Sweet Jane

{Nine}

© Amber Kalkes 2014

 Song--------------}

{Nine}

The pain slowly begins to fade as my joints begin to relax. Taking in a deep breath of cold air I feel it sting my lungs delightfully. I pop open one eye and then the other before blinking hard a few times to get the sting out of my eyes. Everything is really clear to make out but I can tell that it’s dark out. Cold is brushing up against my stomach and I realize I’m lying down.

I rise up to my feet but instead of rising on two feet I rise up on four. Four? I look down and let out a series of barks. Barks? Oh my god! Am I fucking barking? Oh my galaxy I have paws! Four fucking silver gray paws! Then I go cross-eyed and see that also have a muzzle. I goddamn fucking muzzle!

“Uh…Jane?”

What? Who’s talking to me?

I look up and see a man with light brown hair and light green eyes. He looks worried, shocked and a little afraid. For some reason this really bothers me. I sniff the air and inhale Barley and mint.

Gavin. Brother. Safe.

Gavin? Oh my god, my brother! I go to talk to him but all that comes out is another series of barks. I stop barking instantly and look up at Gavin with confusion mixed with my own fear. This is so weird, this is really, really weird and freaky and weird. What the hell is going on!

“Jane…you…you turned into a wolf.” He says slowly crouching down about five feet away. His eyebrows are furrowed while he offers me a hand.

Instincts drive me now as I slowly tread over to him and stick my muzzle in his hand. I hear him let out a shaky but relieved breath before he begins petting my head. It feels nice as well comforting in the turmoil that is my head in the moment. I let out a low whine and Gavin wraps his arms around my neck.

“It’s all right, Janey, We’ll figure this out, okay?” he whispers into my head.

A foreign smell hits my nostrils then and I yank myself from Gavin’s arms before letting out a vicious snarl at the person coming towards us. The man, a copper haired man with wide blue eyes and a tall skinny frame stops dead in his tracks. He holds up both hands in a submissive action before peeking up at me from under his lashes.

I inhale deeply again, pumpkin spice.

Sid. Pack. Safe.

Sid, I think relaxing my protective stance in front of Gavin. Gavin begins petting my head but I lie on my belly and let out another low whine to tell Sid I’m sorry. Sid also relaxes so he doesn’t look like he’s about to shit a brick before cautiously coming over to me as well. He stays about two feet away as he too sits on the snow dusted ground. He offers me his hand as well and I crawl on my belly over to him before licking his hand.

He makes a disgusted sound making a face, “Ah ew, Jane!”

Gavin chuckles from beside me, “Good to know her personality hasn’t changed.”

Sid pets my head as Gavin begins petting my back. It’s nice but that voice in my head tells me this isn’t what we want. We want someone else to be petting us, someone who is too far away from us. The voice in my head lets out a low animalistic whine, much like the ones I’ve been making.

“How did this happen?” Sid wonders aloud.

Gavin seems to consider it for a second before answering, “Could have been the animal attack, you know the one after the accident.”