Chapter One
Katya woke up in a cold sweat, her heart pounding. It was the same nightmare and it had the same ending, what on earth did it mean? Taking deep breaths she stilled her racing heart and lay back against her pillows trying to recapture what had happened. She was running very fast, trees and shrubs a blur as she pounded past them. Something was chasing her but she wasn’t afraid of it. Whatever it was it was no match for her. How did she know that? Her eyelids felt heavy as she analysed her nightmare more deeply. Why did she keep running if her pursuers could not hurt her? She was drifting back to sleep as her mind threw up more questions but she was so damn tired………
Instantly she was back running through the same woods yet again. ‘Stop running and face whatever it is’.
She told herself angrily and skidded to a stop.
The four wolves leapt out of the trees into the clearing and stopped when they saw her waiting for them. The largest wolf stepped forward. He was huge, much bigger than a normal wolf, his black fur was thick and glossy, his eyes deepest blue. He looked straight into hers as he stepped in front of her,
‘About time you stopped fucking running’
He spoke in her mind and it startled her making her shake her head and back away,
‘What the fuck?’
She heard his chuckle,
‘Mind-linking. You will get used to speaking this way’
‘Who are you? Get out of my head.’
Then she noticed her paws.
‘What is this? What have you done to me? What the hell am I?’
She scrabbled back in full panic mode, could this nightmare get any worse?
‘Get away from me’
She spun away from them quickly running off again blinded by terrified tears. Unable to process what had happened to her she kept up her headlong dash through the woods. Crashing into trees, stumbling over roots and rocks she was desperate to escape them.They followed her keeping their distance so as not to spook her any more than she was already spooked.
Katya knew she had to stop, her lungs were bursting from the effort and she could go no further but they were close and she was so scared,
‘Why can’t I wake up?’
She shook her head desperate to escape her nightmare and stumbled through the shrubs into nothing, She let out a startled howl as the ground beneath her disappeared and she was falling into nothing.
The four chasing Wolves stopped their pursuit at the sound of her frightened howl,
‘Fuck, the ravine’
The black Wolf veered right and raced towards the ravine praying she had not fallen to the bottom, the silence following the mournful howl was deafening.
Katya hit the ledge so hard it knocked the remaining breath from her lungs and she lay stunned letting them recover a little, she took a huge breath and it hurt. Fighting her panic she gritted her teeth and stood up trembling with the effort and looked around her. She hadn’t fallen that far she could see the top of the ravine and then she looked down and quickly backed up, It was a very long way down to the bottom she had to get back up but how was that possible when she had paws instead of hands? The panic was rising again and she closed her eyes and fought it down,
‘Okay this nightmare isn’t gong to end any time soon’
She told herself,
‘I need to get a grip. Think Katya, think and stop reacting’
She took another deep calming breath and looked up again,
‘You can jump’
The thought popped into her head randomly and her body responded she bunched the muscles in her hind legs and pushed off landing squarely on all fours with a tiny yell as her landing jarred her already painful muscles..
‘Fuck’
She shook herself and set off running again, every bone in her body hurt from the fall and she knew her headlong dash was futile she was still exhausted from the constant running. Katya did not get very far her legs just would not take her any further collapsing helplessly she panted heavily and found herself cornered. Snarling angrily at the four Wolves who approached her,
