The horses in the stable were nervous, stamping and blowing. They caught her scent, she knew, but she also knew that the mountain conservancy folk who might hear were in the outbuildings quite a ways away. She let her jaw drop and she panted, not from exertion but from the sheer pleasure of being here, of taking risks, of taunting the horses and of perhaps being seen by a ranger who knew better than most the difference between a wolf and a coyote.
At last one of the horses, the bay gelding by the sound, did more than just snort. His whinny was close to a scream and sure to draw human attention. With a last glance at the light and warmth of the ranger center she loped away down the trail deeper into Coldwater Canyon, away from the dog walks and nature paths and up into the hills, the last remaining real wilderness.
The night was cold and foggy, droplets of water beading on her golden fur. She knew these hills intimately, they were her refuge, her hunting ground, her lover. She was alone here but not lonely in the wilds, the scent of fennel and dill and eucalyptus, of horse and coyote, human and bobcat and deer, filling her nostrils. The chapparal almost parted to let her pass along her well-worn trails and the misty moon cast what light it could through the haze that covered everything, a haze that smelled of the sea.
She'd been thinking of going that way, of moving her territory closer to the ocean, across the 405 and into the mountains. She needed the crash and hiss of the water, the dark mirror it became when it was calm and the turbulent power of it when a storm blew in from Hawaii. She thought that maybe she might brave it despite the tales of a renegade that killed his own kind. She thought that maybe even if the tales were true it might be worth it, not to be alone, if only for a little, in all this darkness, this cold...
Without conscious thought she changed course and trotted up a slope. At the ridge she could see both valleys, the geometric and precise panorama of lights in The Valley and the chaotic, grandiose splendor of L.A. It was a lovely place, and what there was of her human soul could appreciate it. There was little to satisfy the animal here, though, and with thoughts of rabbits and rats, of chase and failure and chase and success, of blood filling her mouth, she turned towards L.A., her hunting grounds and her dark home.
The stars blended with the lights of the City, white and reddish and golden. But suddenly two of the stars detached themselves from their background, shifted, and she realized with a start that the yellow gleam she saw was eyes looking back at her. She growled automatically but as the form came closer her growl trailed off, became to her horror a whine. Another wolf...another werewolf...black, with golden eyes. Silent, coming up on her like that with no noise. The wind was blowing as always from the north so she hadn't scented him but as he came closer she caught his smell, hot, overpowering. Her animal soul responded before her human mind could countermand. She lowered her whine and as he reached her she dropped to the dusty ground, her belly in the dirt, legs splayed wide. She was submitting, making him alpha, leader, master. She'd seen it happen, had others of her kind fall before her...but never before had she found this in herself. And it didn't feel painful as she'd thought, it felt right, to gaze up at those yellow eyes only for an instant, only to look away...
He opened his mouth, and she knew quite well that he was giving what amounted in their kind to a grin, a tongue-lolling, panting smile. Then he stepped over her and bent to take the scruff of her neck in his jaws. She felt his teeth, oh yes, she was more aware of them than she was of the ground beneath her, his hot mouth, his panting and pungent breath...but mostly the touch of his teeth.
She lowered her head and closed her eyes, just for a moment, as everything stopped. She didn't make a sound, neither did he. It seemed even the wind was silent. And then he released her and turned away from her.
She got to her feet quickly and stared, head still lowered, tail well down, her neck still wet from his mouth, tingling from that intimate touch. In an instant the world had changed, the hills had changed, the whole City, *her* City, was different. He didn't belong to these hills, she sensed that, he smelled of alien vegatation, of fertile earth, of wet and of woods and of richer hunting. But he was here, and now in a heartbeat she was his. Even should he choose to walk away, as he was doing...she'd always know, always be aware, of his ownership of her.
As he reached the edge of the incline he turned, his eyes fixed on hers. He hesitated. There were tiny changes in his posture, shoulders a bit drooped, tail below horizontal, uncertain, head dropped just the tiniest fraction. Tiny things, but to her it spoke volumes, he was admitting weakness, however slight, admitting need. Too, it seemed she could hear him in her head perhaps, or perhaps because she was his she knew him well enough to understand. --Come with me. Run with me. I'm a stranger to these Hills, if not to this darkness. Show me your land.--
She leapt to him and past him, one glance back over her shoulder showing him. --Gladly. Come. Let me make this place yours.--
That night would not be comfortable for the residents of these odd hills. They tried to pretend to rural living near the City, but they were loathe to admit how much wildness still remained here, in pockets, in box canyons, on hillsides too unstable to build on, in arroyos too likely to flood to develop. Some awakened, thinking they'd heard something, something that made their skin tingle and their blood pound through their veins. Others sat sleepless, coffee or herbal tea before them, steadfastly refusing to look out of their well-lighted windows into the limitless black. A few visionaries painted or wrote or sculpted, sure they were inspired, that they were doing their best work, although every artwork but one would be destroyed by its creator in the morning light. Sex was avoided or it was feral. Talk was chatter or it was silence. Dreams came with the force of visions, unasked for, unwanted. Pills were gulped, wrists were slashed, fights became violent. Blood flowed. And many came to believe that the morning would not come.
Despite the fears of some of the inhabitants, however, all the cats and dogs of the region were as safe as they ever were. What was abroad in the night sought bigger prey.
Deer were rare in the hills, but their combined skills were great. They moved as a team, working the doe they found, running her, harrying her until at last, on an incline very near the City, she stopped, and turned, and waited. The golden wolf allowed the black one precious instant of attack before she, too, joined in. Their muzzles met in the deer's throat, their human souls making possible what their animal natures would never have allowed.
Later he let her lick blood from his jaws and she whined again, moving back and forth against him, her fur on his. The full moon was near to setting, and she knew quite well somehow that come dawn and the change he would start his long journey back home. Still, this night was theirs, utterly and completely theirs, they owned it, mastered it. And she wanted to give him every part of it, find him fragrant herbs to roll in, pools of fresh water to drink from. She wanted to lead him to bigger hunts, more prey, not just deer, but something more, there were always those in these hills who were unwise or unlucky, who mistook the closeness of the City for safety, she could find someone for him, someone he could freeze in place with those amber eyes...
He shook her off and grinned his wolfen grin again, then moved behind her, planting his teeth firmly in her neck yet again. And he mounted her.
If she'd had a human mouth she would have moaned.
Later they slept in the lee of some creosote bushes, wrapped around each other, bellies full, needs met, warm. Safe.
At dawn she awakened fuzzily. For an instant she wasn't sure where, who, what she was, and she only had a moment as she was remembering to look into eyes of greenish-grey, to see the smile on the human face this time, wolf tucked neatly away. She had only an instant to realize she still could see it deep inside him before he stroked her face and was gone.
She ran the Hills often after that night. As she always had. But always in her mind he ran with her.