5 Shift

"AHH! WHAT THE HELL?" I shout as I hit my knees.

Alistair was at my side in seconds, kneeling in front of me. Looking up at him, he looked down at me with a pained expression, eyes flickering between honey and bright gold.

Just then my shoulder dislocated itself and my back broke. The sickening crunch from my bones breaking made me want to vomit.

"Just a little more, Noir," Alistair cooed, trying to comfort me.

Wave after wave of pain hit me until suddenly, nothing.

"It's nice to finally be out," River stated.

I felt her ears perk the moment she saw Alistair. He was talking to us, but I couldn't hear him. The only thing that was registering to me at that moment was his smell.

Ah yes, that scent I thought was intoxicating before was now amplified on an unworldly level.

"Damn. I know he is dripping with sex appeal but Gods, how does one man smell this good," I questioned as River purred due to Alistair petting her.

"You really are stupid, aren't you," she quipped.

I rolled my eyes and watched everything unfold from my little corner.

River stood, shaking out her fur and stretched as Alistair stood back and watched. After she was satisfied, she trotted over and rubbed up against him. As she did, Alistair visibly shook before backing up further before he too had shifted.

River purred at the sight of Rune as he made his way to her, sniffing and rubbing his body all over her's until he was satisfied.

Yipping, he poked her with his nose then tipped his head to the sky and howled.

That was his hymn. One song, no words, just pure joy and it was beautiful. When he picked back up again, River followed suit, their songs intertwining beautifully.

It took no time for them to take off. I try to focus on Rune as River follows him but all I can hear is his heartbeat and panting, water in the distance— it's steady flow intriguing me further.

The world was in hyper-drive as adrenaline drummed through my veins with loud booms, magnifying every sound to a countless number.

Here and there they would stop to rest but then it was off again. Even with River in control, I found myself bored from the lack of communication, once again dropping my head to the side dramatically.

"Why are you moping," River asked, startling me out of my boredom.

"Because, I want to be able to talk to Alistair as we travel," I huff, crossing my arms.

River chuckled.

Not paying attention, she ran straight into Rune's back leg and yelped.

Rune turned around and licked her forehead before snapping his attention back to the clearing.

Walking up to stand next to him, River looked out over the clearing. Roughly about 3 leagues away a village splotched into focus. It looked much bigger than my old pack village and I could only assume we were back home.

Home. Do I even call it that yet? Whatever.

It was then, River barked causing Rune to look down at her. She nodded towards the village as if to ask, "is that was our destination," and he nodded in return.

River immediately took off like she was being chased by hell hounds towards the pack village, leaving a barking Rune behind.

"What are you doing," I shout, panic rushing over me.

"Well, we are almost there and all we have done is run. Why not play a game before we get there," she questioned as she kept running, nearing the other end of the glade.

Without warning, thunder rolled across the malevolent sky which caused River to skid to a stop.

"River. We need to go back to Rune and Alistair. I have a bad feeling about this," I scolded, unfamiliar with the territory or the wolves here.

She nodded and turned around ready to head back to the duo only to see they were nowhere to be seen.

Now River was on edge, looking around, ears twitching to the new sounds. Lowering her head, she began sniffing, trying to find Alistair or Rune's scent but came up with nothing.

It was then River's head shot up to a sound drawing our attention to a massive shrubbery. Backing away, the sound of twigs snapping made River look over her shoulder as a bolt of white lightning broke the utter blackness, cleaving the night in parts but just for the briefest of moments.

Without waiting for the coming storm to break, a blur of movement crashed into River as another boom of thunder cried out from the blackened sky sending us tumbling to the ground.

Before River could recover, a massive white wolf, a bit shorter than Rune, towered over us, ears flattened against ivory fur and lips curled to expose sharpened canines.

Never being in this form before, let alone fight in it, I screamed at River to submit but my shouts fell on deaf ears as River's hind legs shot up, hitting the wolf in the stomach, knocking him off of us.

Springing to her feet, River's fur stood sharply on end, claws sinking into the soft soil as her tail curled upwards, the tip nearly touching her back.

Lowering her head, her ears flattened and she growled, exposing her teeth while her tongue flicked over them as she periodically shook her head, never once taking her eyes off of the creature in front of her.

Snowball. If we live through this, this prick's new name is Snowball.

Just as she was about to move, Rune jumped over a huge rock to our right causing River instinctively side step.

Looking at River one time, Rune shifted and Alistair stood in his place. I couldn't suppress an eye roll as he backed his naked body up against River's fur, briefly looking down to her with glowing eyes before averting his gaze back at Snowball.

"Shift," he boomed at the wolf before quickly looking back at us, "Not you."

"Valenner," Alistair began.

I couldn't see what was happening but from the looks of Snowball, Alistair was mind-linking, making the man's face void of color.

There is absolute stillness.

No sound can be heard either close at hand or in the far off distance, even River's breath seemed to die as soon as it left her mouth. It was an eerie sort of tranquility.

Watching the two, something about their silence bothered me. Valenner doesn't even blink. He just keeps his eyes fixed on Alistair.

Thunder cracked the air again, breaking the silence. It rolled like a boulder would off of a bluff becoming a rolling booming rumble.

When the sound settled, Valenner finally looked down at River then back to Alistair as he took a knee, bowing deeply.

"My apologies, Alpha. It was an honest mistake," he spoke, Alistair visibly relaxing.

Nodding, Alistair walked to Valenner and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Do it again and I'll kill you. Now go, bring us some clothes."

With that, Valenner once again transferred into Snowball and disappeared.