Free in2 by Unknown

RUN WITH
    THE MOON
    © 2006 Lucy Monroe text
    © 2006 ZJS images

    Run With the Moon © 2006 Lucy Monroe - 1
    Scottish Highlands Sinclair Hunting Ground Early Middle Ages
    The she-wolf lifted her head toward the moon and yipped with delight.

    Run With the Moon © 2006 Lucy Monroe - 2
    Freedom coursed through her in wave after wave of pleasure. It was the first time in her life she had been allowed to run alone during a full moon. She could barely believe her laird or her brother had given their approval for her to do so, but at least one had, if not the other.
    And she was so glad. She was not yet ready to mate, but if she had stayed with her pack for this run, she would have done so. She was in heat, she was of age...some said well past it...and her beast's nature would have demanded a physical mating.
    The unattached males of her pack would have fought one another for the right to join with her and her wolf would have submitted to the ancient ritual. But the human woman inside the wolf's body didn't want any of the males of her pack. Not even its leader. Which had been her real problem. It was not merely that she was frightened of mating the first time as a wolf, but that none of her pack appealed to her as a potential husband or temporary lover.
    Even in order to get control of her change.
    She thought it was better to run with the moon as a wolf than to couple with a man who held no appeal to her.
    Far too shy to share such an opinion with her brother, she had fretted on her own until she'd had no choice but to talk to someone. And now she was here, glad she had

    Run With the Moon © 2006 Lucy Monroe - 3
    overcome the natural reticence of her nature...because she had freedom and it felt wonderful.
    She had no desire to be away longer than one night....she loved her clan and her pack. But for tonight when the moon dictated her change and her beast's nature dictated she was physically ready for something she was not mentally prepared for, this small taste of freedom was sweeter than anything she had known. The joy of avoiding fate dictated by her beast welled inside and she laughed, the sound coming out as happy barks.

    Run With the Moon © 2006 Lucy Monroe - 4
    She was running along the shore of the water that separated her clan's island home from this one, dipping into the lapping waves and running back to the beach in a game she used to play as a child, when an enticing scent came to her on the wind. She stopped and sniffed. She'd never smelled anything like this before. It captivated her.
    Her body quivered with new feelings she didn't recognize.
    She wanted to run and she wanted to stay right where she was. She wanted to howl at the moon in joy...and trepidation.
    For long seconds, she did nothing, just scented the wind. The intriguing fragrance came from behind her left flank along with other scents that were unfamiliar. She turned slowly, her keen eyesight making out trees of the Run With the Moon © 2006 Lucy Monroe - 5
    forest that ended shortly before the beach. She heard movement...very faint, but there all the same. Her hackles rose as fear skittered along her spine. She was not alone.
    She strained to distinguish between dark shapes illuminated by the moon. And then she saw them right at the tree line....four large male wolves. Not mere wolves though, her senses told her. They were like her. They were of the Chrechte. Werewolves.
    She had been given permission to run alone and directions where to run...but what her pack must not have realized was that these lands were used as hunting ground for another pack...for another clan. Her human mind screamed in denial while her beast lifted its head and howled aloud in ancient challenge, unmistakable to any werewolf.
    "Catch me if you can," it said. "Come to me and make me yours."
    And the bliss in her freedom transformed into another heady emotion even more powerful in her current form...the joy in perhaps finding her mate.
    Lifting her tail in pure provocation, she