time you spend in your other form, the fitter and leaner you'll become, so I wouldn't worry too much. I've been able to transform since I was twelve - puberty came early for me - and it made me a woman."

As she finished, she pulled her uniform sweater over her head and began to unbutton her shirt. Neil didn't know where to look as she picked at each plastic button, exposing a starched white bra and an impressive set of abs. He blanched, feeling woefully inadequate.

Eventually, she too stood as naked as the day she was born, hands on her hips and a smirk on her lips. One-upmanship nudged him, demanding he matched her but his cowardice prevailed, and he stared at the floor.

"You don't have to turn away, you know."

"I know, it's just -"

You can look, if you like.

He heard here right in his head, and almost like a siren's song, his body responded in kind, crouching to his haunches and letting his body meet hers. She was an impressive she-wolf, with silver and dark fur mottled across her back and a brilliant white belly. He tried to concentrate talking to her like she just had to him.

But for some reason, there was nothing. Perhaps he didn't do it right.

No time to consider it, Like a bullet Ruby had already leapt from her haunches and took off into the late afternoon gloom. Neil, now desperate to stretch his new body, followed suit, bouncing and leaping over the undergrowth. Everything was alive, and he could hear it, smell it, taste it even. He could smell Ruby as she galloped, yipping to him to hurry up. That was a thing he could understand, and loped after her, wondering how he ever enjoyed running before discovering this body.