9

It seemed like an eternity until I thought I could see movement between the vegetation. The leaves rustled softly.

In what felt like slow motion, a huge brown beast emerged from the shelter of the trees, a wad of clothing between its teeth.

He ran to the bag a few meters away and then put his clothes next to it

It was huge, at least as far as I could tell.

My head wouldn't accept that the cattle and Tyler were the same person/animal, whatever. All I really wanted to do was take my feet up and run for my life.

But a single thought shattered that desire almost as quickly. A wolf was a predator. If I ran away now, it could make him chase me. And with the best will in the world I didn't want to imagine what would happen when the beast caught up with me.

I swallowed.

Tyler, on the other hand, stayed calm as far as I could tell. Besides the obvious things, where would I have learned such a thing from? As a human being, one usually only had the goal not to attract attention and not to make him angry when encountering a werewolf.

A terrible cracking and tearing sounded. I watched in disbelief what was happening in front of me. The giant wolf in front of me seemed to break every single bone. Everything else happened so incredibly fast that my eyes couldn't even take it in. Before me stood Tyler again, in his purely human form, just as he had come into the world.

Naked.

I didn't know where to look, or rather not where to look. After a full five seconds, following a knee-jerk reaction, I closed my eyes. But that decision couldn't make what I saw forget. I could literally feel the blood making its way down my neck and into my face, turning crimson.

"Do I look that bad?" came the amused voice of my counterpart. I didn't answer, but my face reached a whole new level of redness.

"Oh little one, being naked is completely normal for us werewolves. It's actually quite surprising that you didn't see anyone else in my parents' pack like that. I honestly didn't expect my dad to be so considerate and send us out before he indulged his lust for my mom." Slightly

startled, I opened my eyes only to see Tyler's amused face. For him it seemed the thought of being completely normal that his parents might be in front of us... well. "But at least you have your eyes open now," he said, probably to bring up another topic that I find more comfortable.

Tyler sat down close to me. I tried only to look him in the face and go nowhere else. I knew what the male body looked like, but only from school books. No boy from my school had ever shown any interest in me and to be honest I expected it to stay that way for the rest of my life.

Gently, Tyler wrapped his hands around my face and only a short distance separated our faces. His warm breath caressed my face and his fingers stroked the contours of my face. My heart skipped a beat, only to resume at double speed.

"You just have to trust me..." he murmured to me. I didn't know why I did it, but I nodded slightly. His eyes beamed at me and before I knew it his lips were on mine. An indescribable

feeling rushed through my body. My eyes were closed and I leaned into the touch. It was like a rush for me.

My whole body tingled from the kiss. We stared at each other for a good five minutes. The kiss was incredibly beautiful. It was no more and no less than a simple, almost innocent seeming kiss.

Tyler grinned happily and I guess I did the same. It was bewitched. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't stop. "Do you know how happy I am right now?" he asked me softly. I just kept smiling at him. He pulled me to him and my head rested on his still bare chest. It certainly sounds to any

outsider crazy, but I just felt good around him. I even felt like accepting his wolf side. Any other human hearing my thoughts would surely think that the werewolves were brainwashing me My whole world felt like that kiss had turned it upside down.

We sat like that for a few more minutes until Tyler interrupted that moment.

"I could sit here with you for hours, but we should continue. Better not to keep the Alpha waiting. Do you think we can manage that you carry the bag on your back while you sit on my other form without falling off?"

I just shrugged. I didn't know if that would work like that. But Tyler did didn't see that anymore, because with an unusual eagerness he jumped to his feet, went to the bag and put his things in. Faster than I could count to three, the bag was on my back and I was back on my feet.

Tyler was still grinning when I looked at him. Without any warning, there was a terrible cracking and crunching sound. It happened incredibly fast, but I could begin to see the human becoming an animal.

Before I could even show any reaction, the wolf had come up to me and licked my hand once. Confused and also a bit disgusted, I pulled my hand away. But the wolf was already snuggling up against my body and rubbing itself against me, almost like a much too big cat. Now I was really irritated. What was Tyler trying to do with that?

But less than ten seconds later, the meaning of it all opened up to me. He didn't want to scare me by distracting me with his behavior. And curiously, it actually worked. Even now that I saw through the trick.

The wolf had his back about to my chest and could easily look into my eyes. His brown fur radiated an almost inviting warmth. As a matter of course, my hands ran through the fur.

Tyler lay down on the floor so it was easier for me to sit on his back. When I sat down, the wolf straightened up and started running at a steady pace. At first it felt way too fast and I was afraid of falling, but I got used to it surprisingly quickly. I almost enjoyed the wind brushing my skin and my hands gripping the fur on Tyler's neck. My pulse was so fast I could hear the pounding in my ears. But there were no jerky movements the whole time and my fear of falling turned out to be completely unnecessary.

As time went by, Tyler didn't show the slightest sign of exhaustion. Unfortunately, that wasn't true for me either. By holding on, my muscles cramped and were already hurting a lot.

After thinking I couldn't take it any longer, Tyler finally stopped. With difficulty, my fingers broke free from the fur and I got off his back. I dropped the bag on the floor. Tyler shifted into his human form, pulled me to his chest and murmured, "We're here."