Chapter 13: What's on the Inside

The day before I was to begin teaching Aliana to hunt; suddenly seemed to creep by so slowly and seemed to draw on forever. I was becoming impatient, and my uncle began noticing my boredom. He strolled up to me as I was shuffling a stick back and forth between my paws on the ground. "You seem a bit jittery today? Something important you're missing?" I looked up at him and just shook my head shrugging my shoulders. "Aren't getting bored of hunting already, are you?" Once again, I shook my head, smirking at him as he gave me a short smile. He then sighed and walked away shifting back to his wolf form.

We never had much communication, so he was used to the lack of me actually talking. I just hope he would not suspect anything. The only person I ever talked to had been my mother; she gave me her attention no matter what. I was her most important aspect in life. I could never talk to anyone else the way my mother and I talked. She just understood me so well, that we had a connection no one else could understand. I try my best not to think about them, because it hurts, but the truth of it is, I missed them more than I thought.

Instead of lying around, looking pathetic next to the den, I decided to make myself useful by insulating the dens for the cold season and making sure the food stock was filled for the next few days; hoping it would make the day go by faster.

* * *

Then it was the morning I have been waiting for. The day I begin to teach Aliana how to hunt. The day I get to start spending more and more time with her; that made me smile like an idiot.

As soon as I was awake, I headed towards the river. I was not so sure how long it would take her to get there, but I wanted to be there to greet that beautiful face of hers. While I was on my way there, I started marking a bit of the rogue territory. Some scratches on trees, a little marking here, a little marking there, and then some itching on more trees. I do not usually do the marking, but when I do, the border patrol is sometimes grateful that they can take a break from one part of the territory for that day; hoping no one would notice us together.

I was enjoying the little stroll I was taking to the river. There was a cool breeze that was shuffling through the trees and airing out my musty smelling fur. I spotted a lone fat mouse shuffling its way just a few inches ahead of me. Fat, plump mice, usually never pay attention unless they hear an obvious noise; apparently, I never make a noise even when I am not trying. I think it is just a skill that I have acquired from my many years of hunting. Hunting that my father had shown me when I had just turned. I lowered myself slowly and slid my paws very slowly overhead of the mouse, carefully not making a shadow. Then I planted my paw quickly on top of the fat thing and stuck a claw into its neck. A mouse was a small snack for starting the day but, I would be hunting with Aliana, so I figured I'd let the mouse satisfy me for now.

I got to the river finally and inhaled the faint scent of Aliana's blood from that day she got attacked. It was very faint but, once I had it in my nose, it seemed overwhelmingly strong. It was strong for a reason though; Aliana was just ahead of me, just shuffling her way through the trees on the other side. I just laid down as she poked her head out, scanning the river. Then she spotted me and smiled a bit. She must not be used to turning into a wolf yet; then I realized that the clan from the castle is not in their feral forms as much as the rogues are. I got up abruptly and strolled over to her and faced to the South.

I could already see the mountain tops off in the distance to the South. The few dreadful things about teaching Aliana to hunt, was that neither of us were used to the cold or the white powder that fell on the ground; also, the fact that we were from two clans that did not get along whatsoever. I just hoped we would not get caught and that this would all work out, but I knew that those were high hopes.

I knew Aliana was not very tall, but I had no idea I was that big in my feral form as well as I was tall as a human. She seemed so petite, and little compared to me, and I liked that. I could not stop staring at her, but I had to pull myself away. I started walking towards the South, turning around to make sure she was following me. She did, but hesitantly. She looked at me and looked at her hands. She cupped her fists and looked back up at me. "Why does it have to be so hard? Shouldn't it just be instinct to change?" Her voice was full of frustration and hidden with desperation. It was instinct to change; I have not heard anyone to have such troubles with changing besides only one of the adolescent wolves in our clan. I would just have to see for myself.

I walked towards her and as I did, I changed to human; with my face close to hers and my eyes staring into those electrified eyes of hers, my heart beat quickening. I had this crazy urge to grab her face and press her lips against mine, but instead I looked away, "It should be instinct." I held my hand up and transformed it into my paw with ease, then back to a human hand. I looked at Aliana with careful eyes, "It's almost like being two different beings; having two different lives, yet only one." I took her hand gently in mine and transformed into a full wolf, my paw remaining in her hand. My nose was right to her neck as I was a wolf. I looked up into her eyes and waited.

She just stared back at me intently; biting her lower lip. I could tell she was trying, thinking about changing. I began to give her a questionable look. I did not understand, how could it be so hard to change for her?

Then I thought of something that just may work. I could try to scare her. If I put fear into her maybe the instinct will kick in. I could not scare Aliana though; it was just not in my nature. She was too sweet, too innocent for me to scare; I just could not do that to her, it might ruin the trust that is slowly forming between us.

I nudged my head to the South and began walking; looking behind to make sure she was following. She just stood there staring at one of her hands, so I walked behind her and pressed my snout on the middle of her back, pushing her forward. As she started walking, I went alongside of her and glanced at her face. She seemed sad, like something was bothering her, other then her difficulty changing. I let out a grunt and swiped my snout against her arm. The sadness on her face cleared and she smiled at me sweetly, letting out a soft giggle.

The whole walk to the South was quiet. She was so determined on changing, trying so hard to find anything in her mind to help.

As we reached the river that split the East and the South, I noticed the temperature had dropped quite a bit. The Shiverton River was frosted and looked winter cold. The cool air felt refreshing from the usual dry heat of the East. The South was so unfamiliar to me, and I hoped that I would not get lost, but I could not look like I did not know the territory of the South; so, I relied on my sense of smell.

I looked at Aliana and she was shivering slightly. If she changed, her thick fur would help keep her warm. The river was too wide to jump across, but luckily there was a few stones jutting out of the water that led across. I walked over to where the stones began and nudged Aliana to go across. She hesitated at first but took stride after stride so elegantly. I looked behind me to make sure nothing was out of the ordinary and proceeded to follow after her. As soon as I was about to put one of my front paws on the other side of the river, my other front paw slipped from underneath of me, making my back paws slip into the freezing water. I let out a yelp like a frightened little pup and leapt out of the water.

I was so embarrassed by the sound I had made; I tried not to look at Aliana, but I could hear her soft giggles. My face was heating up like a newly built fire; luckily, my fur was covering my skin that was now most likely bright red. Shaking my head I moved past her and grunted as if nothing had happened. My back paws were freezing cold still and the white powder on the ground did not help. It was cold as well, everything was cold in the South, but it was beyond beautiful. The way the white powder glittered on the trees and sparkled from the light of the sky was like I had entered a whole new realm.

Of course, I had to look at Aliana's reaction; I had to look at her almost every other second it seemed. I tried so hard not to make it obvious, but I just could not help my attraction to her. She had the biggest smile on her face as she stepped into the white powder, and the way her eyes sparkled off it. She suddenly looked at me, so I tried to look away quickly, but she had caught me staring so I looked back at her again. "What?" Her voice was light as she spoke. "I'm waiting…for you to change." It was even colder when I was not a wolf, and it most definitely did not help that I didn't have a shirt.

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes tight. I just sat in front of her and waited.