Full Moon

Full Moon: Chapter Seven

My paws hit the ground running before I had even finished the change, having undressed behind a bush for the sake of decency as Caleb had just started to strip won in the open. I heard him follow not long after I did, catching up easily. I pushed myself harder, wanting to be better than he was, leaping effortlessly over a fallen tree ahead of him. 

After a while, our breaths became labored and we slowed, approaching the river bank with pants. Running had always given me a sense of jubilation and now was no different; adrenalin coursed through my veins and made me giddy. 

Caleb looked at me warily through his green eyes as I jumped about like an excited pup, revealing a side of myself to him he had not seen. I calmed myself down and bent down to lap at the cool water, seeing his dark brown reflection in the water as he joined my side. Our flanks brushed which caused my breath to hitch and subtly move sideways away from him. 

He whine softly, moving closer and butting his head against mine softly, almost lovingly. I tried to growl in warning but it came out too soft to have the right impact, sounding more like a squeak more than anything else. Before Caleb could do anything more, a loud crack behind us made my head jolt up and scan the surrounding area, Caleb immediately bristling at my side. I scented the air when I saw no one, but smelt nothing. I looked at the russet brown wolf at my side, cocking my head to the side in question. The crack ran out again, and I ran towards it. 

It must've taken Caleb a few seconds to realize I had taken off, because I heard no sound of him following until he managed to catch up a short while later. It sounded to be coming from our right, but then again the echo made it sound as if it was all around us. I paused and waited, ears attentive to any other sound they might pick up. There was silence. 

Caleb sniffed the air before taking off right, making me dart off after him. He didn't know the territory, and if he ran into the Facilis' territory then we may as well have broken every string alliance we have with them if they scented us over there. The border was coming up shortly, and just as Caleb reached it unknowingly, I tackled him onto the ground from behind, sending us both crashing to the floor. 

He let out a yelp of surprise and rolled onto his back, ready to kick at whatever was attacking him before he saw it was just me and relaxed. I stared down at him pointedly, sniffing the air for any Facilis pack members but finding none. Caleb whined and drew my attention back to where I was standing over him. 

Quickly I got off him, embarrassed at our close proximity as I looked across the borderline for any wolves. Nothing stirred except for a rabbit that darted out, saw us, and ran off as quick as it could. We remained where we were, listening for the noise again for what felt like hours but was probably just a few minutes, until we eventually heard nothing and decided to go back. 

The sun was almost gone when we returned back to the house, changing back into our human forms and clothes as quickly as we could. "What do you think it was?" I asked him, looking out into the forest as he grabbed his shirt from the ground. I chanced a glance at his toned stomach, biting my lift softly before tugging my eyes away. 

"A gunshot maybe?" He asked as he tugged it on over his head, "Have you ever heard anything like that before?" I shook my head and he ran a hand through his tousled hair, sighing as a breeze blew past. 

"Whatever it was is gone now, and I don't think it was in my territory," I said, crossing my arms as the sun finally dipped away and let in the night. I shivered, not from the cold but from what had been happening lately. It crossed my mind to tell Caleb about the white eyed Vampire, but decided against it as it wasn't his issue to sort out and I didn't need him telling me how to run my pack. 

"It could've been in the mountains behind us," Caleb said after a while, surveying the area behind the pack house, "We get mountain lions here, sometimes the Sheriff will send a warning shot if they get too close to the human population."