Often Hushed

Chapter Eleven (Part 1)

Next chapter for you all! I appreciate everything you guys have done for me, and I can't wait to see what your response is concerning my favorite character! This chapter is dedicated to @juliaoliver1 for writing the beautiful and eloquent story called Illuminate. Go check it out! I love it :)

CHAPTER ELEVEN

~December 17th, 2013~

Something sharp pokes at my sore abdomen, hard. I growl at it, waving at it with my forelimbs. I hear a shuffle, like it had dodged my attempted hit, and my mind suddenly wakes up. Only something, or someone, who could sense my bestial side would flinch away when I flung out my hand that quickly. A regular, unprepared animal would have been clouted and maybe even tossed to the side. There is another scrambling noise, a rustle in the perceived underbrush. I feel the jab again and snarl this time.

I open my eyes and see a sparse patch of greenery. Weeds snake up tree trunks and dead ferns spot the dusty, trampled ground. Bushes break through the earth into thin, wispy sticks without many leaves. I breathe through my mouth and cough. Cold dust fills my lungs and I eventually sneeze, curling into a tiny ball on my side. I look down.

I am naked.

My first reaction is not one of much surprise. After all, nudity is a common thing in the Wolf world. I glance down at my body and note that everything seems to be in one piece, as blurry as the picture is for me right now. I am enveloped by shade.

Wait... I look down again, and this time my eyes are wide in abject horror. I am not as worried about the stream of blood that soaks my midsection. I am more terrified of the fact that I have no clothes on at all. I think hard, and remember the rampant tingles that Seb had sent down my spine, claiming that thanks to his Gift I could no longer shred my clothes as a Wolf. Behr's own outfit, undamaged by the shift, had been proof enough for me. Am I wrong?

I place my palm against my belly, letting it rest in the red before lifting it up to my nose. I don't recognize the syrupy scent and it kind of worries me. It wasn't blood like I had first thought- or at least it wasn't just blood. A rusty tang still tingles my senses, but there is an earthier smell throughout it. It's sweet too, and my nose has no idea what to make of it. I know there is no way I had soaked my underbelly with this while I was Wolf, so my only conclusion is that my clothes must have been taken off after I... Passed out?

I roll over onto my back and my head immediately complains. My eyesight wavers and the colors shimmy for a second until it rights. Great. I'm hungover from the ceremony last night. I scratch an itch on my hip and sigh. There's only so much that I can do while inebriated, and most of it involves waiting for the sickness to go away.

Something snaps a twig to my left and my gaze flashes in that direction.

"Fuck," I say. I blink a few times and the vision goes spotty. I close my eyes and then open them again, but the mirage hasn't disappeared. It is now closer.

My only assumption is that I am not in fact hungover. I am still tipsy, still hallucinating, still moondrunk. The mirage trots over in scuffed, dusty black dress shoes and straight black slacks that end right at his heel. He is in a white button down that has a few buttons left open at the top, revealing scarred skin. He has a black tie, dripping some sort of liquid, wrapped around his wrist. It has seeped wine-colored fluid into his crisp sleeves. His narrow eyes are slitted in entertainment and in something else.

Something about him screams bacchanalian. Maybe it's the way his mouth is too twisted or how he reeks of weirdness and maybe even the scent of the moon. His eyes are dark and quirky. His hair is black and slicked back, and I think he's oriental. He has wide lips that twitch often and a narrow jawline rough with ragged stubble.