‘Good work, Lou,’ Warwick yelled from the other stand. Louis snapped out of his trance.
Warwick threw him a few gold coins. ‘Go get yourself some lunch. The food stalls are over there.’
Louis wandered over to the food stalls. It was only when he got there that he realised how hungry he was. He craved meat and they had all different kinds cooking over open flames. The smells of beef and mutton were intoxicating, but there was one in particular that attracted him. It was familiar, yet he couldn’t place it, so he followed his nose to the stall at the very end.
It was chicken. They were cooking chicken. And as he took one, deep sniff, he forgot himself for just a second.
His whole body spasmed. Or rather, shifted. He was brought back to earth with a jolt. But something was wrong. He couldn’t stand upright anymore and his clothes didn’t seem to fit. He felt different.
He hurried away, quickly darting into the narrow space between two buildings. Now out of sight, he took a look at himself. At a glance, nothing seemed amiss. Except his trousers were a little looser and his tunic a little tight. He ran his hands up and down his body, confirming that has hips didn’t seem as wide, while his chest had ballooned. And then he caught sight of his hands. His fingers were shorter and his fingernails were dark and pointed. And all the way up his arms were coarse, dark hairs, still sparse but much thicker than he was accustomed to.
The wolf in his mind was clawing at the walls. Now it had begun to escape, Louis was struggling to keep it contained. He could just about stop it from advancing but he couldn’t send back what was already free.
‘Hey! Who’s down there?’ yelled a voice from the street.
Louis ran in the other direction, afraid of what someone would do if they saw him like this. The instant he moved, he felt his body shift again, but he couldn’t stop running this time. He felt his nose and mouth push out into a hairless snout and his teeth expand to fill it. He stumbled over his shoes as his feet lengthened and then his whole body shrunk a few inches. It wasn’t much, but with his already narrowing waist, it was what allowed his trousers to fall.
He tripped, but quickly scrambled to his feet, leaving his trousers behind. Now naked from the waist down, he turned the corner and ducked behind the back of building. He wanted to keep running but he needed to stop. He scrunched up his eyes and tried to hold back the wolf in his mind. But it was getting stronger. And he had to know what else had changed.
He opened his eyes and looked down at himself. His tunic covered him like a nightgown, but he could see his bare feet and legs. They were now covered in thick, black fur and his feet had become big padded wolf paws. He was trying to concentrate on undoing the changes, but curiosity was overwhelming him. Apprehensively, he grasped the hem of of his tunic in his pawish hand and lifted it. The fur travelled all the way up his legs, across his hips and over his groin. His cock was now encased in a canine sheath. Almost hypnotised by the sight, he brought down his other paw and tapped the end of it. He shivered. It was his cock all right.
The sensation aroused the beast, causing two appendages to grow in that region. First, a pink nub emerged from the end of his sheath. Then, a long, dark tail shot out of his backside, causing Louis to yelp.
There was no stopping the changes now. There was a shift in his back and Louis fell forward, no longer able to stand on his hind legs. He was engulfed by his tunic, which he frantically shook off of him, no longer aided by thumbs. When he finally got free of it, he was no longer Louis the shepherd. He was a wolf, the very same one he had killed the previous day.
‘What in God’s name…?’
The person who’d spotted him earlier appeared from round the corner. It was a middle-aged woman. She was holding Louis’ trousers and shoes. Her eyes bulged at the sight of him.
‘Wolf!’ she screamed. ‘And I think he’s killed someone!’
Louis whimpered. He ran for it.