The Color Blue

I was taught from a young age to never fear the woods, especially at night. Being what we are, there never was a reason to be afraid - even at night when our humanoid senses would fail. But looking at the trees looming around me as the full moon hovers in the center of the star-lit sky, hearing the jeers from the crowd surrounding me in this small clearing, I'm terrified.

"Scarlett Wisteria Holland Reinier, you've been brought before the entire Reinier Pack tonight, accused of a most heinous crime," An old woman stands in front of me, her back straight, blood-red hair nearly overtaken by the silver of age, deep sapphire eyes locked on me. Cold and unforgiving, her normally kind expression is so foreign to me, it's all I can do to not cower where I lay.

"Grandmother, please-" I begin, lifting my body a few inches from the cold earth - only to be shoved back to the packed ground. The left side of my face connects with part of the rocky portion where my grandmother stands. Black ink flashes across my vision, pain explodes in the area where my face connected with the rocks and there's a moment where I can't breathe.

"Silence!" She hisses at me, a look of disgust twisting at her wrinkled face as she narrows her eyes at me before addressing the Pack, our family. "Wisteria, as you all know, is the spawn of my traitorous daughter, Marissa Reinier-Holland, who married a human." Cold suddenly shoots up my spine and I feel shock shudder through me. "Wisteria is the product of their union. A half breed." I'm half human? "And now Wisteria is standing trial for treason against the Pack." Mom said my father was a rouge Wolven, she told me he came into her life fleetingly, married her, had me, then he died on some hunt near the border before I was born. Human. He was human. Disgust trickles into my thoughts as the shock begins to wear off. I'm half human.

"Grandmother-" I try to speak again, try to apologize, maybe even beg for my life, but my head is kicked again. Iron-sweetness explodes across my tongue, projecting from the back of my mouth and out onto the rock as that black curtain falls before my eyes again ever so briefly.

"She said silence!" Another familiar face hovers over mine when I look back up, and it's almost like looking in a mirror. Cerulean-blue eyes glare into mine, the thick curtain of blood-red hair is pulled up in a long braid down her back - but if it was down like mine is now, her eyes and the fact that her hair is straight are the only distinguishing markers between us. "Grandmother, let's get this over with. I can't stand looking at this mutt anymore." Paris flicks her eyes up to our Grandmother, and I feel my heart begin to crack at her request. My cousin, Paris, maybe the only Wolven here who has ever loved me besides our grandmother and my own mother, is calling for my end.

Grandmother looks at Paris with a gentle warmth, the distortion in her expression fading quickly - sending a pang of jealousy and terror through me. She used to look at me like that, used to regard me with that kind of love. And now it's all gone as she turns her attention to me briefly, years of love and kindness have gone out the window in one night. One moment, and now it's all over. The air in my lungs becomes glass, scraping it's way in and our of me as I struggle to breathe. Little red spot dance in the corners of my vision, my entire body is shaking now, aching and I swear I can hear little popping sounds from far away.

"Wolven of the Reinier Pack, how should we deal with this transgression?" She addresses the Pack, but I already know what the punishment is for this kind of treason, it's been drilled into my head since I was a pup.

"Death!" The resounding echo sends wave upon wave of ice through me and its like I'm far away. My family begins to close in, fierce calls ring across the clearing, but it all starts to fade to the background as the sound of my pounding heart grows ever-louder. Thump-thump. Th-thump-thump. Thump-th-thump. My entire body feels like it's on fire now, but I can't make a sound as the all-consuming heat devours my throat, shooting back up my body to my mouth.

"The Pack has spoken." Grandmother calls, smiling at the Pack, but there's no warmth in her expression, even as she turns to look at me. Not a trace of pity. "May our ancestors have mercy on your soul." A fresh wave of agony strikes through me, but this time, it's not from within me. Listening to my grandmother has distracted me from hearing the Pack approach and shift. The new sting of my skin and muscles being torn into causes my mind to refocus.

Not a second later, I look up to see the snapping jaws of a red wolf lowering to sink into my shoulder. Finally, my voice is released and I scream breaks through the sound of my heart in my ears. Another set of claws and jaws tear into my stomach, and I'm not fast enough in my attempt to curl up in a ball - to try to survive this. A mass of fur consumes my vision as the Pack closes in to attack as one. My vision flashes crimson, unrelenting agony spreads through me, and I hear the unmistakable sounds of bones snapping over the growls of the wolves around me. The fire from before is doused by ice, shoving it's burning grip through ever nerve and atom of my being until pain is everything. Constant and thrashing, I don't understand what's going on until I open my eyes and see my pale arms blossom with silvery and reddish fur. My eyes widen, the agony gone for one - fleeting second as I realize what's going on.

"H-How is this possible? You're not a purebred!" Grandmother stares at me as my body continues to fall apart. "Quickly, now - before the transformation takes!" There's a spark of panic in her tone and the assault resumes with renewed fury, but it's like white noise compared to the breaking and reformation of bones beneath my skin. Like each layer of me they tear into unleashes more and more of the creature now awakening inside me. An older, more primal wave of consciousness floods my mind, shredding through my memories in a rush of anger-fueled speed. Betrayal stabs through my chest, shattering any semblance of a heart I may have retained from before, and the new awareness takes over. My jaws snap out at the closest Wolven, blood spurts into my mouth, almost causing me to choke, but the bite has the effect I want.

The offended wolf backs off, whining and barking at the others. A shuddering power flows through me, but the moment that tiny flame is ignites, another, much large wolf takes the place of the others. The Wolven back-off as the Alpha looms over me, growling her displeasure at my transformation. The little flame of courage is snuffed out the moment our eyes meet, her eyes the exact same blue as mine, and I know I couldn't possibly win in a fight with her. Even if I wasn't a late-bloomer, or only a half-breed. She's the Alpha.

Stand down. The order is cold and angry, the voice in my mind filled with disgust and anger. So much anger. But my Wolven half obeys, my ears flattening to the sides of my head and the fur disappearing as quickly as it'd come. I'm unarmed again, laying on the cold earth before my entire Pack, my body bloodied and cold. Grandmother lets out a howl, an order to the Pack to resume, and I barely have time to raise my arms to shield my head and neck before the descend all over again. And this time, I feel it all. There's no extra pain to shield me from the agony of each bite, no nerve ending numbed to protect my mind as the pain of claws rip me apart. There's only my screams, uninterrupted to express my torture. The only problem is that now that I've shifted - for the very first time - my body has a fresh ability to self-heal. Each bite, every tooth and nail that pierces my body echoes through my system, healing slower and slower each time, but healing nevertheless. But it's not fast enough, I can feel the pain getting closer and closer to the core of my being - my broken heart. Any second now. It's almost over. Please just let it be over.

Suddenly another sound interrupts me, Wolven around me start leaving.

Get up, honey. I hear a very familiar voice in my ears, louder than the jeers and growls - louder than even my own screams. The claws are gone, the mass of fur has vanished and something soft is on my face, the licking of a tongue.

"Mom?" I croak out, finally able to look up. Crystalline blue eyes meet mine, the wolf hovering beside me, strawberry blonde fur giving her away more easily than the silvery streaks that begin on her muzzle and trail up her crown. She came back.

Run, Wisty! Mom's voice rings louder and clearer in my head, she nudges me again. Now! She's growling at the other Wolven around us, many have reverted back to human form and are yelling at us again, anger and a little fear in their eyes. She places herself between me and the rest of the Pack, her mother - still in wolf form, pacing a few feet back, but visibly limping. The sight of our all-powerful Alpha temporarily defeated reignites the flame of defiance inside.

My body rises without my permission, the inner determination of my wolf shooting through my body and taking over before I can stop it. The shift takes less than a minute and then we're running, shooting through the forest that encases the area I once called home. Howls follow us, farther and farther until our feet hit pavement and we're on the outskirts of human civilization, but we don't stop, they don't stop. We keep going, farther and farther south until the Pack falls far behind and my lungs are screaming and everything is threatening to shut off. But deep down, I know what feels like the end of a long journey is really just the beginning.