Instinct of the Wild

anxiety

The next two days flew by swiftly, however I could feel the anxiety of my imminent escape haunting me during every moment. I couldn't even escape my fantasies in my dreams - visions of me jumping through windows, being chased by wolves who rabidly bit at my heels...

Their silhouettes of molten duns and various shades of grays hounding me like dogs on the scent of a wild boar. I was panting, sweating; the liquid pooling from my hairline and my chest. My bare feet flinging divots up behind me. My heart was hammering in my chest, causing a rush of dizziness to sizzle up my body like hot coals. I felt myself slowing, and the pain of the teeth at my heels increased. I could feel the sting of their canines biting into my ankles and the dampness of their drool as their snapping chops nearly clamped onto my calves.

I screamed as daggers drove into my leg and I fell face first into the ground.

That was when I would wake up, sweating and panting, drenched in sweat. And I would spend ten minutes trying to regulate my heartbeat before I went downstairs to the kitchen. Upon going downstairs, I would sit at the table with Jazzmine, eat food, and then wander around the house and visit the garden.

It was nothing special - just a few herbs and some flowers. None that I knew. Jazzmine had told me the names of some of them, but I hadn't cared enough to listen.

Jazzmine and I talked quite a bit. About Sult, about my old pack... about her sister. She told me a great many things about her sister's heat. About what might happen to me if Conri ever got to me.

Jazzmine had been one of three in her litter - a normal litter size for our kind. She and her sister were virtually identical, and her brother had been the runt. She said that her litter had been one of the last before the pandemic of infertility spread through our women. We discussed that as well - the infertility in women. No one was positive as to why it happened or how to fix it; however, we've acknowledged the fact that so few of our women were going through heat.
         Yet, the symptoms of the women who were in fact going through heat had increased tenfold, and their scents were rumored to pollute the air for miles around. Some theorized it was so that it would attract the most worthy male, and weak bloodlines would be culled so that only the strongest lineages would survive to repopulate the packs. Other than Armen's children, there had been no others born to our pack for a generation. Even Armen had been seen as incredibly respected for producing his brood.

So far we came to the conclusion that I would be trapped breeding for at least a week straight, and I'd likely be round with his child by the end of the month.

           There was nothing either Jazzmine or I could think of that would help me prepare for this exhausting week to come.

"Have ya done it before?" Jazzmine asked during a brief moment of silence.

"Done what?" I tapped my fingers lazily against the countertop.

Jazzmine gestured clumsily with her hands, "Y'know, have ya done it before-- had sex?"

Heat flooded my cheeks and I cleared my throat, "Well... erm... I haven't had... y'know, all the way. I've made out when I was younger."

"I see..." She looked at me intensely before parting her mouth to continue, "How old are ya now?"

"Eighteen--just barely." I answered.

         She eyed me quizzically before shoving away from the counter. "Come, Valentin is expecting us soon."

         I recoiled at the name but stood up to follow her nonetheless. Why would that swine want to see me? Didn't he have enough to gloat about?