Turning ✔️

Chapter 20. Hunting

"Very good, Nathan!" William called from where he was perched in the branches. He jumped off of the branch, landing with an elegant thud before walking towards me and embracing my wolf body in a tight hug.

"Now that I know you're proficient in tracking, let's get hunting." He commanded into my ear before shifting on the spot and licking my snout. If I could speak as a wolf, I would have told him I already learned to track and to hunt by myself, but I also didn't have the heart to tell him. He seemed so excited to teach me things.

From beside me, William scratches at the earth with all four of his claws, marking the area with his scent. After doing so, he lifts his head and lets out a loud howl. My wolf responded instantly by itself, joining in on the howl, the noise splitting across the dense forest. We ran for what felt like miles before we stopped, regaining our breaths. As we did so, my eyes locked on the horizon, sensing movement and my body lowered to the ground reflexively.

A small herd of elk was passing through the forest, sending me bolting after them. As if by instinct, my eyes locked on one particular elk that was straying a bit behind the others of its herd. I looked around me for William, but it seems he didn't follow suit. As if sensing my hunting, the creatures began sprinting and split up in different directions. My eyes were zeroed in on the lagging elk and I knew it wouldn't be able to escape me.

As I get closer to the elk, I slow down to a stalking pace, lowering my body to the ground to avoid detection. The elk had stopped and was now foraging around the ground for food. From beyond where the elk stood, I saw a small glint of copper catching my eyes. William was opposite me, in the same position inching himself forward silently.

I took that as a sign I should be doing the same, so I began to slowly creep myself forward as well. As I did so I heard a branch snapping under my paws, causing me to stop dead in my tracks. I looked over to the elk whose head snapped in my direction before it quickly tried to race away. It went in the opposite direction of where I was, straight towards William, before it froze, seeing him and darting in another direction.

Both of us wolves took off after it, with William flanking one side of the elk and I the other. As we chase it down, it serpentines all around and sidesteps us heavily avoiding our attacks. I pulled out in front of the elk, darting back and forth in front of it, causing the elk some confusion. Finally, Will nips at its legs, causing it to jump to avoid his sharp teeth. As it jumps, my teeth are waiting, catching its neck in my strong jaw and I bite down into the warm flesh. Its eyes calmly looked at me, as it accepted the fate. When I unlatched my jaw from the body, the large animal fell lifeless at my paws with one final cry falling from its mouth.

I looked at William, urging him with my head to eat. He eagerly did, and I joined him, taking in my fill of our fresh catch and rolling onto my side with a full belly. After he had finished he came to me, grooming my snout and curling into my body. We laid there together as a warm bundle of silver and white fur, enjoying our first hunt together.

After what felt like too short, William rose to all four paws, pushing his snout under my body to indicate for me to copy him. I did as he urged, and he slowly trotted back in the direction we came. I caught up to him and as we traversed back I could easily follow our scent trail from earlier. We soon came upon the spot where William had scent marked and he shifted human with a bright grin on his face.

"You are a natural. I'm so proud of my mate."

I let out a happy yip and hopped up and down before I also shifted and walked over to him. He batted his long lashes at me as I approached him, my eyes piercing into his. My hand reached out to his face, gently laying my palm against his cheek and caressing it with my thumb. My lips sought his out, brushing gently against his plump lips as he wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into him roughly.

As he pulled me close, my hands found his hair and getting lost in his blonde tresses. As our kiss deepened, his scruffy facial hair rubbed against my face sending shivers down my spine. I let out a soft moan before I pulled back from him, breathing heavy. He growled lowly in response, his hands at my waist, holding me in place.

"We should get back and put our clothes on," I said quietly with a faint blush forming on my cheeks. "Plus I'm a little hungry. Can we get milkshakes from Peggy's please?" I added after my stomach growled audibly. I pouted out my lip and batted my lashes, causing William to let out a chuckle.

"Nathan, we literally just ate, but okay." He said giving me a swoon-worthy grin and pecking my lips once more before he morphed back into his werewolf form.

"Yeah, but...milkshakes," I said as a reply, before copying him and taking off in the direction of where we had left our clothes. I paused after a moment and shifted to a human once more to convey a thought that had just crossed my mind. William halted beside me, turning his big furry head towards me, his copper eyes piercing into me.

"Let's race. If I win, you buy the shakes. If you win, I'll buy.

He shook his head in response and I saw that he was shifting once more, clearly to argue against my deal with him. I didn't give him a chance to counter my offer. "Ready, set....." I shifted before letting out a loud bark before taking off at full speed. I heard him morphing from behind me, but I didn't dare look behind me, I knew he was bounding after me. I was focused on winning this race.

I never said I'd fight fair though, I thought to myself, making me chuckle internally. He was a trained werewolf while I am not even remotely trained. He had the upper hand, I had to fight dirty. From very close behind me I could hear William's giant paws slapping against the forest floor, gaining on me. In front of me was the little clearing with our clothes, I was gonna make it. I was going to win!

As I was closing the distance between the clearing, I could almost feel William's hot breath against my tail. I knew it would be close, so I pushed myself to run harder and faster. I picked up the speed and was within a few feet of winning when a heinous tree root lost me my victory.

Even as a werewolf it seems I am not graceful. I went soaring through the air and landed head first in a muddy embankment. As I was flying, I watched William sprint by me before he did a double-take and spun around back at me. I let out a whine when I landed in the mud, feeling more embarrassed than hurt. I shifted to my human form, leaving my head buried in the mud in my shame. Thankfully there was mud there, I could have been hurt from the fall otherwise.

"Are you okay, darling?" I heard William ask worriedly from nearby. I stuck my thumb up in response, too humiliated to face him. I felt his hand rubbing on my back. "Don't be embarrassed. We will wash ourselves off in the river like it never even happened. How does that sound?"

I lifted myself slowly out of the mud, looking over to where he stood. When he saw me, he tried to hide the grin before I started laughing to which he joined in. As we were cackling away like witches, he led me over to the edge of the water before dipping his toes in.

"It's not bad." He said before wading into the slow current. I followed in his steps and dunked my head into the water and scrubbing out all of the mud. As soon as I was through, I jumped out of the water hurriedly before turning back to William with a smirk.

"Better hurry or you're gonna lose our bet!"

I called to him before sprinting into the clearing, careful of any other devious tree roots. As I made it into the clearing, I raised my hands in the air and circled around the area humming "The Final Countdown" by Europe.

"You play dirty," William said as he walked into the clearing with a big smirk across his face. "I like it."

I chuckled in response as I tugged my clothes on swiftly. "Hurry. Milkshake time." I sang out excitedly.

William huffed in response before giving me a wink. He got dressed in a slow exaggerated fashion, sensing that I was being impatient. I grabbed his hand once he was finished and practically dragged him back to the car in my excitement.