"If you live among wolves, you have to act like a wolf." –Nikita Khrushchev

Running.

Fear.

All I could hear was my own panting and the leaves crunching under my feet. Or is it my paws?

All was quiet around me, there were no birds, no sounds of small animals burrowing. Just the crunch of leaves left cold by the oncoming winter air. I don't know what happened to me. I was hiking with some friends when I broke off to relieve myself when the next thing I knew I was being attacked by a giant wolf.

The scream that was on the edge of my lips died when its front paw clawed my face, not deep enough to scar, but enough to swallow the scream. Its teeth dug into my arm as I tried to fight it off but the creature was strong. It didn't maul me, it just pulled me further away from my friends and stepped away from me.

I stood up, holding my wounded arm to my torso and I stared down the creature. It seemed to smirk as it held my stare. It didn't chase me as I backed away and ran. I didn't know which direction I was going but I didn't care, I just wanted to find a doctor. My adrenaline allowed me to run a couple miles before I started feeling strange.

A sharp pain in my ribs caused me to stop running. I was also getting hot, really hot, sweat was dripping off of me. I felt my spine give a giant jerk and I fell on all fours and let out a scream. I watched as my hands shifted and changed shapes in front of my eyes. My shoulder jerked all of a sudden and I felt the bones in my legs break.

What was happening to me?

I let out another scream as the bones in my face twitched and moved, pushing out from their normal shape. I was unaware of what else happened to my body, it all just hurt and I tore the clothes off of my body trying to cool my body off as well as trying to get rid of the obstacles stopping my body from doing whatever it was trying to do.

And then the pain was gone. Just like that. I slowly opened my eyes and let out a scream, except it came out as a yelp. My hands were paws.

I was running again, trying to run away from this nightmare. Because this had to be a dream. Werewolves aren't real.

I don't know how long I ran but I saw the sun set four times. My mind was on autopilot, strung out on fear. I hunted bunnies and deer. I couldn't change back and I was unsure if I even could change back. I didn't know where I was and I didn't know what I had become or who did this to me.

I stopped all of a sudden. I saw a person. A man. I opened my mouth to speak, to tell this man what had happened to me and to plead with him to help me but all that came out were yips and whimpers. I saw his nostrils flare and his chest puffed out as he inhaled.

"Who are you? I don't recognize your scent." He stepped towards me, his hand outstretched as if to show that he meant no harm but I hunkered down, my ears lying flat against my head. "You're new." He stated and I managed to nod my head. "My name is Nick Sorrentino. Can you change back?" I shook my head. "Just relax, let all the fear leave you. Think about something happy."

I tried to do as he said. I closed my eyes and thought about libraries, about my family, and I eventually started to feel the pain again in my body and I tensed up with fear.

"It's okay! It's working, just let it flow." The pain continued and I eventually saw my hands again but I had to close my eyes again as I gritted my teeth against the pain. "Holy shit." He muttered as I came back to my body. "You're a girl." He said, mostly to himself.

"What am I?" I whispered as my throat was dry and my lips were chapped.

"You know what you are." He took off his jacket and gave it to me to put on. "Come with me, you'll be safe. I'll bring you to my Alpha." I had no choice but to trust this man who clearly knew what I was. I gingerly stood, unused to my two human legs after several days of running on four wolf ones. "What's your name?" He asked as he helped me up and then on to his house.

"Rose. Rose Ellasen."

He smiled. "Rose. The name fits the hair color."

The trees broke and I saw a magnificent English style manor. He led me inside where he called for a man, his Alpha I assumed. "Jeremy!"

A rather handsome man came through the doorway. He was older, maybe around early to mid-thirties with shoulder length brown hair and serious steel grey/blue eyes. He was dressed eloquently with dress pants, a navy button up with a dark grey vest on. He had the air of authority so much so that even if Nick hadn't of told me he had an Alpha, I would know that this man, Jeremy, was in charge.

"Jeremy, I found her running through the property. She's newly bitten, the bite on her arm has barely healed. And as you can tell, she is a she."

"What is your name?" Jeremy asked me gently.

"Rose Ellasen. I'm from Maine. Where am I now? I ran for so long."

He smiled gently. "We're in New York."

I felt my face squint up and my eyes burn with tears. "When can I go home? My parents must be besides themselves by now with worry."

He shook his head. "Your parents cannot know about you. Any humans that know about us must be killed. It is the law." I heard a door open on the other side of the house and two people talking, a man and a woman. "I will have Elena take you upstairs to get cleaned up and then we will talk more later."

A thin, beautiful, blonde woman and a muscular, tan, fierce looking man came into the room and I hunkered further into Nick's side as I glanced at him. Nick wrapped his arm around me and whispered that the man, Clay, wasn't going to hurt me.

"Come with me. We'll get you cleaned up." The woman, Elena, said as she held out her hand. Her eyes were warm and trustworthy and I took her hand as she led me past the room of men and upstairs to what I assumed was her room. She ran a bathtub for me and she didn't mind when I didn't speak. She stayed with me while I washed the layers of mud off of me, she even helped pick out the leaves in my hair.

"Nick seemed surprised that I was a girl. Why is that?" I asked surprising myself by speaking let alone asking that question.

"Before myself, no other woman had survived being bitten by a werewolf. The bite usually kills women but somehow I survived it and now so have you. We are the only two werewolf women in existence."

"That's comforting."