“Oh, wow…! That’s was…wonderful!” Claire panted, getting her breath back. Reluctantly, she let go of her wolfman as Ryan removed himself. He was panting also as Claire looked up at him. “I hope…I was good…?”
“Absolutely,” Ryan’s tongue flopped out of his jaw as he growled back whilst recovering. “Now we wait…for your first transformation…to kick in. You might want to sit besides the cool stream…when the change hits you.”
“I’m wracked! Can you help me up?” Claire made puppy eyes at him. Sighing (but grinning too), Ryan rose upon his digitigrade legs and grasped hold of her slim human hand with his hairy half-paw. Pulling her up, Ryan embraced his lover.
“I’ve just thought,” Claire mused. “How do I return to human form, later on?”
“You’ll learn to control the change by picturing in your mind what form you want to be in. One way for new werewolves to practice is by holding their paw in front of them and imagine it reverting back into a hand – and opening up their senses to apply that mental focus to reshape the rest of their bodies,” Ryan told her. “The easier way for beginners is to wait for sunrise to force them to revert to human form.”
“I look forward to you teaching me…” Claire’s smile faded as her ears picked up noises coming from the forest. With some surprise, it struck her that she reacted at the same time as Ryan – and not afterwards…
The deer bolted out from the direction of the forest beyond the edge of town, as it emerged from the woods to leap into the stream and onto the opposite bank from the couple. It froze in shock upon scenting the werewolf before it. In turn, both Claire and Ryan saw the bulge of its belly, and realised that it was a pregnant female. Then they saw the werepanther woman bursting from the trees in pursuit of the deer, on all fours. She halted, and sniffed at Claire and Ryan. He had instinctively moved himself in-between the werepanther and both Claire and the deer. The distraction allowed the pregnant deer to seize its opportunity – and it bounded onwards to freedom. Claire’s relief was short-lived however, as, roaring its anger, the formidable-looking werepanther began to stalk towards the lovers.
“Slaughter of pregnant deer…is forbidden, Irena. You should know that,” Ryan snarled. “I recognise your mangled ear. You’re registered as a feral! Get out of here!”
“Hungry…! You’ve denied me…my meal, you pathetic law-slave,” the feral spat. “Your woman looks…like she’ll make a snack, though…”
“Just a snack…!?” Claire whimpered. Underneath her mounting terror, a part of her felt insulted…
“Don’t you dare touch her!” Ryan snarled. “Claire - get to the car!”
“No! I’m not leaving you, Ryan!” she blurted back.
“To hell with your laws… Humans don’t belong here!” Irena licked her drooling fangs, and then she pounced.
As Claire screamed, Ryan flung himself at the anthro big cat, howling. The wolfman and panther woman clashed, claws slashing furiously through the air, and fangs scraping against fur and skin as the two grappled with each other. Irena’s tail twitched madly as she used her greater body strength and feline agility against Ryan’s lupine stamina and police training. Claire had stumbled upon the ground in her panicked retreat – and as she crawled backwards, her heart pounding madly with sheer terror, she found herself unable to tear her gaze from the brutal fight playing itself in front of her, just yards away. Once again, Ryan was protecting her…
Dear god, don’t let him die…! Don’t let me die!
“Claire! My jacket! Taser…” Ryan snarled, just before Irena slammed him against a boulder with her powerful, ebony fur-draped arms. There was a ‘crack’, and Ryan howled – his back badly injured. Snarling, the feral werepanther then snapped her attention to Claire and tensed her muscles.
Claire’s wide eyes darted from side to side, in order to find Ryan’s jacket in the faint light. Racing over to it, she madly patted the pockets. Finding the taser in the second one, she pulled out the taser with shaking hands and worked out how to operate it. Then a shift in the light and the air – plus the scent of a big cat – alerted her, and Claire dove to one side, and Irena crashed upon the spot where her intended victim had been. Instantly, she roared and twisted herself round to pursue Claire. A fleck of spittle struck the young woman’s face, making her squirm.
“Eat this!” Claire jabbed the taser against Irena’s shoulder and fired the device. The shot of electricity made the werepanther jerk backwards, screaming. But as Claire tried to get up to race back to her wolfman – not willing to leave him – the injured feral intercepted her, bringing her down in a rugby tackle. The werepanther was moving more stiffly now, and the singe of burnt fur offended Claire’s nostrils, making her gag. But Irena was truly maddened and determined to seize her prize of human flesh now. Equally, the naked Claire was using every scrap of strength left within her spirit to preserve her life. She punched Irena in the nose – and as they began to roll over each other, down the slope of the grass towards the stream, Claire instinctively reached out and snarled, before seizing the mangled panther ear in-between her teeth.
Irena yowled – and the two of them crashed into a cluster of boulders at the edge of the stream, with Claire on top. The spray from the water hit them.
A shudder ran through Claire’s body. She was already sweating with the heat of the battle – but now she gasped, and she would’ve folded up and collapsed to the ground if her hands hadn’t already been locked against Irena’s paws to hold her off. Her bones all simultaneously crunched and her flushed skin prickled as if ants were crawling all over, underneath it. As the two ladies remained locked in their temporary stalemate, Claire felt the sudden onrush of lengthening hairs emerged from her pores. An instant later, her tailbone stirred and straightened itself, lengthening and pushing itself out from the base of her spine whilst new flesh grew to accompany its journey. Then Claire felt her internal organs shift together into a new arrangement. There was a rush of sharp pain, but it soon ebbed away. Claire’s fingers cracked, and shortened – whilst her nails drew into thicker, sharper points. They turned black before her wide eyes. Without letting go of Irena, she felt her grip falter as her hands grew half-formed pads. The wave of black hairs covering her hands raced upwards to cover her shifting arms – even as her mind took in the sensation of her torso and legs also becoming cloaked in the waves emanating outwards from her groin and the love bite on her shoulder. Her exposed nipples become buried underneath a ripple of lighter-colored hairs, whilst her breasts pushed out a little. She was taken aback as she felt another pair of…teats…appeared on her stomach – her whole body becoming cloaked by…
…My…fur! My wolf is awakening…, in order to save me! Claire gasped in wonder. Then she growled, relishing the rumble resounding from her throat. And relished too the threat and power that she was conveying to her would-be slayer. Yes! I will fight for my life – and Ryan’s life… I am a…werewolf!
The fur crawled up her neck and began to cover her face. Claire felt her dark, wavy hair retreat halfway into her scalp, before it changed texture and become part of her emerging cranial fur, even as the tugging sensation on her lengthening ears gave way to them becoming pointed and rising up the sides of her shifting skull to resettle into sensitive, twitching, arrowhead-shaped wolf ears. Pressure built up in her darkening nose and jaw. Claire moaned as her tongue swelled – but then relief came with the sudden forward thrust of her stretching muzzle. Myriad scents overwhelmed her mind, and Claire’s whiskers grew into place and tasted the air. Another seizure hit her, as her leg and foot bones shifted – and Claire’s now-furred legs took on a digitigrade stance. But the metamorphosis had left her vulnerable, and Irena spat in disgust, even as she kicked out and sent her intended prey flying to the ground. Claire gasped, and squirmed on the bank of the stream, panting. Her wounds throbbed even as her newly-strengthened immune system kicked in to heal them. Her transformation completed itself, and Claire shook her half-lupine body, licking her new fangs. She felt her tail twitch. She forced herself onto her elbows and faced the werepanther – whose wounds were also now healing, even as Claire’s amber eyes stared fearfully at her.
“I am…not prey!” Claire snarled, founding her voice to be a little deeper.
“I am so hungry…,” Irena hissed back. “Even a puny newborn werewolf cub…will do for me!” She paused to sniff the air, keeping her green eyes locked on Claire. “Ahh… Paul has come…to join the party! He’ll have no hesitation in killing your boyfriend… He has a criminal grudge against Connor.”
Claire’s blood turned cold as she looked beyond the committed werepanthess. Another werepanther had stalked out of the forest, and was eyeing Ryan, who had managed to pull himself up when his back injury had healed itself enough. Her mate eyed the distance between him and Paul – and the greater gap between himself and the females. He could tell he won’t be able to reach and defend Claire, before Paul would mow him down. Claire sadly realised that, too.
But still he turned and made the determined sprint, howling his wrath.
Paul spat and gave chase after the werewolf policeman on all fours. Then…
Author’s note: If you’ve not guessed already, the names of Irena and Paul are a nod to the film: ‘Cat People’ (1980’s version)!