This is what death felt like. Avina had accepted the idea that after four hundred years she was finally gonna die. Her eyes closed and a peaceful sigh escaped her muzzle. Then his hand gripped her jaw, roughly shoving her head to the side. Every muscle in her body tensed, waiting for the sharp piercing of his teeth, But the pain did not come. Instead his grip on her neck loosened until it disappeared altogether. What was he doing? His words still rang in her ears even after he had pulled away, making her worry about what kind f scare tactics he was using to kill her. She opened her eyes slowly, not sure what she would find. He could be waiting to kill her until her eyes were open. Maybe he enjoyed watching the light fade from his victims eyes. 

What she saw, she was not expecting. He was sitting cross legged on the ground in front of her, his eyes grey. With a huff of relief, she laid on the ground with her nose close to his lap. It was not until his latest comment that she had the urge to reply to him. Of course she figured out that it was not him who killed her pack member, but his kind did. How could she justify their interaction when she knew his people killed on her own? Avina knew she was gonna have to talk to him, and to talk to him she was gonna have the change back. With so many shifts back and forth,and her wolf being fully alert, it was sure to be a painful shift.

The change between wolf and human was a sacred part of being a werewolf. Therefore, she could not allow him to see her change, not after he killed of her own. She stood up, placed a paw on his knee as if to tell him to stay, then trotted off to a patch of trees and bushes near by that she could hide in. She knew that if his hearing was as good as hers that he would hear the sound of her bones cracking and resting into place and possibly even hear the stretching of her skin. This change was particularly painful, even managing to make her give a few small whimpers of pain. The change itself lasted about twenty minutes but it felt like eternity to her. Not only was the change painful, but she had to fight for control over her wolf, and it left her exhausted.

Once the change was over, she stood up and walked back to him. It did not occur of her that her completely nude form might bother him, in the pack one quickly gets over body image issues because everyone is naked after changing. Also, her pack lives in the woods, so it is much simpler to go without clothes most of the time anyway. She sat down in front him him again, her posture mimicking his. 

“Rather it was you or one of your kind, the fact still remains. A vampire killed the youngest in my pack, and that cannot be overlooked. I cannot justify being around you knowing that your kind killed one of mine.” She did not bother with pleasantries, rather she just skipped to the tension in the air. “I started to trust you.” She bowed her head and ran her fingers through her hair. “I liked you…” Her blue eyes looked back up at him. “But how can I let myself feel that way, when you were the reason I was distracted in the first place last night? If it had not been for you, I might have been able to save him! If it was not for your kind, he would not have been killed!” She stopped abruptly.

 If she was claiming not to trust him, then why was she venting her anger to him? She tilted her head to the left and studied him carefully. Why was she venting all of her feelings all of a sudden to some vampire who’s name she did not even know. “I don’t even know your name…” she said in a gentle tone as the realization hit her.