The Midnight Fury

by K9Lupus

The night of the full moon had arrived once more. Its pale brilliance rose higher in the sky by the minute, casting muted rainbows around the edges of passing-by clouds in a heralding call for creatures far removed from the whims and wiles of humanity. Kaitlin, a disguised member of this hidden clade until nights like tonight, could already feel the first, faint simmerings of irradiated werewolf blood coursing through her being. She hastened gathering up the last of what she’d need: a charged phone, wet wipes, an extra large bottle of antacids, and a jacket heavy with the scent of her beloved best friend Maya Tamaki.

Tonight, Kaitlin would be heading out to the Crackle Branches, a secluded stretch of woods on the outskirts of Hayden Falls. The place used to be a popular logging location in Hayden Falls history until regulators came in to preserve some of the native species there. Now that it’s had ample time to heal over, no one typically went out that way to wrangle with the dense, overgrown landscape unless you were interested in coming home with a branch-lashed face and a potential sprained ankle from the sudden dips and turns between the trees. There, Kaitlin would be far enough away from causing any visible damage that would frighten people or cause destruction to property, and really be able to let loose in her entirety without worry.

Maya’s firm insistence on inviting Kaitlin to share her shifting night out of her house in good company had finally won her over in the end. Kaitlin often wondered why her friend hadn’t decided to pursue a career as an attorney or otherwise provide legal counsel. When she got into one of her moods, Maya could serve up a flurry of evidence that would put even a veteran philosopher on the backstep. All of these chides and ‘encouragements’ were well-meaning though. Maya simply spent a great deal of time and energy worrying about what would happen to her friend continuing to slip further into herself if she didn’t create opportunities to live a little.

And truth be told, Kaitlin couldn’t wholly refute Maya’s claims. She had become more reclusive as of late. Ever since their terrifying run in with those Cygnus Corp goons kidnapping her, she didn’t want to take the chance of something going wrong again. Kaitlin had come so close to mauling one of the men there, his flesh just inches from her transformed jaws, and if Maya hadn’t been there–Kaitlin shuddered to think about what the end result might have been. She knew all too well now what she was capable of if the Gammawolf lost control. Even now, that terrible logo of the swan’s outstretched wings was branded deep within some of her worst nightmares.

Time was what she needed most right now, Kaitlin had told herself. Time to get her life back on track. Time to figure out why the transformations since then progressed forward with a ravenous will of their own that threatened to consume her entirely when her emotions were heightened. Time would make everything better she had reasoned–she hoped–but after listening to her dear friend’s pleas, she wasn’t so sure her own strategy up until this point would be viable for much longer. Giving her mind some much needed breathing room would at least figure out the next step in resolving all of this.

However, it would only take one stumble while she was the Gammawolf to rend irreparable harm to a perceived threat, some innocent passerby, or worst of all, Maya. But time and time again, Maya had reassured Kaitlin that the burden of her invoked legacy wasn’t hers to shoulder alone. And while Maya wasn’t a werewolf herself, Kaitlin could think of no one more capable of keeping the Gammawolf in check once she had transformed into Bombshell – her own gamma-radiation informed state of being induced by the introduction of Kaitlin’s own blood. If Kaitlin was going to put her trust into something–anything–it would be the one who had never wavered at her side despite having all the reason to do so.

*******

They met up near the entrance to the Crackle Branches in front of a large, rusted-over culvert absent of water, its dry, ridged surface yearning for relief from the extended heat wave passing through Hayden Falls. The passageway bisected beneath one of the few remaining trails in decent repair, its other end vanishing deeper into the dense woods beyond. The fewer footprints left behind–human or otherwise–that others could discover, the better.

Maya was in typical cheery spirits, positively beaming when she caught sight of the distinctly green streak sweeping across Kaitlin’s hair approaching.

“Hey! You made it!” she called out, waving her flashlight over her head before catching herself and flicking the device off.

“Shouldn’t I be the one saying that?” Kaitlin said with a relieved smile before falling into her friend’s offer of a big, warm hug. It didn’t matter to Kaitlin that Maya was a full foot taller than her, easily standing a bit over six feet tall. Right now she was the perfect height for Kaitlin to snuggle the side of her skull against and catch her scent laden with fresh cherry blossom accents. Maya’s broad, looming stature was most uncommon for a woman of Japanese descent; her height often drew enough unfortunate stares from others Kaitlin was certain at least some of the offhand comments slipped between her presented guard to touch against a deeper hurt further down.

Besides, Kaitlin would be hard-pressed to judge someone on being different from the rest of the crowd. She knew all too well the burden standing on one’s own carried. In Kaitlin’s mind, her friend was like a most beloved tree from childhood, all at once known from canopy to root, its bark etched with trickles of whispered secrets faded beneath mossy embossments, its leaves outstretched gleefully in your direction to be welcomed into its shade again and again despite any possible fault or error you could commit.

The two embraced, cozy and content in wordless affirmation of the trusting bond which had brought the two of them together tonight.
The tension Kaitlin didn’t realize she had been carrying in her shoulders eased some, and she allowed herself the simple comfort of a long sigh into the hollow of Maya’s collarbone. Maya stroked Kaitlin’s shoulder, her fingertips lifting beneath the brunt of a renewed, powerful twinge of muscle flexing powerfully beneath Kaitlin’s clothes.

“We should get going,” Kaitlin said, reaching for her flashlight at her hip. She led the way down the confining corridor of the culvert, Maya close behind, before shutting off the beam near the exit. Maya drifted her own flashlight ray up, wondering if Kaitlin might have spotted something before catching a distinctly luminous glow radiating within the pools of Kaitlin’s eyes as she spun around to reassure her friend.

“Don’t need it anymore,” Kaitlin said, offering the extra flashlight to Maya.

The two continued into the open, Kaitlin now walking with a brisk, hurried pace, all the while urged on by the intermittent bulge of muscle or dense ache of bone continuing to build within her body. Kaitlin looked up at the full face of the moon above through a sparse, empty pocket of the canopy. It was mocking her again. She could hear it laughing as it continued its skyward journey toward its front-row seat to the spectacle quickly approaching below.

Maya saw the edges of Kaitlin’s ears already tugged out into faint points on either side of her head. A peachy dusting of fur coated their outer rims, and fledgling muscles building at their base quivered in time with Kaitlin’s sudden agitation.

“Are you sure you want to be here for this?” Kaitlin said through a restrained grunt. Her stomach was sour, its contents roiled and threatening to flee the mounting chaos unfolding within her body.

“I’m positive Kaity. This isn’t something you should have to bear on your own. Besides, I’m tough enough to handle things if little ol’ Gammawolf decides to get a bit feisty.” Maya raised her arms in a mock bodybuilding pose, causing both women to laugh.

“You always manage to find some way of making me feel better,” Kaitlin said.

“What can I say? It’s my job. I’m probably overdue for a promotion or something; putting in a petition for vacation days with HR would be a good next step, but I think I’ll just help myself to whatever snacks you’ve got stashed away in here before the show kicks off.” Maya said, undoing the zipper of Kaitlin’s pack.

“Hey!” Kaitlin snapped, wiggling forward against Maya’s delving hands as she felt her backpack get suddenly lighter.

“What—how’d this get here?” Maya asked, holding up her woolen, scruffy-looking jacket.

“You…left it at my place last time you were over for a while. Remember, we were binging all of those cheesy horror flicks and you ended up scaring yourself half to death when you thought the monster in the movie was actually burning the house down, but it turned out to be just the popcorn being set too long in the microwave?”

Maya grumbled. Now she remembered everything.

“I thought if I ended up getting separated from you somehow tonight, maybe having it nearby would keep me chill enough to stop doing anything really dumb I wouldn’t be able to take back later,” Kaitlin said, her gaze averted. “When I catch your scent on it, I’m taken back to good times, to a beautiful memory–with you–I don’t want to forget or leave behind when I change. I hope that’s not too weird,” she added.

“When you put it that way, it’s actually really sweet. I didn’t know that night meant so much to you,” Maya replied.

“Just being with you means a lot to me, whenever that is.” Kaitlin smiled, the short projection of fang-like incisors peaking past her lips in an endearing snaggletooth expression as the rest of her mouth thrummed with building energy.

“Maybe I’ve been overthinking what it means to have a good time at your side. I feel like I have to impress you by knowing the perfect thing to do or what to say, but really, you’re actually quite a simple creature to please.”

The hairs at the back of Kaitlin’s neck lifted as she shot Maya a menacing scowl.

Maya frantically waved her hands in front of her face. “I don’t mean any offense by it! You just know what you want, and there’s a real strength in that too. The fact that so many of those feelings circle around me makes me feel really good too. Honestly, I just want to do right by you Kaity. You’ve been through enough as it is.”

Kaitlin eased back, her ears twitching uncoordinated spasms as they sought to flex back closer against her skull.

“We both have. And I don’t want to add more onto your plate just because I can’t figure myself out. You’ve already done so much. There've been some close calls…more than I ever wished would happen with me being this way. I can’t help but think about if the worst ever happened.”

“Like I told you already, I can handle things if wolfy decides to stir up some trouble. Each time we’ve faced a challenge together, we’ve made it through to the other side. You have to trust me. I’m not going anywhere. More than that, you need to trust yourself. When you’re Gammawolf, any of those hesitations and anxieties probably get amplified. I’m not asking you to go zen mode and find inner peace when your body is being racked by the change. I just want you to remember as much as you can while it’s happening, you don’t have to bear all of the weight of who you are alone, and that I meet you there in that space willingly.”

“Maya…”

Maya approached Kaitlin from behind, and gently wrapped and tied-off the jacket in her hands around Kaitlin’s waist. A broadening and lengthening lump of bone and flesh at the seat of Kaitlin’s pants sprang to life, curling to and fro within its restrained confines.

“Besides, if everything goes well tonight, maybe we can hole up outside a Quick N’ Eat somewhere once you’ve changed back and get you refueled while we figure out what we want to do for our road trip next month. I swear the mornings after your wolf nights, you can devour a whole horse.”

Maya felt a nudge at her shoulder.

“Don’t tempt me to find out if Gammawolf happens to leave us in front of a farm,” Kaitlin said.

They laughed together, and Kaitlin’s tension eased somewhat. Maya’s words were true. She had always been there despite the many challenges and trials they’ve faced at this point, and deep in Kaitlin’s heart she knew that would be true for wherever life’s threads of fate would pull them in the future.

They found a good spot a few minutes later. Just in time. Kaitlin dropped off her backpack, stretching out her shoulders flaring with a deep, heated ache. The pain there slowly spread and evolved into slow, intermittent pulses and quiverings of her muscles as they bulged and stretched broader. A sudden, sickening crack of Kaitlin’s shoulders widening sent her stumbling onto her hands and knees. The Gammawolf was awake and on the prowl, searching for any way through.

The moon’s unabashed splendor shone down on the pair, and already Kaitlin’s hands began to tremble uncontrollably. She could feel it now. The activation of her wild lineage cultivated into being from the whims of mankind coming to rise to the surface.

Kaitlin slumped against the side of a tree, sliding down until she was seated. Her breathing came in fast, uneven bursts. Mounds of heat already simmered across her flesh, making her feel confined and constrained in her clothing.
Her inner wolf had found its desired crack in her armor, and licking its chops, it was eager to brace itself down to leap through.

“Hey! Hey! Kaity, what do you need right now?” Maya asked, staying close to her friend’s side.

Kaitlin managed a strained grunt of a reply. The aching tension rippling through her chest and shoulders continued to amplify as they readied themselves for another surge of strength to manifest. Even her legs were frozen and unresponsive now as they quaked on the ground, the seams of her pants bulging full and tight. Hormones laced with lupine luster coursed freely calling her body toward abandonment of her humanity and embrace of the unstoppable wild waiting with diminished patience for her willing requisition. Kaitlin’s eyes dilated, her body maintaining her muscles and joints to stay pliable and loose for the transformation already unfolding.

“Help…help me get my clothes off.” Kaitlin said, pressing the back of her skull to the tree behind her.

Maya snapped to action, as gently as possible removing Kaitlin’s clothing and revealing the first stages of her beastly form coming into being. Kaitlin’s body glinted beneath the abrasive light of the moon with a sheen of sweat. Thin, messy patches of green-tinged fur lay in scattered clumps across her abdomen, hips, and collarbone. Her fingers and toes ended in thickened, stubby beginnings of claws, and all over her body, Maya could see dense, heavy layers of positively feral musculature surging to life beneath Kaitlin’s skin.

“Promise me that no matter what Gammawolf does…that you keep yourself safe. You come first in all of this.” Kaitlin gasped between labored breaths, her brilliant green eyes flowing with wild beauty staring at Maya straight down to her spirit.

“Of course. I promise. Now lean into it. I’m right here. You don’t have to worry.”

Kaitlin’s fingers dug shallow furrows in the ground beneath her. Then she let go, releasing as much of the tension welled up during the night as she could, plunging into the unknown gateway beyond. In an instant, the change was upon her, ravenous and delighted. It was a spectacle that defied reason, but was perhaps no more strange than any of the other oddities and cruelties of life.

Kaitlin would endure to the best of her ability, choking back the gurgles of pain to reassure her friend that everything was ok when everything was not.

*******

Immense power flooded through Kaitlin’s being as her transformation continued. The green streak in her long, brown hair blossomed out into more sweeps of coarse, rugged fur trailing down the length of her neck and back as a billowing mane before spreading further across her body. Greater areas of her tanned skin were vanishing beneath her sprouting coat as unerringly green as the gamma radiation which had first stoked her wild ferocity into being.

A whip-like crack flowed along the length of her spine as it lengthened even more, her vertebrae reinforcing themselves as her wolven tail swayed in time with her rapid heartbeat. Toes disfigured and thickened into paw-like approximations dug deep into the earth to force her to roll onto her back.

The relief was immediate; the now massive barrel of her chest heaved and swelled in its released freedom to the open air. Kaitlin’s once sweet and kind face was lost in the distortions of a young muzzle stretching her skull forward. She gritted a curse up at the moon above before growling at herself, fighting hard to get a hold on the whole affair.

Whatever control Kaitlin could find in the billowing fury of the change was fleeting at best. Her arms and legs, now as thick around as many of the trees in the forest that wished they could leave the sight before them, configured themselves to work in tandem for swift dashes across the ground or to restrain any would-be, unfortunate foe.

The searing heat was slow to abade this time. Kaitlin’s body lay wreathed in a thin wisp of evaporating steam, the mountains of dense muscle from head to tail buried beneath the voluminous plumes of fur now fully covering the majority of her torso finding a tentative harmony to coordinate themselves..

All the while, Maya was at a loss of what to do. As much as she wished, she could not absolve her dear friend of this strain on her body and her mind both. The only thing she could do was stay. But even staying was hard. An ice-cold growl rumbled within Kaitlin’s throat. The transformation was done, and the freshly-turned Gammawolf stood steadily on its four paws with Maya clear in its sights.

*******

The Gammawolf’s body brimmed with coursing energy. Its massive paws ending in flesh-rending claws pressed down, compressing loose clumps of earth beneath them into a natural seal fitting of the arrival of wild royalty. The expansive barrel of its muscled chest heaved in a quaking rhythm; the buzz of the transformation still hung in the air like the static of an approaching storm.

Bit by bit, more of its senses came into clarity. The hidden sounds of the forest opened up: the chittering wanderings of squirrels seeking shelter from swooping owls, the lazy drone of summer insects, and the grumbles of rejected frog bachelors. It inhaled the wild fragrances: a night of possibilities open and inviting before it. Exhilaration flowed up to its hackles and caused the former woman, now-turned beast to loll her tongue heavy and free from her maw.

Kaitlin tossed her head back and cracked open the night sky with a thunderous howl. The sound proclaimed the impossible beast’s reentry into reality, and how, for at least this single night, it would roam free without restriction or barrier.

Her muscles tensed; they craved to run. She imagined the sensation of the low-hanging branches and leaves catching on the edges of her fur. Then a rumbling hunger seared through her stomach, a yearning void after her demanding transformation.

Maya slowly approached. Kaitlin’s watchful and primordial gaze observing intently. Any sudden movements right now would be a death sentence. An edge of a growl teemed at the edges of the Gammawolf’s lips. For as massive and looming as it was freshly transformed, its muscles were still a bit sore and uncoordinated. It was vulnerable. The defensive reaction came from its unwavering instinct for self-preservation.

Maya’s hand sank within the Gammawolf’s shaggy neck scruff, sinking down nearly to her elbow. A loud sniff near her ear filled her vision with a brief plume of mist. Then an enormous tongue slurped from her collar over her face. Maya wiped her face off with her sleeves, only partially relieving the sticky slobber still there.

“Tell you what Kaity. No matter how many times you say ‘hi’ to me like that, I still don’t quite get used to it.”

The Gammawolf rose up and looked deeper into the woods, its intentions clear. Now that the shift had passed, it must hunt. In a silent leap, Kaitlin vanished into the tree line.

“Hey, hold up!” Maya called out, quickly scooping up their belongings before following after the hulking monstrosity of her best friend.

*******

Maya followed as best she could behind Gammawolf’s long, loping strides. When Kaitlin was in the mood for it, Maya knew she could go for miles and miles like this before settling down. Her own enhanced endurance was often tested as she had observed its hunting patterns on other past outings like this together.

The night grew on, and Maya grew even more tired of all the walking her and Gammawolf had done. She needed a break. Maya stopped to catch her breath only to see Kaitlin lowering herself down with a short, imperative chuffing sound. ‘Up. Come on,’ Kaitlin said with the steady hold of her body. Maya hoisted herself atop the creature, Gammawolf’s heavy scent washing over her as she gripped tight to long clumps of fur on either side.

Together they raced across the landscape. The rhythm of Kaitlin’s heavy strides navigating across the uneven terrain became a lulling melody. She was nearly asleep there on the furry pillow of her friend, when as they rushed by, she saw a bold flash of orange splattered oddly across the landscape.

Maya could barely make out the frightened expression in the grizzled hunter’s eyes before the barrel of his rifle aimed at the beast who had also taken notice as well.

“Wait, no!!!” Maya barely managed to cry out before a bright flash was soon followed by a searing pain blossoming through her shoulder. She fell to the ground hard. A snarl, a guttural bellow of an outcry enough to cause a river to flee the other way boomed. Maya’s thoughts came hazy through the pain. She looked up from where she lay on the ground to see the hunter rushing off in the distance–and the enraged shadow of Kaitlin pursuing close behind.

Her hand shook across her chest as it reached toward the back of her shoulder. Two holes. The bullet had managed to find its way through. A terrible shot, but one good for her right now. Another roiling snarl ripped through the trees, and Maya fought her way to a seated position. If she let Kaitlin continue on her rampage, something terrible and irrevocable would take place.

Maya focused her energy, using the pain from the bullet wound as a catalyst to hurry her own change forward. Time was of the essence. She could already feel the edges of the distinct rumbling within her.

“Come on! Come on!”

Maya’s body bulked rapidly, an inhuman strength flowing into every inch of her. While Kaitlin’s transformation pulled her into the shape of a wolf-like beast, Maya’s instead compounded on what was already present into the very limits of humanoid possibility. From where she lay, Maya’s clothing tore beneath the onslaught of ripped, chisel muscle blazing through. The ripped remnants of her top folded down across her expanded waist as a misshapen skirt.

The pain of the bullet was minimal now. The wound had sealed itself nearly shut as Maya’s transformation hurried on. Her skin had taken on a deep purple hue, her formerly jet-black hair adopting the same coloration as it elongated to flow down her chest and back.

She grew taller and broader, and even taller still as her body continued to scaffold new anchor points for her heavy, hulking musculature. The pain was gone now. A human scream filled the woods. Maya placed a massive hand beneath her, and shakily stood as her transformed self, Bombshell, a massive warrior capable of matching the Gammawolf in battle.

She quickly oriented herself to the sound of more screams and growls, grabbing the jacket Kaitlin had brought from home before disappearing into the dark. She was grateful; if silence was all that was there, then any hope of remedying this situation would have already been lost.

*******

Maya raced ahead, shoving aside any bothersome trees to beeline for Kaitlin. Further on, the bulk of the Gammawolf’s body patrolled the perimeter of a broad tree. The hunter had managed to worm his way deep into its hollow. But his shelter was quickly becoming a self-induced coffin as Kaitlin scraped her tremendous claws at its surface and roots, slowly, but surely digging her way near to where the hunter retreated. Scrabbling claws and drooling fangs gnashed at the entrance tearing splinters off of the tree.

She imagined the potential horrific scene and how the tree might come to be nourished by the blood of the innocent spilled within it. She rushed in bounding strides, Maya wiling every fiber of her enhanced body to do whatever was in her power to preserve who her friend was. Living as this wolf indefinitely, relentless and unbridled, was not the future that would come to pass if Maya had anything to say about it.

Maya bulldozed into the Gammawolf’s side, the jacket she had hoped would be able to calm the beast slipping out of her grasp just as a sweeping paw was primed to rake through the expanded opening of the tree hollow.

“Now there’s another one of these monsters?” He fired off his rifle again, this time only being greeted to the click of an empty chamber.

“You’re lucky to be alive,” Maya said. Her face filled the space of the tree hollow. Nearby, Kaitlin was already staggering back to her feet.

“And you’re an idiot to be hunting these woods at night, even more to shoot at a target you don’t know will bite back with a force much worse than any bullet coming out of that gun.”

She grabbed the weapon, and with a brief flex between her fingers, bent the barrel over into a misshapen, unusable knot before discarding it at her feet.

“When things are quiet, then you’re going to slowly walk away. Leave your jacket here so at least part of your scent stays nearby to hopefully buy you more time. That will help make sure you’re not run down, and believe me, if that happens, I cannot guarantee your safety.”

A snarl rumbled in the distance.

“Stay until it’s clear,” Maya said without any doubt of the consequences of disobedience.

She turned from the hunter to face her friend who was now steady on her paws. Gammawolf’s eyes blazed with an unrestrained fury. A mixed set of conflicting instincts flooded the beast; she was positively livid, but this person in front of her…that’s who this anger had been for. She had seen Maya go down, and that’s when she knew she had to stop the threat by any means necessary. She had been hunting the one who had hurt her beloved friend–her packmate.

Why was she being approached now? Wasn’t she doing the right thing? She had to silence the one who could possibly hurt them both again. She shook her head. The sensations were getting far too confusing.

Maya took another tentative step closer to Kaitlin, but the wolf only reared and lunged. Maya dropped down, meeting the Gammawolf’s charge with the brunt of her shoulders. The pair fought, a most savage, brutal affair, with Kaitlin forcing Maya on the backstep in the midst of snarling bites threatening to rend flesh from bone. They wrestled down to the ground between swiping hits before Maya was hurled off of Gammawolf’s back like a bucking bronco, a solid kick knocking the wind from her as she landed hard on her side.

A sound of rushing footsteps rang out, and Gammawolf’s attention diverted itself to the fleeing figure of the hunter leaving the mangled shelter of the tree, bolting away with all the speed he could muster. Kaitlin pounced, but Maya was there, wrapping her arms around the Gammawolf’s middle to drag them both onto the ground, as she thrashed and scraped to scramble free. Eventually, Maya rolled the creature over, pinning her in an awkward hold around her enormous back.

“Come on Kaitlin! You’ve gotta pull yourself together. This isn’t you! I’m ok now. You have to understand that. You did good.”

All Maya could hear was the sound of more gnashing teeth, her body being swayed beneath the brunt of the Gammawolf’s efforts.

The two evenly-matched beings continued to exchange blows, vying for position with each bone-shuddering crash. Swiping paws met blocking fists. Maya’s furious roar rivaled that of her feral companion. Neither would yield. At this rate, by the time morning came, both would be too exhausted to even get themselves back out of the forest. With a sinking feeling, Maya realized if any of their foes decided to pay a visit, they’d be worse than sitting ducks, practically falling into the lap of Cygnus Corp or any other nefarious organization looking to capitalize on their gamma-informed powers. A new tactic was needed.

Maya sat down, her eyes never leaving the view of the Gammawolf in front of her. She kept her arms placed on the ground on either side. Kaitlin growled, but was otherwise motionless. A good start. Then Maya spoke with a measured, controlled tone despite the overwhelming exhaustion threatening to pull her into unconsciousness.

“When we just started out getting to know one another, you said you could see us getting closer than most people did because we weren’t caught up in keeping our walls up. Building and keeping those walls in place was tiresome and endless. They were understandable walls too. We’d each been hurt in our own ways. But we saw that hurt in one another and didn’t turn away from it. You said it would feel good to finally share with someone that understood without trying to fix everything.

“Well I’m still here Kaity. Even now. With everything we’ve been through together, I know nothing could tear us apart. There are so many times where you’ve said I’ve protected you. Like when that group of bullies were prowling around town, and I kept you from going over the cusp of the change with them. Remember, we went out afterward to get some ice cream and there was still a bit of blood where one of those jerks had hit you. And I just said you had gotten cherry syrup for free and you started laughing. I’ll always treasure that sound.”

Kaitlin’s focus shifted. Her eyes darted to her surroundings, and her tongue lapped over the front of her nose as if trying to pluck the memory anew from the air. Her fierce, predatory intent was waning. Maya pressed her advantage with haste and budding confidence.

“You’ve saved me too. Like the time your wolf side was right there to rescue me from those horrible corporate thugs that decided to kidnap me…and used your blood to mutate me into what I’m able to become now.

“And even with that hunter now–I had to return the favor. I didn’t want you to be in that same spot as when Cygnus Corp had pushed you to the edge of ending a life–all to protect me. Even if something were to ever happen to me, I wouldn’t want your anger to make you do such a terrible thing. There’s no replacing a life that’s lost, no matter how wrought with pain it is, and I can’t imagine losing you to a potential rampage. That’s not who you are Kaity. And I know you don’t want that for yourself either.

“We are more than these expressions of strength and science gone wrong–or right, I don’t know which–that dwell within our spirits. We live a whole life, and what you’re going through right now is just a part of that. I don’t deny your instincts. They’ve kept us safe and kept us going often. But you are not a monster enslaved to them. I hope at least some of this is getting through to you. I don’t want to stand against you. We are capable of so much when we work together, and I want to keep going on that journey with you. Don’t you?”

Kaitlin’s head hung low and shook itself from side to side. A ragged pair of exhausted heaves bellowed from the Gammawolf’s chest. The bold fighting spirit was gone now.

“May….a. Maya….” Kaitlin managed to utter, deep and booming, around her massive jaws.

“We share the same blood now. Even more than that. Our genetic material is overlapped. And truth be told, even with all of the close calls, the worries and the accommodations we’ve both had to make–because I know it hasn’t just been one of us needing to sacrifice for our new lives–I wouldn’t change a thing.

“We’re practically sisters, you and I, and it means we stick together. Even when we get on each other’s nerves, or feel like the gap between us is too far, this bond we share will always be enough to lead us back. I deeply trust in that fact, and I hope you know even if we stay this way our whole lives, I would be at your side the whole while. I believe that with my whole heart.”

The waves of all-consuming anger were beginning to cool. The broad hackles on Kaitlin’s shoulders and back lowered themselves, and her expression softened. What had she been ready to do? Realization entered her eyes as she studied the gouged-out furrows where a living man had been, a man who had invited himself into the wrong place at the wrong time and had taken the wrong action for the situation, but a man nonetheless still worthy of the claim to life and all it entailed. She sank down, bewildered and distraught. In another life, the man would be still and motionless within her jaws or in her gut or both.

Kaitlin whimpered a paltry, sad sound. She collapsed on the ground and slid her muzzle from side to side as if to drain the extent of her worries into the ground. When she flicked her eyes back up at Maya, they were distant, lonesome gems.

In place of the prior raging, angered inferno was a deep, encroaching sadness, the weight of responsibility terribly heavy, even against Kaitlin’s bulk. For how long would she be able to manage living a life like this, where each month brought with it the chance of waking to some terrible fate caused by her hand, or forbid, a time when the nightmare would be all she knew?

Kaitlin leaned her head back and loosed a wailing keen. The tone was somber and bleak, a pained shadow of the bright, triumphant bravado from earlier. Maya stepped closer. The immediate danger had passed. Even still, she was mindful of her gait and the carry of her body. Maya kept the heft of herself low and at level even now to not risk stirring the wolf back toward heated rage again.

Maya stroked her hand through the wolf’s fur, and Kaitlin settled further. Her breathing slowed to a whisper, and a calm, observant gaze followed Maya’s touch. Time slowed with the two of them huddled close together in this secluded pocket of the woods away from the rest of the world.

Somewhere far away, a weary hunter would be bringing back a tale his friends would chalk up to spending too much time among the shrooms, but for now, Kaitlin and Maya could share respite beneath the obscured face of the moon above casting dazzling outlines of rainbow clouds at the edges of its veil.

“I’ll stay with you the whole night. I’m not going anywhere. I promise. Just ride out the rest, and we’ll figure out what to do in the morning.”

Kaitlin’s huge head snuggled closer into Maya’s scent.

“I’m glad I came out here with you tonight. I don’t want you to experience what it’s like when you’re on your own again if I can help it.”

*******

Both girls awoke the next morning, huddled close in the shared warmth of their bare bodies. Shifting back during the night had been enough to keep them comfortable. Their expressions were peaceful and at ease without a worry in the world; however, the surrounding area was not as fortunate. All around, the brunts and bruises of a battlefield utilized to its fullest abounded. Whole limbs of trees lay crumpled and amputated away from their former origins. Dusty craters had formed in the places where Maya and the Gammawolf tussled, and towards the edge of the clearing, the ravaged tree hollow that had almost been the site of an unfortunate act of rage stood shaky and forever scarred.

Kaitlin yawned, stretching her tense neck. The whole rest of her body felt terrible. She habitually felt around the grass for her alarm–she’d snooze it for five more hours if she could–and found a frog instead whose alarmed croak sufficed just as well as any phone.

Kaitlin startled the rest of the way awake, Maya close behind as she grumbled at the loss of her soft, fleshy pillow. A filter of fuzzy memories of the prior night’s events came to Kaitlin’s mind. Once more she was back in the change, feeling herself sailing like the wind in her new body, and then recalled that terrible sound cracking through like aimed lightning. It missed her, but…

“MAYA!” Kaitlin shouted. “You’re ok! Oh, thank goodness you’re alright. Last night, I…no, I remember you were riding with me, after the change…and then…you went down…”

Kaitlin’s eyes found the raked-over tree, the dug-up earth and other signs of struggle strewn about caused by their alternate forms.

“Oh no! What happened to that guy?! Is he ok?! I really made a heap of a mess this time didn’t I?”

Maya, now fully awake, supported herself to a seated position with her hands.

“Don’t worry. It ended up working out in the end. I get better every time at wrestling you down when I need to,” Maya offered in gest, but the joke sank flat. Kaitlin stayed silent, taking in the implications of the situation.

“That shouldn’t be a thing you have to think about when you’re out here with me. That was exactly the last thing I wanted to have happen coming out here,” Kaitlin said, her voice quivering with her eyes shut tight.

“The guy’s ok. I promise. No one got hurt,” Maya answered with a gentle tone. “He’ll definitely never hunt in the Crackle Branches again with the fright you gave him, but perhaps it’s for the best considering the guy was probably a poacher hunting out of season like he was,” Maya finished saying, drawing her hand up over Kaitlin’s.

Kaitlin’s tear-filled expression settled. Maya had saved the day—again. Maya rolled over and handed Kaitlin her jacket which had been tossed aside nearby. Kaitlin held it up to her face. She breathed in. It was bathed now in the scents of two worlds: one of the land and one of the heart, both of equal stature in the wisps of Kaitlin’s faded, instinct-laden thoughts.

“Is your sniffer good enough to track down your backpack with the rest of your stuff in it? As much as I enjoy being the living embodiment of the Free the Nipple movement right now, some fresh clothes would be nice for when we get out of here,” Maya said, gesturing to her exposed figure.

“Shouldn’t be a problem. Everything’s still hitting me pretty sharp from last night,” Kaitlin answered, taking a moment to stretch out her limbs and back still achy and sore from her gradual return back to humanity.

“After we’ve gotten sorted out, we can take care of that mountain of a stomach of yours. With everything that happened, you didn’t even get to eat during the night, so you must be famished now. This might end up being the perfect opportunity to test our horse theory,” Maya continued with a grin.

And as if manifested into being through a ritualistic recitation of an ancient spell, Kaitlin’s stomach grumbled a resounding, unnerving reply.

“Last night? No doubt. Right now…maybe half a horse. Gotta save some room for later right?” Kaitlin said as she jabbed Maya’s side.


Kaitlin and Maya navigated their way back through the woods, neither the worse for wear after their previous night’s harrowing adventure. Kaitlin held open Maya’s jacket to one side, inviting Maya to cocoon herself at Kaitlin’s side in a snuggling metamorphosis of a new, odd, four-legged beast to the sight of the other forest creatures already busy carrying on about their day.

The pair took in the forest scenery, finding a tandem walking rhythm which would occasionally break when one paused to admire the dappled array of sunlight across an ant-chewed leaf or when the other would leap over a fallen log before the other was ready to follow suit. Their brief clash of muscle, fur and fang had only gone to once more affirm their unwavering bond aligned through friendship and deep, caring love. Now bolstered with their grand, unexpected challenge behind them, they greeted the day with a shared smile and the continued hope that tomorrow would offer answers to the uncertainties ahead for ones as strangely wonderful as they both were.

END

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Story commission for featuring their Gamma-irradiated beastly besties Kaitlin and Maya! How would you or your OCs handle an impromptu encounter with a rage-filled 8-foot+ werewolf?

Always love working with the snarly woofaboos for projects like these!

Thumbnail based on image by

~Lupus

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Interested in getting a story commissioned by me? I am currently open! I'd love to get the chance to bring your ideas to life. My commission info can be found here:

K9 Lupus Commission Info

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