The Old Luna swept past with a smile and said, “Well done. Everything looks great!” Which was such a nice compliment that it made all the long hours of work feel worth it.
The dance floor was filling up as evening fell. I stood watching the dancers and admiring their graceful movements. Still, I felt very much alone. Always the unwanted guest, never the Gala attendee.
I resolved not to feel sorry for myself any longer. I would find some way to make the night feel worthwhile to myself, even if it was just snacking on the dessert table.
I turned around just in time to see Gideon enter through the double doors.
He was striking in a well-cut suit, his hair swept back. He looked like he belonged in a fashion magazine, not at a small-town gala. No one deserved to be that handsome.
His eyes fell on me and he began making his way through the crowd. I considered trying to dip into the crowd and disappear, but where would I go? So I just stood there and waited.
When he arrived in front of me, he stared down at me, his eyes sweeping from top to bottom.
I suddenly felt shy, and lowered my lashes to gaze at the floor.
After a long moment I shyly said, “Well, aren’t you going to say something?”
Gideon took a deep breath, but he didn’t say anything. His eyes gleamed in the darkness.
Instead, he held out his hand. After hesitating, I placed mine in his, and he whirled me onto the dance floor.
I hadn’t danced like this with anyone, but Gideon made it seem easy. His hand at my waist moved me effortlessly, and I only stepped on his toes once.
When the song ended, I was breathless but he twirled me back out again, and again.
Around the dance floor I saw people notice us, making way as we swirled past.
“You still haven’t said anything.” I murmured as the music slowed and the lights dimmed. We were swaying together slowly, and the whole night was starting to take on a dreamy, hazy quality.
Please don’t let this be a dream, I prayed. Not when it feels so perfect.
“You seem to have that effect on me tonight.” Gideon’s face tipped down towards mine. My heart fluttered in my chest.
I stared into his eyes. His pupils were deep pools of darkness in the shadows of the dance floor. His mouth was coming closer to mine.
Without warning, Gideon’s eyes flashed yellow. Wolf’s eyes.
“Something is wrong.” He spoke, but the voice sounded strange, both his and not his.
“What?” I asked, panicked.
Gideon grabbed my hand and drew me off the dance floor. Where his hand closed around my wrist, his wolf’s claws were starting to emerge.
“Gideon, you’re scaring me.” I tried to pull back as he hauled me along, but his hand only tightened and he growled.
“I/We need to get out of here.” Again there was that double layering of voices, like two people were speaking at once. I realized with a start that I was hearing his wolf, speaking through him.
I stopped trying to fight and picked up my pace to match Gideon’s. Whatever was happening, I had to trust that he would protect Us.
We rushed out the doors and into the night. The waxing gibbous moon stared down at us from low in the sky. In the moonlight, Gideon seemed to solidify, growing larger.
He shook himself, like one might shake off a chill. Then he turned to face me, wolf’s fangs starting to elongate.
His wolf was taking over!
Avery’s POV
I was staring a 250lb wolf in the face from mere feet away.
Gideon’s wolf was huge. The largest I had ever seen. Paws the size of dinnerplates. Black fur tipped with silver that gleamed in the moonlight.
And he looked angry.
I stood, frozen, as Gideon’s wolf stalked towards me, fangs bared. His eyes were golden coins, and those teeth looked razor sharp.
“G-Gideon?” I stammered, taking a slow, uneasy step backwards. “Are you in there?”
Since I was unable to manifest my wolf myself, I didn’t get to run with my pack during Full Moon hunts. Still, I knew enough to know that this wasn’t normal. It wasn’t a Full Moon so he should have been in full control of his wolf, but Gideon did not reappear.
Which meant something was wrong.
I had to find out what it was.
“I hope you can hear me.” I started talking, nervously, but I stopped retreating. “Help me figure out what’s wrong?”
I had never transformed, so I had no idea how much one could understand when in wolf form. My wolf lurked in the back of my mind, but rarely did she make her presence felt, and she’d never allowed me to shift.
I didn’t know why. Maybe I was just broken.
Others had described it as riding as passenger in your own mind. You and the wolf are one, but your human side takes a passive role.
Here it felt more like Gideon’s wolf had staged a coup.
Since I couldn’t voluntarily shift, I had no way to communicate to his wolf directly. Wolves could talk telepathically to each other over short distances, but you had to be in wolf form to do it.
And no one else was around to act as translator.
Gideon’s wolf rushed forward, then stopped mere inches from my face. I fought the impulse to shriek and curl up in to a ball. Wolf prey drives were strong, and sometimes in a heightened state, they would attack and kill indiscriminately.
I needed to not look like prey.
I tried to keep my voice low, and calm.
“Gideon…I mean, Gideon’s wolf.” I greeted, shakily. “Show me what I need to do to help. Why are you here?”
The wolf growled, and snapped at the air.
“You’re upset. Something must be very wrong. I want to help.” I focused on projecting as much calm as I could, even as I watched saliva slowly drip from those deadly fangs.
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