A Wolfgirl’s Pet Witch Ch. 01

January 17, 2021

INTRODUCTION

This is a short-story I wrote several years ago, and just kind of stopped after the first few thousand words. I then randomly decided to add to it about a year ago, and then early this morning I randomly decided to make some heavy edits and post it on here for you guys to enjoy.

It’s a lesbian story with a dom-sub relationship, involving a werewolf and her pet witch. (UPDATE: It does have some harem themes now, though the relationship stays mostly between three young women. No men involved.)

Just something to read and enjoy.

PREMISE: A young girl is chosen to be the yearly human sacrifice for the werewolf that plagues an obscure village…the problem is, she’s the werewolf.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, she runs into another unexpected issue when her best friend reveals she’s more than she seems, committing to defeat the werewolf to protect her friend.

But how will she react when she discovers who the wolf really is? Will the two of them be able to find reconciliation?

Or are they destined to be enemies for all of eternity?

A Wolfgirl’s Pet Witch

- CHAPTER 1 -

This was supposed to be my first sacrifice, the year I finally took over for my grandmother, and did my ancestral obligation…

The year I killed my first human, and continued our legacy of control.

The goal was to instill a sense of fear and respect into the hearts of the villagers, as my grandmother had done for the last sixty years. However, I had been forced to handle the ritual a couple of years prematurely when the old hag unexpectedly passed away three months ago from her house catching on fire.

Honestly, I hadn’t known she could die so easily, which made me wonder if her old age had gotten the better of her, or if there was more to her death than I assumed.

But I had no way of knowing at this point, and now had bigger issues to deal with, since I was currently the sole werewolf in town.

Supposedly, my father could have become a werewolf himself, had my grandmother chosen to make him into one, but there wasn’t room for two werewolves in the village. Thus, my grandmother refused to pass on her lineage to my father by biting him on the night of a full moon.

Instead she bit me, her granddaughter, roughly a year and a half ago just prior to me turning seventeen, in order to prepare me for taking over her position. But I wasn’t ready yet, because even though I was an adult human girl now, I still felt like a kid when it came to being a werewolf.

I mean, I had killed and eaten plenty of wild animals, including bears a few times, but I didn’t know how I would feel about eating a person.

Although, I supposed it wouldn’t be much different once I was transformed, since my sense of empathy seemed to all but dissipate once my bestial instincts took over.

Nevertheless, I’d found myself worrying last year about who would be chosen -- more so than usual, now that I knew who the killer would be -- and likewise worried this year too, since there were at least a couple of people I didn’t want to be the sacrifice. And I knew what would happen if the unlucky chosen was, in fact, someone I cared about.

After all, that’s why my father was no longer with us.

The villagers chose by drawing names from a box, witnessed by trusted members of the community, and it fell on him nearly a decade ago, when I was only nine years old. Of course, my grandmother made good on her commitment to maintaining the ritual, not wanting the people to grow suspicious if she showed favoritism, and she likewise expected me to do the same once I took over.

It was a lot of responsibility to accept though.

Honestly, I had been initially thankful I didn’t have to take over for another couple of years, because I wasn’t sure what I would do if it was someone I knew really well.

As if watching wasn’t hard enough…

What would I do if my mother was chosen for my first time?

Or even worse, since I didn’t much care for my mother anymore, what if it was my best friend Rose?

If my grandmother was still alive, then I wouldn’t have been afforded the option of letting my friend live. Instead, I’d either have to watch my best friend die at the hands of my alpha, or else be the one to do the deed myself, with my own life on the line if I refused.

Because my grandmother was unforgiving.

“No mercy,” she had repeatedly chastised me during the thirteen months prior to her death.

Only once did I try contradicting her.

“But there’s no reason to kill the bear’s cubs too.”

My reward was an immediate slap to the face, a hit that would have killed a normal person, and sent me straight to the ground in a heap.

“No mercy,” she’d repeated in an icy tone. “Otherwise the humans will kill you one day. You must learn now what it means to be a monster, or else the moment you show a person mercy, they’ll use the opportunity to stab you in the heart.”

However, now that she was dead, I at least took comfort in the fact that no one could make me kill Rose if she were chosen.

Still, out of all the possible outcomes, I never expected this.

I’d been chosen.

“Me?!” I exclaimed in sincere shock, as the mob rushed inside to pull me out of the house, shoving my mother aside in the process.

Several men, most of whom I knew well, then began tying my arms and legs with ropes right outside our front door, a crowd of people boldly watching with unsympathetic eyes, knowing that the person being hogtied was a sign that it wasn’t their own time to die.

And I honestly didn’t know what to do.

Because I knew I could resist them if I wanted, but I was also well aware that would only raise suspicion when they discovered I was stronger than them.

My mother was hysterical at this point, yelling and screaming at them to stop, while the mayor tried to calm her down, as if reasoning with her with logic was going to help at all.

“We’re sorry, Helen!” Bartolomeu exclaimed unsympathetically, trying to speak over her. “I know she’s your only child, but the drawing was fairly done!”

“But she’s only a child!” my mother shrieked at the top of her lungs. “You can’t do this! Not my baby!”

“Helen,” he pressed firmly. “She’s eighteen now. And she could have been selected as young as fifteen. She’s more than old enough to be chosen. I understand your husband was picked nine years ago, but the drawing was fairly--”

“Let me go instead!” she begged. “Let me take her place!”

The men tying me up instantly all froze solid, and not because what my mother suggested was charitable.

Bartolomeu’s tone was cold. “I’m sorry, but you know the rules. The last time we tried swapping, the werewolf--”

I attempted to strain to listen as the front door slammed shut, with one of the men finally hoisting me over his shoulder like a sack of rocks, but my human ears weren’t nearly as sensitive as my werewolf ones. Granted, I already knew the story anyway. I only listened because focusing on my mother’s panicked words helped distract me from the weight of the bizarre turn of events that I’d found myself in.

Because I wasn’t sure how to escape this situation without being found out as the werewolf when I uncontrollably transformed with the moonrise. And I also couldn’t help but wonder what my grandmother would have done if she were alive.

Would she have taken my life?

No doubt she never imagined I’d be chosen.

I wasn’t sure exactly how many people lived in the village…perhaps somewhere between one and two thousand? Enough that the chances of this happening were extremely unlikely. Yet, I’d been chosen…

What would my grandmother have done?

Maybe encouraged my mother to take my place? Argued with the mayor and tried to reason with him that it would be alright? To let my mother take that risk and have us both potentially die?

What other options were there?

I couldn’t help but feel uneasy about how things might have been different if my grandmother were alive still.

Thank God for that fire.

Of course, the reason why my mother couldn’t take my place was because the villagers knew it would mean both of our deaths, since the werewolf wasn’t merciful. And even if my mother did want to take that chance, the others wouldn’t allow it, since there was always the risk that the werewolf wouldn’t just stop with the two of us. The monster might kill a dozen or more, to teach us a lesson.

Unsurprisingly, as a trusted member of the community, my grandmother always knew who was selected by the lottery, and the first time someone tried to take the chosen’s place, which was something that happened before I was even born, she killed them both.

Unfortunately, that was not one of the many subjects that came up when she was alive, so I had no idea what her reasoning was, but I was well aware the villagers made it illegal for someone to take the place of another.

I was still in shock as I was carried amongst a group of men, my thoughts seeming to wander everywhere except the situation at hand, my brain refusing to process that this was really happening.

Someone speaking up finally broke through my stupor.

“I’m really sorry, Ariana,” a voice to my left whispered.

I glanced over to see one of my dead father’s friends, Terryn, staring straight ahead with a tortured expression as he walked a few feet away. I just sighed in response, uncertain if I should even respond. Really, I knew my current behavior was already weird for them.

Normally the sacrifice kicked and screamed, pleading for mercy. And I was sure it was difficult on the villagers to send someone they knew and loved to their death, but they knew the consequences would be much worse otherwise -- at least ten dead if the sacrifice wasn’t paid.

However, despite that fact, I’d never really considered changing or discontinuing the ritual, even after my grandmother’s death. Because I knew she had a purpose for all this, and while I didn’t fully understand that purpose, I believed her to be wise.

If she, and her grandfather before that, in different lands, both found it necessary for all this to happen, then I wasn’t going to mess with it, even if I did have to kill someone I knew.

But still, now what was I supposed to do?

I would transform once the full moon peaked over the horizon, whether I liked it or not, which meant those who waited around, just long enough to make sure I didn’t somehow escape, would see for themselves that I was the werewolf.

And once that happened, I wouldn’t be able to live in the village anymore.

My identity would be exposed.

But alternatively, if I ‘allowed myself to live,’ then what precedent would that set?

For one, they might suspect I was a witch, capable of protecting myself from the wolf’s wrath. Or, even worse, they might begin to suspect that someone who died in the last year was actually the werewolf, leading to them possibly figuring out who my grandmother truly was.

Or maybe not.

It wasn’t as if the villagers actually knew the wolf lived among them. They all believed the wolf lived in the forest and that it was actually an evil spirit manifested in a physical form by corrupting and transforming a normal wolf into a hellish monster.

Still, I was paranoid they would discover the truth.

Unexpectedly, I was again pulled from my thoughts as a panicked voice called out my name.

“Ariana!” a girl shrieked in alarm, sounding like she was in our path ahead.

I couldn’t see her from my position on the man’s shoulder, but I knew it was Rose Monroe. She was a year older than me, at nineteen, but we had been friends since I was four years old. Unlike me, she had very tan skin, due to her father being a native of these lands that my people had settled, roughly sixty years ago. Both of our peoples had been terrorized by the same beast, and our ancestors banded together to form one village, uniting so completely that no one thought twice about the minor differences in appearance. Especially since almost everyone had tan skin due to being out in the sun all the time.

The biggest difference was in the winter.

My suntanned skin got lighter, whereas Rose’s skin did not.

Same for her mother, who had much lighter skin too, being paler than most. Certainly more pale than I was, even in the dead of winter.

But we’d basically been friends all my life. Rose’s voice was as familiar to me as my own. I couldn’t imagine how she might be feeling right now, knowing her best friend was being sent to die.

I felt the man holding me stick out his other arm, speaking gruffly, his voice calm but demanding. “Don’t come any closer, Rose. You know the rules,” he retorted, having all the sympathy of a butcher getting ready to kill his son’s pet boar.

“At least let me walk with her!” Rose exclaimed. “Can’t I at least have that?!”

“No,” he said more harshly.

Her tone was suddenly cold. “I swear, Mr. Fairburne, if you don’t at least let me walk with you, then I’ll kill myself before I marry your son!”

That apparently got his attention, because he came to a full stop, evaluating her determined gaze. I saw a few of the men behind me shifting their weight uneasily. They were already uncomfortable sending someone my age to be a sacrifice, someone who was still a kid in many of their eyes, but breaking the rules like this made them even more uncomfortable.

Finally, the man started walking again, my gut feeling wrenched when he readjusted me on his shoulder. “Make it quick,” he demanded. “We aren’t stopping.”

Barely a second later and Rose was right there with me, clasping my bound hands in hers as she tried to keep up with the group.

I focused on her deep brown eyes, uncertain of how I should feel about the tears beginning to slip down her tan cheeks. I knew how she probably felt, but I couldn’t fully relate anymore, especially since I’d become a werewolf.

Of course, I wouldn’t have wanted to kill her if she was the sacrifice, but I knew that I likely would have done it, if forced by my grandmother.

Did that make me evil? Or just unsympathetic?

After all, did the hunter feel bad about killing the deer? Did the butcher feel bad about killing the boar? Even if it was his son’s pet?

Really, I supposed Rose was more like a pet to me now rather than a friend. Granted, she was a pet I would be willing to break the rules to protect, especially now that I didn’t have to worry about my own executioner holding an axe over my neck if I didn’t obey.

Rose interrupted my train of thought when she abruptly pulled herself in close to Mr. Fairburne, so she could give me an awkward hug. However, unexpectedly her soft lips were at my ear, her breath tickling me as her words came out in a rush.

“I love you, Ariana,” she whispered, keeping her message short. “Don’t worry. I’ll protect you. I’m a witch.”

My thin wiry muscles locked up in sincere shock, unable to believe what I’d just heard.

Yet I couldn’t imagine she was lying.

But was she really a witch? Surely, she wouldn’t try to deceive me, especially at a time like this, and especially since she would be burned at the stake if anyone overheard. Or was that what she wanted? To die with me?

No.

I could see it in her deep brown eyes as she pulled away.

Her determination.

She spoke the truth. My friend Rose was really a witch.

But what kind of witch?

A witch witch? A real one?

While there were certainly a lot of superstitions about witches, my grandmother said most women accused of witchcraft were only herbalists. There was nothing supernatural about what they did.

In fact, she doubted real witches, the kind the most believed in, actually even existed. Which made me wonder why Rose thought she could ward off a werewolf.

Was my friend delusional? Or did she truly know something I didn’t?

I had to find out.

Suddenly, out of this whole mess, I finally had something to focus on.

“Mr. Fairburne,” I said firmly, speaking up for the first time since they had robbed me from my home. Rose’s eyes widened in shock, possibly afraid that I was going to expose her, so I quickly continued. “The sacrifice doesn’t start until the moon rises, which is at least half an hour from now. So, as a dying wish, can you allow Rose to stay with me for a portion of that time?”

Rose’s expression immediately softened, that look of determination setting in again as she held my gaze. I knew she loved my dark blue eyes.

Everyone else was silent. Painfully silent.

But I knew how to manipulate them.

“Mr. Fairburne,” I whispered again, my tone pleading. “I only just turned eighteen. I’m barely old enough to get married. And I’m all my mother has left, since my father was chosen too. At least allow me to talk to my friend for a little while. Please.”

“We should let her,” Terryn unexpectedly chimed in.

I tried not to grin.

I knew the guy was good for something.

I then grunted as Rose’s potential father-in-law readjusted me again on his shoulder, seeming like he was struggling with the weight despite his large size. Of course, I knew what his problem was -- I was heavier than I appeared…

A lot heavier.

Ever since I became a werewolf, my human form remained mostly the same short skinny size while my werewolf form rapidly increased over the following months.

Which meant, even though I was barely taller than five feet, I probably weighed more than the man carrying me now, and I was still growing too. Every full moon, I seemed to be larger, a difference I probably wouldn’t notice so much if I transformed more often.

Problem was, my grandmother had forbidden it, and I’d assumed she had a good reason.

Enough to not break that rule, even after her death.

While I certainly weighed less than a horse, I was larger when I transformed. And my grandmother had been easily twice as large as that. Granted, Mr. Fairburne was a very strong man, blacksmith by trade, so he seemed to be handling my weight fine.

Or at least, he was initially.

Either way, I was sincerely surprised it hadn’t tipped him off that something was wrong with me. Maybe I was lucky, and he thought he was just extra tired from a long day of work, not wanting to seem weak in front of all the other guys, when he complained about the weight of a short petite girl.

“Dammit,” he finally whispered underneath his breath, only to finally respond to my request to speak with Rose. “Fine,” he snapped. “But not for long,” he added.

And that was it. He didn’t say anything else.

No one said anything else.

But it was good enough for me. Rose continued to stare at me somberly when I gave her a weak reassuring smile, beginning to grow impatient now that I had something else I wanted to do.

Couldn’t they hurry up and drop me off already, so I could talk to her?

After another minute, I heard Mr. Fairburne finally mutter about my weight.

“Damn you’re heavy.”

“Seriously?!” I exclaimed loudly, catching everyone’s attention. “I can walk if you’re going to be an ass! You should be grateful I’m not begging for my life and making you feel miserable for sending me to be executed by a bloodthirsty monster!”

My legs were tied, and I knew they wouldn’t untie them, but my biggest concern was just making him feel bad for complaining about my sincerely bizarre weight. For making him think that maybe he was just imagining things. Perhaps feeling a little ‘off’ today.

It seemed to work well enough.

He was immediately apologetic, mumbling ‘sorry’ under his breath.

I tried not to smirk, feeling confident in my ability to manipulate others. I hadn’t needed my grandmother to teach me that -- it came naturally.

Still, I was relieved when we made it to the clearing and he finally hoisted me off his shoulder to set me down, almost dropping me as he did so. Most of the village was surrounded by massive fields, but there was a finger of trees that stretched close to the nearby houses. A finger wide enough to merit being called a thick grove in its own right. The place where the sacrifices were left once a year in the late spring.

The smell of the nearby goat tethered to a tree, an extra dish being served with the human sacrifice, made my mouth water.

My grandmother assured me I’d develop a taste for people too, but I just didn’t see the allure yet. Sure, meat was meat, but if I had to choose a flavor then I’d pick most livestock and wildlife easily. Certainly, they weren’t as exciting to hunt, but wow did they smell and taste amazing!

I could eat them all day, bones and all, and never get bored of it.

I was glad my werewolf appetite didn’t come with a fat issue, because that would have been a major killjoy. But despite the amount of food I ate, my human form was mostly skin, bones, and hardened muscle.

I’d been initially depressed to discover I might lose some of my feminine development, such as my shapely hips and small breasts -- simply because my grandmother lacked a female shape entirely and was as flat as a board -- but much to my surprise, my body pretty much remained how it was, my breasts actually growing a little, even if they were still very small.

Not that I’d ever complain. I was happy to have them at all, especially since my grandmother didn’t have tits by anyone’s standard. I was also thrilled that my hair had become a darker shade of brown. Much more rich in color compared to before, though not nearly as dark as Rose’s gorgeous hair.

Mr. Fairburne set me up next to a metal pole that was buried at least five feet into the ground, wrapping a thick chain around my torso twice before securing it behind my back. I sat on my ass in the soft vegetation, my legs stretched out -- though still bound together -- with my tied hands in my lap.

As I leaned back against the pole, I was surprised to discover I was fairly comfortable, feeling slightly apathetic about the situation now that I was here.

If anything, I was bored. And suddenly, I didn’t seem to care as much what they’d think if they accidentally saw me transform.

Which was a sure sign that my uncontrollable metamorphosis approached.

I might as well just eat them all.

‘No,’ I chastised myself.

I knew I still needed to care. It was a problem I’d been warned about -- a problem resulting from being drunk on power. Even if I was nearly invincible, I could still be killed…at least hypothetically. So my grandmother always warned me to only eat the sacrifice, and to leave it at that.

Probably also why she’d forbidden me from transforming throughout the month.

To avoid me causing problems while unempathetic as a wolf.

Making decisions I wouldn’t normally make as a human.

But right now, I needed to stay focused more than ever, so I could figure out what Rose was capable of and what she might be able to do to hurt me.

After that, I could worry about what I was going to do for the moonrise.

All the men around me stared down at my relaxed posture uneasily as they slowly backed away. No doubt they were slightly embarrassed that I was handling my imminent death so well. All the other sacrifices, including the men, where crybabies in comparison.

Rose sat down next to me, readjusting her black dress, but keeping her hands visible so Mr. Fairburne could see she wasn’t trying anything. She eyed me cautiously herself, seeming likewise a little uneasy. However, after a few seconds, she must have decided I was confident in her statement to protect me earlier, because she sighed and leaned closer.

“Trust me?” she asked quietly.

I nodded slowly, my expression reserved now. “What do you plan on doing, exactly?” I whispered.

She gave me a weak smile, before glancing around to make sure no one was too close. They were all near the edge of the circular alcove just at the entrance to the thicket of trees, this spot having been cleared out to be like a little bubble of meadow invading the forest specifically for the sacrifices.

I glanced back over my shoulder too, seeing that most of them were at the gap in the trees leading from where we’d come.

Cowards.

Rose got my attention by suddenly pulling down her midnight dress a little to reveal the smooth skin in between her large tan breasts. I was shocked to see a black marking there the size of my small hand. It was a seven-pointed star inside of a circle, with a series of seven spikes that radiated off the circle like a depiction of the sun, matching the points of the star. The spikes on the sides were actually on her breasts, the middle of the sigil filled with strange markings I didn’t recognize, but that looked like some unfamiliar writing in a foreign language.

In the exact center of the star, there was a splotch of ink that looked like a mixture of lightning and a ghost.

She only showed me for barely a second, before she hid it again.

I stared up at her brown eyes, uncertain about what I’d just seen, knowing it hadn’t been there a couple of years ago, since I’d seen that part of her chest before.

“Rose,” I whispered. “What is that?”

“A magical catalyst,” she replied softly. “I’m the first one in my family to be able to use it in generations. It’s not a normal marking. No one drew it on me. It chose me, appearing on its own a few years ago.”

I just gawked at her in disbelief.

Was she being serious right now? How had I not known about this?

I supposed it had been awhile since I’d seen her naked. We had stopped bathing together shortly after she turned thirteen, and she’d become even more modest as we’d gotten older. I assumed she had begun to feel awkward about it, but I never imagined that she might actually be hiding something.

“What does it do?” I whispered.

“Depends on the witch,” she replied under her breath. “But for me, it lets me turn my spiritual energy into lightning. I could probably fry a bear in a heartbeat.” Her expression became determined again. “So I can protect you from the wolf,” she said confidently.

Well…

That was certainly an interesting thought to chew on.

I had no reason to believe she was lying, but I was baffled nonetheless. Shocked that such a thing might sincerely be real. Magic and witches and catalysts. I was a werewolf, and I knew those were real, but magic too?

Rose continued. “Although…” She hesitated. “I’ll have to leave if they see.” She paused again, suddenly seeming vulnerable. “Will you come with me?” she asked hopefully. “You don’t have to, if you don’t want, but it would mean a lot to me.” She lowered her voice. “I don’t want to be alone,” she admitted quietly.

I wasn’t sure what to say.

She then sat up straight, her voice still quiet, but more firm. “I’ll save you either way, though.”

I took a deep breath and sighed heavily.

Too bad a werewolf wouldn’t be coming for me, because I kind of wanted to see her do it. But now I had a decision to make. I didn’t really have very many options to begin with, but I might be able to keep the villagers guessing if I broke free of the chains and ran off by myself before I transformed.

Sure, they’d be suspicious, but they’d probably just think I was a witch myself.

Alternatively, I could share my secret with my best friend…

But I wasn’t confident she would be as accepting of me as I was of her. And as much as I hated to think of it, I knew she could be an enemy if she decided I was evil and that the actions of my grandmother were unforgivable.

I sighed again, uncertain if this was the right choice. “Rose…” I whispered hesitantly. “Thank you for wanting to protect me…” I took a deep breath. “But I have something I need to tell you.”

I paused again as I stared into her sincere brown eyes, finding myself even more aware of how her rejection might feel.

Would she feel betrayed if I told her the truth? Would she hate me?

Being a werewolf wasn’t like being a witch. The werewolf was known to kill people yearly in this village. On the other hand, witches weren’t necessarily evil. Maybe they could be, but they didn’t have a ‘witch’ problem here. They had a werewolf problem, largely created by my deceased grandmother.

I sighed heavily again. “I know who the wolf is,” I admitted quietly, examining her expression carefully as she gasped.

“A person?” she said in disbelief. “W-Who?” she added in shock, her expression filling with fear at the idea of what I was implying. That the werewolf was something more than an evil spirit possessing a normal wolf.

“There were two, actually,” I admitted, watching as her brown eyes widened even more, wondering if she noticed that I was speaking about the past. “One wolf was responsible for demanding these sacrifices. But the other one hasn’t ever killed anyone…” I grimaced then, looking away. “Nor…does she want to…” I said almost inaudibly.

It wasn’t a lie.

I really didn’t see the appeal at all, even if meat was meat.

Rose clasped her hand over her mouth, her brown eyes wider than I thought possible. I glanced up at her again, feeling vulnerable for once.

I really wanted her acceptance.

“Breathe, Rose,” I whispered when she showed no signs of taking another breath.

She finally gasped.

I could hear her heartbeat now, another sign that my transformation was nearing.

It was racing. And I could see it too, in her thin neck, her veins throbbing with each beat. But she didn’t try to move further away. Was that a good sign?

I wasn’t sure.

She could be frozen in fear, her body having locked itself up.

I groaned softly then, stretching my neck out as I felt the change beginning. I still had a little while before it became obvious to the naked eye, but inside it was already happening. And soon, I would start growing taller -- much taller.

But my eyes would be the first real outward sign, shifting bright gold just prior to everything else beginning. The color of honey when they weren’t glowing.

I could turn them gold now, and I could even transform now, if I wanted.

I didn’t have to wait for the moon to pull it out of me.

But I didn’t want to lose Rose forever if I could avoid it. Pet or friend, whatever I was going to consider her, I still wanted to keep her either way.

My body was starting to feel a lot warmer, and my muscles were already beginning to feel sore as they usually did when the process began. The actual transformation was an amazing release, as the tension became so intense it almost hurt, only to have it transition into a burst of pleasure all throughout my body.

An explosion of pleasure and power.

I was strong even in my human form, but it was nothing like the power I wielded as a wolf.

My sudden discomfort caused Rose to noticeably tremble. She still hadn’t said anything, her heart continuing to race, but I knew I’d said enough for her to know. She wasn’t dumb…

Or had I said enough?

Did she need me to say it directly?

I groaned again, stretching my shoulders slightly. I then sighed as I focused on her frozen form.

Was she truly afraid?

I wasn’t sure.

As great as my nose was, I couldn’t smell fear in this form. I could only smell it as a wolf.

“Rose,” I finally whispered, causing her slightly unfocused eyes to focus more intently on mine. “I would go with you if you revealed yourself to them…” I paused, again feeling that vulnerability. “But I wonder…would you do the same for me?”

“You wouldn’t hurt me?” she asked hesitantly, her voice trembling.

I shook my head, grunting as a spasm forced me to stretch my shoulder again, ducking my head slightly. I then glanced back up at her.

“Of course not, Rose. You’re my best friend.”

“You can control yourself?” she added cautiously.

I nodded somewhat somberly. “I’m not very empathetic, but yeah, I can control what I do.”

“Who is the bad wolf?” she whispered.

I leaned up against the poll again with a heavy sigh. “My grandmother. Obviously, she’s dead though, so it’s just me now.” Abruptly, I gritted my teeth together as my stomach spasmed, forcing me forward slightly, my knees jutting upward a little. Rose flinched, but I ignored her.

I took a deep breath once it released.

My legs were starting to grow longer now.

Rose noticed when there was a soft pop in my left ankle, followed immediately by my right afterwards. They weren’t actually reshaping yet -- that happened last -- but they were preparing for it. In a few more minutes I’d probably be taller than her. Although, that didn’t amount to much, since she was fairly short too, only a couple of inches taller than me.

My spine was beginning to pop occasionally too.

When I was controlling the transformation, it never happened this slow. In fact, I couldn’t make it happen this slow, even if I wanted to. It was a rapid process that only took a few seconds. But when the moon was forcing it on me, the process was dragged out, unless I decided to shift myself.

Honestly, because my apathy was escalating, I didn’t really feel like waiting anymore for the moon. I just wanted to transform and be free, whether Rose was riding on my back out of here or not.

I was glad this wasn’t happening a year ago, when I was barely the size of a large dog. At least now I could carry a grown man on my horse-sized form.

“Rose,” I whispered again when she didn’t say anything else. I turned my head towards her, cocking it to the side slightly. “I don’t want to be alone either…” I sighed. “But you need to make a decision now. If you aren’t going to come with me, then you need to leave. I’m not going to wait for the moon to rise.”

“How are you going to get free?” she asked seriously, her voice full of concern as she stared down at the chain and rope binding me.

I smirked at her, raising my arms, a grin spread across my face. “What? These ropes? Not even this chain can hold me. I could break out of it right now if I wanted. I’m not really tied up like I appear to be, no more than you are.”

Her eyes widened in surprise, but I was forced to look away as another wave of tension hit me, my knees jerking up as my hips tightened, forcing another grunt out. She flinched in response, but still didn’t move.

Mr. Fairburne called out to us then. “Is she alright?” he wondered from across the meadow.

I scoffed loudly, wanting to twist around to look at him, but deciding against it.

“What in the hell do you care, Tiny?!” I snapped, wishing I could see his face as I called him by his humiliating first name. There was a reason everyone called him by his last name, and probably a reason why he put so much effort into being huge. “It won’t matter what’s wrong with me, if I’m dead!” I added, only for my stomach to contract again, forcing out another grunt.

“Rose!” he snapped back, his tone harsh. “Times up!”

Damn, what an asshole.

He was basically saying it was time to let me die, since I’d insulted him. If he kept that attitude up, then I might not leave here without a taste of human blood after all.

Rose immediately shifted her weight, slowly getting up to her feet.

Oh no. Was she going to leave?

I urgently looked up at her with a pained expression, miserably failing to hide the devastation caused by her rejection.

‘Please don’t leave me,’ was what I wanted to say, but I couldn’t.

After a glance, I turned my face away from her, not wanting her to see the tears as I hung my head low. I tried to hold back the sniffle until after she walked away, but my body didn’t want to listen. I sniffled anyway.

Dammit, why wasn’t my apathy protecting me from my sudden broken heart?

I felt my eyes begin transforming then, underneath my eyelids, shifting from their normal deep blue to a bright glowing gold.

They always glowed brightly when I was on the verge of transforming.

Or when I was just trying to see in the dark.

“Ariana,” she unexpectedly whispered.

I hesitated, and then glanced up at her just as she reached out her hand toward me, as if to help me up. She froze briefly when she saw my eyes, only to smile sweetly at me.

“I’ll go with you.”

“Really?” I said in shock.

She nodded, but was quickly interrupted by Mr. Tiny Fairburne, who was probably the largest man in the village. I quickly turned my head forward again, so he couldn't see my eyes. I doubted he could see them from his current angle, but didn’t want to chance it yet.

“What in the hell are you doing, Rose?!” he snapped. “Get over here now! It’s time to go!”

She straightened up then, glaring at him. “No,” she said firmly. “I’ll do what I want.”

He immediately started stomping toward us. “Why you little ungrateful b--”

I cut him off in a loud voice. “Careful, Mr. Tiny! The Wolf doesn’t like it when you insult her friends!”

That shut him up real fast, stopping him in his tracks.

His tone was still harsh though.

“What in the hell did you just say?!”

Deciding it was time to go, in one swift motion I separated my arms and legs, the rope snapping like a thread, followed by the chain snapping as well when I forced out my elbows. I then gracefully stood up in the blink of an eye, grabbing the metal stake in the ground and yanking it out like a weed, despite the fact that it was so thick that I could barely fit my hand around it.

Not to mention it was so deep in the ground, that a normal grown man couldn’t pull it out.

I then swung the six-foot-long pole onto my thin shoulder and flashed the frozen Mr. Fairburne a wicked grin, my eyes vibrant gold.

The men at the edge of the meadow were just as shocked, staring at me like I had three heads. Staring at me like they couldn’t comprehend what they were witnessing. A five-foot petite girl doing the impossible.

There was no fear yet, only disbelief.

My voice was mocking, as I replied to his question.

“I said, that the Wolf doesn’t like it when you insult her friends.”

Mr. Fairburne stared at me in complete shock. My grin widened when I realized he was shaking slightly. They had no idea a werewolf could take human form, most believing it might be a normal wolf turned into a monster by an evil spirit.

At the very least, to them a werewolf was just a massive wolf at least twice the size of a horse, based on what they’d seen from my grandmother.

I could see the confusion in his eyes as he tried to reconcile what he thought he knew about the werewolf with what he saw before him -- a slightly taller version of myself with vivid gold eyes, holding a six-foot pole that even he couldn’t wield easily with one hand.

However, I was still debating how I wanted to handle this situation.

Should I kill him?

Would Rose be upset?

Did I really care? Should I just scare him a little? Should I transform?

If I did transform now, he wouldn’t even think about attacking me, considering there wasn’t much more intimidating than a horse-sized wolf. But then again, would he even consider it now? I’d known him all my life, though I wasn’t that fond of him. Would he attack a girl barely five feet tall on a normal day? Even if she was a monster?

I was still far shorter than him now, despite the fact that I was incrementally gaining height.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to find out.

Unexpectedly, a shriek came from the village, catching everyone’s attention.

Then another scream, followed by another.

Shit, something big was happening, and I didn’t like it one bit.

I quickly readjusted the pole resting on my shoulder, in case I wanted to use it as a weapon instead of transforming, and grabbed Rose by the hand. She followed after me without hesitation as I took off toward the village, darting right past a suddenly tense Mr. Fairburne.

The handful of men at the entrance of the meadow immediately jumped back as well, parting ways for the glowing-eyed girl to pass through.

But the screaming grew louder, and increased in number as more and more people began to yell and shout, prompting the men behind me to jump into action. I could hear them following after us now, realizing whatever was happening in the village took priority over what they’d just witnessed.

As I ran through the small field that led to one of the entrances to the village, which was just a pathway between two buildings, I finally heard an unnatural noise that made the fine hairs on my body stand on end.

A shriek that was decisively not human, echoed throughout the night, followed immediately by another.

I wasn’t sure why I cared.

But my instincts were taking over now. Because a threat had invaded my home, my village, and my territorial instincts were demanding me to act.

After all, this was where I grew up and had been my home all my life.

Thus, I pressed forward at an even faster pace, beginning to pull Rose along almost to the point that she could no longer keep up. I finally let her go as I quickly rounded a corner to one of the many courtyards in the village, halting in my tracks in complete shock when I laid eyes on the assailant.

A massive midnight demon was actively tearing out the throat of a man who had tried attacking it, taking a moment to gulp down the gushing blood, before tossing the man aside with a snarl.

Its monstrous body was humanoid in shape, except for the massive pair of bat-like wings, appearing like something from a nightmare. Never mind its hideous face, flattened almost, very much like a bat.

A bat the size of a grown man.

A scream to my left stole my attention briefly, as I saw another one swoop down from the sky and attempt to snatch up a woman.

I didn’t have time to think.

I had to act.

I dashed for the one to my left first, clearing the gap across the courtyard faster than humanly possible, and swung the pole around in a blur. It smashed into the monster’s face, shattering bones as it flew into a nearby house, breaking right through the wall.

I then whirled around to attack the first one I’d seen, only to be slammed unexpectedly from the side by a third.

I went flying through the air, falling into a roll as I landed on the ground, quickly hopping back to my feet in front of a startled man holding a shovel.

Grinning at him from a sudden spike of excitement, I spun around with the six-foot-pole in my hands.

However, I had to swing it faster than I was planning, barely having time to intercept an attack, taking a step back when I found myself already face-to-face with the one that had just body-slammed me a second ago.

The pole collided with its shoulder, the force of my swing taking me off my feet and moving me in the other direction half a foot, my true weight preventing me from going too far.

The monster went soaring through the wall of another building.

Unexpectedly, the fine hair on my arms stood up on end again, but for a very different reason this time.

Blue lightning suddenly appeared in the near distance where I had left Rose, a bolt of pure energy slicing the air and hitting the first monster I still hadn’t managed to attack.

Mr. Fairburne and the rest of the men had caught up now, standing by Rose as they helplessly watched her send out another bolt of blue lightning from her outstretched hand at the demon. I doubted they were too worried about her being a witch now, because she was the only thing standing between them and certain death.

Ready to continue the fight, I quickly fell forward into a sprint, afraid for her wellbeing when I heard the monster shriek in anger, as if the lightning wasn’t enough to kill it.

However, when I reentered the courtyard, I saw it take off flying, trying to escape.

But I wasn’t about to have that.

No mercy.

No survivors.

I abruptly dug my heels into the ground, coming to a halt as I hoisted the pole back behind me. I then put my entire body into the throw, shooting it out like a javelin with every fiber of my being.

Whistling as it soared, it pierced the monster straight through the chest, causing it to fall from the sky like a boulder.

I heard it crash into one of the houses in the village, accompanied with a human scream echoing in the air from the unexpected visitor.

The very first demon I’d hit had recovered though, using the opportunity to snag me from behind, lifting me right off my feet. Rose looked at me in horror, her brown eyes wide in fear, her expression helpless, realizing she couldn’t attack the monster without hitting me.

But feeling such strong arms wrapped around me made me even more excited, a strange thrill rushing through my core, even as the creature tried to crush me to death, even as I felt its breath near my neck.

I unexpectedly grinned at her and laughed.

I’d never had so much fun in my entire life!

A bestial growl from another world erupted from my throat, rapidly deepening even as my transformation happened in the blink of an eye.

Instantly, my clothes shredded as I burst into a massive white wolf, curling around as I broke free from my assailant’s grasp, snagging my teeth around the monster’s head. I then paused for half a second, letting my prey struggle just briefly before I clenched my jaw tight, severing its neck.

The midnight body went limp and fell to the ground.

However, my excitement was quelled briefly from the horrendous taste, prompting me to spit the nasty skull onto the ground.

Decapitated.

Unfortunately, my excitement was quelled briefly from the horrendous taste, prompting me to spit the nasty skull onto the ground. I didn’t have time to dwell on it long though, since I still had the last one to kill -- the second monster I’d hit was coming after me in a rage, not seeming to like that I'd killed its friend.

Or perhaps its mate, since this one seemed female.

I leapt to the side on all fours, barely escaping a clawed swipe.

Simultaneously, another bolt of lightning sliced through the air next to me, knocking the demon off its feet.

I quickly leapt on top of it, standing high above the humanoid figure with a snarl. The moment I caught a whiff of its fear, my mood soared again, and I smashed my teeth into the creature's disfigured face, gleefully whipping my head back and forth as I tore it apart.

Shit, this was so much fun!

I didn’t want to stop! I wanted there to be more enemies to kill!

And I felt other things too, other cravings forming in the pit of my stomach.

Finished playing after half a minute, I finally spat out its head, licking my jowls to clean off the nasty blood from my pure white fur, standing up high above all the humans in the courtyard.

Even Mr. Fairburne didn’t come up to my shoulders while I was in this form, despite the fact I was on all four paws. I hadn’t realized I had gotten so big recently, even larger than a horse now.

I then focused down toward Rose intently, staring at her from across the courtyard. She hesitated just briefly, eyeing my monstrous form cautiously, before walking over with a swift stride.

I lowered my head just as she engulfed my massive snout in her embrace, burying her own face against my forehead.

“Ariana!” she exclaimed. “You’re beautiful! Absolutely beautiful!”

Chapter 2 >>