Transmute | Emmett Cullen

4. Wolves

"Ugh."

I dropped the last card board box outside the cabin and wiped my hands on the back of my jeans. The whole 'finishing unpacking the boxes' turned out to be two long grueling hours of doing most of the unpacking and dealing with Jack's stupid comments every time I bugged him about doing the work. I loved Jack, but he was an annoying meathead sometimes.

Thank god that was the last box, though. I was getting anxious about meeting the other shifters and wouldn't take no for an answer now that we had finished. With my boots still strapped on my feet, I stomped up the stairs and into the cabin, snatching the keys to the truck.

I dangled them around my pointer finger. "Come on, Jack. I'm leaving with or without you and I have the keys. I'm driving."

Jack appeared from the kitchen, snorting. "Like hell you will," he said as he snatched the keys from me. "You don't have a driver's license. I don't think so."

"Well I'd be able to drive if you actually let me take classes," I shot back as Jack pulled on his boots and locked up the cabin. He climbed into the driver's seat of the black truck as I jumped into the passenger's seat. "Or even a permit. But nooo, you won't let me."

Just as he started the truck, he gave me a pointed look. "Olivia you trashed the last car we had when I decided to teach you how to drive. I'm not letting you even think about climbing into this seat with the keys in your hand."

I scrunched up my nose, crossing my arms against my chest as Jack began to drive out of the long, winding driveway. Just before Edward and Emmett left, they handed us a folded paper with instructions to get to the meeting place. It wasn't exactly at a house, but in a small field in the forest on the Quileute reservation. We'd have to ditch the truck on the side of the road and shift from there.

But, of course, we'd have to carry our clothes on our backs because we'd have to shift back when we got the meeting point. None of us were mind-readers except the obvious person. It was a shame he wasn't allowed on their lands.

It took no longer than fifteen minutes to get to the point where we'd have to ditch the truck. But of course, since the truck was fairly new, Jack wanted to drive down the trail until it was hidden from sight. The trail was only small enough to fit a single truck, barely big enough for our truck to fit. Jack was stubborn, though, and wouldn't listen.

I jumped out the truck while it was still moving, ignoring Jack's calls, and walked a ways away from him until I was out of sight. Then I began stripping myself of my clothes while glancing around me for anyone else – particularly Jack. When I was sure I was alone, I hunched down on my hands and knees before shifting.

A shiver of heat and a second later, I was the large black and white dog. Of course I could have chosen to be any other animal – a wolf, a giraffe, a horse even. But the black and white dog was my shifter self and I hated to shift into any other animal. Gathering my clothes with my mouth, I trotted back to the truck where a gray wolf was waiting for me.

Jack.

His shifter self was a gray wolf with dark eyes. We made quite the pair when we were shifting together. A wolf with a dog. How odd could that have been? But I suppose it could have been worse. One of us could have been a chicken or a cat. That would have been even weirder.

It made me laugh, but the laugh came out sounding like a choked bark. Jack eyed me but I shook my head, silently telling him it was nothing. He'd ask about it later if he was that curious.

And then we were off, running in the direction the note told us to. We were side by side, running with our paws digging into the dirt. It was a wonderful feeling when I was running with Jack at my side – or any other shifter. It was a bone-deep feeling that I knew was simply right, running with other shifters. But the only shifter left in my life was Jack.