Pride to Pack

When Theo left, the three of us spent the day catching up. Because it’s a full moon, I need, the night off to change so Misty heads off to work alone, leaving Benji and myself to have a movie night.

  "What do you fancy watching, Bel?" Benji asks, flicking through Misty's DVD collection.

  I make my way to the bedroom to shift.

  "Surprise me," I shout before shutting the bedroom door behind me. I can normally wait until later in the evening before shifting, but I haven’t had the chance to shift since moving here, and my wolf is antsy and ready to come to the surface.

  Hoping to ease the shift, I remove my clothes and drop down to all fours. Shifting is not a nice feeling. Essentially your bones are all breaking, realigning again within seconds. The whole process is over in a matter of minutes but it's painful. If you haven't changed in a while, it hurts ten times more than normal. Once I release my wolf she practically pounces out of my skin. I can’t help the grunts of pain coming out of my mouth. The grunts soon turn to a howl. I shake out the last tingles of pain just as the door opens.

  "That sounded painful.” Benji winces at the thought as he holds the door open for me to exit, making sure to stay clear. After a painful shift, your skin stays sensitive for a while.

  I trot to the lounge, curling up on the floor in front of the sofa. I’m not sure where Misty stands on the animals on the sofa front, so I feel more comfortable sticking to the floor. My eyesight has changed with the shift but I can still see the TV - it's just colourless. I can smell the sage Misty has been burning. She’s always burning something. This morning it was sage for protection against Jared apparently.

  Benji follows behind me, plonking his butt down on the floor next to me. He grabs the popcorn off the coffee table and presses play.

  Benji chose the movie Rent, which is one of our favourites. We like to sing through the whole thing. It’s not something I can do in wolf form but I won't enjoy it any less.

  Halfway through the movie my wolf starts getting agitated. I get up and pace through the apartment, finding myself stopping and staring at the front door every time I pass. She wants out. She wants to join Theo. She feels she should be hunting with them because she has some insane idea about Theo being ours.

  "Bel, you aren't normally like this. I don't know what to do for you. If you don't stop whining, someone might come up to see what's happening.”

  Whining? I didn't even realise I’d been whining.

  “We don't want them to find you. They might not believe you’re a dog and you know I can't lie for shit," Benji says, crouching down between me and the front door. He smooths his hand over my head and down the fur on my back. It does the trick and calms me enough to stop my whining.

  Benji stands and heads back to the lounge and the TV. “Come on, let’s go put another movie on. I’ll even let you drool over Brad Pitt in World War Z.”