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"Are you sure this is okay Ky? Shouldn't we wait?"

"No Jed, night hunting is best. Let me go get Tiergan."

Jed grabs my wrist, "Do you have to? I feel embarrassed doing this."

"Jed, an Alpha never runs anywhere alone. I'd be insane not to bring him."

His eyes go wide and he pulls me closer, "You're the Alpha?"

I shrug, "Yea, so?"

"How did you manage that?"

I shrug, "I'm a good fighter?"

Jedrek shakes his head and releases my wrist, then begins pacing back and forth on the grass, "That's not possible though, females cannot be Alphas, I've studied packs before, it's always a male that is Alpha."

I put my hand on my hip, "I'm an exception to the rule then, okay?"

He stops and looks directly at me, "No, it's not okay. There is a flaw in your pack's system. You can't be Alpha."

I feel my lungs expanding and collapsing with the intake and output of air, but I can't breathe. I've never been challenged before. My eyes start getting hot, I can feel the extra moisture pooling and try to blink it away, but some leaks out. I'm shaking, I can feel my bones vibrating. This... hurts.

"Kyden?"

All the air huffs out of my lungs as I hear a new voice, smell a new scent.

"Kyden, honey, you ok? I felt disturbance."

I whisper, afraid my voice will crack, "I'm ok."

Jedrek pokes at Tiergan a few times, until he starts poking him in the chest, "There's something wrong with your pack."

Tiergan huffs, "And what might that be?"

"You can't have a female Alpha."

Tiergan looks surprised, "Of course we can. Your little study never looked at any packs that had two Alphas. Or any where the female chose a new mate because hers had died. It's uncommon, rare even for a pack's Alpha to be female, but it's not unheard of." He pulls me into an embrace, "Is that what the disturbance was about?"

I nod slowly.

"Oh honey," He nuzzles my head, then pulls out of the hug and holds my face between his hands, "I am proud to call you Alpha. You're the most intelligent person in this household. You're extremely selfless, always thinking of the pack first. You are an Alpha's daughter."

I gasp and try pulling away at the mention of my father.

"No no no. It's true baby. I'm sorry he went crazy on you, but he was crazy in love with your Mom. And I know, "How do I know?", my dad was your dad's Beta. He went AWOL when your dad went to jail, and my mom wasn't the best provider. I'm sorry you were hurt so much, especially in the pack. They're why I went lone wolf for a few years. Then I found a home here and was accepted by the others, and then you came along. You were born to be a leader."

I whisper, "But I'm different."

"Since I know you're not talking about gender-wise, who cares? A pack is made up of all different types of wolves. And you are a wolf."

"Only half." I reply with down-cast eyes.

"So? I think you look beautiful. No other female can look like you."

Jedrek sighs, "If I didn't know any better Tiergan, I'd think you were in love with her."

Tiergan releases my face and fiercely pokes Jedrek in the shoulder, "What would you know of it bloodsucker? You haven't grown up as tortured as she was. Your appearance isn't as shocking to others as hers."

"I wouldn't be able to tell anyway. Can't see remember?" Jedrek sneers.

Tiergan growls. "Fine. I wanted to run anyway. Shall we shift, Kyden?"

I nod and drop down into a crouch. I close my eyes and imagine running, the wind blowing past my face, the feel of branches and leaves brushing against my sides. I can feel my body stretching, folding around a new form, my clothes pulling tight against my body. I place my hands on the ground and see them shift into paws as I do so. I feel the warmth of my fur wrap around my body, covering the clothes and my human skin. I extend my legs behind me and hear my back pop into place as I stretch.

Jedrek rolls his eyes, "How am I supposed to communicate with you if you can't talk?"

I wind myself around his legs, rubbing against them as I do, 'We project thoughts to others Jed. At least, Tiergan and I can project to non-wolves. It's an ancient magic that requires diligent study. We can also hear thoughts in this form. It allows us to commune as a group without needing a human mouth.'

"I see."

I sit on his left side and look up at his face, listening to the merry-go-round of thoughts circling in his head.

'So Jed,' Tiergan thinks_, 'We're in our natural forms. You should be able to feel the differences between us.'_

Jed runs his hands over my ears and face as Tiergan goes to sit on his right side. I watch him putting together a picture of how I look. Large rounded but triangular ears, almond shaped eyes, muzzle, too long for a cat, too short for a wolf, razor sharp teeth. I stand up so he can feel my height, about a man's waist tall at the shoulder, and feel the fur along my back. Soft, longer than short haired fur, but shorter than long haired fur, he feels along my back and reaches my tail, admiring the length, but shocked at the pointed end.

'My turn.' Tiergan rumbles as he stands for inspection.

Short pointed ears, round eyes, long muzzle, fairly sharp teeth, bristly, rough fur, slightly bushy pointed tail, slightly taller at the shoulder.

"You two are different."

Tiergan shakes his fur, 'Told you. But I am upset that you colored me brown. I'm solid black, thank you.'

Jedrek sits on the ground, "Can't see... remember?"

Tiergan barks out a laugh and bumps Jedrek's leg with his shoulder.

"What color is Kyden?"

I roll my eyes, 'Not picky, I can tell you that much.'

'She's white, with stripes on her rear.'

'Can we go hunting T?' I quietly probe.

Tiergan stands, 'Sure, can you make it back inside Jed?'

'I meant, with Jed.'

'Wait, what?'

I scratch into the dirt nervously, 'He hasn't hunted in weeks. He heated up potato salad instead of spaghetti 'til I rescued him.'

Tiergan sits and folds back his ears, 'That's not fair. I wanted to run.'

'We can still run, I'll just carry Jed with me.'

Tiergan's eyes narrow, 'But then you'll be at a disadvantage.'

I snort, 'Yeah right. I outrun all of you all the time.'

'So? I wanted a challenge.'

'It's going to be a challenge. I promise.'

Jedrek interrupts, "Wait, carry how?"

I brush up against Jedrek, 'By riding.'

"I don't do riding."

'You will. Don't worry. I'm not a rodeo bronco.'

"What if I hurt you?"

'You won't, trust me. Now come here.' I grab his shirt with my teeth and pull him to his knees. 'Feel for my shoulder and grab the fur there.' I feel him tug slightly on my shoulder, so I lay down. 'Put your stomach against my side, and swing your left leg over me.' He complies. 'Grab my left shoulder fur, and squeeze your legs to my sides slightly.' I feel a death grip on my left shoulder, and feel him shaking a bit. 'It's okay Jed. I'm going to stand up now.' I push my back legs up, then push up my chest, adjusting for Jedrek's weight.

He grips my shoulder fur tighter, "Whoa."

'Lean forward and stretch your legs out slightly. Think like a jockey.'

"Like I remember what jockeys look like."

I sigh and think of two things, pasting the images into Jedrek's mind, a jockey on a racehorse, and a motorcyclist on a sport bike.

"Oh, like that." He begins shifting his weight to try to match the images.

I look over at Tiergan, who has been lounging on the ground watching the display, 'Tiergan, how do we look?'

'Not like either, but at least he won't hit the ground.'

I frown to the best of my abilities, making Tiergan rumble with laughter. I dash off, sprinting through the backyard and bounding over the fence into the trees behind the house. I hear Tiergan's paws crunching on leaves behind me.

'No fair! You had a head-start.'

'You deserved it jerk. How are you doing Jed?'

"I can feel wind on my face, and I can hear your foot falls, how are we going this fast?"

I shrug slightly, 'I've always been a fast runner, and I'm used to bearing extra weight.'

"So I'm not your first rider?"

'You're my first vampire rider.'

'And you are not a beast of burden Kyden. You should not be used to that.'

I roll my eyes, 'Yea yea yea. Need to learn things in emergency situations anyway.'

'Like?'

'Remember when Cody got his paw caught in a bear trap? He shifted into his human form instantly from the pain. And he couldn't get home.'

'And you carried him, I remember.'

'Yeah, emergency situations.' I slow to a trot as we near the river, and put my nose to the ground, trying to pick up prey scents. I start walking around when I pick up an old trail of deer. Whitetail, 3 days old, heading south. I start trotting again, my head bobbing up and down as I keep myself on the trail. I slow again as the trail veers to the left, closer to the river. Tiergan bounds up to me and nudges my shoulder, picking up the trail, letting me stop for a moment. 'Still okay Jedrek?'

"That... was.... awesome..."

'Never ran that fast before?'

"Once. Too long ago to remember. I was never very active though."

I hear Tiergan yelp and dash towards the sound. I feel the ground start to falter and come to an abrupt stop. Jedrek's head bumps into mine.

"Ow."

'Sorry Jed. The ground stops here.'

Tiergan probes, 'I found that out too late. But I picked up the trail again.'

'Yay! Be down in one second.' I back up a little bit and tense my muscles. I feel Jedrek's hold tighten as my muscles tense.

"What are we doing Ky?"

'Feel.' I dash to the edge and leap, relaxing my joints slightly to prepare for impact. As soon as my paws tap ground my muscles flex, allowing my fall to be springy. I feel Jedrek's hands shaking in my fur.

"How far was the fall?"

'The leap_, was only about 15 feet.'_

"In the dark here, let me know what's going on please."

I purr, making sure he can feel the vibration, 'Okay. I'm sorry.'

Tiergan looks up from tracking, 'Ky, fresh tracks, but they're downwind.'

'We can take them.'

His ears turn to the side, 'Are you sure? You're carrying extra.'

'But he has no scent. Not one that travels anyway.'

'Also, I can't really see. It's super dark down here.'

I puff out my chest slightly, 'I can. I'll keep it slow.' I put my nose to the ground to pick up the scent and start tracking at a fast speed. I can smell 6 does, 4 bucks, 3 fawns have gone by this point. I pay closer attention to the bucks, they're more fun to hunt. I'm not really paying attention as I leap over branches, dodge sink holes, and avoid movable rocks, but I can sense that Tiergan is trying hard to follow my steps perfectly. I'll admit that that is a challenge, my legs are shorter than his. I drop my nose again, not nearly as low as before, the scent is stronger, they're closer. I get a wild idea, 'Want to see again Jedrek?'

"How so?"

'I'll show you.' I paste into his mind the scenery as it flies by, the waves of the river lapping at the shore, the scuttle of bugs along the rock wall.

"This is amazing. It is almost like seeing again. It's too close to the ground for my liking though."

'It's the best I can do though. You're seeing through my eyes, remember?'

"True."

I drift towards the right with the scent and see a rise of mud against the rock, there are fresh prints in it, we're not too far off. I leap into the mud, landing lightly and jumping again to reach the soft grass I can smell there.

'Crap crap crap crap crap.'

'You ok T?'

I hear Tiergan struggling, 'No.' He grunts with effort, 'I'm stuck.'

I look over the edge and see Tiergan stuck in the deep, thick area of mud I avoided. I sigh and turn around to lower my tail over the edge.

'What's that going to do?'

'Teeth. Grip now before I change my mind.'

I feel his breath on the end of my tail, tentatively waiting before biting it. Once I feel the pressure of the canines I pull, dragging my claws into the dirt to gain a better hold. The pain is excruciating, I can feel my fur bristle all the way up my spine. I can tell that his paw isn't going to budge easily, so I do the next best thing I can think of. I wrap the end of my tail around Tiergan's muzzle to gain added grip, then quickly flick my tail to the right. There is a loud sucking sound as his paw pulls out of the mud. I'm glad I got a grip on his muzzle because I feel his teeth let go of my tail. He thumps onto the ground with a yelp.

'Ky...'

I unwrap my tail from his nose, 'Yes, T?'

'Please, don't do that again. That was not fun.'

I ruffle my fur to get it to lay back down, 'I know, but you wouldn't have gotten out otherwise.'

He closes his eyes and shivers, 'Don't care. Leave me there, let me struggle, whatever, just never again, ok?'

I walk over to Tiergan and groom his face. He headbutts me lightly.

'Your tongue is rough, stop that.'

I feel Jedrek shift on my back, "Ky, why can't I see anymore?"

'I closed my eyes, sorry Jed.' I open my eyes and see Tiergan staring at me. I can't quite tell the expression, but I feel like I've seen it somewhere before.

"Ugh, Tiergan, stop making puppy eyes at Kyden. It looks like you're making them at me."

Tiergan's eyes narrow and he stands up. I back away, trying to protect Jedrek from chaotic force. 'Tiergan, deer, let's go,' I project, hoping coax him out of the rage trance I feel growing.

He shakes his head from side to side, 'Yea, food, let's go.'