It was not until she settled down that the other wolf even noticed her. Sophia knew she was good at moving around silently when she wanted to, but when the white and gray wolf in front of her pulled his muzzle back to show his fangs she started to question if she should have snuck up on him. Her wolf almost growled back, but Sophia pulled back and remained completely still even though every muscle in her body was taunt waiting for an attack. Just above the half-crouched wolf’s head she could see the hair on his hackles standing up. Perhaps it truly was not a good idea having snuck up on a larger male wolf. If he decided to attack she could seriously injure him, or maybe he would injure her. He was rather a big wolf after all.  Then again, she wasn’t second in her pack for nothing. The large wolf started to relax his muzzle a little, so Sophia lifted her head slowly as not to startle him. Confusion was written in his eyes and all over his face, he was trying to figure out something though she wasn’t sure what.

It was pretty obvious that he tried reaching out to her to talk only to find that he was unable. The way he pulled back and shook his head caused her to pull her muzzle back in a wolfish grin. Silly thing, trying to talk outside of a pack could send an electrical shock through the body.  What she could not figure out was if he was a lone wolf or if he belonged to a pack. If shad had to guess she would say a pack considering he tried to establish communication. Her ears cocked to the side as she listened for the foot falls of other wolves to make sure he did not have other wolves moving in around her, but all she heard was her and the male’ breathing. Maybe he was a part of the large pack that lived isolated up in the mountains just north of her and her brother’s property? Her brother had tried to reach out to the alpha of their neighboring pack, but the pack seemed to shun outsiders. Perhaps that was why this male was so defensive, he hasn’t had much experience interacting with other packs or even humans if she had to guess.

The other wolf seemed to have finally calmed down considering he had tilted his head at her. She stood up and shook her body to get rid of the dirt that had clung to her underbelly. Her bright blue eyes looked back at him as her tail twitched from side to side. She knew he was questioning who she was but she had no way of answering him unless she shifted back to human form which was painful to say the least. Not to mention she would have to change back again. Communication was impossible if she stayed in her current form though. Sophia took a couple of steps away from the wolf then lowered her head. Changing wasn’t hard, it was bringing her wolf into submission and pulling her full humanity back out that was hard.

The sound of wood splintering echoed through the meadow as her legs broke in half and began to stretch. Next her jaw popped out of place and began to shrink from a muzzle to a humanoid shape. The black fur covering her body pulled back into her skin and her skin faded from a dull pink to a light peach. Behind her, her hind legs stretched and her back paws morphed into human feet while her fore legs stretched and turned into arms and hands. Once the change was done, Sophia stayed on her hands and knees trying to calm her heavy breathing. The change back to human always seemed worse than the change to a wolf. After a moment of catching her breath, Sophia pulled herself up into an upright position on her knees while crossing her arms to cover her chest. Her clothes were stashed in the woods still somewhere near the house. 

“I am Sophia.” She said at last. “Second in Command of the Colorado City Pack. Who are you?”