Unwavering devotion [Complete, 18+]

CHAPTER 2: HEIGHTENED SENSES

MY WOLF HAD RISEN TO THE SURFACE AND MY EYES DILATED EVEN FURTHER the sclera changing colour to the light amber of my wolf. My senses heightened further as I felt my teeth and nails lengthen. I dug my extended nails into my leg to stop me from transforming further as exposure, ingrained since birth, wasn't an option. The heady smell of damp leaves and wood made my nostrils flare, and my wolf's shouting climaxed. I felt his need to race through the trees, the ground giving slightly under our passage as we sped through his natural environment.

The forest smelt familiar but I couldn't pinpoint where I recognised it but that was no surprise. After our pack was attacked, I was constantly on the move with my sister trying to avoid being noticed, keeping on the outskirts of towns often meaning that we spent a lot of time in woods. We had travelled for years, barely a teenager at the start I was forced to grow up quickly to take care of my younger sister. I didn't resent her for it though as she had little memory of our old pack or loving parents: the good easy times that I always had taken for granted.

"Hey are you alright?" The guard asked the sound so loud in my heightened state. My head automatically swivelled to face the sound and he recalled slightly. A large bump as the van rolled over something on the road broke our gaze and made my small pile of possessions fall to the floor. I closed my eyes trying to calm down, to shut down my senses and eventually I managed it. Promising to go for a very long run as soon as Nikki was safe was the only thing which made him recede. Feeling my teeth and nails shorten I released my thighs the cuts already healing. In control once more I opened my eyes, the darkness limiting my vision without my wolf's more advanced vision. My stomach growled and I regretted finishing my food supply so early on. I didn't have much time to suffer through though as we slowed down and I picked up the exchange of paperwork being handled by the driver. We had arrived. Eager to get out and stretch from the confinement my leg taped against the floor. We entered the compound and eventually rolled to a stop and the engine was turned off.

The driver's door slamming shut before heavy footfalls fell on the ground. They came closer until they reached the back door and it was unlocked, the click so loud. The door suddenly opened and I recalled from the light that flooded the back, temporarily blinding my eyes. A breeze entered the back bringing with it a smell that was ten times more tempting than the forests. Cutting off my smell completely to stop the shift before it had a chance to start I wondered just what that scent could belong to as it had me salivating just from the memory of it.

The metal separation was unlocked followed by the handcuff attached to the metal bar which was rapidly attached to my other wrist. Rolling my shoulders from their stiff position, I stood up, limited from the van ceiling, and exited the dreaded vehicle. Glancing around at my new home for the next year at least, I noticed the great similarities between my old one. The bleak metal on concrete after all didn't exactly encourage warm feelings. The towers fitted with spotlights and armed guards looked down on us and the surrounding area, the men ready to shoot at anything that didn't stop on command at any time of the day or night.

"This way," one of the men whose stubble was already starting to show, ordered expecting me to follow as he strode out towards an entrance. Stretching out as I walked behind the shorter human, my muscles stiff from staying in such a fixed position. Another guard followed behind me, but I just ignored him assessing the flaws in the defences that I could easily conquer. In the distance outside the layers of fences, identified as electric, I could make out a thick forest which stretched out for miles. Smiling at the scenery which was a spectacularly pleasant change from the last one which didn't even have any form of green in human sight. Facing forward I observed the slight limp the man before me tried to hide as he walked. To the human eye it would have been well hidden and I wondered why he was hiding it when it clearly pained him as he exhaled sharply every time he placed it down.