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Bret snapped his teeth at me and started to change. I reached into him with my power and

felt the power of the moon and wolf in him. I pulled those powers into me absorbing them. Bret fell to the ground completely human and asleep.

Matt whistled. "Wow. I've never seen anyone but Ares do that."

I smiled then felt exhausted. I put my hand out for the bed, but missed and started to fall.

Ares caught me and picked me up in his arms. He whispered, "You have to learn to pace yourself. Using too much magic too quickly will drain you."

I shrugged. "I'm a newb what can I say?"

He tilted his head to the side in confusion reminding me of a canine once again. "A

newb? What is that?"

"It means I'm a newbie. Some of Bret's nerdy friends used to say it when talking about video games." I said quietly.

Ares shook his head. "The humans have used a lot of different slang over the years. Most of it I think is ridiculous. Like groovy. What is groovy? Stupid, that's what it is."

I giggled and asked, "Where am I going to sleep now?"

He winked. "How about my room?"

I blushed and Ares smiled. "I was just teasing. We'll put you in Koda's room and make him sleep on the couch."

Koda groaned. "Why me?"

Ares snarled. "You kissed her, remember?"

Koda groaned. "Fine, if that's my punishment, then alright."

Ares shook his head. "That's only the beginning of your punishment. You still have lots of punishing left."

I sighed. "It wasn't his fault Ares."

Ares shook his head again. "Spells like that can't put thoughts in people's heads. They can only intensify what they are thinking."

I looked at Koda and blushed. I turned my face into Ares' neck and said, "Okay take me to his room."

Ares walked quickly to Koda's room and laid me down on the bed. "I know this must be hard for you, but I assure you that I will do all that I can to make you happy." He bent down and kissed my cheek then hurried out, shutting the door behind him.

I groaned and rolled on to my side closing my eyes.
Great, I am falling in love with him
at a ridiculously rapid pace. Of course my life would be complicated like this.

~~~~

Two knocks on the bedroom door woke me from my peaceful sleep. I groaned and stood up from the bed walking clumsily towards the door. I reached for the light, but couldn't find the switch.

The person knocked again, louder this time. "Hold on, I'm trying." I groaned. I finally opened the door no longer trying to find the light. The light from the hallway blinded me for a second and I had to wait for my eyes to adjust. I blinked three times then finally saw who was there. "Bret?

What's wrong?"

Bret walked into the bedroom flipping on the light switch and closing the door. I stared at the light switch, angry at not being able to find it. Bret turned to me and demanded, "Why did you humiliate me yesterday?"

I stared at his face as I tried to remember what he was talking about. It was odd to see his face, the one I had seen for years and thought handsome and now I thought was only average. I smiled.
I guess when you are dating the God of War that it's hard to compare anyone else to
that.

Bret snarled. "Why are you smiling?"

I sighed. "Look Bret. In the world of werewolves you have to have a pecking order. Sure you can be friends and lovers, but you have to keep the order and you tried to break it. I didn't mean to humiliate you, but you challenged me in front of others. I had to remind you who your alpha is."

Bret growled. "You aren't alpha, you are just screwing the alpha!"

I growled back at him shoving my finger in his chest. "You don't know anything! I'm not screwing anyone and I
am
your alpha. Do you need a reminder?!"

Bret snarled. "Try it and see who the real alpha is."

I felt my body temperature rising with my anger and felt my body starting to twitch. I

looked at Bret's body and saw him beginning to change as well. I groaned, "Fuck it!" I let my body take over and transform. I could feel the bones popping and sliding around to change my shape. My skin split apart, making a disgustingly wet sound as it ripped into pieces and then started falling below me. I closed my eyes and inhaled holding my breath as I finished the transformation. I slowly re-opened my eyes and looked out with much clearer, much sharper eyes with a muzzle between them that surprisingly didn't interfere with my view. I picked each foot up and wagged my tail then pulled my lips up in a smile.

I shook my body and turned to look at Bret. He was bigger than me in height, width, and

weight, but I knew I could still defeat him. It was too cramped in the bedroom to move around easily though. He snarled at me and I snarled back. I sighed in happiness, finally finding a body that felt right. This body was like home for me. I no longer cared to school Bret, I just wanted to run. I ran through the bedroom door breaking it into pieces and ran down the hallway. Bret barked and growled as he ran after me, but I didn't care. As I turned from the hallway towards what used to be the living room I saw Ares, Koda and Matt in the kitchen. When they saw me their mouths dropped open in shock. Ares ran towards me, but I couldn't wait for him because Bret was right behind me.

I ran through the giant opening and towards the closest set of trees. The early morning air was crisp and clean as I breathed through my new mouth and nose. I ran faster into the trees dodging and weaving through them. I could feel the energy in the trees and plants and asked their permission to frolic among them. The trees seemed to anticipate my moves, leaning out of the way to give me more room to run faster and enjoy my new found freedom. I could hear the

others running after me and it made me smile. For once I was in charge. I ran through the forest and inhaled the smells for what seemed like the first time. I could feel Ares gaining on me and turned to watch him. His black fur glistened in the dawn light as his muscles bunched and stretched to run to catch up to me. He was truly magnificent and I knew he was alpha. He was much larger than Bret and extremely larger than me. His majestic head tilted to the side as he caught my eye. I lolled my tongue out to the side in a playful show.

His voice whispered through my head.
Why are you a wolf?

I snapped my tongue back inside my mouth and stopped running staring at him in shock.

How can I hear you in my head?

He snorted.
All wolves can communicate through mind-to-mind telepathy. Some, like me,
Koda and Matt can do it while in human form.

I sighed.
Bret was challenging me again and I decided to let myself
…

Bret slammed into the side of me sending me head over heels. My head missed a nearby

trees by only a few inches. I wasn't sure if the trees had moved or not, but I thanked them anyway. I jumped up and snarled, but Ares already had Bret on his back on the ground.
What is
your problem, Bret?! She didn't do anything to you.

Bret snarled.
She humiliated me yesterday.
He turned his head to look at me.
And I'm
right about the alpha thing.

I snarled and launched myself so that I pushed Ares off of Bret and took his place above

Bret, snarling with my teeth by his throat.
Do you want to die Bret? I will kill you if you don’t
stop trying to fight me. I am alpha as much as Ares.

Bret snorted.
Ares is alpha, but you are just his bitch. The only reason no one will

challenge you is because of him.

I shook my head shaking my mane.
I am alpha with or without Ares. I don’t want to kill
you Bret, but you are leaving me little choice.

Ares, Koda and Matt surrounded us. Matt growled softly.
Don't kill him. Let the loser go
back to the village and live there with them. He is only pissed because you chose Ares over him.

And he doesn’t believe you aren't screwing Ares because what other reason would you chose
Ares over him? Right Bret?

Bret snarled and I bit down into his throat. He yelped loudly as blood began to leak down his coat.
You better knock it off Bret. I don't care what you think because I know I am alpha.

With or without Ares I am your alpha.

I released my hold on his neck and stepped backwards to join Koda, Matt and Ares. Bret

hopped up to his feet and shook his head.
You are definitely not the same girl I fell in love with.

I snarled.
Because you fell in love with a lie my father had set up. This is the real me and
if you don't like it then too bad. I'm already taken anyway.

Bret coughed.
Ya, good luck being his slut. Although you seem pretty good at it so far.

Ares charged forward knocking Bret to his side.
Enough! You cannot talk to her that

way. She is not a slut and she is your alpha. Now go back to the village before I kill you.

Bret stood up and ran back to the village without another word. I walked forward and

turned around so I could look at the three wolves with me. I giggled internally at the thought that they were wolves now and not men. I could see Koda, Matt and Ares having some type of

dialogue among them, but had no idea what about. I snarled, making them all look at me.
It's not
nice to talk about me when I can't hear you and am standing right here.

Matt tilted his head to the side.
You should be able to tap into our conversation if you
want to.

I shook my head.
Nope, I can't. So what are you talking about?

They looked at each other and Ares finally turned to me.
We were discussing how

beautiful you are in wolf form and how much like the Mother you look. You are exactly as she is
drawn and described, except for the purple eyes.

I frowned.
I still have purple eyes? I thought your eyes were supposed to change to wolf
eyes?

Koda nodded his head.
They're supposed to, but it may have something to do with you

being half.

I nodded my head and looked around the forest. I wished the moon was out, but it was

my own fault for not changing sooner. We walked back to the house in silence, or at least I was in silence. I waited while the others changed and walked into the house. I was about to start to change when Ares walked back out wearing a pair of pants. He smiled at me. “You alright?”

I nodded my head feeling my ears flop as I did. I sat on my butt and pictured my human

self. My bones popped and I felt myself shrinking in size until I could feel the cold wood porch beneath my butt. I curled into a ball trying to hide my body as Ares handed me a large blanket.

“It’s all I could find quickly.”

I wrapped my self up in it and stood up. “Thanks.”

Ares smiled. “You need to put some clothes on though because we’re leaving.”

I frowned. “Where are we going?”

He shook his head. “It’s a secret.”

I sighed. “Like everything else in my life.”

Ares took a step towards me and my heart beat instantly picked up speed. I swallowed

and he smiled. He reached out slowly and stroked my cheeks softly. “I’m very lucky to have gotten you as a match.”

I opened my mouth to say something, but Ares stopped me with a kiss. My legs felt like

jelly and Ares wrapped his arms around my waist to keep me from falling. I pulled back from his kiss and whispered, “It’s not fair that you make me feel this way and I have no effect on you.”

Ares laughed and shook his head. “You have a great deal of an effect on me. I just am

better at hiding my emotions.”

Koda cleared his throat making us turn towards him. “Ares it’ll be getting dark soon.”

Ares sighed and nodded his head. “Of course.”

He pulled away from me and it felt like a scab being pulled off. I bolted inside and to

Koda’s bedroom where a pile of clothes were lying on the bed. I changed faster than I ever had before and walked out to the porch where Ares, Koda, Matt and Victor were talking. I leaned against the porch railing and stared out at the abused town knowing it was my fault. Matt walked to stand next to me and smiled. “How are ya doin’ Love?”

I shook my head, “So much fighting and death and damage all because of me? It doesn’t

make sense. I’m not special.”

The other men stopped talking and I turned around to face them. Ares shook his head.

“You are special. You and I are special together. There are going to be people trying to get you and use you for themselves, but you must never think it’s your fault.”

Two black SUV’s pulled up in front of the house and Koda smiled. “Time to go.”

I walked towards the SUV’s ignoring Ares and Victor as best as I could. They were both

whispering too quietly for me to hear their conversation, but obviously they were talking about me. I climbed into the first SUV and crawled into the center seat looking out the side window.

Ares sat down beside me and placed his hand palm side up on my knee. I stared at it for a moment then sighed giving into my desire and placed my hand in his. My heart picked up tempo and I felt content. I closed my eyes and Ares sighed happily beside me. “Thank you.”

I rested my head against his shoulder. “It’s getting much harder to fight. Plus, it’s not like I don’t
like
holding your hand.”

Ares laughed and kissed the top of my head. “I like holding your hand too. You should

sleep now. It’ll be a while before we reach our destination.” I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feel of his hand holding mine, but sleep wouldn’t come.

I shifted on the seat and Ares released my hand so he could pull me down into his lap. I

started to protest, but knew I would be more comfortable. I laid my head in his lap and he draped his left arm across my stomach and began stroking my hair with his right hand. I rubbed my cheek against his pant leg and sighed happily. For once it felt right to do this. With Bret it had always felt wrong somehow.
Could it have been because I was meant to be with Ares?