Page 43 of Runaway Wolf
“I saw the wolf in the trees. I thought it was you. Your wolf is dark also. And I’ve seen your eyes, they glowed the same color.”
“My wolf is dark, but with an ash undertone. Charcoal. His is–was–black. Also, I look darker at night. Almost black.”
“He’s dead?” she asked, taking a chomp out of a chicken wing.
“Hell, yeah,” Amos said, from across the living room where he’d just sat. “Isaac kicked his ass. And then, when they were without an alpha, we wiped out the entire pack.”
“So I guess they couldn’t have reported our relationship anyway, huh?”
Too little, too late. She never would have been forced to change.
“It’s on!” Misty yelled, making herself heard over the din of the guys. She reached for the remote, turning the volume up.
“—and now for the breaking news you’ve been waiting for. We have exclusive footage of the actual process of a human-turned-shifter, provided by none other than Governor Montgomery’s own daughter, Penelope Elizabeth Montgomery. Not many people know, Penelope—”
“—Penny, please.” Her sister’s face popped up in a dual screen remotely, opposite the news anchor.
The woman smiled. “Penny. Not many people know that you were one of the first humans to be affected by the new Turn Limitations Act, put into place by your own father, Governor Roland Montgomery.”
“That’s right. I’d fallen in love with a wolf shifter before Turn Limitations was introduced.”
“And your father, Governor Montgomery, was aware of the relationship between you and him when he introduced the bill, correct?”
“That is correct. I was in contact with my father, explained the risks of humans being forced into a change, and begged him not to back the bill.”
“He chose to do it anyway?”
Penny nodded sadly. “He chose to anyway.”
“But I’m a little confused. At the time you contacted us and said you’d like to air this story, it was set for next spring. This is a little early–”
“Because, unfortunately, this isn’t quite my story. Not yet. You see, my sister, Caitlin, came for a visit. This is her story, and these images you see might very well be the last pictures of her ever taken.”
“Your sister? She’s also on staff, right? Is she okay? Was it planned?”
“Not at all. She was attacked by someone and forced to change. Thankfully, she survived the initial bite, but as you can tell, it’s still touch and go. This is the process that I explained to my father, and it’s very possible that he could still lose one or both of his children.”
“Dear God, Penny, I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for you, for your sister, for the rest of the humans that will be in this heartless, sickening boat because of Turn Limitations. Now, to explain things further, the new law has two parts. Not only does it restrict a shifter’s rights to turning only one person in their lifetime, but the second part of the law is even more damning. It forces a human partner to get bitten by their significant other, whether they want to turn shifter or not. They have no choice. And the consequences? I’ll let Penny answer.”
“Being bitten, not born, is not a guaranteed shift. A bite is a forced change, and the consequences of a forced change are detrimental. It’s nature’s own population control. Otherwise, the world would have been overrun with shifters by now, right? So really, we don’t need humans to create laws to intervene. A bitten person doesn’t get the luxury of being born with a dual being already inside of them. Instead, their animal is created from scratch. When a shifter is created, the animal doesn’t grow from a cub or a pup. It’s a fully mature adult who doesn’t get training or doesn’t even want to get along with its human counterpart. It wants to own the skin completely, which is instinctual. An animal has instincts and doesn’t want to feel and think. Therefore, an adult shifted animal has a harder time being trained. Now, the problem lies in that this takes time. A person has to be primed, has to be comfortable with shifters and the differences in law and lifestyle. When a change is forced, you don’t have time to become acclimated. That causes a higher death rate among the newly shifted because the wolf and human personalities basically kill each other. I’ll have an easier transition than Caitlin did because I’m trying to acclimate, if somewhat quickly. Caitlin? She had no chance. Her change was a complete, unwilling shock.”
The screen rolled to a shot of Caitlin vomiting into a bucket. After dry heaving, she looked up at the person filming. Her eyes weren’t human, but completely wolf. They were ice blue, and glowed with the inner light of the animal.
Caitlin gasped. It was odd seeing the proof of herself as something else other than human.
“Caitlin’s consciousness isn’t human here. Already, the wolf is at odds with her human counterpart because of the vomiting. She-devil, as we nicknamed her, considers the humanportion weak for not being able to hold it in. The animal doesn’t realize the body is taxed and belongs to both of them. So, it forced a change whenever it got upset.”
The shot switched again to Caitlin’s horrific change. The first one, taken outside by the outdoor cameras, maybe the doorbell camera.Even though it was dark out, and editing blurred out the naked portions of the shifted pack members, Caitlin was lit up by the porch light. She was screaming, thankfully the sound was silenced.
It was obvious when her spine broke. The loud pop could almost be heard, her stillness obvious after the collapse, and Penny’s shaking shoulders from her sobs were the only movement. Everyone else from the pack stared in frozen disbelief.
“Here, we didn’t know if the shift would be able to heal this injury. We were all aware that Caitlin could be paralyzed from a broken back. Imagine the animal’s resentment if it wouldn’t be able to move. There would be a slim chance of survival for my sister.”
“Oh, my God,” the news anchor murmured, her face locked into a mask of pity.
Hair sprouted in spots on her arms and legs, and she was begging Isaac to bite her.
“What’s she saying?” asked the anchor.
