Kayden chose to watch over the children, letting the other adults get some space from the young ones. She didn’t mind sleeping in a room full of sixteen snoring children. If anything, she found it refreshing, being around so many people for the first time in her life. Curled up with a few of the younger ones on the bed, she drifted off to sleep.
Fluttering her eyes open, she no longer sat in the room, or for that matter the inn. She was in a small, circular room with no walls, only a white silk canopy that reached sky high and fell in billows around them. Beyond that was a dark void, nothing but black to see. Around her was an assortment of pillows to sit on, and in the middle of the room a small table, lined with treats and a tea pot.
“Hey Kayden,” the voice was behind her, and turning her heart soared.
The young wolf grinned wide, launching herself at her mentor with a squeal, “Annah!”
The demon’s arms wrapped around her tightly, squeezing her before releasing her to sit down. As they settled, and Savannah explained how she was surprised how far her telepathy was stretching to reach the girl. The pack had already passed Cleansed City, moving much quicker and without rest for the past week now. They had finally stopped in exhaustion, and were resting in a cave. The demon also explained the odd room, that it was something she had constructed long ago in her head, for she didn’t always dream, and when she didn’t she’d escape here instead, still resting but her mind alive inside her small secret room.
“Sometimes Damion joins me,” she smiles, “And I had other friends long ago that could reach me in their dreams here too. I guess you can as well. I spent long enough in your head that it’s created a kind of bridge, a way for us to speak through our dream states.”
“So I can come here whenever?” Kayden asked, excited.
“Only when I am sleeping too, yes. Now tell me how your week has gone.”
So Kayden filled her in, starting with finding Elijah and ending with the town they were in. When she was done Savannah looked curiously at her, thinking something over. The room around them began to blur and spin except the town of them, and around her everything morphed into a much more familiar background, trees sprouting all around them.
“How is Luna doing with training?” Savannah asked, smiling as she stood up abruptly, stretching her bare legs.
Kayden hadn’t noticed before but Savannah’s body was all but naked, a leather cloth hanging down between her legs, attached by a golden chain that wrapped around her waist. The leather looked old and tattered, but the embroidery was beautiful and shimmered in a pale gold. Her breasts were covered by another leather cloth, pulled tightly against them and stitched at the back so there was no need to tie it. With so little clothing, Kayden was able to see all her faded battle wounds, and the odd shaped puckered burn marks that sat along her spine. There were two fresh scars on each shoulder blade as well, that looked recently slashed.
“My wings,” she commented, seeing Kayden’s silver eyes staring, “They sprout from these marks here, so the wounds always look fresh. I have quite the collection of scars don’t I?
“Just on your back,” Kayden admitted, noticing the lack of marks on her legs or stomach, “Why is that?”
“Whip lashings,” Savannah shrugged, “They are popular in Hell. And the burns down my spine are an incantation my father left on me. His birthday present one year. I’ve been where you were Kayden, locked away and beaten. In time you will become strong too, especially with your sister’s guidance.”
She wrinkled her nose after a few more minutes of silence, “Enough gawking at me, you still haven’t answered the question. How’s training going? I'd like to see how far you've come in a week.”
“Well,” Kayden scratched her head, “Luna and Jay do all the hunting. And I don’t want to be a bother so-”
“You haven’t told her you can’t hunt,” Savannah pursed her lips, “Have you said anything about needing training on your senses? Your tracking? Your fighting?”
“…no…”
“Train with her,” Savannah stated, raising an eyebrow as the dream shimmered once more, “Just ask her. I’m sure she’d love to teach you.”
~~
Beads of sweat dripped off her forehead as she woke with a start, her body boiling. Wrapped in only a thin sheet and her clothing, Kayden couldn't understand the sudden warmth. Stealing her arm from one of the little boys she slipped out of the room, tiptoeing downstairs and out the front door. The fresh air hit her like a wall, cooling her skin as she took heaping gulps, trying to still her pounding heart.
What's wrong with me? she thought, her ears swiveling at every noise, her nose twitching at the stench still emanating from the town.
A tingling down her spine and a sudden soreness in her gums had her shaking, sudden realization of what was coming.
It has never forces itself, she thought, running for the trees,
I Changed a week ago, I should have more time!
Her mind went over the dream with Savannah, remembering her mentor wanting to challenge the wolf, seeing her action. Had she accidentally triggered the Change then?
A bone-shattering crack in her back was answer enough, as she fell into the dirt only steps into the trees, tearing at her clothes to be free of them. Shoving them into a messy pile beside her, Kayden's knees and elbows dug into the dirt as her body cracked and splintered, reshaping itself. Try as she might to gritt her teeth, the pain became overwhelming as she fought with it, forcing a shrill scream out of her system as her body twitched. The scream turned into painful howls as her voice changed, her face being pulled out into a muzzle, her teeth becoming fangs.
Finally her body stilled, lying exhausted in the grass. The white wolf's chest heaved, trying to catch her breath as the moon played in her fur. Smoky grey eyes slowly opened, taking in the world from her new form.
Getting up on shaky legs, she tested the ground under her pink pads, feeling the cool grass on them. The wind whistled around her, perking her ears, and the subtle scent of a rabbit caught her nose, turning her head eastward. Taking a step, she paused, basking in the freedom she hadn't had in over half a century. Then she tore off, determined to hunt her first meal.
~~
With the moon in decline and no rabbit in her stomach, Kayden dropped to the ground, disappointed. She kept losing the trail, finding it after a few painstaking minutes and running a few paces before repeating the process. The hare was long gone now, and she had failed her first hunt.
Some wolf I am, she moped, head on her paws,
Luna makes it look so easy, why can't I get a handle on it?
A sudden growl not her own echoed through the trees, scaring Kayden. Flattening her lean body to the ground, she edged forward until she was immersed in the brush, undetected. The werewolf was on the smaller side for their species that usually stood around Luna's height. Kayden's body was close to a normal wolf's height and size, only a few inches taller and her hair not at shaggy. It was the perfect size for hunting, but too small for attacks on her own.
Quietly she listened as the growl sounded off again, and then a voice.
"I can smell her too, and it seems the wolf isn't with her bitch of a sister."
"They smell almost identical," a second voice complained, "Are you sure it isn't Lunar?"
"We've been tracking this bitch for three weeks now, I think I know her scent."
"Well where is she then? You two are just standing there!"
Another growl, then a deep bark.
"Girl was zig-zagging everywhere. We can't tell which way she went. At least we caught up to her, now we just got to corner her alone."
"That won't be easy with Luna. We can't get close, or we're dead. Abass won't be pleased we are near the Alpha's daughter in the first place. I don't know why she's helping this crazy prison rat, but I bet its to piss him off."
"Or the crazy chick came up with some sob story to trick her. Remember what Abass said, how we can't listen to her. She just spouts lies. Now c'mon, maybe she went this way."
I do not lie! Kayden thought bitterly, hearing them walk in the opposite direction of her hiding spot fortunately.
She waited till their footsteps and voices faded then snuck out of her spot, and keeping her belly low to the ground snuck back to her clothes and then the inn. Using her teeth, she played with the door until it opened, then scooped up her clothes and continued inwards. The doors were all closed upstairs too, and Kayden knew better than to walk into a room of sleeping children in her wolf form. Looking around, she found a spot in a tiny cleaning closet, small enough to be cozy and big enough to fit her comfortably. Laying her clothes out like a make-shift nest she curled up, lying her head on her large fluffy white tail, as she drifted off once again.
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