The Darkness Within

17 - Unexpected Guest

"No Evelyn today?" Ciara asked as she sat down at the table with the rest of her travel companions who were back to wearing their standard grey werewolf garb. Tala was digging into her large plate of meat and whatever else the wolf seemed interested in eating.

Lila chuckled, "No, she's very busy if her emotions are any indicator."

"How long do you think they'll be cooped up?" she asked, missing her best friend a bit.

"Who knows, she's an alpha, once they're mated she becomes a Domina herself, but the true Domina is even more dominant. They could want to spend a lot of time together but with all that's going on I think they'll be forced to leave their room early." Lila's answer made sense and Ciara felt anger bubble up within her. The demons had killed her in her previous life and then taken over only to wage war on her other creations. She didn't know why, and she didn't know how her 'general' maintained control, but they had become the evil that people believed her to be long ago and still believe her to be to this day.

She stomped on her anger as she felt her magic rise up in responce. The might of her new and obviously growing powers was scary and she knew she had the power to do almost anything she wished. But, when she felt her skin prepare to change to her new but true form and she did not wish to reveal that yet and stomped the power out.

They finished eating and decided to head to the gym available to practice. They paired off so it was Ciara and Tala against Lila and Oliver while Ajax took on Oscar. They didn't hold back as they fought and there were a few minor injuries by the end of their two-hour practice. When they were done, they turned to see a number of the werewolves watching them with no small bit of awe. A growl and a snap of the teeth from Tala had the gawkers dispersing.

The others returned to their rooms to shower, but Ciara decided to practice riding Tala before taking her own shower. The wolf took off and she followed, gaining enough speed to jump and gracefully throw herself into the harness on the wolf. They completed a lap, Ciara leaning over the wolf to reduce air resistance, and then Ciara dismounted, pushing herself up and out of the harness. She flipped backward landing on her feet behind the slowing wolf.

She let out a delighted laugh. It was much easier to complete when not in several feet of thick snow. She could feel Tala's excited emotions flow through their bond as well, letting her know the wolf enjoyed it as much as she did. She mounted again and they took off, Tala pushing herself to go as fast as possible around the track.

When they were done, they headed to the large and overly fancy shower attached to the room they acquired the previous night. Tala needed a bath since it had been a while since she washed her enormous wolf, and Ciara herself felt all sticky from sweating.

She painstakingly washed her wolf companion and when done, Tala left to dry herself off in the bedroom. Slowly, Ciara undressed and surveyed her various scars all over her front. Since she had been tied down the night she received the majority of them, they only covered her front. Feeling curious, she let her power change her body to its new-but-true form. One thing she had noticed that the magic could not hide even in her previous body was the slight glow to her now-silver-no-longer-grey eyes. No one had seemed to notice except her, but the transition to her true form created very bright glowing silver eyes. She also noticed that her hair seemed to transform into liquid ink and it had a fluidity to it that was not there before. The black swirls on her skin were like tattoos all over her body but not rising higher than her neck.

To her dismay, the scars remained in her new form. Her face and body became angular and there was a certain power that she had even when standing still. Her double canines were terrifying and that combined with her pointed ears and glowing eyes made her look like a deadly predator in moonlight. It was terrifying, it was wicked, it was inhuman, and she loved it.