I watch as Alicia makes her way down the steep part of the riverbank and into the water. She’s surefooted, every bit a wolf, as if she’s spent the last twenty years in this form. I’ve been thinking of her as a city girl, but after that hunt, it’s more clear to me than ever that she belongs here among the pack. She’s one of us.
I need her to stay.
I follow her down the riverbank and into the water. She ducks beneath the surface in wolf form, and I watch the current ripple over her body and through her fur. I see the moment she shifts, looking natural and supple beneath the water. She’s beautiful as she emerges, human, her hair slicked back from her face.
I duck under the water too. As a wolf, I’m not good at holding my breath or keeping my mouth closed, so I sputter a little as river water washes between my teeth.
I stretch my limbs and shift into my human form. Even as I lose my wolf strength, a different kind of strength returns. This body is better in the water. I’m more at home beneath the surface now.
And there’s a woman waiting for me above the water, and my human body knows exactly what to do with hers.
I surface slowly, keeping my body underwater up to my shoulders. Alicia stands a few feet away, watching me.
I hold out my hand to her, and she comes to me quietly and without arguing.