New Abilities

I felt free. With Nessa, together as one, we ran. I had wondered in the beginning how after such an excruciating experience turning, I could be so full of energy in my wolf form, but Ness had told me that we get renewed energy as a wolf. 

I hadn't known anything about being a wolf in the beginning. When Nessa came forward after the first time I had shifted she could sense she would have to slow things down for me. Take it one step at a time and slowly teach me the wolf way.

My parents had died, or abandoned me, or were taken. I have no idea what happened to them, just that I had to have had them to exist. I lived with an old human couple in the woods before they passed. They weren't wolves, Ness said we would have been able to smell it on them, but they were kind, fed us and provided for us the best they could.  

Of course, they didn't understand who Nessa was. They might have thought I was crazy, but they never said anything, and I never explained. I think they knew better, or they were just too old to care. Either way, it's just been me and Ness since they passed. 

Now together we've shifted into our next stage of wolf. As much as I tried to fight it, puberty still hit me and that meant it hit my wolf too. That's why the shift tonight, under the full moon, had been so atrocious. We were evolving. 

Thank fuck that was over. 

"Are we done evolving now, Ness? Cuz I don't want to do that ever again." I say to her through our connection. But she just laughs and says "Feel, Roo. Feel the difference in us now. Just feel." 

I pushed the potential of another night like tonight away from my mind and listened to my wolf. I pushed my paws deeper into the ground to feel the earth below. I breathed in deep and perked my ears to their highest level.

I could feel the roots from the trees, the worms and ants digging tunnels in the ground. I could smell every type of flower, tree, and creature around us, and hear ever chatter, song, and crack. 

It was all so intense. "It's so much. I feel everything. We feel everything." I preach to Ness.

"Just like before my Peony. Breath. Feel it all. Inhale and exhale. Relax. This is all a part of us." I do as she says, breathing and relaxing my senses all while we continue to sprint through the dark, full woods. 

See, Nessa and I are white. I quickly learned, once I entered school, that we were rare. White wolves weren’t known in the wolf community, so Ness and I knew that outing our wolf color probably wasn’t the best of ideas. We had no one to trust, to guide us, and we didn’t want to be controlled.  So, when it’s time to shift we have to stay in the dense forest and only roam at night so as not to be seen. The high full moon shines bright and causes some concern of exposure but not many people care to venture this deep into the woods and we had no choice but to shift tonight. 

We slow down when we reach a small waterfall with a surrounding pond the water pours into. The trees are thick overhead and little moonlight seeps through the treetops,  making this a good place to stop. We lean over to take a drink from the water, all my senses still run strong but they are starting to lesson if even just a little. 

"Good Peony. Your acceptance is key to control. Keep breathing Peony." 

Her words of encouragement are like warm tingles through my body. She helps make me strong and my trust in her makes our bond even stronger. "Thank you, Ness. I couldn't have done this without you." 

We sit by the pond, homing in on our new abilities. As a wolf all my senses had been heightened, even in human form. But this was another level. Deeper, more specific. I could tell the exact type of species of worm or ant that was burrowing through the ground. I could name the bird in the tree by the flap of its wings and the melody of its chirp. 

I could smell the sap of the maple trees, even type of flower or bush that bloomed, and every animal that lives or has come through this area. Even the fish in the pond I could name without looking, just by sensing. "It's so much Ness. How will it be in human form?" I ask her. 

"How would I know?” She chuckles. “I would assume much like this, maybe more or different. But we won't know for sure until we change back. Until then, are you ready?" 

I stand and we begin training our new abilities. We spend the next few hours focusing on one sense at a time, switching between smell, sight, touch, sounds. We walked around the small waterfall and put my taste through the test. It was the same as the others. I could taste everything that had glided through these waters, pin-point the origin of every taste. It was incredible. 

As the moon began to lower and the sun started to peak through the night, we shifted back. The shift was much easier, still painful, and long, but nowhere near the intense, excruciating experience we had earlier in the night.