Alexa smiled at me. "I am still hungry," she said. "I never got to get lunch."
"I'd be happy to join you," I said as I smiled back at her.
She scoffed. "No way," she said. "I was just going to get a salad at that deli around the corner." She walked into the kitchen. "But you have a steak in your fridge," she said. Suddenly she stopped. "Wait a minute, how did I know that?" she asked as she turned back to me.
"You could smell it," I said. "It's a side effect of the werewolf, apparently. All of my senses are heightened, I feel stronger and I'm pretty sure I have a little more muscle tone now."
Alexa took stock of herself. "I do feel a little stronger," she admitted. "I don't think I look any more muscular, though. My senses are going kind of crazy. Sight, hearing, smell, everything seems more." She looked down at her chest and frowned slightly. "I think my boobs are bigger." She looked at me again. "What do you think?"
"Um, honestly, I don't know," I said. "This is the only time I've seen you naked."
"Oh, come on, Joey," she said. "I wear form-fitting clothes all the time." She stressed the term "form-fitting," which told me that "tight" was a dirty word.
"Maybe," I said. "I really don't know. We can always fix that with the ring," I said.
"Hmm, I guess so," she said as she turned back to the refrigerator. She opened the refrigerator and took out the steak. As she opened the package she asked, "So what dish do you use to cook..." her voice began to trail as her face indicated she had an idea.
Curiosity got the best of me. "What are you thinking?" I asked.
"You know," she replied, "I've never tasted raw meat before. I've never wanted to. But now...I just have to."
I thought about her words for a moment. I never had a desire to eat raw meat either. I wasn't an animal, after all, I was a human being. Not anymore, however. I was part-animal and the animal part wanted to taste the raw meat.
I could feel the animal instincts building inside of me again. I felt the desire to change again. I didn't really want to because I wanted to have control. Suddenly it felt as if I didn't have control anymore. Was the animal side becoming too strong already?
Finally I blurted, "I wish I could fully control the change at all times in both directions and would not succumb to the will of the animal unless I wish to."
Alexa was taken aback. She looked at me with a bewildered expression. "What was that?" she asked.
"The animal side," I said while I shook my head a few times to clear it out, "it was taking over again. I want to change at will but it seems I couldn't control it entirely."
She held up the steak. "Did this set it off?" she asked.
I nodded. "Yea, I thought about what you said and...it just built up. It's hard to explain," I said.
"Wait a minute," she interjected. "Why isn't that happening to me?" she asked.
It took me a few seconds to remember I didn't explicitly wish for her to change at will, only for her desires to match my own. "I didn't wish it that way, apparently," I answered, "only that you would have the same desires that I would have."
"Oh. So when do I change? When we fuck?" she asked.
I walked over to the counter next to her. "When do you want to change?" I asked.
"I want to change at will, too," she said, which did not surprise me at all. "But I want to have control over it. I don't want to worry about changing in public or something like that."
"OK," I said. "I wish that you could change forms at will and have total control over the change at all times." I waited a few seconds as I continued to look at her. "Well, try to change," I said.
She looked unsure. "But I don't want to right now," she pouted.
"You don't have to change all the way," I retorted. "Just try to start and then push it back."
She was still apprehensive. "What if I can't control it?" she asked.
"I'll take care of that," I said. "I'll just wish you to revert. Just tell me that so that the ring will know it's what you want."
"OK," she said. "If I can't stop it, it's OK for you to change me back." She took a deep breath. "Here I go," she said. She closed her eyes in concentration. I looked closely at her for any evidence of the change starting. "Ooh," she said after a few seconds. "I can feel it coming." She opened her eyes and they were bright amber. "Let me pull it back now," she said with a deeper voice. She closed her eyes again and when she reopened them they were back to normal. "Whoa, that was a rush," she said.
I nodded in agreement. "Yea, that's kind of how it's felt to me," I said. "Let's get working on this steak."
We still used silverware to cut up and eat the steak rather than just biting into it. I was glad to see we retained at least some of our human normalcy. After we finished, Alexa's face brightened up. "I've got an idea!" she exclaimed.