Page 109 of Rocky Top

He stopped near the creek that ran behind the clubhouse. Now, it felt sacred. Like something old lived in these woods. Something waiting for me.

Rocky turned to face me, eyes dark and full of fire. “You sure?”

“No,” I said, breathing deep. “But I wanna be.”

That made him smile.

We undressed. He stepped behind me, his hands on my hips, his mouth at my ear. “You’re gonna feel it in your chest first,” he whispered. “Then everywhere.”

I nodded, lips parting as the ache deepened.

“Let it come,” he said. “Don’t fight it. You were made for this.”

And then it hit.

My knees buckled, and I dropped, gasping.

My skin went hot, then cold, then hot again. Bones stretched. Muscles twitched. My whole body felt like it was being rewired. My vision blurred, then sharpened into something beyond human. I could see every leaf, every insect, every fleck of dust in the moonlight.

The shift came slower this time, less violent, more… fluid. My bones still cracked, sure, and my skin still burned as fur pushed through, but it felt like a rite of passage instead of a punishment.

“Rocky,” I gasped, but it came out in a yapp.

“I’m right here.”

He shifted beside me, his body unraveling into gray and shadow and fur. He didn’t scream, just moved, graceful as breath, until the man I loved was a wolf the size of a damn bear, with eyes like sunrise.

I looked down.

My hands were paws.

“Oh, hell,” I muttered in my head. I heard Rocky laughback.

We’re linked now, came his voice, inside me, not with words, but a feeling that lit up my spine like fireworks. I got you.

The forest sang around us. The pack was near, I could feel them in the distance, wolves I hadn’t met yet, all of ‘em calling to me in some deep, ancient language my new body understood.

“Alright, Sunshine. Let go,” his voice came from the inside.

We touched noses, just for a second. It felt like kissing. Maybe it was.

Then we ran.

I hit the dirt on all fours, panting as the forest exploded into color and scent and sound. I could hear bugs burrowing under bark. Smell the deer half a mile off. Feel the heat of Rocky’s wolf beside me, it’s fur the color of stone in sunlight.

We weren’t just bodies moving through trees.

We were beasts.

Soon, we were a pack as we met up with other wolves. Somehow, I recognized the men and women from the club. Together we tore through the forest like wildfire, leaping logs and splashing through the creek. Rocky stayed close, flank to flank, always aware of me, always watching. The wind in my fur, the moon overhead, the taste of earth and starlight in my mouth. It was the freest I’d ever felt.

Eventually, we slowed. Rocky led just us back to the ridge above the clubhouse where we could see the firelight glowing in the distance. Music had started up, someone strumming a guitar, voices laughing and shouting. A celebration was brewing.

We shifted back behind a line of thick brush, skin prickling and breath coming hard. I collapsed onto the cool grass, still buzzing from the run. Rocky sat beside me, pulling me close.

“That was…” I struggled to find words. “Unreal.”

He pressed a kiss to my shoulder. “You did perfect.”

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