Wolfdog

chapter 6

I start to crash and stumble through the woods, world lightened,smells everywhere,sight sharper,hearing so good i can hear sam chasing after me, far behind.Its amazing. Suddenly sams on me, and were rolling around on the floor, wolf-laughing and snorting. Its strange to see 8 legs tangled together instead of 4 and a tail thumping around sloggishly. Sam retreives his fallen boxers and shorts from the floor which came loose from his mouth when he tackled me.He leaps into a hollow tree and returns, shirtless. His abdomen muscles stand out after living in the woods for almost a year and i think my wolf is drooling.I had forgotten my clothes in my blind panic and we have to trek all the way back for my clothes (and his shirt). I stand there, not sure how to change back.

" Just imagine yourself changing, but reversed. Dont worry, you'll get the hang of it soon." Sam reasurres seemingly reading my mind. I duck behind a tree and shiver, suddenly changed back to butt naked human and trying to pile my clothes on quick.

I appear from the tree, (clothed) and as soon as i see sam my jaw drops. My dad says you can recognise your mate as soon as you've had your first shift and you are both human. Im drawn to him like a magnet.Its crazy, i dont even remember walking over to him. Or him to me. Were just by eachother, me and him. Him- sam. Omigod!!! My insides are so happy! "Mate", we say in unison, our bodies close, our forheads touching. Click!THE CLICK, THE CAMERA, THE GIGGLES, THE CHUCKLES, THE RED FACE, THE MOMENT YOU REALISE. Caught on camera. "Again?!" Sam sighs.

"seriously?! Do you like sit and wait for this to happen or something?" I ask, my red face now purple. (I dont deal with embarassment well) "URAGH! JUST STOP!" All i see is red. Why do they keep doing this? Three times now, dad and linda.Im going through so much, a big change, finding my dad again, finding my mate... And they're just joking around?! My anger has always been tight tempered, but now its just uncrontrollable as dad explained your emotions can be very unstable after first shifting. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT IF YOU KNEW THIS COULD HAPPEN?!" THUD. Excruciating pain soars up my arm from my hand where it's bones are now crushed after their impact with the nearest tree."AGRAAAAH!"I SCREAM out in pain.Cradling my bloody right hand in my left, i plonk down onto a fallen log and stare at the floor under the glares of linda, dad and sam."i didn't forget your birthday, but i did forget your temper."dad laughed. I smile, cringing in pain. "It was so amazing to see my girl shift... after all these years, i never knew if youd be a shifter or not."

"What? Is that why you coulnt bring me with you? Because i could have beem human?" My dad nodded, and added, "Its forbidden to bring non shifters into our community or even let them in on our secret. But just remember ava, we are human, just advanced humans, ok?"

"Ok"

After having my broken hand bandaged up by linda, i go and see sam."um sorry about before, i just lost it ."

"Dont worry. I once broke my foot kicking a radiator." Sam replied, grinning.

"Thats even worse than punching a tree." I admit, laughing.

"So..." sam tries to keep the conversation going.

"So here it comes? The mate thing?"oh gods the awkwardness

"Yeah linda said it'll be kinda awkward at first but that we'll get used to it and we can act maturely around eachother." He replies, almost as if reading my mind, then staring off into space

"TIG!" I thwack him hard and leap off the log i was standing on, letting my feet hit the ground running.

"Like i said, we'll get through this maturely!" he shouts, feet pounding after me.

Sams fast, but i'm faster. I Was alright at track sprinting, but i never really won past school level. The woods is my element. I twist agiley through the trees, weaving around of plants and rocks, leaping over streams, before sam jumps off a rock behind me, whilst shifting, and lands on me, knocking me over and changing back to human.

"Tig" he whispers in my ear. I meet his gave, grinning,"no fair. Changings cheating" i said, us lying on the floor together, staring at eachother until.. At the same moment we both realise he is completely naked.

"Arghhh!" He yelps, eyes wide with shock. "Omigods!" I scream in unison, turning my red face away while he retreives his clothes from the rock.

"I didnt see anything, by the way." I say, breaking the embarrassing silence thet was overwhelming as he was dressing. "I know. Im so sorry, its fine" all came out at once from him.

"Lets just be glad matt and linda aren't here to see, right?" He adds.

A petite, pale blonde woman and a brown haired tanned skinned green grey eyed man appear from the bushes,still holding their stomachs with tears streaming down their faces,laughing so hard their doing that thing where their silent exept from the sound of their wheezing and then start clapping like mental sealions. "Oh, gods, where are you now?" Sams face turns to shock horror worry that dad and linda could have seen him naked while I pray to no one in particular  but hoping, just hoping, that at least someone is up there to help me now.