The Bad Girl in Boots

Revealing the Wolf - edited

We wander down to where SCT took place, which turned out to be a huge clearing in the forest, easily big enough for 100 students to fit comfortably. There were only 30 students in the class, and Kaylee explained that often mentors take their 'apprentices', as they were called, out into the forest for various exercises. I stop suddenly and grab Kaylee's elbow, yanking her back to my side as we near the clearing. The sound of chattering floats towards us from the students already warming up. "Kaylee... Will we have to shift in front of everyone?"

"Well, yeah, they make us do it every year so everyone recognises everyone else's wolves." There is a pause. "Why?" I stay silent, staring at the floor. "Oh!."

I look up. "Yeah, oh. I don't even know if I can shift! Even if I could..." I lower my voice. "I don't want people to treat me differently just because I'm a white wolf." I end in a whisper.

Kaylee frowns slightly. "I guess you could talk to the teacher, or refuse to shift, or pretend you can't, but to be perfectly honest, I think that would draw more attention than you being a white wolf."

I sigh. "I'll just try and shift. It'll come out eventually anyway, may as well get it over with now." She gives me a sympathetic smile and rubs my shoulder. I allow myself to be distracted by the dust kicked up under our feet as we walk.

When we enter the clearing, about a dozen people are already there, stretching or doing pulse-raisers. People turned to look at me and Kaylee, and nudged each other, whispering. I knew that in SCT, we were ranked throughout the term and year, and just assumed they were checking out the competition. I started stretching, using the warm up I would for kick-boxing. Soon, a girl came up to us, shooting me a glare, before grabbing Kaylee roughly, and dragging her a few feet away. I sent a sweet smile her way before carrying on stretching. I heard a few chuckles at my reaction, and a big guy came wandering up to me. "Don't mind Chloe, she just has a massive crush on Hunter, much like all the girls here." he smirks. "I'm Mark." He puts out his hand, and I shake it. I immediately get the same sharp shock up my arm as I did with Jake. Am I full of electricity today or what?

"And why would that make her hate me?" I ask.

He snickers, smirks again and then turns back to me. "No reason... You're gorgeous, by the way." He winks. Before I can react, I hear a very loud growl behind me. One guess who it is. "Back off, Lambrick." Hunter snarls. The boy's eyes widen. He obviously hadn't spotted Hunter, and he was regretting his words now as Hunter stalked past me, shoulders tense and back tight. His eyes are black, and his hair is wet from the shower, and I'd be lying if the sight of him didn't send heat shooting to my core. I place a hand on his sculpted forearm. "Hey, it's OK. I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it." I say and shoot a pointed look towards the boy.

"She's right, sorry, Alpha." he stutters. Alpha? What does that mean?

"Well, make sure it doesn't happen again." Hunter says tersely. The boy nods and scurries off, much less confident than he had been 5 minutes ago. Hunter watches him go and then turns to me, cupping my cheek. "Are you OK?" I smack his hand away and scowl at him.

"I'm fine. I could have handled that myself. I'm not fragile. You didn't have to make a scene and scare the poor kid out of his mind." I huff. His eyes turn blue immediately, and his walls come down. I see him slowly scan my body, and my clothing and his eyes darken before he turns away. I hadn't noticed, but the teacher had arrived, and called all the mentors to him. "Right! Gather round everyone!" he yells. "Today, I will pair you up with your mentors, but first, I need to see all your wolves! Go behind a tree and shift. Then, come back out here and we'll all line up in wolf form." I shoot a panicked glance at Kaylee, but she is distracted by a classmate

Just imagine your wolf. Hunter's voice says in my head.

Hunter?

Yes. Now go find a tree.

I turn and jog to a big fir a few meters from the edge of the clearing. I crouch behind it, close my eyes and imagine a white wolf in my head. I feel a strange rush off power flow through my body, and suddenly I could smell the moss on the tree beside me. My eyes slid open I could see every tiny detail of the trunk of the tree in front of me. It was incredible. Then, I heard shuffling to my left. I whipped my head round. A rabbit sifted through the leaves at the bottom of a pine. I had the strange urge to pounce on it.

I looked to the ground and saw paws. I had shifted. I yipped with delight, pleased with the ease of my success. I looked around the fir, realizing everyone else was waiting for me. I reluctantly stepped out of the treeline and heard and audible gasp from everyone there. They all stared at me in shock, except Hunter and Kaylee. Hunter looked at me with pride and joy, and Kaylee just looked excited. Hunter  bounded over to me, shifting mid-stride and skidding to a stop at my side, almost crashing into me. He reached his nose over, stopping suddenly, like he was unsure whether to do something. He paused for a few seconds, before looking me in the eyes and slowly, carefully, as if to see if I would pull away, he licked my cheek, then rested his head on top of mine. I suddenly couldn't seem to help myself. Apparently I had less control over my wolf's instincts when in physical wolf form. I nuzzled my head into his chest, and we pressed tighter together, his tail sweeping round to rest behind me. I fidgeted uncomfortably as I noticed that everyone was watching us, including Chloe. Actually, Chloe looked like she wanted to rip my throat out. I then realised that I could recognise everyone in wolf form. Kaylee's wolf was stunning, a deep red just like her gorgeous hair, and she had dark red, almost black points around her paws, tip of her tail and muzzle.

You're beautiful too. Even more so. Hunter's voice was in my head again.

I purred in pleasure at the compliment but then started, blinking at him. What? How did you know what I was thinking?

I could see the way you were looking at her and I felt it- you'll understand in a few days.

I was confused but right now, there was a more pressing matter. How can you speak in my head at all?

I- It's just something we can do. he stuttered. I knew he was holding something back, but right now I couldn't bring myself to care.

OK. I purred, pressing against his chest again as the teacher called attention back to him.