BEFORE TIME SKIP
At Aldo's words, Vashti smiled somewhat and stepped foreword. Her brown eyes fixed on a track ahead and she slinked over to it with light steps.
"Thank you for the sweet compliments Aldo; let me tell you, the males I used to know wouldn't choose such simple words. The males in my old pack were the kind to swoon you with fake promises and fawn over nothing but looks and ranking stature."
The old males she knew searched differently than she. While Vashti waited for the perfect mate, they scrounged on the ground picking out those who 'appealed' to their eyes. In their young and foolish ways they chose not for love but for hunger of the eyes, and Vashti had seen a good many die because they chose poorly of their girls.
She just wished the male whom had sought after her was more forgiving of her rejection.
Images of teeth flashing and angry barks echoing in her ears as the larger and more aggressive male pinned her to the ground and tore into her. They made Vashti wrinkle her nose and fight a growl, but something Aldo said then made her relax.
"I've only been a wolf for a few months now, now, but at the rate I'm going?"
These words made her chuckle and turn to look back at him, "Wait......you mean to tell me a gentle sweet guy like you has problems finding a girl?! With your personality and good looks they ought to be clinging to you!"
She really couldn't believe it. He seemed to sweet, and on top of that his features were rather alluring.
How could girls pass up such a guy? So far he was the nicest male she had met in months. But then she had noticed that he often seemed unsure of himself, even when speaking to her......
Turning Vashti started to lead the way into the trees, so that they walked a little closer to where the other pack members were patrolling. Muzzle twitching with the constant sensing of scents, she came across an odd stench that made her stop on the trail. It was disgusting, yet held some similarity to that of a fellow wolf......
Turning her happy demeaner changed and she frowned, "You smell that?"
AFTER 'SMALL' TIME SKIP
Steps quickening Vashti now trotted through the trees towards where she could sense the other patrol members. It puzzled and worried her deeply that the odd and ever thickening aroma of sickness came from this direction. She was so confused by the stench that for a moment she was frightened that the others had been found by the local 'rampaging' hunter.....and that scent was of death....
Looking back at Aldo she was about to ask him something, when the flash of something moving through the trees ahead caught her attention. Distant but unmistakable snarls and distorted noises reached her ears and Vashti halted. Her head raised and her ears pricked foreword.
There was another wolf in the trees....or...something......the sounds and shapes she was seeing in the shadows told her it was anything but a 'normal' wolf.
Suddenly, and without warning, it appeared from the trees with foam oozing from its mouth and a wild look in....its....eyes. The poor thing looked terrible! Sores littered its misshapen hide and it seemed to be in an ever raging fit of shifting back and forth between both forms.
Stumbling backwards with wide eyes Vashti held herself from turning tail and running back to Aldo. Her wolf instincts screamed at her for retreat from this thing she knew was deadly. The way it stared at her made her insides churn and her heart pump into her ears, but she forced herself to stand her ground.
The wolf before her stood there a moment; with what Vashti discovered to be female eyes staring into her own. They appeared glassed over and tight, while the stranger gnashed its teeth frantically.
When it abruptly lunged foreword at her Vashti's hackles raised and she jumped back with a sharp snarl. Lips curling and ears pinning against her skull she made every threatening noise available in an effort to ward the insane wolf off.
Whatever was wrong with this poor girl Vashti didn't want to attack her unless needed. But right now it certainly looked as though she would need to defend herself.
