Jeff paged through his day-calendar during class. The twenty-first, he thought. Just a bit over two weeks away from his six-month anniversary with Tina. He knew not what to get her for such an occasion. Even worse, he had not even thought about it too much since he had been seeing her on a regular basis. Everything had become...routine. Not that seeing Tina more often than not was a bad thing, though.
"Jeff!" the teached exclaimed.
"Huh?" Jeff looked up from his calendar, dumbfounded, "What?"
"I asked you a question."
"I'm sorry, what was the question again?"
"I said," Teyna said again, "Do you want to go hunting?"
"I don't know," Brynn murmured, turning away.
"Come on! We haven't done anything in ages! And I'm starving, so let's find some meat!"
"I don't know," he said again. By this time Brynn's apathy was no longer surprising. He had been like this for the past two mont...cycles, and Teyna was irked at not knowing why Brynn had become the sad wolf he was in such a short amount of time. Spring was in the air, which meant mating season was halfway over, but she couldn't imagine that her turning him down had anything to do with his depression. She wanted so badly to find out what in the world was wrong, but she had never gotten close enough to find out in the first place.
"What's gotten into you?" Teyna said when she caught up with him.
"I don't feel well today," he responded.
She stood in front of him, saying, "You haven't felt well in the past two cycles! Now come on, a girl needs to be fed, and I know you haven't had anything to eat today. It'll be like old times. Like...when we were kids!"
At the first hint that Brynn was the least bit amused by the "when we were kids" remark, Teyna brushed her nose against his side, as if to nudge him into going hunting with her. First, she heard a faint laugh which grew more audible, then she heard him speak in a bright tone that she hadn't heard since forever, "Alright. Alright! Let's go hunting."
To kill an animal this size, other wolves would've needed to band together in groups of six or seven to take the creature down. The hunting pair of Teyna and Brynn, however, was somewhat unique. The two alone could easily make a meal out of this deer without the help of other pack members. And a good thing, too, more meat for both of them.
She picked her head up. The prey caught the scent of her predator, and in that instant she knew to run. She didn't know where and she didn't know where the wolf was coming from, but she knew only one word: escape. So her legs took her as fast as they could take her, and by that instant she knew she was in trouble. There were two scents, one of the wolf that she picked up first, and the other of the wolf that was about to ambush her from the side.
Brynn rolled across the ground with his prey, with Teyna bringing up the rear to help. The deer resisted for a long time, but in the end she stopped kicking and fell to the ground. Brynn panted from attacking the deer, before a grin stretched across his face while he said, "Let's eat."
Teyna sat down in front of the meat, next to Brynn. At the same time, they both bit into the skin of the meat to reveal their prize. Uncooked, Teyna thought, just the way they he liked it.
Tina fiddled around with the artifact she stole from the city. A lighter, they called it. After trying another two-legged custom, rubbing sticks of wood together, without success, she figured this might help. Brynn looked at Tina with curiosity and a bit of impatience. He was awfully hungry, and the human scent masking the scent of their prey, a pair of raccoons, was no help.
"Here we go!" Tina said as the lighter lit up with a small fire. She set the fire to the kindling on the ground, creating a suitable flame with help from a nighttime breeze. "It's a...um...a fire," Tina said.
Brynn had never seen anything like it before. He looked at the flame with amazement. Only the full moon up above was just as bright. But he gave a look to Tina that said, "What now?"
"Well...you cook it, I guess." Tina stuck a piece of the raccoon on a stick and above the fire.
He looked on in surprise. "What are you doing!" he said, although Tina couldn't understand. He raised a paw to the fire and to the meat above it. "OW!" he yelped in reaction to the burning sensation, and dug his paw under his other paw.
"Brynn!" she cried, "Are you OK?" She took his paw and held it with both hands. To the naked eye, it didn't seem like anything serious. "I guess you'll be alright," she said, gently petting his paw.
As she held his paw, the hurt went away. And all that Brynn could think was that she was so gentle. He had never had physical contact with a human, but thinking of a human as gentle was unheard of. But this human - at least this human for tonight - was different that what he thought. What was this feeling towards Teyna anyways? And why was he occupied with it? It was a curious sensation, especially towards a wolf who had a human scent on her.
"Now, come on, try this," she said, taking the stick and trying to feed Brynn with the piece of "cooked" meat on it.
Slowly, Brynn opened his mouth to let in the meat. He chewed on it. Crunchy, he thought, like chewing on fallen leaves. As he gulped, he couldn't help but think that there was no taste to the piece of raccoon at all. He shook his head with a bit of disapproval.
"No?" she asked, "I wonder why." Tina took another piece of meat and held it to the fire. When it was "done," she held the meat in her hands and ate it. "It seems OK to me," she said, licking her fingers.
"Boy, Teyna," Brynn said when the last of the deer was finished, "You sure ate a lot!"
"I don't know," Teyna replied, still feeling hungry, "I guess I was that hungry today. Wanna go again?"
"Nah, I'm finished," he said, resting his head on the grass.
Teyna lowered her head as well. "So," she said, "You never told me what's been bothering you."
"Aw, no," he responded, "You don't want to know."
"Yes, I do! You haven't been yourself in a long time! And we haven't talked like this in ages. Talk to me!"
Brynn sighed. He looked up in the sky and lowered his head again, "Full moon tonight."
"Yeah, I guess."
"You're heading to the city tonight?"
"You know I can't stay here."
"I guess so."
Teyna picked herself up and patted Brynn, saying, "Come on, let's do it again! Before the moon's up, I'm sure we can--"
Teyna stopped in mid-sentence. Brynn looked up, saying, "Teyna?"
She was feeling odd. Something was not right. "I-I'll be right b-b-back," she said, stumbling on her words as she darted off.
Brynn was confounded. He looked up to see Teyna run off with a pace that displayed her sudden fright. She was gone from sight before Brynn could call out to her. So he followed.
He ran along the trail of her scent. She was definitely frightened, or else she wouldn't have run off like that. And he knew why. And he followed her trail, the scent was changing.
Brynn caught up, but at the end of the trail was different from what ran away. Against a tree, there sat Tina, naked and shivering. Her brown hair was all Brynn could see of her head. She gasped for air, as if she were panicking. Her arms wrapped around her legs, she looked up at Brynn. She shook her head, but he approached her just the same.
"What happened?" Brynn asked.
"D-Don't," Tina said with wide eyes and a look of embarassment.
He tilted his head. Rising a paw for Tina to hold, Brynn said, "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. Trust me."
Brynn's paw brushed against Tina's knee as a nervous smile painted itself on her face. But it quickly disappeared as her head jerked back against the bark of the tree. Tina shook and convulsed as she squirmed on the grass. Brynn backed away and watched as her back became covered with fur once again. Tina--Teyna stretched on all fours as the wolf returned. Paws, tail, muzzle, they all returned in quick succession, and when it was over, Teyna dropped to her side, once again gasping for air.
Brynn inched closer to Teyna. "Are you all right?" he said softly.
When her breathing returned to a normal pace, Teyna stood herself up and replied, "I'm...fine. I'm OK. Really."
"Teyna, it didn't seem to me like you were--"
"I'm fine," she insisted, "Just...do me a favor, will you?"
"Sure."
"Don't tell anyone about what happened."
"Yeah, no problem," Brynn said reluctantly, "It's just that--"
"I don't want to talk about it, OK?" she said, walking away, leaving Brynn to ponder what happened.
Nighttime fell, and a bright full moon appeared over the horizon. She was at the regular place just moments before the expected transformation. Brynn entered her domain when the change completed, as Tina stood up to grab her clothing, just before she caught him spying in the bushes.
"You can come out," she said.
Again, he didn't understand, but her saying something meant that she knew he was there. He walked out into the open as Tina donned a simple T-shirt and jeans.
"This is my place," Tina stammered, "You think you can just enter here whenever you want?" Her angry tone was enough for Brynn to put on a face of apology and sadness. She sighed and lightened her tone, "Look, I'm sorry, OK?"
She knelt down to pat Brynn on the head, "Something's...happening to me. It's been going on for the past month. I'm not sure what it is, but I can guess. I sure hope I'm wrong."
Brynn placed his head on her shoulder, which prompted Tina to place her arms around his body. "Don't you worry about me, I'll do just fine. Just be happy, alright?"
After giving Brynn a kiss on the forehead, she stood up and left for the city. Brynn followed her to the edge of the forest, but stopped there as Tina walked down the paved road, with only a full moon to guide her to the domain of the two-leggers.
"A...dance?" Tina said, "What's that?"
Jeff chuckled, "You're kidding, right?"
She feigned knowledge, "Yeah, I am."
"It's at school in about a week, and I want you to come with me."
"Sure, I'd love to!" she exclaimed.
"Good," he said, before signaling for their server.
"Two lovebirds ready to order?" the server said.
"'Lovebirds'?" Tina asked.
"Uh, yeah, I'll have a glass of water and a burger with a side of fries."
"Very good, what about you?"
"I'll have the same."
"Alright."
"...And how about an order of chicken strips and - oh! - some of that - what do you call 'em? - ice cream?"
The server looked at Jeff, who gave a sign saying, "It's OK." As she walked away, he said, "Hungry?"
"Just a bit," Tina said, smiling and nodding faintly.
Brynn walked about the forest for what seemed like a long time. He looked up at the full moon which sat high in the sky. A long time, he thought, before Teyna returns. Why was he waiting up for her? She was definitely not his mate, and it dawned on his long ago that if he was ever to move up in the pack, he needed a female companion to bear his young. As much of a father he would like to be, Brynn was not after Teyna for children. He was not after Teyna in order to gain influence in the pack. No, as odd as the reason seemed, it was very clear. He loved her. Since they were but mere cubs he loved her. Her "condition" was no saving grace, but Brynn saw far past that to see who she really was. And all he ever received in return was seeing her walk off with a two-legger. Life was no fair exchange, and Brynn found that out the hard way. Still, he walked on, waiting for Teyna to return. He would ask how her night was, what happened with her and that human--no, scratch that, he won't ask her how her night was.
A scent. Suddenly, Brynn picked up the presence of another wolf. He had expected to be alone, and at this time of night, no one should be out this far from the pack.
He followed the scent down to the river, where a creature lay. It was Lupa, sitting on the cool grass by the water. She was staring at the river's reflection of the moon, with a sad look on her face. He understood her sadness, but it was already two cycles since Lupa lost Kayn.
It happened when he ventured out with one of the pack's hunting parties. They traveled far to the outer bounds of the forest, where a house stood. Along the perimeter of the human's domain, two "domesticates" - a pair of housebroken cats - were playing in the grass. They were defenseless, and the perfect targets of the hunting party.
A group of humans, each one equipped with guns, were inside the house when the wolves attacked. Most of the hunting party were killed in the attack. Including Kayn.
Lupa lay motionless along the river, obviously not looking for or expecting any company. Brynn watched in the distance, unable to console Lupa for her loss.
Jeff looked at each plate on the table. All of them, except for his small dish, emptied by Tina. He was astonished. "Tina..." he said.
"Yeah?" Tina replied with a bite of food still in her mouth.
"You stuffed yet?"
She nodded her head, "I think so."
"Good," he said, laughing.
"What's so funny?"
"I dunno, I've never seen you stuff yourself with so much food before."
"Been that kind of day, I guess."
They both laughed, with Jeff asking, "You want to talk about it?"
"Nah, not really, just--"
Again. A sensation from her insides. Tina had felt it earlier today, a sign that she was just about to lose control of her body. She looked at the back of her hand, which was already developing a patch of fur.
"Something wrong, Tina?"
"Excuse me," she said with a growling tone. She managed to get out of her seat and head towards the bathroom.
Tina closed the bathroom stall and sat on the toilet seat. She was in a panic, making it even more difficult to control the change. Finally, she caught a hold of herself and forced herself to remain human. Tina took a deep breath when the change subsided. She gripped her stomach. It was still growing. Tonight, her physical appearance had changed even more than before.
Tina was taught about the day this would happen. She was no different than the other females with male companions. It must've happened that night...that night with Jeff. There was no way around the realization. She was with child.