by Tracy Falbe
He added pressure to his bite, and she moaned and struggled weakly. The muscles in his strong neck forced her to stop until she lay panting beneath his grip. Powerful sensations overtook her senses of smell and taste, and the moonlight brightened until she had to close her eyes against the impossible glare.
Then she was free. Sarputeen stepped back. His tongue lolled from his mouth, and breath steamed around his head.
Shakily, Altea got to her hands and knees. The stinging cold was forgotten. The pain in her leg abated a little, but a new pain was creeping up her back.
She looked to Sarputeen, half expecting him to attack again and maul her into bloody scraps, but he hung back watchfully.
The pain spread from her spine like tiny meat hooks digging into her torso. Agony so alarming that she could not breathe tore into her as if she was being pulled apart from the inside.
“Sarpu…” she tried to speak, wanting reassurance, but forming words became abruptly impossible. Blinding pain dropped her to the ground, and all was darkness for a moment. When her vision returned, she saw colors differently. The twilight tones had become more muted, but every edge had more clarity.
The cold was gone, blocked by a thick tawny coat of fur. Claws replaced her fingers, and she marveled at the sensation of moving a tail. She looked over her shoulders, perhaps most amazed by the growth of the new appendage.
She tried to get up on her back feet as if she were still human, but her joints felt different and she faltered. Sarputeen jumped beside her and gave her stability. She leaned against his body that felt as firm as the mountain beneath their feet. After a few shaking steps, she crouched down to all fours and explored her new way of moving.
Altea felt big and strong. The experience infused her with delight because she had always been of the fairer and weaker sex, but that was no more. She had real strength. The girl who had been born of man and woman was something more now. Brute force had become her new ally.
Sarputeen kept moving around her. He seemed to be urging her in a certain direction. They headed back to the glen where the fire still burned. Very little time had passed, but the transformation had introduced Altea to an eternity of possibility.
When they reached the glen, Sarputeen stayed close. He nudged her in a nurturing fashion as if wanting her to sit and rest. Somehow she sensed his protectiveness. He understood the confusion that blundered through her mind that had yet to become accustomed to her new form.
But Altea had other urgent business. Howling continued within the surrounding forest. Thal was still making his pack. Her wobbling first steps after her second birth as a werewolf must not hinder her in this most important moment. It might already be too late.
She rushed around the glen and examined the radial pattern of footprints left by the dispersing volunteers until she found those left by Lenki. She raced off along the trail.
******
Thal appreciated how quickly Mitri fell into step behind him. Their synchronized steps kept their movement quiet.
Ansel was close. The youth’s tense breathing revealed his fear. Thal hurried to take the young man past this stage into his new life.
The dark silhouette of the young man glided through the bright open places between the trees that swayed in a rising wind. He looked like a shadow ghost, and Thal intended to give him new flesh.
Ansel looked over his shoulder as two werewolves advanced on him. He flailed in panic as Thal overtook him with a mighty leap. The trampling left scratches on his arms and ripped open his loose shirt. Thal seized his upper arm, and Ansel looked directly into the blazing eye above the chopping jaws. Every color glittered around the reflected image of the moon that was now high over the forest. His pulse pounded against the penetrating teeth.
The fierce connection revealed to Ansel the inner power of his true spirit, and he embraced it with true zeal. He dropped his doubt and fear like toys that a little boy no longer found interesting. A new world beckoned, and he accepted his invitation with genuine eagerness.
His excitement for his new life made even the pain of transformation tolerable. The grinding agony gave way to monstrous euphoria as he regained his feet as a werewolf. He recognized the brown shade of his hair in the fur that now covered his body. He was still Ansel plus something more.
He answered happily when Thal sang to him. The wild song of their new kinship expressed jubilation for his new power. Mitri added his voice.
Ansel and Mitri soon followed Thal as he sought out their next brother.
Thal found Johan on his knees praying. The man whose Godly devotion had once given him courage to spread the word about a new way to worship now asked for forgiveness about what he had chosen to do.
Thal acted quickly to end the man’s misgivings. After altering two willing men, Thal knew that the transformation would ease Johan’s conscience. The change would show him that his view of the world had been limited. He would see and feel the full wealth that Creation could bestow upon him. Thal would staunch the spiritual bleeding and allow Johan to attain a new level of faith.
Johan shut his eyes when Thal descended on him. He bit the same right arm that he had bitten on Mitri and Ansel. He wanted his pack to bear the same scars.
Once Johan had shifted to his new form, he took hesitant steps. Gray-tipped light brown fur sparkled in the moonshine, and his blue eyes hinted at the human intelligence now connected to unfiltered animal intuition.
He watched in shaking silence as Thal howled. Mitri and Ansel added their wolf voices, urging him to join in. The passion and beauty of their hymn won his heart eventually, and he howled. The sound rising from his throat completed his change. His connection to Thal took root. Kind Thal. Fair Thal. Brave Thal. Loyal Thal, who would never betray him or leave him to his enemies like those who had not come when the court condemned him.
From close by, Harvath had watched Thal change his friend. When Thal came for him, he did not run. He was ready, but even so his heart thundered with terror as the beast came at him.
Thal appreciated the hard bravery within Harvath. When he bit the man, he felt how the fellow had stood firm despite fear of pain and the unknown.
Once Harvath changed, he was a smaller werewolf than the others but possessed the same coiled and wiry strength that had kept him alive through hard times. His voice joined the pack’s song with the promise of everlasting loyalty.
Thal had saved Lenki for last. He had done so because he now acknowledged the temptation that she represented. He resolved to hold his love for Altea in his heart as he overtook the other woman. When they were joined, he hoped that Lenki would see that Altea was truly his mate. Thal had been the leader of other females before without mating with them, and he commanded himself that this time would be no different.
******
With each step, Altea gained a greater command of her new body. She bounded easily across snow drifts that had formed among the trees. The empowering fur that kept the cold air off of her skin thrilled her.
The long and lovely howls rising from the forest took meaning in her ears. Beneath the aching notes, she heard joyous acceptance for what Thal had given them. She thought to raise her own voice, but her thoughts stayed fixed on finding Lenki.
The movement of her ears startled her because her human body never felt such a thing. Sound had naturally drawn her attention, and a quick adjustment of her ears sharpened the noises of a shivering woman. She heard air whooshing as someones blew upon painfully cold fingers. Altea spotted Lenki huddled against a big tree.
When she changed her course to approach the woman, Sarputeen leaped to bar her way. The hair bristled on his back. His ears flattened against his head, and his stern snarl stopped her. The force of his will struck Altea hard.
NO!
She understood him utterly, and her compulsion to obey dragged hard on the desire that drove her forward. She slunk to the side and looked at Lenki. Thal came into sight, and she started forward but Sarputeen blocked her again. He rose
over her until she sank down to the ground, complying only with great reluctance.
Thal’s attention was fixed on Lenki, and he had not noticed his father and Altea downwind. Lenki stood up as he approached. His movements were cautious as if he expected her to lash out at him.
Lenki stepped forward, ready to receive her new fate. Thal struck with sufficient suddenness that she flinched and squealed when his teeth chomped her arm.
Witnessing Thal’s connection to another female drove Altea to her feet. Sarputeen physically stopped her. His open jaws pressed down on the back of her neck. He did not bite, but his will was clear. She whined, begging for release as Lenki twisted in Thal’s grip and fell back to the ground after he let her go.
The other new werewolves crept forward and stood with Thal as the throes of Lenki’s first transformation overtook her. Sarputeen kept Altea back. He knew that their arrival would be an intrusion upon the delicate first moments for the newly forming pack.
Lenki’s quiet gasps did not do justice to the pain that wrenched her body. Her bulging figure split the seams on the simple shirt and revealed her pale skin briefly before black fur erupted all over her body.
She swayed on her feet while learning the workings of her new body. Thal circled her closely, and the other werewolves came closer too. Bound by their shared form, they were perhaps ready to accept her as one of their own.
Thal called to her first. Rich experience deepened his howl that could sing wild songs. Lenki answered him. Her first shrill howl expressed her outrage that had never been given a voice before. She yelped several times with increasing exuberance. The magic had given her a sense of liberation beyond anything that she could have conceived.
Thal answered her, and the voices of his fellows rose behind him. Lenki put up her new snout and howled along with them. Their voices sank together into silence, and the creak of swaying tree branches lessened in the sudden calm.
Altea found her voice. The windy sound that vibrated her thick throat surprised her. She did not know the portion of her soul that sang this song. She thought of Thal as her diaphragm pushed volume into the rising notes.
Her unexpected voice yanked at Thal. Alarm shook his senses like a clanging bell tower, but something in the voice told him that he was not hearing an enemy.
He bounded toward the sound and then stopped abruptly. A blonde creature with tones of darker brown on the legs and neck regarded him. She ended her howl and raised a front paw as if about to move forward but then froze in that graceful pose.
His mind raced through the possible explanations. Absurd notions peppered his thoughts until he accepted the astounding reality that Altea stood before him. It was not Mileko. It was not Emil or some other person. Altea had been bitten and only his father could have done it.
Chapter 17. A Shadow of Elderliness
When Thal beheld Altea in her state, he experienced again the full force of his obsession with her. It had begun when he saw a young woman weeping upon the ruins of his mother’s garden. It continued with this vision of lupine majesty before him.
A wild vitality now consumed her humanity. This enticing combination made him forget everything else for a moment as he imagined the rest of his life with her.
He started toward her, and she closed the distance between them. They touched noses tentatively. Their recognition for each other’s scents ascended to a new level of intimacy. Their human and magical essences became forever familiar after one long lingering sniff that informed them that their human relationship had expanded into exciting new frontiers.
Altea yipped, but it was impossible for her to explain anything. Thal licked her face to convey his He would love her in any form, but he could not ignore how this had come to be. Why had his father done this? Why had they not spoken to him about it? Had she wanted this or had his father tricked her somehow?
The questions clogged his mind until he was tempted to release his form and demand that his father do the same so that they could speak, but the restless milling of his new pack recalled him to his immediate responsibilities. They needed his complete attention.
Sarputeen called to Altea. She took a step to follow him but halted to look back at Thal. He understood the pull that his father had on her. She needed to go with him, and Thal needed to guide his pack. He nudged Altea’s flank to encourage her to go, and then he bounded back to his five new werewolves. He led them on a run in the same direction that Sarputeen had gone.
Everyone ran through the moonlit forest until they panted from exertion, but Sarputeen and Thal did not stop, which compelled their followers to continue.
During the long run, the new werewolves gained better control of their bodies. Their speed and agility increased. Thal steered them into rougher terrain so that they could navigate obstacles and plow through deep snow. He taught them to take turns breaking the trail. As one tired in the lead, he or she could drop back and give the task to another.
Sarputeen took Altea through similar paces on a course roughly parallel to Thal’s. She kept drifting closer to the other pack until Sarputeen yielded to her insistent suggestion that they mingle company. When they joined, the group was far up the mountain. Their wide paws crunched through crusty snow in predawn cold. Dazzling stars produced a sheen of frosty light. The bright moon with its cratery shadows and untrekable paths had swung across the sky on this extraordinary night. Its light bathed the werewolves in a glow that would be their master for the rest of their lives.
When they finally stopped, Thal started a gentle song. His father answered the call, and gradually the other werewolves added their voices.
Once they fell quiet, exhaustion crept up Thal’s sinews. His head swam with flooding empathy for those around him. The potion had increased all of his sensitivities, and he saw into the hearts of those he had changed. He felt the harshness of their experiences and recognized how the trust that they had placed in him represented a great privilege. He must manage his reckless tendencies and learn how to temper boldness with the common good.
Thal had known the depth of this commitment before. The life he had lived as only a wolf had placed him as leader of many packs over the years. He had raised many pups and taught them to survive in a world that became more dangerous with each generation.
Those experiences had prepared him for this moment. He would do his best to use his power to protect those he loved and cull from the world some small measure of evil.
He led them back to the glen of their changing. He took a direct route, and with each step, his weariness mounted. The potion had added significantly to the exhilaration of making five werewolves, but the toll was coming due.
Upon reaching the glen, he stood by the blackened hunks of the dead fire with his head low. He let go of his magic and plodded toward his clothing. He was ready when the dawn sprinkled the horizon with a flamingo glow and the others lost their werewolf forms.
They convulsed through the change and gasped or cried out once their human tongues could make sound. They shivered upon the trampled snow, but exactly on schedule Emil appeared with a horse bearing the clothing.
Thal was at Altea’s side as soon as she returned to her woman’s body. He had never admired her nakedness so much nor known such gladness that he could be a man too. He gathered her discarded clothes and helped her dress.
She gratefully accepted his help and thought little of her drastic actions when she saw his haggard face. He looked suddenly of greater maturity as if a measure of his youth had been spent.
She cupped his cheek. “You need rest,” she said.
“Worry not,” he assured her with his usual confidence. He knew that he had paid a price but gained much value from the bargain.
Sarputeen watched from the edge of the glen. He had not let go of his wolfen power, and Thal suspected he wanted to avoid conversation.
Thal assisted Emil with the others who were getting dressed. When his eyes met each of his creations, he sensed a new understanding between them. T
rust had replaced doubt. Excitement had replaced fear.
But Thal did not have the wherewithal to dissect the experience with his new pack. They would have to be patient for his teachings because their making had drained him.
“We’ll assemble in this place at dusk,” he said simply and started toward the castle. His father had already gone, and Thal followed his paw prints down the path.
Altea joined him, and he slipped an arm around her waist. He leaned on her a little, which surprise her, but she gladly masked his exhausted slouch.
At the castle, she helped Thal get into their bed. She folded his clothes neatly and spread his fur over his chest. His face matched the pale linen pillow case, and his eyes were sunken and bloodshot.
He took her wrist and drew her onto the bed next to him.
“Why did you not tell me you planned to do this thing?” he asked.
“I only decided last night,” she explained.
“But you had thought of it before,” he said.
Altea pressed her forehead against his, wishing they did not need to speak of what had happened, but he deserved the truth.
“Thal, I had to. Otherwise, you would have taken Lenki for your mate,” she said.
Her words startled him. “I would never choose another over you,” he said. He meant it despite the temptations that had harassed his imagination.
She shook her head. “Now that Lenki is like you, you’ll want her, and she can’t resist you. She must obey you.”
Thal put a finger to her lips to halt the onrush of speculations. “I would bid no one to love me. Not even you. I would only have love given freely and truly,” he said.
“But you’re easy to love. Many love you,” Altea said. She had witnessed how his charms earned him favors and good fortune.
“Not all love me,” he reminded her bitterly. There were those with dormant souls who would persecute him.
“Lenki would love you,” Altea insisted.
“She knows not love,” Thal said for he had seen into the young woman’s heart.
