The Stray

Nature vs. Me

I've never felt so many emotions in my life. Anger, hatred, repulsion... Sadness, loss, regret... Need, happiness, and... love? And then he spoke as he dressed himself in a large t-shirt and jogging shorts.

"Who are you, rogue? And why are you on Torque lands?" He wasn't snippy. He wasn't angry or even upset. He genuinely wanted to know who I was. But he couldn't. If he knew that I was Lacey Danes, to-be alpha of the Danes Pack and the person he had been hunting... We could never be together. That piece of information made up my mind for me. He would never know my name, and he would never see my human form. The end.

I'm... Jessica. I'm sorry, I wasn't aware that these were your lands. Of course they weren't his lands, they were mine... But I didn't want to upset him.

"Well, Jessica, I'm Garret Torque. Beta and soon-to-be-Alpha of the Torque Pack." He looked at me as if I was supposed to be impressed. I merely nodded and said, Nice to meet you, sir. The words tasted bitter in my mouth. I called him, my enemy, sir. But then again... he was my mate.

"Would you mind changing to your human form?"

Um, yes? I don't have any clothes.

"Oh, here." Without another word, he took off his shirt and held it out, turning around as he did so.

No, no. It's alright. I prefer this form, if you don't mind. He looked startled at my refusal. but blew it off with a shrug. The stag... why did you kill it?

His questioning eyes widened in surprise. "I am sorry if I startled you, I was hunting and I didn't catch your scent. It was a good stag. One of the biggest I've seen around here. What were you doing so close to it?"

I, I don't know. It... breathed something into me. I know it sounds strange, but I got this feeling...

He could sense my unease, and he walked towards me and placed his hand on my head. As he scratched behind my ear, sparks flew through my body. Suddenly, I didn't have control. My wolf took over, and I rubbed myself against him, against his hands and against his legs. I could smell his contentment and his happiness, and the feeling in my chest was indescribable. For the first time since my father died, I felt complete.

LACEY!? I didn't expect Jack to ruin the moment. Jack... JACK! He wasn't my mate! Did he... lie to me? I wasn't experienced with the opposite sex, so it's possible that all of the things I felt were just attraction, but-

"Lacey? I thought you said your name was... Lacey, Lacey? As is... Lacey Danes?" Garret backed away from me, staring at his hand like it had betrayed him.

It's not- I'm not- Please... You can't! The happiness inside me turned to fear in anticipation of what he might do to me. But then I relaxed when he looked guilty and sad. It was short-lived as he soon bristled in anger as Jack came up behind me. I, being the nonviolent idiot that I am, was terrified. My entire body was prepped to run, and my breathing sped up. My mate... My mate didn't like me. The thought hit me like a blow to the stomach, and I was even more distressed than I was before. I was panicking, and it wasn't pretty. I backed away with wide eyes, and then I saw it... Gold. My eyes turned from the blue I knew to a gold that resembled the stag's breath. Pain overtook me, and I felt the transformation this time. Only, I wasn't standing on two legs, much to my surprise. Judging by their fearful eyes, the boys weren't expecting it either. I felt my snout thicken and elongate, my toes and paws turn into one solid mass each, my tail shorten, and my antlers grow. ANTLERS?

I was a stag. The transformation finished, and I did what the inner stag told me to do when faced with two werewolves... Run.

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AN: I KNOW IT'S SHORT :( I just had to get that out of the way... So I was listening to my Two Steps From Hell Pandora station while I wrote this, and Dovahkiin (the Skyrim theme song) came on xD