“I know, baby. Rest.”
His hands continued to work their magic, lightly caressing her back and hair. She closed her eyes and drifted off.
****
Pita awoke, disoriented and found she lay atop the couch with a down comforter wrapped around her. The cabin. I’m at the cabin with Niko. Nightfall cast dark shadows along the walls of the room. The fire glowed in the hearth low and golden orange. Silence except for the crackling within the hearth. I’m alone.
Remembering her previous attempts to move, she cautiously removed the comforter and gingerly slid her legs to the floor and sat up. Hmmm… No pain.
As she stood, the cabin door swung open and with it, a cold burst of air assaulted her. Niko stepped in and closed the door quietly.
“I’m awake.” Pita said gathering up the comforter and wrapping it around herself. “It’s chilly out there.”
“Yes. I’ve gathered more wood for the fire.” He smiled. “I piled it beside the door for easier access.” He crossed to her. “How do you feel? Come let’s have coffee.” Putting his arm about her shoulders, he led her toward the kitchen. “Sit. I will make you a cup.”
Pita sat at the small plank table. After adjusting the comforter she asked, “How long have I been sleeping? I feel much better.”
Niko filled a kettle with water then placed it on the stove. “Only a few hours. It’s close to ten o’clock.” He set two mugs on the table along with a plastic container of sugar. “Do you want milk?”
She nodded. “Please.”
After pulling a couple of spoons out of a small drawer, he sat beside her at the table to wait for the coffee to perk.
“Niko, I need to ask you something.”
“Okay.” His eyes seemed to caress her face then settle on her eyes. “As you Americans say, shoot.”
“Okay.” She gazed down the tabletop and picked at an invisible fleck with her nail. “I’m sure you understand that you are not the first person to sexually arouse me, though I have to say it’s never been that intense before.” She felt the heat of a blush spread up her neck and across her face. “You said earlier that sexual arousal can prompt the shift. Why has it never happened before?”
He chewed his bottom lip a moment and took a deep breath before answering. “The difference is you’ve never had you’re beast drawn up.” He got up to get the coffee pot.
She arched an eyebrow peering up at him. “My beast? What does that mean?”
Niko poured the hot liquid into the mugs and replaced the pot on the stove, then returned to sit.
“The beast within. The wolf. Your wolf.” Niko poured milk into his cup and added sugar. The aroma of the coffee permeated the small room.
Pita met Niko’s eyes, and they held locked for several seconds. A pang of movement stirred deep within her. Niko’s eyes bled amber and the stirring within her quickened as her vision changed, and she knew without a doubt her own eyes had also changed. She broke eye contact and glanced around the room. Everything appeared like an intense photographic negative. There seemed to be color but certain shades such as red, yellows, muted greens, and blues seemed more vivid. Angles and shapes sharpened. Then just as suddenly, her vision returned to normal.
She turned back to Niko whose eyes also had returned to their normal hazel.
“Wow.”
Niko laughed. “Well said.” He took a sip of his coffee. “It will take some getting used to, Pita, but you’ll be fine.”
“Easy for you to say. The shifting part still scares me to death.” She stirred her coffee absently. “When will it happen…all the way, I mean. I’ve had nothing but very painful teasers so far.”
“The moon will be full tomorrow night. We will go into the forest and shift together. Think about the dream you told me about, the one where you were the wolf and how free you felt.”
Pita smiled. “Yes. I’d forgotten about that.” She took a long swallow of her coffee. “My mind just can’t get past all that bone crunching and the sensation of my skin splitting wide open.”
“You will adjust, and you will learn to control the shift.” He touched her face gently and then reached down to clasp her hand that lay on the table. “There is one more thing you must understand. It will seem harsh but, it must be said.”
“What?”
“You will be an animal, a wolf. You will do as the wolf does. You will hunt. You will kill for food, not pleasure; it is the nature of the beast.”
Pita felt a lump rise in her throat as her stomach lurched and flipped. She covered her mouth with her hand and swallowed hard. “Oh.”
She stood and paced the small kitchen area. “This just gets better all the time doesn’t it? I hadn’t even considered that very important tidbit of information.” Worry etched her brow and her voice rose in pitch. “I can’t even handle a computer generated animal getting hurt in a movie. How am I going to eat a rabbit?” A thought came to her. “What if you gorge yourself before you shift? What if you’re not hungry?”
Niko shook his head. “No, Pita,” he said softly. “Doesn’t work that way. When you shift to your wolf counterpart you will do whatever is instinctive to the wolf, though you will still be aware on a human level to some degree as well.” He leaned back in the chair. “The good news is that the more you shift the easier it will become and, we can communicate with one another through telepathy. We represent a higher level of beast and human intellect.”
She walked back over to the table and, with a heavy sigh, dropped onto her chair. “Crap. Who am I? Where did this come from and why?” She caught Niko’s lopsided smile. “What?”
“Tut…you.” He leaned over and kissed her softly. “You are beautiful.” He whispered his lips still on hers. “Even when you are frustrated.”
Pita felt tingling warmth erupt deep in her stomach but her beast remained quiet as Niko kissed her again. He stood and pulled her up and against him. The embrace tightened and their kiss deepened. His erection, hard and full, pressed against her belly. She leaned her body closer, stood on tiptoes, and pressed her pelvis against his hardness. The only sensation raging through her now was an insatiable desire. She vibrated with it. A low, carnal moan escaped her. When the kiss ended, she felt breathless.
Niko pushed an errant strand of hair back from her face and brushed his fingers down her cheek. “I want you, but it is better not to complicate things any more than they are. You must get through the shift, Pita.”
“Is there a chance I’d shift during…” she could not finish the sentence.
“It is dangerous and frightening. You must to be able to control your beast. Sex is the ultimate submission for both partners.”
Though he left so much unsaid, she understood that he was protecting her, but that he feared his control as well. “Okay, so the rule is no sex until I master my beast.” She sat heavily on the chair once again.
Niko nodded. “Yes, though I am thinking this will be quite a challenge. The good news is we have one more day then you will completely shift. The worst will be over, and we can move on. When the moon wanes the urge will be less intense until the next full moon.”
“Ahhh…you make it sound so simple.” The tension had ebbed, and Pita actually found humor in the situation. “Life is complicated enough without adding a couple of horny people who just happen to turn furry at least once a month. This could only happen to me.” She started to giggle then broke into whole-hearted laughter.
“At least you seem to be taking this well.” He smiled, taking her hand and pulling her up off the chair. “Let’s go for a walk.”
Chapter Thirty-six
The following day Niko further prepared Pita for the impending shift. She felt edgy and out of sorts for most of the day. Restless.
Now with dusk blanketing the forest-enclosed cabin, Pita’s nerves suddenly quieted. An inner peace replaced the anxiety that she had carried with her for weeks.
It seemed as if her inner self sighed, urging her to accept her fate and promised that
no harm would come to her. Confirming simply this is what you are. A world of peace echoed down into her soul.
The rumble deep down in her stomach drew her out of her thoughts. Hungry. The aroma of the simmering stew they had prepared earlier made her mouth water.
“You ready for dinner?” Niko asked as if he’d read her thoughts or perhaps he heard her stomach protest. He stirred the contents of the iron pot, then turned toward her.
“Yes. Starving.” Pita answered going to the cupboard to get a loaf of bread down and lay it on the cutting board. While she sliced the fresh loaf of Mountain bread Dorina had made and given them, Niko set the table and got the tub of butter from the icebox.
She placed the entire cutting board on the table containing the sliced bread. Niko spooned stew into bowls from the pot on the stove and brought them to the table.
“You seem much more relaxed,” he said sitting down.
Pita poured goat’s milk into two cups, placed them beside their plates and then sat beside him.
“Yes, it seems strange but, I feel amazingly calm.”
Niko smiled, “As you should be.” Then he partook of his stew. Pita joined him in reassured silence.
****
Darkness draped the shadowy landscape. The full moon cast slivers of silvery light upon the forest floor. Pita’s eyes had long since changed. She could see perfectly as they walked deeper into the forest. Her night vision had improved at least one hundred and twenty per cent. Impressive.
The chilled air, hardly noticeable though all she wore was her fluffy terry robe. Niko had explained earlier that clothing would shred during the shift so, why wear it? She’d laughed at the time, but felt a little like an exhibitionist now. Niko wore sweat pants and a T-shirt.
At the top of a steep incline, the trees opened and gave way to a tremendous panoramic view of the forest along with the illusion she could almost touch the huge, fullness of the moon. A lone creature silhouetted against the rising orb sang solemnly. The wolf song bounced eerily, yet beautifully, off tree and cliff. Pita’s heart lifted to the song, and she felt her beast stir. Niko touched her arm.
“It is time.”
****
She didn’t even have time to process those three little words before the first sensation slammed into her. Pita couldn’t really call it pain, though a scream ripped from deep down inside her, hurtled up her throat, and out her mouth. Suddenly, she found herself writhing on the ground a distant crunching sound and the sensation of her body expanding, changing. She tried to observe what was happening to her but found she was unable to focus long enough for her eyes to send the images to her brain.
A question came to her, and then she remembered something Niko had said earlier. ‘When you shift you will be the wolf.’ She wanted to ask Niko if she would still be herself. Would she be sentient within the wolf or would she not remember— a time lapse, nothing more? Crunching and snapping dominated her attention once again. In no time it was over, and she lay panting on her side. Unfamiliar with this canine form, she struggled to sit up for a few minutes, but then got the hang of it. Hair…coarse, pretty, blondish with black and white mixed in sprouted everywhere on her body. This wasn’t too bad, she thought shaking her entire body from her nose all the way to her tail, then stretched long front legs and followed with her back ones.
Pita stood on all fours, tongue lolling, invigorated. She looked down at her feet—well… paws. Fascinated, she gazed up and around slowly, turning three hundred and sixty degrees. Niko. Where is Niko? She padded to the treeline, and found his clothes folded and piled neatly under a nearby bush.
She turned and scented the air with her long nose. Pine tickled her senses along with the musky scent of damp earth and rotting foliage. Her hearing heightened to the point she could hear the soft snore of a small animal to her left and the scratching of something in the above branches, perhaps a resting bird? Still she couldn’t scent Niko.
Where is he? Then, she suddenly realized. I am still me! And I am a wolf. She sat on haunches with a plop. Where is Niko? Why would he leave me here alone?
Rustling behind her brought her quickly back to all fours. She turned to face the threat and leaned instinctively down into a crouch, hair bristled along her back, ears down, tail straight out behind her. Fight position.
A big grey wolf, who she knew well, stepped out of the trees. He held her pink robe between his teeth and stepped closer, the robe trailing behind him.
Relief slipped out in a sigh. She relaxed her stance and swished her tail. Glancing behind, she thought of her childhood companion, Maggie, the golden retriever she’d grown up with. Happy tail? She chuckled, but it came out like a cross between a low growl and a guttural grunt. Then an absurd thought came to her. It would have been nice if I’d been conscious when Niko saw me naked for the first time. Pita snorted softly, picked the other end of the robe up with her teeth and followed Niko to the brush where he’d left his clothing. Together they nudged and pawed until they got the robe hidden under his clothing then kicked some leaves upon the pile to hide them from view.
That taken care of, Niko met her eyes with his amber ones then the familiar timbre of his voice slid into her mind. “Come.” He turned tail and loped off into the forest.
Pita followed, all the while, she had the distinct impression that this had all happened before. As she trotted at Niko’s side, she realized why. The dream. The very first dream. Now she understood that had been a premonition. Just as in the vision, she felt freedom, the awareness of muscle bunching and relaxing with each movement. The scents of the night bombarded her nose. She could even distinguish between them. Damp leaves, a lake or stream off in the distance, other animals, even fuel exhaust, and wood burning in fireplaces drifted on the air.
When they reached a clearing, Niko stopped at its edge. He nudged her and nosed to the left. Quietly he crawled into some nearby brush and lay down nudging his snout through the leaves. Pita came up beside him and lay down. When she too glanced out into the clearing, her breath caught in her throat at what she saw before her but what she heard hit like a knife to her heart.
In her mind she screamed, Oh my God! No…
Niko nudged her in support and understanding. His voice filled her mind. I am sorry, Pita, but you had to know.
Floricita’s words bit into her mind as she watched the scene in front of her. “Beware who you put your trust in.” A whimper escaped soft and low, and she felt her eyes blur with tears.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
“You will go to your aunt’s home and advise all that your father does well, and you have left him to come to Romania to help your friend,” the Matriarch was saying. “Then you will draw that wolf’s child away, and we will destroy her and her Nikolae. They will not have that gathering as long as I breathe air on this Earth.”
Sasha bowed and shook her head in agreement. “Pita trusts me. She will never suspect a thing. Leave her to me.”
“You best be correct. I cannot have the pack reunited. They will gain strength with this union. I will not allow it to happen.” She slapped her palm against the wagon post. “Those two will not consummate a marriage between Alfa and Lupa!”
Sasha stepped back. “We will destroy them. Of that you can be sure.”
Pita could see that Sasha feared this woman and wondered what hold the Matriarch had over her. How could Sasha do this to me? We’ve known one another since we were young girls. Pita thumped a paw on the ground in frustration. Floricita, told me to beware, that someone close to me will betray me. I never would have thought Sasha would be that person. Belatedly, she wondered if Niko had been privy to her thoughts or if they were her own.
“Come, we must go.” Niko nudged her and backed away from the clearing. They belly crawled a few feet before getting on all fours, then silently trotted away and back into the density of the forest.
The beast within her wanted to turn around and shred Sasha to pieces. Hurt stabbed like shards of glass piercing her heart.
Pita picked up her pace until she throttled up to a full run. Niko didn’t stop her. Lost in her thoughts, though aware he kept a little distance behind but never out of sight. Pita could hear him and smell his scent. Her enhanced senses helped, though Pita realized she had a good tail wind leaving little resistance to her forward motion. Pita tried to outrun her emotions, to cleanse her psyche. She remembered how Sasha had freaked when she’d wanted to ask her father about the wolves. Had this been why? Do they all know? Have they all been hiding this from her all these years? And most horrid of all, why do they want her dead? She shivered. Sasha wants her dead?
Enough! Shaking away the questions that held no answers, she marveled at the ease with which her sinuous muscles moved, and the way the wind flattened her fur into a streamline entity. She ran for what seemed miles. Forest and meadow alike passed in a blur. She leapt over fallen trees and jumped small ravines then eventually slowed to a trot, but felt no fatigue. Niko sidled up beside her. They walked together for a while in silence. Night sounds embraced them, shafts of moonlight pierced through the canopy above to speckle the forest floor in frosty luminescence.
Pita heard the gurgle of running water. Not far in front of them lay a stream. She could smell its fresh scent. Thirsty. She moved forward now with a purpose. Won’t think about Sasha anymore. Deal later. The stream shimmered a few yards in the distance. She panted from the exercise, her mouth dry, tongue lolling. Drink.
Niko seemed to sense her resolve, or perhaps he could hear her thoughts because although he stayed close, he still gave her space. A strong sense of independence shrouded her, knowledge of power yet to be unleashed. Her beast filled her with confidence and strength she’d not realized she had. The tension began to ebb as the wonder of what she’d become began to sink in. I am one with nature. I am one with the pack. Then a more profound thought seeped into her mind, unbidden not sure why or where it came from but knew it to be true. The ultimate goal is the survival of the pack, always.
Curse Of The Marhime Page 16