Shifters

Waking up drenched in cold sweat wasn't something new for Lupita, but waking up with her tail between her legs, claws out, teeth dug into her pillow, and half-conscious in her own mind was not something she often found herself doing.

She growled lowly at her wolf but she didn't make any move to back away from her body. So much for their agreement. Her wolf had a steel grip on the pillow but luckily Lupita managed to get her teeth unstuck and spat out a mouthful of feathers afterward.

The few times this had happened she just waited it out, but that could take hours and Lupita was not fancying the thought of Jazmyn seeing her like this. She had to try and calm her wolf down, but it was difficult since the dream had shaken her up quite a bit too. It was not often she dreamt of that place, but when she did she wasn't the same for days after, the same memories playing over and over in her head.

'Come on, at least give me enough control so we can leave the house,' Lupita tried. Her wolf growled but gave her back mobility and some control of her mind but she kept a firm hold on her in case anything were to happen.

Lupita quickly got out of bed, changed into her old clothes as fast as she could, and ran downstairs where she had left her things the day before. After making sure everything was inside her bag, she wrote a quick note on some discarded paper she found and left the house, her tail still between her legs and her claws damaging the straps on her bag as she held it tightly.

Once at a safe distance from the house, she took off running. She didn't know where but anywhere was good as long as it wasn't close to any houses. She was sure her wolf would take control by force soon.

And she was right.

The second she found a reasonably secluded area and discarded her bag and clothes, her wolf burst out, and not painless. It happened quickly though and the pain didn't last long as she had to focus on fighting her wolf for control. Her argument was, that since she was in wolf form and it wasn't a full moon, she should be in charge and her wolf could come out if she - her wolf - deemed necessary. Her wolf however wanted to be in charge. She was shaken up from the dream and her head turned at every little noise - most of which were made by them - and she wanted to protect them in case they got attacked. It was a hard battle, Lupita trying to calm her wolf down with words and her wolf making it known she was not backing down by letting out loud barks and whimpers.

In the end, they settled for dual control. Lupita would be able to move the body partially and be somewhat conscious in their mind, but her wolf would also be able to move the body and have consciousness. Lupita let her have most of the movement so she would calm down and not feel restricted.

Not much else was done after that. Her wolf refused to lay down and kept pacing the ground, ears twitching at every tiny noise, whether it was made by them or by something else. Lupita couldn't quite blame her though, as she did feel somewhat... watched as they paced the ground.

After a few hours of this, her wolf finally calmed down... a little. It was enough for Lupita to claim back at least part of her body. Though not all as when she shifted she still had her tail, claws, teeth, and somewhat deformed ears while her veins turned dark with the blood of her wolf, though barely noticeable under her now slightly thicker layer of fur.

As soon as Lupita got her body back, it began to ache. One of the downsides of being able to transform before the full moon was, sadly, that you could barely move your body afterward.

"I hate you sometimes," she groaned and got a small huff back as she rolled onto her stomach and crawled over to where she had discarded her clothes. It was painful to put them on, and the aching just got worse once she was done, luckily no one was around so she only put on her underpants and pants. She opted to just lay on her bare back and stare at the clouds passing by, muttering a few of the shapes she saw as the pain still refused to go away. Sometimes she wished her wolf could talk back to her so she could have someone to talk to and have a reasonable conversation for once. She could talk to her, yes, but it would always be guessing based on what she did. Whether it was huffing, growling, whimpering, jumping around in their headspace, or ignoring her.

A snap sounded from the forest and Lupita's entire body tensed. She sniffed the air and her ears twitched as more snapping was heard, until something emerged from the forest, a familiar smell surrounding them.

"Well, this is a sight for sore eyes."

"Fuck off North," Lupita groaned as a head of white fluffy hair entered her vision. "Shouldn't you be out and mating with Val?"

"Are you getting in on that too?" North asked while looking unimpressed.

"It might not look like it but I do listen, and from what I have heard, you two mate like bunnies in heat," Lupita said and slowly sat up making all sorts of pained faces.

"Are you hurt?" North asked, red-faced.

"No, but my entire body feels like it has hundreds of knives stabbed into it," Lupita said as North sat down beside her and helped her sit up straight.

"It sounds like you are hurt," North reasoned and slowly rubbed her back studying her face for anything that would indicate them to retreat her hand. When Lupita showed none, she continued.

"I know it might sound heartless of me to say this, but I really don't want anyone near me right now," Lupita said after a while. She looked into her hands and refused to meet the white wolf's eyes as they moved behind her.

"And usually I would leave the second someone told me that, but I will not leave you like this out in the forest," North said and began to poke around Lupita's shoulders, occasionally squeezing or rubbing hard.

"Are you massaging me?" Lupita asked with a chuckle once she recognized the familiar feeling of her muscles relaxing.

"You are extremely tense, and I recognize the body of a shifter," North said and Lupita tensed. She hadn't once thought about the fact that she was still half shifted in the time North had been there. "I won't tell anyone." Her shoulders fell but she curiously looked back at North. "The Blue Moon pack has plenty of shifters, I am one of them. I know how you feel."

Lupita nodded and let North continue. It was quite nice. She had only ever had her mother or father do it to her after an unnecessary shift, though they would be slightly more gentle than North was being.

"Did I hit a sensitive spot?" North asked suddenly and Lupita suddenly felt her cheeks get damp with tears. When she looked up she saw North directly in front of her.

"No," she said and quickly wiped her tears with the back of her hand, immediately regretting it as her arm began to ache.

North didn't say anything and just stared at her with her head tilted and their purple eyes studying her every move. Lupita tried her best not to make eye contact with the white wolf, which resulted to be difficult as her eyes burned into her head seemingly forcing her to look at them. And when she did, she saw two beautiful purple eyes staring right into the deepest parts of her soul. It only managed to make Lupita's anxiousness worsen as her shoulders tensed and breathing became labored and uneven. Lupita briefly wondered if the other werewolf had some sort of mind-reading powers or similar as their eyes seemed to flicker from different emotions at a quick rate while she studied Lupita.

Lupita was close to begging them to stop when she suddenly leaned in and nuzzled her cheek against Lupita's.

The air around them both suddenly turned calm and Lupita felt her tense shoulders drop and her breathing return to normal. This hadn't been done to her in years. Nuzzling was something she only ever did with her parents back home and she hadn't had the luxury of finding a person she trusted enough to do it with. Surprisingly, she didn't hate it when North did it to her. It felt nice. She felt safe.

North eventually pulled back and smiled at Lupita, she then continued to massage her for a few more minutes, before they stood up and said, "Val is waiting for me. I hope you have a nice day." And with that, she walked away and through the trees. Lupita looked after her and once she could no longer see her, she fell back against the soft floor and exhaled softly. Her wolf suddenly began to purr and growl happily and Lupita couldn't help but smile as the sounds left them both. She and her wolf might not get along very well most of the time, but deep down they loved each other to pieces.

"Could you maybe try and control yourself whenever we are around that vampire?" Lupita asked suddenly and her wolf immediately stopped purring. Lupita turned to lay on her stomach and continued talking. "I understand she is our mate, and that you want to be near her. I do too, trust me... but I need time. A lot of time... to get over what those things did to me. To us. I don't think you have forgotten yet, have you?" She heard a sad growl and smiled sadly to herself. They were both suffering from their past; they both had scars, mental and physical. They needed time to heal before they were able to make any sort of move on the vampire, that is if the vampire wanted them back.

Lupita shook her head at the thought of being rejected and laid on her side. Being rejected would snap her already thin thread.

Her wolf cooed comfortingly and their tail wagged slightly, making a soft thumping sound every time it hit the grassy ground. Lupita smiled and snuggled into her arms while closing her eyes. A small nap wouldn't hurt anyone, and she could go exploring afterward.