Chapter 28: First Shift

I do. It’s not as effective a way of blocking out distractions as it used to be. I still smell and hear the forest. Little creatures scuttle everywhere around me. Most of them are mere insects, but some off in the distance are larger. Large enough that I find myself wanting them. To chase them, to catch them, to hold them in my jaws and devour them. I have to block that out. I have to focus on Nick.

“Now,” Nick says as I strain to focus on him, “think about your wolf. Picture it in your mind.”

“I don’t know what my wolf looks like.”

“Don’t worry about accuracy. It’s not the appearance of the wolf that’s important. It’s the feeling of it. That feeling is already inside you, somewhere. Find the part of yourself that wants what the wolf wants and can do what the wolf does. Focus on it and imagine it emerging from you.”