Short Stories and Drabbles

Werewolf Shifter AU

Bilba tried to make it to the end of class, she really did. It was her last class of the day. All she had to do was get through, meet everyone in the parking lot and go home.

She tried.

Even as the professor's words lost their meaning and faded to a dull drone, even as the nausea got so bad she was afraid to move lest she embarrass herself in front of the entire class.

Her seat was on the bottom row of the amphitheater, a fact that had never bothered her before today. Now, suddenly, she was painfully aware of an entire classroom full of people behind her, surrounding her on all sides, able to see her when she couldn't see them in return.

Her breathing was rapid, and shallow, and her heart was racing in her chest. Black spots danced in her vision and her fingers beat a rapid, staccato beat on the desktop.

It's okay, she told herself firmly. You're okay. Just relax. Just relax, it's fine.

Her vision blurred and she resisted the urge to pull at the collar of her shirt as sudden heat washed over her.

Bilba? The voice in her head caused her to jump in her desk, gaining her a look of disapproval from the professor. Are you all right?

Kili. He was all the way in the back of the class, on the top tier. For him to have noticed something wrong...

I need to leave, she said tightly. I need to go.

All right, he sent back. Give me a second and –

Bilba shook her head and, suddenly, just like that, she needed to go.

She was out of her seat before she'd even registered it, standing up so fast she sent her chair clattering to the floor behind her.

Dimly, she was aware of the professor speaking to her, of Kili in her head, but it was all just nonsense, barely audible through the screaming in her mind.

RUN.

She ran.

Her hands hit the bar of the door and she shoved it open hard enough to send it crashing against the opposite wall.

Then she was outside where the sky was just beginning to dim and a light fog had moved in over the grounds. There was a noticeable chill to the air that brought with it the scent of the trees and earth and outside.

The barest, barest hint of rationality tried to thread its way in, but Bilba was too far gone for it to reach. She lengthened her stride from fast to nearly unnatural. It would draw attention, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

Just past the library, she could see the line of trees that marked the beginning of the forest the university had been built next to. It was why they'd chosen this place to begin with, the ability to have the woods right there, practically at their beck and call.

As much as the wild could be at anyone's beck and call.

She passed the first row of trees and the change came on almost without her noticing. One minute she was running, mentally chafing as her spirit literally tried to outrun her body, and the next she was changing. Fur, the same dark auburn as her hair sprang out along her arms and legs. Her limbs lengthened, and the gloom of the forest vanished as her human vision gave way to eyes that could see in the dark.

A nearly hysterical laugh turned into a howl as four legs took the place of two, the cold vanished under thick fur, and then she was running.