On the Prowl by Kate Rudolph

32

The painthat ripped through Em was unlike anything she had ever experienced before. Her blood was on fire with it, and she would do just about anything to make it stop. And then she felt light sink into her veins and chase the fire away.

The reprieve didn't last long. Her bones crunched and reformed, and her mind whited out, unable to handle whatever was happening to her.

She drifted. It could have been a minute or a month, but eventually she felt a familiar presence at her side.

Andre. His fingers stroked through her fur, and she heard him murmuring words of encouragement, though she couldn't quite make out what he was trying to say.

Wait. Her fur?

Em tried to stand, but when she tried to push herself up onto her legs, she discovered that she had four instead of two and fell back to the ground, letting out a short bark of frustration.

Fur.

Bark.

What was going on?

She tried to speak, but it came out as a whine instead. The room smelled weird. No. Not weird. It just smelled more. More than she had been able to smell when she had just been human.

Because it was becoming abundantly clear that she wasn't human anymore.

Was this a dream? A nightmare? It felt more real than just about anything.

She recognized Andre’s scent immediately, and it calmed her like nothing else. There was another scent too. Kind of smoky and cut through with electricity. Vi. The witch.

Andre kept petting her and it felt good, but his words didn't mean anything to her ears. She didn't know if that was a werewolf thing or if that was a her thing. But she wanted to be human again. She wanted to know what he was saying.

She strained her muscles and reared up onto her hind legs, trying to force herself to change back to human.

It didn't exactly work.

But Andre helped her back to her feet and got very close to her, and this time his words started to make a little sense.

"Focus on yourself," he said, his words still sounding like they were coming from far away even as the sounds were almost too loud for her extra sensitive ears. "Picture it. Hold your human body in your mind and bring it out. You can do it."

That was easier said than done when his intoxicating scent was right there. And Em would have words for him when this was over.

But she knew what she looked like. She knew who she was. And she could summon those ideas with a thought.

At least, theoretically she could.

She thought she was doing it at first, but then something inside of her cracked, and Em lost focus on what she was trying to do at the sharp stab of pain.

Did it hurt every time? She wanted to ask Andre. But she couldn't do that until she had human vocal cords. All she could manage was a canine whine.

She tried again. She was expecting the first crack of bone when it came, but then something snapped right after it.

If Em could have said anything, she would've been cursing a blue streak.

And when Andre made encouraging sounds, she snapped her teeth at him. She didn't want gentle encouragement right now. She wanted this to be over.

Em dragged a deep breath in through her wolfy snout and went for it, ignoring all of the pain. It was like doing a rehearsal after hours and hours of practice, her feet nearly bleeding and her lungs ready to give out from exertion. But she needed to finish the rehearsal, and this time she needed to finish the change.

It took time. She wasn't sure how much, but eventually she was naked and human and sitting in Andre's lap.

She didn't care that Vi was right there looking at her. And it ended up being a good thing a moment later when Vi handed her a soft blanket that she could wrap around herself.

"You're okay, you're okay." Andre had his arms wrapped tight around her, and he kept saying it, repeating it more to himself than for her benefit.

Em was alive. But she wasn't certain that she was okay.

"What's going on? What happened?"

Andre’s arms tightened around her. "The beast attacked you. What we did was the only way to save you." He sounded worried, like she was about to push him away because he had changed her into a werewolf.

An inappropriate laugh burst out of Em. It was like a dam bursting. Was she supposed to get angry at Andre for saving her life? The werewolf thing would take some getting used to, that was certain. But her sister had taken to it like it was nothing, and Em wasn't about to let Stasia upstage her. "We’ll deal with the werewolf thing later," she said. "The beast attacked me? How?"

"The protections weren’t up over your room," said Vi, and there was a hint of censure in her voice. "It must have taken the opportunity."

And that was Em's fault. She should've called Vi immediately after Andre left the room. Now that she was conscious again, she was remembering everything that had happened. "How long has it been?" She reached out her hand, and her fingers landed in something sticky. Her new werewolf nose knew exactly what it was before she picked up her fingers and looked at the red liquid clinging to them.

Blood.

Her blood.

"Two hours," said Andre. "He attacked you two hours ago. I told Melinda you had food poisoning. The concert tonight is canceled."

Em whipped around to look at him. "What? No! I have to go on." She tried to get out of his embrace, but even that tiny struggle had her limbs shaking with exhaustion. She could barely stand. There was no way she could perform.

"You almost died," Andre shot back. And he sounded so vulnerable that Em had to wrap her arm around him and give him back some of the comfort he was giving her.

"But I didn't. And maybe you're right about the concert. For tonight."

Andre kissed her cheek. And if Vi wasn't right there, she would have shown him exactly how grateful she was for him saving her life.

Em looked over at the witch and narrowed her eyes at the woman's calculating expression. "What are you thinking?"

Vi grinned. "I have an idea on how we can stop the shadow beast."