Silence of the Wolves. Hannah Pole

her spine, blending gracefully into the red fur underneath. The wolf and Tamriel stared at each other for what felt like an eternity before, finally, she started trotting around the edge of the lake towards her. Tam returned the gesture, breaking into a jog. The jog became a flat-out run; this was what she was looking for, this beautiful pup was what she’d needed to find. As urgency heated her blood, she quickened her pace, as did the wolf… They ran as fast as they could and, as they rounded the edge of the lake towards one another, neither of them slowed. They came together with a thud; soft fur colliding with her soft, fragile skin. They collapsed into a heap on the floor, entwined; body and soul, wolf and woman together as one. ‘Change. Tamriel, you need to change,’ a voice echoed through the forest. The voice was one she knew, didn’t it belong to the man with the black hair?

       ‘Please, Tamriel. I can’t lose you. You need to change.’ What was he talking about? What change? Her wolf howled loud and clear, tears running through its fur, or were they her tears?

       Blinding pain shot through her, overwhelming her. Then the heat took her over, burning her from the inside out; she fell to her knees, her hands hitting the dirt, just keeping her from toppling head first into the lake. Her wolf was crouched between her arms, staring into the lake as she was, their reflections blurring together as the pain hit once again…

       ‘Change, Tamriel. Just let go, let the change happen.’

       Her bones started to crack, her skin tore apart, her wolf was howling, she was drawing in harsh, ragged breaths. She clutched the thing to her as if it were her life and braced herself against the pain. All at once the woodland screamed, or was that her? As the darkness claimed her once more, she welcomed it.

      Chapter Three

      That was a weird dream, Tamriel thought as she woke with a grin on her face. She stretched out in her bed, wishing she didn’t have to get up. Glancing at her alarm clock, she was surprised it was only 6 a.m.; usually she overslept and had to rush to work, yet she felt like she’d had the best night’s sleep of her life. Still, her limbs ached and her muscles seemed to protest at the slightest of movements, but she put that down to sleeping in an awkward position. Rolling out of the duvet, she wandered across to the bathroom and turned the shower on.

      Wrinkling her nose, Tam scowled. Her bathroom stank of bleach; it was like someone had soaked the entire room in the stuff!

      Christ, it was as if she could smell every single chemical she’d ever used to clean the place. She’d always had a better than average sense of smell, but this was excessive!

      Holding her nose, she wandered into the living room/kitchen area. Had her flat always been this dusty? She’d never noticed quite how much dust covered the place but, hell, how did she miss it?

      It was as if her senses had heightened, somehow becoming much stronger than they were before. And that was saying something! Her vision was now so incredibly accurate that, even in the dim morning light, she could clearly see every fibre in the ugly grey carpet.

      Someone in the flat beneath hers slammed a door, making her wince. The noise seemed deafening.

      What on earth had happened to her senses? Why where they so sensitive?

      Shrugging off her confusion and putting the coffee on, she wandered back into the bathroom and stepped under the shower spray with a sharp in-breath as the water hit her skin; it truly felt as though someone had scalded her back. She was so ridiculously sore. Gritting her teeth, she scrubbed some shampoo into her hair, and even that stank, the ‘strawberry’ scent smelt more like chemicals. It had been her favourite shampoo for years, why did it now seem to smell awful? She rubbed the stuff in and washed it out as quickly as she could, using her plain soap bar to wash her skin rather than the scented body wash.

      When she’d finally finished, she brushed her teeth and walked naked into her living room, she’d never been one to shy away from being exposed. In fact, she relished the freedom of nudity; after all, it was only natural.

      Pouring herself a cup of coffee, Tam opened her fridge door. No food. Damn, living alone could be irritating. Her stomach rumbled as she closed the door. God, she felt like she hadn’t eaten in days. She stalked over to her landline and quickly dialled the cafe down the road from her. She was good friends with the owner, and she knew he’d get someone to run some food up to her apartment. Thankfully, they were always open for the morning rush of people heading to London, so they would be able to feed her at this ungodly hour. She ordered her usual: a bacon, sausage and egg roll, and added a bagel and a bacon and cheese pastry to the order for good measure. She was so hungry, even that didn’t seem enough.

      While she waited for her food, Tam slipped into the bedroom and pulled some jeans and a T-shirt on. Naked was natural, comfortable, but the bacon guy would probably have a fit if she answered the door in the nude. She pulled her favourite jumper on over the top and drew a sharp breath in as it rasped against her skin. Why on earth was she so damn sore?

      It didn’t take long for her order to arrive; the delicious bag of greasy, baked goodness smelt amazing, the scent seeping into her very pores. The delivery guy nodded at her as he accepted the cash she’d pulled out of her emergency money jar and told her that her hair was looking ‘mighty sexy’, which was weird as the kid had never complimented her before. She grinned as she walked back into her kitchen. Perhaps today was going to be a good day.

      Tamriel slid her laptop from beneath the sofa cushions, where she always kept it. If someone was going to break into her apartment, it’s the last place they would think to look, she always thought.

      As she chewed on her roll, she opened the computer and pulled up her files for the latest story she’d been working on. With a grimace, she scanned the first few lines of her report and rolled her eyes. A baker had made ‘Folkestone’s biggest loaf of bread’. Yay! How exciting!

      She snorted. How was she ever going to make it to hard-hitting journalist from junior reporter with god-awful stories like these?

      Absently chewing the bacon and cheese pastry, she clicked open her personal stories. Ninja granny beats gun-wielding burglar with her husband’s golf club. Much more interesting, and a story that only she had at the moment. She was in the area when it happened, and managed to get in there and get as much as she could from the woman before the police arrived to take her statement. They told the woman not to talk to the press, but the feisty old lady was still reeling from beating the crap out of the intruder. She wasn’t the terrified old woman you’d expect, but a kung fu granny who was champing at the bit to wallop him another one.

      Tam frowned as she reached into the scrumptious bag of goodies, only to discover she had eaten everything already; the roll, the pastries, all gone. And it hadn’t even touched the sides. Her stomach growled at her, but she shrugged. There was no more food in the house, so it would have to wait.

      Her computer pinged, notifying her that she had fifteen new emails from the office. That was a bit excessive, and not something she wanted to deal with now. It was still before seven, she would think about work after nine.

      Tam picked up the newspaper from the mail slot on the door to her flat and tucked it under her arm as she poured herself another coffee, and checked the fridge and cupboards again just in case. Still nothing. Damn.

      Folding herself down onto a chair at the breakfast bar, she chewed on her lip for a moment. Her mother was coming over for dinner this weekend… Or was it next weekend? She’d have to check. The fridge would need filling up before then. With a sigh, she checked the front page of the paper.

      Oh hell.

      ‘Hardcore eighty year old beats burglar with a golf club,’ read the front page. Tam cursed long and hard. It had only happened a few days ago and the police weren’t releasing it to the press yet. She had been waiting for it like a dog with a bone since she’d come across the lady and her out-of-this-world pummelling skills, and now someone else had scooped it up before she’d even had the chance? Goddamn.

      Tam