The Woods by Sally Ann Nicole (early reader books .txt) 📖

paying. Yet at the same time, the strangeness of it all just seemed so...normal.

Slowly voices began to rise around me, some in greeting and other in assesing me. I felt like I should stand up strait and strut like a model being judged by her peers. My nerves felt like they were on fire, sensitive to every little movement which is probably why I reacted the way I did when a hand was placed on my back. I slashed out with teeth, more of being scared by feeling a human touch when surrounded by wolves. The hand dissapeared, without a scrape on it. Looking up I saw the hand belonged to the strange man who was the leader. He just smiled knowingly at me and spoke. "Kitty, that is your new name here as given by your partner. Kitty, I am Joseph." I nodded my head in a greeting. "Nice to meet you Joseph, I think."

A small chuckle and he began to introduce me to the rest of the people and pack. The annoying man from before that named me Kitty was Derek. Then there was Janine, a blonde bimbo-looking barbie doll that seemed to not care what was going on. AJ, a large muscled man who looked to be about 20 and have stepped out of a surfing magazine. Jazz, a teen who had freckles and red hair with a plus size body that she managed to make look more attractive then any skinny woman. A guy named Ben, covered in tattoos and somewhat intimidating. Then two twin boys who looked only five years old, named Matt and Mason. Seven people, seven wolves counting myself. "So each human has a wolf?" I asked, not meaning to blurt it out but I was confused. "Yes, the wolf is someone chosen by one of us to share our life with us. Not as a human but as a wolf, to be by our side at all times. The wolf, keeps us from becoming animals, they take our curse until the full moon when it is given back and they are released to the world in their human form for that night." Joseph explained and it was suddenly very understandable. I was going to be in a wolves body for the rest of my life except one day out of every month.

My heart sank in my chest, I was doomed. My life was over. But had I had that much of a life to begin with? I had a truck that was so old it should have been dead long ago. Parents who were always working and never home. I had dropped out of school because I simply wouldn't do the work, it wasn't anything important enough to me to be useful. The only thing I had going for me had been my job, which I was sure I'd have lost if I went back with my bosses dog all bloodied up. So in a way this was like a new beginning....as a canine. Odd but I could hopefully turn this into something good. My tail slowly began to wag. I just had to stay possitive. "Everyone, lets leave her to her thoughts for a little while before we begin showing her our ways." Josephs voice drifted away as everyone exited the room, wolves included. I would need to get to know my fellow wolves as they hadn't been introduced but until then, it was time to get use to this new body. I slowly laid the front half of my body down and stretched out as far as I could, stretching my back. Not bad, not lets see about walking around a bit.

I stood up and circled the room, sniffing the air. I could smell things I had never smelled before. I didn't know what they were but it was time to start cataloging. I put my nose to the wooden floor and breathed in deeply. It smelled of chemicals and faintly of cedar. Cedar flooring, the chemical must be from what they used to clean it. I shook myself and walked over to the wall, placing my nose against it. Wall. I put the memory into the back of my mind, just as I had the scent of the floor. Nose in the air I walked to the door and sniffed. Door. On and on I went until I had sniffed just about everything in the entire house. Except for the rooms that I couldn't get in due to the door being shut. I could hear the faint noise of voices and I knew that everyone was outside. The twins were playing with what sounded like a puppy. "Puppy?" I asked myself, I didn't remember seeing a puppy. Wait.... did we have puppies? Was I gonna have a... puppy? Odd thought but at the same time it would make sense. So the pack really were just a wolf pack, with the exception of the connection we shared with the humans. I trotted out the open back door and nearly ran into Tula. She looked down on me condescendingly and said, "You should go back inside." I stepped away from her at the harsh words and my tail drooped. She really hated me. Derek came to my rescue, crouching down beside me and snarling. It was wierd to see a human snarling like an animal but at the same time it made my tail wag that he was standing up for me. "Leave it bitch, she is family now." Dereks words were harsh but it seemed he had the authority in this case because Tula backed away and stalked off to stand beside the twins and a puppy. I'd been right, there was a puppy. A wolf puppy.

I glanced to my side where Derek was still crouched. "That's Tulas' pup, she didn't want you near it." He explained to me and suddenly I didn't feel like he was the same annoying person as before. "Pup?" I asked, wondering how that had happened. "Yeah, she is mated to the black wolf you saw before in the basement, Demon." I couldn't help but snort at the black wolfs name. "Yeah, everyone gets a new name when they become a wolf, Ben chose Demon." Derek explained to me, as if he could read my expression as clearly as day. "That explains it." I stated, looking over at the tattooed man sitting against a far tree with his wolf laying loyally at his side. "So is the puppy...normal?" I asked, looking at the gray and white furball playing with the two boys. "Yep, just your ordinary run-of-the-mill wolf." He stated, watching the puppy as well. "So it can't talk?" I asked. "Well of course he can, he isn't stupid." I huffed out a breath, so we were normal wolves? It was the humans that could understand us. Not the other way around. This was becoming more confusing by the minute but I wouldn't think too much into it. Instead I laid down, placed my head on my paws and watched as the children played. Soon I felt Dereks hand on my fur, petting me, and surprisingly it seemed to calm me.

I laid there contently as Derek pet my fur and every once in awhile I'd sigh in contentment or yawn. The slow motions felt good and were putting me to sleep. As I realized this I decided I wasn't comfortable enough to fall asleep in the presence of all these strangers, silly but true. I slowly stood up and shook, shaking his hand off in the process. He looked at me and I looked back at him, not bothering to give an explanation. Instead I trotted over towards the edge of the tree line. I let out a small bark, suddenly feeling extremely hyper. I wanted to play. The puppy began to lumber towards me when his/her daddy instead intercepted him/her. I cocked my head to the side, asking silently, really? But it seemed he had decided to play instead, slowly he crouched down into a pouncing position and I felt my tail begin to wag furiously. I met his stance with an identical one of my own but before he had a chance to jump at me and bolted to the side. At that point the fight was on.

He jumped to the side and began to chace me around the yard until I was with my back against the wall of the house. Which I thought was a good position, protecting my back. I grinned at him, though I suppose it looked more like showing my teeth but he understood and gave his own toothy grin back at me, tail wagging. Slowly he began to move forward, reminding me of a cat stalking a mouse and I backed up until my rump hit the house siding. Then I bolted to the right but he was ready for it and pounced on top of me. I fell to the ground and before I knew what hit me I felt his teeth gently bite my neck. Instinctively I knew this meant he had won and a small whine of submission was let out from me. A small playful nip on the back of my neck again and he was jumping off to the side of me. "Nice match kiddo, don't worry you'll get better with more practice." He told me encouragingly. I nodded my head, that having been the first time I'd heard him talk to me directly. "Thanks." He gave a nod of his own before trotting back to his human as if nothing had happened. My tail drooped a little, I guess that was his way of introducing himself but I was left without a play partner. I glanced around, as if asking if anyone else wanted to play. I found Tula glaring me down and met her gaze for a moment before looking away in submission. I'd just let her know that she was stronger then me and I didn't even realize it till afterwards. "Damn." I muttered to myself before sitting down. Maybe I should go practice by myself. Yep, that was what I would do.

I shot off through the treeline and into the forest, tumbling over a rock before I could make it very far. I grunted as I landed on the ground, there was a bit more to this wolf thing then I thought. Slowly I picked myself up, shook, and decided to just walk fast. As I walked deeper into the forest I came across many smells that were unfamiliar to me, yet instinctively I could tell what general category they were in. Animal scat I stayed away from, while the scent of my pack I tried to keep within range of me. I felt like a bear rumbling through the forest because of how loud I was. But unlike what usually happened when I was human, animals seemed to be curious about the noise I made as a wolf.

A few times I saw squirrels watching me. I even stumbled upon a black snake that I immediately wondered if I could talk to. "Hi." It looked at me like I was an idiot and I sighed. Then a voice said, "Hello." I jumped and turned around to find I had been being stalked by one of my pack members. The wolf before me was completely gray, no white at all. It was almost a strange thing to see. I could smell the scent of home on his fur and my tail gave a single wag of greeting. "So, trying to get the hang of things?" The stranger wolf asked lightly, it was obvious he wanted to start a conversation but at the same time he kinda sucked at it. "Yep." I wasn't about to play easy for him. He sat down, keeping his cool even