Haunting Howls

The Judges Bargain

Alex's POV

Macie was asleep as I carefully placed her onto her mattress, hair askew and mouth parted. I smiled at her softly, silently stepping out of the room. My body was adjusting fast; I didn't feel clumsy and my words came out without hesitation. Luckily my mother allowed me my scent and vision to remain.

   I was missing several normal parts to my being, though, such as a tail. That is what I missed the most. Call it ridiculous, but my tail was fun to have. My new form was accommodating but not perfect. It felt awkward and out of proportion. My ethereal being could transition from wolf to human as well, but it felt more natural than this. At least it looked the same, which was comforting. Marie's form had felt the same, but it was familiar. I am a mental being, so the constant strain of physicality was frustrating. I've never felt this tired before.

Macie was lucky, she still had her body and her mind. As she slept, I paced in front of her art. No, our art. I helped create them. Sometimes the line between me and her was blurred, we couldn't tell whose idea belonged to who after a while. We were both two parts to one being. It hurt me slightly when I felt the gap where Macie's conscious was supposed to be. Then it came to me in full force suddenly, like someone flipped on a light switch.

Macie and I were the same. My human, the one I swore to protect, had half of her mind ripped away. I staggered backwards into the coffee table, horrified. I could handle the pain of being incomplete, she however, was only mortal.

I snapped my head towards the ceiling and allowed my teeth to sharpen and my temper to flare. My anger grew hotter and hotter, like an ember being fed by kindling. This fire wouldn't be easily contained.

"Mother, you listen here! Damn it, put me back! I don't care about her being the Lotus wolf, she is my human! I love her like a littermate, and you have dared to harm her. I will not fight your battles." I spoke in Ulven tongue, brutish snarls and grunting emerging from my throat. It hurt, sacred languages are not meant for mortal bodies. I reminded myself that I am not mortal. And Macie needed me.

There was no response. Just my laboured breathing and the silent hum of traffic beneath the window. The walls looked sinister, normal white turned dark grey under Night's hand. The furniture seemed older and the faces of the paintings seemed to mock me.

"Outcast." The eyes sneered.

"Renegade." The dark cackled.

"Hopeless. Weak. Foolish. Liar." This was the song belted by the choir of the judges, their voices ringing inside my ears. My fangs retreated into my gums and my body curled into itself. I shook my head and quaked in the light of the dark, the truth dragged out from the lies. I wasn't crazy. This was Mother reminding me of what I have done.

This is my redemption.

That's why I was assigned to Macie. It was a chance at fixing my mistakes.

I decided to take a mental walk down memory lane, so I closed my eyes and played back my memories. Perhaps some reassurance laid in my past.

I was an established member of the Luna's Society. We were a special group, direct descendants from the Goddess. Of course all wolves are her children, but there are only a handful birthed on a full moon from her own womb. The rest are born in nurseries where the Goddess places them in female wolves' bodies.

        As a pup, I was adventurous and loved to paint. Besides that, I was brilliantly skilled with people and reading. I was also a bit of a trickster, one of my most famous pranks including a stampede of wild zebras and very green capital building which was normally white. My wit was because of my advantage with education. Regular wolves were taught how to hunt and protect but never really did anything else. A few knew how to control a human form, normally reserved for Higher class. I never found these laws fair and did my best to change them.