UnleashingtheAnimal by J L Taft

the painting propped against the door where he was
sure to find it, she went home.
    Desperately she waited all day for him to come over. Night
descended and called to her. Even though she was worried about doing it alone,
she let the change take her and ran through the forest until she was too
exhausted to think.
    She was slowly learning how her cat body worked and she was
learning how to use her other senses. Shane was always in the back of her mind
and she hoped she might run into him while she ran the forest. But he never
showed himself.
    Showering and climbing into bed, she waited for the call of
the wolf but it never came.
     
    Blair waited for him the next day and then the day after
that. Slowly she realized it really was over between them. Making a trip to
town, she made her days busy, doing anything that kept her mind off Shane.
    But at night she ran, her cat body slinking through the
trees. She always looked for him but he was never there.
    She threw herself into her painting. The two completed
projects were some of her best yet. But both of them had a black wolf in them,
peering at her from between the trees or standing proud at the lake’s edge.
    Glancing around her, all she saw was him, staring back at
her out of his green eyes. She missed him but this was too much.
    She stood abruptly and started turning the paintings around
until all that was left was the back of the canvas staring at her. Taking the
half-finished canvas off her easel, she set it aside.
    Blair got back to work, painting the lake in the moonlight,
the exact view of what she could see from her window. Even though she thought
about her wolf and that one night that had changed her forever, she didn’t
paint him.
    That night she stayed in. Wrapping up in a blanket in front
of the fireplace, she decided she couldn’t stay here. But she wasn’t going home
either.
    Thanks to Shane and the cat side of her, she was confident
she could go and find the perfect spot to live and paint.
    She looked around sadly at her little cabin. She did love it
here but Shane had been here first. This was his home and she didn’t want to
invade his territory.
    It would only take a few hours to pack—she could leave
tomorrow afternoon.
     
    The next day she had her last cup of coffee on her little
porch. She had already talked to the realtor and it wasn’t going to be a
problem to put her little cabin back on the market. Her stuff was packed, her
paintings safely stowed away in her jeep.
    She still had to stuff her clothes in the backseat but she
couldn’t resist a break to sit on the front steps one last time.
    She saw him the second he stepped from the trees. Her heart
stopped and her hands got sweaty.
    Her eyes greedily devoured him as he came across the yard
toward her. His dark hair was standing on end and his eyes were weary. He
looked as if he had slept in his clothes and his boots were untied.
    He glanced up suddenly and he stopped when their eyes
locked. Then he started toward her again but he didn’t break the eye contact.
Standing and stepping off the stairs, she was pulled to him.
    They stopped when they were only a few feet apart.
    “Hey,” he said.
    “Hey,” she mimicked.
    She glanced away then and she heard him sigh. “Look, Blair I
wanted to…” His voice trailed off when he noticed the jeep doors open and the
boxes on the front porch.
    “What are you doing?” he demanded.
    “I’m leaving.”
    “What? Leaving? For good? Running home, Blair?” He took
another step closer.
    Her eyes narrowed at him. She had foolishly though he had
come to make amends. “Yes, I’m leaving but no, I’m not going home. Not that
it’s any of your business.”
    “Then why are you leaving?”
    “You were here first and I’m invading your space.”
    “I like you invading my space.” He gave a rueful laugh.
    “You didn’t a few days ago. I assumed you wouldn’t want to
share your space with a cat,” she answered.
    “I know I acted like an ass.