I felt badly about trying to lie to my mother about being turned, and the bad feelings between us that lingered after I left. I knew she was just worried, and it was even more difficult knowing that I was one hundred percent responsible for it. I'd made a wish, and then another and another, until I'd turned Cathy into a werewolf. I couldn't even say precisely WHY I had done that, beyond having a kink.
And now the butterfly effect had fully asserted itself – my mother had to watch as her son was infected with the same condition that she'd watched her best friend succumb to twenty years earlier, at her best friend's hand, no less.
And then, I couldn't even unwish it. I tried again and again as I drove, and every time, my voice would fail. If I tried to wish it mentally, my brain was filled with static. I nearly wrecked my car twice as my mind filled with that strange mental fog. Now, however, in the fading light, with a fat, gibbous moon already visible, despite the sun's still lingering final rays, I could feel something beneath the static and fog; it was the wolf, lurking in my mind. It was hungry, it was powerful, and it somehow was able to prevent me erasing it from existence. And it was eager for the full moon in two nights' time. Truthfully, part of what I'd call “me” was eager for it as well.
I pulled into Cathy's driveway, breathing a sigh of relief that her car was there. I knocked on the door rapidly as I dealt with a melange of emotions which sent my heart racing for multiple reasons. She opened the door a second or two later, with a look of concern and confusion on her face. “James?” she asked. “Is everything okay?”
I walked inside without an invitation. “Heh,” I laughed softly, “Funny you should ask..”
And then the scent of her hit me; holy crap, she smelled AMAZING. “I don't know what perfume you're using, Cathy, but holy shit..you should totally wear that MORE.” I closed my eyes, sniffing the air, letting the scent pull me toward it, only opening my eyes once I was nuzzling her collar bone and the hollow of her neck.
Cathy laughed for a second. “Oh my god, James..you certainly know how to make a girl feel special.” It was a carefree, girlish laugh. But then she inhaled deeply, and her face went from amusement to heartbreak. “Oh James..oh no...no no no...” she buried her face against me, sniffing harder, only to repeat, “Oh no..no no..NO!” as she pulled away again.
“Yeah,” I replied. “You scratched me when you were changing, and I guess it was deep enough to let some of the juices into my bloodstream.” I absentmindedly rubbed the back of my hand as I remembered feeling the wound, seeing the welt, then deciding it was my imagination.
“That explains why you hadn't called,” Cathy said. Her voice took on a tender tone again. “I..I was hoping that you..” she bit her lip, “Nevermind.”
“You were hoping I'd call?” I asked, probably sounding a bit overly hopeful. We'd been doing this dance since the first time she changed in front of me, with both of us acting a bit like high school kids awkwardly flirting after class. (The fact I'd graduated a few months prior is beside the point, I assure you.)
She said nothing, though she blushed a bit. “Have you eaten?” she asked, changing the subject. “Our appetites skyrocket right around this time. Plus once the fever passes, and your new wolf aspect is asserting itself, it's even worse. You've got to be starving.”
“Yeah,” I replied. “Mom made me a giant dinner. Apparently she remembered at least some of what you went through.”
“Your mom knows?” Cathy asked sadly. “Christ, she probably hates me right now.”
“I don't think she hates you,” I told her, trying to reassure her. “I mean yeah, she's worried about me, but I don't think she's angry. And I made sure she knew I was fine.”
Cathy suddenly snapped at me, “JAMES! YOU'RE NOT FINE! AND IT'S MY FAULT!” Cathy turned away from me, burying her face in her hands. As a sympathetic reflex, I immediately wrapped my arms around her, turning her around and holding her closely. She tried to pull away for a second, only to relax and bury her face on my shoulder. I heard a sniffle or two, and one hand gripped my shirt tightly. I could feel her fingertips digging in as she struggled to control her emotions.
“I'm fine, Cathy,” I said again, as reassuringly as I could. Another sniffle and her hand relaxed a bit, loosening its grip.
“Your life is going to be a LOT more complicated now, and I did that to you, James,” Cathy said softly.
Her breathing relaxed a bit more, but she stayed pressed against me. She gestured vaguely toward the living room's window. “In almost exactly 48 hours, the moon's gonna rise, and you're going to have your first shift, and in that overwhelming moment, when you first feel the moon, and you feel all the power it has, your old life is over.”
“Honestly, it feels like I could change right now, if I wanted to,” I told her. Simply thinking about it for a moment made my cock throb. Two days, and I would be FREE! My mind thrilled at the idea, only for me to realize that wasn't exactly my opinion, but the emotion of the animal that was growing inside me.
“But what if I didn't look at the moon?” I asked her. “Would it still happen?” Even as I asked the question, I could feel an overwhelming revulsion in my mind. The concept of avoiding the true full moon's light was repellent. Involuntarily, my mouth twisted into a grimace. It was like I'd said the most horrific and offensive racial slur that anyone could think of.
Cathy giggled softly. “I'm sorry, James,” she said as she stifled her laughter. “That's so adorably naive of you.” She pulled away, taking my hand in hers and leading me to the couch, lightly pulling me down to sit beside her.
“So it would still happen?” I asked.
Cathy shrugged. “Our animal natures would never allow us to find out. During most of the waning phases, and up to the first half of the waxing phases, our human sides are generally stronger. We can have that illusion of a normal life. But as the full moon approaches, the wolf gets much stronger, and it's SO MUCH STRONGER, James,” she shuddered, and a smile graced her face. Despite how little light there was in the room, I could see the glimmer in her eyes of feral nature. The intoxicating smell of her skin seemed to amplify. My heart started to hammer.
“When the sun sets, even in the absence of the full moon, instinct starts to dominate, and the wolf stirs,” she said with a sultry tone. She slipped a leg over mine and climbed onto me,pressing my shoulders back against the couch. Her lips traced my neck and she let out a soft growl in my ear as she nipped my earlobe. My senses were on fire; it was overwhelming. I could feel the wolf inside me, still restrained, but growing stronger. Her scent was all over me, and I was painfully erect.
“And you might tell yourself that you'd fight it, and you might actually succeed for a bit..but James, let me tell you,” she softly cooed in my ear. “It feels so good to just let go.” She rolled her hips, grinding against my leg. I could smell her wetness through her clothes. And while it only contained a hint of the animal, and was nowhere nearly as strong as the estrus I had first smelled during our encounter in the garage, it was still enticing and intoxicating.
“Mmmhh...grrrrrrr...” she moaned and growled as she grinded herself harder against me. She grabbed my face, forcing it to stare past her, out the window to where the gibbous moon glowed as she continued to work herself into a frenzy. “Look at it, James..” she demanded. “You can feel it's call already, can't you?”
The moon drew my gaze, seeming to grow until that's all I could see. All I saw was the light; all I heard was her moans and growls; all I could smell was the bitch in the room. I could feel my muscles tensing, wanting to swell and grow. My shirt felt rough and foreign on my skin. My shoes felt too confining. For a moment, I thought I was changing, and was elated, only to realize it had been an illusion.
“Don't..don't you want it, J-James?” Cathy asked, gasping as she neared a climax.
“Yes!” I said, feeling myself almost to a point of bursting. Cathy rolled her hips faster and faster, bringing her to a shuddering orgasm with a wordless moan. Her thighs contracted on my leg and she collapsed against me. Her body pressed tightly against mine as she panted, getting my clothes damp with her sweat, covering me in the sweet aroma of a barely-contained she-wolf.
She seemed to gain control over herself, and she climbed back off of me, biting her lip rather self-consciously. “Like I..uhh..said,” she stammered, “The wolf gets REALLY strong after sundown this time of the month. And the level of presence you have is just..WOW.”
“My level of what now?” I asked. It was hard to concentrate with her smell so thickly on me, and my cock so hard. Plus she'd got me focusing on the moon, which was just enticing me, filling my head with thoughts of the coming change.
“Your presence. I suppose you might call it your vibe, or your aura. It's strong. It's honestly way stronger than what I'd have expected. Hell, I should barely be able to feel it at all, since you've never changed, and once that DOES happen..LORDY.”
“So..is that a good thing?” I asked.
She considered it for a moment. “It's a thing, James. And it's definitely going to affect you. It means that the animal side of you is incredibly strong willed, and generally means that you're a strong werewolf when you transform. I've seen it a couple times in natural-born werewolves that I've run across. It means you're not a beta...you're an alpha, and it's going to be something that every werewolf you ever meet will be able to tell, the moment they meet you. Probably at least some other shifters, too. Maybe even other non-shifter supernaturals. It's...wow. It's incredibly powerful, that presence of yours.” She looked a bit flustered, and judging by her scent getting a bit more pronounced, at least somewhat turned on.
Even as I felt myself getting aroused again (and becoming acutely aware of the danger of blueballs), my mind focused on something else she said. “An alpha? Does that mean the same thing to werewolves as it does to the rest of the world? Like..pack leader?”
“It would if you weren't afflicted with this condition,” Cathy glumly said. “We're misfits. We don't get packs. The others won't have us.”
Suddenly, I was boiling with a foreign rage out of nowhere. It was both me and it wasn't. It welled up inside of me without warning, and my lips curled back and I let out a snarl. Cathy shuddered hard, closed her eyes and immediately groped her chest with a gasp. “I will NOT be denied my dominion,” I said, and again, it was both me and it wasn't. The voice was mine, but it had a dark edge to it, and even as I heard it, it both awed and frightened me. My eyes were burning. The room suddenly came alive with detail as my vision sharpened.
Cathy gasped again, staring at me in shock. “James...your eyes!” she said, leaning over to stare into them. “I can see the wolf!” Her scent suddenly elevated again as she leaned closer. I could tell from the glimmer in her own that Fang was watching as well.