The Shadow of White is Black

Chapter 2: In the Woods

I had relinquished all control. As though possessed, I was in the passenger seat of my own body.

In my life, there had been only three times that I had shifted into this form. One, being right now, another, being the day I was born, greeted with the horror of my parents and the third, being when I was 5 years old, my mum screamed when I shifted and, after a failed attempt to dye my fur black, my dad told me bluntly, what would happen to me if I was caught in that form.

The threat of definite death weighed heavily on my 5-year-old mind and that day, I said goodbye to my wolf, agreeing that she would remain confined inside me and never come to the surface, to save both of us.

And so it has been, for 12 years, not once hearing a word from her...

Until now.

It was no exaggeration to say that my wolf and I were like two strangers living in the same body. It was understandable that after 12 years of quarantine, she'd want to exercise a bit.

My wolf hopped out of my bedroom window, two stories up, down onto our brick fence and into the dark of the looming woods that I had never set foot in.

I was an arctic white wolf running in a dark woods, potentially creeping with black wolves- this was basically suicide. I was internally screaming while my wolf took no notice of me and enjoyed her run.

After a few hours of running without anyone appearing out of nowhere and tearing me to shreds, I started to relax a little, trying to make up reasonable excuses to reassure myself, 'maybe there was a pack meeting so all black wolves were there instead'.

My wolf finally stopped at a clearing, where I saw a lake of water that reflected the sky like a sea of stars.

My wolf stopped at the edge and took on a stance as though ready to pounce. I realized that she intended to catch fish for food since the black wolves had savagely eaten almost all the deer in the forest, that I couldn't see a single one throughout my hours of running.

Black wolves were, stronger and faster, physical superiors but arctic white wolves were more skilled and great senses, natural survivals and unlike us Arctics, the winter always brought bitter hardship and scarce food for black wolves.

I smirked, winter is coming soon and if it all goes badly, almost half of the black wolves would die. That's 50% fewer threats to worry about, I just need to survive another winter. Not that I have any doubts.

My eyes catch flickering forms in the water and my wolf pounces, successfully catching 4 fish at once, causing ripples in the water.

But when the water became smooth again, I saw my worst nightmare.

I wish it was a fragment of my imagination but I knew it wasn't my imagination. No. it was a reflection.

A reflection of a black wolf looming behind me.

I turned around and there he was...

A wolf of thick black fur and piercing platinum eyes towering over me

And for the first time, at that moment, my wolf and I were in sync, as we shared the only three letters word that could form in our mind;

RUN